Transferring $ from an income account to an asset account

Linas Vepstas linas@linas.org
Fri, 20 Apr 2001 18:42:30 -0500


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On Fri, Apr 20, 2001 at 02:53:53AM +0000, Peter Spotts was heard to remark:
> Folks,
>=20
> I'm about to betray my poor performance in Accounting 101, but bear with

 Hardly ...

> me. Using 1.4.11 in lieu of Quicken and Moneydance, I post my full
> paycheck to an Income account. When I set up deductions, two of them go
> to 403b accounts I've established as Assets. I figure that once the
> deductions are taken care of, I transfer the balance to my checking
> account in Assets. (Yes, Virginia, he really does have some money left
> over after deductions.)

right.

> Now... when I transfer money out of the Income account to the Asset
> account as a charge against income, the transaction shows up in Assets as
> a reduction in the value column. It's as if I'd sold off mutual-fund
> shares, rather than an added to them.

Umm.  I really hate answering questions like this.

1) All gnucash income accounts are automatically sign-reversed.
   We did  this for those with no accounting training: so they could
   have 'postive' income and 'positive' bank deposits.
   You can sign-reverse the display in the 'preferences' menu.

2) The multi-line ledger display mode in the 1.4.x series is=20
   confusing at best (fixed in 1.5.x).   The 'summary' line at the top
   is right, but the columns on each of the split lines are 'reversed'
   from the usual sense an accountant might expect.

3) The auto-rebalancing code in 1.4.x keeps changing the total balance
   on you at akward moments.  (again, fixed in 1.5.x) If this is killing
   you, try adding the entries in a diffferent order ...

> If I enter the 403b deduction as an addition in the value column in the
> Asset account and "transfer" it to the Income account, it shows up among
> my paycheck deductions as an addition to the paycheck. (surprise,
> surprise)
>=20
> Obviously, I'm trying to get the paycheck deduction to look like a
> deduction in the Income account AND an addition in the Asset account. Or

Based on this sentance, I'll say you're struggling with 1) above.

> am I missing something very basic about double-entry bookkeeping?

no you're not ...

> Any suggestions (besides where to leap)?

First, get comfortable with the simplest possible transfer from income
to bank.  Then try the more complex multi-part transfers...

--=20
Linas Vepstas   -- linas@linas.org -- http://linas.org/

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