disposing of splits

[Haines Brown]

I asked this question some time time ago, and I'll try again. My
simple objective is to get rid of any splits. 

1. I was told to start by creating a new account. I prefer not to do
   this because it would take a long time and open the way for
   errors. So I need to modify my existing account to not use splits.
   The account is a simple checking accounts with desposits and
   expenditures. 

2. I was told to make the account of the Expense type. I select my
   account (not the imbalance USD account) and enter Ctl-e to raise
   Edit Account dialog. In the Acount Type menu, I select Expense.

3. I was told to set all my transactions to use it. I've no idea where
   or how to do this. I've explored all the menu options, and see no
   place to tell transactions which account to attach themselves to.

4. In fact, in the Register, I see that my deposits appear in a column
   named "Expense" and my expenditures in a colum named "Rebate." I
   may have created this odd situation by stumbling around trying to
   get ride of splits, so I'm gun shy at this point and afraid to do
   more experiments.

5. I was told finally to set the account tree preferences not to
   display expense accounts. I go to Options dialog, Account Tree,
   Account Types to display, and unselect Expense. 

When I do that, my account simply disappears, including the
"Imbalance-USD" line. I want to get rid of only the Imbalance
line. Would someone be charitable and point out the error of my ways?

Haines Brown