How do I categorize reimbursements?

[Chris Brown]

Phillip,

There are two basic ways to record these transactions. The first which 
is quick and dirty; and the second which is a bit cleaner and makes it a 
bit easier to remember who owes who what, espectially if you share more 
than one bill.
The quick and dirty way to do this is just create a reverse transaction 
when your roommate pays you.  Like this:

Rent        500            This is when you pay the rent.
    Cash            500

Cash        250            And this is when your roommate pays you back
    Rent            250

This will accurately reflect your expenses.  

The second way makes it easier to share more expenses(heat, cable, etc.) 
with your roommate than just the rent, by creating an account for the 
money you and your roommate exchange.  Creating a "bank" account type 
should work for you, with a positive balance being what your roommate 
owes you, and a negative balance being what you owe your roommate.
Here are some sample transaction to show how this would work:

Rent                250                This is when you pay the rent of 
$500. Your portion($250) is debited to rent expense and your roommate's 
portion is debited to the roommate account.
Roommate     250
    Cash                    500

Electricity    15                    When your roommate pays a bill, you 
debit the expense account, and credit the roommate account; thus 
reducing what your roommate owes you or increasing what you owe.
    Roommate        15

Cash            235                    When your roommate cuts you a 
check for what he/she owes it is only the balance of the Roommate 
account($235), which is the $250(rent) - $15(electricity).
    Roommate        235

If this is not enough of an explanation; please let me know and I will 
try to elaborate.


Cheers,
    Chris Brown


Philip J. Mucci wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>First off, great product. I'm a happy GnuCash user. 
>
>Now for a question I've had for years, i've had the same question with
>Quicken, but never got in answered.
>
>How do I categorize 'reimbursements' properly?
>
>For instance, I pay the rent and my roommate gives me a check towards
>it. This isn't income, but is it a negative expense credited towards
>rent?
>
>The same thing with business travel. I routinely take trips and the
>company then sends me a check. Same problem.
>
>I'm sure someone has a quick an easy answer to this. Let me know what it
>is.
>
>Regards,
>
>Philip Mucci
>
>P.S. If possible, hit me back on this email as I'm not subscribed.
>  
>