Involuntarily created additional account

Leslie Katz lesliek at ozemail.com.au
Sat Jul 15 19:08:56 EDT 2006


Josh Sled wrote:
>
>
> This account should have a balance of 0, at all times.  In fact, it
> should never really be created.  Moreover, you should never see the
> "this transaction is unbalanced" dialog in normal use.
>
> You're using GnuCash incorrectly.  It's fundamentally a double-entry
> system.  There are facilities in place to make double-entry both correct
> and easy; you should learn how to use them.  Don't put up with an
> imbalance account.  There are other pieces of the application that
> expect double-entry to be used.
>
> I don't understand how you're accounting for things.  Can you give us an
> example?  Have you read the tutorial and concepts guide?
>
>   
I decided a while ago to get out of Windows. In it, I was using MS Money 
for bank/credit card accounts and an Excel worksheet for shares. I don't 
know whether MS Money has any double-entry facility. If so, I never used 
it. I used Money just as a "chequebook balancer" (to quote Derek Atkins) 
or, more strictly, as a general bank/credit card account balancer. The 
worksheet I created myself and I certainly didn't build in any 
double-entry facility.

I went looking for a Linux alternative and came across Gnucash. With a 
great deal of help from people on this list (which is, by far, the most 
impressive list I've had anything to do with since starting with Linux), 
I got it going in a way which suited what I then perceived as my need, 
namely, to duplicate what I had been doing in Windows. When starting out 
with Gnucash, I read all the documentation, including the concepts 
guide, and on a number of occasions afterwards, re-read it either in 
whole or in part.

When v 2 came out, I did not read any of the documentation, except the 
readme/installation documentation and, then, when I discovered that I 
wasn't given the manual balance option anymore, I searched all the 
help/guide documentation and found one brief reference to the Imbalance 
account.

As to whether I'm using Gnucash "incorrectly", I really don't know what 
to say. If I never insert a table in a document, even though I could, am 
I using my word processing application incorrectly or am I just not 
taking advantage of a feature of it? Provided that I can use Gnucash to 
maintain an electronic record of the transactions in my bank/credit card 
accounts, that'll do me. Provided I can use Gnucash to maintain an 
electronic record of my share transactions, that'll do me. If I can do 
those things by having an Imbalance account, I don't mind. I've survived 
for more than sixty years now without ever creating personal balance 
sheets or profit and loss statements and I'm prepared to continue in 
that fashion.

My only concern is whether, if I maintain an Imbalance account, that 
will prevent me in any way from using Gnucash 2 to do the same things I 
did with Gnucash 1.8.

The only other processes I can think of having used in Gnucash in the 
past than mere recording of transactions as they occur is the scheduling 
of transactions in advance and the reconciling of accounts. If I can't 
do those anymore if I just use single-entry plus an Imbalance account, 
that would worry me. Apart from that, I can't think of any specific 
potential problems, but if there are any, I'd be grateful to be told 
what they are.

Thanks for your reply,

Leslie



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