Credit Balance on new Expense Account

[hendrik at topoi.pooq.com]

On Sat, Jan 13, 2007 at 07:48:02PM -0500, hendrik at topoi.pooq.com wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 12, 2007 at 05:07:19PM -0600, Tad Marko wrote:
> > On Fri, Jan 12, 2007 at 03:03:10PM -0500, hendrik at topoi.pooq.com wrote:
> > > On Fri, Jan 12, 2007 at 12:36:07PM -0500, Ariel wrote:
> > > > Option 2:
> > > > 
> > > > Put a negative opening balance (dated 12/31/06) into your telephone 
> > > > account, then set gnucash to show you data starting from the beginning of 
> > > > the year.
> > > 
> > > I'd pick option 2 -- isn't a negative balance just what would normally 
> > > result from an overpayment?
> > > 
> > > -- hendrik
> > 
> > I thought I was understanding the suggestions better than I apparently
> > am...
> > 
> > If I put in a negative opening balance, where does that come from?
> > Opening balance equity account?
> 
> Yes.

AH!  It's not an expense account that gets the negative opening balance, 
it's a liablity account, whose balance is, at any time, what you still 
owe to someone.

> 
> > Having done that, how do I enter the next bill that should debit
> > against that balance? I can't just put it in the account without tying
> > it to a source account. Do I use Equity:Opening Balance for that too?
> 
> >From the relevant expenses account.

Which just records the expenses you incur in the current year.
Expenses are transfers from an expense account (whose balance is the sum 
of everything you've spent in the current year) to a liability account.
Whe you actually *pay* a bill, it's a transfer from your bank account 
(or wherever the money comes from) to the liability account.

I've found this method to be very useful when keepint track of bills 
that I can't, won't, of forget to pay immediately.

-- hendrik