Miscategorized Credit Card Transactions

[JUNIPER]

  Yes, I entered transactions as Daniel indicated, then solved the 
problem as Derek suggests, although it does not seem reasonable that 
listing expenses would be under 'income.' Now if I can just remember not 
to forget it as it's one of those things that I rarely do. Thank you. 
Steve J From Derek:

The problem here is not categorization, but rather the report you
used.  The Cash Flow report is reporting, well, Cash Flow.  Please
search for previous emails about this; the report works as it's
supposed to, but to the casual observer it may be a little confusing.
Basically, imagine that you draw a circle around the accounts in
the report.  The Cash Flow report will report ONLY on transaction that
cross the line.  So if you have your credit card and your expense account
BOTH outside the "circle", then the Cash Flow wont report it (because
it doesn't cross the line).

It sounds like you want a report of how much you spent on a particular
expense, regardless of how you paid for it.  This is called a Profit
and Loss report, or, in 2.x, the Income Statement.  The Income Statement
is the PnL report, renamed.   This report tells you how much you gained
from each income and how much you spent on each particular expense.  Try
that for what you want.

Enjoy!

-derek

 From Daniel: Hello Steve, You are right that all your medical expenses 
should appear under expenses whether you paid by credit card or some 
other method. Where is your credit card account in GnuCash? It should be 
under Liabilities. Did you put it under expenses? You should have an 
account for your credit card under liabilities. Something like 
"Liabilities:Credit Card". This account should show the balance on your 
credit card. Every time you pay for a medical expense with a credit card 
you should enter a transaction that involves the credit card account and 
your "Expenses:Medical" account. Is this what you've been doing? Daniel. 
JUNIPER wrote:

> >    I noticed that when I get a "Cash Flow" report for this year, Medical 
> > Expenses (excl insurance) showed $364, whereas we've spent thousands. It 
> > looks to me like the missing expenditures appear under my credit card, 
> > along with other expenses. This presents an inaccurate picture.
> >     This doesn't seem right to me. I spent the money on medicine (or 
> > other categories), not on the credit card. The credit card is just a 
> > vehicle. Shouldn't items we pay for by credit card fall into the same 
> > categories as if I had paid cash or by check? (Credit card fees and/or 
> > interest would be another matter).
> >     Appreciatively,