where can I find info on setting up credit card accounts

[Tim M]

On Jan 20, 2008 6:46 PM, Derek Atkins <warlord at mit.edu> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Quoting Tim M <southern.tim at gmail.com>:
>
> > Hi, I have been using GnuCash for about two years. I don't understand
> the
> > first thing about accounting. I have researched the subject of credit
> card
> > and GnuCash but that gets me more confused. I want to download my ccard
> > statement and show those expenses in my checking account, but when
> importing
> > the qif file it asks for the account name. The default is the
> month/day/year
> > plus the last digits of the card. That confuses me. Should I just accept
> the
> > default account name . . . and it seems I have done it only to not be
> able
> > to find it later. The only way I can figure out how to do it is to use
> > Quicken to import my statement and accept each item and then export the
> qif
> > file to gnucash. It works but sort of defeats the purpose of using
> GnuCash.
> > Can someone lead me to a site that might explain accounting in terms a
> > carpenter can understand?
> > Tim
>
> Is this a TRUE credit card?  If so then you should create a Liability
> account for the card.  The transactions will NOT appear in your
> checking account because they are not checking txns, but CC txns.
> Then your monthly CC Payment (Assets:Checking -> Liabilities:Credit Card)
> pays off your monthly balance.  In this case when you import your CC
> txns you should map it to your CC Liability Account.
>
> If this is a DEBIT card (or a Cheque Card) then you can just map
> it all to your checking account.
>
> You should read the GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide chapter
> on CC Accounts.
>
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>
> -derek
>

Derek, Thank you! It sometimes helps to be pointed in the right direction.
It is a credit card and not a check or debit card. I will read through the
tutorial on CC accounts. As I said I no nothing about accounting so it is
all Greek to me.

Thank you also for the information about replying to all. I haven't been
doing that with my posts.

Tim