Deposit with multiple items

[Richard C. Steffens]

Derek Atkins wrote:

>> How do I assign each item in the deposit to the appropriate account
>> during the split deposit action?

> You do it the same way you would do a split withdrawal; the total debits
> the bank account and then each split credits the income accounts.

For example, I have a deposit for $300, $100 of which was a
reimbursement and $200 came from a miscellaneous source. I have an
accounts called Income:Reimbursable In, and Income:Other. To enter the
deposit, I open Assets:Checking:My Bank, start a new entry by selecting
the date, type "Deposit" into the Description field, and then push the
Split button. On the next line, in the Memo field I type,
"Reimbursable In" in the Description field, and then I see
Assets:Checking:My Bank in the Account field. I change that to
Income:Reimbursable In, and then enter 100 in the Deposit field. When I
hit <ENTER>, the two fields I already entered go blank.

So, assuming I've misunderstood how it's supposed to work, I start over
and try to enter it in the same sort of way as the paycheck example in
the help manual.

I start the same way: I open Assets:Checking:My Bank, start a new entry
by selecting the date, type "Deposit" into the Description field, and
then push the Split button. On the next line I enter 300 in the deposit
field. On the next line I notice that there is 300 in the Withdrawal
field. I enter Reimbursable In in the Memo field, select
Income:Reimbursable In from the list in the Account field, and enter 100
in the Deposit Field. When I hit <ENTER> the 100 is accepted. When I hit
<ENTER> again, an new line is provided, but the 100 in the Deposit field
on the preceding line is gone, and there is now 200 in the Withdrawal
field, and 100 in the Withdrawal field on this new line. I enter "Other"
in the Memo field, select Income:Other from the list in the Account
field, and enter 200 in the Deposit field. When I hit <ENTER> I now see
five lines for this transaction. The first line has the date, the
description "Deposit", and an amount of 300.00 in the Deposit field. A
correct total of 759.70 is in the last column, there having been an
opening balance of 459.70. The second line has "Assets:Checking:My Bank"
in the Account field and 300.00 in the Deposit field. The third line has
"Other" in the Memo field, "Income:Other" in the Account field, and
100.00 in the Deposit field. The fourth line has "Reimbursable In" in
the Memo field, "Income:Reimbursable In" in the Account field, the word
Deposit (in italics) in the Deposit field, and 200.00 in the Withdrawal
field. The fifth line has only 200.00 in the Withdrawal field.

So, the balance looks right, but the distribution seems strange. Did I
do it the right way, or am I missing something? I mentioned that I was
new to GnuCash. I'm also fairly new to thinking in accounting terms.

Thanks for the input.

-- 
Regards,

Dick Steffens