Setting up equipment assets for new business

[Beth Leonard]

On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 10:19:13AM -0700, Cam Ellison wrote:
> John Jason Jordan wrote:
>> Do I assume correctly that the offset for the debits to the Equipment
>> accounts will be a credit to Opening Balances - Equity?
>>   
> No - expense them.  My accountant has me use Expenses:Amortization - you  
> can call it Depreciation, if you prefer.

The initial entry is usually under Equity:Opening Balances: Contributions
as another poster suggested.  When you do the depreciation, the balancing
account is an expense.  Usually you do depreciation at about the same
time you close the books for the year, and then you close out the
total of the Expenses:Depreciation account to the Equity:Retained Earnings
account.

Earlier:
>> I created an asset account called "Equipment."
>> If I enter an item in the Increase column ... when I hit enter to
>> add the entry GnuCash automatically adds a credit for the same amount
>> in the Equipment account, leaving Equipment with a zero balance. I
>> can't figure out where the offset to the debit for a new equipment
>> item should go.

I'm assuming you have this problem figured out by now -- use the "Transfer"
column to select the Equity:Opening Balances: Contributions account.  After
you enter an amount, the transaction will show up in both places in the
correct columns.

--Beth 
Beth Leonard
http://www.LeonardFamilyVideos.com