Question regarding "REBATE" category.

[Derek Atkins]

Hi David,

David Walsh <wnacous at pacbell.net> writes:

> Derek,                                                                        
>                                                                               
> Here are a couple of screenshots from the business account in question.       
> Hopefully this might shed some light on the situation. Feel free to request   
> any others that may help you to understand our dilemma. And thanks for your   
> continued assistance.                                                         

Thank you for your screen shots.  The issue is that you haven't
completely understood double-entry accounting.  I recommend you go back
and (re-)read the GnuCash Concepts & Tutorial Guide which will walk you
through it.

There are two problems you have:

1) You are trying to enter transactions directly into your Expense
Account (E.g. Equipment Repairs).  Don't do that!  Not because you
can't, but because most humans tend not to think that way.  Most humans
tend to think about "I spent $ on X", not "X got $ more".  To make it
easier you should always enter your transactions from the Asset or
Liability account from which you PAY for the item/service.  E.g., if you
paid with a Credit Card, then enter the transaction from the CC Account.

2) In the expense account you have the Transfer Account set to itself!
This is basically saying that you Paid for Expenses:Equipment Repairs
*from* Expense:Equipment Repairs!  That makes no sense!  Instead, you
should enter the transaction from your payment account (Checking?) and
from *there* use the Transfer Account of Expenses:Equipment Repairs.
Then you'll have a transaction that says "I spent $100 from Checking on
Equipment Repairs".

Seriously, go read the Concepts & Tutorial.  Please.  It will really
help clear this up for you.  It's very well written.  Just spend the
hour or three going through it and you'll understand this much better.

> Cheers,                                                                       
> David.                                                                        

-derek

> --- On Wed, 8/29/12, Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU> wrote:                    
>
>     From: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU>                                      
>     Subject: Re: Question regarding "REBATE" category.                        
>     To: "David Walsh" <wnacous at pacbell.net>                                   
>     Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org                                              
>     Date: Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 6:24 AM                                 
>                                                                               
>     David,                                                                    
>                                                                               
>     David Walsh <wnacous at pacbell.net> writes:                                 
>                                                                               
>     > Hello Derek,                                                            
>                                                                               
>     >                                                                         
>                                                                               
>     > Appreciate your patience. When I initially set up the account on        
>     Gnucash, I                                                                
>     > opted for the "business" account type found under Categories. Then was  
>     brought                                                                   
>     > to a similar screen as found in the drop-down menu EDIT ACCOUNT. Under  
>     the                                                                       
>     > "general" tab, I was unclear what to enter into the "Account Name" and  
>                                                                               
>     > "Account Code." But at the bottom of the same menu, I chose BANK as the 
>                                                                               
>     > Account type and under Parent Account, I chose Bank, then Checking      
>     Account as                                                                
>     > the sub-account. On the same menu (and next to the General tab), I went 
>     to the                                                                    
>     > Opening Balance tab. I entered our starting balance for the year and    
>     placed                                                                    
>     > the appropriate dates for the tax year (Jan 1 to Dec 31). Then, at the  
>     bottom                                                                    
>     > of the same menu, under the heading Initial Balance Transfer, I chose   
>     the "use                                                                  
>     > equity 'Opening Balances' account" option.                              
>
>     The Account Name is just that, the name of the account.  For example      
>     "SunTrust Checking".  The Code you can leave blank.                       
>                                                                               
>     > I'm hoping that, by explaining what I did during the initial start-up of
>     the                                                                       
>     > account, you might find the obvious flaw in my brilliant choice making  
>                                                                               
>     > process! And thank you again for any assistance you might be able to    
>     provide,                                                                  
>     > cheers.                                                                 
>
>     Nope, not helping at all.  If you chose Bank then the headings should be  
>     Deposit and Withdrawal.  Maybe you could post a screen shot?              
>                                                                               
>     My questions are:                                                         
>                                                                               
>     a) What account register do you have open?  and                           
>     b) What is the *type* of that account?                                    
>                                                                               
>     You claim it's a Bank, but are you sure you're opening that bank account  
>     register?  Can you show us what you are seeing?                           
>                                                                               
>     > Respectfully,                                                           
>                                                                               
>     > David.                                                                  
>
>     -derek                                                                    
>                                                                               
>     --                                                                        
>            Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory           
>            Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)           
>            URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH           
>            warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available           
>
>
>
>

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available