Starting with GNUCASH

[Dustin Henning]

Quick answer, because I'm short on time: Really, you CAN do this however you
want.  I haven't read the getting started guide or manual, but they may have
examples of a good way to do it.  Technically, you SHOULD make it reflect
reality / tax laws in your jurisdiction, so you need to ask an accountant
how it should look at the end of the day if you care about that.  I don't do
escrow, but since a mortgage is an owed amount, I have a transaction from a
mortgage interest account to the mortgage account when interest is charged.
Another way to do it would be to use a split transaction, so the whole sum
comes out of your checking account, but part goes to the mortgage, part goes
to the interest, and part goes to the escrow, each directly.  Either of
these PROBABLY makes more sense than having a separate pass-through account,
but I am not an accountant.  If you want to figure it out on your own (vs
looking at help, guides, or the manual), the split button on the toolbar is
one way to make one transaction have multiple destinations (and/or sources).
	Dustin

-----Original Message-----
From: gnucash-user-bounces+the00dustin=gmx.net at gnucash.org
[mailto:gnucash-user-bounces+the00dustin=gmx.net at gnucash.org] On Behalf Of
Jeff VanderDoes
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2012 01:25
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Starting with GNUCASH

All,

I'm eager to start using gnucash but realize there is a learning curve to
get it right. I''ve read the concepts manual and the user guide but don't
claim to have absorbed it all.  Having used quicken and MS Money for many
years I'm sure I've gained habits that I'll have to relearn in gnucash.
 I'm pretty confident with a bit of guidance I can get it figured out
though.

I'm starting out with understanding the pkg from a personal user perspective
and leave business use to a future date for now. The area where I'm
pondering most about is the understanding of how to apply the transactions I
receive from the bank.  I think I have understanding of checking account
usage  and individual expense account to record transactions.

Loans have me a little baffled. Say mortgage has payment and some goes to
reduce principal and some goes to escrow for taxes and insurance and
interest on loan goes to expense account.  Do I use the accounts and minus
from checking and add to escrow. then do another set of transactions minus
from escrow and add to interest expense; credit from escrow and debit (I get
debit and credit confused) mortgage loan... then when taxes paid credit from
escrow and debit home insurance (expense account)?  Do I ever have a
transaction to some type of equity account?

----

what about a home equity loan... since it's a loan against the house what
accounts would i set up and how would I record a payment on the loan?

Thanks for initial pointers...
Jeff
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