Entering expenses and income

[John Ralls]

On Feb 21, 2012, at 7:27 AM, chony wrote:

> Hi, I-m a totally newbie in accounting concepts and GnuCash. I noticed that
> when I declare and income, it creates a trasaction from an automatically
> created Inbalance-USD account. Why is that?
> 
> I read that a transaction always involes two accounts, but if so, how can I
> enter an income from a sell of a TV, for example? I sold my TV, I received
> money for it, so for GnuCash, where does the money shoud come? do I have to
> enter it first in a different account and the transfer ir to my Misc Income
> account? I-m clearly missing some basic accounting concepts here.
> 
> the same for expenses.. I created an Miscelaneus Expenses account (of type
> cash, like the Misc Incomes) GnyuCash, forces me to transfer the amount to
> the Inbalance-USD account. 
> 
> Is this Inbalance account always necessary?
> 
> Ok, I tried reading the help but it takses for granted the reader knows
> these basic concepts and doent explain them. Pleae help!
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 


Posting to the imbalance account happens when you don't balance a transaction -- for a simple transaction, that means that you didn't specify the balancing account in the "Transfer" column.

Please read the Tutorial and Guide [1], and perhaps a basic accounting book to learn how to use Gnucash correctly.

Regards,
John Ralls