Shareholders/Owners Equity Question

[John Ralls]

On Jul 24, 2012, at 8:19 PM, quest46 wrote:

> I'm using GnuCash 2.4.11.
> OS: Windows 7
> 
> I'm switching software. So, I'm trying to set up my accounts, in GnuCash,
> but I hit a snag when it came to the "Equity" part.
> 
> My old software (Simply Accounting) allowed me to create "Voting",
> "Non-voting", and "Preferred", etc. accounts, in the "Equity" section. Then
> I could enter an opening amount, for each - which, since I'm switching
> software, now, has to be the case this time, too. Afterwards, I could change
> the value of those sub-accounts via the General Journal.
> 
> Yet, I'm finding GnuCash to be a bit odd (not user-friendly/flexible), in
> this matter. Rather than just being a header, the "Equity" account reflects
> a rigid running net-total and any sub-accounts cannot start with an opening
> amount.
> 
> I've spent hours trying to find a work-around or solution, but I could not
> find any.
> 
> So, is there a way to get GnuCash to act more like Simply Accounting, when
> it comes to shareholders/owners equity accounts?


No. It's not entirely clear from your description what Simply Accounting was trying to accomplish, but
those categories, while they might be interesting to an investment management program (which Gnucash is not)
are not significant to accounting, and the usage of "Equity" is incorrect. Investments are assets, regardless of what 
class of stock they might be. Equity is, as Gnucash uses it, the accumulated net value of prior years' business income
and expenses. Its misuse by the home mortgage industry notwithstanding, it has no meaning in personal accounting.

That said, you're certainly free to set up container (asset) accounts with those headings and to place your stock accounts
into them as you find appropriate. If you have multiple brokerage accounts you will probably find it useful to create that hierarchy under each brokerage.

Regards,
John Ralls