Re: Help with GnuCash! Why is there a “Rebate” column in the Expense account on GnuCash?

[Richard Bishopp]

Robby.  I was just updating my expenses and income (pay check Friday). I
think I see exactly what you are doing.

I think you are recording your transactions in the expenses area and not
the asset area of the list of accounts.  In expenses the columns read
Expense and Rebate.

When I spend money I go to the credit card account I set up in liabilities
and record it there as a charge.  I do that since that is where the money
comes from.  While recording that expense there I select the expense
account it goes to like gas or groceries.  So that column (transfer) shows
Expenses:Groceries  for example.  If I pay by check, then same thing. I
open the checking account in the list of accounts and record it there. This
is a decrease in the asset account>checking.   I rarely ever record a
transaction directly in the expense account.  I just direct the expense to
the correct expense account in the transfer column while creating a record
of the transfer in the account where the money is ( the checking account ).

This is the basics of the double entry (which I know you understand).
 Again only use the expense accounts listed or created by you to see what
went where.
Again I am firefighter not a computer whiz or accountant so getting this
straight myself took some time.  I had to teach myself some basic
accounting but I think I have a grip enough for my own personal book
keeping.

Hope that helps.

Rich...


On Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 5:31 AM, David Carlson <carlson.dl at sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> On 10/18/2012 6:00 PM, Robby Burns wrote:
> > So...if I make charges on my credit card, and then pay the credit card at
> > the end of the month, the money will come out of my bank account...but it
> > will all come out as one lump some credit card payment?
> >
> > or...do I go in each month and go line by line (off the credit card bill)
> > and enter the sub-category that I spent the money on...without showing
> that
> > it was an actual credit card payment?
> >
> > And...with all politeness..I still have not received an answer as to how
> I
> > get rid of the "Rebate" header on the column. How do I change those
> headers?
> >
> > If I want one to say "Expense"...what should the other ones say.
> >
> > Maybe I am just too stupid to be using GnuCash.  Huh?
> >
> > Robby
> >
> >
> >
>
> I used Reply All to ensure that this gets to the list, as sometimes
> Reply List doesn't work.
>
> It is time to take a break, eat and sleep before looking at this again.
> You are not stupid.
> GnuCash is a rather sophisticated program that is not always easy to
> adapt to individual's needs.
> Many other users on this mail-list have been trying to help you adapt
> the program to your needs.
> We are as frustrated as you are when we see that we are not solving your
> problems.
>
> To specifically address only the topics you raise in this e-mail:
>
> You used your credit card at several different stores to pay for several
> different things.  If you want to be able to see how much you spent on
> some types of things you enter transactions in a credit card register to
> show how much these things cost and where you got them from.  If you
> don't care about those details, just enter a single transaction totaling
> all of them as miscellaneous.
> Then, when you get the bill from the credit card company you pay them
> one lump sum from another bank account, so this is only one transaction.
>
> There were a few comments attempting to address your question about the
> word "Rebate"  I, for one addressed it in my previous e-mail in this
> thread.  Others also noted that you can go into
> edit:preferences:Accounts:Labels and change the column titles to Credit
> and Debit instead of the the "Informal" titles which vary depending on
> the type of account, and happen to be "Expense" and "Rebate" for
> accounts of the type "Expense".  Those are the only two user selectable
> choices at this time.
>
> If you take another look at the Tutorial and Concept Guide Basics
> section you see that there are 5 different types of accounts.  You have
> assets, liabilities, income, expenses and equity.  Each type is treated
> a little bit differently in GnuCash. GnuCash is very rigid about using
> these five types because following these rules makes it easier to avoid
> mistakes.  Other personal finance programs also follow these rules more
> or less and one of them may meet your needs.  No one is forcing you to
> use GnuCash.
>
> David C
>