Basic information screen

[Curlyfoo]

Hi Geert.  I suspect  I'm not using Gnucash in the way it was intended. I just need a very basic money program so I can keep track of our spending & allows me to reconcile my NZ &  UK bank accounts. UK account I put date then skip 'num' unless a cheque, then shop or supermarket or wages etc in description. In transfer I choose from drop down list food;groceries or clothing or wages, then in deposit I put sterling amount if a deposit  eg wages or pension or if a bill this goes in withdrawal column. I then have a balance & push enter. This is when I get the basic info screen. 
In my NZ account : date. Description eg NZ super, retirement income; pension, NZ $ 111.11in deposit, skip withdrawal, shows balance, enter. If it's an AP transaction I go through same process but value goes in withdrawal column. 
Thanks for taking the time to help me 😊



> On 26/10/2015, at 6:47 PM, Geert Janssens <geert.gnucash at kobaltwit.be> wrote:
> 
> On Monday 26 October 2015 17:36:43 Curlyfoo wrote:
> > Thanks John. I am now officially overloaded with geek speak 😳😨 meant
> > in the nicest possible way. I think I will just have to live with it
> > 😊. I suspect this forum is not for us beginners. Thanks for trying.
>  
> Ok, let's try another approach:
>  
> You say your GBP account only has £'s in and £'s out. That doesn't make sense in GnuCash. When £'s leave your GBP account, they are transferred to another account (one of your expense accounts no doubt). That's the basis of double entry accounting gnucash is built upon.
>  
> So that other account, where you "send" the £'s to (the one you enter in the transfer column in the GBP account register), in what currency is that denominated ? Is that also in £ or is that in NZ $ ? If the latter, gnucash will have to ask you for an exchange rate.
>  
> Regards,
>  
> Geert
>  
> > > On 26/10/2015, at 2:14 PM, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:
> > >> On Oct 26, 2015, at 1:34 AM, Curlyfoo <curlyfoo at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> Thanks for your help, John. I don't need Gnucash to do any
> > >> conversions as this account only has £s in and £s out. No foreign
> > >> currency is used. I may try changing the base currency which is
> > >> set as NZ $ to sterling when in UK and reverting to NZ $ when in
> > >> New Zealand. Would that work? Thanks
> > >
> > > Please remember to copy the list on all replies.
> > >
> > > You can’t change the base currency, you can only change the default
> > > currency and that only operates when you’re creating a new account:
> > > The account editor presents it as the default currency, which as
> > > you know you can override. Neither should have an affect on what
> > > the transaction commodity is, and that along with the split
> > > commodity (derived from the account the split affects) is what
> > > determines whether an exchange rate is required.
> > >
> > > Accounts don’t have £s in and £s out. Accounts have a commodity (of
> > > which currency is a special type). Do you think that you’re getting
> > > the Transfer Dialog when you’re creating transactions solely
> > > between two GBP accounts?
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > John Ralls
> >
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