Basic information screen

[Geert Janssens]

On Monday 26 October 2015 19:28:00 Curlyfoo wrote:
> 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.

Unfortunately GnuCash is not "a very basic money program". It's an accounting package which 
assumes you'll do double entry accounting.

You can use it to keep track of your spending and it will allow you to reconcile your NZ & UK 
bank accounts, but you will have to abide to the rules of double entry accounting in the process. 
That's not optional as this is at the core of how GnuCash works.

I believe it may help you a lot to go through the first chapters of our fine Tutorial and concepts 
guide [1]. It will be difficult to help you use the program efficiently for your purpose without 
grasping these core concepts.

> 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.

For this transaction there are two accounts involved:
- Your UK bank account (which keeps track of your money in £)
- The groceries expense account which you selected from the dropdown menu. From your 
questions I infer this account tracks your groceries expenses in NZ $.

As the two accounts use a different currency to keep track of their part of the transaction, you 
need to specify an exchange rate and as such the transfer dialog is shown.

> 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.

In this case both accounts involved are in NZ $. So GnuCash won't need an exchange rate.

Please note that "account" in this context is wider than just "bank account". In Quicken or other 
simple money tracking applications this is sometimes called a category. But those applications 
don't do double entry accounting.

> Thanks for taking the time to help me 😊
> 

You're welcome. Again if you wish to use gnucash, please read the first few chapters in the 
tutorial and concepts guide. It should help you on your way.

Regards,

Geert

[1] http://gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?rev=2.6&lang=C&doc=guide