Basic information screen

Tue Oct 27 04:40:18 EDT 2015

Hi Jill. No, I don't mix £ and $, they're completely separate but I realised last night that the problem was, as you suggest, in the expense account as I use same drop down list for both. I guess I just wanted to know how to override this basic information screen but have been told that it's not an option. I've  been using the same system for years (obviously incorrectly) 😀and this screen is a recent occurrence since doing an upgrade. Thanks Jill for understandable, simple info. 

> On 27/10/2015, at 5:28 AM, Jill Terry <jill at babrees.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> GnuCash can be used basically for keeping track of your money.  It just sounds that you may not have the expense accounts set up correctly.
> 
> Are you using the same expense accounts (your drop down list - food;groceries or clothing or wages) for both your UK and NZ bank accounts?   If you are then that is your problem.
> 
> If these accounts are set up for GBP and you then try to enter NZ currency into them it will ask you for exchange rate OR to enter what the amount is in that currency.  It has to.  If you consider transferring money from your UK bank account to your NZ bank account the amount will not be the same, ie 200 in UK won't be 200 in NZ.  It's the same with your expense accounts.  You can't mix currencies because the final figures would then be incorrect.
> 
> The best way to set it up is to have TWO expense accounts for food, clothing, etc.   One in UK currency and the other in NZ.   I name mine Food UK and Food Euro.
> 
> Does that help you?   Do you need help with your expense accounts currencies?
> 
> Cheers
> Jill
> 
> 
>> On 26/10/2015 19:28, 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. 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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