Imbalance account

[Mike or Penny Novack]

On 7/13/2016 4:55 PM, Pete Haworth wrote:
> Thanks.  Looked more closely and found the transaction in my bank account,
> but the only entry in it is the posting to the Imbalance account, nothing
> else.  Should I delete it?
>
You are not understanding what causes assignment of an account to 
Imbalance.h

Let's say you are entering a deposit transaction to your bank account. 
The item (the check you were depositing) was you had from selling an old 
bureau at a lawn sale. You entered the date, perhaps filled in what the 
transaction was in the description, and the amount, then hit enter 
WITHOUT having specified the other side of the transaction << I don't 
know your CoA so can't say WHAT that account should have been, but with 
double entry bookkeeping there is always another side >>  So not knowing 
what else to do, gnucash put that into Imbalance. You correct by opening 
that transaction and specifying the other account.

Or let's say this bank transaction was a check you had written to pay 
your electric bill. Like above, you simply spaced filling in the other 
side account Expense:Utilities:Electric  << again, that's just a guess, 
I don't know YOUR CoA >>


If you don't understand what we mean by "other side of the transaction" 
go back and reread the tutorial, because your problem is not having a 
grasp of double entry.

Michael