How can I input opening balance on GNUCash mobile on Android?

Adrien Monteleone adrien.monteleone at gmail.com
Mon Mar 21 12:54:45 EDT 2016


Akihiro,

'Equity' can refer to stocks or shares as well.

If you were dealing with books for a business, the clearer term for this would be "Owner's Equity." This would most likely be in the form of stocks or shares of the company. (Though it can take other forms)

Since you are dealing with books for an individual, the equity or share of ownership in the assets belongs to you. There is no separation between entities because there is only one—you.

Since you are the one who had those assets when starting GnuCash, the proper way to balance the increase in assets in the GnuCash records is to list them as Equity::Opening Balances.

Remember, the general accounting equation is:

Assets = Liabilities + Equity

If you increase an asset, you have to increase either Liabilities or Equity for the equation to remain true and in balance.

Since you own those assets, such as cash for example, you reflect that as your equity. (you wouldn't use Liability because then you would be claiming you owe that asset to yourself, which doesn't make sense)

You were on the right track already in your understanding of Equity. The nuance is in the fact that you are creating books for yourself, not a separate company you own.

Regards,

Adrien


On Mar 20, 2016, at 10:07 AM, gnucash-user-request at gnucash.org wrote:

> From: 森口晃宏 <ameniutaeba1978 at gmail.com>
> Date: March 19, 2016 10:06:14 PM CDT
> To: John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>
> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: How can I input opening balance on GNUCash mobile on Android?
> 
> 
> 2016-03-20 11:49 GMT+09:00, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>:
>> 
>>> On Mar 19, 2016, at 6:05 AM, Akihiro <ameniutaeba1978 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi all,I'm Japanese. So if I you don't understand my English, please let
>>> me
>>> know to correct my English and solve my problem.I'm quite new to both
>>> ledger
>>> entry and GNUCash.After getting accustomed to another book keeping app on
>>> Android to keep my daily money transferring,Now I'm trying to change to
>>> GNUCash.I followed instructions here, above around Figure D.
>>> http://www.techrepublic.com/article/gnucash-a-powerful-mobile-financial-tool-for-android/
>>> <http://www.techrepublic.com/article/gnucash-a-powerful-mobile-financial-tool-for-android/>
>>> 
>>> But I think the instruction for inputting opening balances don't work.I
>>> also
>>> tried to export data with opening balance from GNUCash on mac into
>>> Android,
>>> but don't know how to import on Android side.If there are anybody use
>>> GNUCash mobile on Android, please tell me how to input opening balance on
>>> it.Any comment will be appreciated and thanks in advance.Akihiro
>> 
>> Akihiro,
>> 
>> Your English is fine.
>> You might find it useful to read our Tutorial and Concepts Guide at
>> http://www.gnucash.org/docs.phtml. There's even a Japanese translation, and
>> while it's a bit out of date most of it is still valid.
>> 
>> Instructions for importing your data into the Android app are at
>> https://gnucash.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/741834-importing-gnucash-xml.
>> Ngewi provides support for GnuCash for Android at
>> https://plus.google.com/communities/104728406764752407046.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls
>> 
>> 
> Hi John,
> Thank you for your help.
> 
> Now I found my misunderstanding on "Equity" which means "Property" or
> "Assets", not "Stock" or "Share" I had thought.
> 
> Now I can input Opening Balances of my Current Assets with
> "Equity:Opening  Balances".
> 
> Accounting English is different from my English understanding, but fun :-)
> Thank you.
> 
> Akihiro



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