- Novice Question.

[David T.]

Oh. Okay, I misunderstood what you meant by an Intuit style interface. And your solution sounds fine—a lot like having an Imbalance-AUD account, only one that you have created yourself. ;)

It’s clear that you’re more of an accountant than I am, since you mention Pacioli. I say that with respect. As a fumble-fingered ex-Quicken hack user, I appreciate the Imbalance-USD account, as it makes it clear when I have fumbled something up (again). Speaking of which, I should probably go open that account up again and see what I’ve screwed up lately!

Cheers,
David

> On Nov 12, 2016, at 3:00 PM, John R. Sowden <jsowden at americansentry.net> wrote:
> 
> The issue is not related to double entry accounting, and by the way, I only use double entry account as the monk Pacioli designed.  If a petty cash check is being posted with a CR to cash and 4 DRs to the expense accounts, closing the transaction with one of the DRs not posted makes the transaction out of balance. The Intuit issue relates to doing the data entry in the middle of the register, and changing the amounts in the DR and CR columns without the specific action by the user.  When I am doing accounting data entry, I need to keep tract of which account and which amount needs to be posted, not watching the activity of the computer program and trying to keep track of what it is doing.
> 
> I solved the posting issue years ago, not by adapting to or changing a program, but by creating an procedure in my accounting activity. Years ago, I might make started entering a transaction, and part way through, I got stuck.  "How do I complete this transaction?"  I set up an asset account where I put the unposted part, with a comment. I know where the money went, and I know why.  The transaction always closed in balance.  Oh yes, and I am the one who moved the money to my Asset account, not the program behind the scenes.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> On 11/12/2016 01:30 AM, David T. wrote:
>> John,
>> 
>> GnuCash is fundamentally based on double entry accounting. If the user fails to enter the second part of a transaction, GnuCash will finish the transaction, as you say. And, yes, there has been discussion about forcing the software to stop each time a user fails to enter the second part of a transaction, and the general consensus has been that the current solution is preferable to a user setting or a repeated nag screen. I’m not exactly sure how GnuCash could ever possibly adopt an Intuit (I chuckled at your typo, BTW) style of interface; Intuit does not enforce double entry accounting, which is the primary definition of what GnuCash is. So, yes, if you don’t want double entry accounting, you *will* need to find another accounting program. However, if you can wrap your head around double entry, then GnuCash performs admirably.
>> 
>> Moreover, the Imbalance account itself is an audit trail—and an easy one to troubleshoot, since you can open that account up and see what precisely has ended up there.
>> 
>> For the OP, the solution I would recommend would be to open up the Imbalance-AUD account, and systematically edit each transaction in that account, changing the Imbalance-AUD split to its appropriate expense account (e.g., Expenses:Auto). Once that register is empty, you will have corrected all the mis-entered transactions.
>> 
>> David T.
>> 
>> 
>>> On Nov 12, 2016, at 1:43 PM, John R. Sowden <jsowden at americansentry.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> The reason you have an "imbalance" account entry is because GC allows you to create transactions that are out of balance, then does not warn you, so if you close a transasction before it is complete, GC moves the unposted amount to the 'imbalance' account, without warning or an audit trail.  No audit trail is why you cannot find the problem easily.  Eventually you can find it unless more than one  transaction's 'imbalance'  made up the current balance.  I have written about this before, as well as the fact that they want the transaction data entry to look like  Intuit (Quicken, etc.), so the amounts change before you eyes as you are making an entry.  There has been a debate as to whether the user should be warned before closing the transaction. (A debate?!)    There should be a check box in the config file to allow the user (victim) to choose between Inuit style of data entry and standard accounting data entry.  The solution I was presented with on this forum  was 'go find another accounting program'.
>>> 
>>> John R. Sowden
>>> American Sentry Systems, Inc.
>>> Small business owner for 45 years
>>> 2 Years Business Classes in our local Community College
>>> Published Review of Accounting Packages
>>> Designed various accounting programs starting with dBASE II under CP/M in 1981
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 11/11/2016 09:19 PM, Owen Carlton wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>> 
>>>> I have just installed GnuCash 2.6.14 on my Win 10 Pro 64bit PC.
>>>> 
>>>>  I had no issues setting up my Chart of Accounts.
>>>> 
>>>>  I added the Opening Balances for 30/09/2016 and then Saved the File.
>>>> 
>>>>  Today I entered Incomes and Expenses Account values for period ending
>>>> 31/10/2016.
>>>> 
>>>>  The problem I am seeing now relates to when I run the Balance Sheet Report.
>>>> 
>>>>  Under Assets, I notice the numbers for the Assets Sub Accounts have not
>>>> changed from the 30/09/2016 Opening Balances and there is a new Account
>>>> (Imbalance-AUD) which has contains a figure of $14,713.
>>>> 
>>>>  I cannot determine what has caused this to appear like this and cannot
>>>> determine how that figure has been arrived at.
>>>> 
>>>>  If I simply look at the Income and Expense Account Values for the period end
>>>> 31/10/2016, I should see Income increased by a value of $813 and Expenses
>>>> increased by $15806.
>>>> 
>>>>  The only entries that cause me to worry I have done something wrong is as
>>>> follows.
>>>> 
>>>>  At the period ending 30/09/2016, I had three Banking Entries ( Cash at Hand
>>>> Trading Account, Term Deposit 1 and Term Deposit 2 )
>>>> 
>>>> At period ending 31/10/2016, I have an Expense Entry of $7000, which should
>>>> reduce Cash at Hand Trading Account by $7000 and which needs to be
>>>> Transferred back to Term Deposit 2 to increase it value.
>>>> 
>>>> I cannot work out a method of Transferring this Expense Item to the Term
>>>> Deposit 2 Account.
>>>> 
>>>> Nor do I know if this $7000 is part of the Imbalance-AUD issue.
>>>> 
>>>>  I am hoping someone with more experience than myself, can assist me in
>>>> solving this issue.
>>>> 
>>>>  Regards
>>>> 
>>>> Owen Carlton
>>>> 
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