Customising the accounts hierarchy when beginning

[Maf. King]

On Tuesday, 18 April 2017 06:46:35 BST Stroller wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm new to Gnucash - I've only been messing with it a couple of days, but it
> seems very good.
> 
> My question is how I set up a new set of accounts with starting balance.
> 
> If I start a fresh set of accounts from "File" > "New File" I get the New
> Account Hierarchy Setup Screen. I skip through the new book options and
> arrive at the "New accounts to create" screen (is it ok to send screenshots
> to this list?).
> 
> At the "New accounts to create" screen we can include "A Simple Checkbook",
> "Common Accounts" and so on.
> 
> When I choose "Common Accounts" and move forward it allows me to enter an
> opening balance for the amount of cash in my wallet, checking account and
> savings account.
> 
> Having fiddled with Gnucash for a couple of days, it seems best for me to
> have the actual accounts I have - name them "Santander Current Account",
> "Cooperative Current Account" and so on.
> 
> Because I have more accounts than provided by the "Common Accounts" template
> I can't just enter the balances and change the names afterwards, and I
> can't see how to enter create more accounts at the stage at which I can
> enter an opening balance.
> 
> I have an existing set of accounts in which I've managed to create an
> accounts hierarchy which suits me, but it doesn't have opening balances. I
> see there are export options from this, but I don't see how to use them so
> I can then import my 6 or 7 bank accounts AND set up the opening balances
> like I can from the New File wizard.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any pointers,
> 
> Stroller.

Hi Stroller,

Welcome to GC & the list.

You can rename (and re-parent) accounts within your tree at will.  You can 
also create new accounts at any time, and you can either assign an opening 
balance when you create, or manually add an opening balance later on.

If you are looking at your tree view (Chart of Accounts), then Actions -> New 
Account  will bring up a dialogue box - mostly self explanatory, but pay 
attention to the Account Type & Parent sections at the bottom.  There is also 
a tab for Opening Balance - I'll leave you to work out the details of that!

To rename an existing account, then select that account in the tree and go to 
Edit -> Edit Account.

If you still need to add an opening balance to an account, then I suggest you 
create a new account first, and use its opening balance transaction as a 
template to copy into your existing accounts.  I'd put the date of an opening 
balance as the day before the start of your tax year (or whatever date you 
consider to be the first that GC knows about) - EG if you are starting GC from 
April 1st, put the opening balances as MArch 31 or so...

HTH,
Maf.