Basic Register - Removing Unwanted Columns

Buddha Buck blaisepascal at gmail.com
Wed Sep 13 13:24:57 EDT 2017


Keith,

The "Transfer" column isn't ever going to go away. It's fundamental to the
concept of double-entry bookkeeping as GnuCash implements it. Double-entry
bookkeeping tracks flows of value, and the transfer column says what the
other side of the flow is.

As for debit and credit, roughly speaking debits are places where money
goes, and credits are places where money comes from. But different people
involved in a transaction see things in different ways.

For instance, if you borrow $100 from a friend, to you you are getting
money from your friend (crediting her "Loan from Sheila") and putting it in
your wallet (debiting your "cash on hand"). She, on the other hand, see it
as taking money from her wallet (crediting her "cash on hand") and giving
it to you (debiting her "Loan to Keith"). It's the same transaction, but
what each side records is different.

The same holds for a bank account. When you deposit your paycheck, you are
getting money from your employer (crediting your "Income from Work"
account) and putting it in the bank (debiting your "Acme Bank Account").
Your bank, on the other hand, is getting money from you (crediting their
"Keith Winans" account) and putting it in their big pile of money (debiting
their "Cash On Hand" account).

When you get a bank statement, they just list off all the transactions in
their "Keith Winans" account, which shows your paycheck as a "credit". From
their point of view it is, but from your point of view, it's a debit.


On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 11:22 AM David T. via gnucash-user <
gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:

> With regard to Debit/Credit: common use of these terms is not the same as
> use in formal accounting. Take a look at the Guide beginning at
> https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.6/C/gnucash-guide/basics-accounting1.html
> <https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.6/C/gnucash-guide/basics-accounting1.html
> >
>
> Cheers,
> David
>
> > On Sep 13, 2017, at 7:48 PM, Fross, Michael <michael at fross.org> wrote:
> >
> > Keith,
> >
> > I unchecked "Use Formal Accounting Labels" in the Preferences Accounts
> > tab.  This confused me as well, but the new "Deposit" "Withdrawal" make a
> > lot more sense to me.
> >
> > I'm interested to hear how this is correct in accounting speak.
> >
> > Michael
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 9:37 AM, Keith Winans <winanskeith at gmx.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> I only want to use the gnucash register to keep track of my deposits and
> >> payments.
> >> I would like to remove 'Num, Transfer, and R' from the list of columns.
> >> Is there any way to do this?
> >>
> >> Also, the Debit and Credit columns seem to me to be backward.
> >> I enter a deposit in the Credit column and it comes out as a negative.
> >> I enter a payment in the Debit column and it comes in as a deposit.
> >> Please clarify this for me please, this is my first time to use a check
> >> register program.
> >> Thanks,
> >> Keith
> >> _______________________________________________
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