Income shows as negative

[Stan Brown]

On 2018-03-10 22:48, am wrote:
> I just finished setting up gnuCASH and found that after entering 
> income (and other date ie expenses, etc) it shows up as negative(in
> parenthesis). This would mean a negative income? Why would it not
> show as expected - POSITIVE income since there was no loss. Is this
> how accounting works? What am I missing?
Accounting as you learned it sounds like I learned it:
Debits = Credits (or Debits - Credits = 0)
Assets + Expenses = Liabilities + Equities + Income
Most transactions increase the values of the accounts. For example, if
you buy something for $100 on credit, both Assets and Liabilities
increase by $100.

But GnuCash, instead of having a balance like that, instead sets up
Debits + Credits = 0
Assets + Expenses + Liabilities + Equities + Income = 0
If you buy something on credit, Assets increase by $100 and Liabilities
decrease by $100 -- i.e, Liabilities become more negative, and -400 is
less than -300.

You can make this go away, mostly, in Edit » Preferences » Accounts.
Under "Reverse Balance Accounts", select "credit accounts".

You'll get used to this after a while.

Unfortunately, some reports don't honor this preference, or their
treatment of it is buggy, so they will show credit accounts as negative
after you make this change. Income Statement and Balance Sheet reports
get it right; the General Ledger report (as opposed to the General
Ledger tool) puts the wrong sign on totals.

-- 
Regards,
Stan Brown
Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://BrownMath.com
http://OakRoadSystems.com