beginning balance of income and expense accounts

[Dave H]

Aha good question Adrien, mine also only has Asset and Liabilities in the
Opening Balances :-)

Cheers Dave H.

On 25 March 2018 at 06:29, Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at gmail.com>
wrote:

> How do you have an opening balance for income or expenses at the beginning
> of the year? You haven’t earned or spent anything yet.
>
> You should be starting off with opening balances for assets and
> liabilities. Then as you earn and spend, the net of those newer entries are
> virtually calculated as ‘retained earnings/losses’ unless or until you
> close the books with an official entry to equity. (which is neither
> necessary, or necessarily desirable in Gnucash)
>
> Income should be balanced with debits to an asset(where the money went
> to), not equity.
> Expenses should be balanced with credits to an asset(where the money came
> from), not equity.
>
> Regards,
> Adrien
>
> > On Mar 24, 2018, at 3:09 PM, Lori Norden <lnorden at mchsi.com> wrote:
> >
> > I am starting Gnucash in the beginning of the year.  As I’m entering the
> beginning balance for each income and expense account, a transfer is being
> made to my Equity Opening Balance account.
> >
> > For income beginning balance entries – credits income; debits Equity
> Opening Balance
> > For expense beginning balance entries – debits expense, credits Equity
> Opening Balance
> >
> > The problem is my Equity is reduced by the amount of net income I made
> as of the beginning date, but should be increased.
> >
> > Should I be offsetting the beginning balances for income and expense to
> something other than Equity Opening Balance?  That’s what I thought the
> instructions indicated I should do.
> >
> > Thanks for your help
> >
> > Sent from Mail for Windows 10
> >
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