[GNC] Problems organizing accounts to process reimbursement of expenses

[Daffy Duck]

Mike,
Thanks.  If I hadn't learned basic bookkeeping, I wouldn't have been
using gnucash without major issues for the last 15+ years.
I don't think split is the way to go here, because it's mirrored to an
actual transaction(but I could be wrong).
For instance, the electric bill is paid for by the credit card, and the
transfer is between credit card and
house:expenses:utilities:electricity - that is where the 100% of the
charge shows
I then annotate it separately, the 10%, in expenses:expenses I paid - I
am thinking this may be wrong, because now it's showing 110% under
combined expenses, because I already showed 10%
The transfer here is from the assets - debts to company 
When I'm reimbursed, it transfers from my checking account, where it is
deposited, and should decrease the amount from assets: debts to
company.  Instead, it is increasing(or decreasing a negative, which
means it looks like an additional charge).
That is what I'm trying to figure out what to do differently.  I think
this is beyond basic bookkeeping.  I'll admit I probably should have
known about this before, but I thought I'd ask because I'm able to do
everything else with gnucash and I have been for over 15 years.
Thank you for your time,
On Sun, 2019-12-15 at 10:59 -0500, Michael or Penny Novack wrote:
> Just a periodic reminder about questions like this. We may be able to
> help you BUT this is not a question about gnucash, not a question
> "how do I do this in gnucash" but how do I set up these
> accounts/transactions using ANY method of doing double entry
> bookkeeping, even the old fashioned way of pen and ink on lined
> accounting paper < how it was when I learned 60+ years ago >
> What you are missing --- an expense for which the business reimburses
> you is not YOUR expense. You say only a portion is reimbursed> For
> the purpose of this example I will assume 1/2  (you use whatever is
> right for you). Let's say there is an expense item for share of home
> office electric bill and that the home office was assigned 1/8 of the
> total electric bill.
> You pay an electric bill of $160. You would enter this as a split
> transaction:
> debits: rest of house electric $140              home office
> electric           $10              reimbursable expenses $10     
> (this is an asset account; owed to you by employer -- not YOUR
> expense)  credits: checking account    check #xxxxx      description:
> paid march electric bill<< note: I have shown this as would appear in
> an old fashioned journal --- a gnucash question might be how do I do
> it in a virtual journal system like gnucash, how do I do a split
> transaction, etc. >>
> The company reimburses you for its share of home office expense:
>  debit: checking account $10credit: reimbursable expenses     $10
>       description: deposit of reimbursement check
> When both of these transactions have completed, the balance in
> reimbursable expenses will be zero (had a debit for $10 and a credit
> for $10).
> I'm sorry, but while gnucash makes the process of entering
> transactions easier and MUCH less prone to error than the old
> fashioned way and makes producing reports easier it does NOT mean you
> can skip learning basic bookkeeping.
> Michael D Novack
> 
> 
> On 12/15/2019 2:33 AM, Daffy Duck wrote:
> > Hello,
> > I'm trying to set up an account scheme that adequately tracks
> > expensesthat the business reimburses me for due to using a home
> > office.  Thisis separate from using a business credit card, because
> > only a portionis reimbursable.
> > The relevant accounts in my personal book are:
> > Checking account - account type bank
> > Expense debt - account type asset (since it's owed to me)
> > Business expense paid personally - Expense
> > Credit card - credit card
> > ---
> > 
> > Whenever I pay certain bills, I annotate in Business expense
> > paidpersonally, and it's transferred from expense debt
> > account(expense debtdecreases as expenses increase)
> > This was working fine, but when I was reimbursed for my expenses to
> > mychecking account, I had it transfer between expense debt, so it
> > woulddecrease the amount that the business owes me.
> > The problem is, it's already in the negative as its listed as
> > anasset(expense debt), so the reimbursement payment just increases
> > theamount of that, going the opposite way I'm trying to go.
> > Instead of the business debt being $437 and I get reimbursed for
> > $437and make it 0, it's listed as -$437 and after the reimbursement
> > hits,it's -$874.
> > What am I doing wrong here?
> > Thank you,
> > _______________________________________________gnucash-user mailing
> > listgnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see 
> > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
> > -----Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.You can do
> > this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.