[GNC] How should I enter values on a budget in gnucash ?

[Adrien Monteleone]

Michael,

Of course, I understand your points.

I was speaking specifically from the perspective of the budgeting module.

Budgeting to put cash in savings, investment, or other asset, or peg it to equity doesn’t (with some minor exceptions) change what you have available to spend, it just changes its location/form. (which would be more in line with the term ’transfer’ as used in the summary section)

Paying a liability *does* decrease your spendable cash. So from a budgeting perspective that isn’t really a ’transfer’ as it appears the summary line intends.

Budgeting allots inflows. It isn’t about double-entry balancing. You don’t even need to allocate everything, or even determine from whence it came.

The summary section could also read “Inflows, Outflows, Transfers, Total” and convey the same info.

Chris,

Maybe those would be better terms to avoid confusion that budgeting has to be double-entry? It would also more properly describe the budgeting process and its purpose, where the registers/ledger handle the double-entry of the actual activity.

Regards,
Adrien



> On Oct 29, 2019 w44d302, at 12:44 PM, Michael or Penny Novack <stepbystepfarm at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> On 10/29/2019 9:40 AM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
>> No objection here —I always thought it odd that Liabilities didn’t have its own total line, and thought ’Transfers’ should only include Assets & Equity. (you are transferring one asset to another, with no effect on net position, but paying a liability would change your net position)
>> 
> Assets and Equity are NOT "both assets"  << this is confusing a different meaning of equity>>
> 
> A transfer between "assets" and "liabilities"does NOT change net position (ie: equity). A transfer from assets to liabilities that is "paying a liability" is a debit to a liability (reducing it) and a credit to an asset (reducing it) so no net change as the debit and credit will be equal. Taking on more debt, a debit to an asset and a credit to a liability also does not change net position (equity)
> 
> What sort of transaction would be a transfer between an asset and equity?  Why do you think that this would not be a change to your net position?
> 
> Michael D Novack