[GNC] How to treat accommodation security deposit

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 11/22/2020 3:29 AM, Tony Vanson wrote:

>
> I anticipate renting a property for 1 month and will pay the rental up
> front plus a security deposit amount which will be returned at the finish
> of the rental period. I am totally in the dark how to approach this.
> Do I need some kind of split? The rental expense is a straight forward
> expense, but how do I input the security deposit - I tried it as an asset
> but that didn't work and doesn't seem right. Various other things i tried
> usually came up with an Imbalance entry.


It would  be a split transaction, and yes, the "rental deposit" is an 
escrow account, an asset. It is technically owed to you by the landlord.

It is easiest to enter slits (one sided splits) from the account which 
will have the largest amount. In this case, would likely be the bank 
account from which you wrote the check for month's rent plus deposit. 
You put that amount in, then hit "split". You then change the debit 
amount to the amount of rent and specify the account "rental expense". 
You then change the account of the remaining debit from Imbalance to 
"security deposit" << easiest if you have created this account first >>. 
All should then be in balance.

Michael D Novack