[GNC] Adding new income category or new expenses category

[Jim DeLaHunt]

Hello, Barry:

Welcome to GnuCash and welcome to the gnucash-user list. The word 
"Bellingham" in your signature caught my eye. Bellingham, WA is near 
where I live. It is known as the "the city of subdued excitement". :-)

On 2021-07-15 11:33, Barry G. Hall wrote:
> I am a new GnuCash user.  I successfully set up an account and imported my business bank account statement.
>
> In the list of transactions I was able to assign an income or expense category to each transaction, however there is no expense category for “advertising”, “consulting”, “internet” or equipment purchase. For my internet expenses I just used Subscriptions.
>
> Similarly, there is no income category for “sales”, so I used “Bonus”.
>
> It it possible to add new categories?  If so, how might I accomplish that?

Absolutely it is possible to add new categories (which GnuCash calls 
"accounts"). The GnuCash Help Manual has a section, "Setting Up, Editing 
& Working with Accounts" 
<https://www.gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?rev=4&lang=C&doc=help> which 
explains how. The place to start is the Accounts tab in the UI. There 
are "New" and "Edit" buttons in the toolbar which behave as you expect.

It is important to know that GnuCash has a unique identifier for each 
account, separate from the human-readable account name. Transactions 
record this identifier, not the human-readable account name. Thus, as 
you keep your books, you can rename accounts, and move accounts from one 
parent account to another, and the transactions you have already entered 
will continue to be accurate and consistent. This means you can start 
with an approximate chart of accounts, and improve over time, as you 
learn more.

You might also want to give the "Managing Business Finances" section of 
the GnuCash Tutorial 
<https://www.gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?rev=4&lang=C&doc=guide> a read, 
now that you have had some time using GnuCash itself. It might be useful 
orientation.

I have kept books for my small business in GnuCash for about 15 years. I 
have modified my business chart of accounts over time, and it has not 
been a problem.

> Thanks for your help.
>
> Barry G. Hall
> Director, Bellingham Research Institute
> barry at bellinghamresearch.com
> http://www.bellinghamresearch.com <http://www.bellinghamresearch.com/>
Best regards,
      —Jim "65km NW of Bellingham, WA" DeLaHunt, Vancouver, B.C.