[GNC] Can I reverse the "deposit" and "withdrawal" columns for checkbook entry?

[D.]

"despite the great variety of the world, one cannot expect much flexibility in GnuCash"

Seriously? I'm personally astounded by the myriad ways gnucash can be implemented to meet a worldwide community's diverse needs. But, sure, say what you like.


-------- Original Message --------
From: John Morris <johnjeff at editide.us>
Sent: Sat Oct 16 14:53:19 EDT 2021
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Can I reverse the "deposit" and "withdrawal" columns for checkbook entry?

All these arguments hold very little water in the real world. The fact remains that the OP's bank does not follow the rules that some people think "should be." That bank is not alone in its practice. I interact regularly with three different financial institutions, only one of which follows the practice advocated by the most ardent GnuCash supporters. Another follows the OP's bank's practice and puts the deposits on the right and the withdrawals on the left, although it does call these credits and debits, respectively, in alignment with the GnuCash description of these terms. The third institution gives no running balance and reports both deposit and withdrawal transactions in the same column. Such is the variety of the world, and I'm sure it is much greater than this.

   Spouting rules and practices does not change the fact that there is still very little standardization in the financial world. We each have ways we like to work and, given the variety in the world, it is relatively easy to find examples to support just about any reasonable choice.


   The main point to take away from this discussion is that, despite the great variety of the world, one cannot expect much flexibility in GnuCash. Ease of use is not a GnuCash feature. It does things the way the developers think they should be done, and anyone who would like to do things differently can just go find some other software or develop their own. Tough luck!

Best,
John
On 10/16/21 2:01 PM, Stan Brown wrote:
> 
> On 2021-10-16 08:22, Tom Browder wrote:
>> My bank's checkbook register has the "withdrawal" and "deposit" columns in
>> the reverse order of that shown in Gnucash. Is there any way to reverse
>> them in Gnucash for ease of use?
> 
> I'm sticking my neck out here, but I believe the answer is "no".
> 
> * A deposit is a debit entry to your checking account because it
> increases the value of that asset, and a debit -- which is an increase
> of assets or expenses but a decrease of liabilities,  equity, or income
> -- always goes on the left.
> 
> * Contrariwise, a withdrawal is a credit entry to your checking account
> because it decreases the value of that asset, and a credits -- which is
> a decrease of assets or expenses but an increase of the other account
> types -- always go on the right. (A bookkeeping text that I read many
> years ago said that "debit" and "credit" were just accountants' words
> for "left" and "right", and that when accountants talk about balancing
> books they mean that the totals on the left and right must be equal.)
> 
>  From your bank's point of view, the register is correct because _your_
> withdrawal decreases their obligation (liability) to you and is
> therefore a debit on their books, while _your_ deposit increases their
> obligation and is therefore a credit on their books. The bank's own
> accounting entries are thus exactly opposite to yours.
> 
> My suggestion is to relabel the columns in your checkbook register.
> 
> However ... do you actually need a paper checkbook register? Isn't that
> just duplicating your checking account records in GnuCash?
> 
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