[GNC] Confusing and inconsistent headers in transaction entry and report forms

[Gyle McCollam]

Under "Edit/Preferences/Accounts/Labels" if you check the box you will get standard accounting labels with Debits and Credits.  This may be less confusing to you than Increase and Decrease.


Thank You,

Gyle McCollam

Gyle McCollam

gmccollam at live.com<mailto:gmccollam at gyleshomes.com>           email

________________________________
From: gnucash-user <gnucash-user-bounces+gylemc=gmail.com at gnucash.org> on behalf of Peter S. Shenkin <shenkin at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2022 5:13 PM
To: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org <gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org>
Subject: [GNC] Confusing and inconsistent headers in transaction entry and report forms

Hi, I'm using Gnucash 4.11 on MacOS 11.6.8.

There are two images attached, labeled Transaction entry and Transaction
report. They are two different views of the same transaction, to a non
profit that I am doing the books for.

The transaction involves a deposit to our checking account from Wepay. It's
a donation, which we account for under Revenue:Donations, which increases
with a Credit, and the bank account will increase with a Debit, so this
should be properly balanced.

However, from the Transaction-entry screen shot, where the column labels
are Increase and Decrease, I have to enter the Donation as a Decrease in
order to make the Donation record increase. This is bizarre, is it not?

You can see in the same image that the checking balance goes up. so it
seems to be properly recorded as a debit; in addition, though not shown,
the sum of Donations does goes up, which seems contrary to having to enter
it as a Decrease.

Now look at the second screenshot, the Transaction-report view for this
transaction. What is especially strange here is that the labels of the
Debit and Credit columns are exactly reversed. It says that the Checking
side of the transaction is a Credit and the Donation side is a Debit, which
is exactly backwards.

Any insight, including any aspect due to my own foolishness and/or
inexperience, would be appreciated.

-P.