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

[Peter S. Shenkin]

Hi, David,

I did try using both Increase/Decrease and Debit/Credit labeling in the
register, but the transaction report is unchanged.

I also saw an option in Preferences for Reversing either Credit Accounts,
or Income & Expense Accounts, or None. I really have no idea what that is
about, but GC seems to have been supplied with Credit Accounts selected, so
I thought I'd try with None. It didn't change the transaction report, so I
set it back to Credit Accounts.  I'll RTFM on that sometime, but it doesn't
appear to have anything to do with this...

Possible GC bug?

-P.

On Mon, Aug 1, 2022 at 10:52 PM <davidcousens49 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Peter
> I do agree the Debit and Credit column headers appear to be reversed on the
> Transaction Report in your original post . I have just run a Transaction
> report
>  (GC 4.11) on one of my bank accounts and it reports my income (payments
> into
> the account)  correctly as debits and expenses (payments from the account)
> as
> credits. I thought it could possibly be related to the use of the
> non-accounting
> labels which I tend to use rather than the informal headers. I have just
> changed
> to the informal headers in my preferences and rerun the transaction report
> and
> the column headers are still correct so that does not appear to be the
> problem.
> Did that transaction come out with debits and credits correctly in the
> account
> register  when you selected the formal accounting labels preference?
> David Cousens
>
> On Mon, 2022-08-01 at 19:35 -0400, Peter S. Shenkin wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I made up the name "transaction entry" because I didn't know what to call
> > it. 😊 I didn't know there was such a thing as a transaction entry
> window.
> >
> > If I had the Donations account open, I would have had the same kind of
> > problem.
> >
> > Per Gyle's suggestion it looks like I can switch to the good old Credit /
> > Debit labels.
> >
> > Also, the second part of my question involved the Transaction report.
> There
> > the headings at the top seem backwards. They are labeled Credit and
> Debit, but
> > where I entered a Debit, it appears in the Credit column and vice
> versa.  Any
> > comment on this?
> >
> > -P.
> > On Mon, Aug 1, 2022 at 6:23 PM <davidcousens49 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Peter
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The terms Increase and Decrease in the header only apply to the account
> > > whose
> > >
> > > register you have open not to the accounts which are the target of the
> > >
> > > individual split(entry) of the transaction and not to the account
> which is
> > >
> > > designated in the second split. It would appear that you have the
> register
> > > for
> > >
> > > your checking account open and a debit entry is an Increase in that.
> If
> > > there
> > >
> > > was a credit split/entry to your checking account it would appear in
> the
> > >
> > > decrease column. The second line of the transaction is the
> corresponding
> > > credit
> > >
> > > entry to the revenue account. This is why we accountants find the
> headers
> > >
> > > Increase/Decrease confusing.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > You are not making entries in a "transaction entry" window in GnuCash
> but
> > > you
> > >
> > > are performing the transaction entry directly into the register for
> that
> > > account
> > >
> > > itself.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > David Cousens
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mon, 2022-08-01 at 17:13 -0400, Peter S. Shenkin wrote:
> > >
> > > > 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.
> > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > >
> > > > gnucash-user mailing list
> > >
> > > > gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > >
> > > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> > >
> > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> > >
> > > > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see
> > >
> > > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
> > >
> > > > -----
> > >
> > > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > >
> > > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>