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

Mon Aug 1 23:08:36 EDT 2022

Regarding my question ("Possible GC bug?"), I just reread your response and
realized that you actually said that in your hands it works correctly; I
had thought you said the opposite.

So though it could possibly be a bug just on MacOS (unless you're also on
MacOS), I rather suspect that there is something screwy in the settings
somewhere.

-P.

On Mon, Aug 1, 2022 at 11:04 PM Peter S. Shenkin <shenkin at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>> > >
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