[GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Adrien Monteleone]

On 12/18/22 5:09 AM, p.f.cuthbert at btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert--- via 
gnucash-user wrote:
> Investigation this morning has established:
>     * The system is set up in Basic Ledger Mode
>     * The test transactions were entered in the Bank Account
>     * The Bank Account shows no record of the test transactions
>     * The debits have appeared in the named expense accounts as you have 
> forecast
>     * A new account has appeared called 'Imbalance-GBP' that contains 
> the correct (and incorrect credits) that I would have expected in the 
> Bank Account.
Ah ha. Indeed, the transactions did not disappear, but are no longer 
anchored to the Bank Account.

The Imbalance-xxx accounts (one for each currency may be created from 
time to time) are created by GnuCash when you leave a transaction entry 
unbalanced.

I'm not certain of the exact keyboard mechanics you used to cause this, 
but the solution is simple.

First, while you're getting started, turn on View > Transaction Journal. 
This will show all splits at all times. Once you get the hang of 
entering transactions, you can switch back to Basic View if preferred.

(You might also consider turning on View > Double Line which will give 
you an extra line for transactions level notes.)

When you are in Basic View, you do not need to enter the split *for the 
account you are in*, you only need to enter the split for the 'other' 
account.

GnuCash auto-creates a split for the opened account, in this case your 
Bank Account.

You can check this by entering a simple transaction in Basic View, and 
then turning on Transaction Journal.

But in Transaction Journal mode, while that 'home' split is 
auto-created, it does not contain an amount yet. You have to enter it.

Just be sure, before you exit a transaction that every split has an 
amount and that there is no hanging amount on a split line without an 
account assigned. (this tells you, you aren't yet balanced) If you 
commit at this point, GnuCash will assign that leftover amount to one of 
the Imbalance accounts. (GBP in your case)

Transactions are anchored to accounts based on their splits. If you 
'lose' a transaction, that is because it somehow became un-anchored to 
the register you are viewing, either by deleting the anchoring split 
(there are warnings for this), by changing the account assignment of the 
anchoring split (no warning) or by erasing or leaving blank the amount 
for the anchoring split. (no warning)

If you need to re-anchor a transaction, simply change the Imbalance-GBP 
account assignment to the proper account.

> This leads me to a new question.  Is the 'Bank Account' a reserved name 
> which I must use for my bank account to make it work?  It is not called 
> that currently.  In Quicken one had to allocate a type to accounts which 
> included bank account, savings account, investment, etc.  I had assumed 
> that these may have carried across in the QIF file but perhaps not.  I 
> have just looked at the bank account settings in 'Edit Account' and see 
> that it is labelled as a Bank account. So there must be something else I 
> am not doing which makes GNUCash think that a payment in the Bank 
> Account is not meant to be there.

Nothing reserved on the name. It can also be just a generic asset 
account. I think with type Bank there are other functions enabled 
though. (online banking?) The Type also affects the 'friendly' column 
names, but if you are using formal labels Debit & Credit, that of course 
doesn't matter.

Regards,
Adrien