[GNC] rookie question Imbalance-USD

David T. sunfish62 at yahoo.com
Sun Jun 19 10:57:19 EDT 2022


You're welcome. You seem to have sent it with a mysterious subtext that is impossible to decipher. 

For the record, improperly-used terminology on this list has resulted in epic misunderstandings that confuse newcomers when they attempt to understand the complexities of both gnucash AND double entry bookkeeping. The terminology in this specific case is a prime example of this. If you were to go back and look at the list archives, you'd see involved discussions about the use and meaning of the terms "transaction"  "split" and "entry".

I made my comment from that perspective; your snarky comment just underscores for me the kind of person YOU are. Go stuff yourself. 

David T. 

On June 19, 2022 9:59:23 AM EDT, Gyle McCollam <gmccollam at live.com> wrote:
>Thank you for going back over my post with such a fine-tooth comb.  I don't know how I could have made such an egregious error.  I will attempt to do better in the future, but when I make an error like this again in the future, and I'm sure I will, please bring it to my attention.  My sincerest apologies.  I do hope you forgive me.
>
>Thank you.
>
>
>Thank You,
>Gyle McCollam
>
>Gyle McCollam
>
>
>gmccollam at live.com<mailto:gmccollam at gyleshomes.com>           email
>
>________________________________
>From: David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>
>Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2022 6:32 PM
>To: Gyle McCollam <gmccollam at live.com>; gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>; David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>; Kevin T <nevikintx at yahoo.com>
>Subject: RE: [GNC] rookie question Imbalance-USD
>
>The confusion arises when you use "entry" for both splits and transactions in the same paragraph, as you did here.
>
>On June 18, 2022 4:57:57 PM EDT, Gyle McCollam <gmccollam at live.com> wrote:
>When I say entry, I refer to the entire transaction, but I get your point.
>
>
>
>Sent from Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
>
>
>
>-------- Original message --------
>From: "David T." <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>
>Date: 6/18/22 4:24 PM (GMT-05:00)
>To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org, Gyle McCollam <gmccollam at live.com>, David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>, Kevin T <nevikintx at yahoo.com>
>Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>Subject: Re: [GNC] rookie question Imbalance-USD
>
>Gyle,
>
>Whether you delete the imbalance account or not once it is empty is a user preference. Some dislike seeing the imbalance account in their books, and delete it if it is empty. Others (like myself and you) leave that account in place. I leave it because it just reappears again later anyways when you miss an entry.
>
>Also, I'll note that you made a misleading statement late in the first paragraph when you said that "If he deletes the entry, he will delete it from the other accounts as well." In this instance, I think you meant to say "If he deletes the **transaction,** he will delete it from the other accounts as well." It's a minor, yet significant, difference in terminology. An entry (as I understand) is the single line within a transaction, synonymous with the Gnucash term "split." The Transaction is made up of two or more splits/entries.
>
>Best,
>David T.
>
>On June 18, 2022 2:57:01 PM EDT, Gyle McCollam <gmccollam at live.com> wrote:
>
>I agree that the matching step is critical when importing and the proper account should be assigned during import.  I also agree that the OP needs to understand Double Entry accounting better,  However, if he has "empty" transactions in the imbalance account, my bet is that if he clicks on the split icon in the toolbar, he will see his debit and credit accounts, plus the empty imbalance account.  When correcting the imbalance entry, he needs to open the split and click on the imbalance entry and change that to the proper account.  I think he added the proper account, entered the amount, then removed the amount from the imbalance account. Doing it this way you can't delete the imbalance account, unless you "jump" to one of the other accounts and delete it from there.  If he deletes the entry, he will delete it from the other accounts as well, which he doesn't want to do.
>  You state that "Once all funds are re-allocated there should be no entries remaining and you can safely delete that account."  You don't delete the account, once there are no entries the account it is irrelevant and if you have it set to not display unused accounts you won't see it unless in the future there is another entry in there,
>
>
>Thank You,
>Gyle McCollam
>
>Gyle McCollam
>
>609.680.2326                     Mobile
>
>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 David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>
>Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2022 1:59 PM
>To: Kevin T <nevikintx at yahoo.com>
>Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
>Subject: Re: [GNC] rookie question Imbalance-USD
>
>First, Imbalance-USD is not an expense account but a top level account, and
>it is intended to be used only when an automated function is unable to form
>a fully balanced transaction.  You are correct that you can look under that
>account name to find unbalanced transactions if and when they exist.
>
>You might find it useful to re-read about double entry bookkeeping in the
>various help resources.  The F1 key should work while in GnuCash.
>
>We never use the term "Category" to refer to anything in GnuCash, not even
>"Expense" Accounts.
>
>The fact that you are finding "empty" transactions there indicates that you
>are not always deleting references to that account after re-allocating
>funds to the desired account.  Once all funds are re-allocated there should
>be no entries remaining and you can safely delete that account.  It will be
>re-created if new transactions appear.
>
>As you noticed, double-clicking is nearly useless in GnuCash.  It does work
>to change the sort order of columns in some windows.
>
>When using an import function, GnuCash is trying to learn what Account
>transactions have been applied to in the past so it can try to use the same
>account with similar transactions.  That is why it is important to use the
>"Matching" step to correct account assignments before the import process is
>closed.
>
>Lastly, text files in Windows OS always use CR-LF, but other OS's mostly
>use CR.  This creates confusion when viewing text files in other OS's.
>
>
>On Sat, Jun 18, 2022 at 11:54 AM Kevin T via gnucash-user <
>gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
>
> I have been populating my accounts with CSV.  During the import, the tool
> doesn't have any existing transactions to match, so most of them get
> assigned the expense category 'Imbalance-USD'.
> I am to the point of making sure that accounts are reconciled and
> transactions don't have left over or bad account assignments.  Since
> Imbalance is one of those expense categories I thought that would be a good
> place to make sure things are clean.
> I double click that expense category and the tab populates.Most of these
> entries have no value in either the deposit or withdrawal columns.Some
> do.Some even have a transfer account defined and values.
> Sooo..  the stupid questions..
> If they have a transfer account and values already specified, why is this
> transaction in this expense category?How do I find out from which account
> these transactions were originally created?  double clicking does
> nothing.If they contain no values, is it safe to delete them?
> I did import a number of times, trying figuring out the import behavior,
> into temp or no longer existing accounts.  Are these left over after
> deleting these accounts?
> version 4.1 windows.
> I have noticed that my original emails contain a ? for every CRLF that
> occurs, when the mailing list distributes this.  I am using yahoo mail to
> send this.   Is there a way to stop this ? mark 'feature'??
>
> Kevin
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>--
>David Carlson
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