[GNC] Cash on Hand [was: Interest Income]

[Larry Long]

 M/M Losey,
As you say, your actual cash funds can easily diverge from what is shown in your GNC 'Cash on Hand" account.Instead of periodically equalizing via a "Balance Adjustment" account, you might consider setting up some expense accounts that allow you to be more definitive.
For recording known spending, you could have some accounts such as these:   
   - Expenses:Gifts
   - Expenses:Gifts:Christmas
   - Expenses:Dining
   - Expenses:Dining:Cash Tips
   - Expenses:Personal Care
   - Expenses:Miscellaneous
When you get a haircut for example, you could enter that as a $25 transfer from "Assets:Cash on Hand" to "Expenses:Personal Care".
If you are like me, at the end of the month you might find only $60 in your wallet, while GNC shows $100 cash.  Knowing that you did, but not remembering where you spent the difference, you could always throw $40 in GNC from "Cash on Hand" into "Miscellaneous".
Larry ________________________________
    On Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 06:38:31 AM EST, gnucash-user-request at gnucash.org <gnucash-user-request at gnucash.org> wrote:  
 Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2023 21:24:49 -0600
From: R Losey <rlosey at gmail.com>
To: Abe Sternberg <abe.h.sternberg at gmail.com>
Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Interest Income
Message-ID:
    <CAGQ=FyhfvDAnNAFHmA2NyO+5xdjcHKYOLXCHHNCT_Z0gmuXVHA at mail.gmail.com>
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In your example, one account is the savings account and the other would be
something like "Income:Interest Income".

I'm a non-bookkeeper (though I have had an overview of accounting);
unfortunately, the general language which we use has "debit" used to mean
"to take away from" and "credit" meaning "to add to". I could learn the
proper distinction, but I just turn off the formal terms.


To me, the idea of double-entry just means that every transaction needs to
balance... for example, a deposit to your checking account doesn't come out
of thin air -- it's either a salary or a gift or a refund or something you
sold: there has to be SOMETHING that it came from.

I had to create a "balance adjustment" account, since when I cash a check,
I add the cash to "Cash on Hand", but some of that money is private
spending money for family members, and that isn't tracked, so I routinely
have to update the "Cash on Hand" balance.

...