[GNC] Default to Plain English instead of Debit and Credit

[Adrien Monteleone]

I understand your post is in the context of the importer - which is a 
whole different beast, but discerning the 'normal' balance of account 
types is not a mystery. It is dependent on their position in the 
Accounting Equation.


Assets = Liabilities + Equity

*adding in the special Equity type account of Retained Earnings yields:


Assets = Liabilities + Equity + Retained Earnings


Retained Earnings = Income - Expenses


thus:


Assets = Liabilities + Equity + Income - Expenses


moving terms so all are 'positive':


Assets + Expenses = Liabilities + Equity + Income


and since:


Debit = Credit, Left Side = Right Side


therefore:

Assets & Expenses are normally (when positive) Debit balanced accounts 
(left side), and Liabilities, Equity & Income are normally (when 
positive) Credit balanced accounts (right side).

Gnucash treats the equation differently internally, so by default this 
is a bit different:

Assets + Expenses - Liabilities - Equity - Income = 0

thus:

By *default* in Gnucash, Liabilities, Equity & Income normally show 
their Credit balances as negative numbers. (because their terms have 
been moved to the opposite, or left, side of the equation in the code) 
The 'Reversed Balanced Accounts' preference adjusts the *presentation* 
back to the original equation per your liking. Internally, these 
accounts remain negative when they have a credit balance.

-----

Your below chart looks correct except the one type I noted below:

Regards,
Adrien

On 6/30/23 11:00 PM, flywire wrote:
> Is it CR or DB? Who knows, toss a coin:
> https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=798964
> 
> An interesting list of accounts adapted from a comment with an `*` next to
> the main account types:
> 
> * BALANCE ACCCOUNT TYPE       DEBIT    CREDIT
>    debit            NONE       Funds In Funds Out
>    debit            BANK       Deposit  Withdrawal
>    debit            CASH       Receive  Spend

-----
>    debit            CREDIT     Payment  Charge
      credit           CREDIT     Payment  Charge
*A Credit Card type account is a Liability and thus normally has a 
Credit balance.

-----
> * Debit            ASSET      Increase Decrease
> * Credit           LIABILITY  Decrease Increase
>    debit            STOCK      Buy      Sell
>    debit            MUTUAL     Buy      Sell
>    debit            CURRENCY   Buy      Sell
> * Credit           INCOME     Charge   Income
> * Debit            EXPENSE    Expense  Rebate
> * Credit           PAYABLE    Payment  Bill
> * Debit            RECEIVABLE Invoice  Payment
>    credit           TRADING    Decrease Increase
> * Credit           EQUITY     Decrease Increase