[GNC] Default to Plain English instead of Debit and Credit
Stan Brown
the_stan_brown at fastmail.fm
Sat Jul 1 22:01:54 EDT 2023
On 2023-07-01 18:26, R Losey wrote:
> Helpful, but I spent too much time away from the accounting world, and I've
> gotten used to the more general usage of "credit" and "debit" words in
> general English, where debit is used for "take away from" and 'credit' is
> used for "add to".
>
> Thus I used the simplified terms in GnuCash.
Of course you should use whichever option you wish.
But there's one common exception to the rule you stated: when your bank
or merchant issues a credit to your account, that doesn't add to
anything but _reduces_ your balance. A lot of people have trouble with
this point, because the business uses terms that suit _its_ books but
are opposite to the terms that suit the customer's books.
My own view is that people would be better off just to learn the right
uses of "debit" and "credit" -- it's really not that hard, and at least
it's unambiguous. But ultimately it's each person's choice of what they
feel comfortable with.
Stan Brown
Tehachapi, CA, USA
https://BrownMath.com
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