[GNC] Equity Account "problem"

[Stan Brown]

Stan Brown
Tehachapi, CA, USA
https://BrownMath.com

On 2023-07-11 15:48, Default User wrote:
> Is there a way to have Gnucash 4.13 (Debian GNU/Linux 12 Bookworm)
> automatically calculate, and update "Equity" in the main accounts tab,
> to show the "real" value of total Equity, after any action (or at least
> transaction) that would affect "real" equity?  

Not in Accounts -- Equity accounts get updated only if you enter
transactions to do that, or if you close the books.

But see below for a different approach that will give you what you want.

> But now, enter a transaction such as Expenses:Auto:Fuel (increase by
> $5.00), paid by transfer from Assets:Cash in Wallet (decrease by
> $5.00). 
> 
> So now: 
> Assets = $5.00 
> Liabilities = $0.00 
> Equity = $10.00
> 
> So . . .  if Assets - Liabilities = Equity, then 

Not quite.

Assets - Liabilities = Equity + (Income - Expenses)

In your example, $5 - $0 = $10 + ($0 - $5)

It's not instantaneous, but an easy way to get very close to what you
want is to run a balance sheet report. That shows assets, liabilities,
and equity, but a generated item "Retained Earnings" under equity that
equals total income minus total expenses. This gives you the sort of
balance you're looking for.