[GNC] Should GNUCash allow a split to reference the same account twice

[R Losey]

On Fri, Jul 21, 2023 at 10:51 AM Henry Law <news at lawshouse.org> wrote:

> On Fri, 2023-07-21 at 11:43 -0400, Michael or Penny Novack wrote:
> > A good, clear example why something like that should be allowed.
>
> Been watching the replies to this with interest: there's a lot of
> knowledge out there.
>
> But, thinking about it, the problem that I ran across was that the two
> splits in the offending transaction had ended up with a CR and a DB for
> the same amount to the same account; it was a null transaction.  I
> hesitate to say this, having been proved thoroughly wrong before, but
> surely there can't be a reason to want a transaction like that?
>

I've done this with multiple splits when money is transitioning.

Suppose I have a brokerage account and I sell 20 shares of XYZ at $5/share,
transferring it to checking

I'd have a four-way split:
Sell (remove) 20 shares XYZ for $100 ($5 / share)
Add $100 to SWEEP fund
Remove $100 from SWEEP fund
Add $100 to checking.

(I'm sorry that I'm not using "Debit" and "Credit")

Nevertheless, you can see the transaction above has both a debit and a
credit to the same account (SWEEP fund). This is how the broker records the
transaction, so I record it (it makes future reconciliation easier).

_________________________________
Richard Losey
rlosey at gmail.com
Micah 6:8