[GNC] Accounts which are both Income and Expense accounts

[Fred Bone]

On 24 July 2023 at 16:53, Chris Green said:

> Is there a 'right' way to handle an account which gets payments in two
> directions?
> 
> E.g. I have good relations with a friend and we often buy things for
> each other and settle up at the end of the month.  Sometimes I owe the
> friend some money, other times the friend owes me some money but it's very
> definitely one account and one wants to see all the payments in one place.
> 
> I guess one can just say it's an 'Expense' account and make payments
> in either direction as required, is this the only way or is there a
> special name for such an account?

It's an Asset or Liability (two sides of the same coin, in a sense) at 
your choice, depending mainly on which way you expect the balance to  be 
in the long run.

I have an account
 Assets -> Debtors & creditors
where I record this sort of thing, relating to various different 
individuals (typically the odd couple of quid every few weeks). If I had 
one particular acquaintance generating a lot of this activity I'd run a 
sub-account for that acquaintance.

The "Expense" is the other side of the transaction recording what the 
oney was owed for, and might vary according to whether the expenditure 
was a round in the pub or dinner at a local restaurant.

When (if) you actually settle up, the other side of *that* txn is of 
course your bank account, cash in hand, or whatever.