[GNC] credit account negative balance increases with payment

Mon Mar 6 14:58:13 EST 2023

It's under Preferences >> Accounts if you're still looking.

Regards David H.

[image: image.png]

On Tue, 7 Mar 2023 at 03:44, R Losey <rlosey at gmail.com> wrote:

> From reading the posts on this list, I still think this is a data entry
> issue... It is correct that payments should lower the balance...
>
> But are charges being entered correctly?
>
> When you enter a credit card payment, it "has" to be correct, because you
> know it takes money away from your bank account and is applied to the
> credit card balance.
>
> However, when you enter charges, they could be reversed; one entry is on
> some "Expense" item, and the other is against the charges.
>
> In other words, are your charges showing up in the same column as the
> payments?  If so, then that's your answer.
>
> I am not using formal accounting labels; I don't *think* I have the Reverse
> Balance Accounts set (I can't find it, but I'm using the default).
>
> As I add charges, my credit card balance increases, and is positive.
> Payments are negative, and decrease the balance.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 6, 2023 at 11:20 AM Custom Shots <customshots at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I'm going to answer your questions one by one but for clarification, I've
> > been using GC for years. I always balance my accounts monthly. GC has
> > always performed flawlessly. Yes, I have made mistakes now and again and
> I
> > resolved them with adjusting transactions.
> >
> > I don't remember when I opened the accounts. I balance accounts monthly
> so
> > this is new.
> >
> > No, I did not err in opening the account. I charge things and pay the
> bill
> > entirely every month. It has always been accurate. Balancing a checkbook
> is
> > easy for me to do and that side of the transactions is correct. It is
> only
> > in this one credit card account that I"m having problems. A charge
> > increases the balance owed. A payment increases the balance owed. I don't
> > understand how that can happen.
> >
> > My computer recently automatically upgraded the OS to Ubuntu 22.04.2 and
> > Linux kernel to 5.19.0-35. I may be grasping at straws here but could
> that
> > be the problem? I may have been working in GC at the time of the upgrade.
> >
> > I would see a positive number in the payment in the column and then a
> > larger balance due, a negative number in the balance column.
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 6, 2023 at 9:49 AM Stan Brown (using GC 2.6.19) <
> > stan+gnucash at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks for confirming that you selected Reverse Balance Accounts:
> Credit
> > > Accounts. That's the setting I use, so I can speak confidently about
> how
> > > GC works in our case.
> > >
> > > I'm assuming (I think we all are) that when you created the account and
> > > entered your opening balance, you owed money on the credit card or
> > > perhaps had a zero balance. Please confirm whether that's accurate.
> > >
> > > Someone asked if perhaps you initially made an error by entering the
> > > opening balance as a negative rather than a positive. Is that a
> > > possibility?
> > >
> > > Look at that account's register, scroll up to the top if necessary, and
> > > look at the very first entry. If you owed money on that credit card
> when
> > > you started with GC, the first entry should have a positive number in
> > > the Credit (middle) column of the three money columns, and the Balance
> > > (third) column should also be positive.
> > >
> > > If you see a positive balance in the Debit (first) money column and
> also
> > > in the Balance (third) column, something is very wrong and I can't
> > > advise you. I think that's pretty darned unlikely, and I'm mentioning
> it
> > > only for completeness.
> > >
> > > If you see a positive balance in the Debit (first) money column and
> > > negative balance in the third column, there's your problem. There are
> > > two ways to fix this.
> > >
> > > (option A) Delete the number from the Debit column and put (still as a
> > > positive) in the Credit column. That will of course put your books out
> > > of balance by double the amount, which you'll need to fix. If you don't
> > > see all the splits of the transaction, click Split in the menu at the
> > > top of the GC window, then figure out what the reversing entry should
> be
> > > and edit accordingly. Run a balance sheet to make sure everything is in
> > > balance now.
> > >
> > > (option B) The conservative practice would be to make an adjusting
> entry
> > > as of today. Assuming the opening balance was -123.45, the entry would
> > be:
> > >     Description: Correct opening balance of _____ credit card, entered
> > > backward by mistake
> > >     Debit to Equity:main Equity account: 246.90 (double the opening
> > > balance)
> > >     Credit to Liabilities _____ credit card account 246.90
> > > The numbers will still be wrong from the start to yesterday, but there
> > > will be no question about what haoppened and how you fixed it.
> > >
> > > HOW TO CHOOSE: Some people don't like changing historical records, and
> I
> > > see their point because it can make changes harder to track. Also, with
> > > the old pen-and-ink bookkeeping, which GC generally emulates, prior
> > > entries couldn't be changed. If these books are just for your own use,
> > > tracking is less of an issue because I daresay after all this kerfuffle
> > > you'll remember what you did. But a real accountant would most liklely
> > > choose option B even so.
> > >
> > > Stan Brown
> > > Tehachapi, CA, USA
> > > https://BrownMath.com
> > >
> > > On 2023-03-06 08:09, Custom Shots wrote:
> > > > In GnuCash Preferences: Accounts: Reverse Balance Accounts: Credit
> > > Accounts
> > > > is selected. That shows amounts owed as negative numbers.
> > > > After adjusting settings as others have suggested, I have seen
> another
> > > > anomaly. This is happening with only one credit account. I have four
> > > credit
> > > > accounts. The other three are working properly. This one in question
> is
> > > the
> > > > only one that is incorrect. I am attaching a screenshot of the
> register
> > > as
> > > > it is after changing settings. Like this or with reverse balance
> > accounts
> > > > credit selected the balance should go down after a payment. It
> doesn't
> > it
> > > > goes up. Even with negative numbers, the negative balance owed goes
> up
> > > > meaning I owe more after a payment.
> > >
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>
> --
> _________________________________
> Richard Losey
> rlosey at gmail.com
> Micah 6:8
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