[GNC] credit account negative balance increases with payment

Tue Mar 7 09:49:06 EST 2023

You explain the problem precisely. Charges do increase the balance owed.
The problem is that  payments increase the balance owed regardless of
whether the balance is displayed as a negative number or a positive number.
I understand everyone thinking it is a data entry error but the opposite
side of the double entry transaction calculates correctly.

On Mon, Mar 6, 2023 at 10:43 AM 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.
>> >
>> _______________________________________________
>> gnucash-user mailing list
>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>> -----
>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>
>
>
> --
> _________________________________
> Richard Losey
> rlosey at gmail.com
> Micah 6:8
>