[GNC] Need assist to understand the gnucash double entry system

[David Cousens]

Scott,

Every transaction has at least two entries (sometimes referred to as
splits which generally appear on different lines) and each entry 
affects a different account. 

In accounting terms, one entry will be a debit entry to one account and
the second entry will be a credit to another account. Some transactions
affect more than two accounts and in this case the sum of the debit
entries must equal the sum of the credit entries. In the account
register display, the second column to the left of the Balance column
is the debit column and the first column to the left of the Balance
column is the credit column. There is a user preference to use the
formal accounting labels on the columns selectable using 
Edit->Preferences->Accounts->Labels.

When you import CSV data, particularly from your bank, GnuCash will
assume you are importing data to the account whose register is open
when you started the import process. The account for the second entry
to record the transaction is generally not specified in records you
import from your bank. It will generally be one of an Asset, Expense or
Income account although some transactions affect other accounts. You
have to specify that account in the ImPort Matcher Window as the
"Transfer Account". To specify the account, there is a downward
pointing arrow on the right of the transfer column which comes up when
you click on a line in that column and clicking on the arrow will bring
up a list of all the accounts you have setup from which to choose an
account for the second entry.

If you do not specify the account at this point it will be assigned to
the Imbalance account whose purpose is to flag to you that a transfer
account has not been specified so that you can edit the transaction and
change the Imbalance account to the required second account.

If you select Edit->Preferences->Register Defaults and check the Auto-
split register  radio button, the account registers will open in what
is known as Auto-Split mode. 

You can also set this for an open register using the View-> and
clicking on the Auto Split Register option  (Basic Ledger is the
default). When you click on a transaction line in an account register,
it will then open displaying the two (or more) entries of the selected
transaction on separate lines (these are usually in a brown color
rather than the green of the basic ledger line). You can use the TAB
keys to navigate through the fields of the transaction and edit them as
required. Hitting the ENTER key will record the changes to the
transaction and close it to single line mode.
  
Clicking on an entry line in the account column selects that entry and
the downward pointing arrow appears at the right of the column which if
you click on it brings up the drop down list of accounts. For any
imported transaction for which the accounting  this column is
Imbalance, you can then select the correct account to correct the
transaction.

GnuCash has a feature in the import process where it will automatically
select the Transfer account by matching the data in the imported
transaction to the data for transactions which have been assigned to a
particular account in previous transaction imports. This process is
"Trained " by the accounts you select during initial imports of data by
tthe process of selecting a given account during the import process.

Correcting it after import when it has been assigned to the Imbalance
account however does not train that process so it is preferable to
assign the transfer accounts during the import process. Once the
Bayesian matcher is trained it will automatically assign the transfer
account in the Import Matcher Window. These still need to be checked to
ensure the assigned accounts are correct before completing the import.
Not doing so will train the matcher to select the wrong accounts. It
sometimes gets it wrong but I only have to correct 5 or 6 out of ~100
transactions each month.

David Cousens


On Sat, 2024-11-23 at 19:01 -0700, Scott D. Turner wrote:
> I'm a new user and do understand the double entry accounting system
> in 
> general, but I'm having trouble understanding the exact procedures
> how 
> gnucash works.
> 
> My problem is when I import transactions from my checking acct, they 
> import just fine via CSV. I adjust the categories, but many times 
> gnucash imports into an imbalance acct. This is where I'm confused.
> How 
> to I adjust the individual line item entry (transactions) to be
> listed 
> under another account where they are supposed to be in.
> 
> I'm also not sure what I'm doing with the "transfer" column after all
> the transactions are imported. Does the transfer column transfer from
> or 
> to specific accounts? I can't quite figure this out.
> 
> I need to understand how gnucash treats funds moved from one account 
> transaction to another, thereby moving funds to another account, 
> enabling the eventual zero balance of accounts.
> 
> I have studied the documentation on line, downloaded PDF of the tech 
> manual, watched YouTube videos, but still this gnucash appl leaves me
> baffled with how it treats transactions that need to be moved.
> 
> Sure could be some help with this.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
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