[GNC] New Australian user questions

[Stephen M. Butler]

Sorry, I can't help with the Windows Version nor do I use the finance 
quote items.  I can respond to some of your other questions.

But first, do you really need to handle the exchange rates into those 
other currencies?  If there is no balance kept in Paypal and it handles 
all the currency conversion why not just record everything in AUD?

I have annotated other responses below (while snipping out a bunch of 
things.

On 9/7/24 20:40, Megan Tilley wrote:
> You all appear to have a good handle on GnuCash, but I am a brand newbie!!!
Welcome aboard.  Most of us started out as newbies also.
> Question 3: Can I not just reinstall over top of what I have already done?
I've heard that the Windows installer will handle the reinstall just 
fine.  I'm Linux based (Ubuntu) and try to avoid Windows as much as 
possible.  But, just try to install again and see if that works.
> Question 4: Which perspective should I adopt when looking at a transaction?
> I stand in my account and pay out using the Debit column, or I stand in the
> Coat account and use the debit column (correspondingly, the bank account is
> the credit column)?
Adopt the one that makes the most sense at the time.  Personally, I 
spent most of my transaction entry in Assets:Bank Name:Checking, since I 
have both a checking and savings account with them.  If I was recording 
the month-end interest earned for the savings account I would sit in 
Assets:Bank Name:Savings.

However, if I wanted to look at it from Income:Interest Received, I 
might sit there and enter both the checking and savings as a 
three-account transaction with the Asset accounts each getting a debit 
entry (Assets are debit accounts -- you own their value) and Income 
getting the total credit amount.  You might find this chart handy:

Debits

  * Debits increase asset accounts
  * Debits increase expense accounts
  * Debits decrease income accounts
  * Debits decrease equity accounts
  * Debits decrease liability accounts
  * Debits are always recorded on the left when a financial transaction
    occurs

Credits

  * Credits decrease asset accounts
  * Credits decrease expense accounts
  * Credits increase income accounts
  * Credits increase liability accounts
  * Credits increase equity accounts
  * Credits are always recorded on the right when a financial
    transaction occurs

> Further to this last, as I said, I use Paypal as a pass through conversion
> channel- my Aussie bank account is used to pay for an item in a US market
> (NOT an investment/shares/stocks) - say, a 'Reference Book'. I know that I
> have to have 3 entries in a transaction: origin (Aussie Bank account), into
> Paypal as AUD, conversion by Paypal to USD, payment to US company for my
> 'Reference Book'. Referring to Question 4 :-
Do you really need to track the exchange rates and US $ amount?  At the 
end of the day you paid out X AUD for the book.
I work with a non-profit that has a clinic in the Philippines and so 
does sent US $ over their which is transferred to Php (Philippine 
peso).  Even there, for the US books I just note how much US was sent (I 
do record the Php equivalent in the note/memo area).  So, since this is 
an expense:

Credit x AUD (cost of book) to Asset:Bank Name:Checking and Debit X AUD 
to Expense:Books.

Now, if you kept a balance in Paypal (I presume in AUD), you would need 
to set that up as an Asset account in AUD currency and now you would 
have to include it.
Then you would need to have a set of US Expense accounts that would 
record the US $ cost of the book.  That would get messy if you also 
bought books in AUD, CAD, SWE, as each would need their own expense 
account.  Since this is an expense:

Credit Asset:Bank Name:Checking for the AUD cost of the book
Debit Asset:Paypal for the AUD value transferred to Paypal
Debit Expense:USD:Books for the US$ value of the book cost  (GnuCash 
will ask what is the AUD value for the USD)
Credt Asset:Paypal for the AUD value of the funds converted to US $ 
transferred out.

Again I ask if this level of detail is really worth tracking for your 
situation.

> Question 5: which of the columns in the transaction should host my Aussie
> bank? Debit column or Credit Column?
Wrong perspective!  The Asset account would have both Debit and Credit 
values (deposits being Debit and expense entries being Credit).  But 
your Bank Account is an Asset to you.
> Question 6: which of the columns should reflect AUD into Paypal?
Paypal should be an Asset account (well, it could be set up as a 
Liability which would reverse the perspective).  So deposits would be a 
Debit.
> Question 7: which of the columns should reflect USD from Paypal to the Book
> company?
Payments going out will reduce the value of this Asset so would be a Credit.
> Question 8: which of the columns should reflect the Book company receiving
> my USD?
Do you really want to track the Book Company or just the expense of 
buying a book?  Expense are debits so an increase to an expense account 
is a Debit to that account.
> Question 9: should I bypass Paypal completely and just use my bank account
> and the Book company?
I would -- and if Paypal charges a fee for making the conversion that 
would be an Expense:Fees:Paypal and just another expense item (recorded 
in AUD)
In this case the entire transaction would be:
     Credit Assets:Bank Name:Checking for AUD value sent to Paypal
     Debit Expense:Fees:Paypal for the AUD value of the fee charged by 
Paypal
     Debit Expense:Books for the AUD equivalent of the US $ sent to the 
US Book company (I might note the US$ in the Description/Memo/Note field).
> Question 10: how often do I need to update my GC install? - am I notified
> of a new release or do I just watch this channel?
This distribution list is notified of new releases.  How often you 
update is really up to you.  I see folks here that are still on some 
flavor of v2 (current is v5.8).
> Question 11: how often do I need to update Strawberry Perl? and where do I
> find that?
I don't except as my O/S updates it.  Then I'm not using Finance Quote.  
I do use the OFX downloads offered by my CC company.  I tend to entry my 
bank transactions manually (many are set up as scheduled transactions).
> Question 12: do I need to anything else regularly with respect to GC and
> the 'subroutines' used within it (F::Q, etc.)?
I don't.  Others who do may weigh in here.
> Question 13: how is the update process managed? How do you do an update to
> GC? Download and run a new version?
For Windows just run the new installer version which you will download 
as needed.
For Ubuntu, I have to compile mine so I just grab the GIT clone and 
compile from there as needed.
> Thanks so much for taking the time to read all this...
Your welcome.  It does seem that you need a better understanding of 
accounting fundamentals and how double entry really works.
> Megan in Sydney, Australia
Steve in Battle Ground, Washington USA (where no battle was ever fought).