[GNC] support for a new company

[David Cousens]

Bob,

The easiest way to do it is if you have the closing balances in your
prvious set of books at some fixed date. If possible get a Balance
sheet as of that date in your previous accounting system. the totals on
it should satisfy total Assets = Total Liabilities + total Equity. If
not you need to straighten out your previous set of books first.  It is
also desirable to have done the end of period temporary (income and
Expense) account closing to Equity prior to producing the Balance sheet
in QB.

You will then need to transfer the Asset and Liability account balances
from your previous books at that date to a new set of books in GnuCash.
If you are creating a setof books from scratch, AFAIK the setup
procedure for a new file has a dialoguefor setting the opening
balances. When you enter the opening balances, the second account for
the transaction is an Equity account, Equity:Opening Balances. This
will automatically set your Equity balance

the asset account transactions are of the form

Asset:<sub account>      Debit    $xxxx.xx
Equity:Opening Balances  Credit    $xxxx.xx

and the Liability account transactions will have the form

Liability:<sub-account>   Credit $yyyy.yy
Equity:Opening Balances   Debit  $yyyy.yy

if you are using the formal accouning labels.

 The other thing to consider with stock accounts (and similar ) assets
is to also transfer/record  any information you will need for Asset
cost bases/depreciation/etc that you may need in the future. This can
be done by creating sub-accounts of the main account for a given asset
and putting any dates that are needed in the notes for the account

After entering all the balances as of the selected date for all assets
and liabilities, without entering any new transactions producing a
Balance sheet report as of the selected date should match the balance
sheet report from your previous set of books.


David Cousens





On Mon, 2025-01-13 at 17:13 -0600, bullish bob bagley via gnucash-user
wrote:
> b.  we started in 1989.  been with qb for decades.....moved to linux
> and 
> want to stay with gnucash., paid in cash is because i make a lot of 
> market mistakes,     net income--I put the ? there because I wasn't
> sure 
> of the net income and total equity showing since my bank balance did
> not 
> carry forward either---but the numbers do all add up correctly,
> retained 
> earnings is definitely in my qb version, as is capital stock and add 
> paid in capital  (my Sarbanes oxley auditor asked me not to leave qb 
> until after my fiscal 09.2024 yr end)  i am impressed with gnucash
> and 
> the people even more.
> 
> the books of gnucash are just fine for my corporation.  I just do not
> know how to set up the opening transactions.
> 
> And by the way, the folks on gnucash are INFINITELY nicer that msft
> ever 
> thought about being.  At today's close msft's PE ratio was 34.45.  In
> my 
> opinion, the folks on the gnucashboard deserve at least two more
> Zeroes 
> on your PE, and i would not blanche if you added 3 zeroes.  You are
> that 
> good.  I know you are not publicly traded, but quality is
> quality!!!!!....b³
> 
> 
> On 1/13/25 4:48 PM, Michael or Penny Novack via gnucash-user wrote:
> > On 1/13/2025 3:18 PM, bullish bob bagley via gnucash-user wrote:
> > > On the equity side of my balance sheet
> > > 
> > > How do i set up my beginning numbers  (i followed your
> > > instructions 
> > > to do the equity opening balances for my bank accts) for my
> > > Equity Entries
> > >     Capital Stock
> > >     Add Paid in Capital
> > >     Retained Earnings
> > >         net income ?
> > > 
> > > I have the manual bookmarked, but i am still lost.    Thank
> > > you...b³
> > > 
> > Sorry, but the "tutorial"/"manual" is NOT going to be sufficient to
> > teach you "accounting for a corporation". We can help you with "how
> > do 
> > I do this using gnucash" (as opposed to say "pen and ink on paper".
> > I 
> > do have a couple suggestions, though.
> > 
> > a) Ignore the shortcut for starting. Use explicit transactions, 
> > possibly for each account. Unlike personal books or sole 
> > proprietorships, you can't just lump equity together.
> > 
> > b) Curious -- this is a new corp? Who OWNS this "additional paid in
> > capital" (where is it coming from). I don't see why you are puzzled
> > by 
> > "net income" if new (never closed the books). Retained earnings (or
> > losses) is implicit in the unclosed income and expense accounts.
> > 
> > Again, you are going to need an "Accounting for a Corporation 101" 
> > type text. And/or seek professional help (what accounts you will
> > need, 
> > what the opening transactions look like, etc.)
> > 
> > Michael D Novack
> > 
> >