I wasn't starting at the beginning of the year. I stopped using Microsoft Money as of September, and have been fighting Quicken but recently realized it doesn't use a double entry system. so I was hoping to start at 9-30 to be able to calculate net income for 2017. I'd like to calculate 2017 net income if possible. When I set up my Income and Expense categories, it gave me the option to establish an opening balance. But offset Equity.
-----Original Message----- From: gnucash-user <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Dave H Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2018 3:33 PM To: Adrien Monteleone <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: beginning balance of income and expense accounts Aha good question Adrien, mine also only has Asset and Liabilities in the Opening Balances :-) Cheers Dave H. On 25 March 2018 at 06:29, Adrien Monteleone <[email protected]> wrote: > How do you have an opening balance for income or expenses at the > beginning of the year? You haven’t earned or spent anything yet. > > You should be starting off with opening balances for assets and > liabilities. Then as you earn and spend, the net of those newer > entries are virtually calculated as ‘retained earnings/losses’ unless > or until you close the books with an official entry to equity. (which > is neither necessary, or necessarily desirable in Gnucash) > > Income should be balanced with debits to an asset(where the money went > to), not equity. > Expenses should be balanced with credits to an asset(where the money > came from), not equity. > > Regards, > Adrien > > > On Mar 24, 2018, at 3:09 PM, Lori Norden <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I am starting Gnucash in the beginning of the year. As I’m entering > > the > beginning balance for each income and expense account, a transfer is > being made to my Equity Opening Balance account. > > > > For income beginning balance entries – credits income; debits Equity > Opening Balance > > For expense beginning balance entries – debits expense, credits > > Equity > Opening Balance > > > > The problem is my Equity is reduced by the amount of net income I > > made > as of the beginning date, but should be increased. > > > > Should I be offsetting the beginning balances for income and expense > > to > something other than Equity Opening Balance? That’s what I thought > the instructions indicated I should do. > > > > Thanks for your help > > > > Sent from Mail for Windows 10 > > > > _______________________________________________ > > gnucash-user mailing list > > [email protected] > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. > > ----- > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
