On 3/30/2021 4:06 PM, Jack Frillman via gnucash-user wrote:
I tried adding the minus sign and I still got the Unbalanced-USD thing but that doesn't I was doing it correctly. Entering these split transactions had been the biggest issue I have encountered switching to GNUCash.
Amounts ending up in the (special) Imbalance account mean you accidentally forgot to specify an account. Gnucash let you enter the transaction (instead of stopping you because not in balance). There are pros and cons about that. While gnucash will allow you to create an account on the fly (the reason you didn't specify an account might be that the proper account for this does not yet exist) I kind of like what gnucash does here. Often when I see the need fore that new account I realize that it's not going to be simply adding a new account but now dividing an existing one or something similar, a lot more work that I don;t want to do in the middle of dealing with a stack of transactions.
Splits --- this isn't a gnucash thing per se. In standard double entry bookkeeping there will always be at least two accounts involved with a transaction but there could be a lot more. This is one case where what gnucash does in having you enter transactions directly into one of the affected accounts (virtual journal) can get trickier than the other way around, enter into the journal and automatic post. But again, since MOST transactions are not splits (most affect only two accounts), this was a sensible choice the developers made. What you do most of the time should be quick/easy.
Which means you will need to learn how to do splits. I suggest you begin JUST with one sided splits (there is one debit, the credit side is split or one credit, the debit side is split. For these you begin entering the transaction in the account on the side that is not split. Only when you have gotten good at this attempt a two sided split.
PRACTICE -- remember that gnucash can maintain several sets of books for you. While a beginner with gnucash, or later when learning a new feature (when you are a beginner, it's all new) you can have a set of books named "test". This should be a fairly simple set of books, not a great many accounts or transactions in each account. Just enough for you to try things out. Like practicing entering split transactions. I will give you one hint for two way splits. LIE! It is a useful trick by entering a WRONG AMOUNT when starting the transaction. If you enter an amount a little too large, when you enter split mode, you can change that to the correct value and it will still leave you with an amount on that side of the transaction. For example, you can now change that amount to what will be correct for the other account on that side. I'll stop there, since if you have gotten this far you'll be able to figure out for yourself what to do if more accounts on that side.
Michael D Novack _______________________________________________ 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.
