On 2024-06-25 12:10, rudy beuc wrote: > So, I get my files all set up with my desired account structure. Here's > the thing, in my checking account, my opening balance appears as a debt. > In fact what should be the Credit and Debit Column as I've seen in other > examples, appears to be reversely labeled. The Debit column is directly > next to the cleared or not cleared column. If I enter a check into the > checking account, it wants to appear as a credit. > > What's going on, how do I fix this?
Nothing is "going on", and there's nothing to fix. Your checking account is an asset to you, which means that its balance is normally a debit (not "debt"). In transactions, a debit (such as a deposit) increases your checking balance and a credit (such as writing a check) decreases your checking balance. Assets and expenses: debit increases balance, credit reduces balance Liabilities, equity, and income: debit reduces balance, credit increases balance Your confusion may come from this: that very same checking account is a liability to your bank. A credit increases the balance _on_your_bank's_books_ and a debit decreases the balance. Because of this, ordinary consumers are used to thinking that a credit increases their checking account balance. And that's true -- on the bank's books -- but it's exactly backwards on your own books. Similar confusion reigns regarding credit cards. Your credit card balance is a liability to you: buying something increases your balance and is therefore a credit on your books; making a payment decreases your balance and is therefore a debit on your books. (More completely: making a payment, like every other transaction, has a debit side and a credit side. The debit side is the reduction in your credit-card balance; the credit side is the reduction in your checking account.) Again, ordinary consumers are confused because banks describe things from the banks' perspective. To them, your credit card account is an asset: a debit increases the balance of that asset and a credit decreases the balance. When you make a payment or return a purchase "for credit", it is indeed a credit to that account on the bank's books, but it is a debit to that account on your books. Stan Brown Tehachapi, CA, USA https://BrownMath.com _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
