Exactly so. Quicken requires double entries as well. One is the account in which you are creating the transaction and the other is the "category" or "account" for the other side. It's no different in GnuCash.
When I'm paying a credit card, I am taking money from my bank account and paying down the credit card balance. This is the same two entries in both GnuCash and Quicken. I really like the idea of "a Quicken category is an account that happens to be under Income or Expense" On Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 9:14 AM Paul Kroitor <[email protected]> wrote: > I really don't see it that way at all -- or at least I think about it > quite differently. > > Quicken is definitely a double-entry accounting system if you think of > categories as another name for "accounts that happen to be of the income > or expense class". > > Every Quicken transaction has one side in the register entry itself (eg. > $25 in the Mastercard register), and then has the other side in a > category assignment (eg. $25 tools), or, in the case of a split, two or > more category assignments ($15 tools, $10 paint). Just like Gnucash, if > it doesn't balance, a balancing entry is automatically created (against > "Imbalance" in Gnucash, "Uncategorized" in Quicken), but the total of > the transaction has to equal zero in both apps. > > It's doing the same thing, just presenting it differently to the user. > > Also, Gnucash makes it more obvious that one's books as a whole are out > of balance when one has this glaring non-zero Imbalance account. > > Paul > > > On 2025-11-22 9:41 a.m., Kalpesh Patel wrote: > > "... one can make transactions between two Income accounts, or Income vs > Expense, neither of which is (directly) possible in Quicken." -- this was > possible if you had created an account for everything and then selecting > category that started with '[' (which showed up in the Transfers category > in the dropdown) during transaction entry in Quicken (it was also the last > icon with one that showed a line splitting into two arrows in the > transaction entry line). But creating account for everything isn't the norm > in Quicken for ease of use ... > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Paul Kroitor <[email protected]> > > Sent: Friday, November 21, 2025 10:36 PM > > To: R Losey <[email protected]> > > Cc: Larry Weeks <[email protected]>; [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [GNC] Coming from Quicken > > > > The way I look at it is this: > > > > Gnucash, like the rest of the (formal) accounting universe, has five > types of accounts: > > - assets > > - liabilities > > - income > > -expense > > - equity > > > > Together, these are combined to create the “accounting equation”, and > each of these is (almost) always sub-divided into sub-accounts. > > > > Quicken maintains these first two of these as accounts (and > sub-accounts), but calls the third and fourth “categories” (and > sub-categories). The last type (equity) is not formally maintained in > Quicken but is calculated on the fly (as “net worth”) using the other four > and the accounting equation. > > > > My belief is that Quicken was designed this way to be more user-friendly > for people with little understanding of accounting. Certainly Gnucash is > simpler and more elegant in concept. For one thing, one can make > transactions between two Income accounts, or Income vs Expense, neither of > which is (directly) possible in Quicken. > > > > Paul > > > >> On Nov 21, 2025, at 10:11 PM, R Losey <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >> Tutorial/Document: I'm not aware of anything on the official GnuCash > >> websites, but you may do a general search and find something on > >> YouTube or something. > >> > >> Account vs Categories: I may get a lot of hate follow-ups for this, > >> but this difference is more in philosophy and naming than in actual > practice. > >> Everything in GnuCash is an account; in Quicken, "accounts" are thing > >> that hold actual money, such as checking, saving, CDs, or investments. > >> On the other hand, "categories" are kind of "ideas" to track where the > money goes. > >> This may not be the best distinction; perhaps someone else could > >> describe it better. > >> > >> Moving Transactions: There are a couple of simple ways to correct bad > >> data > >> entry: You can go to the transaction and edit it and change the wrong > >> account to the right account. You could, if you prefer, just delete > >> the bad transaction and re-enter it. > >> > >> I went from Quicken to GnuCash a few years ago. > >> > >> > >> > >>> On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 2:15 PM Larry Weeks <[email protected]> > wrote: > >>> > >>> Is there a tutorial or document that walks through how Gnucash is > >>> different from Quicken, accounts versus categories, how to move > >>> transactions from account to account if they were categorized wrong, > etc? > >>> > >>> -- > >>> > >>> 3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are > >>> walking in the truth. > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> 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. > >>> > >> > >> -- > >> _________________________________ > >> Richard Losey > >> [email protected] > >> Micah 6:8 > >> _______________________________________________ > >> 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. > > > > > -- _________________________________ Richard Losey [email protected] Micah 6:8 _______________________________________________ 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. 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