I think you and Paul are mischaracterizing Quicken. While it has been 20 years since I left Quicken behind for GnuCash, when I used Quicken, it was possible to create a transaction without categorizing it at all. In effect, a single entry.
That violates the basic concept of "double entry" in Double Entry accounting. As I say, perhaps Quicken has changed on this in 20 years' time (but I kinda doubt it). Quick Books, on the other hand, is double entry. David T. On Nov 23, 2025, 1:58 AM, at 1:58 AM, R Losey <[email protected]> wrote: >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. >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 ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. 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