I'm new to ledger and don't have any formal training in accounting. I've read the docs, and I think I understand things in general, but I'm having a hard time figuring this one out.
How do I represent the situation where I loan someone else money? The specific situation I have in mind involves buying someone for something out of my chequing account, and then receiving cash as repayment. How do I (a) properly record the loan in the first place, and (b) mark it as repaid without necessarily depositing the funds into my account? For example, I can record the initial loan like so: 2012/01/03 Some Store Loans:Some Friend $10.95 Assets:Bank:Chequing Since the money's coming out of my chequing account, it must be debited, which implies that the "loans" account must be credited. And I can record the incoming cash like so: 2012/01/03 Cash from Some Friend Income:From Some Friend $-40 Loans:Some Friend $-10.95 Assets:Petty Cash I have to debit the loans account, to "undo" the initial record. But, then it combines with the incoming cash, and petty cash is shown as having $50.95 instead of the difference between the two. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!
