I forgot to mention if you go the Business feature route, you don’t need the Accrued Expenses account unless you want to track your limit available. If you just get a bill and pay it, you can just post directly to Accounts Payable.
If it’s a pre-paid asset though, you need that specific account to ‘hold’ the funds until you actually spend them. They aren’t expenses until that happens. Regards, Adrien > On Aug 6, 2018, at 4:16 PM, Adrien Monteleone > <adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: > > I’m not familiar with Google Play accounts specifically. > > If they work like a credit limit and you pay later, then they are deferred > expenses - thus Accounts Payable. > > If you pre-pay say with a gift card, or you top off the available to spend, > then it’s a pre-paid expense - an asset account. > > ==== > So, if the deferred expenses route is correct, you can create a liability > account called Accrued Expenses. > > Then under that, create accounts for specific entities if you like (such as > Google Play) or just keep them all lumped together - your choice. > > When you make a purchase on the account, record the amount like so: > > Dr. Expenses (whatever account you’d normally use here, say ‘Entertainment’) > Cr. Accrued Expenses > > When the bill/statement arrives and you pay it, you’d enter: > > Dr. Accrued Expenses > Cr. Cash/Checking (or even a Credit Card if that’s the case) > > If you want to use the business features because you don’t pay the bill right > away and want a due reminder, you can enter a bill from Google Play (set up > as a Vendor) and instead of an expense account, book it to the Accrued > Expenses account. (or sub-account) > > If it works more like a credit card with a limit and possible interest fees, > then you might instead create it as a Credit Card type liability account and > use it in similar fashion. > > ==== > Of the pre-paid expense asset account is the right way, create a Current > Asset account called Pre-Paid expenses. > > How detailed you get here is again up to you. I have several sub-accounts > here for various gift-cards that lets me see at a glance their remaining > balance. If I ever receive a card from the same business, I’ll just add it > in. But you can lump them all together if you like. > > When buying/receiving a card, or topping up the account reserve: > > Dr. Pre-paid Expenses:Google Play > Cr. Cash/Checking/Credit Card/Income:Gifts Received, etc. > > When making a purchase, reduce the remaining pre-paid expense with: > > Dr. Expenses (again, ‘Entertainment’ or whatever you find appropriate) > Cr. Pre-paid Expenses:Google Play > > ==== > > Now, as for the red numbers/signs: > > With the Chart of Accounts visible, open the GnuCash > Preferences. (might be > Edit or Tools > Preferences/Options in your OS) > > Go to the Accounts tab and play with the settings for Reverse Balanced > Accounts. (move the preferences over so you can see the Chart of Accounts) > > The CoA should update to reflect your preference instantly. > > Normally, credit accounts - Liability, Income, Equity are ’negative signed’. > If you want to see them all as positive signs (that is a higher number means > you owe more, received more and are worth more) then choose ‘Credit Accounts’ > for this preference. (this is how I have mine set) > > You might still see some accounts as negatives, but that means they are > ‘contra-balanced’ that is, not the normal debit/credit balance for that > account type. This may be normal based on the account (if it’s a true contra > account) but might indicate an improperly entered transaction, or even > something like an overdraft condition. (for a checking account for example) > > Hope that helps, > > Regards, > Adrien > > >> On Aug 6, 2018, at 3:59 PM, Baldero Mendoza <bzy...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Please be patient with me - brand new to this. >> >> Household financial stuff. I want to post a "google play" purchase. >> Should I post as an expense or a liability? >> >> I have accounts open for things like "electricity" and that seems to >> work just fine, but "google play" looks like it works sort of like a >> credit card, so I listed it under "liabilities", and that seems to >> work too. I made the connected account "checking" and it all seems to >> balance and work. >> >> However, what bothers me is that the "google play" entry under >> "liabilities" is listed as a red negative number. So I have two red >> negative numbers listed now, one under "liabilities" and one under >> "google play". Everything balances, so is it okay or should I place >> "google play" purchases as "expenses"? (I just started gnucash so >> there aren't any credit card or debit card purchases yet.) The >> "expenses" stuff gets listed as black positive numbers even though >> they're an outflow of money just like the "google play" stuff under >> "liabilities". Maybe it's optional and can be done either way? >> Confusing. >> >> Thank you everybody! >> _______________________________________________ >> gnucash-user mailing list >> gnucash-user@gnucash.org >> 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. >> > _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
