In accounting, a debit is a movement of funds towards something, a credit away from. So you debit a bank account when you move money into it, credit it when you move money out.
The confusion arises from popular usage: for example, when your bank sends you a statement, they are showing the credit and debit columns from /their/ perspective. To the bank, your account is a liability (payable to you). The debits are movements of funds that reduce that liability, the credits are movements of funds that increase the liability. It eventually feels natural, but it's also natural to find this quite weird when you first start using proper accounting language. Jeff Abrahamson http://p27.eu/jeff/ http://transport-nantes.com/ On 05/01/19 17:41, Mike Kerstetter wrote: > Hello all. I'm brand new to gnucash. I want it to do just the basics > of keeping a register and reconciliation of a couple bank and credit > card accounts. I had Money Sunset Deluxe and currently have Quicken > (which is now charging a yearly subscription). I'm muddling through > setting up my accounts and I am baffled at the seemingly backward > credit and debit columns in the register. A deposit to my Checking (or > payment to my credit card account) shows up under "DEBIT" and a charge > to my accounts shows up under "CREDIT". The balance is correct. Am I > doing something wrong in my set-up? > > Thanks, > > Mike Kerstetter > _______________________________________________ > 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. -- Jeff Abrahamson +33 6 24 40 01 57 +44 7920 594 255 http://p27.eu/jeff/ http://transport-nantes.com/ _______________________________________________ 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.
