A brand new credit account would have a zero balance. A brand new cash or
checking account *could* have the initial deposit as the starting balance.
Am I completely off the rails here?
I wouldn't say completely.
But because folks new to double entry bookkeeping can be tripped up by
details.
1) If a new credit card is issued in the course of a transaction with a
vendor (whose credit card it is) it might have an initial charge. I have
experienced this << offer -- we will give you X off on that purchase
today if you open a CC with us >> So IF you create accounts with the
opening balance wizard, could have an initial balance. But see "2",
because just like that this purchase had another side to the transaction
(other than equity).
2) If you open a new bank account with an initial balance (initial
deposit) that is a transaction with a defined date. This is a case where
I would certainly not use the wizard. I would create the account with
zero balance and then enter a transaction for the deposit. There was
another side to that transaction other than equity.
3) There is no need to use the wizard at all. In the old days this was
done with a transaction (or transactions) defining the opening date of
the books. You can still do it that way.
Michael D Novack
_______________________________________________
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@gnucash.org
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.
