Scott, Every transaction has at least two entries (sometimes referred to as splits which generally appear on different lines) and each entry affects a different account.
In accounting terms, one entry will be a debit entry to one account and the second entry will be a credit to another account. Some transactions affect more than two accounts and in this case the sum of the debit entries must equal the sum of the credit entries. In the account register display, the second column to the left of the Balance column is the debit column and the first column to the left of the Balance column is the credit column. There is a user preference to use the formal accounting labels on the columns selectable using Edit->Preferences->Accounts->Labels. When you import CSV data, particularly from your bank, GnuCash will assume you are importing data to the account whose register is open when you started the import process. The account for the second entry to record the transaction is generally not specified in records you import from your bank. It will generally be one of an Asset, Expense or Income account although some transactions affect other accounts. You have to specify that account in the ImPort Matcher Window as the "Transfer Account". To specify the account, there is a downward pointing arrow on the right of the transfer column which comes up when you click on a line in that column and clicking on the arrow will bring up a list of all the accounts you have setup from which to choose an account for the second entry. If you do not specify the account at this point it will be assigned to the Imbalance account whose purpose is to flag to you that a transfer account has not been specified so that you can edit the transaction and change the Imbalance account to the required second account. If you select Edit->Preferences->Register Defaults and check the Auto- split register radio button, the account registers will open in what is known as Auto-Split mode. You can also set this for an open register using the View-> and clicking on the Auto Split Register option (Basic Ledger is the default). When you click on a transaction line in an account register, it will then open displaying the two (or more) entries of the selected transaction on separate lines (these are usually in a brown color rather than the green of the basic ledger line). You can use the TAB keys to navigate through the fields of the transaction and edit them as required. Hitting the ENTER key will record the changes to the transaction and close it to single line mode. Clicking on an entry line in the account column selects that entry and the downward pointing arrow appears at the right of the column which if you click on it brings up the drop down list of accounts. For any imported transaction for which the accounting this column is Imbalance, you can then select the correct account to correct the transaction. GnuCash has a feature in the import process where it will automatically select the Transfer account by matching the data in the imported transaction to the data for transactions which have been assigned to a particular account in previous transaction imports. This process is "Trained " by the accounts you select during initial imports of data by tthe process of selecting a given account during the import process. Correcting it after import when it has been assigned to the Imbalance account however does not train that process so it is preferable to assign the transfer accounts during the import process. Once the Bayesian matcher is trained it will automatically assign the transfer account in the Import Matcher Window. These still need to be checked to ensure the assigned accounts are correct before completing the import. Not doing so will train the matcher to select the wrong accounts. It sometimes gets it wrong but I only have to correct 5 or 6 out of ~100 transactions each month. David Cousens On Sat, 2024-11-23 at 19:01 -0700, Scott D. Turner wrote: > I'm a new user and do understand the double entry accounting system > in > general, but I'm having trouble understanding the exact procedures > how > gnucash works. > > My problem is when I import transactions from my checking acct, they > import just fine via CSV. I adjust the categories, but many times > gnucash imports into an imbalance acct. This is where I'm confused. > How > to I adjust the individual line item entry (transactions) to be > listed > under another account where they are supposed to be in. > > I'm also not sure what I'm doing with the "transfer" column after all > the transactions are imported. Does the transfer column transfer from > or > to specific accounts? I can't quite figure this out. > > I need to understand how gnucash treats funds moved from one account > transaction to another, thereby moving funds to another account, > enabling the eventual zero balance of accounts. > > I have studied the documentation on line, downloaded PDF of the tech > manual, watched YouTube videos, but still this gnucash appl leaves me > baffled with how it treats transactions that need to be moved. > > Sure could be some help with this. > > Thanks. > > _______________________________________________ > 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. _______________________________________________ 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. 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