Hi Michael/GNUCash users, https://gnucash.org/docs.phtml - the GNUCash website has 2 main sources of documentation listed, "The GnuCash Manual is designed to be a quick reference of how to accomplish specific tasks and how to use the features in GnuCash. The Concepts Guide is designed to be an in depth guide to the concepts behind using GnuCash with a tutorial to show how to put those concepts into practice."
It might help save some support time in the future to refer, by including a link, to the specific sections in those guides when accounting topics like this come up on the GNUCash user mailing lists. That way, if there are any improvements or clarifications or edits that need to be made to the GnuCash Manual or the Concepts Guide, we can make those to the documents instead of answering each question individually here. --- Thanks, Brad - https://www.facebook.com/brad.morrison.12327/ & https://nextdoor.com/profile/01mP46jj8KCzj3sP4 & https://norcal.social/@BradMorrison On 2025-05-26 14:48, Michael or Penny Novack via gnucash-user wrote: > For some new users of gnucash who are also new to double entry bookkeeping > the tutorial will suffice. But others will struggle with the fundamental > double entry bookkeeping basic concepts. In THAT case I suggest. > > a) Finding some entry level guides to double entry. bookkeeping. Gnucash is a > TOOL that makes doing double entry bookkeeping a LOT easier than using pen > and ink on special lines paper (either bound in books or "loose leaf") > > b) IF you are having trouble with the "user friendly" column names switch to > "formal" where the left column will always be "debit" and the right column > always > "credit" regardless of where in the ledger you place the account. The "user > friendly labels" change according to the type of the account. > > Assets are accounts that (usually) have a debit balance. << on debit side of > ledger >> > > Liabilities are accounts that (usually) have a credit balance <on credit side > of ledger >> > > Equity accounts (usually) have a credit balance. Income and Expense accounts > are temporary accounts of fundamental type Equity (closing into Equity being > deferred). Expenses normally debit and Income credit (so expenses decrease > equity, make it less credit, and income increases equity, makes it more > credit. With gnucash you can defer closing indefinitely as it can produce > reports "as if you did". > > If this debit/credit thing seems strange, double entry bookkeeping is older > than negative numbers in European math. So the "senses" are debit/credit, > only addition used as opposed to plus/minus with both addition and > subtraction. > > 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. _______________________________________________ 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.
