Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange
Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [double-entry]

Double-entry is an accounting technique in which every event is recorded in two separate accounts. The event is recorded in one account as a credit, and in the other account as a debit.

112 questions
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Starting with GnuCash. How to eliminate automatic entries ending up in the "unbalanced" account?

I just started using GnuCash and there is something I do not quite get how to get rid of (and whether I should try to get rid of). When I start importing transactions, I have expenses, income, etc. As this this as "double method" system, for…
Gabriel
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What should I do when the reality of money present and the amounts in GnuCash differ?

I started doing double entry bookkeeping with GnuCash to keep track of my personal finances, down to the penny. I think I am familiar with most of the basics of double entry bookkeeping, I took a course in it many years ago and read the GnuCash…
user24385
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Double-entry accounting: how to keep track of mortgage installments as expenses?

Context: I am new to double-entry accounting, I use GnuCash for my personal family bookkeeping. At the moment, the main goal for me is to keep track of incomes/expenses of our family over time. For this, I am sorting the flow of cash from income…
walkmanyi
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How to account for human error?

Sometimes people make mistakes. The checkout process at stores often involves manual data entry which is error prone. For example, as a customer I could be charged $49.99 for a product priced $49.49. It's often not worth it to try to recover these…
Matheus Moreira
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How to account for Capital Gains (Losses) in double-entry accounting?

After taking an introductory financial accounting class, I decided to use GnuCash to keep track of my personal finances. I have 5 major accounts in my general ledger: Equity Currently only used to record opening balances for other…
William Breathitt Gray
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What is the difference between equity and assets?

I am (going to be) using GNU Cash, which uses the double-entry method; I use it for personal finance. Reading various tutorials for GNU cash, it lists 5 types of accounts: income, expense, assets, liabilities, and equity, followed by various…
Christopher King
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How to record the finding of 10 dollars lying on the street and their subsequent placement into one's wallet (in gnucash)?

Within gnucash: within the Cash in Wallet account: description: found some money in the street transfer: Imbalance-USD or create a new arbitrary one-off account called something like "Penny Lane" or "Gift from above"??? What are the options for…
shoyu
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How should I record the changing value of an investment in accounting software?

I have the following (simplistic) structure set up in GnuCash, but this should apply to other software too: Assets Bank account Pension Income Salary Interest Every month, my salary is split between my bank account and my pension. Both…
alexmuller
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How to handle cash back or rewards in Gnucash, what account

One of my credit cards gives me a cash back reward that I have credited to my account when it build up to a large enough amount. What account should I use for it, or is there a specific way to handle it in the ledger? Currently I have it as…
Kolvir
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How to double-entry bookkeep money incoming from sold items?

I started doing double-entry bookkeeping with GnuCash to keep track of my personal finances, down to the penny. I have as assets my bank account and "cash in wallet", and many expense accounts for food, gas, water, electricity, clothes,…
user24385
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How to balance out trading between different currencies and dividends on a ledger?

TL;DR: I'm wondering how should I balance out values when dealing with multiple currencies being traded over time along with normal expenses that might occur along the way, as well as transactions exclusive to separate currencies. I have been…
manoelpqueiroz
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In double-entry book keeping, is income always negative?

I've begun trying to learn some money managing techniques, but when fiddling with gnucash I've found that in double-entry accounting, where all money has to come from somewhere, the income accounts are always negative. For…
user2941616
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In double entry accounting, how do I enter a loan?

I have taken an accounting course several years ago, but I'm a little rusty. I'm using GnuCash, double entry accounting software. I have a loan from a friend, so no interest. I have paid about half the loan off and have spent all the money from the…
john-charles
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How should I record a gift card?

I have received a $50 gift card for my birthday, and I've been thinking on how I should record it in my books, using double-entry accounting. I don't think it would make sense to classify as an expense any money that I spend using the gift card,…
Javier Castro
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How do I enter a house sale into my accounting package?

We sold our house and purchased a new one. The money from the sale went into our lawyer's trust account, and then was passed onto the vendor that sold us the new house. In my accounting package, I have a Sales Invoice and a Purchases Invoice, and I…
bumperbox
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