GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide

GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide The GnuCash Documentation Team

GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide by The GnuCash Documentation Team

This Guide contains a tutorial for using 4.8 and describes the concepts behind GnuCash. Copyright ? 2009-2021 GnuCash Documentation Team Copyright ? 2010-2011 Yawar Amin Copyright ? 2010 Tom Bullock Copyright ? 2010-2011 Cristian Marchi Copyright ? 2006 Chris Lyttle Copyright ? 2003-2004 Jon Lapham Copyright ? 2002 Chris Lyttle Copyright ? 2001 Carol Champagne and Chris Lyttle

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. You can find a copy of the GFDL at this link [ghelp:fdl] or in the file COPYING-DOCS distributed with this manual.

This manual is part of a collection of GNOME manuals distributed under the GFDL. If you want to distribute this manual separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the license to the manual, as described in section 6 of the license.

Many of the names used by companies to distinguish their products and services are claimed as trademarks. Where those names appear in any GNOME documentation, and the members of the GNOME Documentation Project are made aware of those trademarks, then the names are in capital letters or initial capital letters.

DOCUMENT AND MODIFIED VERSIONS OF THE DOCUMENT ARE PROVIDED UNDER THE TERMS OF THE GNU FREE DOCUMENTATION LICENSE WITH THE FURTHER UNDERSTANDING THAT:

1. DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES THAT THE DOCUMENT OR MODIFIED VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT IS FREE OF DEFECTS MERCHANTABLE, FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGING. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY, ACCURACY, AND PERFORMANCE OF THE DOCUMENT OR MODIFIED VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT IS WITH YOU. SHOULD ANY DOCUMENT OR MODIFIED VERSION PROVE DEFECTIVE IN ANY RESPECT, YOU (NOT THE INITIAL WRITER, AUTHOR OR ANY CONTRIBUTOR) ASSUME THE COST OF ANY NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. THIS DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY CONSTITUTES AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THIS LICENSE. NO USE OF ANY DOCUMENT OR MODIFIED VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT IS AUTHORIZED HEREUNDER EXCEPT UNDER THIS DISCLAIMER; AND

2. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNDER NO LEGAL THEORY, WHETHER IN TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, SHALL THE AUTHOR, INITIAL WRITER, ANY CONTRIBUTOR, OR ANY DISTRIBUTOR OF THE DOCUMENT OR MODIFIED VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT, OR ANY SUPPLIER OF ANY OF SUCH PARTIES, BE LIABLE TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY CHARACTER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER DAMAGES OR LOSSES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO USE OF THE DOCUMENT AND MODIFIED VERSIONS OF THE DOCUMENT, EVEN IF SUCH PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Feedback

To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding the program or this documentation, follow the instructions at the Bugzilla page of the GnuCash wiki [] and use the GnuCash Bug Tracking System []. At first you want to browse [] or

search [] it for already existing bugs. Select the product GnuCash for the program or Documentation for any parts of this documentation.

Table of Contents

About the Authors ............................................................................................................. xv 1. Overview ....................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Features ..................................................................................................................... 1

Easy to Use ....................................................................................................... 1 Tracks Your Investments ...................................................................................... 3 International Support ........................................................................................... 3 Business Support ................................................................................................ 3 Accounting Features ............................................................................................ 3 About this Book ......................................................................................................... 4 Getting More Help ...................................................................................................... 5 Context Help ...................................................................................................... 5 GnuCash Website ............................................................................................... 5 GnuCash Wiki .................................................................................................... 5 GnuCash Frequently Asked Questions .................................................................... 6 GnuCash On-line Assistance ................................................................................. 6 Topic Search ...................................................................................................... 6 Installation ................................................................................................................. 6 I. The Basic Knowledge ...................................................................................................... 7 2. The Basics ........................................................................................................... 10 Accounting Concepts ......................................................................................... 10

The 5 Basic Accounts ................................................................................ 10 The Accounting Equation ........................................................................... 10 Debits and Credits ..................................................................................... 11 Double Entry ............................................................................................ 11 Data Entry Concepts .......................................................................................... 12 Files ........................................................................................................ 12 Accounts .................................................................................................. 13 Transactions ............................................................................................. 13 Running GnuCash ............................................................................................. 13 Welcome to GnuCash dialog ....................................................................... 14 New Account Hierarchy Setup .................................................................... 14 Tip of the Day .......................................................................................... 15 Account Tree Window ............................................................................... 16 Account Register Window .......................................................................... 17 Toolbar Buttons ........................................................................................ 18 Tab Bar ................................................................................................... 19 Menu Items .............................................................................................. 19 Menu Shortcuts ......................................................................................... 19 Storing your financial data .................................................................................. 19 Overview ................................................................................................. 19 Storage Comparison and Recommendations ................................................... 20 Storage Comparison Table .......................................................................... 20 Creating a file .......................................................................................... 20 Saving data .............................................................................................. 21 Opening data ............................................................................................ 23 Duplicating an Account Hierarchy ............................................................... 23 Backing Up and Recovering Data ........................................................................ 23 Backup file (.gnucash) ............................................................................... 24 Log file (.log) ........................................................................................... 24 Lock files (.LNK and .LCK) ....................................................................... 24

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GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide

File Management ...................................................................................... 25 Migrating GnuCash data ..................................................................................... 25

Migrating financial data ............................................................................. 25 Migrating preferences data .......................................................................... 25 Putting It All Together ....................................................................................... 26 Accounts .......................................................................................................... 32 Basic Accounting Concepts ......................................................................... 32 GnuCash Accounts .................................................................................... 33 Putting It All Together ............................................................................... 37 Transactions ..................................................................................................... 41 Basic Concepts ......................................................................................... 41 The Account Register ................................................................................ 42 Simple vs. Split Transactions ...................................................................... 45 Reconciliation ........................................................................................... 48 Scheduled Transactions .............................................................................. 53 Putting It All Together ............................................................................... 61 3. Importing Data into GnuCash .................................................................................. 68 Importing Transactions from Files ........................................................................ 68 File Import Formats ................................................................................... 68 Import Matcher ......................................................................................... 68 Import QIF ............................................................................................... 69 Import OFX/QFX ...................................................................................... 70 Import CSV ............................................................................................. 71 Import MT940 .......................................................................................... 72 Import MT942 .......................................................................................... 72 Import DTAUS ......................................................................................... 72 4. Configuring GnuCash ............................................................................................. 73 Overview ......................................................................................................... 73 Main Configuration Screens ................................................................................ 73 Preferences: Accounting Period Tab ............................................................. 73 Preferences: Accounts Tab .......................................................................... 73 Preferences: Online Banking ....................................................................... 73 II. The Common Usage ...................................................................................................... 74 5. Checkbook ........................................................................................................... 78 Setting up Accounts .......................................................................................... 78 Entering Deposits .............................................................................................. 78 Entering Withdrawals ........................................................................................ 79 ATM/Cash Withdrawals ............................................................................. 79 Reconciling Your Accounts ................................................................................ 80 Putting It All Together ....................................................................................... 80 Opening Balances ..................................................................................... 80 Add some transactions ............................................................................... 81 Opening Balances ..................................................................................... 82 Save file .................................................................................................. 83 Reports .................................................................................................... 84 6. Expense Accounts ................................................................................................. 88 Concepts .......................................................................................................... 88 Setting Up Accounts .......................................................................................... 88 Simple Expense Account Setup ................................................................... 88 Complex Expense Account Setup ................................................................. 88 Entering Expense Transactions ............................................................................ 88 Other Considerations for Expense Accounts ........................................................... 89 7. Credit Cards ......................................................................................................... 90 Concepts .......................................................................................................... 90

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