Running Linux, 5th Edition - Matthias Kalle Dalheimer [151]
Transactions
If the heart of GnuCash is the account, transactions are the blood. Without transactions, you simply have a bunch of accounts listed in a window. This isn't terribly useful; you probably want to do something with all these accounts. Recording transactions is exactly what makes GnuCash useful.
A transaction in GnuCash is a record of a specific event. This event is usually money being transferred from one place to another, but it could also be the equivalent value in stocks, bonds, or real estate. For a concrete example of a transaction, look no further than your own checkbook. If you keep a register, the individual entries in that register are records of transactions. When you use GnuCash, you simply record those transactions in the computer instead of in your checkbook (of course, a prudent person would do both).
Entering transactions
To enter transactions, you must open an account's register window, shown in Figure 8-56. You can access the register window for any account by double-clicking on the account in the accounts window. Let's start by recording a simple income transaction. You just mowed the lawn for Aunt Alice, and she paid you $25.00 for your troubles. Here's how to record the transaction in GnuCash.
Expand your Assets account, followed by the Current Assets account, and then double-click on Checking Account to bring up the register.
Figure 8-56. The account register
Today's date is already in the Date field. Hit the Tab key to move to the next field (Tab moves you forward through fields, and Shift-Tab moves you backward). The Num field lets you enter your check number or any other tracking number you need for this transaction. In this case, pretend that Aunt Alice gave you check number 100, so put 100 in the field.
Tab to the Description field and enter something, well, descriptive. Mowed Aunt Alice's Lawn is appropriate.
Tab to the Transfer field. This is one of the most important fields. Remember that in GnuCash, money always come from some account and goes to another. In this case you want money to come from your Income account and go into Checking Account. The good thing about this (and every other) field is that it autocompletes for you. Just enter In and it should display an account list and select the Income account automatically.
Since you are receiving money from Aunt Alice, tab to the Deposit field and enter 25.00.
When you press Enter, the transaction is recorded. When you close the register window and look at your accounts, you can see that both the Income account and the Checking Account have increased to $25.00. Notice also that the parent accounts of Checking Account also show $25.00. Parent accounts show the sum of all accounts below them. At a glance, you can see that you have made $25.00 in income so far and you have $25.00 in your checking account.
To delete a transaction, go to the register containing the transaction, right-click on the transaction, and select Delete. Doing this removes the transaction from all affected accounts. In the case of the check from Aunt Alice, the transaction is removed from the Income and Checking accounts.
Recording split transactions
Let's say you have a paycheck in hand, ready to enter into GnuCash. If you're like most people, the amount you get paid is different from the amount you earned. The rest of the money goes to federal, state, and local taxes. You could just enter the amount for which the check was written, but what if you wanted to keep track of total income and expenses, including gross income and taxes? The way to do this in GnuCash is to use the split transaction.
Split transactions