GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide

The Didactical Documentation

About This Document

Table of Contents

About the Authors
1. Overview
I. The Basic Knowledge
2. The Basics
3. Importing Data into GnuCash
4. Configuring GnuCash
II. The Common Usage
5. Checkbook
6. Expense Accounts
7. Credit Cards
8. Loans
9. Investments
10. Reports
11. Capital Gains
12. Multiple Currencies
III. The Advanced Features
13. Business Features
14. Budgets
15. Other Assets
16. Depreciation
17. Python Bindings
18. Importing Business Data
IV. Appendices
GnuCash Glossary
A. Migration Guide
B. Auxiliary File Formats
C. GNU Free Documentation License

List of Figures

1.1. A Chart Of Accounts With Multiple Currencies And Investments
2.1. The basic accounts relationships
2.2. The Tip of the Day
2.3. The basic accounts relationships
2.4. The Checking Account Register
2.5. Save screen when xml or sqlite3 is selected.
2.6. Save screen when mysql or postgres is selected.
2.7. New Account Hierarchy Setup: Introduction
2.8. New Account Hierarchy Setup: Book Options
2.9. New Account Hierarchy Setup: Currency Selection
2.10. New Account Hierarchy Setup: Account Selection
2.11. New Account Hierarchy Setup: Account Setup
2.12. New Account Hierarchy Setup: Finish
2.13. Tutorial: Starting Account View of the Test File
2.14. The basic accounts relationships
2.15. Default Income Accounts
2.16. Default Expense Accounts
2.17. Creating an Assets account
2.18. The Basic Top-level Accounts
2.19. The Basic Chart of Accounts
2.20. Purchase Of 3 Jeans In Assets:Checking
2.21. Purchase Of 3 Jeans In Expenses:Clothes Account In Basic Ledger Mode
2.22. Purchase Of 3 Jeans In Expenses:Clothes Account In Transaction Journal Mode
2.23. Salary In The Assets:Checking Account
2.24. Salary In The Income:Salary Account
2.25. The Checking Account After Inserting The Opening Balance Transaction
2.26. The Checking Account Adding A Transaction For Groceries
2.27. Entering a split transaction
2.28. The Initial Reconcile Window
2.29. Reconcile Window
2.30. The Checking account after postponing the reconciliation
2.31. Step 1 Of Creating Scheduled Transaction From The Ledger
2.32. Step 2 Of Creating Scheduled Transaction From The Ledger
2.33. Step 3 Of Creating Scheduled Transaction From The Ledger
2.34. Filling In Data To A Scheduled Transaction
2.35. Empty Scheduled Transactions Tab
2.36. Overview Tab Of The Edit Scheduled Transaction Window
2.37. Frequency Tab Of The Edit Scheduled Transaction Window
2.38. Template Tab Of The Edit Scheduled Transaction Window
2.39. The Finally Entered Scheduled Transaction
2.40. Scheduled Transaction Popup Reminder
2.41. Starting Point For Putting It All Together
2.42. Chart Of Accounts After Setting The Opening Balance
2.43. Chart Of Accounts After Setting All The Various Transactions
2.44. Cash Flow Report For The Month Of March
2.45. Transaction Report For The Checking Account During March
2.46. Transaction Report For The Expenses Accounts During March
5.1. The Chart Of Accounts
5.2. The Checking Account Register
5.3. The Checking Account Register After Registering Some More Checks
5.4. The Checking Account Register With An ATM Withdrawal
5.5. A sample Bank Statement
5.6. The Reconcile Window
5.7. The Checking Account With Service Charge
5.8. The Reconciled Checking Account
5.9. The Chart of Accounts
5.10. Cash Flow report for the month of March
5.11. Transaction Report For The Assets During March
5.12. Transaction Report For The Expenses During March
7.1. Credit Card account after reversing a purchase
7.2. Expenses account after reversing a purchase
7.3. Starting account structure for tracking a credit card
7.4. Initial credit card purchases
7.5. Item return transaction refunded to credit card
7.6. Interest charge on the Credit Card
7.7. The Initial Reconciliation Window For The Credit Card
7.8. The Main Reconciliation Window With A Discrepancy
7.9. The Credit Card Account After Reconciliation And Payment
7.10. The Chart of Accounts After Account Reconciliation And Payment
7.11. The Cash Flow report for the month of March
7.12. The Transaction Report for the Visa account during March/April
7.13. The Transaction Report for the Expenses accounts during April
8.1. Loan Repayment Calculator
8.2. Accounts Before Receiving Loan
8.3. Mortgage Split Transaction
8.4. Mortgage Accounts
8.5. Calculation Of Private Loan Details
8.6. Chart of Accounts after lending money
8.7. First Payment
8.8. Second payment
8.9. Chart Of Accounts After Second payment
9.1. A New File Containinng Only The Default Investment Accounts
9.2. The Chart Of Accounts After Investing In A Certificate Of Deposit
9.3. The CD Account After 6 Months
9.4. The Savings Account After 6 Months
9.5. The Chart Of Accounts After 6 months
9.6. The New Account Window For AMZN
9.7. The Select Security Window
9.8. The New Security Window
9.9. The Chart of Accounts After The Creation Of The First Stock Account
9.10. The Transaction Register Of The AMZN Account After The First Purchase
9.11. The Transaction Register Of The IBM Account After The First Stock Purchase
9.12. The IBM Account After The First Stock Purchase With A Commission
9.13. Entering A Price Into The Database
9.14. The Price Database With The List Of All Known Commodities
9.15. Displaying Stock Values in the Chart of Accounts
9.16. Determining The Source Of The Stock Price/Currency Exchange Rate in Reports
9.17. An Asset Barchart Report Based On The Nearest In Time Price Source
9.18. Selling Shares, Gain Combined, Gross Pricing
9.19. The Account Tree after the Example of Selling Shares for a Gain
9.20. Selling Shares for Gain using Net Pricing in Transaction Journal View
9.21. Selling Shares for Gain Where the Sale and Gain are Recorded in Separate Transactions, in Transaction Journal View
9.22. Selling Shares for Gain Where the Sale and Gain are Recorded in Separate Transactions, in Transaction Journal View
9.23. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Lots in Account window
9.24. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Security register before scrubbing a single lot
9.25. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Lots before scrubbing a single lot
9.26. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Lots before scrubbing a single lot, after manual linking
9.27. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Register after manual linking and scrubbing a single lot
9.28. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Register before Scrub Account
9.29. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Lots before Scrub Account
9.30. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Lots after Scrub Account
9.31. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Register after Scrub Account
9.32. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Register after Scrub Account
9.33. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Lot 0 after Scrub Account
9.34. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Lot 1 after Scrub Account
9.35. Selling Shares - Capital Gains - Register after scrubbing a single lot
9.36. Example Of Cash Dividend Transactions
9.37. Example Of Dividend Reinvestment Transactions
9.38. Example Of Return Of Capital Transactions
9.39. Activation Of The Stock Split Assistant
9.40. Selection Of A Stock Account In The Stock Split Assistant
9.41. Split Details In The Stock Split Assistant
9.42. Cash In Lieu In The Stock Split Assistant
9.43. The NST Account After A Simple Stock Split
9.44. Selection Of A Stock Account In The Stock Split Assistant—Moderate
9.45. Split Details In The Stock Split Assistant—Moderate
9.46. The T Account After A Moderate Stock Split
10.1. The Investment Lots Report
11.1. Asset Appreciation Main Window
11.2. Asset Appreciation Main Window
11.3. Asset Appreciation Main Window
12.1. Initial multi currency Account Bank Setup
12.2. Initial multi currency Account Bank Setup
12.3. The Price Database Window—Still Empty
12.4. Setup Of Euro Exchange Rate
12.5. The Price Database window after setting the exchange rate between Euros and US Dollars
12.6. Chart of Accounts After Setting The Exchange Rate Between Euro And US Dollar
12.7. Price Database Before Obtaining Online Quotes
12.8. The Price Database After Obtaining Online Quotes
12.9. The Chart of Accounts After Obtaining Online Quotes
12.10. Transaction Currency Transfer To Jamaica
12.11. Edit Exchange Rate
12.12. Chart of Accounts before purchasing the boat
12.13. The Chart Of Accounts After Purchasing The Boat
12.14. The Chart of Accounts For International Stocks
12.15. International Securities
12.16. Transfer Funds
12.17. The Purchased international stocks
12.18. The Initial Multicurrency Bank Accounts Setup
12.19. The Initial Price Database Entries
12.20. The Initial Multicurrency Setup After Entering Exchange Rates Between USD, HKD and EUR
12.21. The Transfer Dialog To Create Transaction For Transfer From USD To HKD
12.22. The Transaction After Transfer Displayed in The US Bank Account Register
12.23. The Transaction After Adding The Splits For The Transfer Fee
12.24. The Account Tab Balances After Completion Of USD To HKD Transfer
12.25. The Transaction To Transfer Funds From Hong Kong To US Bank Account
12.26. The Price database after transfer of funds back to US account
12.27. The Accounts tab after transfer back
12.28. The Balance Sheet After Above Transactions
13.1. Sales Tax Tables Editor
13.2. New Sales Tax Table Entry
13.3. Entering Company Information
13.4. Billing Terms Editor
13.5. New Billing Term
13.6. New Customer Registration Window
13.7. Find Customer Window
13.8. Creating a New Invoice
13.9. Edit Invoice Window
13.10. Post Invoice Window
13.11. Invoice Print Output
13.12. New Customer Job
13.13. Process Payment From Customer
13.14. New Style Sheet Window
13.15. HTML Style Sheet Example Window
13.16. HTML Style Sheets Example Output
13.17. New Vendor Registration Window
13.18. Find Vendor Window
13.19. New Bill Registration Window
13.20. Edit Bill Window
13.21. Post Bill Window
13.22. New Vendor Job
13.23. Process Payment To Vendor
13.24. Payroll Example: Initial Setup
13.25. Payroll Example: Employee Split Transaction
13.26. Payroll Example: Accounts After Salaries Paid
13.27. Payroll Example: Accounts After Paying Government
16.1. Asset Accounts Before Depreciation
16.2. Asset Depreciation In The Register
16.3. Accounts Tab After Asset Depreciation

List of Tables

2.1. Summary of effect of debits (Dr) and credits (Cr) on the balance of accounts of the 5 account types
2.2. Storage Comparison
2.3. Application Settings Locations
2.4. Saved Reports Locations
2.5. Online Banking Settings Locations
8.1. Buying a House Split Transaction
8.2. Personal loan to Peter
8.3. Selling an asset (house) with a profit
8.4. Selling an asset (house) with a loss
8.5. Selling an asset (house) with a profit
8.6. Selling an asset (house) with a profit 2
9.1. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale and Capital Gain/Loss Are Combined, Gross Pricing
9.2. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale & Gain Combined, Gross Pricing
9.3. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale and Capital Gain/Loss Are Combined, Net Pricing
9.4. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale & Gain Combined, Net Pricing
9.5. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale and Capital Gain/Loss Are Separate Transactions, Sale Transaction
9.6. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale and Capital Gain/Loss Are Separate Transactions, Capital Gain/Loss Transaction
9.7. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale Transaction, Gross Pricing
9.8. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Gain Transaction, Gross Pricing
9.9. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale and Capital Gain/Loss Are Separate Transactions, Sale Transaction
9.10. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale and Capital Gain/Loss Are Separate Transactions, Capital Gain/Loss Transaction
9.11. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Sale Transaction, Net Pricing
9.12. Selling Shares Split Scheme, Gain Transaction, Net Pricing
9.13. Transaction 1 dealing with value received and the reduction of the number of shares
9.14. Transaction 2 capital gain/loss (loss in this example)
10.1. Sample Chart of Accounts for Income and GST Statement
10.2. Income and GST Statement
10.3. Sample Chart of Accounts for the Transaction Report
11.1. Turning an Unrealized Gain into a Realized Gain - Accurate Estimation
11.2. Turning an Unrealized Gain into a Realized Gain - Over estimation
11.3. Turning an Unrealized Gain into a Realized Gain - Under estimation
12.1. Selling a currency with a Split Transaction Scheme
13.1. Sample Tax Table Entries for EU country (e.g. 21% / 6% / 0% Belgium, 20% / 5% / 0% UK etc.) (2017)
13.2. Sample Tax Table Entries for Australia (2017)
13.3. Sample Tax Table Entries for Cook County, Illinois (2017)
13.4. Payroll Transaction Map
13.5. Payroll Transaction Map for Employee 1
16.1. Linear Depreciation Scheme Example
16.2. Geometric Depreciation Scheme Example
16.3. Sum of Digits Depreciation Scheme Example
B.1. Overall Page Description Fields
B.2. Multiple Checks Per Page Fields
B.3. Individual Check Item Fields
B.4. Individual Check Item Types

List of Examples

8.1. Accounts for the loan to Peter
9.1. Sale of Shares with Profit, Manual Profit/Loss Calculation, Sale & Profit Combined, Gross Pricing
9.2. Sale of Shares with Profit, Manual Profit/Loss Calculation, Sale & Profit Combined, Net Pricing
9.3. Sale of Shares with Profit, Manual Profit/Loss Calculation, Sale & Profit Separated, Gross Pricing
9.4. Sale of Shares with Profit, Manual Profit/Loss Calculation, Sale & Profit Separated, Net Pricing
9.5. Manual Lot Creation and Linking
9.6. Automatic Creation of Capital Gain Or Loss Transactions
9.7. Automatic Creation of Capital Gain Or Loss Transactions, 2 Sales at Once
9.8. Automatic Creation of Capital Gain Or Loss Transactions - After a Simple Stock Split
9.9. Changing the Orphaned Gains-CCC to Gain/Loss Account

List of Equations

2.1. The static accounting equation
2.2. The (dynamic) accounting equation
2.3. The rearranged accounting equation