GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 633586
2.1 Accounting Concepts should include Debit/Credit
Last modified: 2018-06-29 22:46:25 UTC
I propose moving any and all discussions of Credit/Debit terminology to a new section under 2.1. Currently, there is a discussion of Credit/Debit in: 2.2.2 and 3.2, at least. Note that the discussion under 3.2 includes additional detail that might go elsewhere (perhaps the Help?) or even here. ------------------------------- 2.1.4 Debit vs. Credit Accountants use the terms debit and credit to describe whether money is being transferred to or from an account. Money is recorded in the debit column, which is always the left column, when it is being transferred to an account. Money is recorded in the credit column, which is always the right column, when it is being transferred from an account. Money always flows from the right column of one account to the left column of another account. Contrary to popular belief and even some dictionary definitions, accounting debits and credits do not mean decrease and increase. The only constant definition of debits and credits is that debits are left-column entries and credits are right-column entries. For some accounts (such as asset and expense accounts), debits increase the balance and credits decrease the balance; in others (such as liability, equity and income accounts), credits increase the balance and debits decrease the balance. This accounting terminology can be confusing to new users, which is why Gnucash allows you to use more common column headings such as deposit and withdrawal. If you are more comfortable with those headings, use them. If you prefer the credit and debit headings, you can change the column headings to use accounting labels in the General tab under Preferences. (see Setting Preferences for more detail on setting preferences).
Hi David, you're right about this one--good catch--but for the same reason as for bug 633524, I'm marking this as dependent on the resolution of bug 633385.
Created attachment 177333 [details] [review] Fix #633586 Move the explanation of debits and credits from §3.2.2 `Income and Expense Accounts' into §2.1.3 `Double Entry', a more logical place. Get rid of historical info (easy to look up online), error checking features info (this isn't a sales pitch), and banks' reversed usage of debit and credit terms (a digression, not really relevant at this point).
Yawar-- I looked at your changes; it seems to me that the terms 'Deposit' and 'Withdrawal' are not "simplified"--they are different. That was why my original text used the word "common."
Also--are you going to remove the 2.2.2 discussion as well?
Created attachment 177337 [details] [review] Replace `simplified' with `common' David, I guess you're right about `deposit' and `withdrawal' being common. People are probably used to seeing them on their bank statements.
(In reply to comment #4) > Also--are you going to remove the 2.2.2 discussion as well? You mean the discussion on why banks reverse the standard debit/credit usage? It's a nice tidbit of information, but I feel it's not really relevant, this section is supposed to be a very quick intro to double entry. Anything more is distracting from that.
In re 2.2.2; I am not sure what I was thinking. Perhaps the underlying text has changed anyhow. Thanks for putting 'common' back. I think it should go in.
Committed in r20024.
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