To clarify for users. This is a first draft; editorial suggestions welcome.

Current text:

In double entry accounting, transactions always involve at least two accounts–a source account and a destination account. GnuCash manages this by inserting a line into the transaction for every account that is affected, and recording the amounts involved in each line. A line within a transaction that records the account and amount of money involved is called a split. A transaction can contain an arbitrary number of splits.

Modified text:

In double entry accounting, transactions always involve at least two accounts–a source account and a destination account. GnuCash manages this by inserting a line into the transaction for every account that is affected, and recording the amounts involved in each line. A line within a transaction that records the account and amount of money involved is called a split. A transaction can contain an arbitrary number of splits.

Note that in traditional double-entry accounting, the left column in the register is used for debits, while the right column is used for credits. Accountants record increases in asset, expense, and equity accounts on the debit (left) side, and they record increases in liability, revenue, and capital accounts on the credit (right) side. GnuCash follows this convention in the register.

Note also that the common use of the words debit and credit does not match how accountants use these words. In common use, "credit" generally has positive associations; in accounting, "credit" is associated with decreases in asset, expense and equity accounts.

When creating a transaction in GnuCash, splits can be entered in any order. However, when the transaction is closed (either when leaving the transaction, or when pressing the Enter key), all debit splits will jump
ahead of all credit splits.