GnuCash Manual

Table of Contents

About the Authors

1. Introduction to GnuCash

2. Using This Document & Getting Help

Accessing Help

GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide

GnuCash Wiki

GnuCash Website

GnuCash On-line Assistance

Mouse Buttons

3. Getting Started

The “Welcome to GnuCash!” Screen

New Account Hierarchy Setup

Import QIF Files

The “Tip of The Day” Screen

4. GnuCash Windows & Menus

GnuCash Main Windows Areas

Account Tree Display

Account Tree - Menus

Account Tree - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

Tab bar

Main pane - Account tree

Summarybar

Statusbar

Account Register/General Journal

Account Register & General Journal Window

Account Register Menus

Account Register - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

Tab Bar

List of Transactions

Summarybar

Statusbar

Report Window

Report Display Window

Report Menus

Reports - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

Tab Bar

Report Main Display

Summarybar

Statusbar

Reconcile Window

Reconcile Display Window

Reconcile - Menus

Reconcile - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

Schedule Transaction Window

Scheduled Transactions Main Display Window

Scheduled Transactions Menu

Scheduled Transactions - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

Budget Window

Budget Window Menus

Budget Window Toolbar, Icons/Buttons

Budget Window Main Display

Budget Options

Business Windows

Customers Overview

Vendors Overview

Employees Overview

5. Setting Up, Editing & Working with Accounts

Types of GnuCash Accounts

Creating a Chart of Accounts

Editing a Chart of Accounts

Creating a New Account

General Information Tab

Steps to enable Online Quotes updating

Opening Balance tab

Editing an Account

Renumbering Subaccounts

Deleting an Account

Reconciling an Account to a Statement

Reconciling Information

Reconcile

6. Common Transaction Operations

Transfer Funds Dialog Box

Basic Information

Transfer Accounts

Currency Transfer

Finishing Up

Enter Transaction via register

Entering Directly in the Register Window

Associating an External File with a Transaction.

Multiple Split Transactions

Multiple Currency/Commodity Transactions

Editing a Transaction

Deleting a Transaction

Add Reversing Transaction

Removing Transaction Splits

Copying a Transaction

Setting the reconcile status (R field) of a transaction

Jump to another Account Register

Scheduling Transactions

Scheduled Transactions Window

Edit Scheduled Transaction Window

Printing Checks

Importing Transactions from Files

Import Formats

Import Preference

Import QIF

Import OFX/QFX

Import CSV

Import several file formats with AQBanking

Generic Transaction Import Matcher

Match Picker

Import Match Editor

Exporting Transactions

Choose Export Settings

Account Selection

Choose File Name for export

Export Now...

Export Summary

Online Actions ...

Get Balance

Get Transactions ...

Issue Transaction

Direct Debit

General Journal

7. Business Features

Initial Setup

Account Setup

Tax Tables

Company Registration

Counters

Business Preferences

Billing Terms

Accounts Receivable

Customers

New

Find and Edit

Invoices

New

Edit

Post

Find

Print

Assign Starting Invoice Number

Customer Jobs

Process Invoice Payment

Over Payments or Pre-Payments

Partial Payments

Writing Off a Bad Debt

Changing the Invoice Appearance

Accounts Payable

Vendors

New

Find and Edit

Bills

New

Edit

Post

Find

Vendor Jobs

Process Bill Payment

Over Payments or Pre-Payments

Partial Payments

Employees

New Employee

Find and Edit

New Expense Voucher/Credit Note

Find Expense Voucher/Credit Note

Edit

8. Tools & Assistants

Find Dialogs

Find Transaction

Find Customer, Invoice, Job, Vendor, Bill, Employee, Expense Voucher

“Since Last Run” Assistant

Mortgage & Loan Repayment Assistant

Stock Transaction Assistant

Transaction Details Page

Transaction Type Page

Stock Amount Page

Stock Value Page

Cash Page

Fees Page

Dividend Page

Capital Gains Page

Finish Page

Online Banking Setup Assistant

Price Editor

Adding a stock price manually

Configuring for use of the Get Quotes button

Security Editor

Adding or Editing a Commodity

Configuring Securities/Currencies for On-Line Retrieval of Prices

Loan Repayment Calculator

“Close Book” Tool

Dialog Box Details

How It Works

What It Doesn’t Do

Necessity

Conclusion

Lots Editor

Lots for Capital Gains of Securities

Lots for Business Features

9. Reports And Charts

Introduction

Saving a Report Configuration

Working with Saved Report Configurations

Configuring Reports and Charts

Report Options Buttons

Common Report Options

Reports Listed By Class

General Reports

Assets & Liabilities

Business Reports

Income & Expense

Sample & Custom

Budget

Country Specific Reports

Printing or Exporting Reports and Charts

Creating or Modifying Reports and Charts

Accessing the GnuCash Application Programming Interface (API)

Report Rendering

10. Customizing GnuCash

Account Display Options

Setting Preferences

Accounting Period

Accounts

Business

General

Import

Numbers, Date, Time

Online Banking

Online Quotes

Printing

Register

Register Defaults

Reports

Scheduled Transactions

Windows

Book Options

Accounts Book Options Tab

Budgeting Book Options Tab

Business Book Options Tab

Counters Book Options Tab

Changing Style Sheets

Default Style Sheet

Easy Style Sheet

Footer Style Sheet

Technicolor Style Sheet

Setting Tax Report Options

TXF Export - Known Anomalies and Limitations

Detailed TXF Category Descriptions

Reset Warnings...

Changing the Language or Region

11. Setting Up the Quote Retrieval

Installing Perl

Installing Finance::Quote

Using gnucash-cli for Testing and Automation.

Displaying the Finance::Quote Version and Supported Sources

Displaying Quotes in a Terminal Window

Updating Quotes Automatically with gnucash-cli

A. GNU Free Documentation License

0. PREAMBLE

1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS

2. VERBATIM COPYING

3. COPYING IN QUANTITY

4. MODIFICATIONS

5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS

6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

8. TRANSLATION

9. TERMINATION

10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

Addendum

GnuCash Manual

The Technical Reference

The GnuCash Documentation Team

This manual describes how to use the GnuCash Financial software.

Copyright © 2002-2025 GnuCash Documentation Team

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 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 this package or this manual, follow the directions at the GnuCash Bug Tracking System.

Revision History

Revision GnuCash Help Manual 5.11

30 March 2025

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15 December 2024

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31 March 2024

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25 June 2023

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30 April 2023

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26 March 2023

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.14

26 March 2023

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.903

12 March 2023

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.900

8 January 2023

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.13

18 December 2022

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.12

25 September 2022

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.11

26 June 2022

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.10

27 March 2022

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.9

19 December 2021

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.8

28 September 2021

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.7

26 September 2021

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.6

27 June 2021

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.5

28 March 2021

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.4

28 December 2020

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.3

27 December 2020

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.2

27 September 2020

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.1

26 July 2020

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual 4.0

28 June 2020

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.11

28 June 2020

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.10

11 April 2020

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.9

29 March 2020

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.8

29 December 2019

Multiple authors

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.7

8 September 2019

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.6

30 June 2019

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.5

31 March 2019

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.3

30 September 2018

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.2

24 June 2018

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.1

28 April 2018

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v3.0

1 April 2018

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.20

1 April 2018

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.19

16 December 2017

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.16

26 March 2017

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.11

11 January 2016

Multiple authors

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.8

27 September 2015

Multiple authors

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.7

28 June 2015

Multiple authors

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.3

30 March 2014

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.2

2 March 2014

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.1

26 January 2014

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.6.0

29 December 2013

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.4.2

17 November 2012

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.4.1

1 July 2011

Multiple authors

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Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.3.16

November 7, 2010

Chris Lyttle <chris@wilddev.net>

Dave Herman <dvherman@bigfoot.com>

GnuCash Documentation Team

Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.0.2

March 2007

Chris Lyttle <chris@wilddev.net>

GnuCash Documentation Team

Revision GnuCash Help Manual v2.0.0

July 2006

Chris Lyttle <chris@wilddev.net>

GnuCash Documentation Team

Revision GnuCash Help Manual v1.8.3

Aug 2003

Chris Lyttle <chris@wilddev.net>

GnuCash Documentation Team

Revision GnuCash Help Manual v1.8.2

Aug 2003

Chris Lyttle <chris@wilddev.net>

GnuCash Documentation Team

Revision GnuCash Help Manual v1.8.1

May 2003

Chris Lyttle <chris@wilddev.net>

GnuCash Documentation Team

Revision GnuCash Help Manual v1.8.0

Jan 2003

Chris Lyttle <chris@wilddev.net>

GnuCash Documentation Team

Revision GnuCash User Manual

June 2002

GnuCash Developers and Documentors <gnucash-devel@gnucash.org>

GnuCash Documentation Team

About the Authors

The GnuCash Documentation Team is a self-designated group of GnuCash users and developers who have volunteered to write this documentation for the benefit of the broader user base. People who are interested in joining this group are encouraged to express their interest on the GnuCash lists (gnucash-users and gnucash-devel) for further direction.

Contributors on the team so far have been: Yawar Amin , J. Alex Aycinena , David Cousens , Frank H. Ellenberger , Chris Good , Dave Herman , Geert Janssens , Chris Lyttle , Cristian Marchi , Brent McBride , John Ralls , Robert Ratliff , Mark Simpson , and Christian Stimming .

Chapter 1. Introduction to GnuCash

What is GnuCash?

GnuCash is a personal and small business finance application. It’s designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible. GnuCash allows you to track your income and expenses, reconcile bank accounts, monitor stock portfolios and manage your small business finances. It is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.

Chapter 2. Using This Document & Getting Help

This document is organized in two dimensions:

- From the GUI (Graphical User Interface) explaining the available options and their functions, with links to deeper descriptions and usage. Chapter 4, GnuCash Windows & Menus

- By classifying Operations, Tasks, or Functions based on whether it is an Account, Transaction, Reporting or other oriented operation. Examples are:

- Account Actions - Chapter 5, Setting Up, Editing & Working with Accounts

- Transaction/Register Actions - Chapter 6, Common Transaction Operations

- Tools and Assistants - Chapter 8, Tools & Assistants

- Reporting & Charting - Chapter 9, Reports And Charts

- Customization - Chapter 10, Customizing GnuCash

Accessing Help

When GnuCash is running and this documentation is installed [1] ,

- this window is accessed by

- pressing the F1 key or

- selecting from the menu Help → Contents .

- Help → Tutorial and Concepts Guide (Ctrl+H) will open the other part of this documentation.

- In most dialogs the Help button will lead you directly to the page which describes that dialog.

The complete help menu is explained in the section called “Account Tree - Help Menu”.

Operating System and Help Viewer

Depending on your operating system we use different programs to display this help document:

Linux

Gnome Yelp

macOS

default web browser

Windows

Windows help viewer

See their respective manuals to get help about help.

GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide

The guide is the counterpart to this manual. It explains the concepts used in GnuCash and has a tutorial that takes you through using GnuCash to manage your accounts. It will appear if you choose Open the new user tutorial in the Welcome to GnuCash! menu.

To open that Guide at a later time go to Help → Tutorial and Concepts Guide (Ctrl+H).

Important

It is strongly recommended to read the Guide if you are new to GnuCash or unfamiliar with accounting concepts.

GnuCash Wiki

An immense amount of less-formal, but often more recent documentation about as well usage as development of GnuCash is collected by the community in the GnuCash Wiki ; the Frequently Asked Questions page should be a first stop whenever you encounter difficulty using GnuCash.

Tip

You should also try its search page or browse categories.

GnuCash Website

The multilingual GnuCash website contains:

Announcements

of new releases or server maintenance – usually only in English;

Downloads

of the program or the documentation in several flavours;

Links

to file bugs or suggest enhancements and more.

GnuCash On-line Assistance

Mailing Lists

The primary source of user support is the user mailing list. If English is not your primary language, see wiki:user mailing lists for local lists. That page has also other useful sections like Netiquette or your individual Mailing List Management.

In case you are old school there are 3rd party services which convert some of the lists into other formats:

Web Forum

Nabble;

NNTP News Feed

Gmane.

One must subscribe before posting, even if using Nabble or Gmane.

Chat

Several of the developers and experienced users monitor the #gnucash channel at irc.gimp.net. They are usually busy with other tasks and of course are not always at their computers. Log in, ask your question, and stay logged in; it may take several hours before your question is noticed and responded.

- If you got disconnected check the IRC logs to verify that you missed nothing related.

- Requirements, netiquette, and other details are explained in the IRC wiki page.

[1] Our bundles for FlatPak, macOS, and Windows contain it, but under Linux it is usually shipped as separate package gnucash-docs .

Mouse Buttons

This document refers to mouse buttons as Button1, Button2 etc.

- Button1 is typically the left mouse button or the right button in a left-handed setup

- Button2 is typically the right mouse button or the left button in a left-handed setup

Chapter 3. Getting Started

The “Welcome to GnuCash!” Screen

Figure 3.1. “Welcome to GnuCash!” Screen

This screen is intended for you to use to get up and running quickly. The Cancel button is used to exit the screen. It will then prompt you with Display Welcome Dialog Again?.

Figure 3.2. Display Welcome Dialog Again?

If you do not want to see the Welcome to GnuCash! menu again click the No button. Click the Yes button or press the keyboard Enter key for the default which is to have the Welcome to GnuCash! screen run again.

Note

Selecting either of these options will leave you with a minimal GnuCash main window. Operations in this window are described in Chapter 4, GnuCash Windows & Menus.

Figure 3.3. Minimal GnuCash main window

New Account Hierarchy Setup

This assistant helps you to create a set of GnuCash accounts. It will appear if you choose Create a new set of accounts in the Welcome to GnuCash! menu, or if you select File → New .

Import QIF Files

This Assistant helps you import Quicken QIF files. It will appear if you choose Import my QIF files in the Welcome to GnuCash! menu.

To start this assistant manually go to File → Import ... → Import QIF... .

In the following all the screens that you can see in this assistant are described in order of appearance.

1. The Import QIF files assistant opens with a screen that briefly describes what this assistant does and requests the file(s) to import. The three buttons at the very bottom of the screen will not change while using the assistant.

- Cancel: exit the process and cancel importing QIF files.

Warning

If you click this button, any selections you have made up to this point will be lost.

- Back: brings up the previous screen so that you can change a previous selection until the first screen.

- Forward: brings up the next screen so you can continue through the assistant.

2. The next screen allows you to Select a QIF file to load. The Select... button on this screen is used to access the list of files. The Select... button brings up the Select QIF File dialog.

Navigate to where you have stored your QIF files and select the first one then click Import. The next screen will display it in the Select a QIF File to Load field.

Note

If the file you are loading does not have an QIF date listed in it you will see the Set a date format for this QIF file screen. Select the proper format from the pull down list and continue.

Note

If the file you are loading does not have an account name listed in it you will see the Set the default QIF account name screen. Otherwise you will skip this screen and go on to the screen in the next section that shows loaded QIF files.

- The Account name: field is used to set an account name for this QIF file.

3. The next screen shows you the QIF files you have loaded. You can use this screen to return to the previous screen and load more QIF files. It will also let you unload any files you have loaded by mistake.

- The top panel shows the list of QIF Files you have loaded.

- The Load another file button takes you back to the previous screen to load another QIF file.

- The Unload selected file button allows you to select a file from the top panel and remove it from the list.

When you have selected all the QIF files to be imported, click the Forward button.

4. Depending on the type of data contained in the QIF files to be imported, you may see only one or all of the following screens:

Accounts and stock holdings

This screen gives a description of the Accounts and stock holdings matching process on the following Match QIF accounts with GnuCash accounts screen.

Tip

This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see the section called “Online Banking”) under GnuCash Preferences.

The next screen lets you Match QIF accounts with GnuCash accounts. You will see a list of QIF account names on the left and suggested GnuCash account names on the right. The New? column indicates if the GnuCash account name will be created by the QIF Import.

To change the GnuCash account to a different one select the QIF account. A screen will pop up to select another account or create a new one.

- Select an account from the list to choose a already existing account.

- The New Account button allows you to add a new account name as a sub-account (child of selected) of the selected account.

- The OK button is used to confirm your selection.

- The Cancel button is used to exit the dialog without using any changes you have made.

Income and Expense categories

This screen gives a description of the Income and Expense categories matching process on the following Match QIF categories with GnuCash accounts screen.

Tip

This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see the section called “Online Banking”) under GnuCash Preferences.

The next screen lets you Match QIF categories with GnuCash accounts. You will see a list of QIF category names on the left and suggested GnuCash account names on the right. The New? column indicates if the GnuCash account name will be created by the QIF Import.

To change the GnuCash account to a different one select the QIF category. A dialog will pop up to select another account or create a new one.

- Select an account from the list to choose a already existing account.

- The New Account button allows you to add a new account name as a sub-account (child of selected) of the selected account.

- The OK button is used to confirm your selection.

- The Cancel button is used to exit the dialog without using any changes you have made.

Payees and memos

This screen gives a description of the Payees and memos matching process on the following Match payees/memos to GnuCash accounts screen.

Tip

This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see the section called “Online Banking”) under GnuCash Preferences.

The next screen lets you Match payees/memos to GnuCash accounts. You will see a list of QIF payee/memo names on the left and suggested GnuCash account names on the right. The default GnuCash account used is called Unspecified. The New? column indicates if the GnuCash account name will be created by the QIF Import.

To change the GnuCash account to a different one select the QIF payee/memo. A dialog will pop up to select another account or create a new one.

- Select an account from the list to choose a already existing account.

- The New Account button allows you to add a new account name as a sub-account of the selected account.

- The OK button is used to confirm your selection.

- The Cancel button is used to exit the dialog without using any changes you have made.

5. The next screen allows you to Enter the QIF file currency. The drop down list defaults to the currency configured in the Accounts tab (see the section called “Accounts”) under GnuCash Preferences. If you wish the new accounts to use a different currency, select one from the list.

When you have selected the currency, click the Forward button.

6. Depending on the type of data contained in the QIF files to be imported, you may or may not see one or more of the following screens:

Tradable Commodities

This screen gives a description of the Tradable Commodities process on the screen.

Tip

This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see the section called “Online Banking”) under GnuCash Preferences.

A series of screens, one for each of the stock, mutual fund, or commodity, displays the exchange, full name, and symbol for each of the commodities listed in the QIF file you are importing so that you can check them before proceeding.

Match duplicate transactions

This screen gives a description of the Match duplicate transactions process on the following Select possible duplicates screen.

Tip

This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see the section called “Online Banking”) under GnuCash Preferences.

The next screen lets you Select possible duplicate transactions. Imported transactions are shown on the left panel and possible matches to each selected transaction are shown on the right.

- The left panel shows the list of Imported transactions to select from for matching duplicates

- The right panel shows the list of possible duplicates for the selected imported transaction. Select the one that most closely matches

7. The last screen, Update your GnuCash accounts, gives you a list of three choices to finish the assistant.

- Cancel: exit the process and cancel importing QIF files.

Warning

If you click this button, any selections you have made up to this point will be lost.

- Back: brings up the previous screen so that you can change a previous selection until the first screen.

- Forward: imports the data and creates the accounts you have specified.

You should now have successfully imported your accounts.

Tip

Imported transactions might need to be reconciled. This process is described in the GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts guide.

The “Tip of The Day” Screen

Figure 3.4. “Tip of The Day” Screen

The Tip of the Day screen starts whenever you start GnuCash unless it has been disabled in the GnuCash Preferences. It gives tips on features and using GnuCash. You can use the three buttons at the bottom of the screen to look through the tips:

Previous [2]

Shows the previous tip

Next [3]

Shows the next tip

Close

Dismiss the Tip of the Day screen

The checkbox Show tips at startup can be used to enable or disable the Tip of the Day from running at GnuCash start-up.

It is also possible to configure the Tip of the Day to run at start-up by the checkbox Display "tip of the day" dialog on the General tab of Edit → Preferences , see the section called “General”.

The Tip of the Day can also be run manually by going to Help → Tip of the Day .

[2] Before GnuCash version 3.0 it was labeled Prev.

[3] Before GnuCash version 3.0 it was labeled Forward.

Chapter 4. GnuCash Windows & Menus

The main GnuCash window displays the accounts, reports, menu selections and tools you may use to process your financial data. This section gives you an overview of the different windows and sections of windows that you will see in GnuCash.

Links in the various tables will lead to additional details on the topic.

GnuCash Main Windows Areas

You can access commonly used sub-windows and tools through this window.

Figure 4.1. The Main GnuCash Window

The parts in which the main GnuCash window is divided.

When you start GnuCash, after a couple of windows (Splash screen, Tip of the Day) the main window will be displayed. This window is divided into the following sections (see Figure 4.1, “The Main GnuCash Window” for reference):

Titlebar

Displays the name of the currently opened file and the active tab’s name

Menubar

Displays the available menu entries

Toolbar

Displays the available Toolbar buttons

Tab bar

Lists the open reports, registers and tree of accounts

Main pane

The major display space showing the content of the currently selected tab

Summarybar

Displays a financial summary

Statusbar

Gives a description of the active menu item and shows a progress bar

Note

The contents and options within the various sub-menus of the different sections of the main GnuCash window will vary upon the active display window.

The tree of accounts is labeled Accounts in the Tab bar, and displays all your accounts and their balances, grouped according to standard accounting practice.

Tip

To open an additional view of the tree of accounts go to View → New Accounts Page . This will open the account tree in the existing window.

Tip

To open a new window with a tree of accounts view, go to Windows → New Window with Page .

Account Tree Display

Figure 4.2. The Account Tree Display.

This is an image of the Accounts tab.

Account Tree - Menus

The Menubar for the Accounts Tree window contains the following options.

Account Tree - File Menu

The following table describes the options in the File Menu.

Clicking on the File option of the Menubar will “pull down” a menu of options described in Table 4.1, “Account Tree - File-Menu - Access to file, account operations and printing.”.

Table 4.1. Account Tree - File-Menu - Access to file, account operations and printing.

Menu Item

Description

New File (Ctrl+N)

Creates a new data file (starts with new accounts and data.)

Open... (Ctrl+O)

Opens an already existing GnuCash data file.

Import →

Opens the Import sub-menu to import files from other financial programs.

Import Bills & Invoices...

Open the Import Transactions from text file window.

Import Accounts from CSV...

Starts the CSV Account file import process. The file to import must be in the same format as the one exported by GnuCash.

Import Transactions from CSV...

Starts the CSV Transactions file import process. The file to import must be a delimited file.

Import Prices from a CSV file...

This assistant will help you import Prices from a CSV file. The file to import must be a delimited file.

Import Customers and Vendors ...

Open the Import Customers and Vendors from text file window.

Import QIF...

Starts the QIF file Import process.

Replay GnuCash .log file...

Starts the replaying of a GnuCash log file. Used for data recovery from "crashes".

Import OFX/QFX...

Starts the OFX/QFX file Import process.

Import MT940

Import an end-of-day account statement in SWIFT MT940 format into GnuCash.

Import MT942

Import an interim account statement in SWIFT MT942 format into GnuCash.

Import DTAUS

Import a traditional german DTAUS file into GnuCash.

Import DTAUS and send

Import a DTAUS file into GnuCash and transmit its orders by Online Banking.

Save (Ctrl+S)

Saves the currently open file.

Save As... (Shift+Ctrl+S)

Saves the currently opened file with a different name.

Warning

Do NOT store your data file in ~/.gnucash/books.

Revert

Reload the last saved version of the currently opened file. Useful if you need to discard changes made to the data and not yet saved.

Print

This entry is only activated if a printable item like a report or an invoice is selected..

Page Setup... (Shift+Ctrl+P)

Lets you choose the paper size, layout and margins for printing.

Export →

Opens the Export sub-menu.

Export Account Tree to CSV

Exports your account hierarchy to a delimited CSV file. Does not export data.

Export Transactions to CSV

Exports transactions to a delimited CSV file.

Export Active Register to CSV...

Export the active Register to a CSV file.

Export Accounts

Exports your account hierarchy to a new GnuCashfile. Does not export data.

Properties (Alt+Enter)

Sets options for this GnuCash data file.

Recently opened files

Numbered list of most recently opened GnuCash data files.

Close (Ctrl+W)

Close the current tab.

Note

In the initial Account tree this item is not available - it will be grayed out.

Quit (Ctrl+Q)

Exits GnuCash.

Account Tree - Edit Menu

Table 4.2. Account Tree - Edit-Menu - Access to file and account editing operations and preferences.

Menu Item

Description

Cut (Ctrl+X)

Performs a standard Cut operation.

Copy (Ctrl+C)

Performs a standard Copy operation.

Paste (Ctrl+V)

Performs a standard Paste operation.

Edit Account (Ctrl+E)

Modify name or characteristic of selected account. the section called “Editing an Account”

Delete Account... (Delete)

Remove an account. See the section called “Deleting an Account”

Find Account (Ctrl+I)

Opens the Find Account wizard. This can be used to search the account structure to open the desired account.

Cascade Account Properties...

Opens the Cascade Account Properties dialogue. Transfers the selected account properties to the subordinate accounts.

Note

This item can only be selected if you have marked an account with at least one sub-account in the account structure.

Renumber Subaccounts...

Starts the Renumber Account assistant. See the section called “Renumbering Subaccounts”.

Note

This item is selectable only if you have highlighted an account with at least one subaccount in the accounts tree.

Open Account

Opens the register window for the currently selected account.

Open Subaccount

Opens a register window that displays all the transactions for the selected account and for all its subaccounts.

Find... (Ctrl+F)

Set criteria for a search for a specific transaction. See the section called “Find Dialogs” for specifics on searches.

Preferences ( GnuCash → Preferences on macOS).

Customize GnuCash for location, style, and numerous other preferences. See the section called “Setting Preferences”.

Style Sheets

Modify/customize Style Sheets. See the section called “Changing Style Sheets”.

Tax Report Options

Set tax characteristics on account(s) (US). Assign tax form and line to account. See the section called “Setting Tax Report Options”

Account Tree - View Menu

Table 4.3. Account Tree - View-Menu - Changes display window view.

Menu Item

Description

Toolbar

Check-box to enable/disable display of Toolbar.

Summarybar

Check-box to enable/disable display of Summarybar .

Statusbar

Check-box to enable/disable display of Statusbar.

Filter by ...

Set filter for accounts displayed in the Account Tree display.

Refresh (Ctrl+R)

Repaint the display screen.

New Accounts Page

Open a new tab that displays the account tree.

Account Tree - Actions Menu

Table 4.4. Account Tree - Actions-Menu - Setup scheduled transactions, repair accounts, perform stock splits, transfer and reconcile transactions.

Menu Item

Description

Online Actions →

Online Banking Submenu

Note

This is shown only if WITH_AQBANKING was set while building GnuCash.

Important

The menu entries will be enabled by the successful completion of Tools → Online Banking Setup... .

Note

Not all options are for all institutions available.

Get Balance

Get the balance for the selected account.

Get Transactions...

Get the transactions online through Online Banking.

Note

Sending orders to the bank is only available for EBICS and FinTS.

Issue SEPA Transaction...

Issue a new international European (SEPA) transaction online through Online Banking.

Internal Transaction...

Issue a new bank-internal transaction online through Online Banking.

Issue SEPA Direct Debit...

Note

Issue a new international European (SEPA) direct debit note online through Online Banking. With the changeover to SEPA, this menu entry has disappeared, but is still possible. See the German https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/De/SEPA-Lastschrift.

Show log window...

Open the Online Banking Connection Window

Scheduled Transactions →

Scheduled Transactions sub-menus

Scheduled Transaction Editor

Invoke tool to edit scheduled transactions. See the section called “Edit Scheduled Transaction Window”

Since Last Run...

Display Scheduled transactions since last running of GnuCash. the section called ““Since Last Run” Assistant”

Mortgage & Loan Repayment...

Starts the Mortgage & Loan Repayment assistant for setting up repayments. the section called “Mortgage & Loan Repayment Assistant”

Budget →

Budget sub-menus

New Budget

Opens the window to create a new budget.

Open Budget

If no budget exists, create a new budget and open it. If only one budget exists, open it; otherwise user selects one to open.

Copy Budget

If no budgets exist yet, just open a new budget. If only one budget exists, create a copy of it; otherwise user selects one to copy. If a copy is made, then the copy is opened in a new tab.

Delete Budget

If the active tab is a budget view, the open budget is deleted. Otherwise, a list of existing budgets to delete is displayed in the Select Budget dialogue.

New Account...

Creates a new account and opens the account properties window.

New Account Hierarchy...

Starts the New Account Hierarchy Setup assistant.

Transfer... (Ctrl+T)

Starts the Transfer assistant for transfer between accounts.

Reconcile...

Open the Reconcile window. the section called “Reconciling an Account to a Statement”

Auto clear...

Opens the auto-clear screen where you can fill up the automatic clear information.

Stock Split...

Starts the Stock Transaction assistant. Additional details the section called “Stock Transaction Assistant”

View Lots...

Opens the Lots in Account form.

Check & Repair →

Check & Repair Submenus

Check & Repair Account

Check for and repair unbalanced transactions and orphan splits in this account.

Check & Repair Subaccounts

Check for and repair unbalanced transactions and orphan splits in this account and its subaccounts.

Check & Repair All

Check for and repair unbalanced transactions and orphan splits in all accounts.

Reset Warnings...

GnuCash gives warnings when certain operations are attempted, such as removing a transaction or removing the splits of a transaction. The warning message gives you the option to not give you these warnings when attempting the operation. Check-boxes labeled Remember and don’t ask me again and Remember and don’t ask me again this session allow disabling the warnings. This option resets the warnings to the default, i.e. display all warnings.

Tip

Warnings may be selectively enabled.

Rename Page

Open the form to rename the current page/tab.

Account Tree - Business Menu

Table 4.5. Account Tree - Business-Menu - Access small business features of GnuCash.

Menu Item

Description

Customer →

Select customer related activities.

Customers Overview

Open a customers overview page.

New Customer...

Start the form to create a new customer.

Find Customer...

Start the assistant to search for a customer.

New Invoice...

Start the form to create a new invoice.

Find Invoice...

Start the assistant to search for an invoice.

New Job...

Start the form to create a new job.

Find Job...

Start the assistant to search for a job.

Process Payment...

Starts the Process Payment assistant. Requires an account of type "A/Payable" before running assistant.

Invoices Due Reminder

Open the Invoices Due Reminder dialog.

Vendor →

Select vendor related activities.

Vendors Overview

Open a vendors overview page.

New Vendor...

Start the form to create a new vendor.

Find Vendor...

Start the assistant to search for a vendor.

New Bill...

Start the form to create a new bill.

Find Bill...

Start the assistant to search for a bill.

New Job...

Start the form to create a new job.

Find Job...

Start the assistant to search for a job.

Process Payment...

Starts the Process Payment assistant. Requires an account of type "A/Payable" before running assistant.

Bills Due Reminder

View and edit the list of Bills Due Reminder.

Employee →

Select employee related activities.

Employees Overview

Open an employees overview page.

New Employee...

Start the form to create a new employee.

Find Employee...

Start the assistant to search for an employee.

New Expense Voucher...

Start the form to create a new expense voucher.

Find Expense Voucher...

Start the assistant to search for an expense voucher.

Process Payment...

Starts the Process Payment assistant. Requires an account of type "A/Payable" before running assistant.

Business Linked Documents

View all Linked Business Documents.

Sales Tax Table

View and edit the list of tax tables.

Billing Terms Editor

View and edit the list of Billing Terms.

Account Tree - Reports Menu

This is a brief listing of each of the available reports and graphs. See the section called “Reports Listed By Class” for specific report details. Each report or graph may be customized by selecting a different Stylesheet or by pressing the Options button in the Toolbar.

Table 4.6. Account Tree - Reports-Menu - Access GnuCash Reports and Charts.

Menu Item

Description

Budget →

Budget Balance Sheet

Budget Chart

Budget Flow

This report includes information from one budget period at a time. The left column of numbers shows the budgeted amounts, and the right column of numbers shows the actual amounts. It only shows certain accounts, those that have no sub-accounts.

Budget Income Statement

Budget Profit & Loss

This report is identical to the Budget Income Statement report.

Budget Report

The budget report shows all accounts and all periods. For each period it gives the budgeted amount and the actual amount. There is an option to add another column showing the difference (budgeted - actual).

Examples →

Average Balance

Expenses vs. Day of Week

Income vs. Day of Week

Sample Graphs

Sample Report With Examples

Welcome to GnuCash

Assets & Liabilities →

Advanced Portfolio

Asset Chart

Asset Piechart

Balance Forecast

Balance Sheet

Balance Sheet using eguile-gnc

General Journal

General Ledger

Investment Portfolio

Liability Chart

Liability Piechart

Net Worth Barchart

Net Worth Linechart

Price Scatterplot

Security Piechart

Business →

Australien Tax Invoice

Customer Report

Customer Summary

Easy Invoice

Employee Report

Fancy Invoice

Job Report

Payable Aging

Printable Invoice

Receipt

Receivable Aging

Tax Invoice

Vendor Report

Experimental →

Balance Sheet (Multicolumn)

Income Statement (Multicolumn)

Income & Expense →

Cash Flow

Cash Flow Barchart

Equity Statement

Expense Chart

Expense Piechart

Income & Expense Barchart

Income & Expense Linechart

Income Chart

Incme Piechart

Income Statement

Income and GST Statement

Profit & loss

Trial Balance

Multicolumn →

Custom Multicolumn Report

Dashboard

Account Summary

Report showing the balance of selected accounts.

Future Scheduled Transactions Summary

Report showing a summary of future transactions.

Reconciliation Report

Tax Schedule Report & TXF Export

Create a Tax report (US) and/or export data for tax preparation software. (TXF)

Transaction Report

Saved Report Configurations

Open the screen to manage saved user configured reports.

Account Report

Open a register report for this account.

Account Report - Single Transaction

Open a register report for the selected Transaction.

Account Tree - Tools Menu

Table 4.7. Account Tree - Tools-Menu - Access to miscellaneous tools and editors

Menu Item

Description

Online Banking Setup...

Performs the initial setup of an account for Online Banking access (FinTs, OFX DirectConnect, ...) by AqBanking, if GnuCash was built with the option WITH_AQBANKING. the section called “Online Banking Setup Assistant”

Price Database

Tool to enter or modify Stock/Fund prices. Details at the section called “Price Editor”

Security Editor

Tool to enter or modify Stock or commodities. Details at the section called “Security Editor”

Loan Repayment Calculator

Details at the section called “Loan Repayment Calculator”

Close Book

Open a screen where you can enter the required information to close the current accounting period. See the section called ““Close Book” Tool”.

Import Map Editor

Opens the Import Map Editor tool to view, edit or delete import mappings (e.g. Bayes algorithm).

Transaction Linked Documents

With the Transactions Linked Documents dialogue, documents can be linked to a transaction.

General Journal

See the section called “General Journal”

Account Tree - Windows Menu

Table 4.8. Account Tree - Windows-Menu

Menu Item

Description

New Window

Opens a new GnuCash empty window.

New Window with Page

Moves the current tab into a new window.

Opened windows

A numbered list of open windows.

Account Tree - Help Menu

Table 4.9. Account Tree - Help-Menu - Access to this help and the Tutorial and Concepts Guide.

Menu Item

Description

Tutorial & Concepts Guide

Explanation of accounting principles and how to apply them in GnuCash

Tips Of The Day

Shows short notes about features you might otherwise miss.

Contents

Open this document.

About

Show the information screen with GnuCash version, license and credits

Account Tree - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

The GnuCash main Window has a number of buttons in the Toolbar to quickly access some common functions used with the specific active tab. The Toolbar can be hidden or shown by selecting View → Toolbar .

Note

The specific options displayed in the Toolbar vary with the functions available to the "active tab".

Tip

A brief description of the function of a Toolbar button is displayed when the mouse pointer is placed over the icon for a couple of seconds.

Table 4.10. Account Tree - Window Toolbar

Toolbar Buttons

Description

Save (Ctrl+S)

Perform a save on the data file, commit all transactions to the data file.

Note

Only active if changed data has not yet been saved.

Close (Ctrl+W)

Close the currently active account page

Note

This icon is not available for the first accounts tab. It is available for additional account tree displays.

Open

Open a transaction register of the selected account.

Edit

Edit the characteristics for the selected account. the section called “Editing an Account”

New

Start the assistant for creating a new account. the section called “Creating a New Account”

Delete

Remove the selected account. the section called “Deleting an Account”

Tab bar

The Tab bar displays “file/notebook folder” style tabs for open transaction registers, reports and the account tree.

Main pane - Account tree

The account tree displays the list of your accounts in hierarchical format. This enables you to organize your accounts by type.

Tip

The triangle shape (or plus sign) beside the account name is used to open and close the account tree. When you click on the triangle (plus sign), it changes from a rightward-pointing into a downward-pointing sign (minus sign) to indicate that the tree is opened. You will then see offset below the account name either a list of the sub account(s) or another triangle (plus sign) to the left of an account. This indicates another lower level of the account tree.

In the main pane are also shown, by default, four columns: Account Name, Type, Description and Total. For each account, this informations, if available, is displayed in the same row of the account.

Tip

The columns shown for each account in the Account Tree can be customized to suit your needs. Click on the arrow icon on the far right of the Account Tree window to display a drop down list of column options. Click on a column description to add it to the Account Tree window. Click again on the column description to hide it.

The default display for the account tree window is in Notebook mode. This is indicated by the tab in the tab row of the main window. Other tabs will appear beside this one when you open reports, account registers or additional account trees.

Summarybar

The Summarybar displays balances appropriate for the opened account type at a glance. Usually accounts display today’s account balance, any balance for future dates, a balance for cleared items and a reconciled balance. Stock accounts, however, display shares totals and their value. The Summarybar can be hidden or shown by selecting View → Summarybar .

Statusbar

The Statusbar displays informations about the currently highlighted menu item. It also shows a progress bar when opening or saving a GnuCash data file or generating reports. The Statusbar can be hidden or shown by selecting the Statusbar item on the View menu.

Account Register/General Journal

Account Register & General Journal Window

This window is used to enter and edit your account data. It also provides tools for scheduling future transactions, finding and reporting on transactions and printing checks.

To open the Account Register Window for an account, select the account in the Account Tree then go to File → Open Account or press Ctrl+O . This will open a new window with the Account Register. Pressing the Open button on the Toolbar in the Account Tree Window or the Jump button in the Account Register Window are alternate methods.

Figure 4.3. The Account Register Display.

This is an image of the Account Register tab.

Tip

Appearance of the Account Register Display is highly customizable (see Tutorial and Concepts Guide, Choosing a Register Style) and Setting Column Widths).

Note

The methods to enter transactions are described in detail in Chapter 6, Common Transaction Operations.

Account Register Menus

The Menubar for the Transaction Register window contains the following options.

Account Register - File Menu

Clicking on File in the Menubar will “pull down” a menu of choices described in Table 4.1, “Account Tree - File-Menu - Access to file, account operations and printing.”.

The following table describes the additional options in the File Menu.

Table 4.11. Account Register - File-Menu - Access to file and account operations and printing.

Menu Item

Description

Print Checks... (Ctrl+P)

Starts the Print Checks assistant. See the section called “Printing Checks”.

Close (Ctrl+W)

Closes the currently opened transaction register.

Account Register - Edit Menu

The Menubar in the Edit menu includes, in addition to the items described in Table 4.2, “Account Tree - Edit-Menu - Access to file and account editing operations and preferences.” the following menu items.

Table 4.12. Account Register - Edit Menu - Access to file and account editing operations and preferences.

Menu Item

Description

Assign as payment...

Assign as payment the selected transaction.

Account Register - View Menu

The View menu in the Menubar. Table 4.3, “Account Tree - View-Menu - Changes display window view.” is supplemented for the transaction view by the following entries.

Table 4.13. Account Register - View-Menu - Changes GnuCash display window characteristics.

Menu Item

Description

Basic Ledger

Radio button to select register display mode. See Tutorial and Concepts Guide, Choosing a Register Style.

Auto-Split Ledger

Radio button to select register display mode.

Transaction Journal

Radio button to select register display mode.

Double Line

Check-box to enable/disable display of Double Line display.

Sort by...

Set the sort order of the transactions display. Requires a click to start options form. Option form requires Cancel/OK to close.

Standard Order

Keep normal order: date posted [day], number, date entered [second] [a] , description.

Date

Sort by date.

Date of Entry

Sort by date of entry.

Statement Date

Sort by the statement date (unreconciled items last).

Number

Sort by number.

Amount

Sort by amount.

Memo

Sort by memo.

Description

Sort by Description.

Action

Sort by action field.

Notes

Sort by notes field.

Reverse Order

Reverse the sort order.

Save Sort Order

Save the sort order between sessions.

[a] The “date entered” is usually invisible. Use a report to display it.

Account Register - Transaction Menu

Table 4.14. Account Register - Transaction-Menu - access to transaction tools.

Menu Item

Description

Cut Transaction

Cut the selected transaction into the clipboard.

Copy Transaction

Copy the selected transaction into the clipboard.

Paste Transaction

Paste the selected transaction from the clipboard.

Duplicate Transaction

Insert in the register a copy of the selected transaction.

Delete Transaction

Delete the selected transaction.

Remove Other Splits

Remove all splits from the selected transaction.

Enter Transaction

Enter in the register the transaction you are currently working on.

Cancel Transaction

Blanks all fields in the selected transaction if it has not yet been recorded.

Void Transaction

Void the selected transaction.

Unvoid Transaction

Unvoid the selected transaction.

Note

This menu item is only displayed if the selected transaction is marked as void.

Add Reversing Transaction

Add a copy of the selected transaction with an inverted amount.

Manage Document Link...

Add, change or unlink the document linked with the selected transaction.

Open Linked Document

Open the linked document for the current transaction.

Note

Only available if a file or location was associated with the currently selected transaction.

Jump to Invoice

Opens the invoice for the current transaction.

Note

Only available if a invoice was associated with the currently selected transaction.

Account Register - Actions Menu

The basic scope of the Actions menu in the Menubar is described in Table 4.4, “Account Tree - Actions-Menu - Setup scheduled transactions, repair accounts, perform stock splits, transfer and reconcile transactions.”. In addition, the following menu items are available.

Table 4.15. Account Register - Actions-Menu - Setup scheduled transactions, repair accounts, perform stock splits, transfer and reconcile transactions.

Menu Item

Description

Blank Transaction (Ctrl+Page Down)

Move to the blank transaction at the bottom of the register

Go to Date (Ctrl+G)

Move to the split at the specified date.

Split Transaction

Expand the currently selected transaction to show splits.

Edit Exchange Rate

Edit the exchange rate for the current transaction.

Schedule...

Create a Scheduled Transaction with the current transaction as a template.

Jump to the other account

Jump to the corresponding transaction in the other account.

Account Register - Busines Menu

The items shown in the Business menu are the same as listed in Table 4.5, “Account Tree - Business-Menu - Access small business features of GnuCash.”.

Account Register - Reports Menu

The items shown in the Reports menu are the same as listed in Table 4.6, “Account Tree - Reports-Menu - Access GnuCash Reports and Charts.” plus the two types of report listed in the following.

Table 4.16. Account Register - Reports-Menu - Access GnuCash Reports and Charts.

Menu Item

Description

Account report

Open a register report for this Account.

Account Transaction Report

Open a register report for the selected Account.

Account Register - Tools Menu

The items shown in the Tools menu are the same as listed in Table 4.7, “Account Tree - Tools-Menu - Access to miscellaneous tools and editors”.

Account Register - Windows Menu

The items shown in the Windows menu are the same as listed in Table 4.8, “Account Tree - Windows-Menu”.

Account Register - Help Menu

The items shown in the Help menu are the same as listed in Table 4.9, “Account Tree - Help-Menu - Access to this help and the Tutorial and Concepts Guide.”.

Account Register - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

The GnuCash main Window has a number of icons/buttons in the Toolbar to quickly access some common functions used with the specific active tab. The Toolbar can be hidden or shown by selecting the Toolbar item on the View menu.

Note

The specific options displayed in the Toolbar varies by the functions available to the active tab.

Tip

A brief description of the function of a button is displayed when the mouse pointer is placed over the button for a couple of seconds.

Table 4.17. Account Register (Transaction Register) Window Toolbar

Toolbar Buttons

Description

Save

Perform a save on the data file, commit all transactions to the data file.

Note

This item is only active if changed data has not yet been saved.

Close

Close this register.

Note

In the initial Account tree this item is not available - it will be grayed out.

Duplicate

Make a copy of the current transaction.

Delete

Delete the current transaction in this register.

Enter

Record the current transaction.

Cancel

Cancel the current transaction.

Blank

Move to a blank transaction at bottom of register.

Split

Show all splits in the current transaction. Not highlighted if View → Auto-Split Ledger is enabled.

Jump

Jump to the corresponding transaction in the other account

Schedule

Create a Scheduled Transaction with the current transaction as a template.

Transfer

Start the transfer assistant to transfer funds from one account to another.

Reconcile

Start the Reconcile process for the selected account. the section called “Reconciling an Account to a Statement”

Tab Bar

The Tab bar displays “notebook/file folder” style tabs for open transaction registers, account trees and reports.

List of Transactions

The List of Transactions displays transactions you have entered and a running balance. It also provides a blank transaction to enter new transactions. The column headings vary according to what type of account you have opened. Common headings are Date, Description, Transfer and Balance.

The View menu can be used to alter the appearance of the List of Transactions. Possible changes are limiting the number of transactions shown, using a different sort order and changing the style to more easily see transactions. The Split button also provides quick access to view all the parts of a transaction.

Summarybar

The Summarybar displays balances appropriate for the opened account type at a glance. Usually accounts display Present (today’s) account balance, any balance for Future dates, a balance for Cleared items, a Reconciled balance and a Projected Minimum balance. Stock accounts, however, display shares totals and their value. The Summarybar can be hidden or shown by selecting the View → Summarybar item.

Statusbar

The Statusbar works the same as described in the section called “Statusbar”.

Report Window

Report Display Window

This window is shown whenever a report or chart is selected from the Reports menu.

To open the report window, select a report from the Reports item in the Menubar. This will open a new window with the report displayed. It provides a web browser type display with active links to account data.

Note

Depending on the report there may be a delay while the report is generated. An approximation of the progress to completion is displayed in the Statusbar, if has not been opted out of displaying.

Figure 4.4. The Report Window

This is an image of the Income/Expense Chart.

Report Menus

The Menubar for the report window contains the following options.

Reports - File Menu

Clicking on the File option of the Menubar will “pull down” a menu of options described in Table 4.1, “Account Tree - File-Menu - Access to file, account operations and printing.”.

In addition, these menu items are available.

Table 4.18. Report - File-Menu - Access to file and account operations and printing.

Menu Item

Description

Print Report... (Ctrl+P)

Print the selected report.

Export →

Opens the Export sub-menu.

Export Report

Export the current report in an HTML formatted file.

Close (Ctrl+W)

Closes the current report.

Report - Edit Menu

The items shown in the Edit menu are the same as listed in Table 4.2, “Account Tree - Edit-Menu - Access to file and account editing operations and preferences.” plus the items listed in the following.

Table 4.19. Reports - Edit-Menu - Access to file and account editing operations and preferences.

Menu Item

Description

Report Options

Open form to edit/modify report selection criteria, stylesheets, date ranges, and many other parameters.

Report - View Menu

Except Filter By..., the items shown in the View menu are the same as listed in Table 4.3, “Account Tree - View-Menu - Changes display window view.”

Report - Actions Menu

The items shown in the Actions menu are the same as listed in Table 4.4, “Account Tree - Actions-Menu - Setup scheduled transactions, repair accounts, perform stock splits, transfer and reconcile transactions.”.

However, the number of menu items is considerably reduced.

Report - Business Menu

The items shown in the Business menu are the same as listed in Table 4.5, “Account Tree - Business-Menu - Access small business features of GnuCash.”.

Report - Reports Menu

The items shown in the Reports menu are the same as listed in Table 4.6, “Account Tree - Reports-Menu - Access GnuCash Reports and Charts.” with the addition of:

Table 4.20. Report - Reports-Menu - Access GnuCash Reports and Charts.

Menu Item

Description

Save Report Configuration (Ctrl+Alt+S)

Save the current report configuration. If you are not working with a saved report configuration, you will be asked to give it a name. You will be able to run the exact same report again by using the Reports → Saved Report Configurations menu item.

Save Report Configuration As... (Shift+Ctrl+Alt+S)

Add the current report's configuration to the Reports → Saved Report Configurations menu.

Report - Tools Menu

The items shown in the Tools menu are the same as listed in Table 4.7, “Account Tree - Tools-Menu - Access to miscellaneous tools and editors”.

Report - Windows Menu

The items shown in the Windows menu are the same as listed in Table 4.8, “Account Tree - Windows-Menu”.

Report - Help Menu

The items shown in the Help menu are the same as listed in Table 4.9, “Account Tree - Help-Menu - Access to this help and the Tutorial and Concepts Guide.”.

Reports - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

The Report Window has a Toolbar to quickly access the functions used with reports. The Toolbar can be hidden or shown by selecting View → Toolbar .

Note

The specific options displayed in the Toolbar vary with the functions available to the “active tab”.

Tip

A brief description of the function of a Toolbar button is displayed when the mouse pointer is placed over the icon for a couple of seconds.

Table 4.21. Reports - Toolbar Buttons

Toolbar Button

Description

Save

Perform a save on the data file, commit all transactions to the data file.

Note

Only active if changed data has not yet been saved.

Close

Closes the displayed report.

Note

This icon is not available for the first accounts tab. It is available for additional account tree displays.

Back

Move back one step in the history.

Forward

Move forward one step in the history.

Reload

Reload (rerun) current report.

Stop

Stops the HTML requests.

Options

Edit options specific to selected report.

Save Report Configuration

Saves the displayed report. You will be able to run the exact same report again by using the Reports → Saved Report Configurations menu item.

Save Report Configuration As...

Saves the displayed report in a configuration file with a given name. You will then be able to run the exact same report again by using the Reports → Saved Report Configurations menu item.

Export

Exports HTML formatted report to a file.

Print

Queues the current report for printing.

Tab Bar

The Tab bar displays “notebook/file folder”-style tabs for open transaction registers, account trees and reports.

Report Main Display

This is where the report or chart you have selected is shown. The properties of this window are editable in two ways. Selecting the Options button on the Toolbar lets you edit what the report is showing and which accounts the information is drawn from. Selecting Edit → Style Sheets... lets you select the properties of the page that displays your report.

The report is able to act like a web browser if your report contains links to external web pages. The Toolbar buttons allow you to move Back and Forward through web pages. It will also open account registers when you click on links to accounts contained in the report.

You can also Export your report to a file and Print the report through the Toolbar buttons.

Summarybar

The Summarybar is not displayed when viewing a report window.

Statusbar

The Statusbar works the same as described in the section called “Statusbar”.

Reconcile Window

Reconcile Display Window

Tip

The detailed explanation of reconciling an account is described in the section called “Reconciling an Account to a Statement”.

To open the Reconcile window, click Actions → Reconcile... from the Menubar or the Reconcile button from the Toolbar in a register window. This will open a Reconcile screen in which you need to enter the Statement Date and the Ending Balance. If you select the Include subaccounts option, all transactions in the subaccounts of the selected account will also be counted for the reconcile operation. Pressing the OK button will open a Reconcile window allowing you to compare deposit and withdrawal transactions to your statement.

Reconcile - Window

Table 4.22. Reconcile - Components of the Reconcile Window.

Component

Description

Menubar

Contains the Menus used in the Reconcile Window.

Toolbar (Icons and/or Text)

Contains buttons used to access common Reconcile Account Window tasks.

Funds In

This pane in the left contains a list of funds deposited in the account.

Funds Out

This pane in the right contains a list of funds withdrawn from the account.

Balance Pane

This pane in the lower right contains a list of balances useful for reconciling.

Reconcile - Menus

The following tables describe Menubar in the Reconcile Window.

Reconcile - Reconcile menu

Table 4.23. Reconcile Menu - Access to Reconcile Information and finishing or postponing.

Menu Item

Description

Reconcile Information...

Opens the Reconciling Information Window.

Finish (Ctrl+W)

Complete the reconciliation of this account.

Postpone (Ctrl+P)

Postpone the reconciliation of this account.

Cancel

Cancel the reconciliation of this account.

Reconcile - Account Menu

Table 4.24. Reconcile - Account Menu - Access to account operations

Menu Item

Description

Open Account

Opens a transaction register for the accounts

Edit Account

Modify name or characteristic of selected account. the section called “Editing an Account”

Transfer... (Ctrl+T)

Opens a Transfer assistant for entering a transfer transaction between any two accounts.

Check & Repair

Verify and repair this account if necessary.

Reconcile - Transaction Menu

Table 4.25. Reconcile - Transaction Menu - Access to transaction editing operations

Menu Item

Description

Balance (Ctrl+B)

Opens the account‘s register window with a pre-compiled balancing transaction.

Edit (Ctrl+E)

Edit the currently selected transaction.

Reconcile Transaction (Strg+R)

Reconcile the selected transactions.

Unreconcile Transaction (Strg+U)

Do not reconcile the selected transaction.

Delete (Ctrl+D)

Remove the currently selected transaction.

Reconcile - Help Menu

Table 4.26. Reconcile - Help Menu - Access to help.

Menu Item

Description

Help

Open this Help text file.

Reconcile - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

The Reconcile window has a Toolbar to quickly access some common functions used with reconciliation.

Note

The specific options displayed in the Toolbar varies by the functions available to the active tab.

Note

Some buttons in the Toolbar only become active as soon as a transaction has been selected in the “Reconcile window”.

Tip

A brief description of the function of a button is displayed when the mouse pointer is placed over the button for a couple of seconds.

Table 4.27. Reconcile - Toolbar buttons

Toolbar Button

Description

Balance

Opens the account‘s register window with a pre-compiled balancing transaction.

Edit

Edit the currently selected transaction.

Reconcile Selection

Reconcile the selected transactions.

Unreconcile Selection

Do not reconcile the selected transaction.

Delete

Remove the currently selected transaction.

Open

Open an Account transaction window.

Finish

Complete the reconciliation of this account.

Note

This button is not active (grayed out) until the Difference value in the balance pane (lower right) is 0.

Postpone

Postpone the reconciliation of this account.

Cancel

Cancel the reconciliation of this account.

Schedule Transaction Window

Scheduled Transactions Main Display Window

Note

The detailed explanation of scheduling transactions is described in the section called “Scheduling Transactions”.

This window is shown when Actions → Scheduled Transactions → Scheduled Transactions Editor is selected from the Menubar. This will open a new tab window with the Scheduled Transactions displayed.

Scheduled Transaction Main Window Components

Table 4.28. Components of the Schedule Transactions Window.

Component

Description

Menubar

Contains the Menus used in the Schedule Transactions Window. It provides the standard list of Menubar options and an additional option, Scheduled, which presents options; New, Edit or Delete. If no transaction is highlighted Edit and Delete will be "grayed out".

Note

Some buttons in the Toolbar only become active as soon as a transaction has been selected in the “Schedule Transactions window”.

Toolbar, Icons/Buttons

Contains buttons used to access Schedule Transitions tasks.

Tabs

Tabs to switch between open displays.

Transactions

The Transactions pane contains a list of transactions scheduled and related characteristics.

Upcoming

The Upcoming pane contains a calendar of the next months In this calendar the days in which one or more transactions are scheduled, are highlighted with a circle.

You can change the time interval displayed in the calendar by selecting a different period from the View: drop down list on the right.

Tip

Click on a date in the pane and the details about the scheduled transactions on that date will be displayed.

Scheduled Transactions Menu

The following table describe the Scheduled menu options available in the Menubar when you are in the Scheduled Transaction window.

Scheduled Transactions - Scheduled Menu

Table 4.29. Scheduled Transactions Menu - Access to scheduled transaction editing operations.

Menu Item

Description

New

Add a new scheduled transaction.

Edit

Edit the currently selected transaction.

Delete

Remove the currently selected transaction.

Scheduled Transactions - Toolbar Icons/Buttons

The Scheduled Transactions window has a Toolbar to quickly access some common functions used with scheduling.

Tip

A brief description of the function of a Toolbar button is displayed when the mouse pointer is placed over the icon for a couple of seconds.

Table 4.30. Scheduled Transactions Window Toolbar

Toolbar Button

Description

Save

Save the current schedule of transactions.

Note

Only active if changed data has not yet been saved.

Close

Close the Scheduled Transactions window.

New

Add a new scheduled transaction.

Edit

Edit the currently selected transaction.

Delete

Remove the currently selected transaction.

Budget Window

Budget Window Menus

Actions → Budget → Open Budget will open the default budget or offer you a choice if there is more than one budget. A new tab will open with the budget displayed.

Here are some menu items that are particularly useful to working with budgets.

Budget Window - Edit menu

Table 4.31. Budget - Edit Menu - Special items for the budget window.

Menu Item

Description

Estimate Budget

Estimate a budget value for the selected accounts from past transactions.

All Periods...

Edit budget for all periods for the selected accounts.

Delete Budget

Delete this budget.

Edit Note

Edit note for the selected account and period.

Budget Options

Edit this budget’s options.

Budget Window - Actions menu

Table 4.32. Budget - Actions Menu - Items in the standard menu that relate to budgets.

Menu Item

Description

Budget →

Opens the Budget sub-menu to select budget actions.

Tip

The menu items needed to plan budgets are described in detail in Table 4.4, “Account Tree - Actions-Menu - Setup scheduled transactions, repair accounts, perform stock splits, transfer and reconcile transactions.”.

Budget Window - Reports menu

Using more than one budget

When there is more than one budget, the reports will use the budget selected in book options by default. See the section called “Book Options” and the section called “Budgeting Book Options Tab” for more details. After the report is displayed, the budget it uses can be changed in the Edit → Report Options General tab.

Table 4.33. Budget - Reports Menu - Items in the standard menu that relate to budgets.

Menu Item

Description

Budget →

Opens the Budget sub-menu to select a budget report.

Tip

The menu items available to display budget reports are described in detail in Table 4.6, “Account Tree - Reports-Menu - Access GnuCash Reports and Charts.”.

Budget Window Toolbar, Icons/Buttons

The Budget window has a Toolbar to quickly access common functions used with budgeting.

Tip

A brief description of the function of a Toolbar button is displayed when the mouse pointer is placed over the icon for a couple of seconds.

Table 4.34. Budget Window Toolbar

Toolbar Button

Description

Save

Save the current file.

Note

Only active if changed data has not yet been saved.

Close

Close the Budget window.

Open

Open a transaction register of the selected account.

Options

Edit this budget’s options.

Estimate

Estimate a budget value for the selected accounts from past transactions.

All Periods...

Edit budget for all periods for the selected accounts.

Delete

Delete this budget.

Note

Edit note for the selected account and period.

Budget Window Main Display

The budget window contains a list of accounts down the left hand side, and a set of columns down the right hand side that represent budget values. Each column corresponds to a budget period. The number of periods for a budget can be changed using the Budget Options dialog.

Procedure 4.1. Entering a budget value

1. Click the row corresponding to the account you wish to budget

2. Choose the period this value is for, and click in the cell corresponding to that period

3. Type the value in the cell

4. Press Enter to finish editing the value.

Budget Options

Table 4.35. Budget options

Option

Description

Budget Name

The budget name is used in the tab’s name and also in any reports you create with the budget.

Notes

A description of the budget.

Budget Period

The budget period includes when the budget starts (start date) and how long each budget period lasts.

Number of Periods

The number of periods in the budget.

Business Windows

Customers Overview

To open the Customers Overview window, click Business → Customer → Customers Overview .

Table 4.36. Customers Overview - Toolbar, Icons/Buttons

Toolbar Buttons

Description

New

Create a new customer.

Edit

Edit the selected customer.

New Invoice

Create a new invoice (by default it is for the selected customer).

Customer Listing

Show customer aging overview for all customers.

Process Payment

Starts the Process Payment assistant.

Table 4.37. Customer context menu

Context menu item

Description

Rename Page

Rename the current page/tab.

Edit Customer

Edit the selected customer.

New Invoice

Create a new invoice.

Customer Report

Show customer report.

Process Payment

Starts the Process Payment assistant.

Note

The customer context menu appears if you right click on a customer in the list.

Vendors Overview

To open the Vendors Overview window, click Business → Vendor → Vendors Overview .

Table 4.38. Vendors Overview - Toolbar, Icons/ Buttons

Toolbar Buttons

Description

New

Create a new vendor.

Edit

Edit the selected vendor.

New Bill

Create a new bill (by default it is for the selected vendor).

Vendor Listing

Show vendor aging overview for all vendors.

Process Payment

Starts the Process Payment assistant.

Table 4.39. Vendor context menu

Context menu item

Description

Rename Page

Rename the current page/tab.

Edit Vendor

Edit the selected vendor.

New Bill

Create a new bill.

Vendor Report

Show vendor report.

Process Payment

Starts the Process Payment assistant.

Note

The vendor context menu appears if you right click on a vendor in the list.

Employees Overview

To open the Employees Overview window, click Business → Employee → Employees Overview .

Table 4.40. Employees Overview - Toolbar, Icons/Buttons

Toolbar Buttons

Description

New

Create a new employee.

Edit

Edit the selected employee.

New Voucher

Create a new voucher (by default it is for the selected employee).

Process Payment

Starts the Process Payment assistant.

Table 4.41. Employee context menu

Context menu item

Description

Rename Page

Rename the current page/tab.

Edit Employee

Edit the selected employee.

New Voucher

Create a new expense voucher.

Employee Report

Show employee report.

Process Payment

Starts the Process Payment assistant.

Note

The employee context menu appears if you right click on an employee in the list.

Chapter 5. Setting Up, Editing & Working with Accounts

This section describes the process of setting up, editing and working with GnuCash Accounts. In GnuCash an Account is used as the basic tool to organize the recording of where money comes from and goes to. GnuCash also extends the concept of real world accounts such as a bank account or loan account to grouping income and expense accounts. This allows you to quickly see where you spent your money and what your major income and expenses are. GnuCash sets Account Types (as described in the next section) to help in organizing and grouping accounts. Account Types can be used to create a Chart of Accounts.

Types of GnuCash Accounts

GnuCash supports a number of different account types. It is recommended to choose an appropriate account type based on the list of account types described below.

Warning

The Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable types are used internally by GnuCash’s business features. Transactions involving these accounts should not be added, changed or deleted in any way other than by using

- post/unpost bill/invoice/voucher or

- process payment

Table 5.1. Types of GnuCash Accounts.

Account Type

Description

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable are used by businesses to record amounts that must be paid. Example: The business has bought something, but the business has not paid the bill until later.

Accounts Receivable

Accounts Receivable records amounts for which money has not yet been received. Example: A business has sold something and issued a bill, but the client has not payed until later.

Asset

Asset accounts are used for tracking things that are of value and can be used or sold to pay debts. (Normally a placeholder account)

Bank

The Bank account type denotes savings or checking accounts held at a bank or other financial institution. Some of these accounts may bear interest. This is also the appropriate account type for check (debit) cards, which directly withdraw payments from a checking account.

Cash

The Cash account type is used to denote the cash that you store in your wallet, shoe box, piggyback, or mattress.

Credit Card

The Credit Card account type is used to denote credit card accounts, both for cards that allow floating lines of credit (e.g. VISA, MasterCard, or Discover) and with cards that do not permit continuing balances (e.g. American Express)

Currency

Currency Accounts were used for trading currencies, but have been replaced by the Currency Transfer pane on the Transfer Funds Window (the section called “Transfer Funds Dialog Box”).

Equity

Equity accounts are used to store the opening balances when you first start using GnuCash or start a new accounting period.

Expense

Any expense such as food, clothing, taxes, etc. This type is called a category in Quicken.

Income

Any income received from sources such as salary, interest, dividends, etc. This type is called a category in Quicken.

Liability

Liability accounts are used for tracking debts or financial obligations. (Normally a placeholder account)

Mutual Fund

A professionally managed portfolio of stocks and bonds or other investments divided up into shares.

Stock

A share of ownership in a corporation, which entitles its owner to all the risks and rewards that go with it.

The New Account Hierarchy Setup assistant described in the first section of this help is a convenient way of setting up a set of accounts to use as a framework of account types.

When new accounts are created the available choices of account types are grayed out according to what type the parent account is. The following list contains the possible choices.

- Accounts Payable: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

- Accounts Receivable: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

- Asset: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

- Bank: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

- Cash: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

- Credit Card: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

- Currency: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

- Equity: Only Equity accounts can be child accounts.

- Expense: Only Expense or Income accounts can be child accounts.

- Income: Only Expense or Income accounts can be child accounts.

- Liability: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

- Mutual Fund: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

- Stock: All accounts except Equity, Expense and Income can be child accounts.

Creating a Chart of Accounts

The Chart of Accounts is like a table of contents for your finances. The best way to conceptualize a chart of accounts is as a tree. The main branches represent entire categories or groups, while the leaves of the tree denote individual bank accounts or expense categories. When a summary report is requested, typically only the main branches are shown in the report, rather than the individual accounts. For example, a chart of accounts might look like the following:

300             Expenses

|

+--310         Living Expenses

|   |

|   +--311     Beer

|   |

|   +--312     Cable

|

+--320         Business Expenses

|   |

|   +--321     8-inch Floppies

|   |

|   +--322     Blue Ray RW DVDs

|   |

:   :

Accounts codes

Note that accounts not only have names; they may have codes, to order the accounts. When a report is generated, the sort order is determined by the numbering. It’s customary to have the leaf accounts end in non-zero digits, while parent nodes have increasing numbers of zeros.

Warning

GnuCash does not prevent duplicate numbering, although we would encourage you to avoid this. Account codes are treated as numbers in base-36, thus, if you run out of numbers, you can use the letters, a through z.

Editing a Chart of Accounts

Editing the Chart of Accounts is done within the Parent Account pane of the Edit Account dialog. It is possible to move an account to any part of the Chart of Accounts. It is recommended to keep accounts generally under the related types of accounts as described in the section called “Types of GnuCash Accounts”. This helps to preserve the Chart of Accounts structure.

To move the selected account to a different parent account just select the account in the Parent Account pane. If New top level account is selected then the account will be moved to the top level.

Creating a New Account

To create a new account go to Actions → New Account... or click the New Toolbar icon in the Account Tree Window. The New Account dialog will be opened.

The New Account properties dialog consists of two tabs, the General tab and the Opening Balance tab.

Creating a New Account involves planning in advance several details that are used in the New Account dialog.

- What type of account is needed.

- Where it fits in the structure of the Chart of Accounts.

- If there is an Opening Balance.

- If there is a Commodity (security/currency) needed for the account.

- If online updating of the commodity price is needed.

These details are described below.

General Information Tab

The General tab is used to access the basic information about the account. It provides a way of connecting the account to stock information if it is one of the currency, mutual fund or stock account types. It can also be flagged as a Placeholder account. It displays if it is flagged as a Tax Related account (which is set through the Edit → Tax Report Options dialog).

There are seven fields in the Identification section of this tab.

1. Account Name: The name for the account such as First Bank Checking.

2. Account Code: The optional number code as described in Accounts codes.

3. Description: Optional description for the account.

4. Security/Currency:

Note

The Type field in the Select Security is determined by the selection of Account Type panel in the New Account screen.

- For accounts other than Stock or Mutual Fund this should be the default currency, USD (US Dollar) or your local currency symbol. If this account is for a foreign currency then use the Select... button to choose a different currency from the currencies pull-down list.

- For Accounts containing a Stock and Mutual Fund; first select stock or mutual fund in the Account Type panel, then the Parent Account, then use the Select... button, to choose the Type (usually the exchange the security is traded on) and security from the Select Security window.

If the required security/fund is not on the list, and you have the correct Type you will need to create the security/fund. To create a commodity for mutual fund and stock accounts select the New... button in the Select Security screen, to bring up the New Security: screen. The options are described in detail in the Security Editor the section called “Security Editor” section. Fill in a name, symbol and type and Close to create the security. After the security is created select the Type: (usually the exchange the security is traded on) and the name in the Currency/security: drop down list and Close the screen.

5. Smallest Fraction: The smallest fraction that will be tracked.

6. Account Color: The color to assign to the account’s register tab. Click on the color button to open the Pick a Color screen. To reset the account color click the Default button.

7. Notes: This is a free form text box that can be used for any additional notes about the account.

Below the panes are 3 check-boxes: one to show if the account is Tax Related, one to mark the account as a Placeholder, and one to mark an account Hidden.

The Tax Related check-box means that an account has been flagged to be included in the Tax Schedule Report. This flag is only displayed on the Edit Account dialog and is set in the Income Tax Information dialog ( Edit → Tax Report Options ). For related reports see the examples like Tax Schedule Report and TXF Export in (the section called “Country Specific Reports”).

The Placeholder check-box sets an account to read-only status and prevents the addition of transaction data to the account.

Note

Setting an account to Placeholder will also hide that account in the pop-up account list in a register. Sub-accounts to the placeholder account will still display in the pop-up, however.

The Hidden check box hides an account (and any sub-accounts) in the account tree. To reset this option, you will first need to open the View → Filter By... dialog for the account tree and check the Show hidden accounts option. Doing so will allow you to select the account and reopen this dialog.

Note

Hidden accounts still appear in the pop-up account list in a register. To remove an account from this pop-up account list as well, check the Placeholder check box.

Below these checkboxes is a pane that contains a list of Account Types. Select a type from the descriptions in the section called “Types of GnuCash Accounts”.

The next pane contains an account tree to choose a Parent Account. To create a new account tree select New top level account.

Note

The available choices in the Account Type pane depends on the selected account in the Parent Account pane. For example if the Parent Account is Assets you will see only Equity in the Account Type pane. This is to help maintain a proper account structure for the Chart of Accounts.

Steps to enable Online Quotes updating

1. GnuCash uses an external tool to retrieve online courses. This tool is a Perl module called Finance::Quote and must be installed independently of GnuCash on your computer.

Tip

The installation of Finance::Quote is described under the section called “Installing Finance::Quote”.

2. Create the Account for the mutual fund or stock with it listed in the Security/Currency field, as described above.

Tip

When creating these accounts it is a good time to create income accounts to track dividends, capital gains (long and short) and expense account(s) for tracking commissions and losses (if you track losses as expenses).

3. Create the mutual fund or stock with either the Security Editor for existing stock/funds or the New Security/Currency dialog for a new stock/fund.

Select Get Online Quotes, Type of Quote Source and Timezone.

Online currency quotes require that the check-box for Online quotes and the timezone be selected in the Security screen and the Security Editor check-box for "get quote" box is checked for those currencies that are to be downloaded.

- Get Online Quotes This check-box is to enable this security/fund to have quotes downloaded from an online source.

- Type of Quote Source use the radio buttons to select the type of source for the Online quotes. Multiple: quote sources like “Europe” should be used if fail-over to multiple sites are desirable. Single: selections will only return information from the specified source.

After selecting the type of source for price quotes, select a quote source from the pull-down menu. For details on currently supported sources see wiki:Online_Quotes#Finance::Quote_Sources.

Note

Note that Yahoo will provide price quotes for many mutual funds including Fidelity, T.Rowe Price and Vanguard, and that the quoted prices at Yahoo should be identical to those that may be found at the source sites.

If you are outside the US and use one of the different Yahoo sources or multiple sources containing Yahoo, you should append the market code for the security such as PA for Paris, BE for Berlin, etc. Example: 12150.PA (a Peugeot security in the Paris market). wiki:Online_Quotes#Yahoo_Specifics below lists suffixes for various markets around the world.

Pseudo-symbols for TIAA-CREF funds are listed in table wiki:Online_Quotes#TIAA-CREF_Specifics.

- Timezone for these quotes: Select the timezone for the source of the online quotes you are receiving. For example, Yahoo normally quotes Eastern timezone, so choose America/New York if you use that quote source.

4. Select a commodity to the Price Editor.

5. Select Get Quotes in the Price Editor.

6. Check the latest price for the selected security.

Remember that Mutual Fund “prices” are really “Net Asset Value” and require several hours after the exchange closes before being available. If NAVs are downloaded before the current days NAVs are determined, yesterday’s NAVs are retrieved.

Opening Balance tab

The Opening Balance tab is visible only when creating a new account, and is disabled for Stock and Mutual Fund accounts. In the latter case, opening balances must be created by hand. Please see Section 8.5.1 in the Tutorial and Concepts Guide for instructions if you need to create an opening balance in a Stock or Mutual Fund account. It is used to record the beginning balance for an account. This allows it to be used for two different scenarios. If using GnuCash for the first time to record transactions, it can be used as a beginning balance. If the accounts in use are closed at the end of a period and new accounts are created, it is used to close and carry balances forward.

There are three panes in this tab. The top pane contains the Balance Information.

- Balance: The balance to start the account with.

- Date: The date the opening balance should be recorded.

The next pane is the Transfer Type pane.

- Use Opening Balances Equity account: This transfers the opening balance for the account from a standard Equity account called Opening Balances.

- Select Transfer Account: This enables the pane below so a different account can be used to transfer the opening balance.

The last pane is the Transfer Account pane. Select the account to use for opening balances from the list of accounts in this pane.

Editing an Account

The Edit Account dialog consists of just the General tab. This tab has the same information that was described in the section called “Creating a New Account”. To access the Edit Account dialog go to Edit → Edit Account (Ctrl+E) or click the Edit Toolbar icon in the Account Tree Window.

Renumbering Subaccounts

Use Renumber Subaccounts to rewrite the account codes for all children of the current account. For example, you have the following account structure:

Table 5.2. Starting account numbers.

Code

Name

10

Colors

10-1

Red

10-2

Orange

10-3

Yellow.

10-4

Blue

10-5

Violet

You now need to add the “Green” account, but you want it to sort between the Yellow and Blue accounts. Instead of having to manually renumber all the accounts starting with Blue, you can use the Renumber subaccount command on the Colors account. In the pop-up dialog the prefix value should default to “10”, the account code for the colors account. If you set an interval value of “5” and click Renumber you will end up with the following account structure:

Table 5.3. Renumbered account numbers

Code

Name

10

Colors

10-05

Red

10-10

Orange

10-15

Yellow.

10-20

Blue

10-25

Violet

Now you have room in the account code numbering space to add the Green account with an account code to force the proper ordering.

Table 5.4. Final account numbers.

Code

Name

10

Colors

10-05

Red

10-10

Orange

10-15

Yellow.

10-18

Green

10-20

Blue

10-25

Violet

Deleting an Account

Deleting an Account means removing all transaction information and information about this account from the file. This cannot be undone. You will be prompted to verify that you wish to remove the account. If the account still contains transaction information you will be warned that this account contains transactions.

A side effect of removing an account that contains transactions is that you will end up with unbalanced accounts. This will be indicated in the account by a gray check-box next to the debit and credit amounts. You can automatically repair these unbalanced accounts by using the Actions → Check & Repair menu. This will automatically assign the unbalanced amounts to a new account named Imbalance.

Reconciling an Account to a Statement

Reconciliation of Accounts in GnuCash with statements from a bank or other institution is a way of double checking the accuracy of your (and your banks) transactions and the balance of your accounts. It also is useful to track uncleared checks and other outstanding transactions.

The reconciling process in GnuCash involves two dialogs: the the section called “Reconciling Information” dialog followed by the the section called “Reconcile” window. They provide access to various GnuCash functions to make it easy to enter and update account information during the reconciliation.

Tip

The Reconcile window is accessed from the account tree window or the account register window by selecting Actions → Reconcile… .

Note

If you are reconciling an Liability Account of type credit card using a credit card statement you have the option of using the Transfer Funds dialogue that opens automatically and enter a credit card payment. You can change this behaviour in the GnuCash Preferences from the menu Edit → Preferences in the Register tab by activating the checkbox Automatic credit card payment. (see the section called “Register”)

The Summary Bar at the bottom of the Account Register Window indicates the amounts of Present (Balance), Future (Balance), Cleared (Transactions), Reconciled (Transactions) and Projected Minimum. Online account information can be used to mark which transactions the bank has processed by changing the R (reconciliation status) column in the register from n (new) to c (cleared). The bank statement is then used with the Reconcile window to reconcile the account which changes the R field to y (reconciled).

Reconciling Information

The Reconcile Information dialog is used to indicate the closing Statement Date and the Starting Balance (fixed from last reconciliation) and Ending Balance from the statement. The Include Sub-accounts check-box is used if one or more subaccounts are used to track the account you are reconciling. The Enter Interest Payment button is used to add a transfer to the accounts for an interest payment. If selected a dialog will be displayed to add the the section called “Interest Payment” to the account.

Note

The Enter Interest Payment button is shown only if you are reconciling an account of Bank type.

When you have entered all relevant data, press Ok to proceed to the the section called “Reconcile” dialog or Cancel to discard the reconciliation process.

Interest Payment

There are three panes in the Interest Payment dialog. At the bottom is a button called No Auto Interest Payments for this Account which will cancel the dialog. The top pane contains the Payment Information.

- Amount: Enter the amount of the interest payment.

- Date: Select the date for the interest payment.

- Num: Enter a number for the transaction (optional).

- Description: Enter an informational description for the transaction.

- Memo: Enter a note about the transaction (optional).

The Reconcile Account pane highlights in the tree the account that the interest payment will be transferred to or from.

The Payment From pane contains a list of accounts where you can select the source account.

Note

If the payment is for a credit or loan account then usually the payment would be from an Expense account. If the payment is for a checking or savings account then usually this would be from an Income account.

Tip

The Show Income/Expense check-box shows or hides the Income and Expense accounts.

Select OK to enter the interest transaction (or Cancel the payment) and return to the initial reconciliation screen.

Reconcile

Note

For a detailed description of menu items and buttons on the reconcile window, see the section called “Reconcile Window”.

The Reconcile dialog is where the actual process of matching your statement to GnuCash data takes place on a per transaction basis.

The Reconcile dialog is composed of a toolbar and three panes; Funds In on the left, Funds out on the right and a balance pane.

Note

If you enabled the option Use formal accounting labels in the Accounts section of the GnuCash preferences, you will see Debits and Credits panes instead of Funds In and Funds Out panes.

The Funds In and Funds Out pane shows all unreconciled deposits to the account. Both panes are composed of five columns.

Tip

To order the listed transactions with a preferred criteria, click on the relevant column header. To reverse the selected order click a second time on the column header.

Date

The date of the unreconciled transaction.

Num

The number of the unreconciled transaction.

Description

The Description of the unreconciled transaction.

Amount

The Amount of the unreconciled transaction.

R

Shows a check if the transaction will be reconciled when done.

To mark a transaction as reconciled just click on it and a checkmark will appear on the relevant R column.

Tip

You can check or uncheck the reconcile status of all transactions in either pane by clicking on a transaction in the required pane then clicking Ctrl-A followed by space. This will toggle the reconcile status of all transactions in the pane to either checked or unchecked state. This procedure can be repeated to achieve the desired status for the transactions in the pane.

Note

Under each pane a Total for reconciled transactions is shown.

The balance pane shows a summary of the balances used in reconciliation.

Statement Date

The date on the statement set on the the section called “Reconciling Information”.

Starting Balance

The balance at the end of the last reconciliation.

Ending Balance

The balance entered from the statement.

Reconciled Balance

The balance of selected transactions.

Difference

The difference between the Reconciled and Ending balances.

The set of unreconciled transactions in the Funds In and Funds Out panes can be changed by using the menus and Toolbar to access the account and transaction information. You can create a New transaction, Edit a selected transaction, add a Balance transaction (of the same amount as listed under Difference in the balance pane), and delete the selected transaction.

Tip

To modify a listed transaction, double click on it.

By pressing the Open icon the register of the account to reconcile will be opened.

If you wish to postpone the reconciliation until later use the Reconcile → Postpone (Ctrl+P) menu item or pressing the Postpone icon. If you wish to cancel the reconciliation use the Reconcile → Cancel menu item or press the Cancel icon.

All previous commands are also available in the Reconcile dialog menu.

Select each unreconciled transaction matching a transaction on the statement so a green tick appears in the R column. The Balance pane changes to reflect each selected transaction until the Ending Balance equals the Reconciled Balance and the Difference is zero. Once this is done select the Finish button or Reconcile → Finish (Ctrl+W) to finish the reconcile process.

Chapter 6. Common Transaction Operations

A transaction represents the movement of money from one account to another account. Whenever you spend or receive money, or transfer money between accounts, that is a transaction. In GnuCash transactions always involve at least two accounts.

GnuCash uses accounts as a way of grouping or organizing the recording of transactions. This section describes the methods GnuCash has to help enter transactions quickly into the register.

GnuCash has several methods available for entering transactions.

- Entering directly into the register window is the most common way of entering transactions.

- Using the Transfer Funds window .

- Importing transactions either from a file or via on-line banking.

Transfer Funds Dialog Box

The Transfer Funds Dialog Box, accessed via Actions → Transfer... (Ctrl+T) or by pressing the Transfer icon from the account register tab, serves two purposes in GnuCash:

- A way to create a simple (i.e. two-split) transaction between arbitrary accounts.

- Collect exchange rate or amount information in a multi-currency transaction (see the section called “Multiple Currency/Commodity Transactions”).

Note

The Basic Information and Transfer Accounts panes will be disabled in the Transfer Funds dialog when it is being used only to collect exchange rate or amount information.

Basic Information

The Basic Information section collects the entries for constructing a transaction: Date, description, amount, etc.

- Amount: The amount of the transaction in the Transfer Fromaccount's commodity.

- Date: The posting date for the transaction, i.e. the date that you want to record it in your book.

- Num: A reference number for the transaction, often a check number.

- Description: The description of the transaction, often the payer or payee.

- Memo: Additional information you might want to note about the transaction. Anything entered here will be added to the Memo fields of both splits.

Transfer Accounts

The Transfer From and Transfer To tree views are used to select the accounts which will participate in the transaction. They normally show only Asset and Liability accounts. If you need to use an Income or Expense account in one of them, check the Show Income/Expense checkbox below the appropriate view.

- Choose the Transfer From account.

- Choose the Transfer To account.

Currency Transfer

The Currency Transfer pane is used to collect the needed information to enter the amount of the Transfer To split. You may enter either a price or an amount and GnuCash will compute the other. If you have Online Price Retrieval installed (see the section called “Installing Finance::Quote”) you can use the Fetch Rate button to retrieve a current quote.

The Currency Transfer pane is enabled only if the selected accounts use different commodities or the Transfer Funds dialog was launched to collect price or amount information from editing a transaction in the register.

The Currency Transfer pane is organized as a radio group with two selections, Exchange Rate and To Amount. Each consists of a radio button and a numeric entry.

If a relevant price is available in the price database (see the section called “Adding a stock price manually”) the Exchange Rate will have that as a default entry.

- Select the Exchange Rate radio button if you want to enter a price or use the Fetch Rate button.

- Select the To Amount radio button if you want to enter the amount of the To Account split.

- Enter the price/exchange rate or the amount in the numeric entry corresponding to radio button you selected. GnuCash will calculate the other amount for you when you exit the field. If it's enabled you can use the Fetch Rate button to retrieve a current quote.

Note

If you have created a price in the Price Editor (see the section called “Adding a stock price manually”) for the current date quote retrieval will not update that price. You must first delete the manually-created price in the Price Editor before you Button1 on the Fetch Rate button.

Note

The Fetch Rate button will immediately create or replace a price in the Price Editor unless there is an existing manually-created price for today.

Finishing Up

Select OK to commit the transaction (or confirm the price/amount) or Cancel to dismiss the dialog without entering the transaction.

Note

When committing a transaction or confirming an exchange rate the price on the transaction date in the Price Editor may be updated. See the section called “Price Editor” for details.

Enter Transaction via register

When the Account Register Window for an account is opened the list of transactions for that account is shown. This window has the name of the account on its tab. The menus contain several functions that alter the display of transactions. The Toolbar also contains several functions that are often used when entering or manipulating transactions. These are described in the the section called “Account Register & General Journal Window” section of this document.

Entering Directly in the Register Window

The register window will look slightly different depending on the style options you have chosen. The following describes entering simple transactions in the basic ledger style. The cursor is placed in the date field by default when the register window is opened.

Note

When working on transactions in GnuCash, be aware that the Enter key and the Tab key behave differently, and perform different actions.

The Enter key moves to the first field of the next split, regardless of which field you are in. If there is no next split, proceeds to the next transaction. In any case, Enter finishes the transaction edit, and any imbalance is posted to Imbalance-CUR, where CUR is the currency of the transaction.

The Tab key moves to the next field in the current split. If it's the last field, moves to the next split, creating a new one if there isn't one. If the split is blank, the Tab key finishes the transaction and posts any imbalance to Imbalance-CUR, as above.

1. Selecting the small icon on the right of the date field drops down a date selection calendar. Use the arrows to select the correct month and year for the transaction then select the date. Selecting the icon once more will close the date selection calendar. It is also possible to type in the date or part of the date and let GnuCash fill the rest.

2. Press Tab to move to or select the Num field. Here you can enter a check or transaction number. Pressing + (plus) will automatically advance the number by one from the last transaction to have a number.

3. Press Tab to move or select the Description field. This field is used to enter either a payee or other description for the transaction. It will automatically attempt to fill the payee name as you type.

4. At this stage one of two things will happen if tab is pressed. If GnuCash matches an existing transaction the cursor will jump to one of the amount fields, automatically filling in the transfer account. Selecting any field with the mouse instead of tabbing will not automatically fill the transferring account field. If there is no matching (existing) transaction, GnuCash will move the cursor to the Transfer field with only one line of the transaction supplied.

5. Accounts may be selected either by typing them in or by pressing the small button on the right of the Transfer field, which will display a pick list of all non-placeholder accounts. Note that this pick list will still display hidden accounts. If you have hidden an account in your chart of accounts, you may want to set the account also to be a placeholder account so that it doesn't display here.

When typing, GnuCash will fill in available accounts as you type. For example, if you have Equity and Expenses top-level accounts, typing E will fill in Equity because it sorts before Expenses. Continuing to type x will present Expenses the account separator (: by default, see the section called “Accounts”Account Preferences about changing it) will accept the currently offered account so that you can start typing the name of a child account.

6. The next field R is used for reconciliation. This is described in the Reconcile an Account to a Statement section. the section called “Reconciling an Account to a Statement”

7. Press the Tab key to move to the first of the amount fields. The names of the next two columns are different according to what type of account is opened. For example, Bank accounts show Deposit and Withdrawal here, Credit Card accounts show Payment and Charge, and Stock accounts show Shares, Price, Buy and Sell.

8. Enter an amount for the transaction in the correct fields. When the transaction is "balanced" pressing the Enter key, selecting the Enter icon or going to Transaction → Enter Transaction will finish the transaction. Selecting the Cancel icon or going to Transaction → Cancel Transaction will erase the transaction.

9. Transactions with just one transfer account will show the name of that account in the Transfer field in completed transactions. (The Transfer field is the fourth (4) from the left in the register display.)

10. To move to the blank transaction at the bottom of the register, press the Blank Toolbar icon or go to Actions → Blank Transaction .

Associating an External File with a Transaction.

Some users find it helpful to associate external files or URLs, perhaps images of store receipts, cancelled checks, or vendor invoices, with their transactions. GnuCash provides a facility for doing just that.

Select a transaction in the Register and Button2 click it to present the Context Menu and select Update Association for Transaction. You will be presented with the Change a Transaction Association dialog.

Figure 6.1. Change a Transaction Association Dialog

At the top is a radio button with two choices File Association and Location Association. If there's an item associated then the radio button will have the appropriate selection. At the bottom, 3 buttons: Remove, Cancel, and OK. Remove will remove the current association and close the dialog box; the other two do the usual actions.

If the File Association radio button is selected the control beneath it is a file chooser button. It will display the name of the selected file if there is one or None if there isn't. Clicking the button will bring up a file chooser dialog from which one may select the file to associate.

If the Location Association radio button is selected there is a text entry beneath it in which you may type a URL.

When you have finished click the OK button to confirm your choice or the Cancel button to dismiss the dialog without making a change.

Open Association for Transaction is enabled if there is a file or URL associated with the selected transaction. Selecting it will open a file in the operating system's default viewer for the file type and a URL in the default browser

Remove Association from Transaction is enabled if there is a file or URL associated with the selected transaction and does exactly what you'd expect.

Figure 6.2. Chain and Paperclip

When the Register is in Double Line mode the cell underneath the Reconciliation cell is the Association cell and displays

- a paperclip symbol if there is a file associated with the transaction and

- a chain-link symbol if there is a URL associated with it

as long as those symbols are supported by the current font for the cell. Hovering over the cell will display the file path or URL in a tooltip and clicking in it will open the file or URL as the Open Transaction context menu item would.

Multiple Split Transactions

The register window will look slightly different depending on the style options you have chosen. The following describes entering transactions with multiple splits in the basic ledger style. GnuCash describes as a “Split” when money is transferred to or from more than two accounts in a transaction. The cursor is placed in the date field by default when the register window is opened.

The multiple account lines will not be displayed in the Basic Ledger unless the Split icon or the Action → Split Transaction option have been selected.

1. Selecting the triangle icon on the right of the date field drops down a date selection dialog. Use the arrows to select the correct month and year for the transaction then select the date. Selecting the icon once more will close the date selection calendar. It is also possible to type in the date or part of the date and let GnuCash fill the rest.

2. Press Tab to move to or select the Num field. Here you can enter a check or transaction number. Pressing + (plus) will automatically advance the number by one from the last transaction to have a number.

3. Press Tab to move to or select the Description field. This field is used to enter either a payee or other description for the transaction. It will automatically attempt to fill the payee name as you type.

4. At this stage one of two things will happen if tab is pressed. If GnuCash matches an existing transaction the cursor will jump to one of the amount fields, automatically filling in the transfer account. Selecting any field with the mouse instead of tabbing will not automatically fill the transferring account field. If there is no matching (existing) transaction, GnuCash will move the cursor to the Transfer field with only one line of the transaction supplied.

5. When typing in the Transfer field GnuCash will also attempt to automatically match the account. It does this alphabetically, so typing Ex will match the Expenses section of the account list. When the section is matched, it is possible to move to a child account by pressing : (colon). If after typing Ex you press : then the cursor will move to the first child account in the list. Typing combinations of letters and : will allow movement down the tree of accounts quickly. The small icon on the right of the Transfer field can be used as an alternate way of selecting accounts.

6. The next field is used for reconciliation. This is described in the section called “Reconciling an Account to a Statement”

7. Press Tab to move to the first of the amount fields. The names of the next two columns are different according to what type of account is opened. For example, Bank accounts show Deposit and Withdrawal here, Credit Card accounts show Payment and Charge, and Stock accounts show Shares, Price, Buy and Sell.

8. Enter the total amount for the transaction in the correct field. Before pressing Tab or Enter read next step.

9. To enter the additional splits, press the Split button on the Toolbar or select Actions → Split Transaction . Transactions with more than one split show the text --Split Transaction-- and the Split button will need to be used to show the details.

10. The display will expand, the titles of the amount columns will be renamed and the Transfer column name will be blank. The first line contains the description and the amount of the transaction. The second line contains the currently opened account name in the Account field and the amount of the transaction. The third line contains the transfer account name in the Account field. If the amount is not balanced, GnuCash will indicate this by placing gray check-boxes in the amount columns with the unbalanced amount in a blank last row.

11. When one of the short lines is selected, the column titles will change. The very first and last (Date and Balance) columns will have blank titles. Num will change to Action, Description to Memo, the now blank Transfer column will change to Account. The last two amount columns will show the name described in step seven.

12. The Action and Memo columns are optional to fill out at this stage. Action is used to describe what kind of account transfer is involved. Memo is an additional description of the transfer.

13. Move to the missing amount field on the third line and fill in the amount. Pressing the Enter key, selecting the Enter icon or going to Actions → Enter will now move the cursor to the next line.

14. The Account column contains the list of transfer accounts. This column is the one that is used to add splits. The method described in step five can be used to select another account on a blank line. Add as many additional splits as needed.

15. When the transaction is balanced the gray check-boxes will disappear and the last blank line will not have an amount.

16. Pressing Enter as described above will jump to the next transaction. Selecting the next transaction will close the split or it can be manually closed by pressing the Split icon or selecting Actions → Split Transaction .

Multiple Currency/Commodity Transactions

Any transaction that has splits whose accounts are denominated in different commodities (currencies are a subset of commodities) requires an exchange rate to convert between the two. For more information please see Chapter 10 of the Tutorial and Concepts Guide.

Registers for accounts of type STOCK or FUND display four columns, Shares, Price, Buy, and Sell (the last two will be Credit and Debit respectively if you've enabled Use formal accounting labels in the Accounts tab of Preferences). Enter any two and GnuCash will calculate the other for you; if you enter 3 and the result doesn't balance GnuCash will ask which one to change to make the split balance.

Registers of other types have only Credit and Debit (the names will be different depending on the account type if you haven't enabled Use formal accounting labels) and so use the Transfer Dialog with most of the fields disabled to collect either an Exchange Rate or a To Amount (the amount in the other currency/comodity). Please see (the section called “Currency Transfer”) for details of using this dialog.

Note

When committing a transaction or confirming an exchange rate the price on the transaction date in the Price Editor may be updated. See the section called “Price Editor” for details.

Editing a Transaction

Editing a transaction involves just selecting the part of the transaction that needs to be changed. Once the changes are complete pressing the Enter key, selecting the Enter icon or going to Transaction → Enter Transaction will now move the cursor to the next line or transaction.

To see a more detailed view of a transaction for editing in Basic Ledger, press the Split button on the Toolbar or select Actions → Split Transaction .

Deleting a Transaction

If a transaction needs to be removed from the register, select the transaction and press either the Delete icon on the Toolbar or go to Transaction → Delete Transaction . A window will appear to confirm the delete, unless the preference has been changed. The window presents two options; "Remember and don’t ask again", and "Remember and don’t ask again this session". The response will be set according to the selected checkbox. The preference can also be reset via Actions → Reset Warnings . the section called “Reset Warnings...”.

Parts of a transaction can also be removed by pressing the Split button on the Toolbar or selecting Actions → Split Transaction . The part of the transaction that needs to be deleted can be then selected for deletion.

Add Reversing Transaction

In formal accounting, transactions should never be deleted or altered. Instead, when a mistake is made, the original transaction remains in the ledger, and a reversing transaction is added to the ledger. This reversing transaction restores the ledger to its state before the error, allowing the user to enter the transaction again correctly.

While a user can certainly enter reversing transactions manually, GnuCash includes a menu option ( Transaction → Add Reversing Transaction ) that can quickly create the reversing transaction for you. This option only appears when you are in an account register. When you are in the transaction that needs to be reversed, all you need to do is select this menu item, and a duplicate transaction that reverses the active transaction is immediately created.

Note

Once you choose the menu item, a reversing transaction is immediately created in the account using the current date. You may wish to locate the new transaction at the end of the register, and add explanatory notes to it.

Removing Transaction Splits

Removing Transaction Splits involves erasing all splits except the one for the account that is opened. This is a useful way of reusing a previous transaction that has multiple splits that need to be changed. (Note this can be done without opening the split, but doing so makes the effect more visible)

1. If in Basic Ledger, press the Split button on the Toolbar or select Actions → Split Transaction to open the transaction. If in other modes select transaction.

2. Select Transaction → Remove Transaction Splits .

A window will appear to confirm the delete, unless the preference has been changed. The window presents two options; "Remember and don’t ask again", and "Remember and don’t ask again this session". The response will be set according to the selected checkbox. The preference can also be reset via Actions → Reset Warnings . the section called “Reset Warnings...”.

3. All Accounts and their related details will be removed except for the currently opened account.

4. The amount is not balanced and GnuCash will indicate this by placing gray check-boxes in the amount columns with the unbalanced amount in the blank last row.

5. Edit the transaction to fill in the new details.

Copying a Transaction

Copying Transactions is available from the Transaction menu. The Transaction menu has Cut Transaction, Copy Transaction and Paste Transaction which allows a whole transaction to be cut or copied and pasted to a new transaction line. This way of copying a transaction will use the date showing in the new transaction blank line.

The Transaction → Duplicate Transaction... or the Toolbar Duplicate which, unlike the Copy method, allows for choosing a different date.

- Select the transaction to duplicate.

- Go to Transaction → Duplicate Transaction...

- A dialog called Duplicate Transaction will prompt for a new Date and Num for the transaction.

- Press OK to add the transaction to the register.

Setting the reconcile status (R field) of a transaction

In the GnuCash register there is a column labeled R. This field indicates the status of a transaction. Possible values are:

n

No. This is the default status when a transaction is created.

c

Cleared. Status may be assigned either manually or by an import process. Indicates the transaction is included in the bank's record of the account transactions but has not yet been reconciled to a bank statement in GnuCash.

y

Yes, reconciled. This status is solely assigned by the reconciliation process (see the section called “Reconciling an Account to a Statement”). Places limits optionally requiring confirmation on editing fields in that line of a transaction.

f

Frozen. Not implemented at this time

v

Voided. Status is assigned or released manually through the transaction menu (the section called “Account Register - Transaction Menu”) to a transaction and applies to every line in the transaction. It hides most of the transaction details but does not delete them. When a transaction is voided a reason entry is required that appears to the right of the transaction notes. The notes and void reason will only be visible when you have enabled View → Double Line .

Jump to another Account Register

When using the Account Register Window it is frequently useful to be able to view another account and also the transfer account at the same time. GnuCash allows you to do this quickly by using the Jump button available in the Toolbar or the Actions → Jump menu item in the Account Register Window.

Select the transaction in the Account Register Window and either click the Jump icon or select Actions → Jump to open the Account Register Window target. If the transaction is split between more than one transfer account then you will need to show all the split transfer accounts first and select the transfer account to jump to.

Scheduling Transactions

Scheduled Transactions provide the ability to have reminders scheduled or transactions scheduled to be entered at a specified date. This is combined with the Since Last Run assistant (the section called ““Since Last Run” Assistant”) to review and enter the transactions. The Mortgage & Loan Repayment assistant (the section called “Mortgage & Loan Repayment Assistant”) is used to setup a scheduled transaction to repay a compounding interest loan. The Scheduled Transaction Editor (the section called “Edit Scheduled Transaction Window”) is used to create and edit transactions that are to be added to the register in an automated way.

The easiest way to setup a scheduled transaction is to use an existing transaction in an account register as a template. Select the transaction you wish to use as a template and then either select the Schedule icon on the Toolbar or go to Actions → Schedule... . This will bring up the Make Scheduled Transaction dialog.

- Name: Enter a name to use for the scheduled transaction. This will be used in the Description field of the transaction.

- Frequency: Choose the time period you want between scheduled entries. The dates that the transactions will be entered will show in the mini calendar pane to the right.

- Start Date: Choose a date for the scheduled transaction to start.

- Never End: This scheduled transaction has no finish date.

- End Date: Choose a date for the scheduled transaction to end.

- Number of Occurrences: Enter the number of times you wish the scheduled transaction to be added to the register.

The Advanced... button brings up the Scheduled Transaction Editor’s dialog to Edit the Scheduled Transaction. This is described in the section Scheduled Transaction Editor. the section called “Edit Scheduled Transaction Window”

Scheduled Transactions Window

The Scheduled Transactions Window is used to access the list of scheduled transactions and create, edit or remove them. It also provides a calendar which displays upcoming scheduled transactions. Clicking on the calendar view and hovering over any date will pop up a small dialog that shows the transactions scheduled for that day. The blue highlight in the calendar indicates which days have scheduled transactions. To dismiss the hover dialog click once more.

The top pane of the Scheduled Transaction Window contains the list of scheduled transactions that are currently setup. This window lists the Name of the transaction, if the transaction is enabled for scheduling, the Frequency (month and day) that the transaction is to be entered, the last time the transaction was entered and the next time the transaction will be entered.

The right side of this pane contains a down arrow button that when clicked will pull-down a window to allow selection of the characteristics displayed in the list. Unchecking the appropriate box will remove the characteristic from the display.

The Toolbar of this window contains three buttons to create, delete and edit scheduled transactions. New and Edit buttons opens the Edit Scheduled Transaction dialog. Delete removes the selected scheduled transaction. The same options are available thru Schedule → New/Edit/Delete , from the Scheduled Transaction Tab.

Below the list of scheduled transactions is the Upcoming calendar. This calendar displays up to the next year and highlights the dates that the scheduled transactions are scheduled to occur so it is easy to see when the transactions are scheduled. Clicking on a date in the calendar brings up a list of scheduled transactions for that date. Moving the mouse over other dates changes to the list of transactions on those dates. Clicking once more on the calendar removes the transaction list.

The Scheduled Transaction Window is activated from the Account tab or the Transaction Register via Actions → Scheduled Transaction → Scheduled Transaction Editor... .

Edit Scheduled Transaction Window

The Edit Scheduled Transaction Window is divided into a Name area, Options area, Occurrences area, Recurrence Frequency area, mini calendar and Template Transaction pane.

The Name field is used to enter the name for the scheduled transaction. This will be used in the Description of the transaction.

The Options area contains check-boxes to set if the transaction is automatically created and how many days in advance the transaction is created and/or a reminder posted.

The Occurrences area contains selections to set for dates limits on transactions to be entered or the number of transactions to be entered.

The Recurrence Frequency area contains selections to set how often the transaction is scheduled to be added and on what dates this occurs.

The mini calendar provides a visual indication of what transactions are already scheduled.

The Template Transaction pane allows you to setup the transaction as you would like it to be entered into the register.

These options are described in more detail in the section called “Scheduling Transactions”

- From the Scheduled Transaction tab selecting a transaction from the list and pressing the Edit or New buttons will bring up the Edit Scheduled Transaction Editor.

Printing Checks

Checks are printed in GnuCash from the account register. GnuCash provides the ability to print to several standard Quicken Checks (including US Letter) or to make a custom check format. Check position and Date formats are also customizable.

To print a single check in GnuCash, select the transaction to print a check for and go to File → Print Checks . This will open the Print Checks properties dialog to print the selected transaction.

To print multiple checks in GnuCash execute a search to find the transactions you wish to print. With the search results window as the front window go to File → Print Checks . This will open the Print Checks properties dialog to print all the transactions in the search results window.

The Print Checks dialog has two tabs. The first tab, Options, is used to setup the most common options to print a check. The second tab, Custom format, is used to setup the position of various fields on the check. It is useful to print a test check to a plain piece of paper first and use that to make any adjustments needed.

The default selection in Options is for Quicken/Quickbooks (tm) US-Letter checks.

- Check format: Test with Quicken first then use custom if the position is incorrect.

- Check position: This sets if the Top, Middle or Bottom check is printed. Custom is used if the position of the checks on the page is incorrect.

- Date format: The default here is set in the Preferences International section. Choose a date format. This can also be adjusted by the Use of the Months: and Years: lines. Custom allows the date format to be set in the Format: box (%m means month, %d means day, %Y means year) A Sample of the format chosen is displayed below.

- Address: This sets the address of the Payee, if the check format includes a space for it and you are printing a single check.

The Custom format tab has two sections. The top half of the window (above the dividing line) allows you to position the fields in each check. It contains two columns to enter in the X and Y co-ordinates of the field position on the check. Positions in the Custom Check Format entry area are specified with x = 0 at the left edge of the check with x increasing to the right, and y = 0 at the top edge of the check with y increasing as you travel down. (If you are using a version of GTK prior to 2.10, then y = 0 is at the bottom of the page and y increases as you travel up.)

- Payee:

- Date:

- Amount (words):

- Amount (numbers):

- Address:

- Notes:

- Memo:

- Splits Amount:

- Splits Memo:

- Splits Account:

The part of the custom format tab below the dividing line contains fields to position the entire check correctly on the page. The Translation field is the distance from the top left corner and the Rotation field rotates the check clockwise by the indicated amount.

The Units field in the bottom half of the window specifies the units used in all the fields in both halves of the window.

Once OK is pressed on the Print Check dialog the Print GnuCash Document dialog is presented. Press OK to print the check.

Importing Transactions from Files

Imported transactions will generally be to a specific account in your account tree. In the following this will be referred to as the import or base account. It may or may not be specified in the data being imported depending on the import format. It is usually the first split of a transaction being imported.

All transactions will also need to have a destination account for any other splits associated with the tansaction. These may or may not be supplied in the imported data, depending upon the data source and the format of the data. If it is not, GnuCash may be able to assign an account on the basis of the previous import history by matching infomation in the imported data to data associated with previous account assignments in the importer. The user may always over-ride this automatic assignment or where no assignment can be made automatically assign an account manually.

Multi-split data exported from GnuCash in CSV format will normally have both the import and destination accountsfor transaction splits specified in the data file.

Import Formats

GnuCash allows transactions to be imported in a number of structured formats for the exchange of financial data as well as in the unstructured CSV format, a plain text tabular format commonly used for the import and export of data to and from spreadsheets:

- QIF (.qif) Quicken Interchange format - import data from Quicken financial software;

- OFX/QFX (.ofx,.qfx) Open Financial eXchange format (QXF is an Intuit/Quicken proprietary version of OFX);

- CSV (.csv) Comma Separated Values;

- Others Import with AQBanking supports importing several European and International file formats including:

- CAMT 052Daily Bank Statements

- OLYMPIC Banking System ERI

- Spanish Q45

- SWIFT MT535, MT940, MT942.Bank Statements

- Swiss YellowNet XML

Note

Files using these formats do not necessarily use the file extensions shown above.

These import methods can be accessed from the File → Import sub-menu entry, along with methods for importing other types of data. Select the appropriate entry from the File → Import sub-menu to initiate importing transactions.

Import Preference

User preferences set in the Import tab or the Online Banking tab of the user preferences accessed by Edit → Preferences from the menu will affect the importing of transactions from the files described below.

Import QIF

To import data from Quicken®, MS Money®, or other programs that use QIF(Quicken® Interchange Format), you must first export your data to a QIF file. One way to do this is to export each account as a separate QIF file. An easier way, available in Quicken® 98 and beyond, is to export all accounts at once into a single QIF file. Check your program's manual to determine if this option is available.

To import QIF files:

Select File → Import → Import QIF... from the menu to open the QIF Import dialog box illustrated below.

Figure 6.3. The Import QIF Files Assistent

Dialog Navigation. The right hand pane will display some or all of the following navigation buttons:

- Cancel: Exit the dialog;

- Back: Go back to the previous step;

- Next: Proceed to the next step.

The buttons displayed are determined by whether navigation to the destination step is valid from the current step.

Import Dialog Steps. The left hand pane lists the steps in the import dialog process. The right hand pane contains instructions and/or controls for performing the operations in the step selected and highlighted in the left hand pane. The import process steps are:

- Import of QIF files: Initial informational panel. Click Next to proceed;

- Select a QIF file to load: Open a file selection dialog. Navigate to and select the file you wish to import and click Import. Then click Next;

- Load QIF files: Click the Start button to load the file. The file will be parsed and loaded. If errors or warnings occur you may have to remove the file, edit it and reimport it. If there are no errors click Next;

- Set a date format for the file: Select a date format (m-d-y or d-m-y) appropriate to the locale of the source of your QIF file. In the US this is generally m-d-y and in Europe d-m-y;

- Set the default QIF account name: If the QIF file does not specify an account name, enter an account name. If importing data from another accounting program you should use the name used in that program;

- QIF files you have loaded: This step allows you to edit the list of files to be imported and to load additional files. To remove a file, click on the row and then click on Unload selected file. To load another file click the Load another file. When you have all the files you wish to import loaded, click Next;

- Accounts and stock holdings: Information panel. Click Next to proceed;

- Match QIF accounts with GnuCash accounts: QIF account names are matched to GnuCash accounts if possible. New GnuCash accounts are created if no matching accounts are found. For stock, the required account structures are also created. Created accounts are indicated by checking the checkbox in the New column. Assigned accounts may be edited by selecting the appropriate the row and clicking on the Change GnuCash Account button to to run the account selection dialog;

- Income and Expense categories: Information panel. Click Next to proceed;

- Match QIF categories to GnuCash accounts: QIF categories are matched to GnuCash accounts where possible. New GnuCash accounts are created where no matching GnuCash account is found. Created accounts are indicated by the checkbox in the New column being checked. If you are not sure what changes are needed, it is safe to accept the GnuCash account names. These may be changed later in GnuCash. Assigned accounts may be edited by selecting the appropriate row and clicking on the Change GnuCash Account button to run the account selection dialog;

- Payees and Memos: Information page. Click Next to proceed;

- Match payees/memos to GnuCash accounts: QIF payees and memos are matched to GnuCash accounts where possible and new accounts are created where this is not possible again indicated by the checkbox in the New column. The assigned account may be changed by selecting a row and clicking on the Change GnuCash Account button to to run the account selection dialog;

- Choose the QIF file currency: Select the required currency from the dropdown list and click on Next to continue;

- Tradable commodities: Not yet implemented;

- QIF Import: Click on Start to begin the import. GnuCash currently proceeds to the Update your GnuCash accounts tab if the import is successful;

- Match existing transactions: Not yet implemented;

- Select possible duplicates: Not yet implemented;

- Update your GnuCash accounts: Click Apply to complete the import. Depending upon the size of your file, the import might take a few minutes to complete, so a progress bar displays the percentage finished. When the import process is complete, GnuCash will return you to the main window, which should now display the names of the accounts you imported.

Other features are not currently implemented;

- QIF Import Summary: Click on Close to exit the wizard.

Import OFX/QFX

File->Import->Import OFX/QFX transactions opens a file selection dialog. Navigate to the file you wish to import, select a file with the appropriate extension (.ofx or .qfx), then press the Import button.

GnuCash then opens an Account Selection dialog to select an account in your CoA to match to an account name in the import file. Select the appropriate account from the account tree and press the OK button. On subsequent import of files from the same source account, the mapped GnuCash account is remembered and the account selection dialog is not displayed.

The generic import transaction matcher dialog is opened next. See the Import Matcher section (common to both OFX/QFX and CSV import formats) following the Import CSV section to continue the import process.

Import CSV

Clicking on File->Import->Import Transactions from CSV will bring up the CSV Transaction Import Assistant dialog illustrated below.

The CSV Transaction import Assistant is largely self explanatory with information panes which describe the functionality.

Dialog Navigation. Each pane displays a selction of the following navigation buttons at the bottom right:

- Cancel Exit the CSV Transaction Import Assistant;

- Back Return to the previous step in the assistant;

- Next Proceed to the next step in the assistant.

The buttons displayed are determined by the validity of the traget step from the current step.

Procedure 6.1. CSV Import Process Steps

The steps in the CSV import process are listed in the left hand pane with the current step highlighted. Explanatory text and the widgets to setup and carry out the step are displayed in the right hand pane. The function of the controls in each step is explained below, in the explanatory information in the panes or in tooltips on some controls. The steps in the CSV import process are:

1. Introductory information panel

Figure 6.4. The CSV Transaction Import Assistant - Introduction

Click Next to continue;

2. Select File for Import: Display the File selection dialog. Navigate to the file you wish to import then click the Next button;

3. Import Preview: The Import Preview pane controls set options for the import of CSV data and provides a preview of the data to be imported.

Figure 6.5. The CSV Import Preview Pane

The CSV Import Preview Pane with settings to import the shown data.

Import preview Controls

- Load and Save Settings

Abstract

The settings group GnuCash Export Settings defines a setting group for used for the export and reimport of GnuCash transaction data - use this if importing data previously exported from GnuCash.

Save

Once you have set all the import parameters, you can save these settings by typing a unique name in the Load and Save Settings Entry combo box and clicking the Save icon just to the right of the box.

Load

A previously defined settings group can be retrieved by selecting the appropriate setting group name from the dropdown list activated by the down arrow at the right end of the text box. This will set all other settings to the stored values.

Delete

The Delete/Trashcan icon to the right of the Save icon can be used to remove the saved settings group selected from the drop down list for the box.

- Account: If the data you are importing does not specify the source account for the transaction an account can be selected from the drop down list will import all transactions to the selected account. Leave blank if your imported data specifies a source account;

- File Format:

- Separators: Selecting this radio button will allow you to define characters which will be used to distinguish columns in the input file. The default is comma separated. In countries using the comma as decimal separator the semicolon is common as column separator. However spaces, tabs, colons or semicolons or any combination of them may be used to separate columns in the input file by selecting the appropriate check boxes. You may also define custom separators by typing the required characters into the text box and selecting the Custom checkbox. This may be used in combination with any of the predefined separators;

- Fixed-Width: Selecting this radio button will allow you to define column boundaries by double clicking at the appropriate positions in the sample records displayed in the panel below. Single clicking in a column will narrow, widen or merge the column.

- Multi-split: Selecting this check box allows the splits for a single transaction to be defined on consecutive lines within the file with each line defining a single split. If not selected each line is assumed to contain the information for a single transaction including one or two splits;

Multi-split is a gnucash specific variant of a csv file to support easier data preparation.

Each line should define one split by

transaction-specific fields

date and description as bare minimum and

split specific fields

account and deposit/withdrawal as bare minimum.

Tip

There is a convenience feature built-in so you don't have to repeat the transaction fields if the split belongs to the same transaction as the previous one (though you can repeat them if that makes csv preparation easier).

Example 6.1. Sample Multi-split.csv

Date,Description,Deposit,Account

05/03/2006,Grocery Store,-45.21,Assets:Checking

,,45.21,Expenses:Groceries

14/03/2006,Employers R Us,670.00,Assets:Checking

,,180.00,Expenses:Taxes:Federal

,,90.00,Expenses:Taxes:Medicare

,,60.00,Expenses:Taxes:Social Security

,,-1000.00,Income:Salary

- Miscellaneous: The miscellaneous settings allow you to set:

- Encoding: This is usually UTF-8, but may differ for files from other sources;

- Date Format: This does not default to the Locale setting so check it matches the data you are importing;

- Currency Format: Select the format of the decimal separator (full stop or comma or other) for the currency if the correct value is not supplied by Locale;

- Leading Lines to Skip: Select the number of header lines to skip in the imported file; [4]

- Trailing Lines to Skip: Select the number of trailing lines to skip in the import file;[4]

- Skip alternate lines: Use to skip every second line in the import file.

to match the settings for the file you are importing. Tooltips may also contain information on the setting and options.

The import panel shows the data being imported as it is interpreted using the settings chosen to define columns and formats. The dropdown lists in the headers for each column of the import allow you to associate a specific column in the imported data with a specific field in the display of a transaction in an account register. At a minimum to import data, columns in the imported data containing the following information must be specified:

- Date: of transaction;

- Account: into which transaction is to be imported (or alternatively set the base account as above);

- Description: of the transaction;

- Deposit or Withdrawal: column.

The dropdown list of GnuCash transaction data fields which may be associated with a column of the imported data contains the following:

- None: The column is not assigned to a transaction data field and is not imported;

- Date: Ensure the date format in the column matches the Miscellaneous date Format Setting;

- Num: Transaction Num field - Use for check numbers etc.;

- Description;

- Notes;

- Transaction Commodity;

- Void Reason;

- Action;

- Account: This header should be matched to a column specifying the source account for a transaction if it is present. Otherwise, set the source account in the Account combo box;

- Deposit: Apply this header to a column containing the amount of the transaction. Positive amounts in the column generally represent an increase in the account balance and negative amounts a decrease in the balance (asset accounts: Checking, Savings). In external statements supplied by a bank for a check or savings account, a credit (Cr) is normally an increase in the account balance and a debit (Dr) a decrease in the account balance. In the banks eyes, your savings or checking account is a Liability to them;

If the amount data is in separate columns for debits and credits you will have to apply both this heading and the Withdrawal heading.

- Withdrawal: Apply this header to a column with the amount of the transaction where positive amounts in the column represent a decrease in the account balance and negative amounts an increase in the balance (e.g. Liability account: credit card).

Where separate columns are used for debits and credit to the account apply it to the opposite to the column to which Deposits is applied;

Note

Some experimentation may be necessary to determine the correct allocation of the Deposit and Withdrawal headings.

- Price: The price for commodity transactions and/or transactions involving currency exchange;

- Memo: Additional column containing descriptive information relevant to one split of a transaction. If in the first line of a multi-split import it will apply to the source account. In subsequent lines/splits it is applied to the transfer account defined in that line or allocated to it in the matcher;

- Reconciled: Apply to a column indicating the reconciliation status of the transaction. This generally only applies to data exported from GnuCash;

- Reconcile Date: Apply to a column which specifies the date of reconciliation, generally only for GnuCash exported data;

- Transfer Action;

- Transfer Account: This header should be applied to a column which specifies the transfer account for the second split of a single line import and/or for subsequent splits in multiline exported transactions;

- Transfer Memo: Apply to a column with descriptive information relevant to a split to a transfer account specified by Transfer Account;

- Transfer Reconciled: Apply to a column with reconciliation status information relevant to a split to a transfer account specified by Transfer Account;

- Transfer Reconcile Date: Apply to a column containing a reconciliation date relevant to a split to a transfer account previously specified in Transfer Account.

The Skip Errors check box will skip trying to import any rows with errors in matching the columns.

When you are happy with all the import settings, save them if you will use the same settings again, then press the Next button.

4. Match Import and GnuCash accounts: This window allows you to map the accounts identified in the account columns (Account and Transfer Account) with accounts in the GnuCash account tree (Account name). Double click on a row to bring up a dialog to select the matching GnuCash account. If you have previously imported transactions to this account and account mappings can be matched automatically, this window will not be displayed. When you have selected a match for all accounts, click on the Next button;

5. Transaction Information: The Transaction Information panel allows review of data entry settings so far. Clicking Next will perform checks on the data. If there are errors you will be returned to the Import Preview pane to edit the settings. For no errors you proceed to the next step;

6. Match Transactions: Clicking on Match Transactions will then bring up the main Import Matcher window. The Import Matcher is described in a separate section;

7. Import Summary: GnuCash displays a summary of the imported data. Click on the Close to exit the wizard.

Caution

Multi-split imports of multicurrency transactions and commodity transactions are experimental and may currently experience some errors. Please experiment and report any bugs encountered.

Import several file formats with AQBanking

If GnuCash was built with AqBanking support and you have AqBanking installed on your computer you may use Import using AQBanking to import files in several formats.

You will first be presented with a dialog box having two lists. The left one lists importer plugins and the right one lists file format profiles available for that importer. In some cases, for example swift, the profiles include specialized formats for particular bank: Continuing the example the swift importer can import both generic MT940 and MT942 statements and those specialized for the Netherlands's AMRO Bank.

Select an importer and a profile from the lists. GnuCash will remember your selection for the next time you do an import.

Click OK to proceed to the filechooser. Select a file to import and click the Import button to proceed.

GnuCash will process the selected file and map the account description in the import file onto the selected account and use it for future imports from the same account. The imported transactions will then be displayed in the Generic Import Transaction Matcher for review.

Generic Transaction Import Matcher

Introduction

Figure 6.6. The Generic Transaction Import Matcher Window

This is an image of the import transaction matcher window after opening a file to import.

The Import Matcher checks whether an imported transaction matches an existing transaction already recorded in GnuCash within a predefined time window (~+_42 days) for the account into which the transactions are being imported. A match probablity is calculated based on the Date, Amount, Transaction ID's (if present), Check numbers (if present) and the Description and split Memo fields. Exact matches will generate a high match probability and flag a transaction as matching an existing transaction and therefore not to be imported. If there is a lower quality match to an existing transaction, the imported transaction may be flagged for updating of non-matching information in the GnuCash record of the matching transaction. These decisions can be overridden by the user.

If no matching transaction can be identified the transaction will be flagged for import. The matcher will attempt to assign a transfer account based on matches between tokenized information for previously imported transactions stored in lists associated with the transfer accounts which were assigned to them on import.

- If a good match is obtained, the transfer account is assigned and the transaction is flagged as ready to import.

- If a transfer account cannot be assigned, the transaction will be flagged for import and manual assignment of the transfer account by the user. By default, if no transfer account is assigned, transactions will be assigned to an Imbalance account on import. This is to indicate that they need an appropriate account assigned to them.

Import Formats

The generic import transaction matcher is invoked when transaction data is imported using any of the following import formats:

- QIF;

- OFX/QXF;

- CSV;

- MT940;

- MT942;

- DTAUS.

Controls

List of Controls

This window has the following

Controls:

- List of downloaded transactions: Table containing information from the imported transactions.

- Show Account column: Checkbox to display the account into which the transactions are being imported. This is the second column labelled Account in the screenshot;

- Show Memo column: Checkbox to display the Memo from the imported transactions after the column labelled Description;

- Show matched information: Checkbox to display the matched transaction which has been already imported or entered into GnuCash. If there is one, this will be a line with a white background (by default) after the imported transaction. This is either the manually selected match if one has been selected or the best possible match otherwise;

- Append: Checkbox to indicate that when updating and clearing a matched transaction, the imported Description and Notes are to be appended to the matched transaction Description and Notes respectively, rather than overwriting them. When the OK button is clicked, the state of the checkbox is saved so the next import for that account will automatically default it to the saved state;

- Reconcile after match: Checkbox to automatically start the reconciliation process after transactions have been matched and imported;

- Help: Display a popup help window;

- Cancel: Close this window without importing transaction data;

- OK: Close this window importing transaction data;

List of downloaded transactions

The List of downloaded transactions has the following columns which display the following information for each of the downloaded transactions:

Columns in “List of Downloaded Transactions”

- Date - The date supplied with the downloaded transaction;

- Account - The import or base account to which the transactions will be imported (optional see above);

- Amount - The amount of the transaction (split to the import or base account);

- Description - The description of the transaction;

- Memo - The memo for the split to the import or base account of the transaction (optional see above);

- A - Add - Checkbox which indicates that the transaction is to be imported as a new transaction;

- U+C - Update and Clear - Checkbox which indicates that the transaction matches an existing transaction but has some differences and the existing transaction will be updated with the different information;

- C - Clear - Checkbox which indicates that the transaction matches an existing transaction and will not be imported;

- Info - For transactions which have been matched to an existing transaction, this column displays a bar indicating the quality of the match;

- Additional Comments - Shows what is to happen to the transaction and the transfer account if known;

Import Status

In addition to the checkboxes, the import status of each transaction is indicated by the background color of the transaction row. The checkbox state, background colors and their meaning are described in Table 6.1, “Import Status of Transactions”.

Table 6.1. Import Status of Transactions

Checked Box

Background

Meaning

A

Gold

No matches, flagged for input and no transfer account matched – Import as a new transaction. Intervention required to select a transfer account.

Green

No matches detected, flagged for input and a transfer account is matched – Import as a new transaction. Reconciliation status will be set as cleared (c) on import. Intervention is not required.

U+C

Green

Matches an existing transaction but not exactly on date and/or amount – Intervention not required, import and update. Reconciliation status will be set as cleared (c) on import.

C

Green

Matches an existing transaction: – Not to be imported. The existing transaction reconciliation status will be as cleared (c) on import. Intervention is not required

Brown

Transaction has poor matches and no action was set: – Not to be imported. Intervention required.

Blue

Row is selected

Note

The colors illustrated here are the defaults for GnuCash specified in gnucash-fallback.css. You may experience different colors if the gtk-3.0 CSS files have been modified

You may always intervene manually to

- change the import action by selecting another checkbox (or none) and/or

- manually assign a different transfer account

after reviewing the matched transactions and accounts and the automatically selected actions.

Multi row selection is enabled for the list of downloaded transactions. The following operations can be performed on the list of downloaded transactions:

- Click Button1 (see Mouse Buttons) on a row: Select this row (row is displayed with a blue background);

- Double-click Button1 on a row: If the transactions is flagged for import (see below) this will open an account selection dialog to select a destination/transfer account to be used in the second split of the imported transaction. You may create a new account if necessary in this dialog using the New Account button. If the transaction is flagged as matching an existing transaction either for import or updating, the match picker dialog is opened to allow the matched transactions to be examined and a correct match selected;

- Ctrl+Button1 on a row: Add the row to a selection of rows (displayed with a blue background) to which a single destination/transfer account may be applied;

- Shift+Button1 on a row: Select all rows between the last selected row and this row and add them to the current selection of rows;

- Click Button2 in the window: Display a popup menu which when clicked in turn opens a dialog to select a single destination/transfer account which will be applied to all rows currently selected.

Important

It is important to assign a transfer account to each transaction prior to import of the transactions. Otherwise the tokenized information from the imported transaction will not be appended to the list of tokens for an assigned account for use in future matching of transactions to transfer accounts.

Note

Note that "reconciled" in this context does not mean the same as "reconciled" in the process of reconciling an account to an external statement. The reconciliation status of an imported transaction is set to cleared (c) on import of a new transaction. See Setting the reconcile status (R field) of a transaction for details of the values of reconciliation status.

Where a row has been matched to an existing transaction or is to update an existing transaction it will have a DarkSeaGreen background. Double-clicking Button1 on the row will bring up the Match Picker dialog which displays detail of the imported. If you, feel the wrong transfer account has been assigned or the matcher has not produced a valid result, you may change the checkbox selection if you disagree with the matcher decisions and you may reassign an assigned transfer account (see below).

Double-clicking Button1 on a row marked as New with a DarkSeaGreen1 background and a transfer account assigned to it will bring up the account selection dialog to allow you to choose a different transfer account for the second split.

Double-clicking Button1 on a row marked New with no transfer account matched with a Gold background will also bring up the account selection dialog to allow you to assign a suitable transfer account to the transaction.

Assign a Destination Account to a Single Transaction

Select the required row by clicking Button1 on it. It is displayed with a Blue background color.

Double clicking Button1 on a row will select it and open an Account Selection dialog to allow you to assign a transfer account. Select the desired transfer account in the dialog and click OK. The dialog has a New Account button which will allow you to create a suitable account if there is no existing account which can be applied as the transfer account.The row background will change to a Green and the assigned destination account will be displayed in the Info column.

or alternatively, Button1 click on a row to select it followed by a Button2 click to bring up a popup menu then select Assign a transfer account to display the Account Selection dialog, select the destination account and click the OK button.

Assign a Destination Account to Multiple Transactions

Sometimes you will have several transactions which can have the same destination account. GnuCash allows you to select multiple transactions and apply the same destination account to all transactions in the selection.

Rows in a selection are displayed with a Blue background.

Only rows which have the A checkbox checked and either a Green or Gold background colour can be selected for inclusion in a multiple selection. Rows with a Brown background or with the U+C or C checkboxes checked cannot be selected in a multiple selection.

To select rows and add rows to a selection either:

- Click Button1 on first row and then Ctrl+Button1 on other rows to add to the selection; or

- Click Button1 on first row and then Shift+Button1 on another row to select all rows between them.

- Rubber banding is also enabled so you may also hold Button1 and drag over rows to create a selection. To add more rows, Ctrl-Button1 and drag over more rows.

then Button2 to display a popup menu and then select Assign a transfer account to open the Account Selection dialog. Select the desired destination account (create a new account if necessary) and click the OK button in the Account Selection dialog.

Completing the Import

Once you have assigned destination accounts for all the imported transactions using the above methods (all row backgrounds will be a light green colour), check that the assigned destination acounts are correct and then press the OK button at the bottom of Figure 6.6, “The Generic Transaction Import Matcher Window”. The transactions selected for import will have their splits added to the selected source and destination accounts.

The tokenized data from the transactions assigned to a given transfer account is stored on exiting from the matcher and is used to match transactions to the appropriate transfer account in future imports.

Match Picker

The Match Picker allows you to review and edit existing GnuCash transactions which have been matched to a transaction being imported. Button1 on a row with the C checkbox checked to bring this dialog up.

Figure 6.7. The Match Picker Dialog

The Match Picker dialog window showing existing GnuCash transactions matching an imported transaction.

The top pane of the Match Picker displays details of the first split of the transaction to be imported. The column labels:

- Account

- Date

- Amount

- Description

- Memo

- Balanced

are the same and have the same meaning as in the section called “List of downloaded transactions” with the exception of the Balanced column which gives the amount of the balancing split for the transaction.

The lower pane displays the details of existing GnuCash transactions which match this transaction. If no transactions are displayed check the Show Reconciled checkbox at the bottom of the panel. The first row in this pane will normally be the auto-matched transaction with the best match score. Other rows will display other existing transactions which might also be matches for the transaction being imported. The columns in this pane are:

- Confidence: This column indicateds the confidence of the individual match as both a bar chart and a numerical value. Where the bar extends into the green, the match is good. If the bar only extend to the red or yellow setions the quality of match is more doubtful.

- Date

- Amount: If this does not match exactly the amount of the transaction being imported but otherwise the match is good, the amount of the imported transactions is used to update the existing transaction matching it.

- Description

- Memo

- Reconciled: Indicates the reconciliation status of a matching existing transaction.

- Pending Action

If you are not happy with the existing transaction that was auto-matched, Button1 on your preferred match to select it and then Button1 the OK. The transaction will then be marked as a (manual) match in the Info column of the Import Matcher. To exit the dialog without changing the auto-match Button1 on the Cancel.

Import Match Editor

The Import Match Editor allows you to edit the data used by GnuCash to automatically assign a transfer account in the Import Matcher. It can be used to edit the data used by the Bayesian matcher, the Non-Bayesian matcher and online ID's. To open it select Tools->Import Map Editor from the menu.

Figure 6.8. The Import Map Editor

The Import Map Editor illustrating typical entries for the Bayesian matcher.

The three radio buttons at the top of the dialog select the type of data being displayed and edited:

- Bayesian: The Bayesian matcher matches a transfer or destination account using the frequency of association of a token string with an assigned transfer/destination account in the Import matcher for a specific source account (the account that the first split of the imported transactionis directed to);

- Non-Bayesian: The Non Bayesian matcher matches the transfer account on the basis of the occurrence of a token string in transactions assigned to a transfer/destination account and does not record the frequency of association. This was the original GnuCash matching process and has now been superceeded by the Bayesian matcher in more recent versions;

- OnlineiD: Online ids are specific strings which identify specific accounts in information downloaded from online sources. they may include account numbers and specific instiution identifiers.

The Bayesian matcher data columns are:

- Source Account: This is the account into which a transaction has been imported and is normally the first split in an imported record. It may either be specified in the record itself or during the import setup for all transactions to be imported. The arrow control at the left of each entry in this column may be used to display all the data used in matching a transfer or destination account for transactions which have this account as their source split;

- Match String: This column displays a specific token string that has been associated with the allocation of the account in the Mapped to Account Name column as a transfer/destination account for transfers to the Source Account;

- Mapped to Account Name: The account name in this column is a GnuCash account name which has been allocated as a transfer/destination account in association with the token string in the Match String column;

- Count of Match String Usage: This is the number of times the token string in the Match String column has occurred in association with the transfer/destination account specified in the Mapped to Account Name column for transactions imported to GnuCash.

The Non-Bayesian matcher displays the same first three columns as the Bayesian matcher having the same usage. It does not store data on the frequency with which a particular token is associated with the assignement of a given transfer/destination account. It has an additional column which specifies the type of the imported data process in which the assignment occurred.It has the following columns:

- Source Account;

- Based on: This identifies the import process in which the Match String was associated with the transfer destination account in the Mapped to Account Name column;

- Match String;

- Mapped to Account Name.

Online ID displays the same columns with the same data as the Non-Bayesian matcher.

The Filter textbox at the bottom of the dialog allows filtering of the displayed data matching the entered string in either the Match String column or the Mapped to Account Name column.

The Expand All and Collapse All buttons expand or collapse the data in the other columns for the accounts in the Source Account column.

The Delete button will delete any selected rows in the displayed matcher data.

The Close button closes the Import Match Editor dialog.

[4] While we only want to import transactions, some banks send additional informations like a fieldname header or account status information as header or footer.

Exporting Transactions

GnuCash allows transaction data to be exported in CSV format with the optional use of alternative column separators. Transactions can be exported in either a single line format (simple layout) which can only be used for transactions with two splits and may not allow all the data associated with a transaction to be exported or in a multiline format where two or more lines are used for transactions with two or more splits with each splits information on separate lines. Transaction data can be exported either from the currently selected active register or from selected accounts. The menu commands to export transactions are:

- File->Export->Export Transactions to CSV;

- File->Export->Export Active Register to CSV.

These commands start the wizard illustrated in to setup the export. They differ only in that in the latter case the Account Selection step is not available in the left hand pane.

Figure 6.9. The Export Transactions Wizard.

The Export transaction wizard opens at the first step and performs the steps listed in the left hand pane:

- Choose Export Settings;

- Account Selection;

- Choose File Name for export;

- Export Now...;

- Export Summary.

Navigation between the steps uses the buttons displayed in the right hand lower corner of the wizard. Which of the following buttons are displayed will depend on what is permissible from the step:

- Cancel: Exit the wizard without exporting any transactions;

- Back: Return to the previous step in the wizard;

- Next: Proceed to the next step.

Choose Export Settings

This step allows you to choose various options in the formattig of the transactions being exported.

The Options checkboxes may be selected singly or both may be selected together:

- Quotes: Surround each data field in quotes;

- Simple layout: If checked, the ouput transaction data will be as displayed in the single row register view option and some of the transfer detail may be lost.

The column headers for data exported in Simple layout format are:

1. Date

2. Account Name: name of the source account;

3. Number

4. Description

5. Full Category Path: full account name for transfer/destination account;

6. Reconcile

7. Amount with Sym

8. Amount NUm

9. Rate/Price

If Simple layout is not checked the transaction data will be exported in a multi-line format.

The column headers for a multiline output for a transaction are:

1. Date: first line only;

2. Transaction ID: first line only;

3. Number: first line only;

4. Description: first line only

5. Notes: first line only;

6. Commodity/Currency: first line only;

7. Void Reason: first line only;

8. Action: first line and subsequent lines;

9. Memo: first line and subsequent lines;

10. Full Account Name: first line and subsequent lines;

11. Account Name: first line and subsequent lines;

12. Amount with SYm: first line and subsequent lines;

13. Amount Num: first line and subsequent lines;

14. Reconcile: first line and subsequent lines;

15. Reconcile Date: first line and subsequent lines;

16. Rate/Price: first line and subsequent lines;

Each line contains the data relevant to a single split with the first line also having transaction data relevant to all splits in the first 7 columns.

The Separators radio buttons allow the choice of an alternative column separator:

- Comma(,): This is the default separator;

- Colon(:): Use a colon to separate the columns;

- Semicolon(;): Use a semicolon to separate the columns;

- Custom: Define a custom character to separate the columns by entering it in the textbox.

Button1 on Next to go to the next step.

Account Selection

This step allows selection of one or more accounts and the specification of the date range containing the transactions to be exported.

The Accounts panel displays an account tree which allows one or more accounts to be selected for export. ( Ctrl-Button1> and Shift-Button1 may be used to select accounts). The Select Subaccounts button will select all subaccounts of a selected account. The Select All button will select all accounts in the account tree for export. The number of accounts which have been selected is indicated.

The Dates panel allows selection of either all transactions or only those within a selected date range in the selected accounts to be exported.

Choose File Name for export

A file selection dialog is presented allowing specification of a file name and a path to the directory/folder in which it is to be stored.

Export Now...

The filename and path of the file to be exported and the number of accounts to be exported is displayed. To continue with the export Button1 the Apply button.

Export Summary

Displays a message if the file is successfully exported or an error message and debugging suggections if not.

Online Actions ...

Important

For each account on which you want to execute this actions you will have to run the the section called “Online Banking Setup Assistant” once.

Note

This section is "under construction - any input will be welcome !!".

Get Balance

Get Transactions ...

Issue Transaction

Direct Debit

General Journal

The General Journal is an advanced register used to enter transactions without needing to open individual accounts. The General Journal shows the transaction entries for all accounts on one register.

Entering transactions in the General Journal is more complicated than entering them in the individual account registers. The advantage is the General Journal provides a more comprehensive view of the transactions you have entered in all your accounts.

The General Journal defaults to showing only the previous month of transactions. This is changeable by using the "Filter By..." on the View menu.

Chapter 7. Business Features

The accounting needs of a business are quite different from that of a person. Businesses have customers that owe money, vendors which are owed money, employee payroll, more complex tax laws, etc. GnuCash offers business oriented features to facilitate these needs.

Accounts Receivable (A/R) are used by businesses to record sales for which they are not immediately paid. Accounts Payable (A/P) record bills that they have received, but might not pay until later. These types of accounts are used primarily when you have a lot of bills and receipts flowing in and out, and do not want to lose track of them just because you do not pay or get paid right away. For most home users, A/R and A/P are too complicated to be worth the effort.

Accounts Receivable (or A/R) refers to products or services provided by your company for which payment has not yet been received. This is represented on the balance sheet as an asset, because the expectation is that you will receive payment soon.

Accounts Payable (or A/P) refers to products or services bought by your company for which payment has not yet been sent. This is represented on the balance sheet as a liability because you will have to pay for them.

Initial Setup

To set up GnuCash to handle accounts receivable and accounts payable for a company the following preliminary steps must be done.

Account Setup

There are many different ways to set up a business account hierarchy. You can start with the Business Accounts setup which is available from the New Account Hierarchy assistant, or you could build one manually. To access the prebuilt Business Accounts, start GnuCash and click on File → New File and proceed until you see the list of available accounts, select Business Accounts.

Note

The prebuilt Business Account hierarchy will not meet your needs exactly. You will need to make adjustments for the hierarchy to function well with your particular situation. It should be close enough that it is recommended you begin with it.

Tax Tables

Tax Tables can used to determine the tax for customer invoices (or vendor bills).

A tax table can be assigned to an invoice line or bill line.

The default invoice line tax table can be assigned to each customer and the default bill line tax table can be assigned to each vendor.

The default tax table for new customers or new vendors can be specified in the Book Options window which can be accessed by File → Properties → Business tab.

Tax Tables are maintained using the Sales Tax Table editor which is accessed via menu Business → Sales Tax Table . The following fields should be entered:

- Name This is the tax table name.

- Type Either Percent % or Value $.

- ValueThis is the percentage or value depending on Type.

- Account This is the account to which tax will be posted. For tax collected from customers, this should probably be a Liability account as it must be payed to the government. For tax paid to vendors, if tax laws allow tax paid to vendors to offset tax collected from customers, this should probably also be a Liability account (even though it will usually have a debit balance) so that the net tax owed to the government can be easily observed.

If you set up Tax on Purchases and Tax on Sales as subaccounts of Liabilities:Tax then the net tax will be rolled up and can be seen in the GnuCash Accounts tab.

If unsure about tax law requirements, get professional advice.

Company Registration

After you have built the account structure and defined your tax tables, register the GnuCash file as belonging to your company by filling in the data requested in the the section called “Business Book Options Tab” accessible from the File → Properties menu item.

Counters

Define the format and last used numbers of codes such as customer, invoice, vendor, bill, employee, expense voucher, job number and order. See the section called “Counters Book Options Tab”.

Business Preferences

Set options on the Business tab of the GnuCash preferences, which is accessed via Edit → Preferences ( GnuCash → Preferences on macOS). See the section called “Business”.

Billing Terms

Billing Terms can be used to determine the payment due date and be a guide for determining discount for early payment of invoices (or vendor bills).

Caution

As of GnuCash 2.6.7, Billing terms are only partially supported. Date due is calculated but discount amount is not.

Discount for early invoice payment is not implemented. There are 2 ways this may be done, although neither is recommended, and professional advice should be used to confirm that regulations are being complied with:

- After creating and posting a payment which pays the invoice in full, manually edit the payment transaction (usually strongly discouraged) and split the payment to reduce it by the amount of the discount and a create a compensating split in an income (discount) account.

- Alternatively, after creating and posting a payment for the discounted amount, create a credit note for the discount using a specific negative sales income (discount) account for the transfer account.

You can specify the billing terms on each invoice/bill. Invoice billing terms will default from the customer billing terms. Bill billing terms will default from the vendor billing terms.

Billing Terms are maintained using the Billing Terms Editor which is accessed via menu Business → Billing Terms Editor . The following fields should be entered:

- Name The internal name of the billing term. For some examples of billing term names and descriptions see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Payment_Terms

- Description The description of the billing term, printed on invoices

- There are 2 types of billing terms, with different information to be entered

- Type Days

- Due Days The invoice or bill is due to be paid within this number of days after the post date

- Discount Days The number of days after the post date during which a discount will be applied for early payment

- Discount % The percentage discount applied for early payment

- Type Proximo

- Due Day The day of the month bills are due

- Discount Day The last day of the month for the early payment discount

- Discount % The discount percentage applied if paid early

- Cutoff Day The cutoff day for applying bills to the next month. After the cutoff, bills are applied to the following month. Negative values count backwards from the end of the month.

Accounts Receivable

GnuCash has an integrated accounts receivable system.

To use GnuCash’s integrated accounts receivable system, you must first set up Accounts Receivable accounts of type A/Receivable under Assets to accrue income you're owed. It is within this account that the integrated A/R system will place transactions, debiting it when you post bills and crediting it when you receive payments.

Example 7.1. Basic A/R Account Hierarchy

-Assets

-Accounts Receivable

-Checking

-Income

-Sales

-Liabilities

-Tax

-Tax on Purchases

-Tax on Sales

Important

If you deal with customers in more than one currency you will need a separate Accounts Receivable account for each currency:

-Assets

-Accounts Receivable

-CHF

-EUR

:

Note

You need to add additional asset, expense, and income accounts to this hierarchy for it to be useful. The important aspects of this hierarchy are the use of an income account and the Accounts Receivable asset account, with account type set to A/Receivable.

The transactions generated by the A/R system are recorded within the Accounts Receivable account. You generally do not work directly with this account. You generally work with the four integrated GnuCash A/R application components available through the Business → Customer sub-menu. These four components are:

the section called “Customers”

People or companies to whom you sell products or services on credit.

the section called “Invoices”

The physical invoice you send to a customer to request payment. This invoice contains an itemized list of things you sold.

the section called “Customer Jobs”

Is where you register Customer Jobs. Jobs are a mechanism by which you can group multiple invoices to a particular customer.

the section called “Process Invoice Payment”

Used to register payments you received from a customer.

The following sections introduce the individual components in more detail.

Customers

Customers are people or companies to whom you sell goods or services. They must be registered within the A/R system.

New

To register a new customer, enter the menu Business → Customer → New Customer . Fill in customer information, such as Company Name, Address, Phone, Fax, etc. Below is a list of the other options:

- Identification - Customer Number - can be any number by which you would like to refer to this customer. You may leave it blank and a number will be chosen automatically. See the section called “Counters Book Options Tab” for more info.

- Identification - Active - differentiates active customers from inactive ones. This is useful when you have many past customers, and you want to see only those marked active.

- Billing Address - Name - is the contact name of the person to receive the invoices.

- Notes - records any additional comments about the customer.

- Billing Information - Currency - specifies the billing currency for this customer. It will default to the default currency set in Preferences

Important

All invoices will be denominated in this currency and GnuCash will require an Accounts Receivable account in this currency.

- Billing Information - Terms - specifies the default billing terms for this customer. Billing terms must be preregistered using Business → Billing Terms Editor .

- Billing Information - Discount - gives the customer a default percentage based discount at the time of invoice creation. Enter a value from 0 to 100. You can override the default discount when you create an invoice.

- Billing Information - Credit Limit - stores the maximum credit you are willing to extend to the customer. This field is for your reference purposes only. GnuCash does not use the value.

- Billing Information - Tax Included - this specifies whether nor not tax is included in invoice amounts by default. You can choose Yes, No, or Use Global.

- Yes means that the tax is already included in amounts on invoices.

- No means tax is not included.

- Use Global means to use the setting made in the global preferences accessible through Edit → Preferences ( Gnucash → Preferences on macOS).

- Billing Information - Tax Table - specifies a default tax table to apply to invoice line items. Tax tables must be registered from the Business → Tax Table Editor menu item.

- Shipping Address - records the customer’s shipping address if it is different from the billing address. The shipping address is for your reference. GnuCash does not use the value.

Find and Edit

To search for an existing customer, use the Business → Customer → Find Customer window. You select a customer to View/Edit from the results of the search. This window is also used to look up customers when creating invoices and processing payments.

If many customers match the search criteria you provide, the search can be refined by running an additional search within the current results. The current result set is searched when the Refine Current Search radio button is selected. In fact, GnuCash selects this option for you after you run the initial search.

If the customer you are searching for does not match the supplied search criteria, change the search criteria, click the New Search radio button and then the Find button. The relevant step is the New Search selection. If the customer is not in the result of the original search, and you only search within this set, the customer cannot be found, regardless of new search criteria.

Tip

To return a list of all registered active customers, set the search criterion to matches regex, and place a single dot "." in the text field area. Make sure Search only active data is checked, then click Find. The regular expression "." means to match anything.

Invoices

An invoice is the paperwork you send to a customer to request payment for products or services rendered. GnuCash can generate and track invoices.

A credit note is the paperwork you send to a customer to correct products or services rendered that were incorrectly invoiced. GnuCash can generate and track credit notes via the same menu entries as invoices.

Note

This section applies to both invoices and credit notes. In order to avoid repeating everything twice and to keep the text easier to read it will refer only to invoices. You can apply it equally to credit notes. Only where the behaviour of credit notes differs from invoices this will be explicitly mentioned. Credit notes were introduced starting with GnuCash stable release 2.6.0.

New

To send an invoice to a customer you must first create a new invoice. To create an invoice use Business → Customer → New Invoice . The New Invoice window must be filled in appropriately:

- Invoice Information - Type: the type of customer document to create - either an invoice or a credit note.

- Invoice Information - Invoice ID (optional): the formated identification number of this invoice. This is your internal number for this invoice. If you leave it blank, an invoice number will be generated automatically. See the section called “Counters Book Options Tab” for more info.

- Invoice Information - Date Opened: the date this invoice was created.

- Billing Information - Customer: the customer who is to receive this invoice. If you remember the company name you entered in the New Customer window for this customer, start to type it in this field and GnuCash will try auto complete it for you. Else, press the Select... button to access the Find Customer window described in the section called “Find and Edit”. Highlight the customer you are looking for with a click in the search results, then press the Select button.

- Billing Information - Job (optional): associates the new invoice with a customer job (see the section called “Customer Jobs”). If you remember the job name you entered in the New Job window for this job, start to type it in this field and GnuCash will try auto complete it for you. Else, press the Select... button to access the Find Job window. This window is the same to the one described in the section called “Find and Edit”. Highlight the job you are looking for with a click in the search results, then press the Select button.

- Billing Information - Billing ID: this is the customer’s PO Number or other “customer reference number”. You should use it to identify your invoices to this customer (and job, if you have one).

- Billing Information - Terms: the payback terms agreement for this invoice. A list of registered terms is available within the pop up menu. If you specified a default value for the selected customer, this field is initialized with the default.

- Notes: Here you can enter internal notes.

When you click the OK button, the Edit Invoice window opens.

Edit

From the Edit Invoice window you can enter an itemized list of goods and services you sold on this invoice in a manner similar to how the account register works. For credit notes you enter an itemized list of goods and services you refunded instead.

Tip

Saved column layout works a bit differently in invoices from the account registers: Layouts are not saved for each invoice; instead a layout can be saved as a default for invoices to override the calculated widths using the View>Use as Default Layout for Customer Documents and the calculated widths restored as the default with View>Reset Default Layout for Customer Documents.

There are 15 columns in the Invoice Entries area:

- Date - The date this item was sold.

- Invoiced? - X means the item is attached to this invoice, an empty box means the item is not attached to this invoice. The item is attached for you when you proceed to the next line item.

- Description (optional) - is what the item or service is called.

- Action (optional) - is a user defined field. You can place Cost Center information here, or use one of the 3 predefined actions, Hours, Material, or Project.

- Income Account - selects which income account is credited with this income.

- Quantity - tracks how many of the items you sold.

- Unit Price - is the unit price of the item.

- Discount Type - is the type of discount:

- $ means Discount is a monetary value

- % means Discount is a percentage.

You can click the field to toggle between the discount types.

- Discount How - the discount can be computed as follows:

- > means the discount applies after tax.

- < means the discount applies before tax.

- = means both discount and tax are applied to the pretax value.

You can click the field to change the setting.

- Discount (optional) - is the total discount, in monetary units or percentage, depending on Discount Type. You can leave it blank for no discount. Any default discount you specified for the customer will be automatically entered for each new item.

- Taxable? - is this item taxable? X means yes, a blank field means no. You can click the field to toggle the setting.

- Tax Included? - has the tax already been included in the unit price? X means yes, a blank field means no. For example, if there is 1 item of $100 with a tax of 5% then:

- If Tax Included is empty, then subtotal = $100 and tax = $5.

- If Tax included is set (X), then subtotal = $95.23 and tax = $4.77. The computation is: Subtotal = Total / (1+taxrate) and Tax = Total - Subtotal = Total - (Total / (1+taxrate)).

- Tax Table (optional) - this is a pop up menu of all the available tax tables. If you make the item taxable, then this table is used to compute the amount of tax. The tax table determines tax percentages and the accounts to which tax is charged.

- Subtotal (uneditable) - is the computed subtotal for this item (less tax).

- Tax (uneditable) - is the computed tax for this item.

When you have finished entering all the items, you can Post and print the invoice.

Post

When you finish editing an invoice and are ready to print, you must Post the invoice. The invoice does not have to be posted immediately. In fact, you should only post an invoice when you are ready to print it. Posting an invoice places the transactions in an accounts receivable account.

The Post Invoice window appears and asks you to enter the following information:

- Post Date - specifies the date for the transactions entered into the accounts receivable account. By default this is the invoice’s Date Opened (see the section called “New” for information about that date).

- Due Date - is the date on which payment for the invoice is expected.

- If you specified payment terms when you created the invoice, the date is calculated according to selected terms, and the entry field is insensitive.

- If you did not specify payment terms, enter the expected payment due date here.

- Description - is an arbitrary description. When invoice transactions are placed in the accounts receivable account, this description is entered in the memo field of those transactions.

- Post To Account - selects the accounts receivable account in which invoice transactions are posted. You can select the account from a list of existing A/Receivable accounts.

- Accumulate Splits - determines if invoice items which transfer to the same account are combined into a single split for that account or entered individually. For the sample invoice which sold Nails and a Hammer, the setting affects post results as follows:

- Checked (splits are accumulated) - a single transfer of $575.00 from the Income:Sales account is recorded.

- Not checked - the transaction created in the A/Receivable account, shows two transfers from Income:Sales account $100.00 and $475.00. The memo fields in the splits indicate the sale of Nails and the Hammer (the item descriptions entered on the invoice) respectively.

Find

To find an existing invoice, use the Business → Customer → Find Invoice menu item. From the results of the search, you can select an invoice to edit or view.

Important

Before you can edit a posted invoice, you will need to Unpost it.

One of the design goals in GnuCash’s Account Receivable system was to allow different processes to get to the same state, so you can reach an invoice from different directions based on the way you think about the problem:

- You can search for the customer first, then list their invoices.

- You can search for invoices by number or by company name.

- You can list invoices associated with a customer job.

Print

After you post an invoice, you should print it and send it to your customer. To print an invoice use File → Print Invoice menu item.

Tip

You can modify the appearance of the invoice, IE: add a company logo, etc. To do so, see the the section called “Changing the Invoice Appearance”.

Invoices can also be printed from the main window by selecting Reports → Business Reports → Printable Invoice from the main menu. The resulting report window states that no valid invoice is selected. To select the invoice to print:

1. Use the Options Toolbar button or select Edit → Report Options from the main menu.

2. Select the General tab of the report options dialog.

3. Click the Select button next to the Invoice Number field.

4. Search for the invoice as usual.

You can also print invoices from within the Process Payment dialog. See the the section called “Process Invoice Payment” for instructions on how to do so.

Assign Starting Invoice Number

By default, GnuCash starts with invoice number 1 and increments from there. You can manually type an invoice number into the text box each time you create an invoice, but this gets tiring and sooner or later leads to duplicate numbers.

You can change the starting invoice number if it is important you. Use File → Properties , access the Counters tab, change the Invoice number value to be one less than your desired starting invoice number and click the OK button or the Apply button.

Customer Jobs

Customer Jobs are used to group multiple invoices and credit notes to the same customer. Use of the Customer Jobs feature is optional. The feature is useful when you have multiple jobs for the same customer, and would like to view all the invoices and credit notes related to a single job.

To use customer jobs, you must create them using the Business → Customer → New Job menu item. You will see the New Job window. The editable fields are:

- Job Info - Job Number (optional) - enter the number for this job. If left blank, a number will be chosen for you. See the section called “Counters Book Options Tab” for more info.

- Job Info - Job Name - the name you want to assign to the new job.

- Owner Info - Customer - the customer for whom the job is created. If you remember the company name you entered in the New Customer window for this customer, start to type it in this field and GnuCash will try auto complete it for you. Else, press the Select... button to access the Find Customer window described in the section called “Find and Edit”. Highlight the customer you are looking for with a click in the search results, then press the Select button.

- Owner Info - Billing ID - the customer’s reference to this job (e.g. their PO Number). This is the "Billing Identification" that they require to correlated your invoices with their order. The Billing ID you enter is used to set the billing id for new invoices associated with this job.

- Job Active - toggles this job being active or not. This is useful when you have many inactive jobs, since it is easier to search only among jobs that are marked active.

To edit an existing customer job, use the Business → Customer → Find Job menu item. Select the desired job in the search results, and click the View/Edit Job button.

To select from the invoices and credit notes associated with a given job, use Business → Customer → Find Job menu item. Select the desired job in the search results and click the View Invoices button. A window listing invoices and credit notes associated with this job appears. Select an invoice or credit note and click the View Invoice button to open an invoice editor in the main application window.

Process Invoice Payment

Eventually, you will receive payment from your customers for outstanding invoices. To register these payments, use the Process Payment application found in Business → Customer → Process Payment .

Tip

There is an alternative way of assigning a payment to (one or more) invoices where the payment transaction already exists, say in the case where transactions have been imported from a bank. There is no way to assign a payment to an invoice during the import process, so this must be done after transactions have been imported.

This can best be done starting from the asset account register holding the imported payment transaction (like your bank account). In that account, select the payment, right-click (control-click for macOS) and choose Assign as payment.... The payment window will pop-up, partly filled in with the information from the transaction. Fill in the missing information like the proper customer and invoice to complete the payment.

One caveat: the logic behind Assign as payment... won't properly detect credit note reimbursements and will wrongfully interpret such a transaction as a vendor bill.

The Process Payment application consists of:

- Payment Information - Customer - the customer who paid you. If you remember the company name you entered in the New Customer window for this customer, start to type it in this field and GnuCash will try auto complete it for you. Else, press the Select... button to access the Find Customer window described in the section called “Find and Edit”. Highlight the customer you are looking for with a click in the search results, then press the Select button.

- Payment Information - Invoice - the invoice for which payment was received. If you remember the invoice ID, start to type it in this field and GnuCash will try auto complete it for you. Else, press the Select... button to access the Find Invoice window described in the section called “Find”. Highlight the invoice you are looking for with a click in the search results, then press the Select button.

- Payment Information - Date - the date you you received payment.

- Payment Information - Amount - the amount of money received.

- Payment Information - Num - the check number.

- Payment Information - Memo - any comments about this payment.

- Post To - the A/Receivable account to which to post this transaction.

- Transfer Account - the account where the money will be deposited (a checking account for example).

Over Payments or Pre-Payments

If a customer overpays an invoice or pays for goods or services before they have been invoiced, Process Payment for the total amount received. GnuCash will then keep track of the over-payment (or pre-payment) in the A/R account and you can use the residual when paying the next invoice.

Partial Payments

Partial payments are possible too. Select the invoice to pay. GnuCash will automatically suggest that invoice's remaining balance as payment amount. Simply adjust that amount to what you want to pay.

Writing Off a Bad Debt

Important

Please check with your accountant to ensure the following is acceptable in your region.

The usual way to do this is to process a payment for the invoice to a BadDebt account. Such an account would be an expense account. However, in GnuCash, you can't process a payment for an invoice directly to an expense account, so it takes two steps:

1. Pay the invoice to an asset or liability account, such as your checking account.

2. Change the asset or liability account, in the non Accounts Receivable split of the payment transaction, to the BadDebt expense account.

Specifically

- Remove all transactions from the A/R account related to the invoice, except for the invoice's transaction itself. This includes any payment transactions, and transactions between your BadDebt and A/R account.

In case the payment has associated lot link transactions[a], remove those as well.

If all is well, your Process Payment window for this customer should list the invoice the customer won't pay, and no prepayments.

- Pay your invoice to an arbitrary asset or liability account. It can be your checking account. We will fix that in the next step.

- Open the account register for your A/R account. For this invoice there should now be one payment transaction. If you are using GnuCash 2.6.0 - 2.6.4 there will also be one lot link transaction[a].

- Select the payment transaction and change the transfer account to your BadDebt account. Make sure to leave the transaction (eg by clicking on another transaction) to save the changes.

If all is well, your Process Payment window should still be clean: no pre-payments, and the bad debt invoice gone.

Caution

a GnuCash version

2.6.0 to 2.6.4

created lot link transactions which show in the A/R account register. This came with its own set of subtle issues.

2.6.5

had a flaw in the logic cleaning up the lot links.

It is recommended to upgrade to the latest (or at least 2.6.6) version, which fixes a lot of small problems. Once upgraded, please run Actions → Check & Repair to clean up most of the lot link legacy. Don't forget to make a backup first just in case.

Distinction between Lot and Lot link

Lots

are used internally for relating payments to invoices. Lots themselves are invisible in the account registers. To see them you need to open the lot viewer, which can be found in Actions → View Lots… while in any A/R or A/P account register. Select a lot to see the Splits in lot.

Lot links

are transactions which you can see in your A/R and A/P accounts. They are unusual in the sense that all their splits are in one account (A/R or A/P). Each split in a lot link transaction is linked (hence the name) to an invoice or payment transaction by means of a lot.

See https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Business_Features_Issues for more information.

Changing the Invoice Appearance

The default Invoice style, as shown in the section called “Print”, is fairly barren. The default invoice style leaves the top part of the form blank, so you can print on company letterhead paper. There are some things you can do to change invoice appearance.

Use File → Properties to enter your Company information in the Business tab of the Book Options window. Some of the entered information is printed on the right side of invoices.

To add a customized background, heading banner or logo to invoices, modify the invoice style sheets. To do this, go to Edit → Style Sheets and select the New button in the Select HTML Style Sheet window that will appear.

Give a Name to the new style sheet (e.g. Custom Invoice) and select the Fancy Template. When you click the OK button, the HTML Style Sheet Properties window is displayed. This window presents you five sections listed in the left pane: Colors, Fonts, General, Images, and Tables. The Colors section allows you to change the colors of various items of the invoice. The Fonts section lets you set font type and dimensions. The General section allows you to set the Preparer and Prepared for information, and to Enable Links. The Images section allows you to import graphics into the style sheet. The Tables section allows you to adjust the spacing around the tables which make up the invoice.

To include a company logo, banner heading and background image, use your favorite graphics application such as The Gimp or OpenOffice Draw to save the images in either GIF or PNG format. Then import them into the style sheet using the Images section described above.

Note

The images are placed in the invoice as follows. The Background Tile is tiled to become the background image, the Heading Banner goes above the invoice text, and the Logo is placed in the upper left corner of the invoice to the left of the Heading Banner. You will probably have to try a few different sized images until you get the invoices to print nicely. Some sizing suggestions are that the Logo should be 1 square cm (~0.5 inch), and the Heading Banner should be 15 cm (~6 inches) wide and 1 cm (~0.5 inch) tall.

With the style sheet configured, when you print the invoice, you select the style sheet to use from the Options menu.

Accounts Payable

GnuCash has an integrated accounts payable system. As with Accounts Receivable you must have an Accounts Payable account set up under Liabilities for each currency in which you will issue invoices. The Accounts Payable accounts accrue the amounts you owe to others, so bills credit these accounts and payments and credit memos debit these accounts. Generally you do not directly work with this account but use the four integrated GnuCash A/P application components. The A/P components are available from the Business → Vendor sub-menu.

These A/P components are:

- Vendors are people or companies from which you buy products or services on credit.

- Bills represent the physical bills vendors send to request payment from you. A bill contains an itemized list of things you purchased.

- Jobs (optional) is where you register Vendor Jobs. Jobs are a mechanism by which you can group multiple bills from a particular vendor.

- Process Payments is where you register payments to a vendor to whom you owe money.

The following sections introduce the individual Accounts Payable application components.

Vendors

A vendor is a company or person from whom you purchase goods or services. Vendors must be registered within the A/P system.

New

To register a new vendor, select the Business → Vendor → New Vendor menu item. Fill in general information about the vendor, such as Company Name, Address, Phone, Fax, etc. Below is a list of the other options:

- Identification - Vendor Number - can be any number by which you would like to refer to this vendor. You may leave it blank and a number will be chosen automatically. See the section called “Counters Book Options Tab” for more info

- Identification - Active - differentiates active vendors from inactive ones. This is useful when you have many past vendors, and you want to see only those marked active.

- Payment Address - Name - is the contact name of the person to receive payments you make.

- Notes - records any additional comments about the vendor. Use it to track names of contact people within the vendor’s company, for example.

- Payment Information - Currency - specifies the payment currency for this vendor. It will default to the default currency set in Preferences

Note

All Bills and Credit Notes will be denominated in this currency and GnuCash will require an Accounts Payable account in this currency.

- Payment Information - Terms - specifies the default payment terms for this vendor. Payment terms must be preregistered using Business → Billing Terms .

- Payment Information - Tax Included - specifies if tax is included in bills from this vendor. You can choose Yes, No, or Use Global.

- Yes means that tax is already included in amounts on bills.

- No means tax is not included.

- Use Global means to use the setting made in the global preferences accessible through Edit → Preferences ( Gnucash → Preferences on macOS).

- Payment Information - Tax Table - specifies a default tax table to apply to bills from this vendor. Tax tables must be registered using the Business → Tax Table menu item.

Find and Edit

To search for an existing vendor, use the Business → Vendor → Find Vendor window. You select a vendor to View/Edit from the results of the search. This window is also used to look up a vendor when entering bills and processing payments.

If many vendors match the search criteria you provide, the search can be refined by running an additional search within the current results. The current result set is searched when the Refine Current Search radio button is selected. In fact, GnuCash selects this option for you after you run the initial search.

If the vendor you are searching for does not match the supplied search criteria, change the search criteria, click the New Search radio button and then the Find button. The relevant step is the New Search selection. If the vendor is not in the result of the original search, and you only search within this set, the vendor cannot be found, regardless of new search criteria.

Tip

To return a list of all registered active vendors, set the search criterion to matches regex, and place a single dot “.” in the text field area. Make sure Search only active data is checked, then click Find. The regular expression “.” means to match anything.

Bills

A bill is a request for payment you receive from a vendor. GnuCash can track bills.

A credit note is the document you receive from a vendor to correct products or services rendered that you were incorrectly charged for on a bill. GnuCash can generate and track credit notes via the same menu entries as bills.

Note

This section applies to both bills and credit notes. In order to avoid repeating everything twice and to keep the text easier to read it will refer only to bills. You can apply it equally to credit notes. Only where the behaviour of credit notes differs from bills this will be explicitly mentioned.

New

When you receive a bill from a vendor and want to enter it into GnuCash, you must create a new bill. To create a new bill use the Business → Vendor → New Bill menu item, and fill in the resulting window appropriately.

- Bill Information - Type - the type of vendor document to create - either a bill or a credit note.

- Bill Information - Bill ID (optional) - the identification number of the invoice as emitted by the vendor (IE: the vendor’s internal number for this invoice).

- Bill Information - Date Opened - the date the Invoice was emitted by the vendor.

- Billing Information - Vendor - the issuing vendor. If you remember the company name you entered in the New Vendor window for this vendor, start to type it in this field and GnuCash will try auto complete it for you. Else, press the Select... button to access the Find Vendor window described in the section called “Find and Edit”. Highlight the vendor you are looking for with a click in the search results, then press the Select button.

- Billing Information - Job (optional) - associates a vendor job (see the section called “Vendor Jobs”) with this bill. If you remember the job name you entered in the New Job window for this job, start to type it in this field and GnuCash will try auto complete it for you. Else, press the Select... button to access the Find Job window. This window is very similar to the one described in the section called “Find and Edit”. Highlight the job you are looking for with a click in the search results, then press the Select button.

- Billing Information - Billing ID (optional) - the vendor’s ID for the bill (e.g.: their invoice #).

- Billing Information - Terms - the pay back terms agreement for this bill. A list of registered terms is available within the pop up menu. If you specified a default value for the selected vendor, this field is initialized with the default.

- Default Chargeback Project - Customer (optional) - the customer to associate with this bill. This is used to charge your customer later.

- Default Chargeback Project - Job (optional) - the customer job to associate with this bill.

When you click the OK the Edit Bill window opens.

Edit

From the Edit Bill window you can enter an itemized list of goods and services you purchased, in a manner similar to how the account register works. For credit notes you enter an itemized list of goods and services the vendor refunded instead.

Note

Saved column layout works a bit differently in invoices from the account registers: Layouts are not saved for each invoice; instead a layout can be saved as a default for invoices to override the calculated widths using the View>Use as Default Layout for Vendor Documents and the calculated widths restored as the default with View>Reset Default Layout for Vendor Documents.

There are 12 columns in the Invoice Entries area:

- Date - The date this item was sold.

- Invoiced? - X means the item is attached to this invoice, an empty box means the item is not attached to this invoice. If the box is empty you can attach the item to the invoice by first selecting the item row and then clicking in this box.

- Description (optional) - is what the item or service is called.

- Action (optional) - is a user defined field. You can place Cost Center information here, or use one of the 3 predefined actions, Hours, Material, or Project.

- Expense Account - selects the expense account to charge for this item.

- Quantity - tracks how many of the items you bought.

- Unit Price - is the unit price of the item.

- Taxable? - is this item taxable? X means yes, a blank field means no. You can click the field to toggle the setting.

- Tax Included? - has the tax already been included in the unit price? X means yes, a blank field means no.

- Tax Table (optional) - this is a pop up menu of all the available tax tables. If the item is taxable and tax has not been included in the unit price, then this tax table is used to compute the amount of tax.

- Subtotal (uneditable) - computed subtotal for this item (less tax)

- Billable - is this item billable to the chargeback customer/job?

When you have finished entering all the items, Post the bill.

Post

When you finish editing a bill, you should Post the bill. You do not have to post the bill, you can close it and return to it later. You have to post the bill eventually. Posting a bill places its transactions into an accounts payable account. The Post Bill window appears and asks you to enter information:

- Post Date - specifies the date for the transactions entered into the accounts payable account.

- Due Date - is the date on which payment for the bill is expected.

- If you specified payment terms when you created the bill, the date is calculated according to selected terms, and the entry field is insensitive.

- If you did not specify payment terms, enter the expected payment due date here.

- Description - is an arbitrary description. When bill transactions are placed in the accounts payable account, this description is entered in the memo field of those transactions.

- Post To Account - selects the accounts payable account in which bill transactions are posted. You can select the account from a list of existing A/Payable accounts.

- Accumulate Splits - determines if bill items which transfer to the same account are combined into a single split for that account or entered individually. For the sample bill for Letterhead and Envelopes, the setting affects post results as follows:

- Checked (splits are accumulated) - a single transfer of $100.00 to the Expenses:Office Supplies account is recorded.

- Not checked - the transaction created in the A/Payable account, shows two transfers to Expenses:Office Supplies account $75.00 and $25.00. The memo fields in the splits indicate the purchase of Letterhead and Envelopes (the item descriptions entered on the bill) respectively.

Find

To find an existing bill, use the Business → Vendor → Find Bill menu item. From the results of the search, you can select a bill to edit, or view.

Note

Before you can edit a posted bill, you will need to Unpost it.

Note

There are other ways to access an existing bill. These are similar to accessing invoices for your customers. See the section called “Find” for more information.

Vendor Jobs

Vendor Jobs are used to group multiple bills and credit notes from a single vendor. Use of the vendor jobs feature is optional. The feature is useful when you have multiple jobs for the same vendor, and would like to view all the bills and credit notes for a single job.

To use vendor jobs, you must create them using the Business → Vendor → New Job menu item. You will see the New Job window. The editable fields are:

- Job Info - Job Number (optional) - enter the number for this job. If left blank, a number will be chosen for you.

- Job Info - Job Name - the name you want to assign to the new job.

- Owner Info - Vendor - the vendor for whom the job is created.

- Owner Info - Billing ID - the vendor’s reference to this job (e.g. their PO Number).

- Job Active - toggles this job being active or not. This is useful when you have many inactive jobs, since it is easier to search only among jobs that are marked active.

To edit an existing vendor job, use the Business → Vendor → Find Job menu item. Select the desired job in the search results, and click the View/Edit Job button.

To select from the bills and credit notes associated with a given job, use the Business → Vendor → Find Job menu item. Select the desired job in the search results and click the View Invoices button. A window listing bills and credit notes associated with this job appears. Select a bill or credit note and click the View Invoice button to open a bill editor in the main application window.

Process Bill Payment

Eventually, you need to pay your bills. To do so, use the Process Payment application found in Business → Vendor → Process Payment .

Tip

There is an alternative way of assigning a payment to (one or more) bills where the payment transaction already exists, say in the case where transactions are imported from a bank.

This can best be done starting from the asset account register holding the imported payment transaction (like your bank account). In that account, select the payment, right-click (control-click for macOS) and choose Assign as payment.... The payment window will pop-up, partly filled in with the information from the transaction. Fill in the missing information like the proper vendor and bill to complete the payment.

One caveat: the logic behind Assign as payment... won't properly detect credit note reimbursements and will wrongfully interpret such a transaction as a customer invoice.

The Process Payment application consists of:

- Payment Information - Vendor - the vendor you wish to pay. If you remember the company name you entered in the New Vendor window for this vendor, start to type it in this field and GnuCash will try auto complete it for you. Else, press the Select... button to access the Find Vendor window described in the section called “Find and Edit”. Highlight the vendor you are looking for with a click in the search results, then press the Select button.

- Payment Information - Bill - the bill you wish to pay. If you remember the bill ID, start to type it in this field and GnuCash will try auto complete it for you. Else, press the Select... button to access the Find Bill window described in the section called “Find”. Highlight the bill you are looking for with a click in the search results, then press the Select button in the search window.

- Payment Information - Date - the date you wish to make the payment, normally the current date.

- Payment Information - Amount - the amount of money to transfer in this payment.

- Payment Information - Num - the check number.

- Payment Information - Memo - any comments about this payment.

- Post To - the A/Payable account to post this transaction.

- Transfer Account - the account from which money for the payments comes from, such as a checking account.

Over Payments or Pre-Payments

If you wish to overpay an invoice or pay for goods or services before they have been invoiced, Process Payment for the total amount payed. GnuCash will then keep track of the over-payment (or pre-payment) in the A/P account and you can use the residual in the future.

Partial Payments

You may wish to partially pay a bill. Select the bill to pay. GnuCash will automatically suggest that bill's remaining balance as payment amount. Simply adjust that amount to what you want to pay.

Employees

GnuCash can help your company by tracking employees. You can register a the section called “New Employee”, the section called “Find and Edit” existing employees, create the section called “New Expense Voucher/Credit Note” and the section called “Find Expense Voucher/Credit Note”.

Expense vouchers are used to reimburse employees for authorized expenses (f.e. travel, parking, food etc...). Employee credit notes are the opposite of expense vouchers.

New Employee

To register a new employee, select the Business → Employee → New Employee menu item. The New Employee window will open with two tabs:

- Employee tab

- Access Control tab

Employee tab

- Identification - Employee Number - can be any number by which you would like to refer to this employee. You may leave it blank and a number will be chosen automatically. See the section called “Counters Book Options Tab” for more info.

- Identification - Username (Mandatory) - a unique username to identify the employee.

- Identification - Active (Optional) - differentiates active employees from inactive ones. This is useful when you have many past employees, and you want to see only those marked Active.

- Payment Address - Name (Mandatory) - the full name of the employee.

- Payment Address - Address (Mandatory) - the address of the employee.

- Payment Address - Phone, Fax, Email (Optional)- other optional contact information for the employee.

- Interface - Language (Optional) -

- Payment Information - Terms (Optional) - specifies the default payment terms for this employee. Payment terms must be preregistered using Business → Billing Terms .

- Billing - Default Hours per Day (Optional) -

- Billing - Default Rate (Optional) -

- Billing - Currency - specifies the billing currency for this employee. It will default to the default currency set in Preferences

Note

All expense vouchers and credit notes for this employee will be denominated in this currency and GnuCash will require an Accounts Payable account in this currency.

- Billing - Credit Account (Optional) -

Access Control tab

- Access Control List

Find and Edit

To search for an existing employee, use the Business → Employee → Find Employee... menu. You select an employee to View/Edit from the results of the search. This window is also used to look up an employee when entering voucher and processing payments.

If many employees match the search criteria you provide, the search can be refined by running an additional search within the current results. The current result set is searched when the Refine Current Search radio button is selected. In fact, GnuCash selects this option for you after you run the initial search.

Note

If the employee you are searching for does not match the supplied search criteria, change the search criteria, click the New Search radio button and then the Find button. The relevant step is the New Search selection. If the employee is not in the result of the original search, and you only search within this set, the employee cannot be found, regardless of new search criteria.

Tip

To return a list of all registered active employees, set the search criterion to matches regex, and place a single dot “.” in the text field area. Make sure Search only active data is checked, then click Find. The regular expression “.” means to match anything.

New Expense Voucher/Credit Note

To register a new expense voucher/ Credit Note, select the Business → Employee → New Expense Voucher... menu item. The New Expense Voucher window will open. You can enter the following data:

- Voucher information - Type (Optional) - select if you are entering a Voucher or a credit note.

- Voucher information - Voucher ID (Optional) - can be any number by which you would like to refer to this voucher. You may leave it blank and a number will be chosen automatically. See the section called “Counters Book Options Tab” for more info.

- Voucher information - Date opened - the date of the voucher. Click on the button on the right of the date to open a calendar.

- Billing information - Employee (Mandatory) - the employee to which the voucher refers.

Tip

The field supports auto-completion so if you start typing GnuCash will try to complete the text automatically using existing employees name. You can also press the button Select... to open the Find Employee window.

- Billing information - Billing ID (Optional) - the identification number of the document (f.e. the bill number for a dinner).

- Billing information - Terms (Optional) - the pay back terms agreement for this bill. A list of registered terms is available within the pop up menu.

- Default chargeback project - Customer (Optional) - the Customer to which the voucher refers.

Tip

The field supports auto-completion so if you start typing GnuCash will try to complete the text automatically using an existing Customer name. You can also press the button Select... to open the Find Customer window.

- Default chargeback project - Job (Optional) - the Customer Job to which the voucher refers.

Note

you can type in this field only if there are one or more jobs registered in GnuCash belonging to the selected Customer.

Tip

The field supports auto-completion so if you start typing GnuCash will try to complete the text automatically using an existing Customer name. You can also press the button Select... to open the Find Customer window.

- Notes - records any additional comments about the voucher/credit note.

Find Expense Voucher/Credit Note

To search for an existing Expense Voucher, use the Business → Employee → Find Expense Voucher... menu item. You select an Expense Voucher to View/Edit from the results of the search. This window is also used to look up an expense voucher when entering vouchers and processing payments.

If many expense vouchers match the search criteria you provide, the search can be refined by running an additional search within the current results. The current result set is searched when the Refine Current Search radio button is selected. In fact, GnuCash selects this option for you after you run the initial search.

Note

If the expense voucher you are searching for does not match the supplied search criteria, change the search criteria, click the New Search radio button and then the Find button. The relevant step is the New Search selection. If the expense voucher is not in the result of the original search, and you only search within this set, the voucher cannot be found, regardless of new search criteria.

Tip

To return a list of all expense vouchers, set the search criterion to matches regex, and place a single dot “.” in the text field area. Make sure Search only active data is checked, then click Find. The regular expression “.” means to match anything.

Edit

From the Edit Expense Voucher window you can enter an itemized list of goods and services the employee bought or performed for the job, in a manner similar to how the account register works. For credit notes you enter an itemized list of goods and services charged back to the employee instead.

Note

Saved column layout works a bit differently in invoices from the account registers: Layouts are not saved for each invoice; instead a layout can be saved as a default for invoices to override the calculated widths using the View>Use as Default Layout for Employee Documents and the calculated widths restored as the default with View>Reset Default Layout for Employee Documents.

There are 10 columns in the Entries area:

- Date - The date this item was sold.

- Invoiced? - X means the item is attached to this invoice, an empty box means the item is not attached to this invoice. If the box is empty you can attach the item to the invoice by first selecting the item row and then clicking in this box.

- Description (optional) - is what the item or service is called.

- Action (optional) - is a user defined field. You can place Cost Center information here, or use one of the 3 predefined actions, Hours, Material, or Project.

- Expense Account - selects the expense account to charge for this item.

- Quantity - tracks how many of the items you bought.

- Unit Price - is the unit price of the item.

- Subtotal (uneditable) - computed subtotal for this item (less tax)

- Billable - is this item billable to the chargeback customer/job?

- Payment - How the employee was reimbursed. You might enter a check or petty cash voucher number here.

When you have finished entering all the items, Post the voucher.

Chapter 8. Tools & Assistants

Abstract

GnuCash offers many specialized Tools. These tools enable access to the enhanced functionality of GnuCash. They are accessed via the Tools menu from any window that displays the GnuCash standard menu. Some of these tools may be deactivated for several reasons:

- the tools is not appropriate for the current window,

- the required software is not found on your system,

- the package maintainer disabled it in the build process.

Find Dialogs

The GnuCash Find dialog can be used to find transactions or to perform business related research on your data file.

Find Transaction

Find Transaction is used to search for transactions in GnuCash and display the results in a General Journal type tab. To open the Find Transaction dialog in you can type the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F or from the main menu use Edit → Find... .

Search results differ depending on the tab from which you open it. Aside from the transaction fields Description, Number, Notes, and Date Posted, all of the searchable fields are part of individual splits, and splits are associated with a single account. When you open the Find Transactions dialog from an account register tab only the splits associated with that register will be searched. There is one exception, the All Accounts item, see the footnote about it in table Table 8.1, “Search criteria buttons - Split Search” below. For the transactions fields only transactions linked to a split in that register are inspecected and for the rest only the split attached to that account is, with one exception, All Accounts. If you filter the transactions in a register using View → Filter By... , then only transactions in that account and shown by the filter will be searched. If you start from the Accounts page or a General Journal register then all splits in all applicable transactions (in the latter case those included in the register) are inspected.

Note

The first row of the Find Transaction dialog indicates that you are performing a Split Search.

There are two panes in the Find Transaction dialog. The top pane contains the Search Criteria buttons and the bottom pane contains the Type of Search selection.

There are two buttons in the top of the Search Criteria pane. The left button allows you to Add another criteria row to search for multiple criteria. The existing criteria row needs to be completed before adding a new row. The right button is used to Search for items where all criteria are met or Search for items where any criteria are met. The all criteria are met search requires all of the criteria rows to have at least one match. The any criteria are met search requires only one of the criteria rows to be matched.

The criteria row in the Search Criteria pane is used to combine different criteria buttons (see table Table 8.1, “Search criteria buttons - Split Search” for a comprehensive list of combinations)

In the Type of Search pane there are five selections. The first option is always enabled, the following three are available when you invoke the Find... option from a register window or after performing the first Find if the Find... command was invoked from any other window. The last option is available only for Business search.

New Search

Perform a new transaction search

Refine current search

Search within the results of the previous search

Add results to current search

Search based on the first set of criteria or the new criteria

Delete results from current search

Discard any results that match the previous search results

Search only active data

Search only if data are marked as active. This selector is greyed out for the Split Search as it is meaningful only for business related search

Note

When selecting search criteria keep in mind that criteria are applied to individual splits or fields in transactions, and that the entire transaction is included in the results. There is no visual indication in the results to indicate which split or field met the search criteria.

Once you've set the search criteria, you can press the Find button. You will be presented with the search results in a new register tab. A report of the search results may created and printed using Reports → Account Report . The Account Report has limited formatting options but, like all GnuCash reports, being in html format, can be copied and pasted into a spreadsheet for further formatting. Alternatively, the Account Report can be exported to an html file, and the html file may be opened in a spreadsheet.

Note

Press the Close button to close the Find Transaction dialog.

Table 8.1. Search criteria buttons - Split Search

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

Button 4

Button 5

Button 6

Button 7

Button 8

Description [a]

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex [b]

does not match regex[b]

Notes[a]

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Memo

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Description, Notes, or Memo [c]

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Number[a]

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Action

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Reconciled Date

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Date Posted[a]

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Value

has credits or debits

less than

Amount entry field

Remove row

less than or equal to

equal to

not equal to

greater than

greater than or equal to

has credits

less than

less than or equal to

equal to

not equal to

greater than

greater than or equal to

has debits

less than

less than or equal to

equal to

not equal to

greater than

greater than or equal to

Shares

is less than

Amount entry field

Remove row

is less than or equal to

equals

does not equal to

is greater than

is greater than or equal to

Share Price

is less than

Amount entry field

Remove row

is less than or equal to

equals

is not equal to

is greater than

is greater than or equal to

Reconcile [d]

is

Not Cleared

Cleared

Reconciled

Frozen

Voided

Remove row

is not

Closing Entries [e]

Check for true

Remove row

Balanced [f]

Check for true

Remove row

Account [g]

matches any account

Choose Accounts

Remove row

matches no accounts

All Accounts [h]

matches all accounts

Choose Accounts

Remove row

[a] The Description, Number, Notes, and Date Posted fields belong to the transaction, all other searchable fields are part of individual splits.

[b] regex means regular expression text search as used in various computer programs such as Perl

[c] Searches for a term in the transaction's Description and Notes fields and the Split's Memo field.

[d] The Reconcile option applies the selected criteria to each line of a transaction individually. Each transaction line may have only one of the indicated values, but there is often a mix of values within a complete transaction, so companion lines may not meet the selected criteria. See separate note defining status values. For a detailed description of transaction statuses see the section called “Setting the reconcile status (R field) of a transaction”

[e] The Closing Entries selection will find transactions whose split is marked as a closing entry by Tools → Close Book .

[f] Balanced finds transactions that are or are not balanced. Since GnuCash nearly always succeeds in balancing transactions this will almost always return all possible transactions. However it is possible to create a transaction containing multiple commodities that cannot be balanced and unchecking the box will find those transactions.

[g] When the Find Transactions dialog is started from the Accounts tab or a General Journal register the Account option performs a search where the accounts selected in the Choose Accounts dialog will both be searched individually for results. This means that a match in any of the selected accounts will either be displayed (matches any account) or discarded (matches no account). If the FindTransactions dialog is started in a regular account register and the current account is selected return all of the transactions or if it is not, no transactions.

[h] The All Accounts option performs a search where accounts selected in the Choose Accounts dialog will return transactions containing at least one split in every one of the accounts chosen. When run from a regular account register this is the only criterion that will inspect splits from other accounts so if you start the Find Transactions dialog from your Assets:Current Assets:Checking register and want to find all of the transactions in that account with a split in Expenses:Groceries, this is the criterion to use. Keep in mind, though, that it's an "and" search: If you also include Expenses:Misc it will find only those transactions with a split in each of the two, not transactions with a single split in either of them.

Explanations of the Criteria

The Reconcile criterion deserves some more explanation. Think of the selected reconciliation status buttons (Not Cleared, Cleared, and so on) as a single group, joined with a logical “or”. In other words, the selection “is” or “is not” applies to the “or” of the selected status buttons. The buttons which are left unselected are simply ignored. (It’s not the same as saying the reconciliation status must not be one of these.)

For example: if you select Reconcile is Cleared Reconciled, that means you’re saying “I want all transactions which contain cleared splits OR reconciled splits” (imagine an invisible “OR” between all the selected status buttons). It’s the same as selecting Reconcile is Cleared, then adding another search criterion with the Add button, then on the new line selecting Reconcile is Reconciled, and finally selecting Search for items where any criteria are met. In either case, GnuCash will show you exactly the same set of transactions.

Find Customer, Invoice, Job, Vendor, Bill, Employee, Expense Voucher

The business find assistant is used to search for business related items (Customer, Invoice, Job, Vendor, Bill, Employee, Expense Voucher). To open the business search dialog select the desired item to Find from the Business → Customer/Vendor/Employee submenus.

Tip

The titlebar and the first row of the assistant dialog reports the item type you are searching for: Customer, Invoice, Job, Vendor, Bill, Employee, Expense Voucher.

There are two panes in the Find dialog. The top pane contains the Search Criteria buttons and the bottom pane contains the Type of Search selection.

Search Criteria section

There are two buttons in the top of the Search Criteria pane. The left button allows you to Add another criteria row to search for multiple criteria.

Note

The existing criteria row needs to be completed before adding a new row.

The right button is used to Search for items where all criteria are met or Search for items where any criteria are met. The all criteria are met search requires all of the criteria rows to have at least one match. The any criteria are met search requires only one of the criteria rows to be matched.

The criteria row in the Search Criteria pane is used to combine different criteria buttons (see tables Table 8.2, “Search criteria buttons - Customer Search”, Table 8.3, “Search criteria buttons - Invoice Search”, Table 8.4, “Search criteria buttons - Job Search”, Table 8.5, “Search criteria buttons - Vendor Search”, Table 8.6, “Search criteria buttons - Bill Search”, Table 8.7, “Search criteria buttons - Employee Search” Table 8.8, “Search criteria buttons - Expense Voucher Search” for a comprehensive list of combinations)

Type of Search section

In the Type of Search pane there are five selections. The first and alst options are always selectable while the following three are available only when you perform the first search by setting some search criteria and pressing the Find button.

New Search

Perform a new search

Refine current search

Search within the results of the previous search

Add results to current search

Search based on the first set of criteria or the new criteria

Delete results from current search

Discard any results that match the previous search results

Search only active data

Search only if data are marked as active.

The rest of the search dialog

When search criteria are selected, you can press the Find button. You will be presented with the list of search results in the same Find dialog.

Tip

Aside from the results, GnuCash gives you some buttons to manage the highlighted result.

Tip

In the bottom right of the Find dialog there is a button that allows you to create a New business item.

Note

Press the Close button to close the Find assistant dialog.

List of search criteria buttons

Table 8.2. Search criteria buttons - Customer Search

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

Button 4

Button 5

Button 6

Button 7

Button 8

Company Name

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Customer ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Billing Contact

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Shipping Contact

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Table 8.3. Search criteria buttons - Invoice Search

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

Button 4

Button 5

Button 6

Button 7

Button 8

Invoice ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Company Name

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Date Opened

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Is Posted?

is

set true

Remove row

is not

Date Posted

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Is Paid?

is

set true

Remove row

is not

Billing ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Invoice Notes

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Invoice Owner

is

Customer

Criteria entry field

Select...

Remove row

Vendor

Employee

Job

is not

Customer

Vendor

Employee

Job

Table 8.4. Search criteria buttons - Job Search

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

Button 4

Button 5

Button 6

Button 7

Button 8

Job Name

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Job Number

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Billing ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Only Active?

is

set true

Remove row

is not

Owner's Name

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Table 8.5. Search criteria buttons - Vendor Search

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

Button 4

Button 5

Button 6

Button 7

Button 8

Company Name

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Vendor ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Billing Contact

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Table 8.6. Search criteria buttons - Bill Search

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

Button 4

Button 5

Button 6

Button 7

Button 8

Bill ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Company Name

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Due Date

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Date Opened

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Is Posted?

is

set true

Remove row

is not

Date Posted

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Is Paid?

is

set true

Remove row

is not

Billing ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Bill Notes

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Bill Owner

is

Customer

Criteria entry field

Select...

Remove row

Vendor

Employee

Job

is not

Customer

Vendor

Employee

Job

Table 8.7. Search criteria buttons - Employee Search

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

Button 4

Button 5

Button 6

Button 7

Button 8

Employee Name

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Employee Username

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Employee ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Table 8.8. Search criteria buttons - Expense Voucher Search

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

Button 4

Button 5

Button 6

Button 7

Button 8

Voucher ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Employee Name

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Due Date

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Date Opened

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Is Posted?

is

set true

Remove row

is not

Date Posted

is before

Date selection field

Remove row

is before or on

is on

is not on

is after

is on or after

Is Paid?

is

set true

Remove row

is not

Billing ID

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Voucher Notes

contains

Criteria entry field

Is entry Case Insensitive?

Remove row

matches regex[b]

does not match regex[b]

Voucher Owner

is

Customer

Criteria entry field

Select...

Remove row

Vendor

Employee

Job

is not

Customer

Vendor

Employee

Job

“Since Last Run” Assistant

The Since Last Run assistant is run automatically when GnuCash is started. It is used to enter into the register any transactions that are due to be automatically entered (see the section called “Scheduling Transactions”). The run on GnuCash start can be altered in the Scheduled Transactions tab of the GnuCash Preferences. To run the Since Last Run assistant manually, go to Actions → Scheduled Transactions → Since Last Run...

In the Since Last Run assistant window you can see three columns:

Transaction

The name assigned in the Scheduled Transaction Editor that identifies the scheduled transaction.

State

The state column of the scheduled transaction can be one of the following:

Tip

Click on the state field in the row of a transaction to change its state (this option is available only if the state field is not empty)

Ignored

If a scheduled transaction is being displayed, either to be created or as a reminder, the user can set the status to Ignored to skip this event. The scheduled transaction will not be entered in the register and the next reminder for this scheduled transaction will be the next occurrence. For instance, if you have a scheduled transaction set up with a reminder to transfer $500 at the end of the month to your savings account but you bought yourself a computer this month and don’t have the money for this month’s transfer then you would set the status to Ignored.

Postponed

If a scheduled transaction has been listed with a status To-create but you want to hold it and not have it entered to your register yet, then you can set it to Postponed. When at some later time you change it back to To-create it will be created with the original posted-date. If you want to change that you must edit the transaction after it's created.

Reminder

You are n days from the scheduled transaction due date. The number of days n to remind in advance, is set either in the GnuCash Preferences Scheduled Transactions tab or in the Overview tab of the Scheduled Transaction Editor.

To-create

This scheduled transaction will be automatically created when you press OK.

Empty

An empty field means that no operations are pending for the scheduled transaction.

At the bottom of the window there are two buttons:

- The Cancel button is used to exit the Since Last Run window without creating the transactions scheduled to be entered.

- The Ok button closes the Since Last Run window and applies the pending operations.

At the bottom right of the Since Last Run window there is also an option that allows to Review created transactions. If this option is enabled when there are one or more transactions To-create, pressing OK will open a register window in which are shown the details of the scheduled transactions splits entered automatically by GnuCash.

Mortgage & Loan Repayment Assistant

This assistant creates a loan repayment scheduled transaction. When used to setup a scheduled transaction, the assistant creates a variable formula so that the compounding interest is correctly calculated. To start this assistant manually go to Actions → Scheduled Transactions → Mortgage and Loan Repayment... .

It does not support zero-interest loans, but one doesn't really need an assistant for that: Just create a scheduled transaction for the principal divided by the number of payments that lasts for the number of payments. For example, if one has borrowed $1200 for a year at no interest and promised to pay it back in monthly installments, the repayment schedule is $100 monthly for twelve months.

The Mortgage and Loan Repayment assistant opens with a screen that briefly describes what this assistant does. The three buttons at the very bottom of the screen will not change while using the assistant.

- The Cancel button is used to exit the assistant and cancel creating the scheduled transaction. Any selections you have made in this assistant up to this point will be lost.

- The Back button will bring up the previous screen so you can change a selection made on that screen.

- The Forward button will bring up the next screen so you can continue though the assistant.

The next screen allows you to enter the basic loan information. This is usually the information provided by the bank when loan and disclosure documents are given to the borrower. Here you can also setup an account that the scheduled transaction will use to enter the payment transaction.

- Loan Account Choose an account for the loan payment transactions or use New... to setup a new account for the transactions.

- Loan Amount Enter the amount of the loan.

- Interest Rate Enter the loan interest rate in percent per compounding period. The Assistant supports rates between .001% and 100%.

- Type Choose the type of loan. If an adjustable rate is used the frequency screen is enabled.

- Interest Rate Change Frequency Choose the frequency for the rate change and the start date of the rate change.

- Start Date Choose the date the loan is starting on.

- Length Enter the length of the loan with the number and period, e.g. 60 months or 5 years.

- Months Remaining This tells the Assistant how many months remain on the loan. The default value assumes that the loan is paid up through today. For example, if a 5-year loan started on 1 January 2012 and today is 12 July 2015, the default months remaining is 18. If you want to create past payment transactions you'll set the months remaining accordingly: In our example, if you wanted to create all of the payments you'd set "months remaining" to 60; if you wanted to start tracking the payments at the beginning of 2015 you'd enter 24.

The next screen is used to set escrow, insurance and tax options for the loan. It is mainly used for mortgage payments. When each of the options here is set, this enables additional pages in the assistant to setup those portions of the payments. All of the pages will be described here, even though some may not show if that option is not chosen.

- ... utilize an escrow account for payments?: This selection enables the use of an account setup for tracking escrow payments. If the mortgage or loan uses an escrow account to pay taxes, insurance, etc then setup an account here.

- ... pay "Taxes"?: adds an additional page to setup a scheduled transaction to pay taxes.

- ... pay "Insurance"?: adds an additional page to setup a scheduled transaction to pay insurance payments.

- ... pay "PMI"?: adds an additional page to setup a scheduled transaction to pay PMI payments.

- ... pay "Other Expense"?: adds an additional page to setup a scheduled transaction to pay other expenses.

The next screen is used to setup the details of the scheduled transaction for the Loan Repayment.

- Transaction Memo: The name entered here will be used as the name for the scheduled transaction, the description of the scheduled transaction and the memo.

- Payment Amount: Shows the variable used to calculate the payment amount.

- Payment From: Choose an account to pay the loan amount from.

- Principal To: Choose an account to transfer the principal part of the loan to.

- Interest To: Choose an account to transfer the interest part of the loan to.

- Repayment Frequency: Select the Frequency and start date for loan repayments. Note that the start date will be the posted date of the first scheduled transaction. This is not taken into account for calculating the remaining duration of the loan, see Months Remaining. Make sure that you set both to reflect your intentions or you may get surprising results.

The next screen is used to setup the details of the scheduled transaction for the Tax payment.

- Transaction Memo: The name entered here will be used as the name for the scheduled transaction, the description of the scheduled transaction and the memo.

- Amount: Enter the payment amount.

- Payment From: Choose an account to pay the tax amount from.

- Payment To: Choose an account to transfer the tax payment to.

- Repayment Frequency: Select the Frequency and start date for tax payments.

The next screen is used to setup the details of the scheduled transaction for the Insurance payment.

- Transaction Memo: The name entered here will be used as the name for the scheduled transaction, the description of the scheduled transaction and the memo.

- Amount: Enter the payment amount.

- Payment From: Choose an account to pay the insurance amount from.

- Payment To: Choose an account to transfer the insurance payment to.

- Repayment Frequency: Select the Frequency and start date for insurance payments.

The next screen is used to setup the details of the scheduled transaction for the PMI payment.

- Transaction Memo: The name entered here will be used as the name for the scheduled transaction, the description of the scheduled transaction and the memo.

- Amount: Enter the payment amount.

- Payment From: Choose an account to pay the PMI amount from.

- Payment To: Choose an account to transfer the PMI payment to.

- Repayment Frequency: Select the Frequency and start date for PMI payments.

The next screen is used to setup the details of the scheduled transaction for the Other Expense payment.

- Transaction Memo: The name entered here will be used as the name for the scheduled transaction, the description of the scheduled transaction and the memo.

- Amount: Enter the payment amount.

- Payment From: Choose an account to pay the other expense amount from.

- Payment To: Choose an account to transfer the other expense payment to.

- Repayment Frequency: Select the Frequency and start date for other expense payments.

The last screen gives you a list of three choices to finish the assistant.

- The Cancel button is used to exit the assistant and cancel creating a new loan scheduled transaction. Any selections you have made in this assistant up to this point will be lost.

- The Back button will bring up the previous screen so you can change a selection made on that screen.

- The Finish button creates the scheduled transaction.

You should now have the Mortgage or Loan Repayment scheduled transaction setup.

Stock Transaction Assistant

While with practice you can quickly enter any stock transaction directly in the register as explained in the “Investments” chapter in the guide, GnuCash provides an assistant that can help walk you through most common transactions and several less common ones that you might encounter.

The assistant is accessed from the Action menu when the current register is for a Stock or Mutual Fund account.

Types of stock transactions supported by the Stock Transaction Assistant

- Buy

- Sell

- Dividend

Note

This is for cash dividends; use Stock Split for share dividends.

Note

The assistant does not support recording reinvested dividends in a single transaction. If you reinvest dividends, even if it's done automatically by your broker, mutual fund company, or the issuer of the shares, you must record the share purchase with a second pass through the assistant.

- Return of Capital

- Notional Distribution

- Stock Split

- Reverse Split

The assistant recognizes long and short positions in the account and adjusts pages it presents to you depending on the transaction type and whether the position is long or short. It optionally capitalizes commissions and fees.

Transaction Details Page

Enter the transaction post date and description on this page.

Transaction Type Page

Select the type of transaction from the list. The assistant will display a description of what it will do when you make a selection.

Stock Amount Page

This page is displayed for Buy, Sell, Stock Split, and Reverse Split transactions to collect the new share information. For a Buy or Sell it will display the current share balance, ask for the number of shares traded, and once that's entered it will display the new share balance. For a Stock Split or Reverse Split it will ask for the new balance after the split and display the split ratio.

Stock Value Page

Displayed for Buy and Sell to collect the value of the shares bought or sold net of commissions and fees, which are collected on another page. For example if you sell 100 shares of stock for $10.00 per share with a 2% commission and a $10.00 SEC fee the net value for this page is $1000.00.

Cash Page

Displayed for all transaction types.

Enter the asset account to or from which the money for the transaction will go.

Note

Only asset accounts denominated in the stock account's currency—that of the nearest parent account denominated in currency—will be offered. The stock assistant does not support multi-currency stock trading.

Note

For a stock split or reverse split this entry is only to balance any fees entered on the following page. Any cash in lieu of fractional units must be recorded as a separate sell or cover-buy transaction.

Enter the gross amount of the transaction including commissions and fees. In the example from the Stock Value Page that would be $970.00: $1000.00 for the stock less $20 for the 2% commission and the $10.00 fee. Had it been buy you would have added the commission and fees to the amount.

There is a field for you to enter a memo on the cash split. It defaults to Cash.

Fees Page

Displayed for all transactions. There is a checkbox to select whether the fees will be incorporated into the value of the stock split (capitalized) or separately credited to an expense account.

If the amount is to be expensed select the account. Expense acconts will be offered and there's a button to create a new one.

Amount: Enter the total of any commissions, fees, or taxes on the transaction.

Note

There's only one amount and one account. If you want separate accounts for say commissions and taxes, enter the total and one of the accounts here and then edit the transaction afterwards to create the extra splits.

As with the Cash Page there's a memo field for this split's memo.

Dividend Page

Displayed only for Dividend transactions. Select or create an income account and enter the gross amount of the dividend. There's a memo field as usual.

Capital Gains Page

Displayed only for Sell of a long position or Buy of a short position. As with the Dividend Page select an income account for the capital gain or create a new one, enter the amount of the gain—losses should be entered as a negative amount—and optionally edit the memo for the capital gain split.

Note

The assistant doesn't do any calculating for you: It's up to you to determine the basis by whatever strategy you choose subject to the tax laws in your jurisdiction and to compute the difference between the basis and the proceeds.

Note

If you prefer to use the View Lots dialog to compute capital gains/losses you should leave the Amount field in this page blank.

Finish Page

The final page displays a list of the splits the assistant will create along with errors that would prevent the transaction from being complete. If there are errors the Apply button will be disabled. You must use the Back button to navigate to the appropriate page and correct the error. Once all of the errors are resolved click the Apply button to create the transaction.

Note

The assistant provides a Finish button to move to the Finish Page from any other.

Online Banking Setup Assistant

The Online Banking Setup Assistant is used to create or edit the configuration to enable interaction with your bank. For this purpose the package AqBanking is used. It contains several modules with different abilities. Their availability depends on the region. But all can fetch the current balance and recent transactions.

Table 8.9. AqBanking Supported Protocols

Module

Send Orders

Region

Notes

EBICS

Yes

AT, CH, DE, FR

Usually available for business customers.

FinTS

DE

Submodules: HBCI, PIN/TAN.

OFX DirectConnect

No

US [a]

Not to confuse with “OFX WebConnect”!

PayPal

intl.

[a] If you know about banks in other countries, update the wiki table.

Tip

If Online Banking Setup does not appear in your Tools menu, verify that you are in an Account Tree or Register tab.

The currently available instructions are still kept in the GnuCash wiki and depend on the used module:

EBICS

No users shared their experience util now.

FinTS

This module is only documented in German. Overview https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/De/Online-Banking, usage of the https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/De/Onlinebanking-Einrichtungsassistent, and details of the different https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/De/PIN/TAN methods.

OFX DirectConnect

Instruction for this process are in English at https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Setting_up_OFXDirectConnect.

PayPal

This module is only documented in German https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/De/Paypal einrichten.

Price Editor

Note

GnuCash uses the term commodity to mean anything that it counts: Currencies, securities (i.e intangible assets like stock or mutual fund shares and bonds), or tangible assets like trucks and computers. When valuing one commodity in terms of another it uses the term Exchange Rate between two currencies and Price between a non-currency commodity and a currency commodity. For the rest of this section we'll use "price" to mean both price and exchange rate and "commodity" to mean any sort of commodity except where currency behavior is different.

The Price Editor is used to list and edit the price of one commodity in another commodity. New prices can be added, existing prices can be edited, and prices can be retrieved from a variety of sources on the World-Wide Web when the commodity is properly configured.

Each commodity pair can have one price per day. An existing price will be overwritten by a newer one if the newer one has the same or a more preferred source. The order of source preference (1 is most preferred) is:

1. user:price-editor: Prices created manually in the Price Editor

2. Finance::Quote: Online quotes

3. user:price: Prices entered explicitly in the Exchange Rateentry of the Transfer Funds dialog box or in the Price column of a register for an account of types STOCK or MUTUAL

4. user:xfer-dialog: Prices calculated from an entry in the To Amount entry of the Transfer Funds dialog box.

5. user:split-register: Prices calculated from the Shares and Debit or Credit columns of a register for an account of types STOCK or MUTUAL

6. user:stock-split: Prices entered in the Stock Split Assistant

Note

Prices created manually in the Price Editor are preferred over prices retrieved via Finance::Quote so Finance::Quote will fail to update such manually-created prices.

The Price Editor displays existing prices as follows:

- Security: The Security/commodity being priced. The display is sorted by the Namespace that the individual securities are listed on. The list is expanded by clicking on the caret on the left of the name.

- Currency: The currency the price is recorded in.

- Date: The date the price was recorded.

- Source: The source of the commodities price quote, listed above.

- Type: There are several different types of stock price quotes.

- Bid: Indicates what a specialist dealer is prepared to pay for a stock.

- Ask: Indicates at what price the dealers are prepared to sell a stock.

- Last: Indicate the price at which the last trade in that stock/security occurred at. This is the price most commonly quoted in the media.

- Net Asset Value: Are typically used for mutual funds. They are calculated on the net value of the fund’s assets each day around the time of the market close and are in effect until the next recalculation.

- Unknown: Use this if the type of price quoted is not known.

- Price: The actual price of the commodity.

Adding a stock price manually

To add a new price, click on Add, and enter the details of the security and price into the dialog box. To edit an existing price, select the price in the price list, click the Edit button, and edit the figures.

To remove just one price, select the price and click the Remove button. If you want to remove all prices older than a certain date, click on the Remove Old button and enter the details in the dialog box.

A pop-up will display with the message "Delete all stock prices based upon the criteria below:". Enter the date of the last price you wish to delete.

Two check-boxes are below the date field;

- Delete manually entered prices - If checked, delete manually entered stock prices dated earlier than the specified date. Otherwise only stock prices added by Finance::Quote will be deleted.

- Delete last price for a stock - If checked, delete all prices before the specified date. Otherwise the last stock price dated before the date will be kept and all earlier quotes deleted.

Configuring for use of the Get Quotes button

To support on-line quotations for a particular stock or mutual fund account, you must first enable on-line price quoting and select a price source in the Security. This is described in detail in the section called “Configuring Securities/Currencies for On-Line Retrieval of Prices”. Once on-line quotes are enabled, and Finance::Quote is installed, you can update prices for your stocks and mutual funds manually by clicking the Get Quotes button.

Security Editor

The Security Editor is used to create and edit commodities that are used by mutual fund and stock type accounts. It also shows the details of National Currencies that are used by GnuCash.

To show the details for National Currencies click the Show National Currencies check-box at the bottom of the screen.

Each entry in the editor shows the details used by the security/currency:

- Full name: The full name of the commodity is a recognizable name such as US Dollars or IBM Common Stock.

- Symbol/abbreviation: Indicates the symbol or abbreviation for the commodity. This is usually the ticker symbol (for stocks) or other unique abbreviation for the commodity. If the commodity is traded on any public exchange, it is important to use the same identifier used on that exchange. For national currencies the symbol is the ISO-4217 currency code.

- Display symbol: This optional field allows the user to specify a symbol to use in the GUI display. It's primarily there to allow users to override the hard-coded symbol for currencies but it might also be useful for displaying a different symbol from the one used to retrieve price quotes.

- Namespace: An optional field to allow you to create categories for your securities. You may use any string you like except Currency and Template: Those are reserved for GnuCash's use.

- ISIN, CUSIP, or other code: This optional entry may be any informative code for the commodity. If present it is used only for display. An ISIN or International Security Identification Number is associated with every stock, bond or mutual fund, and most kinds of traded options, futures and commodities. CUSIP (Commitee on Uniform Securies Identification Procedures) is a similar code used in the North America. Other regions have similar codes, for example Germany's WKN (Wertpapierkennnummer).

- Fraction traded: This is the smallest traded unit of the commodity, expressed as a fraction of a single nominal unit. GnuCash rounds entered and calculated amounts and values to this fraction.

Adding or Editing a Commodity

To add a new commodity (stock, or mutual fund), click on Add, and enter the details of the commodity into the New Security dialog box. To edit an existing commodity, select the commodity from the Commodities list, click the Edit button, and edit the Edit Security dialog box. To remove a commodity, select the commodity and click the Remove button.

The fields in the New/Edit Security screens are the same as defined for the Security Editor the section called “Security Editor”. Below these fields are the options for Online Quotes.

Configuring Securities/Currencies for On-Line Retrieval of Prices

To support on-line quotations for a particular stock or mutual fund account, you must first enable on-line price quoting and select a price source in the Security Editor. Online currency quotes require only that the check-box for Online quotes and the timezone be selected, and that the “Get Quotes” box be checked in the Security Editor.

Detailed instructions are in the section on Creating New Accounts. the section called “Steps to enable Online Quotes updating”

Loan Repayment Calculator

The Loan Repayment Calculator is used to calculate compound interest. It provides a way of entering four of the five parameters of a compound interest calculation and then calculating the remaining figure.

The calculator is split into two panes. The left pane has five fields with a Calculate button and a Clear button. The Calculate button is used to select the figure to calculate. The Clear button is used to clear any amount in the field.

- Payment Periods: This field is used to select the number of payments you wish to use in the calculation.

- Interest Rate: This field is used for the interest rate percentage.

- Present Value: This field usually contains the amount you have borrowed. It is the base amount you wish to compound.

- Periodic Payment: This field contains the amount that is the payment for the period selected (IE monthly, weekly, etc). If it is for repaying a loan it should be a negative number.

- Future Value: This field contains the final value at the end of the periods above. If we are repaying a loan in full it would be 0.

The right pane contains buttons to select what sort of payments and compounding is used for the left pane calculations.

- Compounding: This button allows you to select the interval used if the Discrete Compounding button is selected.

- Payments: This button allows you to select the interval used for the Payment Periods field.

- End of Period Payments: Use this button if the payment is at the end of the period.

- Beginning of Period Payments: Use this button if the payment is at the beginning of the period.

- Discrete Compounding: This button is used where interest is charged at a discrete interval defined by the Compounding button above.

- Continuous Compounding: This button is used when the interest is charged continuously.

- Payment Total: This field shows the total amount paid.

Examples of using the Loan Repayment Calculator are given in the Tutorial and Concepts Guide. GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide’s Chapter on Loans

“Close Book” Tool

The Close Book dialog box is used for “closing the books”, an accounting process that resets the balances of the income and expense accounts. In this process, income account balances are transferred into an income equity account, while expense account balances are transferred into an expense equity account. You must specify both these accounts, which may be the same. You must also specify the date for the closing transfer.

Dialog Box Details

The dialog box has the following parts:

- Closing Date Specify the date for the closing transfer. You can type in a date or choose one from the drop-down.

- Income Total Specify the account into which the total balance of all income accounts will be transferred. Optionally you can create a new account to receive the transfer using the New button.

- Expense Total Specify the account into which the total balance of all expense accounts will be transferred. Again, you can optionally create a new account to receive the transfer using the New button.

- Description Specify the description that will be entered in the closing entry.

How It Works

GnuCash closes books by creating one transaction per currency for income accounts, and one transaction per currency for expense accounts. The transactions all use the date selected by the user, and each transaction may contain any number of splits. Each split moves the balance out of one income or expense account. The last split in each closing transaction moves the total offsetting debit/credit balance into the specified equity account.

Each transaction will use the description provided by the user in the Description entry.

The fact that GnuCash just uses transactions to close the books makes it very simple to undo a book closing: just delete the closing transactions.

What It Doesn’t Do

The book closing tool does not delete any accounts or transactions; create any new files; or hide any accounts.

Necessity

Note that closing the books in GnuCash is unnecessary. You do not need to zero out your income and expense accounts at the end of each financial period. GnuCash’s built-in reports automatically handle concepts like retained earnings between two different financial periods.

In fact, closing the books reduces the usefulness of the standard reports because the reports don’t currently understand closing transactions. So from their point of view it simply looks like the net income or expense in each account for a given period was simply zero.

Conclusion

If you close your books, be prepared to see inaccuracies in the standard reports. On the other hand, you will see current-period income and expense figures in the chart of accounts.

Lots Editor

GnuCash uses lots in 2 ways:

- To link security buy transactions to sell transactions so the real cost of the sold securities can be used to calculate capital gain or loss. See the section called “Lots for Capital Gains of Securities”.

- To link payments or credit notes to the invoices to which they apply in the Business Features. See the section called “Lots for Business Features”.

Lots for Capital Gains of Securities

The Lots in Account Name window, where Name is the security account, is used to manually or automatically link security transaction splits to lots and create capital gain or loss transactions to account for the difference between the costs of buying a security and the value received by selling it.

To open the Lots in Account window, open the security account register, then select Actions → View Lots .

Figure 8.1. Lots in Account window for Security Capital Gains

An image of the Lots in Account window for a security account.

Screen Elements

Adjusting the Size of Screen Elements

As well as adjusting the size of the whole window, it is possible to adjust the proportions of the window elements both horizontally and vertically.

There are 2 bars for adjusting the window horizontally. One between the Title and the Lots in This Account panel, and the other between the Splits free panel and the >> and << buttons.

The window proportions may be adjusted vertically by dragging the vertical bar located to the right of Show only open lots.

These resizing bars can be hard to see, so move the mouse pointer until it changes to the resize pointer then click and drag the bar. The resize pointers are different depending on your operating system and theme. Here are some examples of resize pointers:

It is not possible to individually adjust the size of panel columns.

Fields

- Title Shows the title for the highlighted (selected) lot in the Lots in This Account panel. When a new lot is created by clicking the New Lot button, it has a default title of Lot n where n is a number starting at 0 (for each security account) and incrementing by 1. Deleting a lot does not reset the next number to be used, but the title can be changed as required.

- Notes Notes for the highlighted lot. Users are free to enter anything they wish and the notes can be changed as required.

Panels

The order of the items in all the panels in this window can be adjusted by clicking on the column headings.

- Lots in This Account panel

This panel shows lots for this security account.

If Show only open lots is checked, only lots that have not been completely sold are shown.

Columns

- Type Always blank for security lots. This window is also used for business lots (which link payments to invoices) when coming from an Accounts Payable or Receivable account and in that case, Type will be I for invoice. Credit Notes are also Type I.

- Opened Open if there are no splits in the lot, otherwise the date of the earliest split in this lot.

- Closed Open if the lot is not fully sold, otherwise the date of the last sell split.

- Title Lot Title.

- Balance Number of unsold securities in this lot.

- Gains Calculated gains or losses for this lot.

- Splits free panel

This panel shows buy and sell splits for this security account which are not linked to a lot. Capital Gains splits (Shares and Price are 0) are not shown.

Columns

- Date Transaction Date Posted.

- Num Transaction Num.

- Description Transaction Description.

- Amount Number of shares bought or sold from the transaction split. Positive for buys, negative for sells. If the security transaction split has been split into multiple subsplits (because a split may only be linked to 1 lot), this amount will not be the full transaction amount, but only the amount for this split.

- Value Amount x split price.

- Gain/Loss For sell splits, shows calculated gain or loss. This will be recalculated during scrubbing.

- Balance Cumulative number of unsold shares for free splits.

- Splits in Lot panel

This panel shows splits linked to the highlighted lot in the Lots in This Account panel. This panel will be empty until a lot is highlighted in the Lots in This Account panel. Capital Gains splits (Shares and Price are 0) are not shown.

Columns

- Date Transaction Date Posted.

- Num Transaction Num.

- Description Transaction Description.

- Amount Split number of shares bought or sold. Positive for buys, negative for sells. If the security transaction split has been split into multiple subsplits (say by scrubbing because a split may only be linked to 1 lot), this amount will not be the full transaction amount, but only the amount for this split.

- Value Amount (No of Shares) x split price.

- Gain/Loss For sell splits, shows calculated gain or loss. This will be recalculated during scrubbing.

- Balance The number of unsold shares in this lot after this transaction.

Buttons

- >> Links a free split (buy or sell) to a lot. This button is not enabled until both a lot and a free split are highlighted. The split moves from the Splits free panel to the Splits in lot panel.

Multiple buy splits and multiple sell splits may be linked to the same lot. Refer to following section about the Scrub Account button for details of the capital gains transactions created in these situations.

- << Unlinks a split from a lot. The split moves from the Splits in lot panel to the Splits free panel. This button is not enabled until a split in the Splits in lot panel is highlighted. When the last split is unlinked from a lot, the lot is automatically deleted if there is no capital gain/loss transaction.

- New Lot Creates a new lot which shows in the Lots in This Account panel. The new lot is not linked to any split.

- Scrub Account

- Creates a lot for each buy transaction split that is not already linked to a lot.

A new lot is created for each unlinked buy transaction split because gains on investments, in some jurisdictions, may be taxed at different rates depending on how long they were held before being sold. As a separate capital gains transaction is created for each lot, this makes it easier to determine tax on the capital gains based on the lot opened and closed dates.

If you know that the capital gains from a sale are all to be taxed at the same rate, you can manually link multiple buys to a lot so scrubbing will only create 1 capital gains transaction.

It is also possible to manually link multiple sell transaction splits to a lot. In this case scrubbing creates a capital gains transaction per sell transaction split based on the average cost of securities held at the time of each sale, assuming acquisitions are allocated to sales using the security account costing method (currently only FIFO). As this makes it complicated to manually verify the costs are correct, it may be wise to limit this to specific situations, say for example if there are multiple sales on the same day.

- Links buy and sell transaction splits to lots using FIFO method.

- Calculates gain/loss and creates a separate capital gain/loss transaction for each lot that does not already have one.

Note

If gain/loss splits have been manually entered as part of a sell transaction, scrubbing does not recognize them, so if manually adding gain/loss, always separate the gain/loss splits from the transaction that reduces the No of Shares, by putting them in a separate transaction.

- Scrub Scrub only the highlighted lot. This button is only enabled if a lot is highlighted. If no buy splits are linked to the highlighted lot, nothing is done. The Scrub button will link any free sell splits to the lot as required until the sum of the sell split amounts equals the sum of the buy split amounts. If the sum of the sell split amounts is greater than the sum of the buy split amounts, a sell split will itself be split into 2 splits, with the remaining amount in an unlinked split.

Note

For both the Scrub Account and the Scrub buttons:

The Gain/Loss for each lot is recalculated and a capital gain transaction is created if needed. The transaction has 1 split for the security account and the other with account Orphaned Gains-CCC where CCC is the security currency. The Orphaned Gains-CCC account is used because GnuCash doesn't know which capital gain or loss account should be used, so the user must change it to the required income (or expense) gain or loss account.

- Delete Delete the highlighted lot. Any linked splits are automatically freed (unlinked). This button is only enabled if a lot is highlighted.

- Close Close the Lots in Account SSSS window.

For more details, see:

- Tutorial and Concepts Guide, Automatic Calculation of Capital Gain or Loss Using Lots.

- Investment Lots report.

Lots for Business Features

Introduction

For business features, lots are used to link payments or credit notes to the invoices to which they apply. This is for both customer invoices and vendor bills.

There are 2 main uses for the Lots in Account window in relation to the business features:

1. To enquire about which payments or credit notes offset particular invoices. For each invoice and credit note, GnuCash automatically creates 1 (and only 1) lot. By selecting the lot for the invoice or credit note in the Lots in This Account panel, all the transaction splits for that lot show in the Splits in Lot panel.

Tip

Alternatively, print the invoice and check the Payments option on the Display tab in the report options. The Tax Invoice always shows payments so does not have the Payments option.

2. To correct mistakes that are hard to correct otherwise (either due to bugs in past versions of gnucash or due to unintended use of said features). Some of these use cases are found on this wiki page. In the context of the normal operation of business features , the Lots in Account window is not used to create, delete, link or unlink lots. Lots are usually generated and manipulated internally only by the business features programs.

To open the Lots in Account AAAA window, where AAAA is the Accounts Receivable (AR) or Accounts Payable (AP) account, open the AR or AP account register, then select Actions → View Lots .

Figure 8.2. Lots in Account window for business features

An image of the Lots in Account window for an Accounts Receivable account.

Screen Elements

The screen elements of the Lots in Account window for an AR or AP account are the same as for a security account, although the actions and data are different. As this window is only used for creating, deleting, linking or unlinking lots in exceptional circumstances, the differences are not described. See the section called “Screen Elements” for a description of the screen elements and what the buttons do when used with the lots of a security account.

Chapter 9. Reports And Charts

Note

This section is a “work in process”. Some of the material has not been reviewed for V2.0. While it may not be strictly accurate, it is at least a "guide".

Introduction

Reports and Charts give GnuCash the ability to present an overview of financial data in various ways. This can range from a simple summary of account totals to an advanced portfolio view. This section will present an explanation of the main GnuCash reports and how to adjust them.

To run a report or chart, click on the Reports menu, then either select a report (it will open with standard options), or click on Saved Report Configuration to select a report you have previously configured and saved.

Once the report has opened, click on the toolbar button Options to configure the report as needed, for example to set the report date or select accounts.

Tip

If you intend to save a report configuration, you should choose a named report date option such as Today rather than enter a specific date so it is not necessary to enter a specific date again in future reports.

Tip

If you often run a report with a date as at the start or end of an accounting period, set the accounting period start and end dates in Edit → Preferences → Accounting Period then select appropriate report date options. See the section called “Accounting Period”.

Tip

If you cannot find a specific report to suit your requirements, you may be able to use the Find Transaction assistant ( Edit → Find ) to select a set of transactions, and then report them using Reports → Account Report . Further formatting or analysis may be done by copying and pasting the report into a spreadsheet.

After you have configured a report, you can save the configuration for future use by clicking either the Save Report Configuration or Save Report Configuration As... button.

Saving a Report Configuration

To save a report configuration for future use, while the required report tab is selected, go to the report options, select the General tab and change the Report Name to a meaningful unique name. Do not confuse this with the Report Title which prints at the top of a report.

Click the Save Report Configuration or Save Report Configuration As... button. This will store your customized report options in a file below your home directory. The exact location depends on your OS, its version and the GnuCash version. See wiki:Configuration_Locations#GTK_CONFIG_HOME, GNC_DATA_HOME and Files in GNC_DATA_HOME Then it is GNC_DATA_HOME/saved-reports-version.

The first time you save a report with a name that has not already been saved, you can use either the Save Report Configuration or the Save Report Configuration As... button. You can modify the report name before saving it.

After a report configuration for a specific name has been saved, the Save Report Configuration button will immediately update the saved report configuration without giving the opportunity to save the configuration with a new name. Use the Save Report Configuration As... button to save the current report configuration with a new name.

After your customized report has been saved, it is available for use by the Reports → Saved Report Configurations menu and it will also be listed when starting Reports → Sample & Custom → Custom Multicolumn Report .

Working with Saved Report Configurations

Selecting Reports → Saved Report Configurations will open a dialog window with the list of the Saved Report Configurations you have previously created. In this context Saved Report Configurations means the set of customized settings for standard reports.

The Saved Report Configurations window lists each of your previously saved report configurations, and 3 small buttons at the end of each. These buttons perform the following actions

- Load (and run) report configuration. Double clicking a report configuration also performs this action.

- Edit report configuration name. This enables a report configuration to be renamed.

- Delete report configuration.

Configuring Reports and Charts

GnuCash reports have many configuration options. First, run the original report itself. Then, access the report options with the Options button on the toolbar.

Note

Check changed Graphic Engine Options

Report Options Buttons

After modifying report options, either

- Click the OK button to apply the changes, regenerate the report and close the options window.

or

- Click the Apply button to apply the changes, regenerate the report and leave the options window open for possible further changes. In this case, both the Apply and OK buttons will be disabled, indicating changes have been applied, until further changes are made.

or

- Click the Cancel button to close the options window without applying any unapplied changes.

Common Report Options

Many reports share similar options. Some common ones include:

- Report Name: Set the title of the report. This is also used to print the report for later viewing.

- Date Options: Reports typically specify either a single date, or a date range, for the report. Dates can be specified in two ways, either directly (using the date selector), or by selecting a relative date from the menu. Relative dates allow you to specify dates like Beginning of this year or Today.

Tip

If you often run a report with a date as at the start or end of an accounting period, set the accounting period start and end dates in Edit → Preferences → Accounting Period then select appropriate report date options. See the section called “Accounting Period”.

- Step Size: This option is used on bar charts to determine the interval which each bar represents. Typical values are daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.

- Accounts: Select the appropriate accounts for the report. Note that in some reports only certain types of accounts can be selected. For example, an expense piechart only allows expense accounts to be selected.

- Show Long Account Names: This option allows displaying either short account names (for example, Power) or long account names (for example, Utilities:Power).

- Include Subaccounts?: Summary reports typically have an include all subaccounts option, which if selected ensures that all subaccounts are included if the parent account is.

- Depth: This option allows the selection of how many levels the report displays subaccounts. If the subaccounts go deeper than selected, an overall value for all the subaccounts is calculated and included in a total. To make sure every account selected is individually displayed, select All.

- Style Sheet: Select a Style Sheet. Style sheets control how reports are displayed. At the moment, there are four style sheets: Default, Easy, Footer and Technicolor. You can customize each of these from the Edit → Style Sheets... menu item. This is described in the the section called “Changing Style Sheets” section.

- Plot Dimensions: There are width and height options for most charts, which specify the displayed dimensions (in pixels).

- Report Currency: Select the report currency. Generally, values will be converted to this currency for display.

The default Report Currency is defined in Edit → Preferences Reports tab. See the section called “Reports”.

- Price Source: Select how stock and currency prices are calculated in this report. Choose between:

- Nearest in time (default for most reports): A price retrieved from the prices database on the date nearest to the date of the report or of the datum for time-series reports.

- Most recent: The latest price in the price database.

- Average Cost: The amount-weighted net average of all splits exchanging the commodity for another regardless of account. Gain/loss splits are included in the calculation.

- Weighted Average: The gross amount-weighted average price of all splits exchanging the commodity for another regardless of account. Gain/Loss splits are not in the calculation.

More information on Average Cost and Weighted Average may be found in the Investments chapter of The Tutorial and Concepts Guide.

- Totals: Charts display totals in the chart legend if this option is selected.

- Maximum Slices: Controls the maximum number of slices displayed in a piechart - other accounts will be placed in a slice marked Other.

- Maximum Bars: Controls the maximum number of bars displayed in a barchart.

- Display Columns: Choose columns to show from the register.

Reports Listed By Class

GnuCash has classified the main types of reports into major classes. These are all available under the Reports menu.

General Reports

The General Reports include the Account Summary Report, the Future Scheduled Transactions Summary, and the Transaction Report and also the reports in the Sample & Custom menu.

Account Summary

Future Scheduled Transactions Summary

Transaction Report

This report lists transactions in selected accounts during a specified financial period. Two fields may be optionally used for sorting and totalling.

Report Options

Figure 9.1. Transaction Report, Report Options

This is an image of the Transaction Report, Report Options, Display tab.

- Accounts tab

- Accounts: Select one or more accounts to be reported.

There are 4 buttons to aid account selection

Select All

Select all accounts

Clear All

Clear the selection and unselect all accounts

Select Children

Select all descendants of selected account

Select Default

Select the default account selection

- Show Hidden Accounts: Show accounts that have been marked hidden.

- Filter By: Optionally select accounts to be either included or excluded depending on Filter type

- Show Hidden Accounts: Show accounts that have been marked hidden in the Filter By list of accounts

- Filter Type: One of

None

Do not do any filtering

Include Transactions to/from Filter Accounts

Include Transactions to/from Filter Accounts only

Exclude Transactions to/from Filter Accounts

Exclude Transactions to/from all Filter Accounts

- Reset defaults button: Reset all values to their defaults

- Display tab

- Date refers to the 'posted date' i.e. effective date of a transaction.

- Reconciled Date refers to the 'date of reconciliation' of a transaction.

- Num is commonly used for check numbers.

- Description is a description of the transaction

- Memo is the memo field of a transaction. This can be used as a secondary description of a transaction.

- Notes: Display the notes if the memo is unavailable

- Account Name will print the account name containing the transaction.

- Use Full Account Name if the account name is enabled, this option will display the full account name hierarchy.

- Account Code this refers to the 'account code' related to the account.

- Detail Level [5] : One of

Single

Display 1 line per transaction,

Multi-Line

Display a transaction header and 1 line per split.

If Detail Level is Multi-Line, check boxes Other Account Name and Use Full Other Account Name are automatically deselected and disabled, and the Transfer column is not reported.

- Other Account Name: For multi-split transactions, this parameter should be unticked. See below for more details.

- Use Full Other Account Name will enable display of full corresponding account name.

- Other Account Code will enable display of corresponding account code.

- Shares: Display number of shares

- Price: Display share prices

- Amount: One of

None

Do not display Amount

Single

Single column display

Double

Two column display

- Subtotal Table will add a summary table for the various subtotals generated in the report. It lists the same subtotals generated in tabular form.

- Running Balance refers to the running balance of the account holding the transaction.

- Totals will add a 'Grand Total' line adding all transactions in the report.

- Sign Reverses: One of

Global Preference

Use reversing option specified in global preference.

None

Do not display signs reversed

Credit Accounts

Reverse amount display for Liability, Payable, Equity, Credit Card and Income accounts

Income and Expense

Reverse amount display for Income and Expense accounts

- Reset defaults button Reset all values to their defaults

- Filter tab

- Account Name Filter will include only selected accounts containing the substring. Alternatively, if the next option is checked, the account name filter will be matched according to full POSIX regular expressions.

- Use regular expressions for account name filter toggles regular expressions for account name filter.

- Transaction Filter will include only transactions which contain this substring in the description, notes, or memo. Alternatively if the next option is checked, the filter will be matched using full POSIX regular expressions.

- Use regular expressions for transaction filter toggles regular expressions for the transaction filter.

- Reconcile Status

All

Show all transactions

Unreconciled

Unreconciled only

Cleared

Cleared only

Reconciled

Reconciled only

- Void Transactions: One of

Non-void only

Show only non-voided transactions

Void only

Show only voided transactions

Both

Show both and include voided transactions in totals

- Closing transactions: One of

Excluding closing transactions

Show only regular transactions

Show both closing and regular transactions

Show both regular and closing transactions

Show closing transactions only

Show closing transactions only

- Reset defaults button: Reset all values to their defaults

- General tab

- Report name: Enter a descriptive name for this report

- Stylesheet: Select Default, Easy, Footer or Technicolor

- Start Date: Enter or select a specific Start Date

or select one of the following named start date options which will be used to determine the start date each time the report is run

Today

The current date

Start of this month

First day of the current month

Start of previous month

First day of the previous month

Start of current quarter

First day of the current quarterly accounting period

Start of previous quarter

First day of the previous quarterly accounting period

Start of this year

First day of the current calendar year

Start of previous year

First day of the previous calendar year

Start of accounting period

First day of the accounting period as defined in the global preferences

- End Date: Enter or select a specific End Date,

or select one of the following named end date options which will be used to determine the end date each time the report is run

Today

The current date

End of this month

Last day of the current month

End of previous month

Last day of the previous month

End of current quarter

Last day of the current quarterly accounting period

End of previous quarter

Last day of the previous quarterly accounting period

End of this year

Last day of the current calendar year

End of previous year

Last day of the previous calendar year

End of accounting period

Last day of the accounting period as defined in the global preferences

- Detail Level[5]: One of

Single

Display 1 line

Multi-Line

Display N lines

- Common Currency: Convert all transactions into a common currency

- Report's currency: Select the currency to display values

- Show original currency amount Also show original currency amounts

- Table for Exporting: Formats the table for cut & paste exporting with extra cells

- Add options summary: Adds an informative text describing options that were changed by user. This is mainly useful for troubleshooting reports.

- Reset defaults button: Reset all values to their defaults

- Sorting tab

- Primary Key: Primary Sort Key. One of

None

Do not sort

Account Name

Sort and subtotal by account name

Account Code

Sort and subtotal by account code

Date

Sort by date

Reconciled Date

Sort by the reconciled date

Reconciled Status

Sort by the reconciled status

Register Order

Sort as within the register

Other Account Name

Sort by account transferred from/to's name

Other Account Code

Sort by account transferred from/to's code

Amount

Sort by amount

Description

Sort by description

Number

Sort by check/transaction number

Memo

Sort by memo

- Primary Subtotal: Subtotal according to the primary key

- Primary Subtotal for Date Key: Do a date subtotal. Only configurable if primary key is date or reconciled date. One of None, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly

- Primary Sort Order: One of

Ascending

Smallest to largest, earliest to latest

Descending

Largest to smallest, latest to earliest

- Secondary Key: Secondary Sort Key. Same options as Primary Key

- Secondary Subtotal: Subtotal according to the secondary key

- Secondary Subtotal for Date Key: Do a date subtotal. Only configurable if primary key is date or reconciled date. One of None, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly

- Secondary Sort Order: One of

Ascending

Smallest to largest, earliest to latest

Descending

Largest to smallest, latest to earliest

- Show Full Account Name: Show the full account name for subtotals and subtitles

- Show Account Code: Show the account code for subtotals and subtitles

- Show Account Description: Show the account description for subtitles

- Show Informal Debit/Credit Headers: Show informal names for debit/credit in the subtitles. This requires that subtotal is enabled, and the primary or sortkey is account or account code.

- Add indenting columns: Add columns to align transactions within the same grouping together, and can be useful to highlight groups.

- Show subtotals only (hide transactional data): Will hide transactions. This may be useful for reports whereby only subtotals are required.

- Reset defaults button: Reset all values to their defaults

Displaying Split Account Details

This is controled by the Detail Level[5] option on the Display tab.

In Single line mode, there's only one line per transaction. So you can have the account name on one side of the equation and

1. the other account name if there's only one other split in the transaction or

2. Split if there are multiple other splits in the transaction. You can't display multiple "other" account names in one line. There's just no room for it.

In the case of Multi-Line mode, this report uses a completely different concept. For each transaction, every split (both the split in this account and the split(s) in the other account(s) !) is printed on a separate line. And every split really means every split: both the split which belongs in the account being reported and the split(s) in the other account(s) that balance the transaction. So even the most basic transaction, with only two splits (this account and other account) will print two lines in multiline mode.

For a simple transaction like this

Description

Account

Debit

Credit

Cheques Received

Multiple Payers

Income Account

£30.00

Bank Account

£30.00

then on a Transaction Report for the bank account the details appear pretty much as above.

For clarity of the accounts, you might enter transactions with multiple splits referring to the same account. For example, the above transaction might well be entered like this

Description

Account

Debit

Credit

Cheques Received

First Payer

Income Account

£10.00

Second Payer

Income Account

£20.00

Bank Account

£30.00

When this transaction is printed on the bank account's Transaction Report in Single line mode, then under other account it simply prints the word split instead of the account name.

To display the additional split detail, you need to set Single/Multi-Line to Multi-Line and then tick Display -> Account Name. Do not tick Display->Other Account Name.

You can choose whether or not to turn off the full account name using Display -> Use Full Account Name.

Use Full Other Account Name has no effect in Multi-Line mode.

Assets & Liabilities

The Assets & Liabilities reports includes the Balance Sheet report, Investment reports and the Net Worth report.

- Advanced Portfolio:

Columns

- Account: Stock Account

- Symbol: Ticker Symbol/Abbreviation as defined in the Security Editor. A report option can suppress this column.

- Listing: Type as defined in the Security Editor. A report option can suppress this column.

- Shares: Number of shares (quantity). A report option sets how many decimal places to show. A report option can suppress this column.

- Price: Unit market price as at report date. A report option can suppress this column.

- Basis: Cost of all shares acquired by any means, including brokerage fees if the option to include them is checked. Report option Basis calculation method can be set to Average, LIFO or FIFO.

- Value: Number of shares * Unit market price as at report date

- Money In: Sum of the cost of stock purchased, excluding stock acquired as part of a Dividend Reinvestment Plan. I.e. External money used to purchase shares.

- Money Out: Money from selling shares or a spin off transaction.

- Realized Gain: Money received for selling shares minus basis for shares sold, minus brokerage fees for the sale if the option to include them in basis is checked.

- Unrealized Gain: Value less Basis for unsold shares

- Total Gain: Realized Gain + Unrealized Gain

- Rate of Gain: Total Gain / Money In * 100 (from GnuCash 2.6.1 onwards)

- Income: Total of all income transactions associated with a stock account.

Note

To include income from dividends which are not reinvested (if there is no split to the stock account in the income transaction, the report has no way of associating the income with a particular stock) :

Ensure there is a dummy transaction split to the stock account with quantity 0, price 1 and value 0 in the dividend transaction. Enter the dummy stock split with no values in the dividend account and it will create the transaction with price 1 even though you cannot see the Price column in that register.

In GnuCash 2.6.6, this report was modified to simplify the recording of dividend and interest payments. With this change it may not be necessary to include the dummy stock split in the transaction. The report will find income (and expense) transactions that are in the parent account of the stock account being reported on. This is done by looking in the parent account for transactions that have exactly two splits (not counting trading account splits) where the other split is to an income or expense account with the same name as the stock's account.

For example given an account structure like

Assets (type ASSET)

Broker (type ASSET)

Widget Stock (type STOCK)

Income (type INCOME)

Dividends (type INCOME)

Widget Stock (type INCOME)

A transaction that debits the "Assets:Broker" account and credits the "Income:Dividends:Widget Stock" account will count as income even though it doesn't have a split with account "Assets:Broker:Widget Stock".

This only works if the parent account ("Assets:Broker" in this case) is a Bank or Asset account and the Income/Expense account has the same name as the stock account. It won't double count transactions that have a dummy split since they won't have exactly two split transactions.

It will not work if the income or expense account split is to a subaccount of the account with the same name as the stock account i.e. "Income:Dividends:Widget Stock:Franked"

- Brokerage Fees: Brokerage Fees

- Total Return: Total Gain + Income

- Rate of Return: Total Return / Money In * 100

Common report options are described in the section called “Configuring Reports and Charts”

Report Specific Options

- Accounts Tab

- Include accounts with no shares: Unchecked (default) or checked.

- Display Tab

- Show ticker symbols: Checked (default) or unchecked. If unchecked, Symbol column will be omitted.

- Show listings: Checked (default) or unchecked. If unchecked, Listing column (source of shares price quotes) will be omitted.

- Show number of shares: Checked (default) or unchecked. If unchecked, Shares column will be omitted.

- Share decimal places: The number of decimal places to show in the number of shares. Default is 2.

- Show prices: Checked (default) or unchecked. If unchecked, Price column will be omitted.

- General Tab

- Price Source: Nearest in time (default) or Most Recent.

- Basis calculation method: Average (default), FIFO or LIFO.

- Set preference for price list data: Checked (default): Use price list data. If there is no relevant price list data, transaction prices will be used and there will be a warning. Unchecked: Get prices from stock transactions.

- How to report brokerage fees: Include in basis (default), Include in gain or Ignore.

- Asset Barchart:

The Asset Barchart report displays bars that present the value of all assets in a GnuCash file over time. By default, the report shows all accounts in Accounts Receivable, Current Assets, Fixed Assets, Investments and Special Accounts (if they exist) and it displays monthly bars for the current financial period. This report provides a graphic view of the assets in the file over time.

Tip

Like all the generic reports, the user can assign a title and save the report with it's selected options for re-use later.

The display is in the form of either a stacked barchart or simple barchart with an option to display a table of the values.

This report calculates and displays a default of 8 bars or up to 24 separate asset accounts value at the end of the day on several dates through a specified time period. The report automatically selects the most significant accounts to display with all other selected accounts summed as Other.

The report exploits the outline structure of the chart of accounts to allow the user to select top level accounts and sub-accounts down to a user-selectable depth. Selected sub-accounts below the selected depth are automatically summed up into the next level when it is also selected. The default number of sub-account levels is 2, giving a summary view. Increasing the number of sub-levels increases the detail available to display. It is possible to un-select a higher level account and leave sub-accounts selected to force greater detail to appear in the report.

By default the report includes all asset accounts and sub-accounts, as well as Imbalance and Orphan Special accounts in whatever currencies or commodities may be present. The report's base currency is the default currency of the GnuCash file but if the file has data for multiple currencies, then it can be changed to another currency.

Since each account may be individually selected, the report can be designed to focus on a small subset of data such as current assets or investments.

The overall interval of the report defaults to start at the start of the current accounting period and to end at the end of the current accounting period. Numerous other starting choices and ending choices are available.

The first bar shows the selected values at the end of the day on the first date chosen. There are a number of choices for step size from day to year with the default being month. Note that if any step date would fall on the 29th, 30th or 31st in a month that does not have such a date the next interval will be 31 days later. For that step only the date will slip up to 3 days into the following month. This is true for releases at least through 2.4.13. Bug 639049 is open in Bugzilla to modify this behavior.

Currently, there is no option to start the report on the last day of any period. There is also no option to show beginning balances or end of previous step balances. This makes it difficult to correlate this report to business quarterly reports, for example.

The Net Worth linechart report, Liability barchart report and Net Worth barchart report are similar except for the graphic type and default account groups selected.

Other features are customizable in a manner similar to other standard reports.

- Asset Piechart:

- Average Balance:

- Balance Sheet: This report summarizes assets, liabilities, and equity. When properly maintained, assets should equal the sum of liabilities and equity. If that is not the case, there is some kind of internal imbalance in the accounts.

- Balance Sheet using eguile-gnc:

- General Journal:

- Investment Lots:

Figure 9.2. The Investment Lots Report

Abstract

The Investment Lots report shows details about lots in a selected set of accounts of type Stock or Mutual Fund. It includes an optional capital gains summary chart and a table with columns for dates, purchases, sales, end balances, capital gains (realized and unrealized, short term and long term), and return on investment (ROI). It also performs optional lot validation checks.

For information about lots in GnuCash, see:

- the section called “Lots for Capital Gains of Securities”

Note

Lots can be used for both securities and invoices, but this report applies to securities.

- Tutorial and Concepts Guide

- Selling Shares with Automatic Calculation of Capital Gain or Loss Using Lots

- Investment Lots report

- Wiki: Concept of Lots

Account lots gains chart: Summarizes the lot gains and losses of each account.

Table Columns

Note

Most of the columns can be hidden in the report Column options.

Note

The Amount columns are denominated in each account's commodity. But the Value, Basis, Price, and Gain columns are always denominated in the Report's currency, converted if necessary.

- Lot Title

- GUID: The lot's internal, globally unique identifier. This column is hidden by default, as it is probably not useful for most use cases. But it could come in handy for directly querying the GnuCash back end data store.

- Date columns

- Opened: The date on which the lot was opened. In a well-formed lot, this is the transaction date of the first (and ideally only) purchase split.

Warning

Placing more than one purchase split into a single lot can make ambiguous the holding period, preventing gains from being accurately grouped by short term and long term.

- Closed: The date on which the lot was closed, which is the transaction date of the sale split that reduces the lot balance to zero. If the lot is still open on the report end date, then Closed is blank.

- Bought columns

- Bought Amount: The total number of purchased shares.

- Bought Value (Basis): The total purchase value of the Bought Amount. This is the basis used for computing gains.

- Bought Average Price: The average price of each purchased share.

- Sold columns

- Sold Splits: The total number of sold splits.

- Sold Amount: The total number of sold shares.

- Sold Basis: The total basis (purchase value) of the Sold Amount.

- Sold Value: The total value (sales proceeds) of the Sold Amount.

- Sold Average Price: The average sale price of each sold share.

Note

The Sold Amount, Sold Basis, and Sold Value columns can be optionally split into short-term and long-term columns (e.g. ST Sold Amount and LT Sold Amount instead of Sold Amount, etc.) via the Group gains by age (short term and long term) Columns option.

- End columns

- End Amount: The number of shares in the lot on the end date.

- End Basis: The basis (purchase value) of the End Amount.

- End Value: The value of the End Amount, using the share end price from the Price Source (e.g. the latest price on the end date).

Note

The end price used to compute the End Value is displayed between the account name and the lot rows.

- Realized gain columns

- Realized Gain: The capital gains (or losses) realized on sold shares. Sold Value minus Sold Basis.

- Realized ROI: The realized return on investment. Realized Gain divided by Sold Basis, as a percentage.

- Unrealized gain columns

- Unrealized Gain: The capital gains (or losses) that would be realized if the remaining shares were sold on the end date. End Value minus End Basis.

- Unrealized ROI: The unrealized return on investment. Unrealized Gain divided by End Basis, as a percentage.

Note

The realized and unrealized gain columns can be optionally split into short-term and long-term columns (e.g. ST Realized Gain and LT Realized Gain instead of Realized Gain, etc.) via the Group gains by age (short term and long term) Columns option.

Report Options

- Accounts tab

These options control which accounts to include in the report, using a standard account selector. Selected accounts that are not of type Stock or Mutual Fund are ignored.

Tip

Select only taxable accounts to scope the report to taxable capital gains.

Additional options:

- Include accounts with no shares: When disabled, accounts with an empty balance on the report's end date are ignored. This can be useful when wanting to see only unrealized gains.

- Include accounts with no lots: If some commodity accounts intentionally do not use lots, then disabling this option is a convenient way to prevent such accounts from cluttering the report.

- Chart tab

These options control the Account Lot Gains chart.

- Show Chart: The other chart options are ignored when this option is disabled.

- Chart type

Option

Stacked Bar Chart (default)

Bar Chart

The following chart examples each show the same four accounts that contain a mix of realized and unrealized gains and losses, both short-term and long-term:

Figure 9.3. The Investment Lots Report, Stacked Bar Chart

Figure 9.4. The Investment Lots Report, Bar Chart

- Chart location

Option

Description

Top (default)

Display the chart at the top of the report, above the table

Bottom

Display the chart at the bottom of the report, below the table

- Plot width and Plot height: Controls the chart's dimensions.

Note

The chart gain categories are controlled by the Columns tab's Gains options.

- Columns tab

These options control which table columns are visible.

- Show lot guid column: Disabled by default.

- Show date columns

- Show bought columns

- Show sold columns

- Show end columns

- Gains options

Note

These options impact both the table columns and the chart.

- Show realized gain columns

- Show unrealized gain columns

- Group gains by age (short term and long term): Different governments can have different rules regarding how long shares must be held to qualify for different tax treatment.

Option

Description

No

Do not group gains by age

Gains Only (default)

Group gains by age

Gains and Sales

Also group the Sold columns by age

- Long term gains age (years): Shares held longer than this many years count as long term. This option is ignored when the Group gains by age (short term and long term) option is disabled. Default: 1 year.

- Display tab

- Show long account names: Controls which name to use for all accounts in the report: long (fully-qualified) or short.

- Show mnemonic in amounts: Controls whether the currency mnemonic will be use when reporting amounts. I.e. "123 RIO" versus just "123". This setting only impacts amounts not values, which are always displayed in the Report's currency, with its mnemonic.

- Include closed lots: Allows closed lots to be filtered out. This can be useful when wanting to see only unrealized gains.

- Show blanks instead of zeros in table cells: This can make the report table look less cluttered. Does not apply to Account Lots Total and Grand Total rows.

- Show lot split rows: When enabled, rows for each of the bought and sold splits pertaining to the lot (within the report's date window) will be displayed nested under each lot row. Disabled by default.

- General tab

See the section called “Common Report Options”.

Note

The Start date and End date options define the lot's date window. Splits outside of this window are not included in the report. Except that splits from before the Start date are counted only insofar as needed to calculate the Sold Basis, End Basis, and End Amount columns. But these splits are not included in the report's other Bought columns and Sold columns, nor are they shown when the Show lot split rows option is enabled.

- Validation tab

These options control how lots and accounts are validated. The report shows optional validation warnings that help identify potential lot problems.

- Include only accounts with warnings: Enable this option to see only accounts that have one of more of the enabled warnings. This can be useful for quickly validating that lots are well-formed, especially in combination with selecting all accounts and all dates. Disabled by default.

- Warn if a lot has more than one bought split: The Scrub operation only adds one purchase per lot, but GnuCash does not stop a user from manually adding multiple purchase splits to the same lot--even though this is arguably bad practice. Having multiple purchase dates makes the holding period ambiguous. But if this is desired, consider disabling both this warning and the Columns tab's Group gains by age (short term and long term) option. If the column option is left enabled, then the report will use the date of the last purchase split for determining the holding period, but continue to use the first purchase date for the lot Opened column.

Note

The last purchase date is used to calculate the holding period because long term gains often receive favorable tax treatment, so it is probably worse to misidentify a gain as long-term rather than as short-term. But better still is to not have more than one purchase per lot, so the holding periods are unambiguous.

Example:

Warning: Above lot has 2 bought splits. Consider separating them into their own lots.

- Warn if a lot's balance drops below zero: The Scrub operation will not create negative lot balances. But GnuCash does not prevent users from manually creating them. When this option is enabled, the report shows a warning if a lot's balance becomes negative during the report date window.

Example:

Warning: Above lot's balance is negative on 10/29/2022. Consider removing the responsible sale split from the lot and then scrubbing.

- Warn if a lot has a blank title: Disabled by default. Lot titles are optional. Enabling this warning will flag lots with blank (empty or whitespace) titles.

Example:

Warning: Above lot's title is blank.

- Warn if the "Realized Gain/Loss" split(s) sum does not match the computed gains: The report recomputes the gain/loss values from each sale, compares them with the sum of the lot's generated “Realized Gain/Loss” splits and warns if they do not match.

Example:

Warning: Above lot's computed gain $(1,518.79) is not equal to the "Realized Gain/Loss" split(s) sum $(1,518.80). Difference: $0.01

Note

If a “Realized Gain/Loss” split is incorrect, it can often be repaired thus:

1. Remove the sale split from the lot,

2. Delete the bad “Realized Gain/Loss” split,

3. Add the sale split back to the lot, to recreate the “Realized Gain/Loss” split, and

4. Reload this report and verify that the warning is gone.

- Warn if a split is not assigned to a lot: Realized and unrealized gains cannot be computed for splits that are not in a lot. This warning flags accounts containing unassigned splits.

Option

Description

No

Warning disabled

Count (default)

Warning message identifies the number of unassigned splits

List

Unassigned splits are listed after the warning message

Example:

Warning: 2 split(s) are not assigned to a lot. Do lots need to be scrubbed?

- Warn if the account balance does not match the computed lots' end balance: This is often another indication that the account has splits that are not included in a lot.

Example:

Warning: End amount 236.5 RIO is not equal to actual account balance 234 RIO. Difference: 2.5 RIO. Do lots need to be scrubbed?

- General Ledger:

- Investment Portfolio: This report summarizes the value of the stocks in the current portfolio.

- Liability Barchart:

- Liability Piechart:

- Net Worth Barchart: Net worth is the difference between the value of assets or liabilities.

- Net Worth Linechart: Net worth plotted over time. Net worth is the difference between the value of assets or liabilities.

- Price Scatterplot:

Business Reports

The Business Reports includes Customer and Vendor Reports and Printable Invoices as well as Aging reports.

Customer Report

Customer Summary

Easy Invoice

Employee Report

Fancy Invoice

Job Report

Payable Aging

This report provides a listing of vendors and their aged outstanding balances. Vendors may be included if they have posted business transactions (e.g. invoices) for the selected accounts payable account. It shows their current balance, and how much they have due from invoices over time periods 0-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days, and over 90 days. The report also contains links to each vendor and to their current vendor report.

Optionally, vendor address details may be also shown.

Tip

To export vendor address details, say in order to do a mail merge, select the optional vendor address details in the report options display tab, apply the options to regenerate the report, then copy and paste the report into a spreadsheet. Alternatively, the report can be exported to a .html file, then read into a spreadsheet.

Report Options

Note

See the section called “Common Report Options” in the Configuring Reports and Charts section of this help manual for more details of the common options.

- General tab

- Report name: Enter a descriptive name for this report - see the section called “Common Report Options”.

- Stylesheet: Select a style sheet for this report - see the section called “Common Report Options”.

- To: Select a date to report on or a named date. Transactions up to and including the selected date will be used to calculate the outstanding aged balances. See the section called “Common Report Options”.

- Report's currency: Select the currency to display the values in - see the section called “Common Report Options”

- Price Source: Select the source of price information used for currency conversion if needed. One of

Average Cost

The volume-weighted net average price of all exchanges.

Weighted Average (default)

The volume-weighted gross average price of all exchanges up to the date of the report

Most recent

The most recent recorded price

Nearest in time

The price recorded nearest in time to the report date

- Show Multi-currency Totals: If not selected, all totals are shown in the report currency.

- Sort By: Sort companies by one of

Name (default)

Company name

Total Owed

Total amount owed to company

Bracket Total Owed

Amount owed in oldest bracket. If same, use next oldest

- Sort Order: One of

Ascending (default)

0 … 999,999.99, A … Z

Descending

999,999.99 … 0, Z … A

- Show zero balance items: Show companies even if they have a zero outstanding balance.

- Due or Post Date: Leading date. Which date to use to determine aging. One of

Due Date (default)

Post Date

- Payable Account: The accounts payable account used to select vendors to be reported. Vendors are included if they have a posted business transaction (usually an invoice) on or before the report date and also meet the Show zero balance items criteria.

- Display tab

- Address Name: Display vendor address name. This, and other fields, may be useful if copying this report to a spreadsheet for use in a mail merge.

- Address 1: Display address line 1.

- Address 2: Display address line 2.

- Address 3: Display address line 3.

- Address 4: Display address line 4.

- Phone: Display address phone number.

- Fax: Display address fax number.

- Email: Display email address.

- Active: Display vendor active status.

Printable Invoice

Receivable Aging

This report provides a listing of customers and their aged outstanding balances. Customers may be included if they have posted business transactions (e.g. invoices) for the selected accounts receivable account. It shows their current balance, and how much they have outstanding from invoices over time periods 0-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days, and over 90 days. The report also contains links to each customer and to their current customer report.

Optionally, customer address details may be also shown.

Tip

To export customer address details, say in order to do a mail merge, select the optional customer address details in the report options display tab, apply the options to regenerate the report, then copy and paste the report into a spreadsheet. Alternatively, the report can be exported to a .html file, then read into a spreadsheet.

Report Options

Note

See the section called “Common Report Options” in the Configuring Reports and Charts section of this help manual for more details of the common options.

- General tab

- Report name: Enter a descriptive name for this report - see the section called “Common Report Options”.

- Stylesheet: Select a style sheet for this report - see the section called “Common Report Options”.

- To: Select a date to report on or a named date. Transactions up to and including the selected date will be used to calculate the outstanding aged balances. See the section called “Common Report Options”.

- Report's currency: Select the currency to display the values in - see the section called “Common Report Options”.

- Price Source: Select the source of price information used for commodity conversion if needed. One of

Average Cost

The volume-weighted net average price of all exchanges

Weighted Average (default)

The volume-weighted gross average price of all exchanges

Most recent

The most recent recorded price

Nearest in time

The price recorded nearest in time to the report date

- Show Multi-currency Totals: If not selected, all totals are shown in the report currency.

- Sort By: Sort companies by one of

Name (default)

Company name

Total Owed

Total amount owed by company

Bracket Total Owed

Amount owed in oldest bracket. If same, use next oldest

- Sort Order: One of

Ascending (default)

0 … 999,999.99, A … Z

Descending

999,999.99 … 0, Z … A

- Show zero balance items: Show companies even if they have a zero outstanding balance.

- Due or Post Date: Leading date. Which date to use to determine aging. One of

Due Date (default)

Post Date

- Receivables Account: The accounts receivable account used to select customers to be reported. Customers are included if they have a posted business transaction (usually an invoice) on or before the report date and also meet the Show zero balance items criteria.

- Display tab

- Address Source: Which customer address fields to display. One of

Billing (default)

Address fields from billing address.

Shipping

Address fields from shipping address.

- Address Name: Display customer address name. This, and other fields, may be useful if copying this report to a spreadsheet for use in a mail merge.

- Address 1: Display address line 1.

- Address 2: Display address line 2.

- Address 3: Display address line 3.

- Address 4: Display address line 4.

- Phone: Display address phone number.

- Fax: Display address fax number.

- Email: Display email address.

- Active: Display vendor active status.

Tax Invoice

Vendor Report

Income & Expense

The Income & Expense reports includes the Cash Flow and Income Statement reports.

- Cash Flow:

- Equity Statement:

- Expense Barchart:

- Expense Piechart:

- Expense vs Day of Week:

- Income & Expense Chart:

- Income Barchart:

- Income Piechart:

- Income Statement: This report summarizes sources of income and expenditure. (This report was called Profit & Loss in gnucash-1.8.)

- Income vs Day of Week:

- Profit & Loss: This is the same report as the Income Statement but with a different title.

- Trial Balance: This report summarizes sources of income and expenditure.

Sample & Custom

Sample Report

Report illustrating basic techniques used to create GnuCash reports.

Sample Graphs

Sample Pie chart and Bar chart.

Average Balance

Bar chart with balance per month.

Expenses vs. Day of Week

Pie chart.

Income vs. Day of Week

Pie chart.

Budget

Budget Balance Sheet

Budget Barchart

Budget Flow

Budget Income Statement

Budget Profit & Loss

Budget Report

This report is used to compare budgeted and real amounts for selected accounts. It allows you to review how well you follow the budget.

The report is generated as a table in which each row represents an account and each set of columns shows the budgeted amount, the real amount, and the difference between them for each report period.

Each entry in the real amount column is the sum of all the splits in the row's account over the column's period. For example, if the report is set up for monthly periods, the column is for May, and the row is for Expenses:Groceries, then the value will be the sum of all Expenses:Groceries splits for that May.

The report supports selecting a range of periods instead all of them. Periods that are out of range can be included in the report as the consolidated columns around the selected range. This allows you to focus on particular periods, for example the current one, and is especially useful for budgets with many periods. For example, if you have a 12 period budget you can make a 3 column report with the format "(all periods before columns set) (current period columns set) (all periods after columns set)" that is easily fits on the screen and allows you to match values with account names.

Budget report options

Note

Here we describe only options that are specific for the Budget Report. You can find information about standard parameters in the section called “Configuring Reports and Charts”.

- Show budget - include the budgeted values for the period

- Show actual - include the real values for the period

- Show difference - include the difference between budgeted and real values for the period. Enabling this option does not force including budgeted and actual values in the report

- Show Column with totals - Adds a final column set containing budgeted, real value, and difference columns summing those values across all periods of the report.

- Rollup budget amounts to parent - not used in the report, can be deleted or should be fixed

- Include accounts with zero total balances and budget values - enables display of accounts with no budget or splits in any period.

- Budget - Select the budget to use for report generation

- Report for range of budget periods - Enables reporting on a subset of the budget by selecting a beginning and an ending period.

- Range start - a combobox with a list of options to select the start period:

1. First - select first budget period

2. Previous - select previous period.

3. Current - select current period.

4. Next - select next period.

5. Last - select last budget period

6. Manual - enables spinbox where you can select exact period

Note

The current, previous, and next options select the period based on the date on which the report is run, with current being the period in which the date falls, previous being the one before that, and next the period after. If the current date falls outside the date range covered by the budget, the first or last period will be used as appropriate.

- Exact start period - options for select exact start period, enabled only if the range start option is set to Manual

- Range end - a combobox with a list of options to select the end period. Values are the same as in Range start options

- Exact end period - the same as Exact start period but for the end of range

- Include collapsed periods before selected - if on, then includes in the report all budget periods, that are before selected period range, as a single consolidated column set

- Include collapsed periods after selected - if on, then includes in the report all budget periods, that are after selected period range, as a single consolidated column set.

Country Specific Reports

Some report are only useful in specific regions. Each tax authority has other requirements. The availability of this reports depend on your Locale Settings. As there is currently not more than one report per country they are merged into the the section called “General Reports”.

Important

To get useful data, the user has to segregate taxable and non taxable income into different accounts, as well as deductible and non deductible expenses. The user must also set the TXF category of each tax related account. This can be done by the Income Tax Information dialog, reachable by Edit → Tax Report Options . Its usage is explained in the section called “Setting Tax Report Options”.

US: Tax Schedule Report and TXF Export

Note

This report is also visible, if no tax report for your region is available in GnuCash.

The tax schedule report lists all taxable income and deductible expense amounts used in the preparation of US Income Tax returns. The purpose of the report is to provide a complete audit trail for these amounts. The report is intended to be used by a tax payer to manually prepare his or her own tax return, or alternatively, to be provided to a tax preparer for that purpose. The report can also be used to generate an export of all tax related income and expenses to a TXF (Tax eXchange Format) file (this is in addition to exporting to the HTML format that all reports allow). The TXF file can be imported into tax filing programs such as TaxCut or TurboTax. The report should be run, inspected carefully for errors or omissions, and then corrections made to transactions, report settings, currency conversion rates or the account structure as needed. This process should be repeated as often as needed until all the amounts on the report are correct before a final version is used and saved along with the tax returns.

For accounts specified in the report options (none = all) that are also flagged as Tax-related, all transactions for the time period selected (also in the report options) are included. The report sorts transactions by date within account providing subtotals by account within tax code within Form or Schedule line number. Support is also provided for multiple copies of and for sub-line items for selected Forms/Schedules. Optionally uses special date processing to include federal estimated tax payments after year end.

All totals are in USD since this is the currency required for filing US Income Tax returns. Non-USD transaction amounts are converted to USD using the transaction conversion rate to USD, if available. If not, a conversion rate from the price database is used (either the date nearest the transaction date or nearest the report date as specified in the report options; if none is available, transaction amounts are converted to zero and the report provides a comment accordingly). A complete audit trail of conversions is provided.

DE: Steuer-Bericht und ElStEr Export

Note

This report is only visible, if the language is set to de | deutsch.

[5] Before GnuCash 3.0 Detail Level was called Style on the General tab.

Printing or Exporting Reports and Charts

Note

Verify !!! How customize printing with Gnome?

GnuCash is able to print reports and to export the reports to HTML (web) pages. The Print GnuCash Document dialog is accessed from the Print button on the toolbar or go to File → Print in the menu. To Export a report to a web page (HTML) select the Export button on the Toolbar and type in a file name.

Most reports, being presented in HTML, can also be copied and pasted into a spreadsheet.

The Print GnuCash Document dialog is used to select which Printer to send the print job to or to print to a File. It also contains a Preview button to view the document before printing. Press Print to send the job to the selected printer or Cancel to dismiss the Print dialog.

Printing from an open register prints the Account Report, which is also called the Register Report. This lists transactions in the account with a total. Other reports print as viewed in the Report screen.

Creating or Modifying Reports and Charts

It is possible to modify existing or write own reports, if the available ones are not suitable. To do this you will need to know Guile, GNOME's implementation of Scheme, which again is a LISP-like programming language, and it is an excellent idea to have a copy of the GnuCash source code available.

Introductory files in the source code

- gnucash/report/doc/report-html.txt documents the reporting interface.

- gnucash/report/reports/example/sample-report.scm is an example demonstrating different types of options.

Accessing the GnuCash Application Programming Interface (API)

To get informations from your GnuCash book for your report it is also necessary to access data from the GnuCash engine. This binding is generated by Swig and based on a set of Scheme wrapper functions in bindings/guile. [6]

Tip

Examine some of the other reports in gnucash/report/ for an indication of how they are used.

Some users started a table in https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Custom_Reports#The_GnuCash_API.

Because the above file only contains the syntax of the function you can use the nightly Doxygen generated API documentation online for the stable branch [7] to get more information about the functions.

After setting up a build environment you can also generate it locally by running

# make users:

make doc

# ninja users:

ninja doc

in your build directory and then open BUILDDIR/libgnucash/doc/html/index.html with your preferred browser.

Report Rendering

At present, reports are produced by calling a HTML-generation API, which outputs a dialect of HTML and rendering this with a HTML widget. This has limitations, particularly when trying to align objects precisely, as might be necessary for printing onto pre-printed invoices for example.

See also the section called “Printing or Exporting Reports and Charts”.

[6] Up to version 2.0.5 G-Wrap was used and the file was src/g-wrap/gnc.html.

[7] After the first feature of the next major release got implemented a future branch will also appear.

Chapter 10. Customizing GnuCash

Account Display Options

The View → Filter By ... is used to set or modify the view of the account tree window. The Accounts tab of this form allows the selection of the types of accounts to display. These selections effect the view on each specific open window of the account tree.

The Other tab allows enabling/disabling of the options; Show Hidden accounts, Show zero total accounts.

The account tree window, by default, only shows the quantity of each commodity that you own, under the column heading Total. Often, however, you may want to display other values. This is easily accomplished by clicking on the Options button (the small down pointing arrow on the right side of the main account window Titlebar), and selecting the option(s) to display. These selections set the view on all open windows of the account tree.

Setting Preferences

The GnuCash Preferences window allows you to customize your GnuCash session by setting several options. From the GnuCash menu select Edit → Preferences ( GnuCash → Preferences on macOS). The GnuCash Preferences window will open. Using the tabs on the left make your desired changes. The settings in this dialog are set per user and not stored with the file. This is in contrast to the settings described in the section called “Book Options”, which are kept with, and are part of, the file (or Book), and as such are common to all users. So GnuCash Preferences settings are individual to each user who uses a given file and any changes made by one user will not affect other users of that file. Also, a given user's preferences will be common to all files that that user opens with GnuCash.

Tip

Pausing the cursor for a couple of seconds over options in these windows will display a tooltip with in-depth information on the choice.

Note

The changes you make will be applied at once.

To close the GnuCash Preferences window press the Close button.

Each tab in the GnuCash Preferences window is discussed in its own section below. For a listing of the tabs, see Chapter 10, Customizing GnuCash.

Note

The presentation of the sections that follows matches the order of the tabs, which are sorted alphabetically by name, in English. The order of the tabs may be different in other languages.

Accounting Period

Figure 10.1. The Preferences window, Accounting Period tab

- Start Date: This item sets the accounting period’s start date.

- Relative: Use the specified relative starting date for profit/loss calculations. Also use this date for net assets calculations. Relative defines start by today or start of current/previous year, quarter, month.

- Absolute: Use the specified absolute starting date for profit/loss calculations. Also use this date for net assets calculations.

- End Date: This item sets the accounting period’s end date.

- Relative: Use the specified relative ending date for profit/loss calculations. Also use this date for net assets calculations.

- Absolute: Use the specified absolute ending date for profit/loss calculations. Also use this date for net assets calculations.

- Summarybar content

- Include grand total: If checked, show in the Summarybar a grand total of all accounts converted to the default currency.

- Include non-currency totals: if this option is selected, GnuCash will include in the Summarybar a total for non-currency items (for instance number of shares).

Accounts

Figure 10.2. The Preferences window, Accounts tab

- Separator Character: The account separator is the character that separates a parent account from its sub-account, for example Utilities:Electric. The default is a : (Colon), but you can also select / (Slash), \ (Backslash), - (Dash) or . (Period), or any Unicode character that isn’t a letter or a number.

- Reverse Balanced accounts: This option lets you determine whether account balances will display as positive or negative numbers:

- Income & Expense assigns a positive credit balance to income account balances and a negative debit balance to expense account balances. See the section called “Types of GnuCash Accounts” for more information on these account types.

- Credit accounts (default) displays a positive balance for account types that would normally carry a credit balance (income, credit, liability, equity). See the section called “Types of GnuCash Accounts” for more information on these account types.

- None shows all credit balances as negative and all debit balances as positive.

- Labels: Select this option if you want column headings in the register to refer to debits and credits instead of the default informal headings such as withdrawal and deposit.

- Default Currency: This item determines which currency will be selected by default when creating new accounts.

- Locale: Use the system locale currency for all newly created accounts.

- Choose: specify the currency to use, independent of your system settings.

- Account Color: This option lets you manage the display of the account color set in the Edit Account window:

- Show the Account Colors as background: show the accounts color as account name background in the Accounts Page.

- Show the Account Colors on tabs: show the accounts color as background in the account register tabs.

Business

Figure 10.3. The Preferences window, Business tab

- General

- Enable extra buttons: If checked, extra toolbar buttons for common business functions are shown.

- Open in new window: If checked, each invoice will be opened in its own top level window. If clear, the invoice will be opened in the current window.

- Accumulate splits on post: Whether multiple entries in an invoice which transfer to the same account should be accumulated into a single split by default.

- Invoices

- Report for printing: Allows to select the invoice report to be used for printing.

- Tax Included: Whether tax is included by default in entries on invoices. This setting is inherited by new customers and vendors.

- Auto pay on posting: If enabled, at post time automatically attempt to pay customer documents with outstanding pre-payments and counter documents.

Note

Counter documents are documents with opposite sign. For example for an invoice, customer credit notes and negative invoices are considered counter documents.

The pre-payments and documents obviously have to be against the same customer.

- Bills

- Notify when due: Lets you set whether you want to be notified at GnuCash startup of when a bill is soon to be due.

- Days in advance: How many days before the due date to warn about bills coming due.

- Tax Included: Whether tax is included by default in entries on bills. This setting is inherited by new customers and vendors.

- Process payments on posting: If enabled, at post time automatically attempt to pay vendor documents with outstanding pre-payments and counter documents.

Note

Counter documents are documents with opposite sign. For example for a bill, vendor credit notes and negative bills are considered counter documents.

The pre-payments and documents obviously have to be against the same vendor.

General

Figure 10.4. The Preferences window, General tab

- General

- Display "Tip of the Day" dialog: This option displays or hides the section called “The “Tip of The Day” Screen” when GnuCash is started.

- Show splash screen: With this option you can enable or disable the visualization of the startup screen while GnuCash is starting up.

- Perform account list setup on new file: This option turns off the display of the New Account Hierarchy Setup assistant when the entry File → New File is selected from the GnuCash menu.

- Set book option on new files to use split "action" field for "Num" field on registers/reports: If selected, the displayed setting on the New Book Options dialog for the Use Split Action Field for Number setting will be selected and, if saved, the book option for the new file will be set so that the "Num" field on registers shows/updates the split-action field and the transaction-num field is shown on the second line in double line mode (and is not visible in single line mode). Otherwise, the displayed setting on the dialog will not be selected and, if saved, the book option for the new file will be set so that the "Num" field on registers shows/updates the transaction-num field. See the discussion in the section called “Book Options” about how to set book options including the option for the section called “Use Split Action Field for Number”. Regardless of the setting of this preference, the user can modify the initially displayed setting for this option on the New Book Options dialog before saving the options.

Note

If the New Book Options dialog appears in situations where a new book is being set up, the settings from this preference will determine the default setting for the corresponding check box on the dialog. However, the OK button on the New Book Options dialog must be pressed for the setting to be made for the new book; otherwise it will default to not selected.

- Files

Note

The following options are only relevant for files saved in XML format.

- Compress files: This option determines whether the GnuCash data file will be compressed or not.

- Show auto-save confirmation question: If this option is enabled, GnuCash will show you a confirmation screen each time the auto-save process is started.

- Auto-save time interval: This field sets the number of minutes between each automatic saving of the file. Set to 0 to disable the auto-save feature.

- Enable timout on "Save changes on closing" question: If enabled, the Save changes on closing question will only wait a limited number of seconds for an answer. If the user didn’t answer within that time, the changes will be saved automatically and the question window closed. You can set the number of seconds in the Time to wait for answer field.

- Retain log files: In this section you can set your preferences about the log files using the provided radio buttons.

- Never: Disable the creation of log files.

- For: Enter a specific number of days for which keep the files.

- Forever: Disable the auto deletion of log files; retains the log files forever.

- Search Dialog

- New search limit: Defaults to "new search" if fewer than this number of items is returned.

Import

Figure 10.5. The Preferences window, Import tab

- General

- Enable skip transaction action: Enable the SKIP action in the transaction matcher. If enabled, a transaction whose best match’s score is in the yellow zone (above the Auto-ADD threshold but below the Auto-CLEAR threshold) will be skipped by default.

- Enable update match action: Enable the UPDATE AND RECONCILE action in the transaction matcher. If enabled, a transaction whose best match’s score is above the Auto-CLEAR threshold and has a different date or amount than the matching existing transaction will cause the existing transaction to be updated and cleared by default.

- Use Bayesian matching: Use Bayesian algorithms to match new transactions with existing accounts.

- Match display threshold: The minimal score a potential match must have to be displayed in the match list.

- Auto-add threshold: A transaction whose best match’s score is in the red zone (above display threshold, but below or equal to Auto-add threshold) will be added by default.

- Auto-clear threshold: A transaction whose best match’s score is in the green zone (above or equal to Auto-clear threshold) will be cleared by default.

- Likely match day threshold: A transaction whose date is within the threshold is likely to be a match. Default is 4 days.

- Unlikely match day threshold: A transaction whose date is outside the threshold is unlikely to be a match. Default is 14 days.

- Commercial ATM fees threshold: In some places commercial ATMs (not belonging to a financial institution) are installed in places like convenience stores. These ATMs add their fee directly to the amount instead of showing up as a separate transaction or in your monthly banking fees. For example, you withdraw $100, and you are charged $101.50 plus Interac fees. If you manually entered that $100, the amounts won’t match. You should set this to whatever is the maximum such fee in your area (in units of your local currency), so the transaction will be recognized as a match by GnuCash.

- Automatically create new commodities: Enables the automatic creation of new commodities if any unknown commodity is encountered during import. If not enabled, the user will be asked what to do with each unknown commodity.

- QIF Import

- Show documentation: The first time you use the QIF importer you may notice that the importer has detailed instructions on how to import a file. Once you have become familiar with using the importer, you might want to turn off this option. Turning off the option gives you less detail in the importer screens.

- Default transaction status (overridden by the status given by the QIF file): In this section you can set the default status for imported transactions using the provided self-explainingradio buttons:

- Not cleared (Default)

- Cleared

- Reconciled

Numbers, Date, Time

Figure 10.6. The Preferences window, Numbers, Date, Time tab

- Numbers

- Force Prices to display as decimals: Prices will round as necessary to display them as decimals instead of displaying the exact fraction if the fractional part cannot be exactly represented as a decimal.

- Display negative amounts in red: If you turn off this option, GnuCash will display negative numbers in black.

- Automatic Decimal Point: This option will automatically insert a decimal point into numbers you type in.

Note

When a calculation is entered in the Amount field, the decimal sign is inserted into every operand that omits a decimal separator.

- Decimal Places: This field allows you to set the number of decimal places to be used.

- Date Format: This option controls the appearance of the date (you can see a preview of the date beside each of the choices). The available choices are:

- US: Use the date format common in the United States.

- UK: Use the date format common in the United Kingdom.

- Europe: Use the date format common in continental Europe.

- ISO: Use the date format specified by the ISO-8601 standard.

- Locale: Use the date format specified by the system locale.

- Date completion: This option lets you manage the case when a date is entered without a year:

- In the current calendar year: Dates will be completed so that they are within the current calendar year.

- In a sliding 12-month window starting a configurable number of months before the current month: (Default) Dates will be completed so that they are close to the current date. You can enter the maximum number of months to go backwards in time when completing dates in a range of 0…11 with 6 as default.

- Time Format

- Use 24-hour clock: Lets you specify if you want to use 24 or 12 hours time format. That is if 11 o’clock at night should be represented as 11PM or 23:00.

Online Banking

Figure 10.7. The Preferences window, Online Banking tab

- Online Banking

Note

This section is shown only if GnuCash is compiled with Aqbanking and HBCI support.

- Close log window when finished: Close the log window when the operation is completed.

- Remember PIN: Enable this option if you want GnuCash to remember the PIN you enter for online banking authentication.

- Verbose debug messages: Enable this option if you want GnuCash to show more information about the online banking operations.

Online Quotes

Figure 10.8. The Preferences window, Online Quotes tab

The Online Quotes tab allows you to set options that affect the fetching of online quotes with the perl module Finance::Quote.

- Alpha Vantage API key: To retrieve online quotes from Alphavantage, this key needs to be set. A key can be retrieved from the Alpha Vantage website.

See also:

- wiki:Online_Quotes#Finance::Quote_Sources,

- “Automatic Updating Exchange Rates” in the guide.

Printing

Figure 10.9. The Preferences window, Printing tab

The Printing tab allows you to set some options that affect the printing of checks on paper.

- Print date format: Enable this option if you want to print on the check, below the actual date, its format in 8 point type.

- Print blocking chars: Enable this option to print a series of three asterisks before and after each text field in the check.

- Default font: Click the button on the left to open a Pick a Font screen in which you can customize the font that will be used to print checks.

Register

Figure 10.10. The Preferences window, Register tab

- Actions

- 'Enter' moves to blank transaction: If selected, move the cursor to the blank transaction at the end of the register after the user presses the Enter key. Otherwise the cursor will be moved down one row.

- Auto-raise lists: If selected, all lists will automatically be expanded when input focus is in the list field.

- Tab order includes Transfer on Memorized Transaction: If selected, when the transaction is auto filled, pressing the Tab key in the register the cursor’s jump will include the Transfer field.

- Reconciling

- Check cleared transactions: If selected, automatically check off cleared transactions when reconciling.

- Automatic credit card payment: If selected, after reconciling a credit card statement, prompt the user to enter a credit card payment.

- Always reconcile to today: If selected, always open the reconcile screen with today’s date for statement date, regardless of previous reconciliation.

- Graphics

- Use GnuCash built-in color theme: If selected, the original GnuCash register color theme will be used. Otherwise the system color theme will be applied to register windows.

- Double mode colors alternate with transactions: If selected, configures the register window to alternate between the primary and secondary colors with each transaction, instead of each row.

- Draw horizontal lines between rows: If selected, GnuCash will draw a horizontal line between each row.

- Draw vertical lines between columns: If selected, GnuCash will draw a vertical line between the cells in each row.

Register Defaults

Figure 10.11. The Preferences window, Register Defaults tab

The Register Defaults tab preferences affect the behavior of the transaction register windows.

- Default Style

Here you can choose from 3 different styles for register windows:

- Basic ledger: Show all transactions on one line. (Two in double line mode.)

- Auto-split ledger: Automatically expand the current transaction to show all splits. All other transactions are shown on one line. (Two in double line mode.)

- Transaction journal: All transactions are expanded to show all splits.

- Other Defaults

- Register opens in a new window: If selected, register will be in a separate window instead of in a tab.

- Double line mode: If selected, show two lines of information for each transaction instead of one.

- Only display leaf account names: If selected, only the name of the leaf accounts will be displayed in the Account selection popup. The default behavior is to display the full account name including the path in the account tree.

Warning

Enabling this option implies that you use unique leaf account names.

- Number of transactions: How many transactions to show in a register. Set to 0 to show all transactions.

Reports

Figure 10.12. The Preferences window, Reports tab

The Reports tab preferences affect the behavior of GnuCash reports.

- Default Report Currency: This item determines which currency will be used by default when creating reports. You can choose:

- Locale: Use the system locale currency for all newly created reports.

- Choose: Use the specified currency for all newly created reports.

- Location

- Report opens in a new window: if you select this option, the reports will open up in a new window, instead of in a tab.

Scheduled Transactions

Figure 10.13. The Preferences window, Scheduled Transactions tab

The Scheduled Transactions tab preferences affect the behavior of GnuCash for scheduling transactions. More information about scheduled transactions can be found in the section called “Scheduling Transactions”.

- Since Last Run Dialog

- Run when data file opened: If selected, the Since Last Run screen will appear when GnuCash opens the file.

- Show notification window: If selected, a list of scheduled and created transactions will appear when GnuCash opens the file.

- Review created transactions: If selected, set Review created transactions as the default for the Since Last Run dialog.

- Transaction Editor Defaults

- Auto-Create new transactions: If selected, new scheduled transactions will automatically be entered into the register. If the auto-create option is enabled, you can also check Notify before transactions are created so that you will be able to confirm creating the transactions.

- Create in advance: The default number of days in advance to create the registered scheduled transactions.

- Remind in advance: The default number of days in advance to remind about new scheduled transactions.

Windows

Figure 10.14. The Preferences window, Windows tab

- Window Geometry

- Save window size and position: If selected, next time GnuCash starts it will re-use the window size and position configured in the last run.

- Tabs

- Show close button on notebook tabs: Adds a small close icon on each tab, to make it easier to close the various tabs.

- Bring the most recent tab to the front: If selected, the newly created tab will be shown over the other tabs.

- Open new tabs adjacent to current tab: If selected, open new tabs adjacent to the current tab instead of at the end.

- Width: The width of tab label expressed in characters.

Note

If the text in the tab is longer than this value (the test is approximate) then the tab label will have the middle cut and replaced with an ellipsis.

- Tab Position

Position the tabs at the Top (default), Bottom, Left or Right.

- Summary Bar Position

Position the Summary Bar at the Top or at the Bottom (default) of the GnuCash main window.

Book Options

The File → Properties menu item is used to set or modify choices that affect how a specific GnuCash file (also referred to as a Book) operates. Selecting this menu item brings up the Book Optionsdialog. This dialog also appears in situations where you are importing transactions into a new book, with the title New Book Options. It is automatically raised in these 'new book' situations because these settings can affect how imported data are converted to GnuCash transactions and so should be considered and set before your first import (specifically, the the section called “Use Split Action Field for Number” setting).

The settings in this dialog are kept with, and are part of, the file (or Book). This is in contrast to the settings described in the section called “Setting Preferences”, which are set per user and not stored with the file. So Book Options settings are shared by all users who use a given file and any changes made by one user will affect all users of that file.

Tip

Pausing the cursor for a couple of seconds over options in these tabs will display a tooltip with a more detailed description of the choice.

The Book Options dialog has five buttons that are common to all tabs. The Reset defaults button takes all items on the visible tab and sets their value to the default setting; it only affects the visible tab. The Help button opens up a help window to this section. The Cancel button closes the dialog, making no changes to the saved settings for Book Options. The Apply button is initially insensitive but becomes sensitive when any setting is set or changed. Selecting it saves the setting(s) for the book but keeps the Book Options dialog open. Typically, the changes are reflected in the affected areas of GnuCash as soon as the button is pressed, so it can be used to 'see' the effect of a given option without having to re-open the dialog. The Apply button is not sensitive on the dialog if it appears during transaction import (that is, 'new book') situations. The OK button behaves like the Apply button except that it immediately closes the dialog, as well.

Accounts Book Options Tab

Figure 10.15. The Book Options window, Accounts tab

The Accounts tab of this dialog allows the selection of options that affect how accounting registers function.

Use Trading Accounts

Check the Use Trading Accounts checkbox to have trading accounts used for transactions involving more than one currency or commodity.

Tip

To avoid several problems on multiple currency accounting read Peter Selinger's Tutorial on multiple currency accounting.

Day Threshold for Read-Only Transactions

Use the Day Threshold for Read-Only Transactions spin-box to choose the number of days before today, prior to which, transactions will be read-only and cannot be edited anymore in the registers. This threshold is marked by a red line in the account register windows. If zero, all transactions can be edited and none are read-only. This feature is intended to be used to guard against accidental changes to non-current transactions.

Use Split Action Field for Number

Note

This option is only available in GnuCash version 2.6 or later.

Check the Use Split Action Field for Number checkbox to have the split action field of the anchor split used for the 'Num' column in registers, reports and import/export functions, where applicable, in place of the transaction number; the transaction number is then shown as 'T-Num' on reports and on the second line of registers. This choice has a corresponding effect on business features.

The difference between the two is that with the checkbox not selected, the same 'Num' is displayed for a given transaction regardless of what register it is viewed in and with the checkbox selected, a different 'Num' can be entered/displayed for a given transaction in each register it is viewed in. In both cases, the 'next number logic' of the 'Num' cell is based on the account of the register the transaction is entered to or viewed from but in one case it fills the transaction number, in the other, it fills the split action field of the anchor split. In both cases, both fields are visible and can be viewed and used as free-form text in double-line mode for any value the user wants.

Warning

Initial setup of GnuCash: It is expected that, after careful consideration of the consequences, this option will be set when a new GnuCash file is created and not changed thereafter (see next warning). For this reason, a preference is provided (see Setting Preferences - General ) that can establish an initial default setting for new files, so that if you will have more than one file, it is easier to set them all up consistently. You may wish to set up a test file and experiment with the two settings to understand the differences before establishing your first real GnuCash file.

Tip

Moving from Quicken: For users that are switching from other personal accounting applications, such as Quicken, selecting this option may be more consistent with the numbering approach used there and can preserve the numbering of historical data brought over; this option should be set before performing the initial import.

Warning

Changing this option for an existing GnuCash file: If you change this option for an existing file, historical data will not be changed. This means that if you set the option one way, enter (or import) transactions, then change the option and enter (or import) additional transactions and switch back-and-forth, you will end up with a file that will appear to have inconsistent treatment of numbers in registers, reports and exports. This is because the setting of this option at the time of data entry/import determines where the number data is stored and the setting at the time of data display/reporting/exporting determines which field is displayed as number.

There is no reason to avoid changing this option for an existing GnuCash file if you understand the implications. If you elect to make this change, it should probably be done between accounting periods with the understanding that number data prior to the date the option is changed will be displayed/reported/exported differently from that after the date.

Warning

If you change this option, and press Apply or OK, open registers and labels on query and sorting dialogs will be refreshed to reflect the new option immediately. But open reports need to be individually reloaded by the user to have the change reflected on the report.

Warning

This option is only available in GnuCash version 2.6 or later. If a GnuCash file from an earlier version is opened in version 2.6 or later, and this feature is not used, this feature will not prevent the file from being opened in the earlier version of GnuCash. However, if the option is set, the file will not be able to be opened by the earlier version, even if the option is set back to its original setting. A warning dialog will be displayed from the earlier version. Do not set this option if you want to open the file with an earlier version.

Budgeting Book Options Tab

Figure 10.16. The Book Options window, Budgeting tab

The Budgeting tab allows you to specify the budget to be used for reports when none has otherwise been specified.

Business Book Options Tab

Figure 10.17. The Book Options window, Business tab

The Business tab allows you to enter values that are in turn used by the business features of GnuCash:

Company Name

The name of the company is used in many reports.

Company Contact Person

The name of the contact person to print on invoices.

Company Phone, Fax, Email Address

The references of your business.

Company Website URL

The internet address of the company’s website.

Company ID

The tax ID of your company.

Default Customer TaxTable

The default taxtable applicable to your most common customers.

Default Vendor TaxTable

The default taxtable applicable to your most common vendors.

Fancy Date Format

The default date format used for fancy printed dates (e.g. on invoices).

Reset Defaults

Press the button to reset all values to their defaults.

Note

None of the above values is required to use GnuCash but, if given, will be used throughout the program. (f.e. in reports, invoices etc...)

Counters Book Options Tab

Figure 10.18. The Book Options window, Counters tab

The Counters tab allows you to set the 'previous' value for each number indicated: Bill, Customer, Employee, etc. These counters are used by the Chapter 7, Business Features of GnuCash.

The number entered here will be incremented when the various business features calculate a value for a corresponding field on a dialog. For example, if you leave the Customer Number field blank on the New Customer dialog, the customer will be assigned the number in the counter field plus 1. The numbers displayed in the tab are incremented as these business features are used. (But note that if you have the Book Options dialog open, you need to close it and re-open it to see the changes; the displayed field values are not automatically refreshed.)

The corresponding format fields are used to specify printf-style format strings that are used to format the printing of the number. For example, to put the literal "C - " in front of the customer number, you would put "C - %li" (without the quotes) in the customer format string field. If the value in the customer number field was 5, the next customer added would be assigned the number "C - 6". As another example, if you wanted the number to be printed with leading zeros and 5 characters wide, you would enter "C - %05li" and the next customer number would be assigned the number "C - 00006".

Note

For historical reasons GnuCash accepts multiple format specifiers although they all yield the same end result. You can choose "li", "lli" or I64i".

Changing Style Sheets

GnuCash has four default style sheets for web-page reports. These style sheets can be altered by using the HTML Style Sheets editor. To access the editor go to Edit → Style Sheets...

Using the Style Sheet Editor you may display/modify the setting of a Style Sheet.

Note

Changing the Style Sheet will change the appearance of all reports that have selected that Style Sheet. A Reload is required to view the changes, if the report(s) are currently displayed.

To add a new Style Sheet click the New... button in the Style Sheet pane. The New Style Sheet dialog will appear. Fill in the name field with the name of the new Style Sheet and choose a template. To remove a Style Sheet select the Style Sheet from the list and click Delete.

Default Style Sheet

The Default Style Sheet has four tabs to alter the appearance of reports utilizing it, Colors, Fonts, General and Tables.

Colors Tab

- Alternate Table Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a color that will be applied to alternate table rows.

Fonts Tab

- Title: Select the font and size for Titles.

- Account Link: Select the font and size for Account Links.

- Number Cell: Select the font and size for Number Cells.

- Negative Values in Red: Select to have negative values displayed in red.

- Text Cell: Select the font and size for Text Cells.

- Total Number Cell: Select the font and size for Total Number Cells.

- Total Label Cell: Select the font and size for Total Label Cells.

- Centered Label Cell: Select the font and size for Centered Label Cells.

General Tab

- Background Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new background color.

- Background Pixmap: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the background in reports.

- Enable Links: Select this to enable blue hyperlinks in reports.

Tables Tab

- Table cell spacing: Sets the space between table cells

- Table cell padding: Sets the space between table cell edges and contents

- Table border width: Sets the width of the borders on tables.

Easy Style Sheet

The Easy Style Sheet has five tabs to alter the appearance of reports: Colors, Fonts, General, Images and Tables.

Colors

- Background Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new background color.

- Text Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new text color.

- Text Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new text cell color.

- Link Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new link color.

- Alternate Table Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for alternate table rows.

- Subheading/Subtotal Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for subheading/subtotal table rows.

- Sub-subheading/total Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for sub-subheading/total table rows.

- Grand Total Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for grand total rows.

Fonts

- Title: Select the font and size for Titles.

- Account Link: Select the font and size for Account Links.

- Number Cell: Select the font and size for Number Cells.

- Negative Values in Red: Select to have negative values displayed in red.

- Number Header: Select the font and size for Number Header table rows.

- Text Cell: Select the font and size for Text Cells.

- Total Number Cell: Select the font and size for Total Number Cells.

- Total Label Cell: Select the font and size for Total Label Cells.

- Centered Label Cell: Select the font and size for Centered Label Cells.

General

- Preparer: Name of the person preparing the report.

- Prepared for: Name of Organization or Company the report is prepared for.

- Show preparer info: Show the Preparer information in the report.

- Enable Links: Select this to enable blue hyperlinks in reports.

Images

- Background Tile: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the background in reports. The Clear button will clear the selection.

- Heading Banner: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the heading in reports. The Clear button will clear the selection.

- Heading Alignment: Select from pull-down list; Left, Right, Center, to specify the alignment of the banner at the top of report(s).

- Logo: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the logo in reports. The Clear button will clear the selection.

Tables

- Table cell spacing: Sets the space between table cells

- Table cell padding: Sets the space between table cell edges and contents

- Table border width: Sets the width of the borders on tables.

Footer Style Sheet

The Footer Style Sheet has the same five tabs to alter the appearance of reports as the Easy Style Sheets: Colors, Fonts, General, Images and Tables.

Colors

- Background Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new background color.

- Text Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new text color.

- Text Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new text cell color.

- Link Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new link color.

- Alternate Table Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for alternate table rows.

- Subheading/Subtotal Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for subheading/subtotal table rows.

- Sub-subheading/total Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for sub-subheading/total table rows.

- Grand Total Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for grand total rows.

Fonts

- Title: Select the font and size for Titles.

- Account Link: Select the font and size for Account Links.

- Number Cell: Select the font and size for Number Cells.

- Negative Values in Red: Select to have negative values displayed in red.

- Number Header: Select the font and size for Number Header table rows.

- Text Cell: Select the font and size for Text Cells.

- Total Number Cell: Select the font and size for Total Number Cells.

- Total Label Cell: Select the font and size for Total Label Cells.

- Centered Label Cell: Select the font and size for Centered Label Cells.

General

- Preparer: Name of the person preparing the report.

- Prepared for: Name of Organization or Company the report is prepared for.

- Show preparer info: Show the Preparer information in the report.

- Enable Links: Select this to enable blue hyperlinks in reports.

- Footer: Text to be included in report footer.

Images

- Background Tile: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the background in reports. The Clear button will clear the selection.

- Heading Banner: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the heading in reports. The Clear button will clear the selection.

- Heading Alignment: Select from pull-down list; Left, Right, Center, to specify the alignment of the banner at the top of report(s).

- Logo: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the logo in reports. The Clear button will clear the selection.

Tables

- Table cell spacing: Sets the space between table cells

- Table cell padding: Sets the space between table cell edges and contents

- Table border width: Sets the width of the borders on tables.

Technicolor Style Sheet

The Technicolor Style Sheet has has five tabs to alter the appearance of reports: Colors, Fonts, General, Images and Tables.

Colors

- Background Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new background color.

- Text Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new text color.

- Text Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new text cell color.

- Link Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new link color.

- Alternate Table Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for alternate table rows.

- Subheading/Subtotal Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for subheading/subtotal table rows.

- Sub-subheading/total Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for sub-subheading/total table rows.

- Grand Total Cell Color: Opens the color picker to choose a new color for grand total rows.

Fonts

- Title: Select the font and size for Titles.

- Account Link: Select the font and size for Account Links.

- Number Cell: Select the font and size for Number Cells.

- Negative Values in Red: Select to have negative values displayed in red.

- Number Header: Select the font and size for Number Header table rows.

- Text Cell: Select the font and size for Text Cells.

- Total Number Cell: Select the font and size for Total Number Cells.

- Total Label Cell: Select the font and size for Total Label Cells.

- Centered Label Cell: Select the font and size for Centered Label Cells.

General

- Preparer: Name of the person preparing the report.

- Prepared for: Name of Organization or Company the report is prepared for.

- Show preparer info: Show the Preparer information in the report.

- Enable Links: Select this to enable blue hyperlinks in reports.

Images

- Background Tile: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the background in reports. The Clear button will clear the selection.

- Heading Banner: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the heading in reports. The Clear button will clear the selection.

- Heading Alignment: Select from pull-down list; Left, Right, Center, to specify the alignment of the banner at the top of report(s).

- Logo: Use the Browse button to select a picture to use as the logo in reports. The Clear button will clear the selection.

Tables

- Table cell spacing: Sets the space between table cells

- Table cell padding: Sets the space between table cell edges and cell contents

- Table border width: Sets the width of the borders on tables.

Setting Tax Report Options

Abstract

The tax report can be used to prepare online tax reports for specific countries, see the section called “Country Specific Reports”. Currently US and partial DE are supported.

Localization

Before it can be used in other regions, one needs to provide a localized taxtable. See the instructions in the wiki.

The Income Tax Information dialog is used to set Tax Report Options. The settings on accounts in this dialog are used by the TXF Export function in reports to select the accounts for export. To access this dialog go to Edit → Tax Report Options .

Tip

If the Income Tax features are used, it is strongly recommended that the Tax Info column be made visible on the accounts tab (click large downward-pointing arrow and select Tax Info check box). The Tax Info column will display the Form/Schedule and tax category (e.g., Schedule D Dividend, cap gain distrib.) assigned to an account, if any. Alternatively, it will display the following error messages which can be corrected through Edit → Tax Report Options :

- Tax-related but has no tax code

- Tax entity type not specified

- Tax type "tax_type": invalid code "code" for account type"

- Not tax-related; tax type "tax_type": invalid code "code" for account type

- Invalid code "code" for tax type "tax_type"

- Not tax-related; invalid code "code" for tax type "tax_type"

- No form: code "code", tax type "tax_type"

- Not tax-related; no form: code "code", tax type "tax_type"

- No description: form "form", code "code", tax type "tax_type"

- Not tax-related; no description: form "form", code "code", tax type "tax_type"

- Not tax-related; "form"("copy") "desc" (code "code", tax type "tax_type")

The Income Tax Identity must be set in order to assign codes to individual accounts. Click Edit to set the identity. The Tax Name is optional. If entered, it will be printed at the top of the report. A Type must be selected in order to activate the tax category selections. The choices are:

- Individual, Joint, etc. - Files US Form 1040 Tax Return

- Partnership - Files US Form 1065 Tax Return

- Corporation - Files US Form 1120 Tax Return

- S Corporation - Files US Form 1120S Tax Return

- None - No Income Tax Options Provided

While the Income Tax Entity Type can be changed after tax categories have been assigned to accounts, you should be cautioned that you will need to manually change each one if you do so, which could be quite tedious. The tax categories are unique for each Income Tax Entity Type, so changing the type will make all previously assigned categories invalid. It is assumed (and highly recommended) that each GnuCash file is for only one tax entity and this is where you specify its type of tax entity. You should not keep, for example, personal and partnership accounts mixed in one GnuCash file if you plan to use the Income Tax Reporting features.

A given TXF code can be assigned to multiple accounts. The Tax Schedule Report will combine accounts by code and generate a detailed TXF record for each account and a summary TXF record for the total as calculated by the report.

For codes for which the "Payer Name Source" is not grayed, the payer on the TXF record will be based on what is specified here, either the account name of the account or the account name of the account’s parent account. This feature is typically used for interest accounts or stocks or mutual funds that pay dividends where the individual payees are shown on the tax schedule. For example, if the parent account’s name is the name of your broker and the sub-account’s names are the names of individual stocks that pay dividends and the name on the 1099-DIV received is that of the broker, in order to match that name, you would select ’Parent Account’; the total dividends from the broker would be exported and, if you had several brokers, there would be an amount exported and a subtotal for each broker, along with each brokers name. Alternatively, if you had a parent account named Directly Held, for example, and below it sub-accounts for one or more stocks, you would receive a 1099-DIV from the issuer of each stock separately and, in order to match that name, you would select Current Account; the total dividends from each stock would be exported and, if you had several stocks, there would be an amount exported and a subtotal for each stock, along with each stock’s name as the payer.

Some tax Forms/Schedules need to have multiple copies filed under some circumstances (for example, Schedule C if a taxpayer and spouse have separate businesses). For tax categories on these Forms/Schedules, the Copy Number is not grayed out and can be used to segregate accounts by copy number.

- Accounts: This pane contains the list of accounts. Select an account to set a TXF category. If no account is selected nothing is changed. If multiple accounts are selected, all of the accounts will be set to the selected item.

- Tax Related: Select this check-box to add tax information to an account then select the TXF Category below. This setting is displayed on the account edit dialogue but cannot be changed from there.

- TXF Categories: Select the desired one. A detailed description appears just below (if available, otherwise it says No help available), along with the TXF code for the category and information about what line number on the form or schedule the amounts are included in by tax year (used for detailed sort on report).

- Payer Name Source: Select an option to determine where the text description that is exported along with the value of the account is derived from, as described above. This is usually the name of a bank, stock, or mutual fund that pays dividends or interest. Occasionally, it is a description of a deduction.

- Copy Number: A copy number that is exported along with the value of the account. This is used to segregate amounts between different copies of the same Form/Schedule that may need to be filed (e.g., Schedule C(1), Schedule C(2), etc.). This is also used to sort the report.

TXF Export - Known Anomalies and Limitations

TaxCut 1999

- Code: N488 "^ Sched B \ Div. income, cap gain distrib."

- Code: N286 "^ Sched B \ Dividend income"

These two codes, from the same payer, are not correlated. The user will have to adjust for this after import.

TaxCut 1999, 2000

- Code: N521 " F1040 \ Federal estimated tax, quarterly"

Does not accept the date field and does not import the individual payment amounts, only the total. The date and individual payment amounts, only matter if you have to compute the penalty. (this may be a TurboTax enhancement)

- Code: N460 " W-2 \ Salary or wages, self"

- Code: N506 " W-2 \ Salary or wages, spouse"

- and other related codes.

Use Copy Number to separate information from more than one job.

TurboTax 1999, 2000

- Code: N521 " F1040 \ Federal estimated tax, quarterly"

Does not accept the dates outside of the tax year. This is a problem for the last payment that is due Jan 15. GnuCash changes the the date of the last payment to Dec 31 for the export unless the "Do not use special date processing" option is selected in the report options display tab. The user will have to adjust for this after import. The date only matters if you have to compute the penalty.

TXF Tax eXport Format

- Duplicate Codes

Codes can be assigned to multiple accounts and the amounts will be summed for all the accounts generating one detail TXF record per account and one summary TXF record for the sum. Codes that let you select "Payer Name Source" will generate a separate summary TXF account with each change in payer. Selecting the "Print TXF export parameters" option will cause the report to show to which codes this applies (Payer Name Source option Y) and, for the accounts assigned to those codes, the Name Source each account is set to and the TXF item number that will be assigned to each. A summary TXF record will be generated for each change in assigned item line number. These may not be handled the same by TaxCut and TurboTax.

- Code: N673 "Short/Long gain or loss"

Short term or long term gain or loss from the sale of a security; generates TXF output for only the date sold and sales amount, with the date acquired and cost basis information left blank (to be separately added in the tax software). The code can be assigned to either a short-, long-, or mixed-term gain/loss income account and the security sales transaction should be entered as illustrated in Section 8.7, Selling Shares, of the GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide. The report uses the transaction split of the gain/loss account to find one or more other splits in the same transaction with negative share quantities. For each of these found, it generates a detailed TXF output record with the quantity sold, the name of the security, the date sold, and the sales amount. Note that if, for a given transaction, more than one transaction split is to a gain/loss income account assigned to code 673, TXF output data will be erroneously repeated. That is because the report will fetch the same data, and re-output it, for each transaction split set to a gain/loss income account within the same transaction. For this reason, there should be no more than one gain/loss account entered per transaction to use this tax reporting code properly. (Note that no amounts are used from GnuCash’s lot-tracking; a future enhancement is expected to use this data to provide capital gain reporting).

Detailed TXF Category Descriptions

Table 32. Detailed TXF Category Descriptions

Table 10.1. Detailed TXF Category Descriptions

Tax Form \ TXF Code

Description

Extended TXF Help messages

< help \ H001

Name of Current account is exported.

Categories marked with a “<” or a “^”, require a Payer identification to be exported. “<” indicates that the name of this account is exported as this Payer ID. Typically, this is a bank, stock, or mutual fund name.

^ help \ H002

Name of Parent account is exported.

Categories marked with a “<” or a “^”, require a Payer identification to be exported. “^” indicates that the name of the PARENT of this account is exported as this Payer ID. Typically, this is a bank, stock, or mutual fund name.

# help \ H003

Not implemented yet, Do NOT Use!

Categories marked with a “#” not fully implemented yet! Do not use these codes!

none \ N000

Tax Report Only - No TXF Export

This is a dummy category and only shows up on the tax report, but is not exported.

Help F1040 \ H256

Form 1040 - the main tax form

Form 1040 is the main form of your tax return.

F1040 \ N261

Alimony received

Amounts received as alimony or separate maintenance. Note: child support is not considered alimony.

F1040 \ N257

Other income, misc.

Miscellaneous income such as: a hobby or a farm you operate mostly for recreation and pleasure, jury duty pay. Exclude self employment income, gambling winnings, prizes and awards.

F1040 \ N258

Sick pay or disability pay

Amounts you receive from your employer while you are sick or injured are part of your salary or wages. Exclude workers’ compensation, accident or health insurance policy benefits, if you paid the premiums.

F1040 \ N260

State and local tax refunds

Refund of state or local income tax refund (or credit or offset) which you deducted or took a credit for in an earlier year. You should receive a statement, Form 1099-G. Not reportable if you didn’t itemize last year.

F1040 \ N262

IRA contribution, self

Contribution to a qualified IRA. If you or your spouse are covered by a company retirement plan, this amount could be limited or eliminated.

F1040 \ N263

Keogh deduction, self

Contributions to a Keogh or HR 10 plan of a sole proprietor or a partnership.

F1040 \ N264

Alimony paid

Amounts payed as alimony or separate maintenance. Note: child support is not considered alimony.

< F1040 \ N265

Early withdrawal penalty

Penalty on Early Withdrawal of Savings from CD’s or similar instruments. This is reported on Form 1099-INT or Form 1099-OID.

F1040 \ N266

Social Security income, self

The part of any monthly benefit under title II of the Social Security Act. These will be reported on Form SSA-1099.

F1040 \ N269

Taxable fringe benefits

Fringe benefits you receive in connection with the performance of your services are included in your gross income as compensation. Examples: Accident or Health Plan, Educational Assistance, Group-Term Life Insurance, Transportation (company car).

F1040 \ N481

IRA contribution, spouse

Contribution of a working spouse to a qualified IRA. If you or your spouse are covered by a company retirement plan, the deductible contribution could be limited or eliminated.

F1040 \ N482

IRA contrib., non-work spouse

IRA contribution for a non-working spouse.

F1040 \ N483

Social Security inc., spouse

Spouse’s part of any monthly benefit under title II of the Social Security Act. These will be reported on Form SSA-1099.

F1040 \ N516

Keogh deduction, spouse

Spouse Contributions to a Keogh or HR 10 plan of a sole proprietor or a partnership.

F1040 \ N517

SEP-IRA deduction, self

Contributions made to a simplified employee pension plan (SEP-IRA).

F1040 \ N518

SEP-IRA deduction, spouse

Spouse contributions made to a simplified employee pension plan (SEP-IRA).

F1040 \ N519

RR retirement income, self

The part of tier I railroad retirement benefits, which are treated as a social security benefits. These will be reported on Form RRB-1099.

F1040 \ N520

RR retirement inc., spouse

Spouse’s part of tier I railroad retirement benefits, which are treated as a social security benefits. These will be reported on Form RRB-1099.

F1040 \ N521

Federal estimated tax, quarterly

The quarterly payments you made on your estimated Federal income tax (Form 1040-ES). Include any overpay from your previous year return that you applied to your estimated tax. NOTE: If a full year (Jan 1, YEAR to Dec 31, YEAR) is specified, GnuCash adjusts the date to Mar 1, YEAR to Feb 28, YEAR+1. Thus, the payment due Jan 15 is exported for the correct year.

F1040 \ N607

Medical savings contribution, self

Contributions made to your medical savings account that were not reported on your Form W-2.

F1040 \ N608

Medical savings contribution, spouse

Contributions made to your spouse’s medical savings account that were not reported on their Form W-2.

F1040 \ N609

SIMPLE contribution, self

Contributions made to your SIMPLE retirement plan that were not reported on your Form W-2.

F1040 \ N610

SIMPLE contribution, spouse

Contributions made to your spouse’s SIMPLE retirement plan that were not reported on your spouse’s Form W-2.

F1040 \ N611

Fed tax withheld, Social Security, self

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from your part of any monthly benefit under title II of the Social Security Act.

F1040 \ N612

Fed tax withheld, Social Security, spouse

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from your spouse’s part of any monthly benefit under title II of the Social Security Act.

F1040 \ N613

Fed tax withheld, RR retire, self

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from your part of tier I railroad retirement benefits, which are treated as a social security benefits.

F1040 \ N614

Fed tax withheld, RR retire, spouse

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from your spouse’s part of tier I railroad retirement benefits, which are treated as a social security benefits.

F1040 \ N636

Student loan interest

The amount of interest you paid this year on qualified student loans.

Help F1099-G \ H634

Form 1099-G - certain Government payments

Form 1099-G is used to report certain government payments from federal, state, or local governments.

F1099-G \ N260

State and local tax refunds

Refund of state or local income tax refund (or credit or offset) which you deducted or took a credit for in an earlier year. You should receive a statement, Form 1099-G. Not reportable if you didn’t itemize last year.

F1099-G \ N479

Unemployment compensation

Total unemployment compensation paid to you this year. Reported on Form 1099-G.

F1099-G \ N605

Unemployment comp repaid

If you received an overpayment of unemployment compensation this year or last and you repaid any of it this year, subtract the amount you repaid from the total amount you received.

F1099-G \ N606

Fed tax withheld, unemployment comp

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from your unemployment compensation.

F1099-G \ N672

Qualified state tuition earnings

Qualified state tuition program earnings you received this year.

Help F1099-MISC \ H553

Form 1099-MISC - MISCellaneous income

Form 1099-MISC is used to report miscellaneous income received and direct sales of consumer goods for resale.

^ F1099-MISC \ N259

Prizes and awards

The amount of prizes and awards that are not for services performed. Included is the fair market value of merchandise won on game shows.

^ F1099-MISC \ N557

Other income

The amount of prizes and awards that are not for services performed. Included is the fair market value of merchandise won on game shows. Included is all punitive damages, any damages for nonphysical injuries or sickness, and any other taxable damages, Deceased employee’s wages paid to estate or beneficiary.

^ F1099-MISC \ N555

Rents

Amounts received for all types of rents, such as real estate rentals for office space, machine rentals, and pasture rentals.

^ F1099-MISC \ N556

Royalties

The gross royalty payments received from a publisher or literary agent.

^ F1099-MISC \ N558

Federal tax withheld

The amount of federal income tax withheld (backup withholding) from 1099-MISC income.

^ F1099-MISC \ N559

Fishing boat proceeds

Your share of all proceeds from the sale of a catch or the fair market value of a distribution in kind that you received as a crew member of a fishing boat.

^ F1099-MISC \ N560

Medical/health payments

The amount of payments received as a physician or other supplier or provider of medical or health care services. This includes payments made by medical and health care insurers under health, accident, and sickness insurance programs.

^ F1099-MISC \ N561

Non employee compensation

The amount of non-employee compensation received. This includes fees, commissions, prizes and awards for services performed, other forms of compensation for services you performed for a trade or business by which you are not employed. Also include oil and gas payments for a working interest.

^ F1099-MISC \ N562

Crop insurance proceeds

The amount of crop insurance proceeds as the result of crop damage.

^ F1099-MISC \ N563

State tax withheld

The amount of state income tax withheld (state backup withholding) from 1099-MISC income.

Help F1099=MSA \ H629

Form 1099-MSA Medical Savings Account

Form 1099-MSA is used to report medical savings account distributions.

F1099-MSA \ N631

MSA gross distribution

The amount you received this year from a Medical Savings Account. The amount may have been a direct payment to the medical service provider or distributed to you.

F1099-MSA \ N632

MSA earnings on excess contrib

The earnings on any excess contributions you withdrew from an MSA by the due date of your income tax return. If you withdrew the excess, plus any earnings, by the due date of your income tax return, you must include the earnings in your income in the year you received the distribution even if you used it to pay qualified medical expenses.

Help F1099-R \ H473

Form 1099-R - Retirement distributions

Form 1099-R is used to report taxable and non-taxable retirement distributions from retirement, pension, profit-sharing, or annuity plans. Use a separate Form 1099-R for each payer.

^ F1099-R \ N475

Total pension gross distribution

The gross amount of a distribution from a qualified pension or annuity plan. Note: IRA distributions are not included here.

^ F1099-R \ N476

Total pension taxable distribution

The taxable amount of a distribution from a qualified pension or annuity plan. Note: IRA distributions are not included here.

^ F1099-R \ N477

Total IRA gross distribution

The gross amount of a distribution from a qualified Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) plan.

^ F1099-R \ N478

Total IRA taxable distribution

The taxable amount of a distribution from a qualified Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) plan.

^ F1099-R \ N529

Pension federal tax withheld

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from your pension distribution.

^ F1099-R \ N530

Pension state tax withheld

The amount of state income taxes withheld from your pension distribution.

^ F1099-R \ N531

Pension local tax withheld

The amount of local income taxes withheld from your pension distribution.

^ F1099-R \ N532

IRA federal tax withheld

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from your IRA distribution.

^ F1099-R \ N533

IRA state tax withheld

The amount of state income taxes withheld from your IRA distribution.

^ F1099-R \ N534

IRA local tax withheld

The amount of local income taxes withheld from your IRA distribution.

^ F1099-R \ N623

SIMPLE total gross distribution

The gross amount of a distribution received from a qualified SIMPLE pension plan.

^ F1099-R \ N624

SIMPLE total taxable distribution

The taxable amount of a distribution received from a qualified SIMPLE plan. This amount may be subject to a federal penalty of up to 25%.

^ F1099-R \ N625

SIMPLE federal tax withheld

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from a SIMPLE distribution received.

^ F1099-R \ N626

SIMPLE state tax withheld

The amount of state income taxes withheld from a SIMPLE distribution received.

^ F1099-R \ N627

SIMPLE local tax withheld

The amount of local income taxes withheld from a SIMPLE distribution received.

Help F2106 \ H380

employee business expenses

Form 2106 is used to deduct employee business expenses. You must file this form if you were reimbursed by your employer or claim job-related travel, transportation, meal, or entertainment expenses. Use a separate Form 2106 for your spouse’s expenses.

F2106 \ N381

Education expenses

Cost of tuition, books, supplies, laboratory fees, and similar items, and certain transportation costs if the education maintains or improves skills required in your present work or is required by your employer or the law to keep your salary, status, or job, and the requirement serves a business purpose of your employer. Expenses are not deductible if they are needed to meet the minimum educational requirements to qualify you in your work or business or will lead to qualifying you in a new trade or business.

F2106 \ N382

Automobile expenses

Total annual expenses for gasoline, oil, repairs, insurance, tires, license plates, or similar items.

F2106 \ N384

Local transportation expenses

Local transportation expenses are the expenses of getting from one workplace to another when you are not traveling away from home. They include the cost of transportation by air, rail, bus, taxi, and the cost of using your car. Generally, the cost of commuting to and from your regular place of work is not deductible.

F2106 \ N385

Other business expenses

Other job-related expenses, including expenses for business gifts, trade publications, etc.

F2106 \ N386

Meal/entertainment expenses

Allowable meals and entertainment expense, including meals while away from your tax home overnight and other business meals and entertainment.

F2106 \ N387

Reimb. business expenses (non-meal/ent.)

Reimbursement for business expenses from your employer that is NOT included on your Form W-2. Note: meals and entertainment are NOT included here.

F2106 \ N388

Reimb. meal/entertainment expenses

Reimbursement for meal and entertainment expenses from your employer that is NOT included on your Form W-2.

F2106 \ N389

Job seeking expenses

Fees to employment agencies and other costs to look for a new job in your present occupation, even if you do not get a new job.

F2106 \ N390

Special clothing expenses

cost and upkeep of work clothes, if you must wear them as a condition of your employment, and the clothes are not suitable for everyday wear. Include the cost of protective clothing required in your work, such as safety shoes or boots, safety glasses, hard hats, and work gloves.

F2106 \ N391

Employee home office expenses

Your use of the business part of your home must be: exclusive, regular, for your trade or business, AND The business part of your home must be one of the following: your principal place of business, a place where you meet or deal with patients, clients, or customers in the normal course of your trade or business, or a separate structure (not attached to your home) you use in connection with your trade or business. Additionally, Your business use must be for the convenience of your employer, and You do not rent all or part of your home to your employer and use the rented portion to perform services as an employee. See IRS Pub 587.

F2106 \ N383

Travel (away from home)

Travel expenses are those incurred while traveling away from home for your employer. The cost of getting to and from your business destination (air, rail, bus, car, etc.), taxi fares, baggage charges, and cleaning and laundry expenses. Note: meal and entertainment expenses are not included here.

Help F4137 \ H503

Form 4137 - tips not reported

Form 4137 is used to compute social security and Medicare tax owed on tips you did not report to your employer.

F4137 \ N505

Total cash/tips not reported to employer

The amount of tips you did not report to your employer.

Help F2441 \ H400

Form 2441 - child and dependent credit

Form 2441 is used to claim a credit for child and dependent care expenses.

< F2441 \ N401

Qualifying child/dependent care expenses

The total amount you actually paid to the care provider. Also, include amounts your employer paid to a third party on your behalf.

< F2441 \ N402

Qualifying household expenses

The cost of services needed to care for the qualifying person as well as to run the home. They include the services of a babysitter, cleaning person, cook, maid, or housekeeper if the services were partly for the care of the qualifying person.

Help F3903 \ H403

Form 3903 - moving expenses

Form 3903 is used to claim moving expenses.

F3903 \ N406

Transport/storage of goods

The amount you paid to pack, crate and move your household goods and personal effects. You may include the cost to store and insure household goods and personal effects within any period of 30 days in a row after the items were moved from your old home.

F3903 \ N407

Travel/lodging, except meals

The amount you paid to travel from your old home to your new home. This includes transportation and lodging on the way. Although not all members of your household must travel together, you may only include expenses for one trip per person. Do not include meals.

Help F4684 \ H412

Form 4684 - casualties and thefts

Form 4684 is used to report gains and losses from casualties and thefts.

F4684 \ N416

FMV after casualty

The fair market value (FMV) is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and seller, each having knowledge of the relevant facts. The FMV after a theft is zero if the property is not recovered. The FMV is generally determined by competent appraisal.

F4684 \ N413

Basis of casualty property

Cost or other basis usually means original cost plus improvements. Subtract any postponed gain from the sale of a previous main home. Special rules apply to property received as a gift or inheritance. See Pub 551, Basis of Assets, for details.

F4684 \ N414

Insurance/reimbursement

The amount of insurance or other reimbursement you received expect to receive.

F4684 \ N415

FMV before casualty

The fair market value (FMV) is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and seller, each having knowledge of the relevant facts. FMV is generally determined by competent appraisal.

Help F4835 \ H569

Form 4835 - farm rental income

Form 4835 is used to report farm rental income received as a share of crops or livestock produced by your tenant if you did not materially participate in the operation or management of the farm. Use a different copy of Form 4835 for each farm rented.

F4835 \ N572

Total cooperative distributions

Distributions received from a cooperative. This includes patronage dividends, non patronage distributions, per-unit retain allocations, and redemption of non qualified notices and per unit retain allocations. Reported on Form 1099-PATR.

F4835 \ N571

Sale of livestock/produce

Income you received from livestock, produce, grains, and other crops based on production. Under both the cash and the accrual methods of reporting, you must report livestock or crop share rentals received in the year you convert them into money or its equivalent.

F4835 \ N573

Agricultural program payments

Government payments received for: price support payments, market gain from the repayment of a secured Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) loan for less than the original loan amount, diversion payments, cost-share payments (sight drafts), payments in the form of materials (such as fertilizer or lime) or services (such as grading or building dams). Reported on Form 1099-G.

F4835 \ N574

CCC loans reported/election

Generally, you do not report CCC loan proceeds as income. However, if you pledge part or all of your production to secure a CCC loan, you may elect to report the loan proceeds as income in the year you receive them, instead of the year you sell the crop.

F4835 \ N575

CCC loans forfeited/repaid

The full amount forfeited or repaid with certificates, even if you reported the loan proceeds as income. See IRS Pub 225.

F4835 \ N576

Crop insurance proceeds received

You generally include crop insurance proceeds in the year you receive them. Treat as crop insurance proceeds the crop disaster payments you receive from the federal government.

F4835 \ N577

Crop insurance proceeds deferred

If you use the cash method of accounting and receive crop insurance proceeds in the same tax year in which the crops are damaged, you can choose to postpone reporting the proceeds as income until the following tax year. A statement must also be attached to your return. See IRS Pub 225.

F4835 \ N578

Other income

Illegal Federal irrigation subsidies, bartering income, income from discharge of indebtedness, state gasoline or fuel tax refund, the gain or loss on the sale of commodity futures contracts, etc.

F4835 \ N579

Car and truck expenses

The business portion of car or truck expenses, such as, for gasoline, oil, repairs, insurance, tires, license plates, etc.

F4835 \ N580

Chemicals

Chemicals used in operating your farm, such as insect sprays and dusts.

F4835 \ N581

Conservation expenses

Your expenses for soil or water conservation or for the prevention of erosion of land used in farming. To take this deduction, your expenses must be consistent with a plan approved by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the Department of Agriculture.

F4835 \ N582

Custom hire expenses

Amounts you paid for custom hire (machine work) (the machine operator furnished the equipment). Do not include amounts paid for rental or lease of equipment you operated yourself.

F4835 \ N583

Employee benefit programs

Contributions to employee benefit programs, such as accident and health plans, group-term life insurance, and dependent care assistance programs. Do not include contributions that are a incidental part of a pension or profit-sharing plan.

F4835 \ N584

Feed purchased

The cost of feed for your livestock. Generally, you cannot currently deduct expenses for feed to be consumed by your livestock in a later tax year. See instructions for Schedule F.

F4835 \ N585

Fertilizers and lime

The cost of fertilizer, lime, and other materials applied to farm land to enrich, neutralize, or condition it. You can also deduct the cost of applying these materials. However, see Prepaid Farm Supplies, in Pub 225, for a rule that may limit your deduction for these materials.

F4835 \ N586

Freight and trucking

The costs of freight or trucking of produce or livestock.

F4835 \ N587

Gasoline, fuel, and oil

The costs of gas, fuel, oil, etc. for farm equipment.

F4835 \ N588

Insurance (other than health)

Premiums paid for farm business insurance, such as: fire, storm, crop, theft and liability protection of farm assets. Do not include premiums for employee accident and health insurance.

F4835 \ N589

Interest expense, mortgage

The interest you paid to banks or other financial institutions for which you received a Form 1098, for a mortgage on real property used in your farming business (other than your main home). If you paid interest on a debt secured by your main home, and any proceeds from that debt were used in your farming operation, refer to IRS Pub 225.

F4835 \ N590

Interest expense, other

The interest you paid for which you did not receive a Form 1098 (perhaps someone else did, and you are liable too), for a mortgage or other loans for your farm business.

F4835 \ N591

Labor hired

The amounts you paid for farm labor. Do not include amounts paid to yourself. Count the cost of boarding farm labor but not the value of any products they used from the farm. Count only what you paid house-hold help to care for farm laborers.

F4835 \ N592

Pension/profit-sharing plans

Enter your deduction for contributions to employee pension, profit-sharing, or annuity plans. If the plan included you as a self-employed person, see the instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040).

F4835 \ N593

Rent/lease vehicles, equip.

The business portion of your rental cost, for rented or leased vehicles, machinery, or equipment. But if you leased a vehicle for a term of 30 days or more, you may have to reduce your deduction by an inclusion amount. For details, see the instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040).

F4835 \ N594

Rent/lease land, animals

Amounts paid to rent or lease property such as pasture or farm land.

F4835 \ N595

Repairs and maintenance

Amounts you paid for repairs and maintenance of farm buildings, machinery, and equipment. You can also include what you paid for tools of short life or minimal cost, such as shovels and rakes.

F4835 \ N596

Seeds and plants purchased

The amounts paid for seeds and plants purchased for farming.

F4835 \ N597

Storage and warehousing

Amounts paid for storage and warehousing of crops, grains, etc.

F4835 \ N598

Supplies purchased

Livestock supplies and other supplies, including bedding, office supplies, etc.

F4835 \ N599

Taxes

Real estate and personal property taxes on farm business assets; Social security and Medicare taxes you paid to match what you are required to withhold from farm employees’ wages and any Federal unemployment tax paid; Federal highway use tax.

F4835 \ N600

Utilities

Amounts you paid for gas, electricity, water, etc., for business use on the farm. Do not include personal utilities. You cannot deduct the base rate (including taxes) of the first telephone line into your residence, even if you use it for business.

F4835 \ N601

Vet, breeding, medicine

The costs of veterinary services, medicine and breeding fees.

F4835 \ N602

Other farm expenses

Include all ordinary and necessary farm rental expenses not deducted elsewhere on Form 4835, such as advertising, office supplies, etc. Do not include fines or penalties paid to a government for violating any law.

Help F4952 \ H425

Form 4952 - investment interest

Form 4952 is used to compute the amount of investment interest expense deductible for the current year and the amount, if any, to carry forward to future years.

F4952 \ N426

Investment interest expense

The investment interest paid or accrued during the tax year, regardless of when you incurred the indebtedness. Investment interest is interest paid or accrued on a loan (or part of a loan) that is allocable to property held for investment.

Help F6252 \ H427

Form 6252 - income from casual sales

Form 6252 is used to report income from casual sales of real or personal property when you will receive any payments in a tax year after the year of sale (i.e., installment sale).

F6252 \ N428

Selling price

Enter the total of any money, face amount of the installment obligation, and the FMV of other property that you received or will receive in exchange for the property sold.

F6252 \ N429

Debt assumed by buyer

Enter only mortgages or other debts the buyer assumed from the seller or took the property subject to. Do not include new mortgages the buyer gets from a bank, the seller, or other sources.

F6252 \ N431

Depreciation allowed

Enter all depreciation or amortization you deducted or should have deducted from the date of purchase until the date of sale. Add any section 179 expense deduction. Several other adjustments are allowed, See Form 6252 instructions.

F6252 \ N432

Expenses of sale

Enter sales commissions, advertising expenses, attorney and legal fees, etc., in selling the property.

F6252 \ N434

Payments received this year

Enter all money and the fair market value (FMV) of any property you received in this tax year. Include as payments any amount withheld to pay off a mortgage or other debt, such as broker and legal fees. Do not include interest whether stated or unstated.

F6252 \ N435

Payments received prior years

Enter all money and the fair market value (FMV) of property you received before this tax year from the sale. Include allocable installment income and any other deemed payments from prior years. Do not include interest whether stated or unstated.

Help F8815 \ H441

Form 8815 - EE U.S. savings bonds sold for education

Form 8815 is used to compute the amount of interest you may exclude if you cashed series EE U.S. savings bonds this year that were issued after 1989 to pay for qualified higher education costs.

F8815 \ N442

Qualified higher education expenses

Qualified higher education expenses include tuition and fees required for the enrollment or attendance of the person(s). Do not include expenses for room and board, or courses involving sports, games, or hobbies that are not part of a degree or certificate granting program.

F8815 \ N443

Nontaxable education benefits

Nontaxable educational benefits. These benefits include: Scholarship or fellowship grants excludable from income under section 117; Veterans’ educational assistance benefits; Employer-provided educational assistance benefits that are not included in box 1 of your W-2 form(s); Any other payments (but not gifts, bequests, or inheritances) for educational expenses that are exempt from income tax by any U.S. law. Do not include nontaxable educational benefits paid directly to, or by, the educational institution.

F8815 \ N444

EE US savings bonds proceeds

Enter the total proceeds (principal and interest) from all series EE and I U.S. savings bonds issued after 1989 that you cashed during this tax year.

F8815 \ N445

Post-89 EE bond face value

The face value of all post-1989 series EE bonds cashed this tax year.

Help F8863 \ H639

Form 8863 - Hope and Lifetime Learning education credits

Form 8863 is used to compute the Hope and Lifetime Learning education credits. IRS rules are stringent for these credits. Refer to IRS Publication 970 for more information.

F8863 \ N637

Hope credit

Expenses qualified for the Hope credit are amounts paid this tax year for tuition and fees required for the student’s enrollment or attendance at an eligible educational institution.

F8863 \ N638

Lifetime learning credit

Expenses qualified for the Lifetime Learning credit are amounts paid this tax year for tuition and fees required for the student’s enrollment or attendance at an eligible educational institution.

Help F8829 \ H536

Form 8829 - business use of your home

Form 8829 is used only if you file a Schedule C, Profit or Loss from Business, and you meet specific requirements to deduct expenses for the business use of your home. IRS rules are stringent for this deduction. Refer to IRS Publication 587.

F8829 \ N537

Deductible mortgage interest

The total amount of mortgage interest that would be deductible whether or not you used your home for business (i.e., amounts allowable as itemized deductions on Schedule A, Form 1040). Form 8829 computes the deductible business portion.

F8829 \ N538

Real estate taxes

The total amount of real estate taxes that would be deductible whether or not you used your home for business (i.e., amounts allowable as itemized deductions on Schedule A, Form 1040). Form 8829 computes the deductible business portion.

F8829 \ N539

Insurance

The total amount of insurance paid for your home, in which an area or room is used regularly and exclusively for business. Form 8829 computes the deductible business portion.

F8829 \ N540

Repairs and maintenance

The total amount of repairs and maintenance paid for your home, in which an area or room is used regularly and exclusively for business. Form 8829 computes the deductible business portion.

F8829 \ N541

Utilities

The total amount of utilities paid for your home, in which an area or room is used regularly and exclusively for business. Form 8829 computes the deductible business portion.

F8829 \ N542

Other expenses

If you rent rather than own your home, include rent paid for your home, in which an area or room is used regularly and exclusively for business. Form 8829 computes the deductible business portion.

Help F8839 \ H617

Form 8839 - adoption expenses

Form 8839 is used to report qualified adoption expenses.

F8839 \ N618

Adoption fees

Adoption fees that are reasonable and necessary, directly related to, and for the principal purpose of, the legal adoption of an eligible child.

F8839 \ N619

Court costs

Court costs that are reasonable and necessary, directly related to, and for the principal purpose of, the legal adoption of an eligible child.

F8839 \ N620

Attorney fees

Attorney fees that are reasonable and necessary, directly related to, and for the principal purpose of, the legal adoption of an eligible child.

F8839 \ N621

Traveling expenses

Traveling expenses (including meals and lodging) while away from home, directly related to, and for the principal purpose of, the legal adoption of an eligible child.

F8839 \ N622

Other expenses

Other expenses that are reasonable and necessary, directly related to, and for the principal purpose of, the legal adoption of an eligible child.

Home Sale \ N392

Home Sale worksheets (was F2119)

Home Sale worksheets (replaces Form 2119) are used to report the sale of your personal residence. See IRS Pub 523.

Home Sale \ N393

Selling price of old home

The selling price is the total amount you receive for your home. It includes money, all notes, mortgages, or other debts assumed by the buyer as part of the sale, and the fair market value of any other property or any services you receive. Reported on Form 1099-S.

Home Sale \ N394

Expense of sale

Selling expenses include commissions, advertising fees, legal fees, title insurance, and loan charges paid by the seller, such as loan placement fees or "points."

Home Sale \ N396

Fixing-up expenses

Fixing-up expenses are decorating and repair costs that you paid to sell your old home. For example, the costs of painting the home, planting flowers, and replacing broken windows are fixing-up expenses. Fixing-up expenses must meet all the following conditions. The expenses: Must be for work done during the 90-day period ending on the day you sign the contract of sale with the buyer; Must be paid no later than 30 days after the date of sale; Cannot be deductible in arriving at your taxable in-come; Must not be used in figuring the amount realized; and Must not be capital expenditures or improvements.

Home Sale \ N397

Cost of new home

The cost of your new home includes costs incurred within the replacement period (beginning 2 years before and ending 2 years after the date of sale) for the following items: Buying or building the home; Rebuilding the home; and Capital improvements or additions.

Help Sched A \ H270

Schedule A - itemized deductions

Schedule A is used to report your itemized deductions.

Sched A \ N271

Subscriptions

Amounts paid for subscriptions to magazines or services that are directly related to the production or collection of taxable income. (example: subscriptions to investment publications, stock newsletters, etc.).

Sched A \ N272

Gambling losses

Gambling losses, but only to the extent of gambling winnings reported on Form 1040. Note: not subject to the 2% AGI of limitation.

Sched A \ N273

Medicine and drugs

Prescription medicines, eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids. Over-the-counter medicines are not deductible.

Sched A \ N274

Medical travel and lodging

Lodging expenses while away from home to receive medical care in a hospital or a medical care facility related to a hospital. Do not include more than $50 a night for each eligible person. Ambulance service and other travel costs to get medical care.

Sched A \ N275

State income taxes

State income taxes paid this year for a prior year. Include any part of a prior year refund that you chose to have credited to this years state income taxes.

Sched A \ N276

Real estate taxes

Include taxes (state, local, or foreign) you paid on real estate you own that was not used for business, but only if the taxes are based on the assessed value of the property. Do not include taxes charged for improvements that tend to increase the value of your property (for example, an assessment to build a new sidewalk).

Sched A \ N277

Other taxes

Other taxes paid not included under state and local income taxes, real estate taxes, or personal property taxes. You may want to take a credit for the foreign tax instead of a deduction.

Sched A \ N280

Cash charity contributions

Contributions or gifts by cash or check you gave to organizations that are religious, charitable, educational, scientific, or literary in purpose. You may also deduct what you gave to organizations that work to prevent cruelty to children or animals. For donations of $250 or more, you must have a statement from the charitable organization showing the amount donated and the value of goods or services you received.

Sched A \ N281

Tax preparation fees

Fees you paid for preparation of your tax return, including fees paid for filing your return electronically.

Sched A \ N282

Investment management fees

Investment interest is interest paid on money you borrowed that is allocable to property held for investment. It does not include any interest allocable to passive activities or to securities that generate tax-exempt income.

Sched A \ N283

Home mortgage interest (1098)

Home mortgage interest and points reported to you on Form 1098. The interest could be on a first or second mortgage, home equity loan, or refinanced mortgage.

Sched A \ N284

Points paid (no 1098)

Generally, you must deduct points you paid to refinance a mortgage over the life of the loan. If you used part of the proceeds to improve your main home, you may be able to deduct the part of the points related to the improvement in the year paid. See Pub. 936 Use this line for points not reported on Form 1098.

Sched A \ N484

Doctors, dentists, hospitals

Insurance premiums for medical and dental care, medical doctors, dentists, eye doctors, surgeons, X-ray, laboratory services, hospital care, etc. See IRS Pub 502.

Sched A \ N486

Misc., subject to 2% AGI limit

Safety equipment, small tools, and supplies you needed for your job; Uniforms required by your employer and which you may not usually wear away from work; subscriptions to professional journals; job search expenses; certain educational expenses. You may need to file Form 2106.

Sched A \ N485

Non-cash charity contributions

The fair market value of donated property, such as used clothing or furniture.

Sched A \ N522

State estimated tax, quarterly

State estimated tax payments made this year.

Sched A \ N523

Misc., no 2% AGI limit

Other miscellaneous itemized deductions that are not reduced by 2% of adjusted gross income, such as casualty and theft losses from income-producing, amortizable bond premium on bonds acquired before October 23, 1986, federal estate tax on income in respect to a decedent, certain unrecovered investment in a pension, impairment-related work expenses of a disabled person.

Sched A \ N535

Personal property taxes

Enter personal property tax you paid, but only if it is based on value alone. Example: You paid a fee for the registration of your car. Part of the fee was based on the car s value and part was based on its weight. You may deduct only the part of the fee that is based on the car s value.

Sched A \ N544

Local income taxes

Local income taxes that were not withheld from your salary, such as local income taxes you paid this year for a prior year.

Sched A \ N545

Home mortgage interest (no 1098)

Home mortgage interest paid, for which you did not receive a Form 1098 from the recipient. The interest could be on a first or second mortgage, home equity loan, or refinanced mortgage.

Help Sched B \ H285

Schedule B - interest and dividend income

Schedule B is used to report your interest and dividend income.

^ Sched B \ N286

Dividend income, Ordinary

Ordinary dividends from mutual funds, stocks, etc., are reported to you on a 1099-DIV. Note: these are sometimes called short term capital gain distributions. Do not include (long term) capital gain distributions or non-taxable dividends here, these go on Sched D

< Sched B \ N287

Interest income

Taxable interest includes interest you receive from bank accounts, credit unions, loans you made to others. There are several categories of interest, be sure you select the correct one!

< Sched B \ N288

Interest income, US government

Interest on U.S. obligations, such as U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds issued by any agency of the United States. This income is exempt from all state and local income taxes. There are several categories of interest, be sure you select the correct one!

< Sched B \ N289

Interest income, State and municipal bond

Interest on bonds or notes of states, counties, cities, the District of Columbia, or possessions of the United States is generally free of federal income tax (but you may pay state income tax). There are several categories of interest, be sure you select the correct one!

< Sched B \ N290

Interest income, tax-exempt private activity bond

Interest income from a qualified tax-exempt private activity bond is not taxable if it meets all requirements. This income is included on your Schedule B as non-taxable interest income. There are several categories of interest, be sure you select the correct one!

< Sched B \ N487

Dividend income, non-taxable

Some mutual funds pay shareholders non-taxable dividends. The amount of non-taxable dividends are indicated on your monthly statements or Form 1099-DIV.

< Sched B \ N489

Interest income, non-taxable

Non-taxable interest income other than from bonds or notes of states, counties, cities, the District of Columbia, or a possession of the United States, or from a qualified private activity bond. There are several categories of interest, be sure you select the correct one!

< Sched B \ N490

Interest income, taxed only by fed

Interest income that is taxed on your federal return, but not on your state income tax return - other than interest paid on U.S. obligations. There are several categories of interest, be sure you select the correct one!

< Sched B \ N491

Interest income, taxed only by state

Interest income that is not taxed on your federal return, but is taxed on your state income tax return - other than interest income from state bonds or notes, the District of Columbia, or a possession of the United States. There are several categories of interest, be sure you select the correct one!

< Sched B \ N492

Interest income, OID bonds

Interest income from Original Issue Discount (OID) bonds will be reported to you on Form 1099-OID. There are several categories of interest, be sure you select the correct one!

< Sched B \ N524

Interest income, Seller-financed mortgage

Interest the buyer paid you on a mortgage or other form of seller financing, for your home or other property and the buyer used the property as a personal residence. There are several categories of interest, be sure you select the correct one!

< Sched B \ N615

Fed tax withheld, dividend income

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from dividend income. This is usually reported on Form 1099-DIV.

< Sched B \ N616

Fed tax withheld, interest income

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from interest income. This is usually reported on Form 1099-INT.

Help Sched C \ H291

Schedule C - self-employment income

Schedule C is used to report income from self-employment. Use a separate Schedule C to report income and expenses from different businesses.

Sched C \ N293

Gross receipts or sales

The amount of gross receipts from your trade or business. Include amounts you received in your trade or business that were properly shown on Forms 1099-MISC.

Sched C \ N294

Meals and entertainment

Total business meal and entertainment expenses. Business meal expenses are deductible only if they are (a) directly related to or associated with the active conduct of your trade or business, (b) not lavish or extravagant, and (c) incurred while you or your employee is present at the meal.

Sched C \ N296

Returns and allowances

Credits you allow customers for returned merchandise and any other allowances you make on sales.

Sched C \ N297

Wages paid

The total amount of salaries and wages for the tax year. Do not include amounts paid to yourself.

Sched C \ N298

Legal and professional fees

Accountant’s or legal fees for tax advice related to your business and for preparation of the tax forms related to your business.

Sched C \ N299

Rent/lease vehicles, equip.

The amount paid to rent or lease vehicles, machinery, or equipment, for your business. If you leased a vehicle for a term of 30 days or more, you may have to reduce your deduction by an amount called the inclusion amount. See Pub. 463.

Sched C \ N300

Rent/lease other business property

The amounts paid to rent or lease real estate or property, such as office space in a building.

Sched C \ N301

Supplies (not from Cost of Goods Sold)

The cost of supplies not reported under Cost Of Goods Sold.

Sched C \ N302

Other business expenses

Other costs not specified on other lines of Schedule C, such as: Clean-fuel vehicles and refueling property; Donations to business organizations; Educational expenses; Environmental cleanup costs; Impairment-related expenses; Interview expense allowances; Licenses and regulatory fees; Moving machinery; Outplacement services; Penalties and fines you pay for late performance or nonperformance of a contract; Subscriptions to trade or professional publications.

Sched C \ N303

Other business income

The amounts from finance reserve income, scrap sales, bad debts you recovered, interest (such as on notes and accounts receivable), state gasoline or fuel tax refunds you got this year, prizes and awards related to your trade or business, and other kinds of miscellaneous business income.

Sched C \ N304

Advertising

The amounts paid for advertising your trade or business in newspapers, publications, radio or television. Also include the cost of brochures, business cards, or other promotional material.

Sched C \ N305

Bad debts from sales/services

Include debts and partial debts from sales or services that were included in income and are definitely known to be worthless.

Sched C \ N306

Car and truck expenses

You can deduct the actual expenses of running your car or truck, or take the standard mileage rate.

Sched C \ N307

Commissions and fees

The amounts of commissions or fees paid to independent contractors (non employees) for their services.

Sched C \ N308

Employee benefit programs

Contributions to employee benefit programs that are not an incidental part of a pension or profit-sharing plan. Examples are accident and health plans, group-term life insurance, and dependent care assistance programs.

Sched C \ N309

Depletion

The amounts for depletion. If you have timber depletion, attach Form T. See Pub. 535.

Sched C \ N310

Insurance, other than health

Premiums paid for business insurance. Do not include amounts paid for employee accident and health insurance. nor amounts credited to a reserve for self-insurance or premiums paid for a policy that pays for your lost earnings due to sickness or disability. See Pub. 535.

Sched C \ N311

Interest expense, mortgage

The interest you paid to banks or other financial institutions for which you received a Form 1098, for a mortgage on real property used in your business (other than your main home).

Sched C \ N312

Interest expense, other

The interest you paid for which you did not receive a Form 1098 (perhaps someone else did, and you are liable too), for a mortgage or other loans for your business.

Sched C \ N313

Office expenses

The cost of consumable office supplies such as business cards, computer supplies, pencils, pens, postage stamps, rental of postal box or postage machines, stationery, Federal Express and UPS charges, etc.

Sched C \ N314

Pension/profit sharing plans

You can set up and maintain the following small business retirement plans for yourself and your employees, such as: SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) plans; SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees) plans; Qualified plans (including Keogh or H.R. 10 plans). You deduct contributions you make to the plan for yourself on Form 1040.

Sched C \ N315

Repairs and maintenance

The cost of repairs and maintenance. Include labor, supplies, and other items that do not add to the value or increase the life of the property. Do not include the value of your own labor. Do not include amounts spent to restore or replace property; they must be capitalized.

Sched C \ N316

Taxes and licenses

Include the following taxes: State and local sales taxes imposed on you as the seller of goods or services; Real estate and personal property taxes on business assets; Social security and Medicare taxes paid to match required withholding from your employees’ wages; Also, Federal unemployment tax paid; Federal highway use tax.

Sched C \ N317

Travel

Expenses for lodging and transportation connected with overnight travel for business while away from your tax home.

Sched C \ N318

Utilities

The costs of electricity, gas, telephone, etc. for your business property.

Sched C \ N493

Cost of Goods Sold - Purchases

If you are a merchant, use the cost of all merchandise you bought for sale. If you are a manufacturer or producer, this includes the cost of all raw materials or parts purchased for manufacture into a finished product. You must exclude the cost of merchandise you withdraw for your personal or family use.

Sched C \ N494

Cost of Goods Sold - Labor

Labor costs are usually an element of cost of goods sold only in a manufacturing or mining business. In a manufacturing business, labor costs that are properly allocable to the cost of goods sold include both the direct and indirect labor used in fabricating the raw material into a finished, salable product.

Sched C \ N495

Cost of Goods Sold - Materials/supplies

Materials and supplies, such as hardware and chemicals, used in manufacturing goods are charged to cost of goods sold. Those that are not used in the manufacturing process are treated as deferred charges. You deduct them as a business expense when you use them.

Sched C \ N496

Cost of Goods Sold - Other costs

Other costs incurred in a manufacturing or mining process that you charge to your cost of goods sold are containers, freight-in, overhead expenses.

Help Sched D \ H320

Schedule D - capital gains and losses

Schedule D is used to report gains and losses from the sale of capital assets.

# Sched D \ N321

Short Term gain/loss - security

Short term gain or loss from the sale of a security. Not yet implemented in GnuCash.

# Sched D \ N323

Long Term gain/loss - security

Long term gain or loss from the sale of a security. Not yet implemented in GnuCash.

^ Sched D \ N488

Dividend income, capital gain distributions

Sometimes called long term capital gain distributions. These are from mutual funds, other regulated investment companies, or real estate investment trusts. These are reported on your monthly statements or Form 1099-DIV. Note: short term capital gain distributions are reported on Sched B as ordinary dividends

# Sched D \ N673

Short/Long Term gain or loss

Short term or long term gain or loss from the sale of a security; for use when only the date sold and net sales amount are available and the date acquired and cost basis information is not available and will be separately added in the tax software.

Help Sched E \ H325

Schedule E - rental and royalty income

Schedule E is used to report income or loss from rental real estate, royalties, and residual interest in REMIC’s. Use a different copy for each rental or royalty. Use the Schedule K-1 categories for partnership rental income and loss amounts.

Sched E \ N326

Rents received

The amounts received as rental income from real estate (including personal property leased with real estate) but you were not in the real estate business. (If you are in the business of renting personal property, use Schedule C.)

Sched E \ N327

Royalties received

Royalties received from oil, gas, or mineral properties (not including operating interests); copyrights; and patents.

Sched E \ N328

Advertising

Amounts paid to advertise rental unit(s) in newspapers or other media or paid to realtor’s to obtain tenants.

Sched E \ N329

Auto and travel

The ordinary and necessary amounts of auto and travel expenses related to your rental activities, including 50% of meal expenses incurred while traveling away from home.

Sched E \ N330

Cleaning and maintenance

The amounts paid for cleaning services (carpet, drapes), cleaning supplies, locks and keys, pest control, pool service, and general cost of upkeep of the rental property.

Sched E \ N331

Commissions

The amounts paid as Commissions to realtor’s or management companies to collect rent.

Sched E \ N332

Insurance

Insurance premiums paid for fire, theft, liability.

Sched E \ N333

Legal and professional fees

The amounts of fees for tax advice and the preparation of tax forms related to your rental real estate or royalty properties.

Sched E \ N334

Mortgage interest expense

Interest paid to banks or other financial institutions for a mortgage on your rental property, and you received a Form 1098.

Sched E \ N335

Other interest expense

Interest paid for a mortgage on your rental property, not paid to banks or other financial institutions or you did not receive a Form 1098.

Sched E \ N336

Repairs

You may deduct the cost of repairs made to keep your property in good working condition. Repairs generally do not add significant value to the property or extend its life.

Sched E \ N337

Supplies

Miscellaneous items needed to maintain the property, such as: brooms, cleaning supplies, nails, paint brushes, etc.

Sched E \ N338

Taxes

The amounts paid for real estate and personal property taxes. Also include the portion of any payroll taxes you paid for your employees.

Sched E \ N339

Utilities

The costs of electricity, gas, telephone, etc. for your rental property.

Sched E \ N341

Other expenses

Other expenses that are not listed on other tax lines of Schedule E. These might include the cost of gardening and/or snow removal services, association dues, bank charges, etc.

Sched E \ N502

Management fees

The amount of fees to a manager or property management company to oversee your rental or royalty property.

Help Sched F \ H343

Schedule F - Farm income and expense

Schedule F is used to report farm income and expense. Use a different copy of Schedule F for each farm you own.

Sched F \ N344

Labor hired

The amounts you paid for farm labor. Do not include amounts paid to yourself. Count the cost of boarding farm labor but not the value of any products they used from the farm. Count only what you paid house-hold help to care for farm laborers.

Sched F \ N345

Repairs and maintenance

Amounts you paid for repairs and maintenance of farm buildings, machinery, and equipment. You can also include what you paid for tools of short life or minimal cost, such as shovels and rakes.

Sched F \ N346

Interest expense, mortgage

The interest you paid to banks or other financial institutions for which you received a Form 1098, for a mortgage on real property used in your farming business (other than your main home). If you paid interest on a debt secured by your main home, and any proceeds from that debt were used in your farming operation, refer to IRS Pub 225.

Sched F \ N347

Interest expense, other

The interest you paid for which you did not receive a Form 1098 (perhaps someone else did, and you are liable too), for a mortgage or other loans for your farm business.

Sched F \ N348

Rent/lease land, animals

Amounts paid to rent or lease property such as pasture or farm land.

Sched F \ N349

Rent/lease vehicles, equip.

The business portion of your rental cost, for rented or leased vehicles, machinery, or equipment. But if you leased a vehicle for a term of 30 days or more, you may have to reduce your deduction by an inclusion amount. For details, see the instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040).

Sched F \ N350

Feed purchased

The cost of feed for your livestock. Generally, you cannot currently deduct expenses for feed to be consumed by your livestock in a later tax year. See instructions for Schedule F.

Sched F \ N351

Seeds and plants purchased

The amounts paid for seeds and plants purchased for farming.

Sched F \ N352

Fertilizers and lime

The cost of fertilizer, lime, and other materials applied to farm land to enrich, neutralize, or condition it. You can also deduct the cost of applying these materials. However, see Prepaid Farm Supplies, in Pub 225, for a rule that may limit your deduction for these materials.

Sched F \ N353

Supplies purchased

Livestock supplies and other supplies, including bedding, office supplies, etc.

Sched F \ N355

Vet, breeding, and medicine

The costs of veterinary services, medicine and breeding fees.

Sched F \ N356

Gasoline, fuel, and oil

The costs of gas, fuel, oil, etc. for farm equipment.

Sched F \ N357

Storage and warehousing

Amounts paid for storage and warehousing of crops, grains, etc.

Sched F \ N358

Taxes

Real estate and personal property taxes on farm business assets; Social security and Medicare taxes you paid to match what you are required to withhold from farm employees’ wages and any Federal unemployment tax paid; Federal highway use tax.

Sched F \ N359

Insurance, other than health

Premiums paid for farm business insurance, such as: fire, storm, crop, theft and liability protection of farm assets. Do not include premiums for employee accident and health insurance.

Sched F \ N360

Utilities

Amounts you paid for gas, electricity, water, etc., for business use on the farm. Do not include personal utilities. You cannot deduct the base rate (including taxes) of the first telephone line into your residence, even if you use it for business.

Sched F \ N361

Freight and trucking

The costs of freight or trucking of produce or livestock.

Sched F \ N362

Conservation expenses

Your expenses for soil or water conservation or for the prevention of erosion of land used in farming. To take this deduction, your expenses must be consistent with a plan approved by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the Department of Agriculture.

Sched F \ N363

Pension/profit sharing plans

Enter your deduction for contributions to employee pension, profit-sharing, or annuity plans. If the plan included you as a self-employed person, see the instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040).

Sched F \ N364

Employee benefit programs

Contributions to employee benefit programs, such as accident and health plans, group-term life insurance, and dependent care assistance programs. Do not include contributions that are a incidental part of a pension or profit-sharing plan.

Sched F \ N365

Other farm expenses

Include all ordinary and necessary farm expenses not deducted elsewhere on Schedule F, such as advertising, office supplies, etc. Do not include fines or penalties paid to a government for violating any law.

Sched F \ N366

Chemicals

Chemicals used in operating your farm, such as insect sprays and dusts.

Sched F \ N367

Custom hire expenses

Amounts you paid for custom hire (machine work) (the machine operator furnished the equipment). Do not include amounts paid for rental or lease of equipment you operated yourself.

Sched F \ N372

Agricultural program payments

Government payments received for: price support payments, market gain from the repayment of a secured Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) loan for less than the original loan amount, diversion payments, cost-share payments (sight drafts), payments in the form of materials (such as fertilizer or lime) or services (such as grading or building dams). Reported on Form 1099-G.

Sched F \ N373

CCC loans reported/election

Generally, you do not report CCC loan proceeds as income. However, if you pledge part or all of your production to secure a CCC loan, you may elect to report the loan proceeds as income in the year you receive them, instead of the year you sell the crop.

Sched F \ N374

CCC loans forfeited or repaid

The amount forfeited or repaid with certificates, even if you reported the loan proceeds as income. See IRS Pub 225.

Sched F \ N375

Crop insurance proceeds received

You generally include crop insurance proceeds in the year you receive them. Treat as crop insurance proceeds the crop disaster payments you receive from the federal government.

Sched F \ N376

Crop insurance proceeds deferred

If you use the cash method of accounting and receive crop insurance proceeds in the same tax year in which the crops are damaged, you can choose to postpone reporting the proceeds as income until the following tax year. A statement must also be attached to your return. See IRS Pub 225.

Sched F \ N377

Other farm income

Illegal Federal irrigation subsidies, bartering income, income from discharge of indebtedness, state gasoline or fuel tax refund, the gain or loss on the sale of commodity futures contracts, etc.

Sched F \ N368

Sales livestock/product raised

Amounts you received from the sale of livestock, produce, grains, and other products you raised.

Sched F \ N369

Resales of livestock/items

Amounts you received from the sales of livestock and other items you bought specifically for resale. Do not include sales of livestock held for breeding, dairy purposes, draft, or sport. These are reported on Form 4797, Sales of Business Property.

Sched F \ N370

Custom hire income

The income you received for custom hire (machine work).

Sched F \ N371

Total cooperative distributions

Distributions received from a cooperative. This includes patronage dividends, non patronage distributions, per-unit retain allocations, and redemption of non qualified notices and per unit retain allocations. Reported on Form 1099-PATR.

Sched F \ N378

Cost of resale livestock/items

The cost or other basis of the livestock and other items you actually sold.

Sched F \ N543

Car and truck expenses

The business portion of car or truck expenses, such as, for gasoline, oil, repairs, insurance, tires, license plates, etc.

Help Sched H \ H565

Schedule H - Household employees

Schedule H is used to report Federal employment taxes on cash wages paid this year to household employees. Federal employment taxes include social security, Medicare, withheld Federal income, and Federal unemployment (FUTA) taxes.

^ Sched H \ N567

Cash wages paid

For household employees to whom you paid $1,100 (as of 1999) or more each of cash wages that are subject to social security and Medicare taxes. To find out if the wages are subject to these taxes, see the instructions for Schedule H.

^ Sched H \ N568

Federal tax withheld

Federal income tax withheld from total cash wages paid to household employees during the year.

Help Sched K-1 \ H446

Schedule K-1 - partnership income, credits, deductions

Schedule K-1 is used to report your share of a partnership’s income, credits, deductions, etc. Use a separate copy of Schedule K-1 for each partnership.

# Sched K-1 \ N448

Ordinary income or loss

Your share of the ordinary income (loss) from the trade or business activities of the partnership. This is reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You usually report this on Schedule E, See instructions for Schedule K-1)

# Sched K-1 \ N449

Rental real estate income or loss

The income or (loss) from rental real estate activities engaged in by the partnership. This is reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You usually report this on Schedule E, See instructions for Schedule K-1)

# Sched K-1 \ N450

Other rental income or loss

The income or (loss) from rental activities, other than the rental of real estate. This is reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You usually report this on Schedule E, See instructions for Schedule K-1)

Sched K-1 \ N451

Interest income

The amount of interest income the partnership reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You report this on Schedule B)

Sched K-1 \ N452

Dividends, ordinary

The amount of dividend income the partnership reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You report this on Schedule B)

# Sched K-1 \ N453

Net ST capital gain or loss

The short-term gain or (loss) from sale of assets the partnership reported to you on K-1. (You report this on Schedule D)

# Sched K-1 \ N454

Net LT capital gain or loss

The long-term gain or (loss) from the sale of assets the partnership reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You report this on Schedule D)

Sched K-1 \ N455

Guaranteed partner payments

A guaranteed payments the partnership reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You report this on Schedule E)

# Sched K-1 \ N456

Net Section 1231 gain or loss

The gain or (loss) from sale of Section 1231 assets the partnership reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You report this on Form 4797)

Sched K-1 \ N527

Royalties

The amount of the royalty income the partnership reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You report this on Schedule E)

Sched K-1 \ N528

Tax-exempt interest income

The amount of tax-exempt interest income the partnership reported to you on Schedule K-1. (You report this on Form 1040)

Help W-2 \ H458

Form W-2 - Wages earned and taxes withheld

Form W-2 is used by your employer to report the amount of wages and other compensation you earned as an employee, and the amount of federal and state taxes withheld and fringe benefits received. Use a separate copy of Form W-2 for each employer.

^ W-2 \ N267

Reimbursed moving expenses, self

Qualified moving expense reimbursements paid directly to you by an employer.

^ W-2 \ N460

Salary or wages, self

The total wages, tips, and other compensation, before any payroll deductions, you receive from your employer.

^ W-2 \ N461

Federal tax withheld, self

The amount of Federal income tax withheld from your wages for the year.

^ W-2 \ N462

Social Security tax withheld, self

The amount of social security taxes withheld from your wages.

^ W-2 \ N463

Local tax withheld, self

The amount of local taxes withheld from your wages.

^ W-2 \ N464

State tax withheld, self

The amount of state taxes withheld from your wages.

^ W-2 \ N465

Dependent care benefits, self

The amount dependent care benefits, including the fair market value of employer-provided or employer-sponsored day-care facilities you received.

^ W-2 \ N480

Medicare tax withheld, self

The amount of Medicare taxes withheld from your wages.

^ W-2 \ N506

Salary or wages, spouse

The total wages, tips, and other compensation, before any payroll deductions, your spouse receives from your spouse’s employer.

^ W-2 \ N507

Federal tax withheld, spouse

The amount of Federal income tax withheld from your spouse’s wages for the year.

^ W-2 \ N508

Social Security tax withheld, spouse

The amount of social security taxes withheld from your spouse’s wages.

^ W-2 \ N509

Local tax withheld, spouse

The amount of local taxes withheld from your spouse’s wages.

^ W-2 \ N510

Medicare tax withheld, spouse

The amount of Medicare taxes withheld from your spouse’s wages.

^ W-2 \ N511

State tax withheld, spouse

The amount of state taxes withheld from your spouse’s wages.

^ W-2 \ N512

Dependent care benefits, spouse

The amount dependent care benefits, including the fair market value of employer-provided or employer-sponsored day-care facilities your spouse received.

^ W-2 \ N546

Reimbursed moving expenses, spouse

Qualified moving expense reimbursements paid directly to your spouse by your spouse’s employer.

Help W-2G \ H547

Form W-2G - gambling winnings

Form W-2G is used to report certain gambling winnings.

^ W-2G \ N549

Gross winnings

The amount of gross winnings from gambling. This may include winnings from horse racing, dog racing, jai alai, lotteries, keno, bingo, slot machines, sweepstakes, and wagering pools. If the amount is large enough, it will be reported on Form W-2G.

^ W-2G \ N550

Federal tax withheld

The amount of federal income taxes withheld from gross gambling winnings.

^ W-2G \ N551

State tax withheld

The amount of state income taxes withheld from gross gambling winnings.

Source: https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash/tree/stable/libgnucash/tax/us/txf-help.scm

Reset Warnings...

GnuCash gives warnings when certain operations are attempted, such as removing a transaction or removing the splits of a transaction. The warning message gives you the option to not give you these warnings when attempting the operation. Check-boxes labeled Remember and don’t ask me again and Remember and don’t ask me again this session allow disabling the warnings. This option permits reseting the warnings to the default, IE make the warning happen. Warnings may be selectivly enabled.

Changing the Language or Region

The language of the GnuCash user interface is not modifiable directly from the program’s preferences.

The way you can change the language depends on the operating system you are running GnuCash on.

Linux

In general you should set the LANGUAGE and LANG environment variables before starting GnuCash. To do this you need to open a terminal and run the following command:

LANGUAGE=ll_LL LANG=ll_LL gnucash

ll_LL is the locale you want to run GnuCash with (de_DE for Deutsch, it_IT for Italian etc.)

Note

On some systems (e.g. Ubuntu) the encoding could be part of the locales name, like ll_LL.UTF-8. You can use these names as well.

macOS

If you want to use a different translation from the one that is automatically selected, you can run the following in Terminal.app:

defaults write $(mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier -raw /Applications/GnuCash.app) AppleLanguages "(de, en)"

Use whatever language codes you want, replacing Deutsch and English. It won’t work if there isn’t a translation file for the language you want.

If you want to unset it (that is, return to using the system settings), run this:

defaults delete $(mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier -raw /Applications/GnuCash.app)

Windows™

If you are running GnuCash 2.4.0 (or newer) on Windows, you can set the interface language by editing the file environment with a text editor (e.g. Notepad). By default this file is installed in c:\Program Files\gnucash\etc\gnucash. Change this file such that the last few lines are:

# If you wish GnuCash to use a different language, uncomment the two parameters

# below and set LANG to your preferred locale

LANG=ll_LL

LANGUAGE={LANG}

ll_LL is the locale you want to run GnuCash with (de_DE for Deutsch, it_IT for Italian etc.)

Tip

More and updated information about this topic can be found on the Locale Settings page of the GnuCash wiki.

Chapter 11. Setting Up the Quote Retrieval

Abstract

If you have more than a couple of commodities, you will tire of having to update their quotes constantly. GnuCash has the ability to automatically download the most recent quote for your commodities using the Internet. This is accomplished through the Perl module Finance::Quote, which must be installed in order to activate this feature.

Prerequisites for an Online Quote update with Finance::Quote are

- the Perl language interpreter and

- the Perl-module Finance::Quote with any dependencies

- the Perl-module JSON::Parse to manage the output of Finance::Quote.

Note

If you get stuck while performing the steps described here, you can reach many helpful users on the channels mentioned under the section called “GnuCash On-line Assistance”.

You can also leave out this step and manually update your stock quotes.

Installing Perl

Abstract

The installation of Perl is essentially dependent on the operating system used. The effort for installation is low and is described in this section.

To check if Perl is already installed on your system, call the command perl -v in the terminal.

$ perl -v

This is perl 5, version 30, subversion 0 (v5.30.0) built for x86_64-linux-gnu-thread-multi

If you are shown the version number of the Perl interpreter, skip the next details and continue instead with the section called “Installing Finance::Quote”.

Procedure 11.1. On Linux

1. On most systems Perl is probably already installed. If with the previous command does not show a version, then the easiest way is to use your system’s package manager for installation.

2. When using the GnuCash FlatPak package, Perl and Finance::Quote are already functionally installed.

Procedure 11.2. On macOS

- Perl is normally already set up under macOS.

Procedure 11.3. On Windows

1. Under Windows run the program Install Online Price Retrieval for GnuCash to run. This will install Strawberry Perl.

2. For execution you need Administrator privilegies, which are requested in the dialog. The installation can take more then 15 minutes.

3. If during the installation the error message No such file or directory or permission denied are displayed, then it may help to disable the antivirus software temporarily.

Tip

Afterwards it’s a good idea to include the folder where GnuCash is installed, under Windows e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\gnucash\bin, to your PATH environment variable. This way it’s easier for you to use some the section called “Using gnucash-cli for Testing and Automation.” when needed. Please refer to the documentation for your operating system for more information.

Installing Finance::Quote

To determine if the Perl module Finance::Quote is already installed on your system, type perldoc Finance::Quote in a terminal window and check to see if there is any documentation available.

$ perldoc Finance::Quote

NAME

Finance::Quote - Get stock and mutual fund quotes from various exchanges

SYNOPSIS

[...]

If you are now shown documentation, then Finance::Quote is already installed and you can configure periodical quotes update as described in the section called “Updating Quotes Automatically with gnucash-cli”. If no documentation is displayed, you will have to continue with this chapter.

Expected Time Commitment

Depending on the quality of your internet connection and CPUs the initial installation can keep your computer one hour or more busy.

The process of installing Finance::Quote depends on the system. For the different supported systems, you can follow the instructions below:

Procedure 11.4. On Linux

1. Close GnuCash.

2. Next, update Finance::Quote with sudo gnc-fq-update.

Tip

If that fails with sudo: gnc-fq-update: Command not found enter which gnc-fq-update. It might return a path like /usr/local/bin/gnc-fq-update. Redo the command with that returned path: sudo /usr/local/bin/gnc-fq-update.

3. Run the gnucash-cli --quotes info command to verify that the program is already in a directory that is entered in the PATH environment variable. [8]

4. If Finance::Quote works properly, the command returns the version number of Finance::Quote module currently installed as well as a list of sources available via the Finance::Quote module. It will also inform you if there is a problem with your installation or if it is missing, and may suggest a fix.

Procedure 11.5. On macOS

Note

You must be logged in with a user id that can administer the mac to use this procedure.

1. Close GnuCash.

2. Install Xcode [9] if it is not installed. It contains devel tools, which are required by CPAN to build and test the needed Finance::Quote modules.

3. Open a Finder window, select Applications from the sidebar, double-click Utilities in the file area, then double-click on Terminal to open Terminal.

4. In the Terminal window enter sudo /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/Resources/bin/gnc-fq-update. That script asks lots of questions. Accept the default for each.

5. Type exit or Ctrl+D to terminate the shell followed by Command+Q to quit Terminal.

Procedure 11.6. On Windows

1. Close GnuCash.

2. Run Install Online Price Retrieval for GnuCash. This is a small utility that installs Finance::Quote for you.

[8] If you’ve installed GnuCash packages provided by your distribution, gnucash-cli will be on your PATH. The Finance::Quote version provided by your package manager can be checked at Finance::Quote-versions or by using your package manager's info command.

[9] You can install Xcode from the App Store or install the much smaller Xcode command line tools by running sudo xcode-select --install from a Terminal.app prompt.

Using gnucash-cli for Testing and Automation.

Abstract

GnuCash provides a commandline facility gnucash-cli that one can use with the --quotes option in a terminal session to check the version and supported source modules, to display the quotes or exchange rates for selected securities or currencies, or to update all of the prices in a book without launching the GUI.

Note

In GnuCash version 4.x and earlier one used separate perl programs gnc-fq-check instead of gnucash-cli --quote info and gnc-fq-dump instead of gnucash-cli --quote dump.

Displaying the Finance::Quote Version and Supported Sources

Abstract

The --quotes info option returns the version number of the currently installed Finance::Quote module and a list of available sources. It informs you also if there is a problem with your installation and gives the reasons.

The latest Finance::Quote version is 1.64. The list of sources that follows depends on the Finance::Quote version.

The input of

gnucash-cli { -Q | --quotes } info

in the terminal produces the following output:

$ gnucash-cli --quotes info

Found Finance::Quote version 1.57.

Finance::Quote sources:

aex          alphavantage              amfiindia    asegr        asx

aufunds      australia    bamosz       bet          bloomberg    bourso

bse          bseindia     bvb          canada       canadamutual

comdirect    cse          deka         dutch        dwsfunds     europe

fetch_live_currencies     fidelity     fidelity_direct

finanzpartner             fondsweb     fool         france       ftfunds

fundata      fundlibrary  goldmoney    googleweb    greece       hu

hufund       hungary      hustock      iexcloud     india        indiamutual

known_currencies          marketwatch  morningstarau

morningstarch             morningstarjp             morningstaruk

mstaruk      nasdaq       nseindia     nyse         nzx          onvista

oslobors     romania      seb_funds    sinvestor    six

tesouro_direto            tiaacref     tmx          tradegate    tradeville

treasurydirect            troweprice   troweprice_direct         tsp

tsx          twelvedata   ukfunds      unionfunds   usa          xetra

yahoo_json   yahooweb     za

If there's a problem with your installation it will tell you about it. For example in this case we're missing the Perl modules Finance::Quote and JSON::Parse:

$ gnucash-cli --quotes info

Failed to initialize Finance::Quote: missing_modules Finance::Quote JSON::Parse

In this case, Finance::Quote is not installed correctly and therefore cannot be used for quote retrieval with GnuCash. Please install Finance::Quote according to the instructions at the section called “Installing Finance::Quote”.

Displaying Quotes in a Terminal Window

Abstract

The --quotes dump option provides quotes for a source and a list of of symbols in a format that is easy for humans to read. This is useful to verify that a particular online quote source is accessible and provides data.

You can also check to see if the symbol you want to use for your online price retrieval is available at the desired quote source.

Tip

You may use gnucash-cli --quotes dump to test quote sources and symbols individually should GnuCash report an error during quote retrieval. The command will show the fields required by GnuCash; use gnucash-cli --verbose --quotes dump to see all of the information returned by Finance::Quote.

To display a quote for one or more stocks or the exchange rate for one or more currencies you can use gnucash-cli --quotes dump as follows:

gnucash-cli { -Q | --quotes } dump [ -V | --verbose ] Source Symbol ...

It offers two output forms for non-currency securities and one for currency exchange rates.

Currencies

Currencies use the source currency and require at least two ISO 4217 currency codes; the exchange rates are denominated in the first code. [10] For example:

$ gnucash-cli --quotes dump currency USD GBP EUR

1 GBP = 1.2796 USD

1 EUR = 1.09837 USD

Stocks

To retrieve quotes of your securities, please enter the quote source and the desired symbol.

- A short form displaying only the fields that GnuCash uses along with comments indicating whether the fields are optional or required; you can use this to determine if GnuCash will be able to use the quote to update your book's price database.

$ gnucash-cli --quotes dump yahooweb AAPL

Finance::Quote fields GnuCash uses:

symbol: AAPL            <=== required

date: 07/28/2023      <=== recommended

currency: USD             <=== required

last: 193.22          <=\

nav:                 <=== one of these

price:                 <=/

- With the --verbose option a possibly longer output showing all of the fields Finance::Quote returned. This can be useful to troubleshoot problems with a Finance::Quote source module.

$ ALPHAVANTAGE_API_KEY=123456789 gnucash-cli --verbose --quotes dump alphavantage INTC

INTC:

open => 34.8200

isodate => 2023-07-27

close => 34.3600

date => 07/27/2023

symbol => INTC

currency => USD

currency_set_by_fq => 1

low => 34.1100

volume => 58890821

success => 1

high => 35.0300

net => 0.1900

last => 34.5500

p_change => 0.5530

method => alphavantage

Note

Notice that in this case we used alphavantage and provided the ALPHAVANTAGE_API_KEY on the command line. That's not necessary if the key is already stored in Edit → Preferences the section called “Online Quotes”.

To test if Finance::Quote works for currencies inside GnuCash, do the following:

1. create a transaction with the desired commodity in the book currency,

2. make a right click on it,

3. select Edit Exchange Rate in the context menu.

4. In the the section called “Transfer Funds Dialog Box” window click the Get exchange rate button.

If the exchange rate source and the symbol are set, the current rate will be entered in the exchange rate field.

Updating Quotes Automatically with gnucash-cli

With the command gnucash-cli --quotes get ${HOME}/gnucash-filename [11] you can receive the current prices of your foreign exchange and securities and write them directly into your GnuCash-file without starting the user interface. This enables an automatic, regular updating of the prices.

Note

The command fails if exclusive access to the data file is not possible, for example, the data file is opened in another GnuCash instance, or the last session for the file crashed.

The specified file ${HOME}/gnucash-filename depends on the name and location of your data file. This can be determined from the name displayed in the top frame of the GnuCash window before the “-”.

Tip

The file name can also be found in the list of recently opened files in the File menu. If you hover the mouse pointer on the menu item numbered 1 in the list of recently opened files, the full file name is displayed in the statusbar.

You have to register the gnucash-cli with a scheduler in order to get Online Quotes automatically and periodically. The method depends on your OS.

Example 11.1. Automated quote retrieval every Friday at 4:00 p.m.

Procedure 11.7. On Linux and macOS

Register gnucash-cli with cron.

1. Run crontab -e.

2. Add the following line to your crontab:

0 16 * * 5 gnucash-cli --quotes get ${HOME}/gnucash-filename > /dev/null 2>&1

Important

On Linux if there is no graphic session that has already started the dbus, running on your computer at the time of the quote request, you must do the entry as follows instead:

0 16 * * 5 env `dbus-launch` sh -c 'trap "kill $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID" EXIT;

gnucash-cli --quotes get ${HOME}/gnucash-filename > /dev/null 2>&1

(Do not copy the line breaks into the crontab, they were inserted here only for the purpose of readability).

Procedure 11.8. On Windows

Register gnucash-cli with Task Scheduler.

1. Select Start → System → Task Scheduler

2. Select Create Task….

3. Enter the appropirate items on Create Task Window.

Adjust the time to the close of the stock exchange and consider fund quotes, that the net asset value (NAV) is determined well after the markets closed. The types have their description in the section called “Price Editor”.

Some users have made additions to the wiki and shared their experiences on the Online Quotes Page on GnuCash Wiki.

[10] Since Finance::Quote 1.41 the default source for currencies is “Alpha Vantage”. See also the notes on wiki:Online_Quotes#Finance::Quote_Sources_-_Currency_Source.

[11] This replaces the command GnuCash --add-price-quotes ${HOME}/gnucash-filename in GnuCash version 4.x and earlier.

Appendix A. GNU Free Documentation License

Version 1.1, March 2000

Copyright © 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place,

Suite 330, Boston, MA

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Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

0. PREAMBLE

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Addendum

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