5.5. Putting It All Together
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## 5.5. Putting It All Together

In Chapter 4, you entered some transactions in your checking account. In this chapter, we will add more transactions and then reconcile them. So, let's get started by opening the gcashdata file you saved in the last chapter. Your chart of accounts should look like this: FIXME:insert chartaccts2.png

This image shows the Checking Account Register.

1. Open the Savings account and enter an opening balance transaction for $1000. To do this, you will enter the transfer account as Opening Balances and the $1000 in the Deposit column: FIXME:insert savings.png

   This image shows the Checking Account Register.

2. Now open the Checking account from the main window. In the last chapter, you entered some paycheck transactions as deposits into Checking. Now we will enter another kind of deposit - a transfer of money from Savings into Checking. On a blank line, enter a transaction to transfer $500 from Savings to Checking. Your Transfer account will be Savings, since you are in the Checking account. Your Checking account should now look like this: FIXME:insert transferin.png

   This image shows the Checking Account Register.

3. Now let's write some checks on this account. First, write a check to HomeTown Grocery for $75. Your transfer account is Groceries, since all of this money is going to buy groceries. Next, write a check to ABC Hardware for $100, and split this amount between two expenses: Household $50 and Tools $50. You will need to create an expense type account for each of these, then enter splits for them. Your checking account should now look like this; FIXME:insert checkexamp.png

   This image shows the Checking Account Register.

4. Suppose you now need to withdraw some money. You don't have a cash account set up in your chart of accounts, so you will need to create one. Create the account as Cash as a top-level account of type cash. From your Checking account register, enter an ATM type withdrawal to transfer $100 from Checking to Cash. FIXME:insert ATM.png

   This image shows the Checking Account Register.

5. Now we are ready to reconcile this Checking account, using this sample bank statement: FIXME:insert a picture of a sample bank statement here

   This image shows the Checking Account Register.

   Select Account|Reconcile... from the menu, and fill in the Closing balance as $2620. Click OK to begin reconciling the account. Check off the entries as they appear on the sample statement. When you have checked off all your entries, the reconcile window should look like this: FIXME:insert reconexamp.png

   This image shows the Checking Account Register.

   Notice that your reconciled balance differs from your ending balance by $5.00. If you look at the sample bank statement, you will see there is a $5.00 service charge that has not been added to your Checking account.

6. So click on the Checking register and add the $5.00 service charge to your Checking account. On a blank line of the Checking register, enter a transaction to transfer $5.00 from Checking to a Service Charges account. ( You will need to create the Service Charges account as type expense.) Use the transaction date printed on the sample statement as the date you enter for this transaction. Your Checking account should now look like this: FIXME:insert servch.png

   This image shows the Checking Account Register.

7. Click back on the Reconcile window, and you should see the service charge now under Funds Out. Click on it to mark it as reconciled, and note that the difference amount below now becomes 0.00. Click the Finish button on the tool bar to complete the reconciliation. The Reconcile R column in your Checking register should now show y for each transaction you just reconciled.

8. Go back to the main window and save your file. Your chart of accounts is steadily growing, and it should now look like this: FIXME:insert chartaccts3.png

   This image shows the Checking Account Register.

Notice that you have not yet used one of the accounts listed in your chart, the Credit Card account. Now that you know how to keep track of your bank and cash accounts in GnuCash, you may want to start tracking your credit cards as well. GnuCash provides a special type of account for credit cards, and this is discussed in the next chapter.

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