A transaction in a double entry accounting
system such as GnuCash
is an exchange between at least 2 accounts. Thus, a
single transaction must always consist of at least two parts, a from and
a to account. The from account is passing value to the to account.
Accountants call these parts of a transaction Ledger
Entries. In GnuCash
, they are called
Splits.
For example, you receive a paycheck and deposit it into your savings account at the bank. The transaction that occurs is that your bank savings account (an asset) received money from your income account. Two accounts are affected, and in this case there is a net increase in your equity.
Working with transactions in GnuCash
is performed using what is
known as the account register. Every account you
create has an account register. It will appear familiar to you as it looks
very similar to the log used to track checkbooks.