[Linux-disciples] Gnucash

[Stephen R Laniel]

I think maybe gnucash's double-entry bookkeeping is
puzzling me. If I want to record a $20 expense in my
checking account, I'd just record a $20 transfer
to the 'Expense' account in my checking-account register,
right?

I'm having trouble getting the split-transaction function to
work, and I'm consulting the documentation:
http://shorl.com/gydrogretobrobri

The example it gives of splitting a transaction confuses me.
The gross salary is recorded as a $1,000 *withdrawal* from
the Income:Salary account, when it seems to me that it ought
to be a $1,000 *deposit* to the checking account.

So am I viewing gnucash backwards? When I'm in the
checking-account window, and I put a number underneath the
'withdrawal' column, I expect that means "withdrawal *from
the checking account*." Is that not so? Does it instead mean
"withdrawal from another account *into the checking
account*"?

If so, that would really puzzle me. Gnucash seems to be
getting the direction of the numbers right when I'm doing it
the way I'm doing it: a $40 withdrawal correctly subtracts
from the balance on my checking account.

If someone can explain to me what's wrong here, that would
be a great help toward getting my finances in order.

-- 
``Nobody ever picks yellow out of the [crayon] box just for
  the Hell of it, but once you start coloring in whatever
  coloring book or colored coloring you colored, there's a
  99.9% chance you'll eventually need the yellow for
  something. In that I cheerfully liken it to bay leaves.''
 -http://x-entertainment.com/articles/0913/

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