BTW gnucash 1.8 (http://www.gnucash.org) got released yesterday. If
you're a consultant you're going to want to check out the changes. 

Carl P. 

On Tue, 2003-02-04 at 10:02, Jim wrote:
> So true - but the explanation of what a debit and a credit is is pretty
> straightforward.
> 
> A debit is a positive addition to an account.  A positive addition to an
> account that normally carries a positive balance, like cash on hand or
> accounts receivable, increases the positive balance.  You can debit
> (i.e. add a positive amount) to an account that normally carries a
> negative balance, like accounts receivable, and reduce the negative
> balance.
> 
> A credit is a negative addition (i.e. subtraction) from an account.  A
> credit to a liability account (one that carries a negative balance)
> increases the liability,  A credit to an asset account, like cash on
> hand, reduces the balance of the asset account.
> 
> Simplified Accounting 101 
> 
> Assets = Liabilities + Equity
> 
> Assets are debit (positive) balance accounts,
> Liabilities and Equity are credit (negative) balance accounts.
> 
> Adding a debit (positive) to a debit balance account increases the
> balance in the account.
> Adding a debit (positive to a credit balance account decreases the
> balance in the account.
> Adding a credit (negative) to a debit balance account decreases the
> balance in the account.
> Adding a credit (negative to a credit balance account increases the
> balance in the account. 
> 

-- 
Carl Parrish (cparrish@carlparrish.com)
http://www.carlparrish.com
---
Registered Linux User #295761 http://counter.li.org