Account Types

jGnash offers several account types to make organization easier. The account type chosen can have a significant impact on how reports are generated and displayed, and the types of transactions you can create.

Asset

Asset accounts are intended to be used to track the value of durable items such as houses, cars, boats, collections, etc. Value of items can be adjusted over time against Income accounts to show gain or loss of value. If you were to sell an item and convert it cash, the sale of the item can be tracked against the Asset accounts containing the item.

Bank

Bank accounts are used for the savings accounts you would have at a bank.

Cash

Cash accounts represent the cash you carry with you. Cash accounts are also good for representing deposits and withdrawals from Flexible Spending Accounts.

Checking

Checking accounts are used for the checking account you would have at a bank.

Credit

Credit accounts are used to record purchases and payments made to a credit card account. Credit accounts are primary used for short-term liabilities and great for representing overdraft and line of credit accounts at banks.

Equity

Equity accounts are used to record opening account balances against. Typically, you will have only one Equity account. Equity accounts are representative of another accounts net worth at the time you begin tracking it's value.

Expense

Expense accounts are used to record expenses such as food, utilities, taxes, investment expenses, etc.

Income

Income accounts are used to record income such as salary, dividends, investment income, etc.

Investment

Investment accounts are used to buy and sell Securities. Investment accounts can be used to track 401k, IRA's, etc.

  • Investment Accounts have a cash balance if you buy or sell transactions against the account.

  • Investment purchases and sales fees can be made against the cash balance of the investment account or other specified accounts.

  • Multiple investment fee entries per transaction may be entered.

  • Multiple gains/loss entries per transaction may be entered.

  • Investment Accounts support multiple securities.

  • Investment Accounts can be used to model an on-line brokerage account.

Liability

Liability accounts are used to track long term loans or liabilities. Liability accounts have the added feature of allowing you to set-up a loan payment that takes some of the effort out of entering periodic loan payment transactions.

Mutual Fund

Mutual fund accounts are a specialized version of an Investment account and generally used to track mutual fund type investments.

Simple Investment

Simple investment accounts are for investments where you do not actively manage or are able to track purchases and sales of securities. The typical scenario would be a company pension plan that only provides cash balance information. Sometimes, these types of investment accounts are called Annuities or Guaranteed Retirement Accounts

Root

The root account is the top level account that holds all other accounts. You cannot remove or modify the root account. Normally, it is not visible unless you are changing the account structure.