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Option to invert the transaction color for DEBIT/CREDIT accounts

Open webmanoffesto opened this issue 11 years ago • 5 comments

I have a liability (credit card) account. I think that charges should be red, and payments should be green. I look at the color, only later do I read the writing on the button (charge or payment). For a non-bookkeeper person red is "negative" and charging things is "bad" (red). Paying down the balance of the credit card is "positive" (green).

I know this is part of the debit / credit, which I still struggle to keep straight. And on a credit card, charging an item is "adding" to the balance, meaning increasing the amount you owe.

webmanoffesto avatar Oct 01 '14 20:10 webmanoffesto

Credit Card is a type of "liability". So in a liability account, spending is increasing the liability, hence its adding to it, so it is green. Adding money to liability reduces it, so its red.

dhwaneetbhatt avatar Apr 08 '16 05:04 dhwaneetbhatt

@dhwaneetbhatt yes, the point is that increasing a liability should be red because it is more natural (red="bad", green="good").

diogocp avatar Apr 22 '16 01:04 diogocp

I agree with this, the color scheme should be reversed for liabilities, it makes more sense.

pfrenssen avatar May 28 '16 15:05 pfrenssen

Just info: In GnuCash desktop, this setting is under Edit -> Preferences -> Accounts -> Reverse Balanced Accounts

codinguser avatar Apr 18 '17 06:04 codinguser

I would like an option to ignore the type of account such that debit is always green and credit is always red.

The colours now are so confusing which makes tracking money flow difficult. In accounting terms money flows from credit to debit, regardless of asset, liability / equity, revenue / expense.

miklcct avatar Aug 09 '18 09:08 miklcct