I've thought of a couple ways to handle this, but neither is
satisfactory. Can anyone suggest a better solution? Am I missing
something obvious (I'm new to both double-entry and rigorous personal
accounting)? Or am I just being to picky about what my journal looks
like?

First idea:

===
= /^Income:Paycheck/
    (Liabilities:Income Taxes:Federal)    0.1
    (Liabilities:Income Taxes:State)      0.1
    (Liabilities:Tithe)                     0.1
    (Assets:Bank:Checking)  0.3

...

2010/08/01 Church
    Expenses:Tithe  $12345
    Assets:Bank:Checking
    (Liabilities:Tithe)  $12345
    (Assets:Bank:Checking)  $12345
===

This gets the job done, but doesn't fit with double-entry accounting;
the virtual transactions don't balance. Also, it's pretty annoying to
'fix' the virtual transactions balance when I pay my tithe.

Another idea:

===
= /^Income:Paycheck/
    [Assets:Taxes:Federal]    -0.1
    [Assets:Taxes:State]      -0.1
    [Assets:Tithe]                     -0.1
    [Assets:Bank:Checking]  0.3

...

2010/08/01 Church
    Expenses:Tithe  $12345
    Assets:Bank:Checking
    [Assets:Tithe)]  -$12345
    [Assets:Bank:Checking]  $12345
===

From http://www.allbusiness.com/accounting-reporting/methods-standards-cas...

Cash-based accounting recognizes income when money is received.
Accrual-based accounting recognizes income when goods are shipped or
services are rendered. Under the cash method, an expense is recognized
when it's paid. Under the accrual method, an expense is recognized
when the business is obligated to pay it.

Thus for accrual you recognize the expense of tax and tithe the
instant you receive your paycheck, but as you've yet to actually pay
it you add it as a liability, giving you the following transaction
(assuming 10% tax and 5% tithe)

2010/01/31 Salary
        Assets:Bank              $1000
        Income:Paycheck         -$1000
        Expenses:Tax              $100
        Liabilities:Tax          -$100
        Expenses:Tithe             $50
        Liabilities:Tithe         -$50

Or as an automated transaction.

= /^Income:Paycheck/
        Liabilities:Taxes        0.1
        Expenses:Taxes          -0.1
        Liabilities:Tithe        0.05
        Expenses:Tithe          -0.05

2010/01/31 Salary
        Assets:Bank             $1000
        Income:Paycheck

Thus at any instant you can now determine how much tax you've actually
paid in cash to date (expense minus liability), how much expense you
would have to pay today (liability) and how much you've meant to have
paid as of today (expense).

So hopefully you can see the accrual system allows you to look at your
position in any number of ways, while doing the cash based system is
actually much more difficult.

E

The first transaction transfers the money you borrowed into the asset
you bought with money (a college loan I assume it's just into you bank
account or an expense education).

2010/01/01 Make Loan
    Assets:House $10000
    Liabilitiy:Mortgage

Then monthly your loan amount increases by the amount of interest your
bank charges you.

2010/01/01 Interest
    Expense:Mortgage Interest $10
    Liabilities:Mortage

But as you make a repayment you lower the amount that you owe on the loan.

2010/01/01 Repayment
    Assets:Bank  -$100
    Liabilities:Mortgage

You could also use commodites instead (1 HOME) for the first
transaction and then use prices to see your actual financial worth
change over time.

2010/01/01 Make Loan
    Assets:House 1 HOME
    Liabilitiy:Mortgage -$10000

I can't directly remember the price syntax but it's something like the
following to revalue your home

P 2011/01/01 HOME $11000

I really like the idea of tracking major belongings as commodities,
particularly how you can track changes in value.

Thanks again,
Eric

For example, I usually pay my rent on the 28th but it's really for the
following month.  So instead of having one transacation on the 28th
paying rent, I'd need

2010-07-28 * Pay rent
    Assets:something              -123 GBP
    Assets:Prepaid Expenses

2010-08-01 * Rent for August
    Assets:Prepaid Expenses
    Expenses:Rent

Although I guess I could simply it by using an effective date:

2010-07-28 * Rent for August
    Assets:something              -123 GBP
    Expenses:Rent                 ; [=2010-08-01]

On the other hand, I see some benefits from accrual based accounting
even for personal finance.  For example, in the UK you have to pay
fees to the city for your flat monthly.  But when I moved in, it took
me a few months to register so my initial bill was quite high and
covered several months - but I paid it in one month (leading to an
artificial spike in my expenses).  So here it would make sense to
split this amount over multiple months, maybe with effective dates:

2010-0x-0x Council Tax for last X months
    Assets:Bank                    -1234 GBP
    Expenses:Council Tax             123 GBP ; [=2010-01-01]
    Expenses:Council Tax             123 GBP ; [=2010-02-01]
    Expenses:Council Tax             123 GBP ; [=2010-03-01]

My other concern about using accrual based accounting for personal
finance is that tax for individuals is based on cash based accounting,
although I'm not sure this actually makes a difference in practice for
most people.

Anyway, it seems to me that I'm using a mix between cash and accrual
accounting right now, which I don't find ideal either.

What are your thoughts of the possible overheads associated with
accrual based accounting for personal finance?

For me I find it works fine.  Full accrual would imply too much
overhead, I don't want to register on the first of the month that I
have an asset which is my pay check on then on the second to the
fourth transfer that asset to my bank account.