New User: Starting Debt

[dot rose]

Good morning all!

How do I input the debt I already have when starting to use beancount?

My entry looks like:

```

2024-03-28 * "BofA:Credit" "Opening Balance"
  Liabilities:BofA:Credit                                  -113.44 USD
  Equity:Opening-Balances                                   113.44 USD

```

But I'm thinking that equity is maybe not the right place for this, or maybe there's something else that I'm doing wrong! I would love some direction!

Thank you! :)

[Chary Chary]

Hello!

I am not an accountant, but as far as I understand, Equity is exactly the the right account for this.

Whenever I myself have a question like this it helps me think and google assuming that I am running an accounting for a small business.

In this case Equity is everything which owners invest in the company or draw from it. 

What you are doing when initiating  "Opening Balance"  is equivalent to closing old company and transferring all assets as well as liabilities to a new company, and this has to go through Equity as far as I understand. 

It is definitely not Income and Expenses

[Timothy Jesionowski]

https://beancount.github.io/docs/the_double_entry_counting_method.html#equity

If you're interested, I recommend reading the whole document. Martin wrote a very clear explanation of the fundamentals behind accounting. 

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[Martin Michlmayr]

* Chary Chary <char...@gmail.com> [2024-03-28 11:42]:

> I am not an accountant, but as far as I understand, Equity is
> exactly the the right account for this.

Yep, it's right. Maybe OP can explain why they think it's not right.

--
Martin Michlmayr
https://www.cyrius.com/