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 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.
Cash accounts represent the cash you carry with you. Cash accounts are also good for representing deposits and withdrawals from Flexible Spending Accounts.
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 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 accounts are used to record expenses such as food, utilities, taxes, investment expenses, etc.
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 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 accounts are a specialized version of an Investment account and generally used to track mutual fund type investments.
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