Fwd: Importing QIF files

[David T.]

Actually, Rennie, my point in #2 is that, in accounting circles, a Debit *increases* an asset account, and a Credit *decreases* the asset, while for a liability, it is the opposite.


I think this misunderstanding occurs because when we go to the bank and put money in a savings account, the Bank tells you they are "crediting" your account. What they mean, however, is that they *owe* you that money. To the Bank, your account is a *liability*, since it's money you can ask to have back. So, from their perspective, every time you give them money, their liability to you increases, or is credited, while from your perspective, this asset account is debited. That is what section 2.1.3 of the Tutorial explains.

You can change how the register is labeled in Preferences->Accounts, where you can uncheck the "Use formal accounting labels" option.

HTH, 

David


P.S. -- Try to use Reply-All; others in the list may benefit from your questions, and others may have better ways of explaining things than I do, since I am not an accountant.


----- Original Message -----
From: Rennie Stark <rennie1234 at cox.net>
To: David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>
Cc: 
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 5:43 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Importing QIF files

Dear David,

Thank you for getting back to me right away.  I went ahead and manually 
entered all of my checking transactions from the beginning of the year 
to date.  It took awhile, but it's done.  I did have my bank accounts 
under the heading, Assets; so I'm not sure why the download mixed up 
Credits with Debits.  Aren't Credits the same as Deposits, Debits the 
same as Withdrawals?

My next question is this:  I would like to transfer my Credit Card 
transactions using QIF.  I'll give it a try and let you know if I have 
any problems.  Actually, I'll let you know either way.

I do want to tell you that entering the checking transactions was very, 
very similar to Quicken.  I actually like GnuCash register better than 
Quicken.  What I would like to be able to do is transfer my Credit Card 
transactions and my banking transactions directly from the bank and 
credit card companies just like I did with Quicken.  With Quicken, it 
would do it automatically when I used the "online" One Step Update 
feature.  I'm sure that you are familiar with that feature.

Thank you so much for helping me.

Sincerely,


Rennie

On 7/14/2011 10:26 AM, David T. wrote:
> Rennie--
>
> It sounds like one of two problems:
> 1) You have your checking account in the wrong part of your books (i.e., under Liabilities or Expenses).
>
> Or
>
>
> 2) You are misreading the Register, which can use Accounting-form terminology for the columns, which seem backwards to many casual users. That is, the terms 'Debit' and 'Credit' are the opposite of lay-user expectations.
>
> Try taking a look at the Tutorial (http://svn.gnucash.org/docs/guide/index.html) and chapter 2.1.3 in particular to see whether anything there helps you.
>
> David
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Yawar Amin<yawar.amin at gmail.com>
> To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Cc: rennie1234 at cox.net
> Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 9:21 AM
> Subject: Fwd: Importing QIF files
>
> Forwarding to the list.
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Rennie Stark<rennie1234 at cox.net>
>> Date: July 14, 2011 03:50:57EDT
>> To: yawar.amin at gmail.com
>> Subject: Importing QIF files
>>
>> Gentlemen:
>>
>> I imported my checking account information from Quicken.  But, all of my deposits are shown in the withdrawal column of GnuCash and all of my checks are shown in the deposit column.  How do I rectify this?  Should I try importing again?  I have no idea!
>>
>> I am just now using this software, so it is most likely my mistake.  I'm hoping you can help me.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Rennie Stark
>
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