Getting Ameritrade data into gnucash

[Jean-David Beyer]

David Reiser wrote:
> 
> On Apr 22, 2005, at 11:39 AM, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> [much snipped...]
> 
>> The main trouble is the
>> downloading of my transactions in my American Express account and my
>> Ameritrade (stock brokerage) accounts.
> 
> 
> I don't know about American Express (and I never expect to even try...)
> but with regard to downloading Ameritrade investment account data, there
> is  a python script, ofx.py, available from
> http://www.jongsma.org/gc/scripts/ofx.py that will get the last 30 or 31
> days of data from your account onto your computer as, not surprisingly,
> an ofx data file. That file can be imported directly into Gnucash.
> 
> Once you have the script, you can issue the command:
> 
> python ofx.py ameritrade 987654321 987654321
> 
> where the two numbers are your nine digit account number. You do need to
> enter it twice, because the ameritrade server uses one of them as your
> userID and one as your accountID -- and it insists that both be present
> on their own.
> 
> When the script responds with "Password:", type in your account PIN (the
> one assigned as your telephone response system PIN).
> 
> After thinking for a while, the system sends you a file like:
> ameritrade20050422.ofx. That file can be imported into gnucash
> using File/Import OFX-QFX menu item in gnucash.
> 
> Notice that none of your access control information for the download is
> the same as the web login security information (at least by default, you
> can change your web login stuff via a browser to match, but I don't
> recommend it.)
> 
> Ameritrade appears to send the most recent 30 (possibly 31) days of data
> -- always. That's no big deal, unless you have lots of transactions and
> download often. Once you get beyond 20 or so transactions, the import
> process in Gnucash slows way down. The script source suggests there is a
> parameter for setting the start date for the data set, but I've not been
> able to get that to work with ameritrade.
> 
> One thing that will go wrong is that dividend payments from individual
> stocks will be imported unbalanced. The import module handles mutual
> fund dividends (the ones that get automatically reinvested) correctly,
> but the individual stock dividends that result in a cash increase in
> your account will be handled incorrectly. I think the fastest approach
> is to let the importer import the transaction unbalanced, then go into
> the account register and cut and paste the amount from the wrong column
> into the correct one.
> 
I refuse to put up with that. I want to click something and have it all
happen*. Until then, I will grudgingly continue with the Quicken for my
personal account, and delightedly use GnuCash for my treasurer's job.


_____
* Of course, being an Intuit product, Quicken does not get things right all
the time either. They have great difficulty matching up transactions for
American Express, and they haven't a clue about dealing with dividends and
interest in Ameritrade. And they cannot manage to keep cost basis correct
when there are spin-offs or when you move stocks from one account to
another. A can of worms.

Remember Murphy's law: When you open a can of worms, to recan them takes a
larger size can. That's Quicken.

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