libofx handling of dividend income

[David Reiser]

On Jan 18, 2005, at 11:36 PM, David Reiser wrote:

> When I do an import of an ofx file from a brokerage account having a 
> dividend payment transaction, the importer asks me to choose or create 
> the income account associated with dividends from the given source. I 
> specify an income account over in the income subtree, and the generic 
> importer then gives me the bright yellow colored transaction asking 
> for a balancing split of twice the dividend amount.
>
> If I let libofx/gnucash create the unbalanced transaction, open the 
> brokerage account register, open the split for the unbalanced 
> transaction, cut the amount in the income split (left column) and 
> paste the amount into the right column of the same split, things look 
> right to me -- that is the balances of both the brokerage account and 
> income account are correct and the transaction looks balanced in 
> either register.
>
> Have I done something unseemly from an accounting perspective, or is 
> the importer handling income incorrectly?
>
> Is asking for a 'natural' balancing of dividend income on import a 
> reasonable enhancement request?
>
> Here is the relevant section of the ofx file:
> <INCOME>
> <INVTRAN><FITID>17xxxxxxxx<DTTRADE>20041231120000<MEMO>POG</INVTRAN>
> <SECID><UNIQUEID>703224105<UNIQUEIDTYPE>CUSIP</SECID>
> <INCOMETYPE>DIV
> <TOTAL>22.20
> <SUBACCTSEC>CASH<SUBACCTFUND>CASH
> </INCOME>
>

I'm going to have to get better at looking harder before writing to the 
group. The above income is dumped into the brokerage account 
(ameritrade, in this case), and <total> is a positive number. I dug out 
a Vanguard ofx from my IRA, and there the dividend income is declared 
inside a <reinvest> element (instead of <income>), where <total> is a 
negative number. The Vanguard ofx imports in a well-behaved fashion. 
Time to learn how to use the bug tracker.

Dave