QIF Files/Reserve accounts

[Peter Haworth]

Thanks for the input folks.  Sounds like I'll be able to deal with  
reserve accounts OK but the AP/QIF side of things maybe not.

Unfortunately, the whole point of trying to do the QIF import is to  
avoid the tedious and error-prone task of entering invoices manually.   
The database I'm suing does a good job of allocating income to  
everyone based on various tables within it but I'm not an accountant  
so the rest of the accounting stuff I've tried to do in the database  
is just not up to scratch.  My hope was to get the best of both worlds  
by importing the QIF files created by my database and leaving the rest  
of the accounting work to gnucash.

It's beginning to sound like the suggestion that I keep the band  
members invoices separately from gnucash and just have one entry in  
there for the total amount might be the best way to go.  But I might  
experiment a bit with a handmade QIF file to see if I can get it to  
import to an A/P account and get the reporting I need.

Anyway, thanks again for the input and please let me know of any other  
ideas.

Pete Haworth







http://www.mollysrevenge.com
http://www.sonicbids.com/MollysRevenge
http://www.myspace.com/mollysrevengeband








On Aug 2, 2008, at 9:00 AM, gnucash-user-request at gnucash.org wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. QIF files and Reserve Accounts (Peter Haworth)
>   2. Re: QIF files and Reserve Accounts (Andrew Sackville-West)
>   3. Re: QIF files and Reserve Accounts (Charles Day)
>
> From: Peter Haworth <pete at mollysrevenge.com>
> Date: August 1, 2008 10:07:29 AM PDT
> To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Subject: QIF files and Reserve Accounts
>
>
> Just started looking at gnucash for use in tracking my band's  
> accounting.
>
> The most important thing for me is the ability to import QIF files.   
> The amount each band member is paid gets pretty complicated due to  
> different shares of merchandise sales and other things, so I have a  
> database that currently generates the accounting entries for me from  
> the sales at a gig.  What I'd like to do is have the database  
> generate a QIF file and import it into gnucash so I can get all my  
> accounting reports and so on from there.  I've looked at the specs  
> for QIF file formats and looks easy to create one.  Aside from that,  
> I'd enter everything else online
>
> Right now, each band member has his/her own Accounts Payable  
> account, so the question is can I import a QIF file into gnucash AP  
> accounts?  Ideally, I'd like to import the data into a gnucash  
> invoice but I suspect that's not possible.  What I envision is a  
> single AP entry per band member for each gig with splits that detail  
> the different amounts of money they are receiving for each piece of  
> merchandise sold, performance fee, etc.
>
> Next question concerns what I call reserve accounts.  Every time we  
> sell a CD, a small amount of money is set aside to pay for the next  
> manufacturing run of the CD.  That money is retained in the band's  
> bank account but its almost like a savings account within the bank  
> account.  Quicken has a feature that lets you set aside money like  
> this, can't remember what they call it, but how would I do this in  
> gnucash?  Ideally, the entries for it would be part of the QIF file  
> import mentioned above.
>
> Thanks for any input on this.
>
> Pete Haworth
>
> <email_sig.gif>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.mollysrevenge.com
> http://www.sonicbids.com/MollysRevenge
> http://www.myspace.com/mollysrevengeband
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: Andrew Sackville-West <andrew at swclan.homelinux.org>
> Date: August 1, 2008 11:05:43 AM PDT
> To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: QIF files and Reserve Accounts
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 10:07:29AM -0700, Peter Haworth wrote:
>> Just started looking at gnucash for use in tracking my band's
>> accounting.
>>
>> The most important thing for me is the ability to import QIF  
>> files.  The
>> amount each band member is paid gets pretty complicated due to  
>> different
>> shares of merchandise sales and other things, so I have a database  
>> that
>> currently generates the accounting entries for me from the sales at a
>> gig.  What I'd like to do is have the database generate a QIF file  
>> and
>> import it into gnucash so I can get all my accounting reports and  
>> so on
>> from there.  I've looked at the specs for QIF file formats and  
>> looks easy
>> to create one.  Aside from that, I'd enter everything else online
>>
>> Right now, each band member has his/her own Accounts Payable  
>> account, so
>> the question is can I import a QIF file into gnucash AP accounts?
>> Ideally, I'd like to import the data into a gnucash invoice but I
>> suspect that's not possible.  What I envision is a single AP entry  
>> per
>> band member for each gig with splits that detail the different  
>> amounts
>> of money they are receiving for each piece of merchandise sold,
>> performance fee, etc.
>
> I don't think you should import into the AP/AR accounts. those
> accounts are not for direct human intervention. What you could do is
> carry a set of regular liability accounts and import into those. Then
> you might be able to enter an invoice that clears out those liability
> accounts, thus getting the amounts into AP. But I've not tested that,
> it's just an idea.
>
>>
>> Next question concerns what I call reserve accounts.  Every time we  
>> sell
>> a CD, a small amount of money is set aside to pay for the next
>> manufacturing run of the CD.  That money is retained in the band's  
>> bank
>> account but its almost like a savings account within the bank  
>> account.
>> Quicken has a feature that lets you set aside money like this, can't
>> remember what they call it, but how would I do this in gnucash?   
>> Ideally,
>> the entries for it would be part of the QIF file import mentioned
>> above.
>
> you can create sub-accounts within an account. It makes reconciliation
> a bit tricky, until you've done it once or twice. You have to make
> sure to select "Include sub-accounts" in the reconcile.
>
> You may do better, frankly, keeping a lot of the detail stuff in your
> spreadsheet and then entering lumpsum invoices and the like in gnucash
> directly.
>
> .02
>
> A
>
>
>
> From: "Charles Day" <cedayiv at gmail.com>
> Date: August 1, 2008 11:43:49 AM PDT
> To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org, "Derek Atkins" <warlord at mit.edu>
> Subject: Re: QIF files and Reserve Accounts
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Andrew Sackville-West <
> andrew at swclan.homelinux.org> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 10:07:29AM -0700, Peter Haworth wrote:
>>> Just started looking at gnucash for use in tracking my band's
>>> accounting.
>>>
>>> The most important thing for me is the ability to import QIF  
>>> files.  The
>>> amount each band member is paid gets pretty complicated due to  
>>> different
>>> shares of merchandise sales and other things, so I have a database  
>>> that
>>> currently generates the accounting entries for me from the sales  
>>> at a
>>> gig.  What I'd like to do is have the database generate a QIF file  
>>> and
>>> import it into gnucash so I can get all my accounting reports and  
>>> so on
>>> from there.  I've looked at the specs for QIF file formats and  
>>> looks easy
>>> to create one.  Aside from that, I'd enter everything else online
>>>
>>> Right now, each band member has his/her own Accounts Payable  
>>> account, so
>>> the question is can I import a QIF file into gnucash AP accounts?
>>> Ideally, I'd like to import the data into a gnucash invoice but I
>>> suspect that's not possible.  What I envision is a single AP entry  
>>> per
>>> band member for each gig with splits that detail the different  
>>> amounts
>>> of money they are receiving for each piece of merchandise sold,
>>> performance fee, etc.
>>
>> I don't think you should import into the AP/AR accounts. those
>> accounts are not for direct human intervention. What you could do is
>> carry a set of regular liability accounts and import into those. Then
>> you might be able to enter an invoice that clears out those liability
>> accounts, thus getting the amounts into AP. But I've not tested that,
>> it's just an idea.
>>
>
> I would tend to agree with Andrew here. Although I recently patched  
> the QIF
> import to allow it to use A/P and A/R accounts, the reason was to  
> allow the
> importer to match hand-entered transactions with QIF data downloaded  
> from
> your bank. If you aren't going to actually create invoices by hand in
> GnuCash, I think you may be better off just using a Liability account.
> Otherwise, you may find yourself with an unhappy business module.  
> (Derek
> would know for sure.)
>
> Derek, perhaps you could chime in here? If the QIF importer needs to  
> refuse
> to actually import A/P and A/R account transactions, let me know.
>
>
>>>
>>> Next question concerns what I call reserve accounts.  Every time  
>>> we sell
>>> a CD, a small amount of money is set aside to pay for the next
>>> manufacturing run of the CD.  That money is retained in the band's  
>>> bank
>>> account but its almost like a savings account within the bank  
>>> account.
>>> Quicken has a feature that lets you set aside money like this, can't
>>> remember what they call it, but how would I do this in gnucash?   
>>> Ideally,
>>> the entries for it would be part of the QIF file import mentioned
>>> above.
>>
>> you can create sub-accounts within an account. It makes  
>> reconciliation
>> a bit tricky, until you've done it once or twice. You have to make
>> sure to select "Include sub-accounts" in the reconcile.
>>
>> You may do better, frankly, keeping a lot of the detail stuff in your
>> spreadsheet and then entering lumpsum invoices and the like in  
>> gnucash
>> directly.
>>
>> .02
>>
>> A
>>
>>
> -Charles
>
>
>
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