Fwd: Importing QIF files

[Rennie Stark]

Dear David,

Thank you so much for your advice.  As you can tell, I am not an 
accountant either.

I think I am figuring all this out.  I have transferred (successfully) 
all of my credit card data.  Everything is tying together beautifully.  
I even appreciate that this program doesn't go "ka-ching" every time I 
enter a transaction.  The silence is wonderful.

I did find out that when you pay your credit card bill, you must 
"transfer" the money from your checking account into the particular 
credit card account in order to have the software track correctly.  I'm 
sure 99.9% of those reading this message already know this - but I 
didn't.  The program kept making double entries until I figured this out.

I feel much better now with this software.  It seems MUCH more friendly 
than Quicken ever was.  And it is quite easy to download Quicken OFX 
data and then GnuCash let's me choose to import that particular file.  
It worked great for both VISA and Discover Card.

Hopefully, I won't be bothering you again very soon.  Thank you SO MUCH!!!

Rennie

On 7/14/2011 10:08 PM, David T. wrote:
> 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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>