Importing payroll information

[R. Victor Klassen]

OK, I’m close.  I can’t say the QIF documentation helped an awful lot.

What I now have is the following:


!Type:Bank
D2014-02-23
PJack Sprat
SExpenses:Payroll:CPP
EEmployer Contribution to CPP
$30
SExpenses:Payroll:EI
EEmployer Contribution to EI
$12.50
SExpenses:Payroll:WSIB
EWorkplace Safety Insurance Board Premium
$4.30
SExpenses:Payroll:Wages
EGross Wages Pay Period ending 10-Jan-2014
$351
SAssets:Current Assets:Chequing Account
ENet Pay
$-308.50
SLiabilities:Accounts Payable:CPP Payable
ECPP Withheld
$-60.00
SLiabilities:Accounts Payable:EI Payable
EEI Withheld
$-25.00
SLiabilities:Accounts Payable:WSIB Payable
EWorkplace Safety Insurance Board Premium
$-4.30
^

Notes:
1) When I import, I get an extraneous semi-blank split entry (0 value, account Chequing Account, memo blank).   I have tried various ways to eliminate that line, as it appears a  blank line with a zero amount on the cheque stub.   Any idea how to eliminate this, other than manually deleting the split line after importing?



2) The only way I seemed to be able to prevent GNUCash from asking me for the primary account name was to use it as the file name.  Is there another way?

3) For future reference of anyone who may return to this thread, it seems the order of items in the split is: first items with a positive value, in reverse order of appearance, then items with a negative value, also in reverse order of appearance.  In order to make a sensible looking pay stub, “Net Pay” is the first negative item; “Gross Pay" is the last positive item.


On Jan 9, 2014, at 4:00 PM, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> On Thu, January 9, 2014 3:46 pm, R. Victor Klassen wrote:
>> After what feels like an extensive search I found some information on
>> importing payroll information, which appears to be for importing pay
>> check/cheque information into a personal file.
>> 
>> What I need to do is import payroll information into a business account.
>> In essence, since GnuCash doesn’t directly handle payroll, and I’ve done
>> it manually for a year, I’m thinking of increasing the level of
>> automation, and would like to generate what will be imported happily by
>> GnuCash into a split transaction for each of the payroll cheques I
>> generate.
>> 
>> I tried putting a sample transaction in a dummy file, and exporting it as
>> CSV, but as far as I can tell, GnuCash doesn’t import a CSV file that it
>> exports, at least not that file.
>> 
>> A “typical” transaction might look like:
>> 
>> 2014-01-09	1003	Barb Aloot
>> 					Pay period ending 08-Jan-2013
>> 			2002	Gross wages for 31 hour		Expenses:Payroll:Wages		345.00
>> 			3001	Employer contribution to WSIB	Expenses:Payroll:Wages		12.94
>> 			4001	Employer contribution to CPP		Expenses:Payroll:Wages		20.45
>> 			…
>> 			8001	Total payable to CPP	Liabilities:Accounts Payable:CPP
>> Payable		40.90
>> 			1003	Net Pay		Assets:Current Assets:Chequing Account		294.75
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> My guess is that CSV import does not support a split like this?  If so, am
>> I best off generating QIF or something else?  Does someone have a sample
>> of a valid importable file (any importable format) that is close to what
>> I’m doing?
> 
> You DEFINITELY would want to use QIF for this, assuming you don't want to
> use Scheme or Python to code the import.  but doing it in QIF is pretty
> easy.  It's just a standard QIF split transaction.
> 
>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> 
> -derek
> 
> -- 
>       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
>       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
>       Computer and Internet Security Consultant
>