trouble with date when importing a just exported csv file.

[David Carlson]

On 1/30/2015 8:46 PM, Larry Evans wrote:
> On 01/30/2015 12:26 PM, Tommy Trussell wrote:
>> On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 10:21 AM, Larry Evans <cppljevans at suddenlink.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 01/29/2015 04:12 PM, Wm wrote:
>>>> Thu, 29 Jan 2015 14:34:44
>>>> <CA+E35_7AN=0Zc11Y8dWvbeaXsjkRZSwba4g3Efa+1purnO6y8w at mail.gmail.com>
>>>> Edward Doolittle <edward.doolittle at gmail.com>
>>>>
>>>>> Probably the fastest way to get something working would be to write a
>>>>> program to translate from the CSV format that your brokerage provides
>>>>> into
>>>>> QIF or something else for easier importing into GnuCash.
>>>> That is available for free, see my
>>>> ===
>>>> Subject: csv to qif / ofx
>>>> Date:    08 January 2015 21:27:00
>>>> ===
>>>> and similar
>>>>
>>>> is no one (not you, E) able to solve a problem using the tools available
>>>> these days?
>>>>
>>> Thanks for the suggestion, Wm.
>>> Here's what I tried:
>>>
>>> * Went to the webpage:
>>>   http://csvconverter.gginternational.net/
>>> * uploaded file:
>>>     SHA1_transactions.csv
>>>   which contained only 1 line:
>>> 01-06-2015,buy more,Checking Account,1.5,100.0
>>>   where fields were:
>>> Date,Description,Transfer,Shares,Price
>>> * Then tried the mapping step on the web page, but
>>>   got stuck at the place shown in the attached .png.
>>>   As you can see, there's no obvious place to put
>>>   the Price field :(
>>>
>> I haven't worked with this on this level, but I seem to recall some
>> discussion saying the security price gets derived from the sum of the buy
>> (or sell) transaction splits. In other words, you cannot just set the price
>> of a security for a transaction; 
> I also gave the number of Shares bought.  Please review the lines:
>
>>>     SHA1_transactions.csv
>>>   which contained only 1 line:
>>> 01-06-2015,buy more,Checking Account,1.5,100.0
>>>   where fields were:
>>> Date,Description,Transfer,Shares,Price
> In my previous post.  There, 1.5 Shares were bought at a price of 100.0
> per share.  That's all that's required in the register, which calculates
> the value of the Buy (if Shares is positive) or the value of the Sell
> (if Shares is negative).  The import interface should behave similarly.
>
>> it is derived from the results of the
>> splits in a fully-formed transaction.
>>
>> If my memory is wrong, my apologies.
> No problem.
>
> -Larry
>
>
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Larry,

The bottom line after your import is complete is to have a transaction
that results in the same total amount as that reported by your broker in
his monthly statement and in the transaction confirmation.  The problem
is that often the three numbers (shares, price & total) do not balance
due to rounding errors.  If you use a calculator to multiply the number
of shares by the reported price, the total is often different than
reported by a small but not insignificant amount.  Since the broker
actually uses the total amount to add to or subtract from your account,
to make your GnuCash books match his, you need to use totals too. 

In the real world there is also a commission which you must decide
whether to track separately or bury in the price in order to get correct
totals.  Then, after the round trip purchase and sale you must include
the profit or loss in the closing transaction or your books will go out
of balance.

The real reason price is shown is for reference only.

David C