GNUCash Import QIF - Help Please!

[Wm]

Thu, 2 Jul 2015 21:43:20 
<CAGci8e+L9sMZFar=LWce2sJpkhrxQgsHRp_U3iUazPO+HAnRTQ at mail.gmail.com> 
GT-I9070 H <gti9070h at gmail.com>

>2015-07-02 16:11 GMT-04:00 Wm <wm+gnc at tarrcity.demon.co.uk>:
>
>Thanks for your attention Wm!
>
> 
>  I think you posted about this before and everyone lost interest
>  because it was so obscure.  It might help if you showed the
>  document, I would certainly read it out of interest.
>
>No, this is the first time I publish this my approach to work with
>multicurrency.
>
>Documentation is incomplete and is written in the same terms of the
>text you read.

In the ledger-cli or beancount lists, maybe?  I'm sure I've seen this 
before.  Never mind.

>  What I think you do is this:
>  Buy X100 for Y50 and then reprice everything you buy in X in terms
>  of Y.
>
>Yeah. Now I have X100 for spending. When I spend all X100 I will have
>spent all Y50.

This is an extremely simplistic view and probably only works if you only 
or mainly work in cash.

I, and I expect most other people here, have access to credit and 
foreign currency accounts.  Essentially I am saying many of us don't 
carry great big wadges of real live cash around in our pocket most days 
so the USD or YEN in my pocket changes value over time to me.

Dunno about anyone else but I can't afford the bodyguards for lots of 
cash these days!

>  So each X in your pocket is (you think) Y.5
>
>No. If X100=Y50 then X=Y*1/2 (Where Y is default currency, X the
>foreign currency and 1/2 the exchange rate).
>Except if 1/2 = .5 in this case I'm sorry this is a notation issue. In
>my country 1/2 = 0,5.

I live in a modern European economy, no need for you to apologise for 
living in a backward place, you better get used to international decimal 
separators if you want to progress :)

Hint: what is the decimal in international exchange?  comma or point ?

>  So instead of a snack costing X1 you record it as Y.5 and so on

>Yeah with the fix above (No Y.5, Yes Y*1/2). Record in their respective
>accounts with their respective currencies.

sigh

>What we have here is a simple and common transaction between two
>different currencies AND an exchange rate, so I record X, Y and the
>rate.

But the rate isn't true as it will have changed.  You're fooling 
yourself and, I think, this is why no-one else wants to do this.  It is 
weirdly artificial, people know you're fooling yourself so why formalise 
it.

You should investigate the currency XXX with which gnc allows you 
(relatively) open exchange, it might suit you as an intermediate 
currency.

>  Until you get some more of X at a slightly different rate at which
>  point the same snack now costs Y.54132
>
>No, maybe Yes. I spent all the X money in your rate (1/2), buy more X money in your new rate and follow spending. eg. X=Y*1/3.

This is where your model collapses, unless you maintain cash amounts in 
varying currencies which, if I recall correctly, was what you didn't 
want to do.

>  If I understand, and I *think* I do, then possibly an import won't
>  work at all and becomes rather complicated.  As JohnR suggests in
>  the other thread you'd be better off using the API, python should be
>  easy enough if you borrow and you definitely need the sanity checks
>  it involves.
>
>When I asked for your help in this thread I meant a way to *import*
>transactions WITH off-line exchange rate from an Excel spreadsheet

OK, I'll say it is not possible.  You wanted an answer, now you have one 
and a why.  I didn't want to end it just like that but you pushed me :(

> and
>not to this text on my approach to work with multicurrency, but if you
>are interested in talking about it would be a pleasure but I think more
>appropriate we open another thread.

I have no sympathy until I have seen a sensible document and I will tell 
you something for free.  I've a fair understanding of Trading accounts 
as implemented by gnc and I've read a lot of arguments related to 
representation of financial positions regarding foreign stuff, etc over 
the years.

I suggest you take a careful look at gnc's two main views of currency 
and make a decision.

If you want to know you have half a peso in cash rather than the 2 pesos 
you actually have in your pocket then maybe another accounting paradigm 
is better for you.

I enjoy talking [to / at] you but you must keep it interesting for other 
people.

P.S. Otherwise Liz devalues me again,, sigh

-- 
Wm...