Bank account balance incorrect after import from Quicken

[David Carlson]

On 9/1/2015 10:15 PM, Tom Allred wrote:
> David,
>
> I haven't been using this mailing list long enough to know how easy it is to
> look back at a thread but there are more details in the previous posts.  One
> of the problems of using a list instead of a forum...  I appreciate your
> willingness to help.  First, I'm not a newbie to accounting.  I've taken a
> couple of accounting courses in the past, ran my own business for a long
> time, and have been using quicken for 20 years.  Yes, quicken uses
> "categories" instead of "accounts" but you still have to have at least two
> sides in a transaction.  I have read the gnucash manual through chapter 3
> plus other sections that seemed like they may be pertinent, including the
> parts on importing quicken QIF files which, BTW, has 3 blank pages where
> some QIF topics are supposed to be.
>
> Yes, the closing balance in gnucash doesn't match quicken.  The problem is
> the "magic" transaction gnucash created during import that offset the
> opening balance entry in the account in 1995.  There is my original
> transaction opening the account with a deposit, and the "magic" transaction
> reversing it with a withdrawal on the same date.  Both entries are exactly
> alike except one is a deposit and one is a withdrawal.  If I delete the
> withdrawal then I have the correct current balance.  When Geert replied to
> my original post he said the account an opening balance entry is normally
> applied against is "Equity:Opening Balances" which didn't exist in my
> account list after creating the database by importing the QIF file.  Today's
> post was explaining what I had discovered since our previous exchange.  My
> plan at this point is to delete the "magic" transaction, which has a
> Reconciled flag of "n", and continue looking for other inconsistencies
> between gnucash and quicken.  If it doesn't matter that gnucash used the
> Retained Earnings account instead of Opening Balances for the opening
> balance entries in other accounts then I'll just leave them alone and carry
> on.
>
> Thanks,
> Tom
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David T. [mailto:sunfish62 at yahoo.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2015 10:20 PM
> To: tallred7 at triad.rr.com
> Cc: edodd at billiau.net; gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: Bank account balance incorrect after import from Quicken
>
> Tom, 
>
> Whether GnuCash uses "Equity:Retained Earnings", "Equity:Opening Balances",
> or even "Equity:What The Heck!" is immaterial. What matters is the amount
> that gets put into the checking account in this transaction. If this amount
> is not correct, then we have to examine what number GnuCash used for the
> opening transaction, and why it is being added. 
>
> Also, can you explain a little more fully how you are determining that the
> balance has been thrown off? Is it because the closing balances don't match?
> Or that you ran a reconciliation and the numbers didn't match?
>
> Please also go back and read chapter 2 in the GnuCash Guide on Accounting
> Basics-especially section 2.1.3 on double entry accounting. It clearly
> explains *why* GnuCash creates what you are calling an "offsetting
> transaction"-and it may help you to understand what is going on. 
>
> David
>
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Tom,

You mentioned GnuCash adding 'Magic' transactions.  As another long time
user, I think that there are very few cases where GnuCash does anything
that could be described that way.

The most common is a split line to an account named Imbalance with a
possible currency name appended.  This comes from an attempt to add an
incomplete split transaction.  This can happen in manual transaction
entry or in OFX/QFX imports.  I think that the QIF importer has other
ways to catch that before the Imbalance account is created, but I have
not used that capability enough to know.

The other situation that I have seen is when reconciling an account, if
the reconcile is out of balance GnuCash will offer to create a bogus
transaction to bring the reconcile into balance.  This is done very
explicitly and the only issue I have is trying to find that transaction
if I want to change or delete it later.  I think that it defaults to
today's date like the menu item Transaction>Add Reversing Transaction
does, but don't quote me on that.

There is also the case of GnuCash creating an opening balance
transaction when the user creates a new account. You have already
checked this.

Beyond those cases, I think the next area to look at is what the QIF
importer does.  I rarely use it these days.  I know that it will create
new accounts like crazy if you fail to match accounts that it found in
the QIF file(s) to existing accounts but those get names that make them
very easy to find and deal with.  The more worrisome case is if you make
a mistake in that matching process it may mix two or more source
accounts into the same target account, even in future imports.  There
may be other issues, but those I remember noticing long ago.  There is a
move afoot to fix that lack of documentation about the import process,
but it is still in the future.

When you have progressed into the maintenance phase you will probably
try importing OFX or QFX files from various banks.  Those imports have
their own quirks, many of which are dependent on how the Financial
Institution constructs those files.  I have learned to live with imports
from my banks.

Best,

David C