GNUCash value proposition

Mon Apr 24 13:02:04 EDT 2017

I am not a Quicken convert, but I'll point out a benefit of entering your
transactions manually as Russell and CM suggest: It gives you a point of
comparison when doing a bank reconciliation.

The purpose of an account reconciliation is to make sure that your view of
your accounts with an outside entity match their view of your accounts with
them. If you think you deposited $500 into your bank account, you want to
be sure the bank thinks the same thing. If the bank thinks you paid $354
via a debit card, you want to be sure that you agree. If you don't agree,
then there's a problem -- either the bank made an error, you made an error,
or something nefarious is going on.

If you import transactions that your bank says you did, then that
fraudulent $354 debit card transaction will become part of your personal
record of what happened in your account. You won't catch it unless you
review your transactions. Reconciliation will say "Yep, the bank says I
spent $354, my records says I spent $354, so OK, everything's good". And
you're out $354.

On the other hand, if you manually enter your transactions, then do a
reconciliation, then you will see the $354 transaction from the bank, but
not in your records, and you have an opportunity to go "wait, what's up
here?" and catch the fraud. You would also catch the $25 birthday check you
gave your nephew that he hasn't cashed yet, and the $25 birthday check to
your niece that you forgot to record that she *has* cashed. None of those
would be noticed if you imported your transaction report from the bank.

On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 12:52 PM Richard De Vriese <
richard.devriese at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi, I've been using GnuCash for a bunch of years with Chase bank. I just
> down load the transactions manually using QXF format and import into
> GnuCash. Once GnuCash gets familiar with your normal transactions it does a
> pretty good job of assigning the correct account types to each transaction.
> I don't have any complaints with it.
>
> On Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 9:43 AM David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Steve,
> >
> > I have found that I can manually download last month's transactions in
> OFX
> > format when I visit my bank's website each month to make sure nobody is
> > hijacking my bank account.  That is free, and not much harder than
> messing
> > with the Direct Connect stuff that frequently breaks.
> >
> > David C
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 11:14 AM, C M Reinehr <cmr at reinehr.net> wrote:
> >
> > > Steve,
> > >
> > > Your situation sounds similar to mine. Quicken was the only application
> > > tying me to Windows & I finally made to jump about three years ago and
> > > never have regretted it.
> > >
> > > At first, I was concerned about being unable to download transactions
> > > automagically but as Russell just has commented I just switched to
> > entering
> > > all transactions manually and it has not been a burden. I pay most of
> my
> > > bills either using my bank's bill pay service or direct debit
> > arrangements
> > > (utility & credit card companies only) an enter the transactions into
> my
> > > checking ledger as I receive the bills & schedule them for payment.
> This
> > > allows me always to know my current & future balances. Even though I
> > could,
> > > free of charge, download my bank transactions, I don't bother.
> > >
> > > The most difficulty I encountered in making the switch was in
> > transferring
> > > my transaction history from Quicken to GnuCash & that, primarily, was
> my
> > > fault. Instead of researching & testing, I just jumped into the deep
> end
> > &
> > > did it. A little patience & preparation would have made it go more
> > smoothly.
> > >
> > > One final consideration is that I already was very familiar with double
> > > entry business accounting, so had no difficulty understanding GnuCash.
> > > Someone without accounting experience and knowing only Quicken's
> category
> > > system will have a more difficult time of it.
> > >
> > > Hope this helps!
> > >
> > > Cheers!
> > >
> > > CMR
> > >
> > >
> > > On 04/24/2017 10:31 AM, Steve Cohen wrote:
> > >
> > >> I have stumbled into the world of GNUCash, which I never heard of
> until
> > >> yesterday, over frustration with another forced and unwanted upgrade
> of
> > >> Quicken.  I use Quicken to track my personal finances, including
> > >> investements (which I'm not too rigourous with because I have a
> > >> financial guy who sends me the offical statements upon which my taxes
> > >> are based).  I mainly want to pay bills, keep a rough running total of
> > >> my net worth, and be able to download my transactions in banks and
> > >> credit cards to a central place.
> > >>
> > >> I know my way around Linux, Open Source and GitHub and am not
> unwilling
> > >> to get my hands dirty with technical details.  It would be one more
> nail
> > >> in the coffin of my Windows use, which would make me happy.  And as I
> > >> near retirement, the thought of possibly even working on such a
> project
> > >> is not unappealing to me.
> > >>
> > >> But as I began thinking about ways to move from Quicken to GNUCash,
> the
> > >> following obstacle is holding me back:
> > >> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/OFX_Direct_Connect_Bank_Settings#Chase
> It
> > >> will apparently cost me $9.95 a month just to be able to automatically
> > >> download my transaction data from Chase Bank, which is more than
> Quicken
> > >> would cost me if I upgraded every year (which I don't).  Possibly plus
> > >> connection fees to the other financial instituations, (brokerages,
> > >> pension accounts, etc.) that I now connect to via Quicken.
> > >>
> > >> So my question is, and please don't take this as a hostile question,
> is
> > >> whether it is correct that in making the jump from Quicken I will have
> > >> to pay the banks these high connection fees to use OFX?   If it is, I
> > >> might just opt to stick with Quicken, which I'm not crazy about. Or
> am I
> > >> missing something?  While there is documentation that is as recent as
> > >> this year, there are also documents dated 2006 or 2008, so I'm not
> clear
> > >> about the prospects and viability of this project.
> > >>
> > >> What do GNUCash users do?  Pay the ten bucks a month?  Give up on OFX
> > >> and automatic downloading, or download data from the banks' websites
> and
> > >> manually import into GNUCash?  Or something else?
> > >>
> > >> Thanks.
> > >>
> > >> Steve Cohen
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> gnucash-user mailing list
> > >> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
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> > >>
> > >>
> > > --
> > > "Most bad government has grown out of too much government." -- Thomas
> > > Jefferson
> > > --------
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> --
> Regards
> --
> Richard De Vriese
> _______________________________________________
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