[GNC] QIF import - Loss of sign

Derek Atkins derek at ihtfp.com
Fri Feb 22 20:59:56 EST 2019


Hi,

On Fri, February 22, 2019 8:03 pm, Rustyc wrote:
>
> Tried posting this yesterday before I was fully "registered" - Hope it
> doesn't appear twice. 

It will, once Liz clears the moderation queue..  Unless Liz recognizes the
duplication.  :)   I wouldn't worry about it.

[snip]
> In case this is not clear I’ll give actual numbers. The QIF files has
> entries such as:
> D26/06/18
> T-38.50
> PPAY ANYONE ANZxxxL EGGS 0139314487BILL
> ^
> D01/07/18
> T7.31
> PINTEREST
> ^
> This shows a deposit (interest) and a withdrawal from the bank account.
> When
> imported into GnuCash I end up with 4 lines in the “Account” page. Each
> transaction is listed twice – once with the amount under Increase and once
> with it under Decrease. And all have Account = “Bank account xxx” (under
> “transfer”).
>
> Is this because I specified “Bank Account xxx” somewhere during the import
> process? (I was not sure what GC was asking at each stage!).

Yes.  It means you specified the same GnuCash account as the source and
destination of the transaction.  I.e., you said "I took $100 from BANK and
sent it to BANK".  This is probably not what you intended.

> Can someone maybe explain in simple terms how to import bank data and use
> it
> to populate all transactions (rather than entering transactions and then
> assigning each transaction to an existing entry)?

Yes.  Let's say you have a QIF file called 'bank.qif'.  GnuCash will
assume this is for the QIF Account named 'bank'.  All transactions in this
file will be associated with 'bank', and then you need to map each
transaction to the correct destination account.

The Importer will first ask you to map the QIF Account "bank" to some
GnuCash (asset) account.  So for example, Assets:SunTrust:Checking.  There
may be other QIF accounts in the file, and those too should map to GnuCash
Asset and Liability accounts.

Then it will ask you to match the Categories, which you should map to
GnuCash Income/Expense accounts.

Finally, it will ask you to match the Payee/Memo lines (which is what you
have here).  These you will also need to map correctly to the
Income/Expense accounts.  So for example, you should map "INTEREST" to,
e.g. Income:Interest and "PAY ANYONE ANZxxxL EGGS 0139314487BILL" to,
e.g., Expenses:Groceries.

Your mistake is that you mapped each of these payees/memos to the same
(bank) account that you mapped bank to.

> Also, the manual states that “Debit and Credit” terms can be replaced with
> “Deposit and Withdrawal” for newbies. However, Account view shows columns
> labelled “Increase and Decrease”. Confusing!

The headings are based on the exact account type.  If you use a Bank, it
will be Deposit and Withdrawal.  If it's a credit card, Charge and
Payment.  Increase and Decrease are for generic Asset accounts.

Edit the account in question and check on the account type.

> Any help appreciated!

Hope this helped,

> 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



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