[GNC] Accounts for Tracking Dividends

[Larry Long]

If you do automatic online retrieval of stock/dividend transactions, are the dividend accounts in GnuCash required to be structured in a specific manner?

In the “GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide”, paragraph 9.4.1SetupAccounts for Stocks and Mutual Funds, thereis a Note which states:
“Ifyou want to track income (dividends/interest/capital gains) on aper-stock or fund basis, you will need to create anIncome:Dividends:STOCKSYMBOL, Income:Cap Gain (Long):STOCKSYMBOL,Income:Cap Gain (Short):STOCKSYMBOL and Income:Interest:STOCKSYMBOLaccount for each stock you own that pays dividends or interest.”
Isthis sequence of dividend account levels a hard-coded requirement forretrieving dividend transaction information automatically...oris it merely a recommendation toillustrate how you can track dividends?

I have someidentical stocks which are held in different accounts. For example,I hold some of the same stocks in my Traditional IRA account, my RothIRA account and also in my non-IRA brokerage account. Thus, I oftenreceive dividends from a given stock in all three accounts.

If I set up accountsfollowing the above example and connect to the brokerage firm toretrieve transaction information in the background, it appears thatGnuCash would record all of my IRA and non-IRA dividends into asingle account.

On the other hand,if I need to record dividend transactions manually, I think I wouldhave have my accounts something like this:
   
   -  Income:Dividends:Brokerage:AMZN
   -  Income:Dividends:Trad_IRA:AMZN
   -  Income:Dividends:Roth_IRA:AMZN

This would allow meto keep track of taxable and non-taxable dividends separately.

Thanks in advance for clarification on this aspect!

Larry Long