[GNC] Import Matcher Comments and Questions

[Dale Alspach]

Version: 5.5
Build ID: Flathub 5.5
Finance::Quote: 1.58
linux mint 21.1

TIAA is the source. format is Intuit/Quicken .qfx
The relevant account structure was implicit in what I wrote. It
approximates the structure of the TIAA accounts. More explicitly:
Asset Account 1-> employer contract A -> branch employer contract
subaccount A -> various mutual funds
Asset Account 1-> employer contract A -> branch employer contract
subaccount B -> restricted investments
Asset Account 1-> employer contract A-> branch IRA -> branch for brokerage
account-> stocks, ETFs
Asset Account 1-> employer contract A-> branch IRA -> branch for mutual
funds
Asset Account 1-> employer contract B ->  branch employer contract
subaccount C -> various mutual funds
Asset Account 1-> employer contract B -> branch employer contract
subaccount D -> restricted investments
Asset Account 1-> brokerage account  -> stocks, ETFs
IRA - > various mutual funds
Asset Account 2 -> other employer contract -> lifecycle fund of funds

"employer contract" indicates this is tax deferred so dividends, capital
gains, etc. are not currently taxable, RMDs are taxed
Asset Account 1-> brokerage account is not tax deferred
TIAA includes contract labels in the .qfx that drill down to the container
holding the actual securities, e.g.,  Asset Account 1-> employer contract A
-> branch employer contract subaccount A.
This is the "more detailed information" that I mentioned in the post.

Is this what you wanted?

Dale

On Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 2:16 PM David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> It would be helpful to know what release pf GnuCash you are on, which
> import format you are using, and possibly which financial institution is
> providing the import files.
>
> If there is other informstion, possibly if you are using a certain report
> or have a specific accounting structure, that may slso help.  Sorry about
> my fat finger problem, my smartphone keyboard has tiiny keys and my cat is
> tryong to help me.
>
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 30, 2023, 12:18 PM Dale Alspach <alspachde at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Recently there was some restructuring of some of my retirement accounts
>> (still under control of my former employer). This caused problems with
>> importing because the parent accounts of the securities were altered.
>> This led to a lot of questions from the importer. This entailed a tedious
>> process of selecting the correct "new" account. One particular difficulty
>> is that the same security may be used in more than one branch of the
>> account tree. Fortunately the importer actually supplies some detailed
>> information which greatly helps identify the correct branch.
>>
>> 1. I discovered that the importer does not require uniqueness. That is,
>> multiple accounts in the import file can be mapped to the same gnucash
>> account. My accounting is strictly personal so the restructuring just
>> meant
>> creating an appropriate branch for each investment and reparenting the
>> account. The nonuniqueness allowed me to point transactions corresponding
>> to the old and new versions of the investment to the new one. *Thus for me
>> the nonuniqueness is a desirable feature.*
>>
>> 2. The account selection process seems to make some unwarranted
>> assumptions
>> that resulted in extra steps and in some cases a difficult to resolve
>> ambiguity.
>> i. After I selected one branch for a matching account, the importer kept
>> suggesting that same branch for all subsequent selections. This resulted
>> in
>> extra steps to select the correct branch. It  would have been better for
>> the importer to suggest the branch of the last selection and not the very
>> first one.
>> ii. The ambiguity arose when the importer asked what income account to
>> associate with a security. In my setup, the assignment of any income
>> attributable to an investment depends on which branch of the accounts this
>> particular investment occurs. (taxable or not?, IRA, 403b, brokerage?) The
>> name/symbol of the security does not uniquely determine the branch. What I
>> needed was that more detailed information that appears when the account
>> corresponding to the investment is selected.
>>
>> Before I add a formal request for enhancement, I would be interested in
>> knowing whether others have the same or similar concerns. I checked
>> bugzilla and did not find anything.
>> Dale
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>