[GNC] Importing CC Transactions, Positive or Negative, Debit or Credit?

[Geert Janssens]

It's unlikely to be a bug.

The generic csv importer is written to handle all possible kinds of csv data so it can't make 
assumptions about the sense of the transactions (be it positive or negative, or debit/
credit). You have to tell it exactly how you want to interpret the numbers. We have had 
several discussions about this, but haven't found a solution that is less ambiguous and at 
the same time keeps the interface manageable.

We know this means it may take two tries before you get it right, but that should only be 
the first time you import, assuming you remember what was the right choice of amount/
amount negated.

You can always save the good combination as a preset to make it easier on subsequent 
imports.

As a side note, I have been pondering for a while that the aqbanking importer may be the 
more useful importer for actual bank statements in csv format. It allows to select 
predefined and tested format combinations that should work well. The downside probably 
is there are plenty of banks in the world and most of them are not listed in the aqbanking 
selectors. Maybe the aqbanking project would welcome other format specifications as 
contributions (to be discussed on the aqbanking project of course) ?

Regards,

Geert

Op donderdag 16 januari 2025 21:20:03 Midden-Europese standaardtijd schreef Brad 
Morrison:
> Hi Tom & GNUCash users,
> 
> In case this issue turns out to be a bug:
> 
> What operating system are you using?
> 
> What version of GnuCash are you using? The current version is 5.10 -
> https://gnucash.org/download.phtml
> 
> As far as importing data into GNC -
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Importing.2FExporting_Data
> 
> ---
> Thanks,
> 
> Brad - https://www.facebook.com/brad.morrison.12327/ &
> https://norcal.social/@BradMorrison
> 
> On 2025-01-16 11:55, Michael or Penny Novack via gnucash-user wrote:
> > The statement from the credit card company is likely from THEIR point of
> > view. Just like the statement of your bank account you get from your bank
> > is from their point of view.
> > 
> > What you owe them is a credit in your books but a debit in theirs. What
> > money they owe you is a debit in your books and a credit in theirs.
> > 
> > Michael D Novack
> > 
> > PS --- It was once always positive amounts in double entry bookkeeping
> > (older than negative numbers were accepted in Western mathematics). The
> > senses are not positive and negative but debit and credit. Those senses
> > do not correspond (whether a debit is positive or negative depends on
> > what kind of account -- same with credit.> 
> > On 1/16/2025 2:22 PM, Tom Balazs wrote:
> >> I just imported a bunch of credit card transactions from a CSV file. I
> >> imported them into a liability credit card account, positive values,
> >> column
> >> title "amount".
> >> But they all the purchases / charge transactions went into the "payment"
> >> column, not the "charge" column. All the other info imported fine.
> >> 
> >> Apparently I have to make those transactions either a negative value, or
> >> the column title has to be "amount negated". Is that correct?
> >> 
> >> Tom
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