Re: [GNC] Learning relate Gnucash to bank in 3-letter anagram world
Johnathon, What facilities exist with your bank for automated transaction download will to some extent depend upon your bank and what standards they have adopted for communication with their customers. Most banks should at least use the Open Financial Exchange (OFX) protocol either as a file you can download and import into OFX. Some banks will support a program logging in to a portal automatically and directly importing transactions using the same OFX protocol or using the interface that was largely developd in European Banks. OFX is in turn an example of an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) which used tags of the format Saving Account to enclose and identify the type of the datawithin the tags. In OFX the tags associated with finacial data have a specified meaning. If you Google search for these acronyms you will turn up their definitions and specifications usually on a site with a .org suffix. Some banks will also offer financial data in other formats such as QIF (Quicken Interchange Format) which is a proprietary format for Quicken programs but also widely used by others or QFX which is a Quicken version of the OFX protocol. QFX files can be imported with the "Import OFX" menu entry as they are essentially the same format. Another tabular format offered is CSV (Comma Separated Values) which originated with spreadshett data, E.g. Microsoft Excel although it predated Excel (IBM 360 Fortran around 1972 I believe). My bank only allows on-line access via their website and an authorized logon to that site, not directaccess at present. I can the export selected data for a given date range inany of OFX/QFX, QIF, MSMoney orCSV formats. Once downloaded to my computer I import the OFX files into GnuCash and check for any transactions which were not made by me usually while importing them and assigning the Expense accounts or Income accounts associated with the transaction to my bank account. You may need to read some introductory material on double entry accounting in general and as it is implemented in Gnucash. Wikipedia has some very good explanantions of double entry accounting (see their headings Double Entry Accounting, Accounting Equation, Debits and Credits for example. You will also find other information sources on line. The GnuCash Tuorial and Concepts guide is a good point to start with GNuCash specific information https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-guide/index.html David Cousens - David Cousens -- Sent from: http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-User-f1415819.html ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Learning relate Gnucash to bank in 3-letter anagram world
responses below. PLEASE copy the list with any replies On Sun, Dec 2, 2018 at 8:54 PM Jonathan Ames wrote: > Obviously I'm new to Gnucash, though I've had it four years and decided > after a few attempts that I had insufficient IQ, and was perhaps myself an > evolutionary side-track. > This isn't the list to discuss the merits of IQ, though I believe many respected professionals believe the concept is outmoded. Certainly you would not want to let frustration with a free / libre software package cause you to think less of your abilities. ;-) > So on this last attempt I got accounts established; however, when time to > attach to bank, or even copy and download transactions, it's alphabet city. > So I don't lose my mind, someone please confirm that in 'open source' there > is no automation of such transaction, as there is in Quicken, YNAB, etc.. I > could download a QXF (or whatever) file to desktop, but could not bring it > into Gnucash. The "import" tab doesn't seem operative, though I got the QFX > from desktop into an odd file called "Imbalance" (unexplained). I then > attempted to transfer the file to my home checking; would not do. The > specific bank account behaves as if it were a placeholder, though it is a > named account under "Bank Accounts". Of course, the bank uses its own > categories; I would expect to categorize them as per "Common Accounts" > list. > I think if you go back and read the documentation again and work through the tutorials you might better understand what's going on with the imbalance register. If you don't have the documentation copied to your computer, try starting here: https://www.gnucash.org/docs.phtml Once you get to that page, you'll want to start with the Tutorial and Concepts Guide. Probably you'll want to grab the PDF version for ease of reading, but it's also available in other formats, including a web version (which requires many more "clicks" to navigate through). I see on the web that others have struggled with this basic, essential > function of any accounting program (such as Quickbooks, which I use and > want to discontinue). > This is where I became inspired to respond -- I have used GnuCash for well over a decade, and Quicken for quite a few years before it, and I have never used the download transactions features (except maybe to test them). TO ME, downloading transactions eliminates one important part of the purpose of using an accounting program, IN MY OPINION -- to verify that the transactions in my bank accounts are correct and were initiated by me (or someone in my household). (I emphasized that because your priorities may differ.) What do I do instead? Every few days I go through my receipts (from my wallet, from my email, occasionally from my faulty memory) and enter the transactions into the various registers. The credit card transactions to a credit card account, the checks to a checking account, the cash expenditures to the "cash in wallet" account, etc. Then every month my banks issue a statement, which I use to reconcile against the transactions I entered. I always seem to find some transactions I missed, but that gives me a chance to track them down. Occasionally I have found some spurious bank transactions that I did NOT create -- once it was a transaction at a pizza shop; another time it was coffee stored value cards purchased on my account -- these I have reported to the banks as fraudulent. The banks removed them from my accounts asked me to report them to my local police department. I also usually also tell them to replace that card and I switch to using one at another bank until all the balances settle. If you download all the transactions from the bank, you're somewhat less likely to notice the transactions that are not yours. Also if (by some strange set of circumstances) someone at the BANK made an error, you might NEVER catch it. (I also reconcile my Cash in Wallet account -- which I do even though I don't have a statement to compare, just the "emptiness" of my wallet -- so my "books" reflect our family's actual expenditures at tax time. That sometimes means sizable monthly "Miscellaneous" expenditures whose amounts I cannot usually account for exactly.) > I am running Sierra on an 8gb ram/512 gb storage. The help sources seem to > have skipped over this function -- working with bank accounts. Sure it's > there somewhere, though the three-step suggestion doesn't work. > Where specifically did you look at the "help sources"? I think you'll find what you're looking for in Chapters 5 and 6 of the Tutorial and Concepts Guide. > So: is automatic connection to bank accounts possible? If not, how do you > "aim" downloaded QFX transaction files? I know many folks use these features, but maybe you should specify exactly what you're hoping to achieve. I believe GnuCash cannot INITIATE transactions at your bank, so if you have been using a program that did, you are correct that GnuCash won't do that. > Also, are Gnucash u
[GNC] Learning relate Gnucash to bank in 3-letter anagram world
Hi -- Obviously I'm new to Gnucash, though I've had it four years and decided after a few attempts that I had insufficient IQ, and was perhaps myself an evolutionary side-track. So on this last attempt I got accounts established; however, when time to attach to bank, or even copy and download transactions, it's alphabet city. So I don't lose my mind, someone please confirm that in 'open source' there is no automation of such transaction, as there is in Quicken, YNAB, etc.. I could download a QXF (or whatever) file to desktop, but could not bring it into Gnucash. The "import" tab doesn't seem operative, though I got the QFX from desktop into an odd file called "Imbalance" (unexplained). I then attempted to transfer the file to my home checking; would not do. The specific bank account behaves as if it were a placeholder, though it is a named account under "Bank Accounts". Of course, the bank uses its own categories; I would expect to categorize them as per "Common Accounts" list. I see on the web that others have struggled with this basic, essential function of any accounting program (such as Quickbooks, which I use and want to discontinue). I am running Sierra on an 8gb ram/512 gb storage. The help sources seem to have skipped over this function -- working with bank accounts. Sure it's there somewhere, though the three-step suggestion doesn't work. So: is automatic connection to bank accounts possible? If not, how do you "aim" downloaded QFX transaction files? Also, are Gnucash users mostly also developers, with at least some college CS (who therefore don't need to pay for commercial finance-tracking programs)? Thanks, anyone. Jonathan Ames, PhD Clinical Psychologist 415 N. Tioga Street Ithaca NY 14850 607-319-5118 - Office 607-227-4792 - Cell jnthn.a...@gmail.com www.whatnowconnect.com Email Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this transmission is confidential, proprietary or privileged and may be subject to protection under the law, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The message included in this email is for the sole use of the intended individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use, distribution or copying of the message is strictly prohibited and you may be subject to criminal or civil penalties. If you received this transmission in error, please contact the sender immediately by replying to this email and delete the material from all computers. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
