On Tue, 16 May 2000, Glen Ditchfield wrote:
> On Mon, 15 May 2000, Christopher Browne wrote:
> > d) [This starts getting questionable...] Merge data for the
> > transactions together, say pulling all the non-blank fields from the
> > input file in to replace what's in GnuCash.
>
> I'd like some sort of merging. Can we come up with simple rules that work
> for everyone?
>
> For instance, the transactions in the .qifs that I get contain a
> date, an amount, and a description like "CHQ#00453-0041094785". The
> existing transaction that I typed in contains a different date, the cheque
> number "453", the description "CHQ#00453", a memo, and a transfer account.
> Assuming that the matching rules were loose enough for GnuCash to match
> them up, I'd like the merge to keep the imported description and the
> existing cheque number, memo and transfer account.
I would suggest that we associate with each source (bank) a user-alterable
function that tells the importer function how to extract fields from the
description. In your case, the cheque number could be extracted and used to
match entries.
> What about the date? Does existing accounting practice say which date to
> use? Do different countries have different practices?
Use for what purpose? We have the date that
(a) the debt is incurred
(b) the payment authorization is issued
(c) the payment is tendered
(d) the transaction is posted
(e) the transaction is reconciled
For "cash books", (a) and (b) are the same. On "accrual books", they are
handled as two separate bookkeeping entries.
The only reason that (d) is of interest is to assist in the auditing of the
data entry. For example, it can help locate an entry with the wrong date.
Just as accural books use two entries and a transitional account, "accounts
payable" to record both (a) and (b), I have seen two entries and an auxiliary
account used to record the distinction between (b) and (c).
Unfortunately, in the simple case, there is only one account and one date
gets used for all three. However, the bank often does not know taht earlier
date.
If you are reconciling only once, heuristics and manual confirmation work
well enough. The problem occurs when the bank information is presented more
that once and it is necessary to detect and eliminate duplicates.
