Re: [GNC] Newbie Q: some transactions imported to wrong category

[Bitmancer]

Thank you again, David. I fear I have taken a double dose of Stupid with my
Brunch.

I understand double-entry accounting, more or less. I will RTFM in the Loans
area.



--
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] Newbie Q: some transactions imported to wrong category

[David Cousens]

In the screen shot both of the lines of the transaction (splits in Gnucash
parlance) have accounts which are expense accounts. GnuCash is a double
entry system so when you make a payment for a purchase money is taken out of
your checking or savings account and given to the bank and this appears as
an expense. Other programs like Quicken often hide this from you but in
GnuCash it is explicit so any transaction records that money comes out of
your checking account and is spent on a specific expense.

i.e.DebitCredit

Asset:Checking Account  $ 100
Expense:Car   $100

is what you would expect to see for a purchase transaction

That transaction in the screen shot is repayment of a loan. When a loan is
first created you receive money from your bank into your checking account
for example and you create a liability that records the fact that you have
an obligation to repay the bank. This for example for a $10,000 loan will
have splits as follows:

   Debit  Credit
Asset:CheckingAccount   $10,000.00
Liability:Loan  $10,000.00 


When you make a payment of $400 on that loan, you reduce that liability (
ignore interest for the moment)
Debit  Credit
Asset:Checking Account   $400
Liability:Loan $400

and your transaction should have had that general form. ( I'm leaving out
dates, description and the reconcile status and just concentrating on the
accounts and money coming in and out).

The use of debits and credits is not what you will see on your bank
statement which is the banks' recording of its financial position, not
yours. You will find an explantion of the basics of double entry accounting
and how debits and credits apply in accounting and GnuCash in the GnuCash
Tutorial and Concepts Guide (
https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-guide/index.html) in the section
called Basics and in subsequent sections how to handle loans credit cards
etc in the section about Managing Personal Finances. Some time invested in
reading this will be well worthwhile.

The Help manual (https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-help/help.html)
is also useful for more button by button description of the GUi interface
(or it was intended to be but in some parts the lines get a bit blurred
between it and the guide).

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] Newbie Q: some transactions imported to wrong category

[Bitmancer]

Thank you for your timely answer, David. Responses in context:

David Cousens wrote
> ..., it will open to display
> both splits of the transaction on separate lines. If you click on the
> account you wish to change a down arrow appears on the right handside and
> clicking on that will open an account tree display in which you can select
> the desired destination account. ...

The split finds the account just fine. A column called Rebate is presented
and the "R" column has a "c" in it. There seems to be no actual transfer
action to move it away from Error category to Correct category, even though
I have selected it from the drop-down list.

 

David Cousens wrote
> For future reference when you are importing transactions GnuCash has a
> matcher 

I used the Matcher. I missed the entries with errors.

David Cousens wrote
> Under Edit->Preferences->Online Banking you will find a setting "use
> bayesian matching". which should be set. I think it is the default. Other
> wise it uses a simpler and less adaptive method to assign the account.

Button is set.


David Cousens wrote
> -
> David Cousens
> --
> Sent from: http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-User-f1415819.html
> ___

> gnucash-user@

> 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.





--
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] Newbie Q: some transactions imported to wrong category

[David Cousens]

Bitmancer,

If you open the regster for the account to which you imported the
transactions. If you set the preferences 
using Edit->Preferences->Register defaults and set the Auto-split register
radio button when you click on a transaction line, it will open to display
both splits of the transaction on separate lines. If you click on the
account you wish to change adown arrow appears on the right handside and
clicking on that will open an account tree display in which you can select
the desired destination account. GnuCash does not have categories but
expense and income accounts serve the same purpose and you can create groups
of expense accounts.

For future reference when you are importing transactions GnuCash has a
matcher which will try to assign that account on the basis of past account
assignments. That information is stored when you click OK in the matcher to
complete the import so if you have not assigned the correct accounts in the
matcher process before importing them, that information will not be stored.
Hence future imports will continue to be assigned to the wrong accounts on
import. The matcher uses a statistical process to match the accounts and it
can be "trained" by importing more data correctly. Assigning the correct
account from the register rather than in the import matcher will not train
the matcher to correctly assign the transfer accounts.

Under Edit->Preferences->Online Banking you will find a setting "use
bayesian matching". which should be set. I think it is the default. Other
wise it uses a simpler and less adaptive method to assign the account.

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.