[Kmymoney] starting account

[Jack]

On 2013.05.17 05:41, Gary Kirkpatrick wrote:
> I have some accounts where I can get up to two years of transactions  
> off the bank site.  Is it best to start by adding just this years to  
> date and then go for previous periods?   I have years of data on  
> quicken-  should I try to add those and if so should I do them first  
> and then add what i can download?  Or should I start as of today and  
> not download info/add quicken info?  Some accounts are investment  
> accounts versus a checking acct.  Does this make a difference?

In addition to Allan's response there is one other thing to keep in  
mind if you are planning to add older transactions after you have  
started using an account.  First, you cannot add a transaction to an  
account earlier than the opening day of the account, but you can change  
the opening date and starting balance in the edit account dialog.   
Also, if you initially set up the account with an opening date far  
enough in the past to handle all the data you would like to include,  
you also need to remember that adding/importing older transactions may  
require adjusting the opening balance or using placeholder withdrawals  
or deposits.

Reminder: save the file frequently, and backup early and often.  KMM is  
quite stable, but if an import doesn't work as you expect, it is very  
easy to get very confused.  If you always save before importing, it is  
easy to go back to the saved version and try again.

One way you can do this 'retrograde importing' is to initially set up  
your accounts starting, for example, January 1 of this year.  Then set  
up a separate account starting January 1 of last year.  If all the  
imports for last year are correct, then the ending balance of that  
account will match the starting balance of this year's account, and you  
can merge them by transferring all the transactions from one account to  
the other.  Note that there is no technical reason to use separate  
accounts for this, but I find it decreases the confusion and need for  
adjusting opening dates and starting balances.

Jack