Topic: where to go for ofx import help
Short version: I'm trying to import an OFX file from Merrill Lynch into KMyMoney. I've tried several variations, and the file imports without any errors, but none of the results are even close to what I get by manually entering the transactions. How do I figure out whether I'm expecting the impossible or else what is actually going wrong?
Longer version: I discovered this site while searching for help with an OFX import problem. I have an investment account with Merrill Lynch, and can easily download OFX files. I am using KMyMoney (http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KMyMoney) which can easily import those files. However, the whole process is not working well, and I'm not sure if either ML or KMM is not following the rules or they are simply following different accounting approaches.
For investments, KMM separates the actual investment account (which contains the stocks and mutual funds) from the brokerage account (which contains the uninvested cash.) ML considers it all a single account. In addition, for a dividend reinvestment, ML provides three separate transactions (which matches how they print it on the monthly statement.) First there is a debit of the dividend amount. Second is a credit of the same amount. Third is a reinvestment transaction that species the price and number of shares. (Partial shares seem to be magically accumulated, and added in as a journal entry when there is a whole number available.)
It's been a while since I've tried, but as I remember, if I import the OFX into the brokerage account, it gets the dividend in and out (basically as a deposit and withdrawal - not as a real dividend) and it ignores the reinvestment. I've now forgotten exactly what it did when I imported into the investment account, but nothing created any really correct transactions - I had to delete all and re-enter manually - not much use of the import.
The KMM developers are really helpful, but right now, they are concentrating on the release for KDE4, and I'm not really sure what I should be asking them. I've tried talking to the ML web site tech support, but they really don't seem to know much about OFX, and they don't seem very inclined to support non MS products. Is there anything I can do short of looking into the OFX spec itself to see what it says a dividend reinvestment transaction should contain?
Thanks for any suggestions on how to approach this or what other info I should post.
Jack