Foreign currency accounts and transactions.

[Adam Funk]

Adam Funk <a24061 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>> 3. the value of that asset has risen by GBP3.00 but without anything
>>    in the Income accounts to match it?

Sorry, that was vague --- I meant "the value of that asset as cited in
reports such as balance sheets and account summaries has risen...."

(There's an option in each report to add an extra column showing
accounts's balances in their own currencies, but the default is to
show everything in the main currency only.)


David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> You don't *have* any GBP in that account; it's USD. If you exchange your USD100
> for GBP, well, *then* there will be a transaction with an associated exchange
> rate, and that will determine the GBP you have. Until that point, however, you
> have USD100.

You're absolutely right.  What I meant was that if I put down on the
table the two balance sheets and a P&L statement covering the period
between them --- bearing in mind that all the accounts are reported in
GBP (with an optional column showing their "real" balance) and all the
totals are reported in GBP only --- then GBP3.00 *seems* to have
appeared from nowhere during the period.


> I have heard the term "Unrealized Gains" used for what you're getting at in
> #3--

Yes.

> they don't exist except in concept.

...or in gnucash either!

That's OK with me (and I imagine that for gnucash to adjust an income
account to cover this would be massively complicated).  Mainly I just
want to make sure I understand the matter correctly.