Stocks and basis

[hendrik at topoi.pooq.com]

On Fri, Feb 08, 2008 at 10:44:37AM -0500, Ross Boylan wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 2008-02-08 at 09:22 -0500, Derek Atkins wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Ross Boylan <RossBoylan at stanfordalumni.org> writes:
> > 
> > > I've seen a number of wishes for easier handling of stock (at
> > > http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/WishList#Easier_Setup_of_Stocks and below,
> > > and also on this list).  However, it seems to me a deeper fix than
> > > "druids" is required.
> > >
> > > To handle many assets properly, one needs to view one's holdings as a
> > > collection of items, each of which has (among other things) a quantity,
> > > an acquisition date, and a basis (original cost/value).  Although
> > > gnucash can record the transactions that led to the current holdings, my
> > > impression is that it treats the holdings as an undifferentiated
> > > aggregate.
> > >
> > > One reason I think this is that when one sells shares, one isn't asked
> > > which shares are to be sold, and one has to provide the basis manually.
> > >
> > > Tracking acquisitions would also raise the issue of selling designated
> > > shares (I sold x shares acquired on date d with basis b), and of
> > > allowing people automatic selection of the lowest or highest basis
> > > shares to fill a sale.  Oldest or newest shares would be another method.
> > >
> > > (At least in the US, there are more wrinkles because of the tax
> > > distinction between short and long term holdings.  One might want to
> > > confine the choices to long-term holdings.)
> > >
> > > Would this be a significant change to the internal model of the program?
> > 
> > You've just described "Lots"...
> Is lots a feature that exists now?  Can I use it?  Or is this something
> that has been proposed?
> 
> Some recent discussion concerned managing invoices and seemed to raise
> similar issues, with people interested in applying payments to certain
> invoices.  However, it seems the invoices do exist; there just aren't
> hooks for picking the ordering.
> 
> That's similar to the problem of selling x shares, and deciding exactly
> which shares you sold.

You could consider each lot of shares a separate subaccount.  But that 
rather clutters up the accounts tree after you've sold the lot.  It 
coule make the accounts chooser on the register page intolerably full of 
ancient trivia.

-- hendrik