Unrealized Losses on Balance Sheet

[Mike C.]

The solution to your problem is in the Help>Tutorial under selling 
shares.  You need to add another transaction split with xyz stock-zero 
shares-zero price/share-credit $loss and income/capital gains-debit 
$loss.  This will eliminate the unrealized gains since it tells GC what 
to do with the loss amount as discussed in a previous response.
Mike

On 3/14/2010 9:31 AM, c-a-l wrote:
> With all due respect, what I am trying to figure out here is how GnuCash
> generates its report, so this is an issue of understanding the GnuCash
> software, and NOT an accounting issue.
>
> What I posted was NOT any transaction, but rather the results on the balance
> sheet.  I did not "involve" Equity - GnuCash did that on it's own, via the
> Balance Sheet report.  I am trying to understand how to uninvolve Equity, as
> I agree with you from an accounting point of view.
>
> You are exactly right - I don't expect GnuCash to know the name I chose for
> the expense account to which I attribute the losses which is the crux of the
> issue.  I never put the Unrealized Loss in a transaction, but it shows up in
> the Balance Sheet report.  I do not have any account for unrealized losses
> in the equity section - That line item is NOT attributable to any account -
> GnuCash just puts it there.  So I don't understand how I will ever get rid
> of the "Unrealized Losses" line item on the Balance Sheet, since GnuCash
> just puts it there.  Enter a buy of 10 shares at $100/share in 2008, and
> enter a current value of $80 and you will see what I mean.
>
> So even if I select an account to which to attribute the losses, I still
> have the same issue in the Balance Sheet, except that now instead of just
> one entry under "Unrealized Losses" I have two entries - I still get the
> "Unrealized Losses" entry on the Balance Sheet that is not attributable to
> any particular account, and I get a balancing entry of "Retained Losses," an
> account that also does not exist.
>
>    
>
>
>
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