Trial Balance Report with Investment Transactions

[Michael Churchill]

Hi All,
It is my understanding that Richard provided a sample file showing the
problem with Trial Balance.

I was reading about an old bug and learned a little bit about the
approach to determining average cost in GC.  I had noticed that the
cost in TB was not what I calculated, but also saw that 2.6.14 gave the
same result as 2.6.15; now I sort of see why.  I think of average cost
as the weighted average of costs up to the report date, but GC seems
to use a more general weighted average.

I don't really understand why GC can't deal with commissions as a
separate expense, but it isn't that hard to work around.  Generally, I
think brokerage reports have the expenses identified separately.

If the bug-fix is simple then do it.  If there is a need to re-examine
the whole approach to dealing with stocks/commodities then I think
David's concerns should be factored into the requirements.

Mike Churchill

On Sat, 4 Feb 2017 12:01:28 +1100
"Chris Good" <chris.good at ozemail.com.au> wrote:

> > Message: 5
> > Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2017 13:07:10 -0500
> > From: Richard Lindgren <rlindgren74 at gmail.com>
> > To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > Subject: Trial Balance Report with Investment Transactions
> > Message-ID: <28cd077c-e8f3-4b53-80a0-5bb71474cab0 at typeapp.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Richard Lindgren <rlindgren74 at gmail.com> writes:
> > 
> > I have a problem with the Trial Balance report relative to
> > incorporating  
> my
> > investments. My regular accounting portion seems to be okay, but
> > when it comes to using the Trial Balance with my investment
> > transactions there is always a discrepancy!
> > 
> > It doesn't seem to matter whether it is a Drip fund account a
> > purchase or  
> sell
> > transaction. It keeps track of the number of shares okay, but when
> > it  
> comes
> > to the actual dollars...it's wrong. I'm not saying that the
> > gnucash  
> program is
> > inaccurate, I'm saying I am EXTREMELY frustrated and can not figure
> > what  
> I'm
> > doing wrong. Maybe I have set up the various accounts wrong! I need
> > help here before I switch to something else.
> > 
> > Please help me?
> > 
> > Thank you in advance for your help in this matter, as it is VERY
> > important  
> to
> > me.
> > 
> > Richard Lindgren  
> 
> Hi Richard,
> 
> Have you followed the suggestions in the GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts
> Guide,
> Part II. Managing Personal Finances, Ch 9 Investments, Selling Shares,
> Automatic Calculation of Capital Gain or Loss Using Lots, Run a Trial
> Balance, Tip
> to try to determine exactly which sale transaction(s) make the Trial
> Balance go out of balance?
> 
> You need to give us something to work with to help you.
> If you identify a particular sale/capital gain that first causes the
> trial balance problem, and you cannot figure out why,
> please provide all the costs for all buys and sells up to and
> including the sale, and the sale and capital gain transaction info,
> so we can check if you or GnuCash is doing something wrong.
> 
> It would be even better if you could provide a test (depersonalised)
> GnuCash file which shows the problem so there are no
> misunderstandings.
> 
> Have you used scrubbing to create capital gain transactions or have
> you manually entered them?
> If you are using scrubbing, have you ensured you have complied with
> all the points in the following "Considerations" paragraph?
> Are you using multiple currencies or trading accounts?
> 
> Regards, Chris Good