Proposal for modifying gnucash to use exact quantities

[Clark Jones]

Bill Gribble wrote:
> 
> Clark Jones <jones@inficad.com> writes:
> > I hate to quibble with Gribble :-), but in actuallity the bill establishing
> > the Dollar as the U.S. currency (written by Thomas Jefferson) defines the
> > "mill" -- which is 1/1000 of a U.S. Dollar -- though the only places where
> > you're likely to run into it is at the gas pump and calculating real estate
> > taxes.
> 
> I'm a little confused about this.  Where is a "mill" actually a valid
> amount for a financial transaction?  You certainly can't take one out
> of a bank account.
> 
> Is this just an anachronism?  Are there *any* places where correct
> record keeping requires one to keep track of dollar values down to the
> 1/1000 of a dollar?
> 
> b.g.

Gee, Bill, I was afraid I might offend you with the "play on words" on your
name.  :-)

The mill is _legal_ to use anywhere in the United States, though, if I recall
correctly, the U.S. government has never issued a coin or currency denominated
in mills.  (The U.S. laws do allow for issuing by other "authorities" under
certain circumstances -- and it's been too many decades since I've studied
numismatics [coin collecting] to recall exactly what others have done.)

Many jurisdictions that tax real estate calculate it based on mills, and as
I pointed out earlier, virtually all retail gasoline vendors in the U.S.
price their product in mills.  I, personally, have never encountered a
situation, though, where actual transactions weren't rounded/truncated to
the cent.  (Have to be careful here, as technically the U.S. doesn't have
"pennys" -- we have "cents" and "dimes".)

So, in reality, it's just "quibling" -- I didn't recall anyone else having
mentioned mills, so I thought I should.  Someone recently sent me something
saying, in effect, "know the rules, so that you can break them correctly",
attributed to the Dalhi Lama.  So we now know the rules, so we can break
them intelligently.  :-)

						Clark

P.S.  It sounds to me like we should try to dig up a CPA to "consult" on
the whole problem, since it does sound to me like something the accounting
community has probably already addressed.

-- 
Disclaimer:  The opinions expressed herein are mine and not necessarily
those of anyone else.  (As if anyone else would want them!)

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