currencies

[Bill Gribble]

On Mon, Sep 25, 2000 at 01:49:17PM -0700, Dave Peticolas wrote:
> This document presents some issues with respect to GnuCash and
> currency handling. A few solutions are sketched, but mainly the
> purpose of this document is to elicit feedback.

A few things I have discovered which may or may not be of use: 

 - There is an "Accounting Software News" website which has a page 
   rating lots of software packages on their international accounting
   proficiency.  Apparently good handling of foreign currencies is 
   not at all common, and it appears that Gnucash is already posessed
   of some features that are not common in the low-end market. 

   Accounting Software News: 
   http://www.accountingsoftwarenews.com/ 

   International currency feature comparison: 
   http://www.accountingsoftwarenews.com/charts/currency.htm
   
 - The "gold standard" for foreign-currency handling in accounting
   software is whether it meets "FASB 52", where FASB == Financial
   Accounting Standards Board.  I am ordering a copy of FASB 52.  A
   summary can be seen at:

   http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/fasb/st/summary/stsum52.htm

   No low end software (Peachtree, Quickbooks, etc) meets FASB 52, so
   it may be a too-high target, but it would be nice to be able to
   say.

   Other standards we should be aware of but I haven't tracked down
   (referenced from the above software feature summary page):
  
   Statements of Standard Accounting Practice 20 
      (the United Kingdom and Canadian authoritative pronouncement)

   International Accounting Standard 21, 
      Accounting for the Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates 
      (the IASC's authoritative pronouncement)

   European Community EC Directives 4 
      (Annual Account of Certain Types of Companies) 

   European Community EC Directives 7
      (Council Directive on Consolidated Accounts)
  
   Don't know where to find these; they're probably out there
   electronically somewhere.

 - Our method of tracking/counting the "security" of an account is 
   very similar to the "perpetual inventory system."  My intro accounting
   book makes no bones about it: you keep a "stock record card", which 
   is a ledger denominated in the commodity, where each entry has
   a value in the accounting currency.  I don't know how this interacts
   with FASB 52; that accounting book is VERY strictly single-currency.  
   I'll have to sit down with the summary and see what I can
   pull out of it.

b.g.