accounting for stock trades

[Derek Atkins]

Herbert Thoma <tma@iis.fhg.de> writes:

> Unrealized gain/loss is no "real" money. But realized gain is actual
> income which I have to pay tax for, realized loss reduces my tax
> payment. So I have to account for realized gain/loss.

Sure, but who claims you need to account for it _BY A SPLIT_?
I have already explained how to account for it through other
mechanisms (i.e. LOTS).

> > > Right now (in GnuCash 1.6) I use a ugly workaround:
> > > In the stock register I "sell" a stock for the price I bought it,
> > > the actual amount goes to the cash account, the difference to
> > > capital_gain or capital_loss.
> > 
> > This sounds like an ugly kludge; I'm not convinced it's what we want
> > in the long run.
> 
> It _is_ a ugly kludge but I know of no better way. Any suggestions?

Yes.  See my other mail on this topic about LOTs.

> > Question: how does quicken keep track of it?
> 
> I don't know, I never used quicken.

-derek

>  Herbert.
> 
> > >  Herbert.
> > 
> > -derek
> > 
> > > >  Each transaction is balanced on each
> > > > individual purchase/sale.  The lot balances when you sell all the
> > > > shares out of the lot.
> > > >
> > > > The balance of the lot is the sum of the AMOUNTS of the splits in the
> > > > lot.  The gain/loss is the balance of the the VALUES of the splits in
> > > > the lot.
> > > >
> > > > > Ed
> > > >
> > > > -derek
> > > >
> > > > > Derek Atkins wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > >Ed Warnicke <hagbard@physics.rutgers.edu> writes:
> > > > > >
> > > > > >[snip]
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >>What would be the right way to account for this?
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >
> > > > > >Using LOTs (which are currently in development) to relate purchases to
> > > > > >sales.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >>Ed
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >
> > > > > >-derek
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > gnucash-devel mailing list
> > > > > gnucash-devel@lists.gnucash.org
> > > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > >        Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
> > > >        Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
> > > >        URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
> > > >        warlord@MIT.EDU                        PGP key available
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > gnucash-devel mailing list
> > > > gnucash-devel@lists.gnucash.org
> > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
> > >
> > > --
> > > Herbert Thoma
> > > FhG-IIS A, Studio Department
> > > Am Weichselgarten 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
> > > Phone: +49-9131-776-323
> > > Fax:   +49-9131-776-399
> > > email: tma@iis.fhg.de
> > > www: http://www.iis.fhg.de/
> > 
> > --
> >        Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
> >        Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
> >        URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
> >        warlord@MIT.EDU                        PGP key available
> 
> -- 
> Herbert Thoma
> FhG-IIS A, Studio Department
> Am Weichselgarten 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
> Phone: +49-9131-776-323
> Fax:   +49-9131-776-399
> email: tma@iis.fhg.de
> www: http://www.iis.fhg.de/

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord@MIT.EDU                        PGP key available