Managing prices in stock transactions.

[John Ralls]

> On Sep 3, 2015, at 3:06 PM, David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On 9/3/2015 3:00 PM, John Ralls wrote:
>>> On Sep 3, 2015, at 11:03 AM, David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I should split this off from the price rounding thread, but I don't know how to do that in GMail when I am replying from inside the thread.
>>> 
>>> Ledger view doesn't show number of shares or prices, so I would still need to go the security account to check on/fix them.  
>> No, you can check and fix them with “Edit Price” in the split’s context menu.
>> 
>>> I do not see how to fill out the transfer Funds Dialog from a confirmation statement listing number of shares, price, commission and amount.  There are no boxes for number of shares or amount.
>> It’s there but perhaps confusingly labelled as “Currency Exchange”. It’s disabled when both accounts are in the same currency/commodity.
>> 
>>> I I am also not sure which split line the dialog is working on after it has popped up.
>> The currencies/commodities involved are displayed (or changeable, depending up on how one launched the Transfer Dialog) and the split remains focused in the register.
>> 
>>> All closing transactions should have a pair of adjustment (Realized Gain/Loss) lines as well as the basic purchase/sale.and currency transfer lines.
>> That part you must indeed do from the individual stock account, though it need not be in the same transaction. The Lot Scrubber makes a separate transaction for gains and losses. You also need to go to the individual stock account to see the basis from which to compute the gain.
>>> It seems like it is still easiest to let the GnuCash Transfer Funds dialog do whatever it wants then go to the security account where the number of shares is shown and correct it, because it probably is wrong.
>> The Transfer Dialog does what you tell it to, but you do have to tell it the correct exchange rate.
>> 
>>> The multiple securities or accounts in the same transaction would usually be transitory during the editing process, but the cases you mention would be permanent.  I can also attest that when I had a 401-K with many securities in 5 different sub-accounts it was very common to have as many as 30 ledger entries in a single bi-weekly transaction and I was too lazy to duplicate each one separately.
>> I wouldn’t do it that way, but GnuCash should work when you do. You’d be working in split view and would be editing the amounts on each split and when you exit the credit/debit field the transfer dialog will come up and ask you for the exchange rate or amount. As currently written you should make sure that the counter-account for the split is correct before changing the value, but I’m inclined to think that nothing should be saved anywhere until you complete the whole transaction. It means moving some code and changing API but it’s code that should be separate from the dialog box anyway.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls
>> 
>> 
> 
> I am getting incredibly frustrated.  It is with several other things
> outside of GnuCash, but I feel it spilling over.  Sorry if I seem rude
> today.

Maybe you should save this to read tomorrow. I sympathize with your frustration, GnuCash isn’t very consistent in labelling price, amount, and value in the GUI and that can make it difficult to keep straight what it’s doing and asking for.

> 
> Thanks for splitting off this thread.
> 
> Where is the Edit Price item, in fact where is the context menu in the
> ledger view?

Context menus are presented when you right-click on something, in this case a transaction or a split.
>  I cannot find it in the security register either.

Since commodity registers have a price column the Transfer Dialog will decline to present itself; you’ll get an info-box instead.
> Is that the pop-up when price, shares and total do not match?

I suppose you mean the “which one do you want me to calculate” dialog box. Commodity registers have a price column, and that dialog comes up when shares * price != debit/credit. The Transfer Dialog is used in a currency or ledger register — one that has no Shares or Price column.

>  How would I trigger that in the Ledger view?

Same way as in a regular currency register. It will present itself when you tab out of the debit/credit column if it’s needed and you can pop it up with Edit Price from the context menu.

> Do I actually care about the price when I am really trying to keep the number of shares and total dollars
> matching the brokerage statement?

Well, yes, because the price is the ratio of the two. When in a currency or ledger register, right click in the commodity (i.e. security) split and select Edit Price from the context menu. At the bottom of the dialog box you’ll see two edit fields with a radio list on the left; the edit next to each radio button is enabled when its radio button is selected. The upper one, labelled “Exchange Rate” sets the price and calculates the amount; the lower one, labeled "Debit Amount”, sets the amount, i.e. the number of shares.

The labels are fixed and therefore often wrong. For example, in a sell transaction the currency account gets debited and the commodity account is credited, but the Transfer Dialog still lists the commodity account under “Debit Account” and the radio button label is “Debit Amount”. Seriously confusing.

> Also, how would I trigger that Currency Exchange that seems to be disabled if the security account is priced in the same currency as the brokerage account?

Umm, priced or denominated? Accounts aren’t priced, splits are. Accounts are denominated in a commodity that is a currency unless the account type is Stock or Mutual Fund, in which case they are denominated in a non-currency. If the “security” account is denominated in the same currency as the brokerage cash account then it’s not a security account.

> 
> When you say counter-account, are you referring to the account listed in whichever split line is currently highlighted, or the account that is currently displayed in the register view that the transaction was opened in?

That was a poor choice of words, sorry. I meant that the account set on the split should be the correct security account before you edit the debit/credit field so that the correct account is passed to the Transfer Dialog.

Regards,
John Ralls