Guide Investment selling examples

[Chris Good]

> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: John Ralls [mailto:jralls at ceridwen.us]
> >> Sent: Saturday, 30 July 2016 9:25 AM
> >> To: Chris Good <chris.good at ozemail.com.au>
> >> Cc: gnucash-devel at gnucash.org
> >> Subject: Re: Guide Investment selling examples
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Jul 28, 2016, at 7:38 PM, Chris Good <chris.good at ozemail.com.au>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Why do the images in the Guide seem to duplicate the sale transactions.
> >> I.e.
> >>> in the attached, there seems to be 2 transactions for 03/21/2006 but
> >>> the no of shares balance indicates there is only 1?
> >>>
> >>> Is this something an old version used to do?  If so, this must be
> >>> very confusing to new users. Should I redo these screen shots?
> >>
> >> No, the screen shot is correct. It can indeed be a bit confusing.
> >>
> >> There are two transaction entries because the transaction has two
> >> splits,
> > one
> >> for "Gross Sale" and the other for "Profit" (i.e. capital gain). It's
> >> done
> > this way
> >> to tie together the two parts of the transaction; it doesn't have to
> >> be
> > and if
> >> you use the Scrub Lots function it isn't; that makes two transactions
> >> and
> > uses
> >> the lot slots to tie them together.
> >>
> >> Read carefully Chapter 8 a couple of times and it should start to
> >> make
> > sense.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> John Ralls
> >
> > Hi John,
> >
> > Ah! As you say, it's because there are 2 splits to the stock account
> > in the same transaction, and the register is in Auto-Split view.
> > Basic view does similar.
> > I'd forgotten it does this because I just about always use Transaction
> > Journal view.
> >
> > The Help manual says: Basic Ledger: The default one line per
> > transaction style.
> >
> > This is confusing UI and I think I should document it.
> > I think the screen shots should also be in Transaction Journal view or
> > should mention why there appears to be duplicate transactions.
> > Is anyone still working on the new register?
> >
> > I'm currently working on documenting using Lots with investments.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Chris Good
>
> From: David T. [mailto:sunfish62 at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, 2 August 2016 5:20 PM
> To: Chris Good <chris.good at ozemail.com.au>
> Cc: John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>; gnucash-devel at gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: Guide Investment selling examples
> 
> Chris,
> 
> I agree that this is a confusing situation. In fact, in my own books, I have
> decided to avoid such double-split entries by reporting each aspect as a
> seprate transaction—that is, I create the sale transaction, and then I create a
> separate transaction for the Gain or loss. This makes it possible to have the
> descriptions match my expectation, and makes it easier for me to figure out
> what the register is showing me.
> 
> This problem does come up with new users, and so a brief note (perhaps in
> the section that explains transactions) that informs users that a single
> transaction will appear in a register as many times as there are splits for that
> account.
> 
> An additional idea might be to rewrite the capital gain section to show the
> two aspects (the sale and the gain) as separate transactions. That would
> clarify the process for new users, I think.There would still need to be the
> note above, and I imagine a note explaining that the user can enter the
> transaction as a single, multi-spilt entry.
> 
> David T.

Hi David,

I agree.
Anybody have any problems with the sale documentation being changed to show the capital gain transaction as a separate transaction from the sale, and explaining this is needed if scrubbing may be used in future?

Regards,
Chris Good

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