[GNC-dev] book currency is what ... question mark

Wm wm_o_o_o at yahoo.co.uk
Thu Feb 21 09:51:09 EST 2019


On 20/02/2019 20:05, Christian Kluge wrote:
> Am 20.02.2019 um 14:09 schrieb Wm via gnucash-devel:
>> On 17/02/2019 19:50, Christian Kluge wrote:

I think this should be in user not devel

>>> It might be your so called valuation exercise, but it annoys me very
>>> much that Finance::Quote doesn’t fetch the daily average quotes from the
>>> ECB yet.
>>
>> Any F::Q valuations should not affect your day to day life, I am well
>> known for saying gnc is not suitable for trading.  Governments generally
>> don't care about one up or one down in decimal points for most people.
> 
> Have I said anything about trading? Don’t try to interpret things. I
> know that the ECB rates are suitable for this case however they are a
> reference recording value.

I am known to be rude to people that don't think well.  I would like to 
point out that *you* made the first insult by saying "your so called 
valuation exercise".  Who is the "we" and who is the "you" ?

F::Q is an independent project.  We love it and use it but we don't own 
it.  Did you mean them or us?  If you meant to speak to F::Q they have 
their own lists, go there if you have a problem with them.

>>> Often times with cash transactions it happens that people use simple
>>> exchange rates which are nowhere near the actual rates. So I might be
>>> paying 5 EUR for a service worth 20 PLN according to the receipt, so you
>>> might assume that the exchange rate is 1 to 4, but the actual rates are
>>> in a range of 1 to 4.2/4.3.
>>
>> My advice is to record the actual values, forget the theoretical
>> exchange rate as you are unlikely to get it.
>>
>>> So unless we’re talking about bank transfers or exchanging real currency
>>> there are situations where you’d want rates instead of the actual
>>> amounts exchanged.
>>
>> It seem stupid to me to account for what you wished rather than what
>> happened.
>>
>> Did you eat 5EUR worth of some food or 20PLN of some food?  The food has
>> gone inside you and out by now :)
>>
>> Accounting is not a youtube thing, you don't value something afterwards
>> unless it has residual value.  Your poo is just that, your poo, no value
>> in most currencies :)
>>
> 
> Let me expand my example:
> 
> Let’s say I’m doing someone else’s accounts and going through the
> liabilities first and see an invoice for 20 PLN.

OK, for other reader's reference, 20PLN approximates to GBP 4, USD 5 and 
a quarter and EUR 4.6, i.e. nothing significant in accounting terms, in 
fact nothing anyone else would notice in a personal or business set of 
accounts by itself.

It just looks like an expense to me.  My question is why is such a small 
amount a liability?

Here is the point: it doesn't matter what the fucking ECB rate was!
Do the accounting first!  Is it a liability or an expense?

> Then I don’t go through the bank statements first and try to find this
> transaction for the real value transferred but use the (monthly average)
> ECB quote.

Why?  If it is a single tx for such a small amount it is just an 
occasional expense.  The ECB rate is immaterial.

> I don’t know how it’s done in the UK but in the end a balance sheet has
> to be in Euro in Germany, so it has to be converted anyway.

I agree with that, gnc's Balance Sheets and Income Statements are near 
perfect.  If you have up to date prices around the beginning and ending 
of your reporting period in your prices db all should be well.

You do *not* need the ECB rate for anything approximate to the price of 
a cheap restaurant meal.

Seriously, Christian, is this really about you not understanding someone 
may have gone from Germany to Poland, bought some food and recorded the 
actual cost?  Now you want the ECB rate?

-- 
Wm



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