[GNC] Feature Request: Add Support for Functional Currency Amount in Transactions

[John Ralls]

I’ve been mulling this for some time, incited by a user who calls himself CDB-Man in the bug tracker and IRC. CDB-Man is a licensed accountant in Vancouver, BC. There’s a lot of discussion in https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=797796.

I don’t think we need to add anything, just make a small change to the way transaction currency is selected. It’s currently either the currency of the register in which the transaction is created or, if that register is denominated in a non-currency commodity, the currency of the nearest parent account that’s denominated in a currency. We could instead always use the book currency for the transaction currency. This would I think accomplish all of the goals Kevin lays out with one significant cost: It would complicate valuing securities that are normally priced in a currency other than the book currency. I think that could be addressed by adding a third pair of trading splits for the pricing currency.

Regards,
John Ralls

> On Jan 4, 2025, at 19:25, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
> 
> Back around GnuCash 1.4 each split had a home currency / value.  It was removed in 1.6.  The argument at the time was that if you're holding a handful of, e.g. Mexican Pesos, it doesn't really matter what the USD value was when you acquired them, it only matters what the value is when you need to report it, or when you transact with it.
> I didn't particularly buy the argument, but I didn't have a say at the time.
> Still, there has not been a call to return to that method since it was removed over 20 years ago   so I will ask, are you sure you need the extra data? Can it not be computed through other means?
> -derek
> Sent using my mobile device. Please excuse any typos.
> On January 4, 2025 19:27:58 Tian Kevin <tian_kun at outlook.com> wrote:
> 
>> Dear GnuCash Development Team,
>> I hope this email finds you well. My name is Kevin as an accountant, and I am a GnuCash user who manages multi-currency financial transactions. I appreciate the powerful features GnuCash provides for personal and business finance management.
>> I am writing to propose a feature enhancement for GnuCash: adding support for functional currency amounts in transactions. This feature would allow users to input and view amounts in their functional currency (e.g., a home or base currency) alongside the foreign currency used in the transaction. Additionally, it would ensure compliance with IFRS standards, which require the presentation of financial statements in the functional currency.
>> ________________________________
>> Use Case and Benefits
>> 
>> 1.  Simplified Reporting: Users could generate financial reports directly  in their functional currency without manually recalculating values for  foreign currency transactions.
>> 2.  Improved Accuracy: By maintaining the functional currency amounts  within the database, exchange rate differences can be calculated more  accurately and transparently.
>> 3.  Broader Adoption: Supporting functional currency aligns with  international accounting standards, making GnuCash more appealing to  professional users.
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> Proposed Implementation
>> 
>> *   Database: Add a new column (e.g., functional_currency_amount) in the  splits table to store the converted amount.
>> *   User Interface: Allow users to enter the functional currency amount  during transaction creation or let the system calculate it using exchange  rates.
>> *   Reporting: Update built-in reports to include functional currency  amounts for financial analysis.
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> I understand that this might be a significant development effort, but I believe it could greatly enhance GnuCash's capabilities. If needed, I would be happy to provide more detailed use cases or assist with testing this feature.
>> Thank you for considering my request. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
>> Best regards,
>> 
>> 
>> Kevin
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> gnucash-user mailing list
>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>> -----
>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/attachments/20250104/eb8d5ce9/attachment.htm>