help with foriegn currency

[Andrea Borgia]

Rob Latham wrote:


> I'm going on a trip and recently purchased some foriegn currency.  I'm
> trying to figure out how to best record this in gnucash.  

You could either cheat (i.e., record the currency purchase as an
expense) or do it properly. I take it you're asking for the nicer
solution, right?


> I added an exchange entry in the price editor,  but when I make a
> transfer from my USD denominated account (dollars) into the GBP
> denominated account (pounds), the transaction shows up with a blank
> ammount in the pounds account.  

At this stage, I am not sure you need to enter a price (though it
doesn't hurt): it is derived from your initial purchase.


Anyhow, this is how I setup my chart of accounts:
-first, you need a Currency-type account (let's call it "USD") with USD
as a commodity
-next, you need a whole set of USD expense accounts
-from the "USD" exchange account window enter a transaction from your
"GBP cash/bank" account to this "USD" account, using the amount of USD
you got as "shares" and the GBP amount you paid as "buy"
-transfer the whole USD amount from this exchange account to a "USD
cash/bank" account and later on to your USD expense accounts.


This works for me: purchases of target currency may be recorded from
different buying currencies (i.e., GBP->EUR or USD->EUR both in EUR
account), prices are what you'd expect them to be and you only need one
conversion account.


HTH,
Andrea.

-- 
Homepage: http://andrea.borgia.bo.it     /    Amateur radio: IZ4FHT