How to handle sale of partial lots of stock?

Derek Atkins warlord at MIT.EDU
Thu Mar 16 00:58:22 EST 2006


You're using Weighted Balance for the stock price.  Don't do that.
You want to use the "most recent pricedb entry" and make sure you
have a pricedb entry for the $20/share

-derek

Quoting John Schoffstall <john.schoffstall at pobox.com>:

> Derek Atkins wrote:
>> Um, it should work just fine if you put in the correct gain/loss splits.
>> Can you show an example of where it's failing, please?
>
> Create a GnuCash file with Assets, Expense, Income, and Equity 
> accounts. Create a stock account under the Brokerage account, 
> "Digital Datawack" (DWAK). We'll use these accounts:
>
> Assets:Investments:Brokerage
> Assets:Investments:Brokerage:DWAK
> Expense:Commissions
> Income:Capital Gains
> Equity:Opening Balances
>
> Enter a transaction for 200 shares of Digital Datawack at $10 a share 
> as an opening balance:
>
> Date       Action Account                           Shares Price Debit Credit
> 03/14/2006 Buy    Assets:Investments:Brokerage:DWAK 200       10  2000
>                  Equity:Opening Balances                                2000
>
> Our balance sheet looks like this:
>
> Assets
> Assets                 $0.00
>  Investments:      $2000.00    Assets                    $2000.00    
> Liabilities
> Liabilities                  $0.00
> Unrealized Gains(Losses)     $0.00
>
> Equity
> Equity                 $0.00  Opening Balances: $2000.00
> Retained earnings:           $0.00
> Net Profit:                  $0.00
> Total Equity:             $2000.00
>
> Liabilities & Equity:     $2000.00
>
>
> Digital Datawack doubles in a day! We'll lock in profits and sell 
> half our shares:
>
> Date       Action Account	                     Shares Price Debit Credit
> 03/15/2006 Sell   Assets:Investments:Brokerage                     1995
>                  Expenses:Commissions                                
> 5                           Assets:Investments:Brokerage:DWAK	        
>    1000
>                  Assets:Investments:Brokerage:DWAK    -100    20        2000
>                  Income:Capital Gains                                   1000
>
> But now our balance sheet looks like this:
>
> Assets
> Assets                 $0.00
>  Investments:      $3661.67   Assets                    $3661.67    
> Liabilities
> Liabilities                  $0.00
> Unrealized Gains(Losses)     $0.00
>
> Equity
> Equity                 $0.00  Opening Balances: $2000.00
> Retained earnings:           $0.00
> Net Profit:                $995.00
> Total Equity:             $2995.00
>
> Liabilities & Equity:     $2995.00
>
> Drilling down into the balance sheet a little, it seems that 
> everything is correct, except that our remaining shares of DWAK are 
> being assigned the value of $1666.67. Huh?
>
> So: what's going on here? What am I missing?
>
> == John
>>
>> -derek
>>
>> Quoting John Schoffstall <john.schoffstall at pobox.com>:
>>
>>> [ack, replied to Derek instead of to the list, sorry]
>>>
>>> Thanks for the fast reply!
>>>
>>> Yes, I read that, and set up the splits as described. It works if I 
>>> sell exactly the number of shares that I own. But if -NUM_SHARES is 
>>> less than my total owned shares, my balance sheet will be 
>>> unbalanced as a result. It remains unbalanced until I sell the rest 
>>> of the shares of that stock account.
>>>
>>> == John
>>>
>>>
>>> Derek Atkins wrote:
>>>
>>>> You should read the concepts guide.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v1.8/C/gnucash-guide/invest_sell1.html
>>>>
>>>> -derek
>>>>
>>>> Quoting John Schoffstall <john.schoffstall at pobox.com>:
>>>>
>>>>> Greetings! Running 1.8.10 on Debian etch. New GnuCash user, new 
>>>>> list user, new Linux user.
>>>>>
>>>>> I've been climbing the GnuCash learning curve for the past week, 
>>>>> been happy with the software, and making good progress until now. 
>>>>> I've hit a snag I can't get past, though.
>>>>>
>>>>> How do you sell a partial lot of stock -- e.g., selling only 100 
>>>>> of 200 owned shares -- without unbalancing your balance sheet? 
>>>>> I've tried creating two lots, each of 100 shares and only selling 
>>>>> one, but that still whacks the balance sheet.
>>>>>
>>>>> The examples in the docs all seem to show only the purchase and 
>>>>> sale of equivalent amounts. I've googled the net and the mailing 
>>>>> list archives, but can't find an answer I can understand.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is a common situation; there must be an answer. Can anyone help?
>>>>>
>>>>> == John
>



-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available



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