multi-currency issue

Wouter van Marle wouter at squirrel-systems.com
Mon Mar 20 21:03:45 EST 2006


On Sun, 2006-03-19 at 14:33 -0500, Derek Atkins wrote:
> I suspect you're hitting http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=139651
> or even http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=116353 -- I can't
> tell based on your limited description here.

I think it is neither bug. I found a workaround; it works now nicely,
but I have to enter quite a few transactions for a single payment.

What I found out: it seems that currency transactions work rather
similar to stock transactions (makes sense: the price of one A is a
certain number of B; regardless of A or B are currencies or stocks).
Transfer from one currency to another currency works great, transfer
from one currency to a stock in that currency also. 
But when doing transfer from one currency to a mutual fund in another
currency the currency conversion is lost.

To say it in another way: transfer where a single unit has to be
converted works, but when two units (currency to other currency to
mutual fund) have to be converted in the same transaction it fails. That
is the bug I've ran into. Shall I open a bug in bugzilla for this?

Example: every line is account name (account type, account currency).

-- Assets (asset, HKD)
     -- AIA mutual funds (asset, HKD)
         -- EUR funds (asset, EUR)
             -- Fund 1 (mutual fund, fund price is in EUR)
     -- Checking account (bank, HKD)

EUR fund: price EUR20, EUR1=$10
Bank account: current balance $20000

Now imagine, I make a transaction from my bank account to the EUR funds.
I make a transaction of $10,000 from bank to Fund 1 directly. As $10,000
= EUR1,000 and the fund price is EUR20 I should end up with 50 of that
fund. Making the transaction gives me a transfer dialogue window, where
I can enter this exchange rate. Then this transaction works OK. 
However, GnuCash now sees these shares priced in HKD, and therefor if I
update the price of the fund (in EUR) my asset value does not change. If
however I put a HKD price in the price editor, the asset value does
change. Making a change in the EUR/HKD exchange rate has no effect on
the asset value.

The workaround:
1) make transaction from bank account to "EUR funds" asset account,
converting HKD units to EUR units.
2) make transaction from "EUR funds" asset account to the the Fund 1
mutual fund account, converting EUR units to "Fund 1" units.
Now it works fine: change the EUR exchange rate, my asset value changes.
Change the fund price (in EUR), the asset value changes with it.

Wouter.




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