gnucash-user Digest, Vol 51, Issue 25

Carlo Marinoni carlo.marinoni at gea.it
Thu Jun 21 13:14:49 EDT 2007


> Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:14:21 -0400
> From: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Trial balance failed!
> To: Daniel <daniel.carrera at zmsl.com>
> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Message-ID: <sjmabutgx0y.fsf at pgpdev.ihtfp.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> Daniel <daniel.carrera at zmsl.com> writes:
> 
> > Oh, here is another thought: I deal with more than one currency. Could 
> > that be the problem? This this what I'm thinking:
> >
> > 1) On day one I have the assets:
> >     USD Bank account:  $2000
> >     CAD Bank account:  $2000
> > 2) I transfer $1000 USD to Canada at a rate of $1 US = $1.30 CAD.
> >     USD Bank account:  $1000
> >     CAD Bank account:  $3300
> > 3) The Canadian dollar appreciates to $1 US = $1.10 CAD. If I calculate 
> > my total assets in USD, some money will have vanished. If I calculate my 
> > total assets in CAD, some money will have appeared out of nowhere.
> >
> > If I have income and expenses in more than one currency, I guess 
> > currency fluctuations could ruin the trial balance.
> >
> > Do you think this might be the problem?
> 
> Yes, it could be!
> 
> -derek
> -- 
>        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

It surely is; I had the same problem, with EUR and GBP exchanges.  You
can easily check that this is the problem, either by deleting the
foreign currency entries or by changing the date of the trial balance
just one day before the first "currency" transaction appears (I
discovered the problem this way).  The solution I adopted was to
re-enter all the currency transactions with the same exchange rate as
the first one.  Then, to close the foreign currency account, I balanced
it with an income account (same idea as recording earnings or losses
with shares).

I would be happy to understand, if there is another method better than
what I did.

Carlo




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