Fixed Income Again

Derek Atkins warlord at MIT.EDU
Tue May 1 11:06:24 EDT 2007


John,

I'll point out that the ONLY difference between "Stock" and "Mutual Fund"
type accounts in GnuCash is the labeling.  Adding a new account type is
straightforward but there's a lot of places that need to be kept in
sync, so it's not just a simple "add it to a list in one place" kind
of task.

Still, it iS rather straightforward, something that a novice could
do.  So feel free to take the time, do the work, and send in a patch.
Most of us developers are working on real bugs right now, like making
sure gnucash doesn't corrupt data and doesn't crash and things like that.
Adding something that's effectively a cosmetic change just isn't
high on the priority list right now, but if you submitted a patch I
can guarantee it has a MUCH higher chance of getting in a future release.

-derek

Quoting "John K. Taber" <jktaber at charter.net>:

> It was suggested that I use "asset" as TYPE for Treasury notes. I tried
> "asset" but I was not able to change present value with the Price
> Editor!
>
> I'm going to repeat myself: GnuCash really needs more fixed income work
> done on it. The fact that I'm not a bond trader has nothing to do with
> it.
>
> Here is the situation: I buy Treasury notes from Treasury Direct, an
> unadvertised office of the US Treasury. I recommend Treasury Direct,
> btw, for no-cost purchase of Treasuries.
>
> My purchase is actually a non-competitive tender in Treasury lingo. The
> practical effect is that Treasury sets the interest rate for me as the
> average of the competitive bids.
>
> Thus,  the price I pay is a premium or discount to par, usually a
> discount. For example, if I buy 10,000 USD worth at auction, I may
> actually pay 9,994. But the note is worth 10,000 at maturity, and since
> I hold to maturity I want to carry it on my books at 10,000 because
> Treasury does. It's nice if my books agree with Treasury's statements!
>
> IOW, I need to show the 6 USD refunded to me, and the value of the note
> to agree with Treasury's statement. The Price Editor lets me change the
> price but it does not show in the Accounts, or anyplace else for that
> matter. I suppose the change will show once sold as realized gain?!?!
>
> It is NOT realized gain! It is accrued interest, or so I understand, and
> is taxable as accrued interest, not capital gain.
>
> As a stopgap I am listing Treasuries as type "stock." I give them the
> last 3 characters of the CUSIP for ticker symbol, for shares I divide
> the total by 100. For purchase price I use the price listed by
> Treasury's Auction Results.
>
> Then I update the price to 100/share.
>
> It works, but it's just plain ugly seeing "stock" for "note".
>
> GnuCash should allow for premiums and discounts against par, and for
> type bond and note.
>
> John
>
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-- 
       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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