Invoices in CAD currency are 0, Invoices in USD are OK

[Jim DeLaHunt]

I think I've solved this problem.

The clue was in an FAQ in the wiki which I didn't see the first time through:
<http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_Posting_invoice_or_bill_results_in_zero_value_transaction_in_Accounts_Payable_or_Accounts_Receivable_-_why_and_how_to_fix_this.3F>

The crucial insight is that each Invoice can be in only one currency, 
and it picks up that currency from the Customer to which the invoice 
is sent. Each Customer can have only one currency.  Thus I needed to 
create two Customer entries for my client -- one Customer with a USD 
currency, and a second Customer entry with a CAD currency.  Then I 
have to be sure that the following items all refer to the same 
currency:
  - the Customer to which the invoice is sent
  - the Accounts Receivable account to which the invoice is assigned
  - the Income or Expense accounts to which each invoice line item is assigned

I'll rewrite that FAQ to make it a little clearer.

And if there's not a "bookkeeping in multiple currencies" topic in 
the Gnucash wiki, perhaps I'll create one.

Thanks to whoever wrote that FAQ, and to Derek Atkins for the insight 
in the FAQ!
     --Jim DeLaHunt

At 11:49 AM -0700 5/16/09, Jim DeLaHunt wrote:
>Hi, folks:
>
>I've been watching gnucash for many years, but I just now decided to
>try it out. Thanks to everyone who made the great software and
>documentation and list archives from which I benefit.
>
>I'm having a problem that in a 2-currency file, invoices in one
>currency work fine, but invoices in the other currency have
>transaction values of zero.
>- Q1: can anyone help me diagnose and solve the problem below?
>- Q2: can anyone point me to useful documentation pages to help me explore?
>- Q3: is anyone using Gnucash successfully on one business with invoices in
>   multiple currencies (I imagine many Europeans must be)?
>- Q4: is Gnucash intended to handle a file with multiple currencies among
>   invoices, accounts, and transactions in its stride? (I believe Yes.)
>
>Details:
>
>I want to use Gnucash for a small Canadian business that works in
>two currencies: CAD (Candian dollars) and USD (USA dollars). I've
>entered some invoices in each currency so far, but the business also
>has bank accounts, credit cards, and payments in both curencies.
>(Some of my Canadian bank accounts even have USD sub-accounts in
>them!)
>
>I renamed the existing Accounts Receivable account to be "Accounts
>Receivable (USD)", and made sure that its "Security/Currency" is set
>to "USD (US Dollar)". I created a second Accounts Receivable account
>named "Accounts Receivable (CAD)", and set its "Security/Currency"
>is set to "CAD (Canadian Dollar)". But have the "Assets" account as
>their parent.
>
>When I entered invoices which were denominated in USD, and posted
>them, I saw totals accrue in the "Accounts Receivable (USD)"
>account, and the corresponding "Income:Sales (USD)" and "Reimbursed
>Expenses (USD)" accounts as expected.
>
>But when I entered invoices which were denominated in CAD, and
>posted them, the transactions under "Accounts Receivable (CAD)"
>account, and the corresponding "Income:Sales (CAD)" and "Reimbursed
>Expenses (CAD)" accounts, all had their Invoice and Payment fields
>set to zero.
>
>One difference is that the CAD invoices all charge a GST tax.
>However, even if I remove the tax and re-post the invoice, the
>transaction values still come to zero.
>
>Changing the Preferences... Accounts... Default Currency from
>"Locale: USD (US Dollar" to "CAD (Canadian Dollar)" changed how the
>Present column is displayed in the Accounts window, but didn't
>change the CAD invoices having amounts set to zero.
>
>I tried searching the list archives and the wiki for guidance, and
>didn't find anything useful.  There may be something there, but
>searching for "invoice" gives me too many hits, and I don't know
>what the right search terms would be to find whatever content is
>there.
>
>I'm on Mac OS X 10.5.7, running gnucash 2.2.8 r17773 built 2009-02-06.
>
>Thanks for your help!
>Please respond to the list, or directly to me at from.gnucash at jdlh.com .
>--
>     --Jim DeLaHunt, jdlh at jdlh.com     http://blog.jdlh.com/ (http://jdlh.com/)
>       multilingual websites consultant
>
>       157-2906 West Broadway, Vancouver BC V6K 2G8, Canada
>          Canada mobile +1-604-376-8953

-- 
     --Jim DeLaHunt, jdlh at jdlh.com     http://blog.jdlh.com/ (http://jdlh.com/)
       multilingual websites consultant

       157-2906 West Broadway, Vancouver BC V6K 2G8, Canada
          Canada mobile +1-604-376-8953