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

[Jim DeLaHunt]

FYI, everyone, I've heavily revised the wiki FAQ entry:
<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>

Note also two related bug reports:
* http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=583155
   Bug 583155 - Invoice creation and posting silently inserts zero 
amounts when currencies conflict, no error message
* http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=430187
   Bug 430187 - Posting an invoice returns Zero values to the ledgers 
with NZD currency

       --Jim DeLaHunt, Vancouver, Canada

At 11:24 PM -0700 5/17/09, Jim DeLaHunt wrote:
>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

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