Unrealized Losses on Balance Sheet

[Mike or Penny Novack]

The unrealized loss didn't go away because you didn't include it in the 
transaction? You expected that to be automated? But how could you expect 
GnuCash to know the NAME that you chose for the account into which 
realized losses are to go (sorry -- but GnuCash can't assume that there 
will be a single "realized loss" account, could be separate ones for 
different investment categories and also whether short term or long term 
gains/losses).

So your transaction might have looked like"

Assets: Savings                                         $800
Expenses: Capital Gains/Losses                $200    (that was stock 
held over 6 months, yes? that still the rule?)
Assets: Stocks: XYZ                                              $800
Unrealized Losses                                                  $200

Notice that there was more wrong with the way that you described your 
transaction when selling the stock. You shouldn't be involving Equity 
(that gets affected when you close the books -- the difference between 
the totals of all Income and all Expense accounts goes to Equity)

Michael D Novack

PS: The developers are into doing software. It might be nice if there 
was a "Basic Accounting 101" text to go along with the project along the 
lines of "Basic Accounting 101 Using GnuCash" but it's unfair to expect 
somebody to sit down and write the text for that as part of a free 
software project. Of course in theory nothing in the rules of "free 
software" says that an accompanying how to best use "book" has to also 
be free but I'm not sure that the GnuCash user community is large enough 
to support such a thing.

     Seriously -- find a used book store and grab an inexpensive "Basic 
Accounting" text. Then your questions will be more reasonable along the 
lines of "how do I do THAT when using GnuCash?" (as opposed to doing it 
pen and ink on accounting rules paper).

>So far so good.
>
>Now I sell all of XYZ on 1/31/10 for $80/share.  I enter a transaction into
>the account for XYZ.  The proceeds go to a new savings account.   My
>Expectation is now that the Balance Sheet will show:
>Assets: Savings: $800
>Equity: Opening Balance $800
>Unrealized Losses: = $0
>
>HOWEVER, it does not.  The balance sheet shows EXACTLY the same as in the
>first example except that the $800 asset is now checking instead of XYZ
>Stock.  How can this be?  Once I have sold the stock and taken the loss,
>isn't it a realized loss?  Why does the "Unrealized Losses" still show $200?
>
>I tried to "Close Books" as of 2/1/10 to see if this would get rid of it,
>but it does not.  How does the unrealized loss ever go away? What can I do
>to show it gone?
>
>
>  
>


-- 
There is no possibility of social justice on a dead planet except the equality of the grave.