Question about Assets as reported vs account balance

Derek Atkins warlord at MIT.EDU
Thu Jan 6 12:23:01 EST 2011


Jay Ridgley <jridgley2 at austin.rr.com> writes:

> Folks,
>
> Can someone explain to me why the Account for assets shows about
> $60,000 more that that shown on a Balance Report? As far as I can tell
> the difference is unrealized gains, however, should that not show on
> the Balance report and be included in the Asset total?
>
> The Balance Report is not out of balance. Just the accounts...
>
> Is there an account for Unrealized Gains???

No, because Unrealized Gains don't actually exist.  They are due to
changes in the price of an asset, but you still own the asset the gain
is unrealized.  You only realize the gain when you actually sell the
asset, and only then do you put the gain into your books.

> Cheers,
> Jay

-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


More information about the gnucash-user mailing list