Guide: Section 9.3, Capital Gains

[John Ralls]

Could some of the accountants here take a look at the Guide, section 9.3?

It says that unrealized gains should be booked, and I wonder if that's actually what's required by any accounting standard for likely users of Gnucash. For that matter, the "unrealized gain" accounts are under "Fixed Asset" items, and I don't think that it's very common for fixed assets to have unrealized capital gains. In most cases, the only time you'll recognize a capital gain on a fixed asset is when you sell it for a price higher than its depreciated book value, and the sub account would be depreciation, not unrealized gain.

But depreciation aside, isn't it normal to keep the book value at the purchase price (or manufacturing cost, if the asset in question is industrial inventory)?

Regards,
John Ralls