Difference between total assets and liabilities

[AlainCageda]

>________________________________
> De : Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com>
>À : AlainCageda <alaincageda at yahoo.fr> 
>Cc : David Carlson <carlson.dl at sbcglobal.net>; "gnucash-user at gnucash.org" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> 
>Envoyé le : Lundi 5 novembre 2012 16h43
>Objet : Re: Difference between total assets and liabilities
> 
>Hi,
>
>On Mon, November 5, 2012 10:19 am, AlainCageda wrote:
>>
>
>>>Have you tried running reports for different times and checking to see
>>>if the error changes?  Every time it changes there is at least one
>>>erroneous transaction.  By checking shorter intervals you can close in
>>>on a date range.  If you are very lucky, there is only one transaction,
>>>and you can close in on it fairly quickly.
>>>
>>>David C
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Tks for this advice David. using your method I found a transaction in my
>>> USD cashbox. Editing the exchage rate changed the end of the year error
>>> (without fixing it). So this is at least part of the problem. But I can't
>>> make out what is faulty in this transaction.
>
>This implies, as I mentioned earlier, that you are not accounting properly
>for the gain/loss of these kinds of transactions.  Let me give you an
>example.
>
>Let's say you buy EUR with USD.  The rate is 1.25.  So you spend $125 and
>get €100..  Something strange happens and you need to buy back USD, but
>the rate has changed to 1.3.   So you sell €50 and get $65..  This all
>seems just fine, right?  But alas, you've now created money out of thin
>air, leading to a balance sheet imbalance.
>
>The issue is that you haven't accounted for the 'gain' of $2.50.  This
>gain came as the result of USD -> EUR -> USD trades.  GnuCash does not
>perform proper double-entry on these kinds of trades, unless you turn on
>the trading accounts functionality.  Note that *that* introduces other
>issues, so back up your data before you try that.
>
>And this is most likely the cause of your issues, and explains why
>changing the exchange rate changes the amount of your imbalance.
>
>Please read the docs on "selling stocks" to better understand, because in
>*this* case your secondary currency needs to be treated just like a stock.
>
>Good luck,
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Thanks Derek.
>I see what you mean and I think now I should be able to work out a solution.
>
>
>Alain