Balancing the balance sheet (multi-currency issues?)

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

Egbert van der Wal <ewal at pointpro.nl> writes:

> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to generate a balance sheet based on all the transactions
> I've entered.
>
> The main issue is: the balance does not balance. I'm not exactly sure
> why this is. There's some Unrealised losses which seem to have
> something to do with it, but I'm not sure why and what they are.
>
> Unrealised Losses does, exactly, match the difference between Assets
> and Liabilities & Equity. However, if they do, why don't they add up
> to the correct amount?
>
> I'm guessing it has something to do with currency differences: most of
> my accounts are in USD, but we've made some purcheses in USD and AUD
> which are entered into accounts under expenses with the currency set
> to USD and AUD, respectively. The other end of the transaction is a
> account in EUR in which I've set up the exchange rate exactly.
>
> Another weird thing is, when I'm generating the report, I can select
> some settings relating to exchange rates, but none of them is 'The one
> I entered when entering the transaction'. The one closest to this
> seems to be 'Closest in time' as the one I entered when entering the
> transaction should be closest in time, but this is confusing and
> unclear whether this is actually what I want.
>
> How can I generate a balance sheet that has a total under 'Assets'
> that exactly matches the total at the bottom of 'Liabilities &
> Equity'?

You need to account for the gains/losses of your currency exchanges.

> Thanks!
>
> Egbert van der Wal

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-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
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