Editing Stock or Security Transactions

[David Carlson]

I already see that comment 3  should be generalized to allow short sales by referring to 'closing transactions' rather than 'sales'.

--- On Sun, 2/3/13, David Carlson <carlson.dl at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

From: David Carlson <carlson.dl at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Editing Stock or Security Transactions
To: "gnucash-user at gnucash.org" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Date: Sunday, February 3, 2013, 2:54 PM

I have just gone though a lengthy session of creating and editing
transactions in stock accounts and I have found several distressing
facts that as a minimum scream "Improve the Documentation!," and
probably also highlight weaknesses (bugs) in the way the program works.

I want to start a discussion to get other users' comments before
submitting suggestions to improve the documentation.

What I have found so far.

1.  The section of the GnuCash Interface between the MenuBar and
Register Window is not described in the Tutorial.  It contains Tabs
which are entry links to the Chart of Accounts, to all of the currently
open Register Windows to reports that are currently open and to a few
special windows that may be open.  I believe that behavior of these tabs
and consequences of leaving them open or closing them before closing the
program is important.  e.g. When a report is left open it will be there
the next time the program is opened and it will have the options as last
configured without having been "Added" or "Saved", but it will slow down
opening the file by the amount of time that it takes to generate that
report. That can be observed on the bottom of the splash screen as the
program is opened.  Whatever the ramifications might be of opening a
register or report in a separate window also needs to be documented in
the Interface section  This should also include how to change the
preferences to use separate windows.  It should also be mentioned that
the tabs can be re-arranged by dragging them around with the mouse.

2.  It is possible for a split transaction to contain lines referring to
more than one security account.  If there are purchases or sales of more
than one account/security, each account/security line must be edited
from within it's own security account window.  This could mean doing a
lot of Saves and jumps to edit one transaction.  One must remember to
look at the Tab near the top of the window to see which account window
you are in, because there is no indication of "home" vs "other" accounts
inside the transaction.  If you try to edit a line that is associated to
a different security account you will not get a warning, and you may or
may not notice that your edits did not "stick."   In fact, some attempts
to edit even appear to "stick" but then get discarded when the
transaction is "Saved." This is not documented.

3.  There is a trick to entering the Capital Gain or Loss that is part
of every stock or security sale.  It is mandatory in a separate
Asset:Security line to enter 0 in the number of shares box, press the
tab key, enter 0 in the price box, press the tab key, and then enter
gain or loss currency or dollar amount in the appropriate buy or sell
box, and then press <Ctrl>C, press <Ctrl>V, then press the Tab key in
that order.  Of course there also needs to be an Income or Expense line
to match. This is poorly documented.

4.  To start a heavy stock transaction editing session, the most
convenient starting point is to open an "Account with Children" register
window of the particular brokerage account.  That fact is not mentioned
anywhere in the documentation, and it may be because there are some
really strange idiosyncrasies in this window.  Also, it would be nice to
have a shortcut available in a regular account register window to go to
the "Account with Children" window instead of having to go to the
Accounts  window, search for the desired asset brokerage account, right
click and select "Open Subaccounts" to open that register window.

5.  When using the "Account with Children" register view or window, the
only type of view available is a variation on the Transaction Journal
window, but that is not to be confused with a truly account independent
Journal window such as you might (or might not) find in the General
Ledger Window.  By the way, is the General Ledger described somewhere?

6.  The General Ledger window has scads of empty transactions with
today's date.  What are those?  Do those belong to the open account
register windows?

7.  While the "Account with Children" register view or window appears to
be useable to do transaction edits of purchase or sale lines in security
accounts, in fact it is not.  Is this a bug?  I am told that it is not a
bug, it is just how it works.  There is no documentation, but if you
want to edit a sale or purchase transaction, you must do it from that
particular security account window.  Interestingly, you can edit lines
other than Asset security account lines, or even change accounts from
one security account to another, but you cannot successfully change
number of shares or price from that view.  It is also possible to
highlight a line, right click and jump to the account register window
for that line.  Be sure to save any other edits that you may have done
in the "Account with Children" register window before jumping to the
stock account register window to change shares or price.

8.  Since the "Account with Children" register view is considered to be
a "Currency" or "Bank" account window rather than a "Security" account
window there are other subtle differences in behavior.  These get even
more interesting in a multi-currency environment.  It would be nice if
these distinctions were noticeable before blindly crashing into them.

9.  I didn't mention business features, did I?  Let's save that for
another thread.

David C


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