Editing Stock or Security Transactions

Sun Feb 3 21:11:56 EST 2013

On Feb 3, 2013, at 1:30 PM, David Carlson <carlson.dl at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> 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.
> 

The toolbar is described in the Help manual. I haven't made much attempt to use the multiple tabs in the ways you describe, however. 

In what way do you think the open/closed nature of an account affects operations?

> 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.
> 

Honestly, having more than one security in one transaction has never come up for me. 

> 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.
> 

I'm not sure, but I think you're describing the Tab vs. Enter discussion that was the topic of a recent thread. There is a note in chapter 8 about using Tab for capital gains splits; there are 3 documentation bug fixes in to address other areas that could benefit from the explanation.

> 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.

Never heard of the Account with Children option. Sounds to me like a painful way to go about it, though. I'll have to look into this...

> 
> 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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