Chapter 8 - investment accounts

[David Carlson]

On 4/24/2014 12:14 AM, Jamestk wrote:
> Thanks Derek for your replies.
>
> I really would like to persevere having used the application for so long
> now. Let me upload a screen shot of the steps I go through which may help
> convey my issues better.
>
> I fully anticipate another user pointing out a glaring mistake (I hope)
> solving my problem.  
>
>
>
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There are very subtle but important differences to what you see and what
you can do depending on which account you are based in (check the tab
above the register) and whether you are highlighting the top line of the
transaction or are highlighting a split line. 
I am sure you already know that the best transaction entry procedure is
to always use the tab key or arrow keys until you are either done
entering values or just before jumping to another account.  If you do
jump out of an unsaved transaction you will be forced to return to that
account to save it before you can edit it from another account.  I do
wish that GnuCash had a pop-up warning about that. 

When I am entering stock transactions I personally get the highest
efficiency by first starting in the brokerage (bank type) account to
either create from scratch or copy(duplicate) a similar previous
transaction.  Most of the time I use the transaction journal view of
this account.  Then I highlight a split line for the security (e.g.
Stock or Mutual fund type) account and jump there to enter the shares,
price, and amount.  While there I can finish off the transfer amounts in
the other income or expense split lines, and particularly the realized
gain or loss in sale or closing transactions.  Then I highlight the
split line transferring the net cash back to the brokerage account and
jump there to verify that the correct amount of cash is still shown on
that side, as there is a rare, mysterious and yet unreported bug that I
sometimes see in this transfer but I cannot reproduce it if I try.
Since I never remember whether incomes or expenses go in the left or
right (Deposit, withdrawal, buy, sell, credit or debit depending on
which account you are in and your preferences) column, I often find
myself jumping to the income or expense account to compare to other
previous transactions.

I have found that general sequence to work pretty well for me.

Best of luck.

David C