Transactions involving different currencies

[John Ralls]

> On Dec 17, 2015, at 3:08 PM, Miguel Guedes <miguel.a.guedes at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello list!
> 
> I'm trying to understand how to record transactions involving accounts
> in different currencies.  For this purpose I created a new book
> containing the simple accounts subtree, one checking account in GBP and
> another in EUR.  GBP is the default currency.
> 
> Now, to make this simple let's say I want to make a transfer from the
> EUR account to the GBP one.  I have taken the following steps:
> 
> 1) Open EUR account and move to blank transaction
> 2) In first split, enter 100 withdrawal for the EUR account
> 3) Using the TAB key, navigate to second split and enter 100 deposit for
> the GBP account
> 4) Hitting TAB causes Gnucash to present me with a "transfer funds"
> dialog asking me to specify the exchange rate, which I do by hitting the
> "Fetch rate" button followed by Ok.
> 5) I then hit the ENTER key to record the transaction and the following
> splits are created:
> 
> Assets:Current Assets:GBP +100.00
> Trading:CURRENCY:EUR      +138.89
> Assets:Current Assets:EUR -100.00
> Imbalance-EUR             -38.89
> Trading:CURRENCY:GBP      +100.00
> 
> The splits above are clearly wrong and that is most likely the result of
> some erroneous action on my part, but what?
> 
> Using Gnucash 2.6.1 on Linux but similar issue happened with v2.6.9
> (after I temporarily upgraded via GetDeb thinking it might be a bug).
> Have attempted to follow the following guide but can't get past the
> first step describing the transfer:
> 
> http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.6/C/gnucash-guide/currency_purchase1.html#currency_purchase2
> 
> Would appreciate some help as I really want to make Gnucash my
> accounting tool of choice!

We know this is confusing. The way you enter multiple currencies is different when you have trading accounts enabled from when you don't: With trading accounts you enter the amount in the split account's currency, without you enter the amount in the transaction's currency. The last will be the currency of the register in which you first created the transaction.

Another complication is that when you're in split view you're responsible for inserting the right amount into each split. GnuCash won't adjust the split amounts, it will only create a balancing split.

To fix your transaction with the existing exchange rate, change the GBP amount to 72.00.

To create two-currency transactions more easily, either stay in basic view and let the transfer dialog create the other split (not including the trading splits, which are created automatically later) or just use the transfer dialog for everything with Actions>Transfer.

Regards,
John Ralls