understanding currency exchange...

[Joshua Chambers]

> I'm presuming the (USD) and (EUR) mean you've told gnc amounts held in
> those accounts are in amounts of those currencies rather than say just
> changing the account names.  One way to check is to produce a balance
> sheet, it'll show amounts in either USD and EUR or both depending on
> your base currency.  If you show the Commodities column in your Accounts
> list you should see the "thing" that gnc is counting for that account.

Yes, of course the Assets:Holdings:Cash:Euros account is set to the
commodity EUR... I have attached a screenshot to show that.

>> So I go to enter this transaction into gnucash (newest version 2.6.9)...
>> no matter what exchange rate I enter in the exchange rate dialog,
> 
> there is your problem, don't enter an exchange rate.  Enter the two
> amounts, each in their own currency, gnc will work out the exchange rate
> for you.

I have tried over and over again to do it both ways!  I have entered
exchange rates into the exchange rate dialog, and I have entered
amounts... another sign that the currencies are set correctly is that
the exchange rate dialog comes up automatically as it should!  It simply
does not seem to matter what I enter into it!

Attached is a screenshot showing the exchange rate dialog that comes up
automatically when I attempt to leave focus from the part of the
transaction that is Euros.  I have repeatedly entered various variants
of the correct exchange rate, the correct amount... and you can see from
the screenshot that it says clearly "1 USD = 0.900000 EUR", which is
exactly the rate I intend to use (500 * 0.9 = 450), and in the correct
direction...

>> once I
>> come back to the transaction I still cannot have those two be the only
>> parts of the transaction,
> 
> You should have.  If it is not right then something else is up.

YES!  Exactly.  I'm relieved to know that at least I understand this in
theory, but still I am not getting those results!

>> I am still left over with "50" to deal with,
>> but there shouldn't BE 50 anythings left over, because 500USD = 450EUR
>> @ .9!
> 
> Correct, there shouldn't be anything left over.  Let's take a look:
> 
>> Account                                    Debit           Credit
>> Assets:Exchanges:Benjamin    USD500
>> Assets:Holdings:Cash:Euros                         EUR450
>> (this is where I'm asked to balance it with another account, and if I
>> leave it blank, it becomes "Imbalance-USD")
> 
> You shouldn't be asked for another account.  gnc *knows* what to do with
> different amounts when there are different currencies, it creates the
> necessary exchange rate for the transaction to have happened.

Okay, then something else is wrong, because I really think I'm doing
this right.  The third screenshot is from immediately after I hit okay
on the exchange dialog, and STILL it demands I assign the 50 to somewhere!

> I think you haven't set the appropriate Security/Currency for the
> accounts, you're make a transfer between two accounts *of the same
> Currency* and as a result gnc asks, "where the do you want me to put the
> left over money, boss?"

> NB: change the security/currency/commodity setting on the accounts!

Definitely not, or else the exchange dialog probably wouldn't come up
automatically like it does, and it shows clearly on the screenshot of my
accounts that the relevant account is set to Euros (the only one in the
file, the rest are all USD).

Thanks all!
--Joshua
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