Change in Program Behavior?

[David T.]

Hi, 

I am working on updating the Guide chapter on multiple currencies, and I wanted to get some clarification on a particular point in the docs. In the Account Setup section, a great deal is made about setting the default currency to your preferred currency, as this "will save you much time”.

I thought this meant that new accounts would be assigned this default currency; however, I have since found by testing that new accounts default to the currency of their parent account (assuming both accounts are currency-type accounts). My questions to the community are: 
* Is this how GnuCash has handled this always? 
* If so, then why is there so much weight put on setting the file’s currency preference? 
* Furthermore, if the default currency of a new account is set by a parent account, is there really a need for a program preference for currency at all? The only other place I imagine a preference might be useful is in a new file—but the first choice the user makes in the new file wizard is the currency. So, if you don’t need it for new accounts, and you don’t need it in a new file, when is it needed?

Cheers,
David