Transactions involving different currencies

[John Ralls]

> On Jan 16, 2016, at 7:31 AM, rsbrux <rsbrux at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear John,
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for responding.  I didn't even know it was possible to attach
> screenshots on a mailing list.
> 
> I attempted to insert the text from a report of the transactions, but
> couldn't figure out how to ensure column alignment in the post.
> 
> I'm trying to reproduce it here using HTML.
> An earlier transaction created in GC 2.4 looks like this in the register of
> the fund:
> 
> 
> 
> Date
> Num
> Description
> Account
> Total Shares
> Price
> Tot Buy
> Tot Sell
> 
> 08.05.2015
> 
> Purchase Sarasin OekoSar Equity Global
> 
> 58.7408
> 
> 58.7408
> 
> 
> 
> Buy
> 
> Assets:Investments:MP:PostFinance:Sarasin Sustainability Fund
> 58.7408
> 169.14
> 9,935.42
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ausgabekommission
> Expenses:MP:Commissions:EUR
> 
> 
> 49.68
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Umsatzabgabe
> Expenses:MP:Taxes:EURO
> 
> 
> 14.90
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trading:CURRENCY:CHF
> 
> 
> 10,505.00
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trading:FUND:Sarasin Sustainability Fund
> -58.7408
> 169.14
> 
> 9,935.42
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Assets:Current Assets:MP:PostFinance:Sparkonto
> 
> 
> 
> 10,505.00
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trading:CURRENCY:EUR
> 
> 
> 
> 64.58
> 
> 
> The account "Assets:Current Assets:MP:PostFinance:Sparkonto" is in Swiss
> Francs (CHF).  The amount of 10,505 represents 10,000 Euro at the exchange
> rate in effect on that date. 
> When I try to create a new transaction of this type in GC 2.6.1, even if I
> duplicate the existing transaction, GC 2.6.1 creates an imbalance like this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Date
> Num
> Description
> Account
> Total Shares
> Price
> Tot Buy
> Tot Sell
> 
> 06.10.2015
> 
> Purchase Sarasin OekoSar Equity Global
> 
> 63.8113
> 
> 63.8113
> 
> 
> 
> Buy
> 
> Assets:Investments:MP:PostFinance:Sarasin Sustainability Fund
> 63.8113
> 155.7
> 9,935.42
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ausgabekommission
> Expenses:MP:Commissions:EUR
> 
> 
> 49.68
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Umsatzabgabe
> Expenses:MP:Taxes:EURO
> 
> 
> 14.90
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trading:CURRENCY:CHF
> 
> 
> 10,000.00
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Imbalance-CHF
> 
> 
> 1,039.00
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trading:FUND:Sarasin Sustainability Fund
> -63.8113
> 155.7
> 
> 9,935.42
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Assets:Current Assets:MP:PostFinance:Sparkonto
> 
> 
> 
> 11,039.00
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trading:CURRENCY:EUR
> 
> 
> 
> 64.58
> 
> 
> 
> In this case EUR 10,000 cost CHF 11,039.  GC 2.4 didn't do this to me, but
> if I touch one of the previously created transactions, GC 2.6.1 insists on
> adding an imbalance.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for your support!

Ah, Nabble. I don't use Nabble, and I don't know what happened with your original paste-ups. I see that they show in the Nabble page but are blank in the email that Nabble forwarded to the list as you can see from the quoted text in my reply. As you can see in this reply, Nabble stripped all of the markup before forwarding your post to the list, but I followed the link and can read your transactions.

It looks like GnuCash thinks the EUR->CHF rate is 1:1. It also looks possible that it thinks that the fund is priced in CHF because the PostFinance account is denominated in CHF. You need to hold securities under a placeholder account denominated in the currency that they're priced in. If PostFinance is indeed in CHF, add a Funds-EUR placeholder (denominated in EUR) under it and move the Fund Account there. Open the transaction in the Sparkonto account, right-click on the Taxes:Euro split, and select Edit Exchange Rate. Enter the desired exchange rate (I think it will want 10000/11039 but pay attention to the direction) and click OK. Exit the transaction and it should rebalance correctly.

For more details about three-commodity transactions and why you should upgrade to 2.6.4 or later please read the whole thread beginning at http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2014-August/055651.html, including the two bug reports linked to messages.

Regards,
John Ralls