How do I take delivery of stock certificates? (Not a brokerage question.)

[Wm]

In article <572BE4FE.6030209 at verizon.net>
Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8 at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> On 05/05/2016 07:32 PM, Wm wrote:
> > In article <572B9819.7070701 at verizon.net>
> > Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8 at verizon.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> On 05/03/2016 05:17 PM, Wm wrote:
> >
> > Wm:
> >>>>> I think the crux at the moment is this
> >>>>> ===
> >>>>> Now if I do a balance sheet, it uses the original cost basis of
> >>>>> these shares, but it is way way off.
> >>>>> ===
> >>>>> if it is "way way off" it is because you've told it so.  It isn't
> >>>>> obvious to me what you've used as the transfer value. Have you
> >>>>> perhaps used the original (long ago) purchase values?
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Sorry that it was not obvious. I surely did use the right transfer value
> >>>> in the new account. If I look at that account, it gives the correct
> >>>> purchase price. But the balance sheet does not.
> >>>
> >>> No, no.  Perhaps it should be me (or us) saying sorry, though I
> >>> also suspect something may have been lost in translation.
> >>>
> >>> If you look at Tools / Security Editor do the shares appear more
> >>> than once or once only?
> >>
> >> Once only.
> >>>
> >>> If you look at Tools / Price Editor do the shares have accurate
> >>>
> >>> Date
> >>> Price
> >>>
> >>> entries on or around the dates you made significant transfers?
> >>
> >> No price at all.
> >
> > There is your problem.  The balance sheet expects to find prices in
> > the price database.  You can enter them by hand if for some reason
> > they haven't been created when you entered the trasactions.
> > Fetching up to date prices is usually done through the bundled
> > Finance::Quote module.
> >
> >>>
> >>> These should be close to market values aat the time for most
> >>> purposes rather than transfer values which could be weird for many
> >>> reasons.
> >>>
> >>> Having checked that, open up a balance sheet (try both and see
> >>
> >> both what?
> >
> > Both balance sheets, GnuCash has two.
>
> Really? This is the first I have heard about that.
>
> I used the one under Income & Expense. That one is set to "End of
> Accounting Period" for the date.
> I just tried the one under Assets & Liabilities, using today's date.
>
> They look the same.

What version of GnuCash are you using?

Reports / Assets & Liabilities has had two balance sheets
Balance Sheet
Balance Sheet using eguile-gnc
for many years now.

Also there isn't a Balance Sheet under Income & Expense, the Trial 
Balance report serves a different purpose to a Balance Sheet and 
you shouldn't really be using it in this context unless you've 
chosen Report Variation: Work Sheet.

An Equity Statement could be useful if you set the dates right and 
limit the accounts appropriately but you have specifically said 
Balance Sheet so I'm uncertain if we are talking about comparable 
versions.

> >
> >>> which suits your example better) and look at what you have for
> >>> Price Source
> >>
> >> Nothing.
> >
> > In that case you may have a more serious and novel problem.  To the
> > best of my knowledge
> > Report options / Commodities / Price source
> > for a balance sheet can't be nothing.
> >
> >>> and (obviously)
> >>> Date (it is a balance sheet so must have that)
> >>
> >> Balance Sheet 2016-12-31
> >
> > Try Today rather than some point in the future while you are
> > troubleshooting, you don't know what the stock price will be at the
> > end of the year.
> >
> >>> and tick (or check or whatever it is in your home language)
> >>> the boxes that Show Currencies and Show Exchange Rates and so on
> >>> and look at what is shown.
> >>
> >> Berkshire-Hathaway Class A
> >> 3 BRK.A	$97,800.00
>
> If I change Balance Sheet->Commodities->Price Source from AverageCost
> from 3 BRK.A	$97,800.00
> to Weighted Average, it gives
>      3 BRK.A	$412,400.01
> which is nuts.

For a balance sheet including traded stuff you generally want 
Nearest in Time as you want the report to show the value of the 
asset at the time of the report, often Today or the end of last 
month or the end of last year.  Not often a time in the future as 
you don't usually know what the asset will be worth, there are 
exceptions with futures, traded options, stock borrowing, etc that 
don't apply to what we are talking about in this thread.

> If I change Balance Sheet->Commodities->Price Source from AverageCost to
> Most Recent it gives
>     3 BRK.A	$0.00
> But it then wrecks the cost of my bullion gold, but silver is OK.

Why are you trying everything except the Nearest in Time?  That, 
plus prices near the report date in your price db, will give you 
sensible results.

> > The current price for BRK.A is around 215,880.00 each.  Your price
> > database doesn't have the data GnuCash needs to give you a
> > meaningful balance sheet.
> >
> It seems to me, it should have the data, since it got at least the data
> point when each item was purchased, and should be able to use that as
> the cost basis.

OK, lets try some detail.
In Tools / Price Editor
find BRK.A
you should have a list that your eye can identify as containing 
dates and prices for BRK.A.  You should have at a minumum a date 
and a price for each transaction you have recorded in GnuCash 
*plus* a price fairly close to the date you want to report on: 
today or end of last year for example.

Once you've got prices relevant to your report date into the price 
db for each of your commodites *then* you can start looking at 
other stuff like the Advanced Portfolio or a Balance Sheet, without 
that you are asking GnuCash to invent valuations.

-- 
Wm