Value of stocks in reports?

[John Ralls]

> On Oct 22, 2016, at 6:12 PM, prl <prl at ozemail.com.au> wrote:
> 
> I'm not sure whether this is an accounting question or a Gnucash question, but when I look in some assets reports (Asset Barchart/Piechart, Balance Sheet, Net Worth Barchart/Piechart), the displayed value of the stocks we hold is the Basis, not the Value (as given in the Advanced Portfolio report). That isn't what I'd expect. I'd expect the current value of the stocks to appear in assets reports, not what it cost to buy the shares.
> 
> Is that what Gnucash is supposed to report (i.e. is my expectation of the report incorrect), or is this a Gnucash error?
> 
> Is there some way to get reports like Net Worth to use the current value of stocks rather than the basis?
> 

It's what you should expect for the accounting reports. The book value of an asset is what you pay for it (less depreciation where that applies). Only certain financial institutions are supposed to adjust their book values to reflect market prices, and those institutions would be nuts to use GnuCash. There are other reports (net worth, portfolio and advanced portfolio) and displays (notably the Accounts page) that show market value of assets, but those are for entertainment value, not for accounting.

Net worth is one of the reports that does use market value if you set things up correctly. First, as you probably know you must populate the price database with current prices. Second, you must set the report option Price Source on the General tab to Nearest in time.

Regards,
John Ralls