Value of stocks in reports?

[Chris Good]

> Message: 11
> Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2016 19:44:08 -0700
> From: John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>
> To: prl <prl at ozemail.com.au>
> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: Value of stocks in reports?
> Message-ID: <2D7EA955-4EEB-4122-A0A6-2754258DCB51 at ceridwen.us>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> 
> > 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
> 

Hi Prl,

I happen to know from testing this yesterday that the Asset Barchart (Assets
Over Time) is another report
that will report market values  using prices from the price database rather
than cost values if you select price source Nearest In Time.
A quick look at the report source also leads me to believe the price
database is used if you use 'Most Recent', although I don't see much value
in that.

Regards, Chris Good
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