portfolio accounting and budget report

Fri May 19 04:16:46 EDT 2017

> On May 18, 2017, at 12:38 PM, Robert Hoogendoorn <robertmbh at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Adrien,
> 
> Thank for looking into this. I have replied below marked in "red".
> 
> Kind regards,
> Robert
> 
> 
> > On May 15, 2017, at 10:52 PM, Robert Hoogendoorn <robertmbh at gmail.com <mailto:robertmbh at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am using version 2.6.16 and I have a couple of questions:
> >
> > 1. I am playing around with GNU and although I have not used the multi
> > currency feature yet, I was wondering why my cash balance is reflected in
> > the Profit and Loss under the header Trading currency (see report Profit
> > and Loss 05_03_2017).
> 
> Your cash balance is reflected in the Assets Section on the Balance Sheet, not the P&L. It looks like you made securities purchases from the bank account that started with a zero balance, so it shows up as a negative in the Balance Sheet.
> 
> For the Profit & Loss statement, my first inclination is that this book has no regular transactions in it, only trading transactions. You show zero revenues and expenses so there’s nothing else to report. Once you realize a gain or loss, then you book it to income accounts and it will show up there instead.
> 
> 
> RHO: I understand that my cash balance is an assets. I indeed purchased securities with a zero balance.
> 
> Regarding the Profit and Loss. Do I understand you correctly and are the "Trading Accounts" merely a place were temporary balances are stores which need to re-booked manually to another Income/expense account?   
> 
> > 2. As well in the same report under the header Trading AMEX the market
> > value appears in stead of the unrealized gain/loss. Why is this?
> 
> It is showing you the unrealized gain or loss, but not in a single account because it is calculated for informational purposes only. An actual gain or loss would have an account and show up in one place. Your unrealized gain or loss isn’t the performance of a single security (though such a report might be possible) but the difference between changes in price since purchase reflected in your asset accounts.
> 
> RHO: Thanks, I will review this again.
> 
> > 3. Also in the same report, should there not be a an account with the
> > realized gains and losses?
> 
> Yes, if you entered transactions to book the gain/loss to such an account under your income accounts.
> 
> RHO: So realized gains/losses are not automatically booked to your P&L, but only on scrubbing the account?

You have two options as I understand it, manually on the sale, or automatically via periodic scrubbing. And I don’t think they mix well. You should study and then pick one method and stick with it.

Have you perused the Tutorial & Concepts Guide Investments Chapter? It covers this in pretty great detail: http://code.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-guide.pdf <http://code.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-guide.pdf>
> 
> > 4. Same report. It appears that a negative total in the Profit and Loss is
> > perceived as a "Net Loss for the Period" as mentioned on the last line of
> > this report, while it should be a Profit. Please advice?
> 
> This might have something to do with your “reversed balance accounts” setting, but a negative total from the result of Income - Expenses does mean a loss, yes. And from the looks of the report, you had zero revenue and a (unrealized) loss from trading, so that seems to make sense. If you had actual gains, those needed to be recorded into your income accounts. If this were a realized loss, you’d have a transaction booking that to income and so your P&L would show negative Income with zero Expenses and thus a Net Loss for Period without the trading accounts section. (assuming you had liquidated all securities)
> 
> RHO: Thanks, I will review this again.
> 
> 
> > 5. As you can see on the Transaction report 05_01_2017 to 05_04_2017 I have
> > made a Lots Sell1 of R$1 on 05_03_2017, however the advanced portfolio
> > report only takes the sale into account on 05_04_2017 and does not reflect
> > this sale on 05_03_2017. See reports Advanced Portfolio 05_03_2017 and
> > 05_04_2017. On these report the holding is 1010 shares on 05_04_2017 and
> > 1260 on 05_03_2017. So the sale of 250 shares on 05_03_2017 is not taken
> > into account. I believe the sell of 250 shares should be taken into account
> > on the report of 05_03_2017. Please advice? The balance sheet as in report
> > Multi column view 05_03_2017 and 05_04_2017 shows the correct number of
> > shares.
> 
> 
> On first glance that does seem odd. I’ll let someone more familiar with using the report chime in on that one.
> 
> RHO: Looking forward to hear from the someone else, as I am using this report at this moment.

As a hunch, have you tired playing with the date ranges for the Advanced Portfolio report? It’s supposed to cover a date range. There might be a bug if you set it for only one day as if trying to take a snapshot. (like a Balance Sheet does) Try maybe 5/2-5/3 and see what happens. Then compare that to a 5/3-5/4 range and maybe even 5/2-5/4.

A likely solution might be to play with the “Set Preference for Price List Data” in Options > General for that report. Checked means it’s looking at the price list and unchecked means its looking at actual transactions. Unchecking it might force it to “see” the sale transaction and correctly report the number of shares held. (though I don’t understand why it shows correctly for 5/4)

Maybe play with the “Price Source” and “Basis Calculation Method” though I really think your most likely hit will come from the Price List Data checkbox or a date range issue.

> 
> >
> > Some reporting suggestions outstanding:
> >
> > The report named Budget report:
> > 1. As this is a multi currency system normally a budget is made before an
> > accounting period with an estimated currency rate. It appears that the
> > current report is not multi currency and only shows it in one currency. Can
> > this be changed so a currency rate specifically for the budget can be used
> > while the realized number uses the actual currency rate?
> 
> This should be filed as enhancement or feature requests. It would certainly make the budget more useful to also be multi-currency.
> 
> RHO: Thank you. How/where can I lodge such a request? I suggestion which I would make is to provide flexibility to choose a separate currency rate drop down box (i.e. bid/ask/last/other) for the budget.

RFE (Request For Enhancement) should be filed in Bugzilla: http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Bugzilla <http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Bugzilla>, also it probably helps the developers if you label them as RFE.

The more detailed the request is described and laid out, I suspect the more likely it is to get implemented sooner, but of course, pending available developer time and priorities.

You can also vote for or offer enhancements and features on Uservoice: http://gnucash.uservoice.com/ <http://gnucash.uservoice.com/>
> 
> > 2. The (sub)totals appear above the amounts while it would be great if we
> > can have the option to reflect them below the summarized numbers. The
> > Balance sheet report has such a feature and that seems to work.
> 
> Yes, it would be helpful if the Budget Report had the same Display Options as other reports with respect to Subtotals, again, another enhancement request.
> 
> RHO: Thanks.
> 
> Hope that helps some,
> 
> Adrien
> 
> 
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Robert
> > <Multicolumn View--05_03_2017 and 05_04_2017.pdf><Profit & Loss--05_04_2017.pdf><Profit & Loss--05_03_2017.pdf><Advanced Portfolio--05_04_2017.pdf><Advanced Portfolio--05_03_2017.pdf><Transaction Report--05_01_2017 to 05_04_2017.pdf>_______________________________________________
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> > -----
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> 
> On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 4:33 PM, Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at gmail.com <mailto:adrien.monteleone at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Robert,
> 
> Someone who uses the trading accounts on a daily basis might offer better advice, but I’ll take a stab at it.
> 
> > On May 15, 2017, at 10:52 PM, Robert Hoogendoorn <robertmbh at gmail.com <mailto:robertmbh at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am using version 2.6.16 and I have a couple of questions:
> >
> > 1. I am playing around with GNU and although I have not used the multi
> > currency feature yet, I was wondering why my cash balance is reflected in
> > the Profit and Loss under the header Trading currency (see report Profit
> > and Loss 05_03_2017).
> 
> Your cash balance is reflected in the Assets Section on the Balance Sheet, not the P&L. It looks like you made securities purchases from the bank account that started with a zero balance, so it shows up as a negative in the Balance Sheet.
> 
> For the Profit & Loss statement, my first inclination is that this book has no regular transactions in it, only trading transactions. You show zero revenues and expenses so there’s nothing else to report. Once you realize a gain or loss, then you book it to income accounts and it will show up there instead.
> 
> 
> > 2. As well in the same report under the header Trading AMEX the market
> > value appears in stead of the unrealized gain/loss. Why is this?
> 
> It is showing you the unrealized gain or loss, but not in a single account because it is calculated for informational purposes only. An actual gain or loss would have an account and show up in one place. Your unrealized gain or loss isn’t the performance of a single security (though such a report might be possible) but the difference between changes in price since purchase reflected in your asset accounts.
> 
> 
> > 3. Also in the same report, should there not be a an account with the
> > realized gains and losses?
> 
> Yes, if you entered transactions to book the gain/loss to such an account under your income accounts.
> 
> 
> > 4. Same report. It appears that a negative total in the Profit and Loss is
> > perceived as a "Net Loss for the Period" as mentioned on the last line of
> > this report, while it should be a Profit. Please advice?
> 
> This might have something to do with your “reversed balance accounts” setting, but a negative total from the result of Income - Expenses does mean a loss, yes. And from the looks of the report, you had zero revenue and a (unrealized) loss from trading, so that seems to make sense. If you had actual gains, those needed to be recorded into your income accounts. If this were a realized loss, you’d have a transaction booking that to income and so your P&L would show negative Income with zero Expenses and thus a Net Loss for Period without the trading accounts section. (assuming you had liquidated all securities)
> 
> 
> > 5. As you can see on the Transaction report 05_01_2017 to 05_04_2017 I have
> > made a Lots Sell1 of R$1 on 05_03_2017, however the advanced portfolio
> > report only takes the sale into account on 05_04_2017 and does not reflect
> > this sale on 05_03_2017. See reports Advanced Portfolio 05_03_2017 and
> > 05_04_2017. On these report the holding is 1010 shares on 05_04_2017 and
> > 1260 on 05_03_2017. So the sale of 250 shares on 05_03_2017 is not taken
> > into account. I believe the sell of 250 shares should be taken into account
> > on the report of 05_03_2017. Please advice? The balance sheet as in report
> > Multi column view 05_03_2017 and 05_04_2017 shows the correct number of
> > shares.
> 
> On first glance that does seem odd. I’ll let someone more familiar with using the report chime in on that one.
> 
> 
> >
> > Some reporting suggestions outstanding:
> >
> > The report named Budget report:
> > 1. As this is a multi currency system normally a budget is made before an
> > accounting period with an estimated currency rate. It appears that the
> > current report is not multi currency and only shows it in one currency. Can
> > this be changed so a currency rate specifically for the budget can be used
> > while the realized number uses the actual currency rate?
> 
> This should be filed as enhancement or feature requests. It would certainly make the budget more useful to also be multi-currency.
> 
> 
> > 2. The (sub)totals appear above the amounts while it would be great if we
> > can have the option to reflect them below the summarized numbers. The
> > Balance sheet report has such a feature and that seems to work.
> 
> Yes, it would be helpful if the Budget Report had the same Display Options as other reports with respect to Subtotals, again, another enhancement request.
> 
> Hope that helps some,
> 
> Adrien
> 
> 
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Robert
> > <Multicolumn View--05_03_2017 and 05_04_2017.pdf><Profit & Loss--05_04_2017.pdf><Profit & Loss--05_03_2017.pdf><Advanced Portfolio--05_04_2017.pdf><Advanced Portfolio--05_03_2017.pdf><Transaction Report--05_01_2017 to 05_04_2017.pdf>_______________________________________________
> > gnucash-user mailing list
> > gnucash-user at gnucash.org <mailto:gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user <https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user>
> > -----
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> 
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