Unrealized loss

[Adrien Monteleone]

Your transaction isn’t going to remove/reverse the unrealized loss because the unrealized loss isn’t really in the books. It’s a virtual calculation.

For example let’s say you acquired 100 ozt of silver bullion on January 1st at $16.91 per ounce:

Dr. Assets:Silver Bullion	$1691
    Cr. Assets:Cash			$1691

Now, the price has changed and that silver is only worth $16.46 per ounce as of March 1st. (and this new price was downloaded or input manually into the Price Editor) GnuCash will inform you on certain reports that you have an unrealized loss of $45. ($1691-$1646)

If you still hold the asset and just want the information line to go away, remove any price in the database using the Price Editor that is AFTER the original price.

Otherwise, to realize this loss, you’d have to sell the silver. (you don’t realize a loss or gain until you part with the asset)

Let’s say you've decided to stop by your local coin shop and sell everything. This would be your transaction that would ‘realize’ the loss from the sale:

Dr. Assets:Cash			$1646
Dr. Equity			  $45
    (memo: Loss from sale of silver bullion)
    Cr. Assets:Silver Bullion		$1691
    
Now the loss has been formally rolled into Equity and the notation won’t appear on the report. (but as noted, you should only enter such a transaction if you actually parted with the asset.)

Regards,
Adrien

> On Apr 2, 2018, at 7:01 AM, cageda at free.fr wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> De: cageda at free.fr 
> À: "John Ralls" <jralls at ceridwen.us> 
> Cc: "gnucash-user" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> 
> Envoyé: Lundi 2 Avril 2018 13:51:03 
> Objet: Re: Unrealized loss 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> De: "John Ralls" <jralls at ceridwen.us> 
> À: cageda at free.fr 
> Cc: "gnucash-user" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> 
> Envoyé: Dimanche 1 Avril 2018 15:34:43 
> Objet: Re: Unrealized loss 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Apr 1, 2018, at 5:13 AM, [ mailto:cageda at free.fr | cageda at free.fr ] wrote: 
> 
> 
> Hello. 
> 
> I have have had an "unrealized loss" showing on my balance sheet for years. I haven't bothered too much as the amount is extremely small. (€7.70). 
> 
> I had kind advice on this forum as to identify the date on which the loss showed up and the procedure to cancel it. I did find the date but stangely not the transaction. So I'm not going to keep trying to cancel the loss any longer. 
> 
> I read that, without actually "cancelling" the loss, it is possible to prevent it from showing. I know that this is not legal for a company, but my book keeping is fully personal so I'd like to know the procedure. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> “Cancelling” isn’t really the right term. You need to record the loss as either expense or negative income depending on how you handle capital gains. There’s an explanation of how to do this in [ https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.6/C/gnucash-guide/invest-sell1.html | https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.6/C/gnucash-guide/invest-sell1.html ] . 
> 
> Regards, 
> John Ralls 
> 
> 
> 
> I have identified the day on which the unrealized lossed first appeared. I have drawn a transaction report for that day (and the day before). There is no transaction that can remotely explain the loss. 
> I do not handle foreign currencies. Regarding shares I do not use trader accounts or split transactions including profits or losses. I do not enter share values into GC until the day I sell them. There is no way in the meantime GC can take into account a difference in value. 
> 
> Something might help identify where the problem comes from: I had another instance with an unrealized loss as big as my total yearly income. It went away a few weeks (or months I'm not sure) after it showed up. There is no way a single transaction (or even a few ) on a particular day triggered an unrealized loss as big as my yearly income. 
> 
> What I would like at this stage is simply set GC NOT to SHOW unrealized losses/gains. No legal problem as I'm only managing my personal familyaccounts. 
> 
> TIA for you help 
> Regards 
> Alain 
> 
> 
> I tried the following: 
> C an equity account "Unrealized loss" : EUR 7.70 
> D an income account "Realized loss" : EUR 7.70 
> The total Equity remained the same - 7.70 
> I changed the signs and the total equity remained at - 7.70 
> I don't get it. 
> TIA 
> Alain 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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