[GNC] multiple currencies in one transaction

John Ralls jralls at ceridwen.us
Thu Aug 15 15:47:14 EDT 2019


The list server doesn't like inline images. It mostly works with images stuck at the end of the message. Mostly.

In what account is the 2.80 debit? In which account (and so which currency) did you create the transaction?

A side note, have you considered/tried enabling trading accounts? Some users who operate in multiple currencies find them useful.

Regards,
John Ralls



> On Aug 15, 2019, at 7:54 AM, Jeff Abrahamson <jeff at p27.eu> wrote:
> 
> Apparently the mailing list strips images, even very tiny ones.
> 
> The first image simply showed Transferwise associating 5.70 CFH = 4.67 GBP.
> 
> The second showed that gnucash is creating a correcting split in the
> transaction I'd entered:
> 
>    512452_Transferwise CHF        5.70
>    6212_cafe                      5.70
>    512452_Transferwise CHF                5.70
>    51245_Transferwise                     5.70
>                                   2.80
> 
> And that 2.80 is rather odd.
> 
> Jeff Abrahamson
> 
> 
> On 15/08/2019 16:38, Jeff Abrahamson wrote:
>> I purchased a coffee in Switzerland using my GBP-based Transferwise
>> card.  That card could hold a CHF balance, but on that day it held only
>> GBP.  My local currency is EUR.  So I can think of my coffee purchase as
>> two FX transactions: funding (GBP -> CHF) and an expense (CHF -> EUR).
>> 
>> What Transferwise tells me is the amount of the purchase and the amount
>> of the transaction.  (I can also poke further and find the exchange rate
>> they used and the minuscule fee, but the important point to me is the
>> the two endpoints.)
>> 
>> Now what makes sense to me based on reading about accounting principles
>> for multiple currencies is that I should make one transaction thus:
>> 
>>    Coffee (CHF)   <--  Bank (GBP)        # This is the funding part of
>>    the transaction.
>>    Expense acct   <--  Coffee (CHF)      # Here I'm tracking the actual
>>    expense.
>> 
>> I put those in a single transaction for easier understanding later. 
>> Here I've created a bank account for Transferwise (GBP) as well as
>> subaccounts of that called Transferwise_CHF and some others, denominated
>> in the indicated currencies.  Those three accounts are transfer
>> accounts: I usually expect them to have zero balance.
>> 
>>    Transferwise_CHF   <--  Transferwise (GBP)       # This is the
>>    funding part of the transaction.
>>    Expense/cafe       <--  Transferwise_CHF         # Here I'm tracking
>>    the actual expense.
>> 
>> Gnucash asks me for some exchange rates, and I answer for the CHF - GBP
>> part with the specific numbers provided by Transferwise and for the GBP
>> - EUR part with the exchange rate I've downloaded for that date.
>> 
>> I expect to see this in the account Transferwise_CHF
>> 
>>    5.70   <--  5.70       # This is the funding part of the transaction.
>>    5.70   <--  5.70       # Here I'm tracking the actual expense.
>> 
>> and this in the Transferwise (GBP) account
>> 
>>    4.67   <--  4.67       # This is the funding part of the transaction.
>>    4.67   <--  4.67       # Here I'm tracking the actual expense.
>> 
>> and something similar looking at the splits in the (euro-denominated
>> expense account).
>> 
>> But what I see (from the perspective of the CHF account) is this, which
>> makes no sense to me:
>> 
>> Gnucash has entered the 2.80, and deleting that split just makes it pop
>> up again.  Something is terribly wrong if any  account's view of the
>> transaction doesn't balance.  (This is gnucash 3.4, ubuntu, build id
>> 3.4+ (2018-12-30).
>> 
>> Is this my error or a bug in gnucash?  Any pointers?
>> 
>> 
>> Somewhat related, I thought to import historical currencies, as I'm back
>> filling some data for analysis purposes.  I grabbed 10 years of daily
>> quotes and imported them (3600 or so rows of data per currency).  All ok
>> for GBP - EUR.  When I do the same for CHF - EUR, gnucash says it's done
>> it, but the price database doesn't show more than a handful.  When I do
>> it for JPY - EUR, gnucash says it's done but the price editor shows none
>> of them.  The proposed exchange rates when entering transactions are
>> consistent with what the price editor thinks it knows.
>> 
>> Is there a limit on FX rates?  (This is about 4000, which doesn't strike
>> me as terribly large.)
>> 
> -- 
> 
> Jeff Abrahamson
> +33 6 24 40 01 57
> +44 7920 594 255
> 
> http://p27.eu/jeff/
> http://transport-nantes.com/
> 
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