[GNC] Fwd: Bonus share entry

[Chris Good]

Message: 6
> Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2019 22:00:16 +1030
> From: Gnucash Xboxboy Mageia <xboxboy.mageia+gnucash at gmail.com>
> To: Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com>
> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: [GNC] Fwd: Bonus share entry
> Message-ID:
>    <CAKFYoHp0Q5P+1uMDVM=aO=WHE+iYNBd8vc9ib5oHaiHRyG8=0w at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
>> On Wed, Mar 6, 2019 at 9:38 PM Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
>> 
>> The cost may be zero, but the value is not.
>> Maybe just enter them as 0.01?
>> 
>> -derek
>> Sent using my mobile device. Please excuse any typos.
>> On March 6, 2019 6:07:28 AM Gnucash Xboxboy Mageia
>> <xboxboy.mageia+gnucash at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi all,
>>> I have some bonus shares that were issued with no cost to me:
>>> 
>>> I am having trouble entering them without a cost. When I put 0 as the
>> cost,
>>> on the next line 1 appears, and I am unable to get rid of it.
>>> 
>>> Perhaps I'm doing this the wrong way, and need to be entering them as a
>>> share split?
>>> 
>>> In this case, I had 100 shares, and got issued 16 for no cost: so I have
>>> 116 in total.
>>> 
>>> Any ideas?
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Xboxboy
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> Hi Derek,
> 
> I've attached a picture, I don't think I'm explaining very well.
> 
> Please see attached.
> 
> What can I do about that imbalance line?
> Many thanks,
> Xboxboy
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Hi XBoxBoy,

If the tax authorities have agreed that you are getting these bonus shares for zero cost, then to keep the cost correct in GnuCash you will have to do a dummy sell of all your existing shares at cost, and then in another transaction, buy them, including the bonus qty, at the same cost. Assuming this is for your personal accounting, it probably doesn't matter which account you use for the other side in each transaction - you could probably use either a bank account (and if you reconcile that bank account, flag the transactions as reconciled even though they never appear on a bank statement) or an Equity:Opening Balances account - you should check with your accountant.

Doing this will mean manually keeping track of lots bought and sold when determining costs of future sales.

Regards, Chris Good