[GNC] Enable Online Stock Price Updating in GnuCash

[Geoff]

Hi Christopher

Thanks for pointing out these issues.

My reasoning for the need to book a future liability for a short sell 
was to record the obligation to deliver the short sold stock at a future 
date.  Perhaps "contingent liability" would be a better term?

Anyway, I'll leave that to the experts.

Regards

Geoff
=====

On 9/06/2021 11:34 am, Christopher Lam wrote:
> Hi Geoff
> 
> On Wed, 9 Jun 2021, 9:27 am Geoff, <cleanoutmyshed at gmail.com 
> <mailto:cleanoutmyshed at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> 
>     Gnucash will permit you to run a negative balance on a stock, see
>     attached screenshot.
> 
> 
> The UI will allow you to record transactions when short-selling, but 
> bear in mind:
> - the current portfolio and advanced portfolio reports cannot handle 
> negative stock balances; the reports will bail out.
> - it's likely very wrong to record a single transaction that sells more 
> stock than your current holding; you'll need to sell current balance 
> (and record cap gains/losses) *then* record a separate short-sell 
> transaction to achieve a negative balance.
> - recent releases (4.5? or current daily builds) have an experimental 
> IFRS cost basis report which aims to calculate the average cost base, 
> according to some jurisdictions eg Canadian. It's not guaranteed correct 
> yet.
> 
> 
>     Note that I am not an accountant, but I think you should also book a
>     future liability for when the short falls due.
> 
> 
> Why?