[GNC] What is the difference between Account types "Stock" and "Mutual fund"?

[Jim DeLaHunt]

Hello, folks:

I am starting to read more closely the GnuCash instructions for tracking 
investments, after a long time bumbling along tracking current assets, 
but not really investments.

Now I read in the instructions "9.4.1. Setup Accounts for Stocks and 
Mutual Funds" 
<https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v4/C/gnucash-guide/invest-setup1.html#invest-setup-stockaccounts2> 
that when I create a sub-account of a brokerage account, denominated in 
a particular security, I should set the Account Type to either "Stock" 
or "Mutual Fund".

Is there any difference in how GnuCash treats accounts of those two 
types?  Or is the distinction just documentation?  I suppose it is not a 
problem to select type "Stock" for my stocks, and "Mutual Fund" for my 
mutual funds.  I also have Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), for which there 
is no specific account type. Does it matter which type I pick for ETFs?

The Account Type documentation at "Table 5.1. Types of GnuCash Accounts" 
<https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v4/C/gnucash-help/acct-types.html#TypeAccounts> 
describes types "Stock" and "Mutual Fund" differently. However, it does 
not say that GnuCash treats the types differently. Below that table, it 
uses the same wording to describe the possible child accounts of the two 
types.

Is there a functional difference in how GnuCash treats accounts of type 
"Stock" and "Mutual Fund"?

Thank you,
      —Jim DeLaHunt