[GNC] Evil Lots Behavior

[Geoff]

My recollection is that Lots have always worked this way, even as far 
back as GnuCash Version 2.

My opinion is that this not a bug, it is just how Lots work.  The price 
you pay for using Lots is that Lots rule the capital gains/losses 
calculations and will trump (and, as you have found, even trample on) 
any other transactions that get in their way.

Ask yourself the "Michael or Penny Question (TM)": WHY are you trying to 
change the gain value computed by GnuCash to something else?

If your answer is "because I need to include Commissions or Fees in the 
calculation" then you are out of luck.  See:

9.7.2.8. Considerations
There are some points that should be considered before using the lot 
management facility.

3. Scrubbing does not recognize commissions or fees so makes no 
allowance for them in the calculation of gain or loss. Therefore you 
must use Net Pricing rather than Gross Pricing if you wish to use 
scrubbing. See Section 9.5.2.1, “Handling Commissions and Fees”.

https://code.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-guide/invest-sell1.html#:~:text=GnuCash%20can%20automatically%20calculate%20and,securities%20sold%20can%20be%20determined.

AND

9.5.2.1. Handling Commissions and Fees
https://code.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-guide/invest-buy-stock1.html#invest-buy-com


In summary:
Lots can be useful for matching Buys & Sells, either automatically on a 
FIFO basis or manually on a pick and choose basis.
Lots have only one method to calculate Capital Gains/Losses.
Lots user interface behaviour is tricky to learn until you master it 
(largely in my case by trial and error).
Lots functionality does not cover all use cases.
Lots are ruthless, but not intrinsically evil.
If you want to do your own Capital Gains/Losses calculations, you can, 
but just don't use Lots at all.

Important Lots tip:
Lots calculations are fully reversible - just delete all the Capital 
Gains/Losses transactions it created and start matching Buys and Sells 
again.  Rinse and repeat.


Hope this helps.

Regards

Geoff
=====


On 21/07/2022 12:40 am, David Carlson wrote:
> It could be very helpful to learn if this started in a recent release, or
> has it been that way since back in the 3.x series.
> 
> On Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 8:54 AM David T. via gnucash-user <
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hello,
>>
>> In the course of catching up with my accounting, I've been working
>> extensively with mutual fund holdings, and their buys and sells. I have
>> found a disturbing bug in the way that the lots feature handles existing
>> gains.
>>
>> Specifically, the software recalculates ALL gains in a lot the moment you
>> select that lot. A user does not have to try and change anything in the
>> lot; the mere act of selecting the lot causes every gain entry to be
>> recalculated. The recalculation silently takes place without notice to the
>> user, and it recalculates gains entries that have already been reconciled.
>> Sometimes, the value on the reconciled gain transaction will be changed; at
>> other times, new gains entries get created. I haven't figured out why a new
>> entry is created sometimes, and the existing entry gets changed at others.
>>
>> This is highly problematic. It means that users cannot rely on lot-managed
>> accounts having accurate gains information, and its silent action means
>> that the user will not know why their accounts were accurate at one point,
>> but not later on.
>>
>> To see this in action, create a mutual fund account, add a purchase of 100
>> shares. Sell 25 shares at a different price, and then use the lots features
>> to assign the purchase and then the sale to a lot. Gnucash will
>> automatically create the gain transaction. Now, change the gain value in
>> the transaction to something else. Reconcile the account, including the
>> gains entry. Now, return to the lot window and select the lot. The gains
>> will be recalculated-- even though the gain is already reconciled.
>>
>> If others confirm my observations, I'll file a bug.
>>
>> David T.
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>