[GNC] Calculation of Unrealized Losses

[David Carlson]

Bill,

If I recall correctly, one or more of the methods GnuCash uses to calculate
exchange rates for reports is technically not correctly defined , so it
obscures the  fact that it is not calculating the expected value.  That is
leading to strange results when, for example, one attempts to do a trial
balance.   I know very little about accounting so I cannot tell you details
about that.

Some of the developers can help with some of those issues.  Hopefully they
can at least tell you which calculation methods to avoid when you want
accurate results .

On Mon, May 2, 2022, 9:27 PM Bill Dika <billdika at gmail.com> wrote:

> Can anyone help me with this?
>
> Do I have to supply more/different information?
>
> I have been using gnucash personally for a couple of years now and would
> like to develop more confidence in the program.
>
> Thank you in advance for your help.
>
> Bill Dika
>
> On Wed, Apr 27, 2022 at 1:42 PM Bill Dika <billdika at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > My default currency is Canadian dollars. I have some US dollar
> > accounts in my balance sheet.
> >
> > I have an unrealized loss in the equity section of my balance sheet at
> > July 31 2021 of $12.68 and cannot figure out how it was calculated. I
> > also have US dollar accounts expressed in Canadian dollars that I am
> > unable to determine how the translation from US dollars to Canadian
> > dollars occurs.
> >
> > For example I have a US dollar account of $353.75 for Tesla (see
> > us-dollar-accts-in-us-dollars-july-31-2021.png) that shows as $456.22
> > in Canadian dollars at July 31 2021 (see
> > us-dollar-accts-july-31-2021.png). This is an exchange rate of
> > 1.28966. I am unable to figure out how Gnucash arrives at that rate
> > (see us-dollar-rates-price-database.png). It is not the rate at July
> > 31 2021. It is not the average rate for all rates I have up to July 31
> > 2021 and it is not the average rate for all rates I have in the price
> > database.
> >
> > Also the $12.68 loss arises from only one change in the US dollar
> > accounts from June 30 2021 to July 31 2021. That is a $524.80 US
> > dollar addition to "Vanguard Intl Equity Total World Stock ETF" (see
> > change-in-us-dollar-acct-july-2021.png).
> >
> > Attached are images of the following:
> > equity-jun-30-2021.png = showing the equity section almost balanced
> > (.01 unrealized gain) (in Canadian dollars)
> > equity-july-31-2021.png = showing the $12.68 unrealized loss (in
> > Canadian dollars)
> > us-dollar-accts-in-us-dollars-jun-30-2021.png = balance sheet accounts
> > (in US dollars)
> > us-dollar-accts-jun-30-2021.png = balance sheet accounts (in Canadian
> > dollars)
> > us-dollar-accts-in-us-dollars-july-31-2021.png = balance sheet
> > accounts (in US dollars)
> > us-dollar-accts-july-31-2021.png = balance sheet accounts (in Canadian
> > dollars)
> > change-in-us-dollar-acct-july-2021.png = shows the only change in the
> > US dollar accounts ($524.80 USD) from June 30 to July 31 2021 (in US
> > dollars)
> > us-dollar-rates-price-database.png = all the US to Canadian exchange
> > rates in my database
> >
> > I am a Canadian CPA and feel quite confident about the accounting in
> > the gnucash file. I have reviewed the journal entries for the period
> > and they all balance. The only thing I can ascertain is that the
> > unrealized loss arises from the US dollar accounts but I cannot figure
> > out how gnucash is calculating it nor can I figure out how gnucash
> > translates US dollars to Canadian dollars for those accounts.
> >
> > I have searched the list but cannot find anything that helps me in my
> > calculation.
> >
> > I am on Arch linux using Gnucash 4.9.
> >
> > Any help would be much appreciated.
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > Bill Dika
> >
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