[GNC] Calculation of Unrealized Losses

John Ralls jralls at ceridwen.us
Thu May 5 16:47:55 EDT 2022


David is referring to https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=797796, which is probably the issue you're seeing: You have some three-commodity transactions involving USD, CAD, and a Vanguard fund and the average-cost algorithm used in the trial balance report doesn't work well in that case.

Regards,
John Ralls




> On May 2, 2022, at 7:54 PM, David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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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