[GNC] gnucash_user: rounding errors and significant digits

[Ken Farley]

I really don't see what is so difficult to understand about this.

The key equation is AMOUNT = PRICE * SHARES

Gnucash works under the philosophy that two of those terms must be 
maintained precisely:

AMOUNT - the total cost of the transaction. What you ultimately paid in 
the currency of your particular account.

SHARES - how many units of the security were sold/bought.

The PRICE, the amount paid per SHARE for this one transaction, is 
calculated using the other two. It's more an informative value than 
anything else.

What I really care about when I get my statements from investment 
institutions, or trade notifications, is the number of SHARES involved 
and the total cost to me. It truly does not matter as far as maintaining 
a good set of books for my finances, what the exact to-the-20th-decimal 
PRICE was. I just want the SHARES and my current cash balance to be in 
agreement when compared to a financial institution's statement.