[GNC] Stock transaction: how to record "buy amount" being more or less than product of "shares * price"?

[R Losey]

I applaud your desire for exactness, but if you think about it, why does it
matter, and what do you mean by "actual pricing".

If you sould 0.005 shares and received $0.58, then I would argue that the
"actual price" is $116. If I'm selling sweet corn and my posted price by
the roadside is $5 / dozen, but I sell the last dozen for $4, my actual
price is $4, regardless of what my sign may have said.



On Wed, Mar 12, 2025 at 9:45 AM G.W. via gnucash-user <
gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:

> Okay. So can you kindly advise how you would handle this situation in a
> way that maintains a record of the actual pricing and results in everything
> being balanced financially? e.g., would you use a split, just write in
> description some details?
>
> I am also running in problems such as selling -.005 shares for $115 and
> gnucash keeps altering the price to $116. How would you account for this?
>
> On Wednesday, March 12th, 2025 at 10:36 AM, David Reiser <
> dbreiser at icloud.com> wrote:
>
> > In terms of math, you only have 2 degrees of freedom, and you’re trying
> to specify 3 parameters independently. Not permissible.
> >
> > You paid a certain number of dollars and cents for a specific number of
> shares. The price per share that you actually paid is $/shares acquired (or
> sold). The broker can tell you anything they want as far as price per
> share, but in reality the price per share you actually paid was the dollars
> you paid divided by the shares transferred. There are both fees and
> round-off events associated with stock transactions. The mismatch between
> stated prices and real prices are magnified for fractional share
> transactions.
> >
> > --
> > Dave Reiser
> > dbreiser at icloud.com
> >
> >> On Mar 12, 2025, at 10:25, G.W. via gnucash-user <
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> Can you advise if I have a setting error?
> >>
> >> For example,
> >> I sell -0.005 shares at $115 for $0.58 and this keeps resulting in
> price $116 with sell amount of $0.58 (actual is price $115 and sell amount
> precisely come to $0.575). Why isn't gnucash keeping the price of $115 and
> just rounding up the amount of $0.575?
> >>
> >> In the Security Editor I have set Fraction Traded 1/1000
> >> In the account editor I have "Smallest Fraction" set to 1/1000
> >>
> >> Is there some setting I'm missing? Why can't gnucash get the example
> above correct?
> >>
> >> On Wednesday, March 12th, 2025 at 10:11 AM, Murugan Mariappan <
> m.muruganandam at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> If you are particular about the price to be the same then you can do
> split of the .04 and pass it to a "rounding off" expenses account
> >>>
> >>> Saludos Cordiales
> >>>
> >>> Murugan
> >>>
> >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> From: G.W. <grgwmsm at protonmail.com>
> >>> Sent: 12 March 2025 10:14
> >>> To: Murugan Mariappan <m.muruganandam at hotmail.com>
> >>> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> >>> Subject: Re: [GNC] Stock transaction: how to record "buy amount" being
> more or less than product of "shares * price"?
> >>>
> >>> So there's no way to have the price reflect accurately in the price
> column for this scenario? (I already have set 1/1000).
> >>>
> >>> On Wednesday, March 12th, 2025 at 8:56 AM, Murugan Mariappan <
> m.muruganandam at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Check the fraction traded field in your security and adjust it to
> 1/1000. Ensure your account uses the commodity value under the smallest
> fraction field. Enter the debit value as $1.04; the system will calculate
> the price as $130 due to rounding. Your bank should update correctly with
> the $1.04.
> >>>>
> >>>> Saludos Cordiales
> >>>>
> >>>> Murugan
> >>>>
> >>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>
> >>>> From: gnucash-user <gnucash-user-bounces+m.muruganandam=
> hotmail.com at gnucash.org> on behalf of G.W. via gnucash-user <
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> >>>> Sent: 12 March 2025 08:50
> >>>> To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> >>>> Subject: [GNC] Stock transaction: how to record "buy amount" being
> more or less than product of "shares * price"?
> >>>>
> >>>> My investment firm (Fidelity) allows the buying of fractional shares.
> I purchased some shares of stock with the following details:
> >>>>
> >>>> Purchase-1: shares: 0.008 | price per share: $124.42 | total amount I
> paid to get the 0.008 shares = $1.04
> >>>>
> >>>> Purchase-2: shares: 10 shares | price per share: $111.25 | total
> amount I paid to get the 10 shares = $1,112.45
> >>>>
> >>>> As you can compute by doing the math, the total amount paid does NOT
> equal shares*price. Purchase-1 should have only costed $1 and Purchase-2
> should have costed $1,112.50.
> >>>>
> >>>> How do I account for this in Gnucash because it will not let me input
> the actual money I spent on the shares. Is there a way to override
> Gnucash's automatic calculation?
> >>>>
> >>>> (I phoned Fidelity and they explained this discrepancy is normal, a
> result of fractional share buys).
> >>>> _______________________________________________
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-- 
_________________________________
Richard Losey
rlosey at gmail.com
Micah 6:8