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

Wed Mar 12 15:17:34 EDT 2025

Sure, I was aware of all these views prior. My email is about how I might deal with it while maintaining accurate numbers. Yes the share price is probably least important but it will throw off financial reports etc. when it's wrong.

Sounds like the only option I have is to try to figure out how to do a split transaction for this kind of event or record the needed info in the Description by hand and accept that the generated numbers will be off from what the brokerage statement shows.

On Wednesday, March 12th, 2025 at 3:01 PM, David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Another example is the price advertised for gasoline or fuel oil: xx.yyz per unit.
> Absurd, isn't it?
>
> On Wed, Mar 12, 2025 at 12:24 PM R Losey <rlosey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
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> --
>
> David Carlson