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

[Kalpesh Patel]

That "z" actually comes out  to be a billions of  dollars of profit.

So sub cent value does matter in certain calculation and in some it doesn't.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2025 3:01 PM
To: R Losey <rlosey at gmail.com>
Cc: G.W. <grgwmsm at protonmail.com>; gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Stock transaction: how to record "buy amount" being more or less than product of "shares * price"?

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).
> > >>>> _______________________________________________
> > >>>> gnucash-user mailing list
> > >>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > >>>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> > >>>> [
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> --
> _________________________________
> Richard Losey
> rlosey at gmail.com
> Micah 6:8
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--
David Carlson