[GNC] GnuCash and USD tenths and mils

[Clint Chaplin]

What I find interesting is that GnuCash has the ability for me to set any
arbitrary USD cash accounts to 3, 4, 5 or more decimal digits, and yet that
ability cannot be carried over to the USD cash side of
conversions/transfers to and from non-USD accounts.

On Thu, Jun 18, 2026 at 10:46 AM John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:

> Clint,
>
> Don’t sweat the pennies in stock basis, they don’t make a practical
> difference anywhere.
>
> For splitting the DRIPs bases alternate the rounding so that for the first
> one your basis is (e.g.) .45 and your sister’s is .46, the second your
> basis is .46 and your sister’s is .45, and so on. Notice that if there are
> an even number of such dividends you come out even and if there are an odd
> number your sister comes out .01 ahead. That’s to promote familial peace.
> It doesn’t actually matter,
>
> Regards,
> John Ralls
>
> > On Jun 18, 2026, at 09:30, Clint Chaplin <joatmon at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hmm, I actually have two use cases, neither of which involve stock
> splits, sorry for the deke.
> >
> > I and my sister inherited some stock from our father, split 50/50.  It
> took several years to settle the estate, and meanwhile the stock split 2
> for 1 twice and kept DRIPping.  When it came time to actually distribute
> the stock, we had to split the original stock with the basis at the time of
> death, and also the subsequent DRIPs.  If the total value of a DRIP
> happened to be odd, then the amount bequeathed to each person when split
> 50/50 would have a half cent.
> >
> > Second use case: spinoffs.  To record the split, the original stock is
> "sold" for the original value and basis, and then "bought" for the modified
> value and basis, which could be any fraction of the original value and
> basis (in my case, .9581688 of the original amount and basis), while the
> remainder value is used to "purchase" the spun off stock (in my case,
> .0418312 of the original value).  This ain't gonna be an even number of
> cents...
> >
> > On Thu, Jun 18, 2026 at 8:54 AM Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com <mailto:
> derek at ihtfp.com>> wrote:
> >> Keep in mind that gnucash does not store the price in the register, it
> stores the #shares and total $value.  Are you saying you would have a mil
> in the total value of the split?
> >> -derek
> >> Sent using my mobile device. Please excuse any typos.
> >>
> >> On June 18, 2026 11:38:28 Clint Chaplin <joatmon at gmail.com <mailto:
> joatmon at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Unfortunate.  My use case is stock that has split.  The suggested way
> to
> >>> record this change in basis in GnuCash is to sell all the stock, and
> then
> >>> rebuy at the split quantities at the new pricing.  This will lead to
> >>> amounts that are fractions of a penny, but simply cannot be recorded in
> >>> GnuCash with the current restriction.
> >>>
> >>> Even worse is when a spinoff happens and needs to be recorded.  The
> basis
> >>> of the stock needs to be modified, but the only way I can see is to
> "sell"
> >>> and "buy" at the new basis, but the total amount per purchase cannot
> be in
> >>> fractions of a penny.
> >>>
> >>> When I have over 100 lots to do this to, the rounding to the nearest
> penny
> >>> will catch up...
> >>>
> >>> On Wed, Jun 17, 2026 at 2:53 PM John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us
> <mailto:jralls at ceridwen.us>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> No, no more than you can get a 10th of a penny at the bank or the
> grocery
> >>>> store. Prices can be in fractions of a penny, amounts cannot.
> >>>>
> >>>> Regards,
> >>>> John Ralls
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> On Jun 16, 2026, at 10:39 PM, Clint Chaplin <joatmon at gmail.com
> <mailto:joatmon at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Is there a way to set GnuCash to take USD tenths and mils on some
> >>>>> accounts?  My default is USD, if that matters...
> >>>>>
> >>>>> --
> >>>>> Clint (JOATMON) Chaplin
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> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Clint (JOATMON) Chaplin
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> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Clint (JOATMON) Chaplin
>
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-- 
Clint (JOATMON) Chaplin