[GNC] GnuCash and USD tenths and mils

Fri Jun 19 00:55:02 EDT 2026

Clint,

With use case 1: was the inheritance split as a percentage or as a set number of shares? If, as I suspect, it was a percentage, then why not simply take the final share count at the time of distribution and split that in half? I don't see any point in doing it the other way round. Presumably, the aggregated shares all appreciate at the same rate, and two equal holdings would have appreciated at the rate rate as well. So, half at the beginning will be half at the end. 

As for the stock spinoff, you "sell" the shares and "receive" a total dollar amount, then you "buy" a different number of shares for that same dollar amount. Technically, the rates don't really matter that much. Just the number of shares involved at each stage. Note that in many spinoff situations, your original number of shares results in a fractional number of new shares (you are spun back 55.3 shares, say). This is usually handled by the brokerage as "Cash in lieu." I have usually handled this in GnuCash by creating a single transaction that has the accurate spinoff amount in shares and dollars, with a separate split to sell the fractional share at the cash in lieu amount. It is then quite clear what happened, the basis is accurate, and you can derive the gain on the fractional sale easily. I add notes to the splits to explain what's going on.

David T. 

On June 19, 2026 8:58:42 AM GMT+05:30, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:
>You can. But as you might have discovered empirically it’s not consistently used: A rough grep finds 35 uses of xaccAccountGetCommoditySCU, which returns the fraction set in the Account Edit Dialog, and 104 uses of gnc_commodity_get_fraction, which returns the fraction set in the currency editor.
>
>Regards,
>John Ralls
>
>> On Jun 18, 2026, at 15:49, Clint Chaplin <joatmon at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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> <mailto: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> <mailto: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> <mailto: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> <mailto: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
>
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