Hi David. I'm replying to your feedback as it's less text :-) I'll reply to Richard's afterwards as well - thanks to you both already!
And a final note: GnuCash never stores the exchange rate. It calculates it > from the two (actual) amounts include in the transaction. Focusing on the > number there (and whether it matches what the broker says the share price > is) will result in dissatisfied experiences since it never matches. Are you saying that if I enter a transaction which involves currency exchange and I look at that transaction in two months, the numbers won't be the same anymore? https://www.instagram.com/boniforti_music https://soundcloud.com/boniforti_music https://bonny-j.bandcamp.com Am Di., 5. Nov. 2024 um 05:23 Uhr schrieb sunfis...@yahoo.com < sunfis...@yahoo.com>: > Note: I am not an accountant, and am based in the US, whose laws will > differ from Switzerland's. > > I agree that the Dividends account belongs under Income. > > As an overview, Richard, I'd point out that if you buy something for 1000, > and 10 of the cost is for tax (or delivery, or service charges, or > whatever), your cost is still 1000. While it may be interesting to identify > those specifics, for personal books, it is a lot of work that has little > benefit. > > In specific: > > Many forex outfits I encounter don't even tell you their fees. They simply > tell you the final exchange rate you receive. To track the fees, you'd have > to know the inner workings of each firm and calculate them yourself (or > know the rate they are getting, and calculate the difference) . Personally, > it's not important information for the amount of work involved. (This is > similar to the recurring discussion about mortgage payments that do not > match) > > Similarly, with the stock, you can say that you bought that stock at 9.50 > a share, but if you don't recoup the service charge, you'll still lose > money when you sell at 9.75 a share. Moreover, in GnuCash, if you use the > lot feature to manage capital gains, it will mis-calculate the gains if you > track the service fees separately. At least, that was my experience when I > used the lot feature some years back. (I stopped using it for various > reasons) > > And a final note: GnuCash never stores the exchange rate. It calculates it > from the two (actual) amounts include in the transaction. Focusing on the > number there (and whether it matches what the broker says the share price > is) will result in dissatisfied experiences since it never matches. > > David T. > On Nov 5, 2024, at 3:59 AM, R Losey <rlo...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Hello. >> >> I don't think that the "USD Dividends" would be under IBKR - that should be >> somewhere else, probably under "Income" somewhere. When you are paid a >> dividend, it either goes into the "Cash" fund, or else it is reinvested and >> more stock is purchased. If the dividends are invested, you'd have a >> "purchase" of that stock. For example, if you received $100 in dividends >> and it purchased 5 shares of VT stock (using simple numbers to keep it >> easy), you have a transaction in IBKR-VT that purchased 5 shares for $100 >> and the "other" account would be an income account -- for me, it goes in >> "Income:Investment Income:Taxable:Dividends". >> >> Other comments -- see below, but I do want to note (as others have) that I >> am not an accountant. >> >> >> On Sun, Nov 3, 2024 at 4:25 AM Boniforti Flavio <bonifort...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> Hi Richard. >>> I think I was already going that route --> >>> [image: image.png] >>> >>> As of now, I have just put all the CHF Cash in that account. >>> As I've added CHF in 5-6 different transactions and in between those I >>> have also converted to USD and bought VT stocks, would I need to zero the >>> "CHF Cash" account, then add each CHF wire transfer transaction >>> individually? >> >> >> >> If each wire transaction is separate, there is the chance that the exchange >> rate would be different, so I would enter them as different transactions. >> >> But unless you take all of the funds from the CHF Cash account, it doesn't >> need to be zeroed. Assuming that there is $1000 in CHF Cash and $1000 in >> USD Cash, you could remove any or all of the CHF Cash, and then add the >> appropriate USD amount to the USD Cash account. >> >> Next, you would have a transaction for the purchase of VT stock, with the >> funds comes from the USD Cash account. >> >> >> >> And then for each currency conversion I did, create the according >>> transaction between "CHF Cash" and "USD Cash" accounts, after which I would >>> add the VT purchase transactions - right? >> >> >> >> That sounds right to me. >> >> >> >> If I do it like that, I could "hide" the ForEx trading fees by simply >>> adjusting the conversion rate (like if I had converted CHF 1'000.- and I >>> got USD 1'140.- and paid 1 USD fees, I could just "ignore" the fee and >>> adjust the conversion rate so that it gives CHF 1000 --> USD 1140). Would >>> that work? >> >> >> >> It may "work" but it would probably be more accurate to have a split >> transaction with that shows the CHF 1'000 decreasing by 1'000 and then the >> USD account going up by 1'141 with a USD 1 decrease assigned to the account >> where you track the exchange fees. That way the CHF-to-USD rate would be >> correct, and you could see what you are paying for exchange rates. >> >> >> >> | Would this process also work when buying VT stocks? In that case, I buy a >> fixed amount of VT stocks at the VT price, and I could >> | "hide" the fees by adjusting the stock unit price?! >> >> Again, I suppose you **could** do that, but I usually put the fees in >> separately. If I spend $1000 purchasing a stock that is worth $998, the >> other $2 is assigned to my account for Investment Fees >> ("Expenses:Investment:Fees") >> >> >> >> What's not clear to me at this point is: if I will have 1000 VT stocks, >>> where will the actual value be reflected/calculated? Is it depending on >>> manual retrieving the VT quotes via Finance::Quote? >> >> >> >> Yes, if you are getting quotes via the stock quote your VT value will >> reflect the last price update you retrieve. It will NOT change your >> transaction. However, by "hiding" the fee as you propose, it will look >> like you've lost money when you have not. See the following example: >> >> You spend $100 to purchase 10 shares of VT, but there is a fee of $5. The >> reality is that you paid $95 for those 10 shares, or $9.50 a share... >> however, by "hiding" the fee in the price, it looks as if you paid >> $10/share. The next day, the price goes up to $9.75 -- you have actually >> gained $2.50 ($0.25 gain on 10 shares); however, in GnuCash, it will look >> like the price has "dropped" from $10 to $9.75 and that you have lost $0.25 >> per share). >> >> >> >> Thanks, >>> F. >> >> >> >> I hope this is helpful... >> >> >> >> >>> Am Mo., 21. Okt. 2024 um 19:32 Uhr schrieb R Losey <rlo...@gmail.com>: >>> >>> >>>> -- >>>> ------------------------------ >>>> >>>> Richard Losey >>>> rlo...@gmail.com >>>> Micah 6:8 >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
