OK, found that there was more info in a recent post which I had missed:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/beancount/97uaGyWz7DA
Based on that, I'm guessing option "b" below is the way to go: book the
expenses in the native currency, and add a "CONVERT()" call in bean-query.
So that beancount file becomes:
Enter code here...2017-01-01 open Expenses:Widgets
2017-01-01 open Expenses:Tools
2017-01-01 open Liabilities:OwnersAccount
; official monthly exchange rate averages published by VAT office
2017-01-01 price USD 1.0274 CHF
2017-02-01 price USD 1.0247 CHF
2017-03-01 price USD 1.0101 CHF
2017-04-05 * "supplier" "widgets purchased"
Expenses:Widgets
Liabilities:OwnersAccount -100.00 USD
2017-04-05 * "shop" "tools bought"
Expenses:Tools
Liabilities:OwnersAccount -20.00 USD
And the query looks like this:
$ bean-query sample.beancount 'select date, position, narration,
CONVERT(balance, "CHF")'
date position narration convert_bala
---------- ----------- ----------------- ------------
2017-04-05 100.00 USD widgets purchased 101.0100 CHF
2017-04-05 -100.00 USD widgets purchased
2017-04-05 20.00 USD tools bought 20.2020 CHF
2017-04-05 -20.00 USD tools bought
$
It seems to work for me - I'm going to go ahead like this for now.
Any comments always welcome :P
thanks,
Sirio
On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 6:00:07 PM UTC+2, [email protected] wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'd like to resolve a little peeve with regards to pricing, if at all
> possible.
> Let me now show you an example beancount file:
> 2017-01-01 open Expenses:Widgets CHF
> 2017-01-01 open Expenses:Tools CHF
> 2017-01-01 open Liabilities:OwnersAccount
>
> ; official monthly exchange rate averages published by VAT office
> 2017-01-01 price USD 1.0274 CHF
> 2017-02-01 price USD 1.0247 CHF
> 2017-03-01 price USD 1.0101 CHF
>
> 2017-04-05 * "supplier" "widgets purchased"
> Expenses:Widgets
> Liabilities:OwnersAccount -100.00 USD @ 1.0101 CHF
>
> 2017-04-05 * "shop" "tools bought"
> Expenses:Tools
> Liabilities:OwnersAccount -20.00 USD @ 1.0101 CHF
>
>
> I'm working with Swiss VAT where the valid exchange rate into foreign
> currencies is fixed by the government VAT office.
> They publish both daily and monthly averages, I choose to use monthly for
> simplicity.
>
> First off, I keep having to input the value "@ 1.0101 CHF" for each
> transaction - because the expense accounts must be reported in CHF.
> But the amount is already marked with an explicit price directive. Is
> there no way I can force a lookup?
>
> Second, the monthly average price is not available the 1st of the month
> ... which means I need to mark entries with a wrong exchange rate and then
> come back and fix them when it is available.
> So the lookup would need to happen when the beancount file is parsed, not
> when it is written.
> I mention this because otherwise it would be quite straightforward to just
> write an UltiSnip to go look up the price and insert it when I'm inputting
> the transaction in the first place ... but it's not always available at
> that time!
>
> Thirdly, I suppose I could just keep the transactions in USD and not
> convert to CHF ... but then when I need to do my balance sheet I need to
> show everything in CHF - and I have not been able to figure out how to get
> bean-query to force a price conversion based on the price database.
>
> So, to recap:
>
> a.) Isn't there any way to force a price database lookup? Maybe with a
> "@@@" syntax meaning "figure this out yourself from the price database"
>
> or
>
> b.) How do I force implicit price conversion when generating reports with
> bean-query?
>
> or
>
> c.) Am I looking at the problem completely wrong and should I approach it
> some other way?
>
>
> Thanks so much for your help.
>
> Sirio
>
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