What's in your inventory prior to the transaction? I bet it has postings that are either not at cost (an input error). Use bean-doctor context to resolve those issues.
On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 7:06 PM Alex Kaufman <[email protected]> wrote: > Thank you for the help here. It sounds like the most straightforward > option for transferring accounts with average cost booking without > realizing nonexistent profit or changing the cost basis then is the final > option you mentioned. > > I attempted the following transaction and receive an error "Too many > missing numbers for currency group 'USD'" . > > 2025-01-03 * "transfer" > Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {} > Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {USD} > > On Friday, June 20, 2025 at 7:57:39 AM UTC-7 Martin Blais wrote: > >> On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 6:47 AM Alex Kaufman <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Hello, I have been reading through docs and trying to make heads or >>> tails of how to do this operation. Recently I consolidated retirement >>> accounts. As part of this process my holdings were transferred over >>> directly from one account to the other. I am sure I am misunderstanding >>> something but I have been testing various methods for a while and cannot >>> figure out the right way to approach this problem. Any recommendations for >>> ways to reframe the problem or think about it differently instead of just >>> accomplishing the immediate goal are welcome and encouraged. >>> >>> It may be as simple as my misunderstanding price/cost or the cost and >>> market value views in fava. I could also be drastically over complicating >>> things. Thank you all in advance for your help! Below is an initial state >>> beancount file to provide a minimal example. I have also included two >>> examples of some potential transfer transactions to append to the setup >>> file and the reasons why they dont really work. >>> >>> Broker1 is set up as "NONE" bookkeeping due to the way the broker >>> provided statements. This was a major motivator for migrating to Broker2. >>> >>> option "operating_currency" "USD" >>> >>> 2024-01-01 open Assets:BankAccount >>> 2024-01-01 open Equity:Opening-Balances >>> >>> 2024-01-02 pad Assets:BankAccount Equity:Opening-Balances >>> 2024-01-03 balance Assets:BankAccount 100 USD >>> >>> 2024-12-31 open Assets:Broker1:STOCK "NONE" >>> 2024-12-31 open Assets:Broker2:STOCK >>> >>> 2025-01-01 * "invest 1" >>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK 10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD} >>> Assets:BankAccount -10.00 USD >>> >>> 2025-01-02 * "invest 2" >>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK 10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD} >>> Assets:BankAccount -20.00 USD >>> >>> *Example 1:* >>> >>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer" >>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {} >>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 10 STOCK >>> >>> Here is one attempt I have tried. It sort of works in that there are no >>> errors shown in fava but in the cost and market value views it doesnt >>> convert to USD. >>> >> >> Here it doesn't know what to do; Do you want to exchange dollars? You're >> only saying STOCK units on the second posting. >> This gets resolved as >> >> 2025-01-03 * "transfer" >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {USD} >> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20 STOCK {{40.00 USD}} >> >> (Use the "bean-doctor context" command) >> Regardless, this input is incorrect. >> >> >> >>> >>> [image: Screenshot 2025-06-19 at 9.50.10 PM.png] >>> >>> Example 2: >>> >>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer" >>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {USD} >>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20 STOCK {{40.00 USD}} >>> >>> >>> Another attempt I have made is to change the transfer according to the >>> syntax defined in github issue 476 >>> <https://github.com/beancount/beancount/issues/476>. If I do not >>> specify the cost of the stock in broker 2 I get an error stating the >>> transaction is not balanced. However if I do specify the current price/cost >>> of the stock it seems to show that there has been a $10 negative balance to >>> Broker 1. In the MarketValue view this shows correctly.. >>> >> >> But you don't have $40 of cost basis. You have $30 of cost basis. Try >> with that (which is correctd). >> It will resolve as >> >> 2025-01-03 * "transfer" >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01} ; -10.0000 >> USD >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02} ; -20.0000 >> USD >> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {1.50 USD, 2025-01-03} ; 30.00 >> USD >> >> >> >> >> >> >>> >>> >>> [image: Screenshot 2025-06-19 at 9.59.39 PM.png] >>> >>> Example 3: >>> >>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer" >>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {} @ 2.00 USD >>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {{40.00 USD}} >>> Income:Investment -10.00 USD >>> >>> This option resolves the confusion in both the cost and market value >>> views. However now we are including a sort of fake income that we havent >>> actually realized. >>> >> >> No. You're realizing the profit here and erroneously stepping up your >> cost basis to $40. >> This is what it resolves to: >> >> 2025-01-03 * "transfer" >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01} @ 2.00 USD ; >> -10.0000 USD >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02} @ 2.00 USD ; >> -20.0000 USD >> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-03} ; >> 40.00 USD >> Income:Investment -10.00 USD ; >> -10.00 USD >> >> >> >>> It also requires that we know the exact amount of that income because >>> leaving the specific value blank to try to soak up any income results in >>> the error Too many missing numbers for currency group 'USD', In my >>> case I dont know the exact income value for each of the stocks coming over >>> from broker1 to broker 2 because it is a retirement account and is >>> basically using average bookkeeping. >>> >>> >>> If you're not selling you want to avoid realizing _any_ income. >> You want to close all the postings in the account prior to the >> transaction. >> You can either list all the postings using "bean-doctor context" and copy >> them over, or, use the total number of units, which should unambiguously >> resolve to all the postings. >> >> 2025-01-03 * "transfer" >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {} >> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {USD} >> >> resolves to >> >> 2025-01-03 * "transfer" >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01} ; -10.0000 >> USD >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02} ; -20.0000 >> USD >> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {1.50 USD, 2025-01-03} ; 30.0000 >> USD >> >> >> On the opening sice, if you want to replicate all the same postings, you >> could do this instead: >> >> 2025-01-03 * "transfer" >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01} >> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02} >> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01} >> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02} >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Beancount" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/d798059c-af75-4622-b5c8-adb0a7666154n%40googlegroups.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/d798059c-af75-4622-b5c8-adb0a7666154n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Beancount" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/c5781530-b8fd-48be-921f-8b96bb13d9c0n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/c5781530-b8fd-48be-921f-8b96bb13d9c0n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/CAK21%2BhOi8-Hhq-5BJ_OHo%2B_0CZdHXXuRkQVcDS9n8G0tO5%2BNgw%40mail.gmail.com.
