> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Linas Vepstas <linasveps...@gmail.com> > To: "Frank H. Ellenberger" <frank.h.ellenber...@gmail.com>, Geert > Janssens <geert.gnuc...@kobaltwit.be> > Cc: GNUCASH devel <gnucash-devel@gnucash.org> > Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2016 23:12:54 -0500 > Subject: Re: Re: Lots in Account screen : Value sign > Wow... you're asking me to remember something from 12 years ago ... > > Here's my best guess: for a "lot", I had the mental model of starting with > 100 of something ... e.g. 100 cans of paint, and then selling them off in > dribs and drabs. Thus, the first entry, that opens the lot, has a sign that > differs from all the others. By definition, there can be only one such > entry in the lot, -- by definition, all of the other entries must have the > opposite sign. Lots can only shrink and get smaller. > > So -- I buy 100 cans of paint at $10 per can, then sell 20 at $15 a can, > then sell 35 at $17 a can, then sell 45 at $12 a can, closing out the lot > (forever, since all the paint in that lot is now gone). > > Lots could be shares of stock, could be cans of paint, cartons of milk > marked by expiration date -- anything that is naturally counted in > non-monetary units, and come in lots (i.e. you want to sell/use/drink the > oldest milk first, so you really do want to track the date/lot-number). > More abstractly, lots could be shipments to a customer, unfilled or > partially filed orders, whatever -- > > With this concept of a lot, its impossible to add more to the lot -- once > opened, it can only be depleted. Thus, the split that opens the lot is > "special". By assumption, its the very first split; it doesn't really make > sense for it to be any other. That is, I can't sell cans of paint that I > don't yet have. At least, that was the initial conception of how lots > work. > > For stocks, you could have selling short, that is, selling shares you don't already own at a future date and then buying them at a future date to deliver when due hoping to make money on a drop on their value. Not your typical stock transaction, though.
> Now, we all have read the news about corporations that sell things before > the customer takes delivery, leading to various accounting scandals. I > suppose there are other legitimate uses of lots, which somehow get > overdrawn before they are stocked up. Or something. But that got > confusing to think about, and was not a part of the design. > > I'm not at all clear as to why payments or invoices are going through the > lot system, other than maybe you bill someone $100 and they pay you in > installments? Ans so you want to match up the installments with the > original invoice, until its paid off? I guess that's a valid use of > lots... If the sign is wrong for that special, first entry, then that's the > fault of whomever opened that lot. > > --linas > > Alex _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list gnucash-devel@gnucash.org https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel