"C. Gatzemeier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> 19. Januar 2004 16:22 Derek Atkins wrote:
>> > absolutely, it would be very elegant to be able to specify the
>> > commodity/user-defined currency for any type of account.
>>
>> We specifically limit it because we do NOT want to have (certain)
>> account types denominated in FooWidgets. The fact that certain
>> accounts are limited to currencies is NOT a bug.
>
> Which accouts are those and why?
In particular, Bank and Cash. Why, because you cannot have Cash not
denominated as a currency. Similarly, you can't have a bank that is
not denominated in a currency.
> Please keep in mind currencies are just a type of commodity and in general
> they are all the same, just reporting needs _may_ vary. I will open a new
> thread concerning current commodity handling which I think is very good but
> might have some old "left overs".
Yes, a currency is a commodity, indeed a special type of commodity.
All currencies can be considered commodities. However, not all
commodities can be considered currencies. There IS a difference
(albeit a subtle one). The key difference is that currencies have
value unto themselves, whereas a regular commodity has value only when
specified in terms of a currency.
This is a key distinction. A USD clearly has value unto itself. I'll
even go so far as to say that Gold has value unto itself. However,
what is the inherent value of a share of SUNW stock? What's the
inherent value of a 2-way gang-box?
Your obvious counter argument is that value is in the eye of the
beholder, and you could envision a society that uses the 2-way
gang-box as a basis of trade, so counting the number of gang-boxes in
one's posession (and relating everything else back to the number of
gang-boxes) would be useful to that society.
Well, in that case they can define the gang box as a currency as
opposed to another type of commodity (it IS all user defined after
all).
I'll admit that some of these restrictions are historical; GnuCash
didn't used to keep track of exchange rates properly, so if you had an
Asset Account in USD and another Asset Account in "shares of SUNW"
when you transfered across it wouldn't ask for an exchange rate and
would just assume 1:1.
I hope this explains why.
> Christian
-derek
--
Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board (SIPB)
URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/ PP-ASEL-IA N1NWH
[EMAIL PROTECTED] PGP key available
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