Well, I think it is entirely correct... if I sell stocks at a loss, the "capital gain" account decreases because I've actually had a loss.
If you created an expense account, I think GunCash will show expenses as positive (it may be an option). But I don't have any problem with having a negative number in the "Music Equipment Sales CHF" account... you could always rename it to "Music Equipment Gain CHF" and then a negative balance would make sense -- you had a negative gain, so it's a "loss". A lot of this is in how you wish to look at things and what information you need to get out of GnuCash. On Mon, Jun 16, 2025 at 2:47 PM Boniforti Flavio <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Richard and thanks for replying. > I do already have a "Income:Music Equipment Sales CHF" account, but > perhaps I don't think it's correct to add a "decrease" in that account of > CHF 32.- (which is the loss I suffered). Probably it's a matter of > perspective... I could create a separate "Expenses:Music Equipment Sales > Loss CHF" and put that amount in there? But in the latter case, it would be > a positive number, whereas I think it really is a negative number (loss) - > and therefore it would still be the best thing to put it in the > "Income:Music Equipment Sales CHF" as a negative entry?! > > TIA, > F. > > https://www.instagram.com/boniforti_music > https://soundcloud.com/boniforti_music > https://bonny-j.bandcamp.com > > > Am Mo., 16. Juni 2025 um 19:23 Uhr schrieb R Losey <[email protected]>: > >> >> >> On Mon, Jun 16, 2025 at 6:00 AM Boniforti Flavio <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi all. >>> >>> I've got a collection of (vintage) music instruments - I have an account >>> for each item, where I put the money I've spent to buy such items. Each >>> item is a sub-account of a super-account "Instrument collection" - and I >>> got 2 of them: one in CHF and the other in EUR. >>> I've also got different bank accounts for CHF and EUR of course. >>> >>> Let's pick this example, where I'm struggling to put the numbers in the >>> correct accounts: >>> - Item ABC, sub-account of the CHF "instrument collection", bought for >>> CHF >>> 79.- (which I've entered as "opening balance"); >>> - selling this item in EUR, therefore I've received money to increase my >>> EUR checking account; >>> - no shipping costs involved this time (the intermediary took 57 Euros >>> from >>> the buyer and sent me 50 Euros, the other 7 Euros were already used by >>> the >>> intermediary to buy and send me a shipping label). >>> >>> Now the question is: how should I correctly enter all the different >>> transactions? My approach would've been: >>> - increase my EUR checking account of 50 Euros - the corresponding >>> account >>> would be "item ABC"; >>> - at this point the account "item ABC" still shows a positive value - >>> which >>> cannot be true as I've sold it, so it's not anymore in my possession. How >>> do I register this loss? >>> >> >> I remember your post from last year; I'm only going to attempt an answer >> to the first case in this email. >> >> I assume that item ABC, purchased in CHF is listed in CHF. When you sold >> it, presumably it lowered the item ABC balance. However, because you sold >> in EUR, how did you mark that in item ABC? Did you convert EUR to CHF for >> the date of the sale, and then use that number? >> >> (Assuming that you converted EUR to CHF), you'll want to move the >> remaining balance to either an Income account called something like >> "Instrument Gain" or an Expense account called "Instrument Loss". >> Personally, I favor the Income account, os I would think that it would be >> more usual to sell the instruments for gain. Of course, you could have one >> of each and put the gains in one and the losses in another. (If I were >> doing it, I'd have a single Income account; however, you might need one in >> CHF and one in EUR, if instruments have been purchased under both >> currencies). >> >> So, using your numbers above (and looking up current exchange rates and >> simplifying for example), I'd enter >> >> Increase EUR checking by 50 EUR >> Decrease Item ABC by 47 CHF [about what 50 EUR is - you should use >> the real value; I'm using this for the example] >> Decrease item ABC by 32 CHF [the remaining value] >> Record a loss (decrease, I Think) in the Income account "Instrument >> Gain" by 32 CHF >> >> That should leave you with zero value for item ABC (which you could now >> "hide" the account so you don't see it). >> >> Note that you could merely enter ONE entry into item ABC, decreasing by >> 79 (the total value), but I did the above in two entries to (hopefully) >> make it clearer. >> >> I seem to remember from your earlier post that you are not concerned with >> tax consequences of the sale, so I that didn't influence my thinking. >> >> I hope this helps you. >> >> >> -- >> _________________________________ >> Richard Losey >> [email protected] >> Micah 6:8 >> > -- _________________________________ Richard Losey [email protected] Micah 6:8 _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] 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. 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