Hi Mike,
> It seems to me that the simplest solution, and one that might work reasonably
> well, is to make it possible (via a view option) to switch any register into
> the format used for non-currency registers where there are separate columns
> for shares, price, and value for each split.
as a heavy user of multiple currencies and trading accounts I would very much
welcome that.
Cheers,
Christoph
> Am 20.08.2019 um 00:36 schrieb Mike Alexander :
>
> I’ve been thinking for a while about how the register could be changed to
> better handle multiple currency transactions with trading accounts turned
> on. Back when I implemented trading accounts I knew this was a problem.
> However at that time it was expected that the Register2 rewrite of the
> register code would make the old register code obsolete so I didn’t worry
> about it too much. This is clearly no longer a valid assumption.
>
> It seems to me that the simplest solution, and one that might work reasonably
> well, is to make it possible (via a view option) to switch any register into
> the format used for non-currency registers where there are separate columns
> for shares, price, and value for each split. The labels would need to be
> changed for currency splits since “shares” becomes the value in the split’s
> currency, “price” becomes exchange rate, and "value" remains the value in the
> transaction currency. Getting all the details right might be tricky, but
> this seems to have possibilities.
>
> The current code shows only one of those three values, and which one depends
> on whether trading accounts are turned on. If they are on it shows the value
> in the split’s currency. If off, it shows the value in the transaction's
> currency. This adds still more confusion to the situation. A simple change
> would be to make it always show the value in the split’s currency. At least
> then there wouldn’t be this confusion about what is being shown. I didn’t do
> this at the time because one of the goals was to make GnuCash work identical
> to the way it worked before if trading accounts were turned off.
>
> If I get some free time I might try to play around with this idea and see
> where it goes. If anyone else thinks this might work and wants to take a
> crack at it, be my guest. My time for software development is very limited
> these days.
>
> Mike
>
> PS: this probably should be moved to the Dev list if someone wants to
> continue the discussion.
>
>> On Aug 16, 2019, at 2:12 PM, John Ralls wrote:
>>
>> It's a difference in the way that the register works with or without trading
>> accounts. If trading accounts are turned off then the register displays all
>> splits converted to that register account's currency. If they're on then it
>> displays each split in its own account's currency, with symbols for all but
>> the current register's currency.
>>
>> When dealing with multiple currencies "balance" can adopt different
>> meanings. GnuCash requires that a transaction must balance in the
>> transaction currency, which is generally the one for the account in whose
>> register the transaction was created (or the first parent account
>> denominated in a currency if the register is for a non-currency account).
>> Since in a currency register the transaction currency value and the exchange
>> rate between the register currency and transaction currency are hidden that
>> can be difficult, especially in split view where the user is responsible for
>> getting the (possibly invisible) values right. The more currencies involved
>> in the transaction the harder it gets.
>>
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls
>>
>>
>>> On Aug 16, 2019, at 9:39 AM, Jeff Abrahamson wrote:
>>>
>>> Thanks, that's great, I'll have a play with that after work.
>>>
>>> Two points concern me:
>>>
>>> 1. I don't see currency symbols in my registers. Is this a setting?
>>>
>>> 2. I've been taught in accounting that transactions must balance, and
>>> so I was expecting to see the GBP register all in GBP, the CHF register
>>> all in CHF, and the EUR register all in EUR. That is, if one sums the
>>> columns of a register, the Dr and Cr columns should have the same sum.
>>> Am I confused about this principle?
>>>
>>> I'll need to read about the trading accounts feature. As someone who
>>> regularly spends money in several currencies, I don't really think of
>>> these transactions as P related, though I'm aware they could be
>>> modeled that way.
>>>
>>> Jeff
>>>
>>>
>>> On 16/08/2019 18:13, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
So the Cafe’s price was CHF 5.70?
Your card was debited GBP 4.67?
The Expense:Coffee account is set to EUR?
First, yes, you’ll need Trading Accounts turned on.
Second, open the price db and fetch rates, then check the EUR-GBP rate,
you’ll need it later. (I don’t see a way around this at present) For this
example, we’ll use 1.0957
