Re: Proposal for 2.0: New monetary data types

[Michael Richardson <..hidden..>]

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>>>>> "Chris" == Chris Travers <..hidden..> writes:
    Chris> balances.  I would like to create a multi-currency data type
    Chris> for PostgreSQL which can be currency aware and address
    Chris> certain things we can't address today in terms of currency
    Chris> conversions.

That's a neat way to do it.

    Chris> I would also like to see payments handled differently, so
    Chris> that one could mark the payment as converted at a specific
    Chris> point in time.  The further approach would be to allow us to
    Chris> properly track floating balances in foreign currencies.
    Chris> There are two major use cases here:

okay.  From the UI point of view, I'd often like to type in the amount
received, and let it calculate the exchange rate, which often I do not
know to sufficient number of significant figures to be sure I got it
right. 

    Chris> 1) I receive a check from a customer in CAD.  I record it.
    Chris> It goes into the bank the next day.  The time to properly
    Chris> exchange that currency is the day of deposit, not the day of
    Chris> receipt.  The exchange rates can vary slightly....

Also, the exchange rate can be different on the same day, from different
institutions (credit card companies vs banks vs fx-broker...)

    Chris> 2) Far more importantly, it would allow us to better handle
    Chris> floating balances of foreign currencies, for example in bank
    Chris> accounts of currencies other than the default currency for
    Chris> the system.  FX gains and losses could be calculated for
    Chris> balance sheet purposes on an ad-hoc basis for such
    Chris> outstanding floating balances and could be recorded at date
    Chris> of conversion.....

okay.  There might be some reporting constraints (SEC, etc.) about what
day is used to convert foreign balances... I'm ignorant of such things.

    Chris> Finally, including a denomination attribute would allow
    Chris> better tracking of till closings than we currently have.

    Chris> Of course an additional module (also perhaps to be put on
    Chris> Pg-foundry) would track valid currencies, exchange rates, and
    Chris> the like.

    Chris> In general, what do folks think?

Many co-workers of mine were very confused trying to deal with foreign
currency accounts in 1.2 --- until I told them that they should NOT
select "show exchange".  There are some UI issues, but until I finish
switching to 1.3, I shouldn't comment on that, I know it's changed.

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