Based on my limited knowledge about stock options
(an non-existent knowledge of any associated accounting norms),
here's how I would do it.
The short answer is probably yes,
it is all this moot and you should only count the number of shares
and do accounting when you exercise and sell
(see §1 and §2 below in case you are not sure how that would work).
If you do want to account for the options themselves,
I sketch out a possible solution in §3.
Scenario 1: Selling immediately
If you sell your shares immediately after you exercise the option
and are not interested in holding on to them,
you can just record your income at that point in time and be done with it.
Let's say when all is said and done, you made a profit of 650 EUR:
| Exercise options and sell |
Dr |
Cr |
| Asset:Checking |
650 EUR |
|
| Income:Stock Options |
|
650 EUR |
If it's important for tax purposes or otherwise,
you could separate the currency conversion fees
while still doing all of your accounting in euros:
| Exercise options and sell |
Dr |
Cr |
| Asset:Checking |
650 EUR |
|
| Expenses:Currency Conversion |
10 EUR |
|
| Income:Stock Options |
|
660 EUR |
Scenario 2: Accounting for your EMPL shares
If you want to record a more detailed picture of what's going on,
or if you want to keep your shares for a while after you buy them,
you will need to look into the securities accounting features of GnuCash.
The most principled and robust approach is arguably to use
trading accounts (See File>Properties>Accounts to enable).
But it will work in a similar way with the default settings --
just ignore the splits in italics and use the appropriate prices
in the transactions.
In any case, under this approach,
you will have an account Assets:Employer Stock denominated in a security EMPL
(the ticker symbol for your employer's shares).
When you exercise an option, you will just record it as a security purchase
at the option strike price.
I'll ignore the USD/EUR currency conversion aspect and assume
you're able to buy 100 EMPL using 850 EUR from your checking account.
| Vest option |
Dr |
Cr |
| Assets:Employer Stock |
100 EMPL |
|
| Assets:Checking |
|
850 EUR |
| Trading:EUR |
850 EUR |
|
| Trading:EMPL |
|
100 EMPL |
Now, if the price database indicates the current price of EMPL is 15 EUR,
GnuCash will immediately report an unrealized gain of of 650 EUR, because
you hold 100 share of EMPL worth 1500 EUR, which you bought for 850 EUR.
Let's say you sell the shares at that price:
| Sell shares |
Dr |
Cr |
| Assets:Checking |
1500 EUR |
|
| Assets:Employer Stock |
|
100 EMPL |
| Trading:EMPL |
100 EMPL |
|
| Trading:EUR |
|
1500 EUR |
The account Trading:EUR will be left with a credit balance of 650 EUR.
This is your realized gain, which you would then record as income,
balancing everything again:
| Realized gain |
Dr |
Cr |
| Trading:EUR |
650 EUR |
|
| Income:Capital Gains |
|
650 EUR |
Scenario 3: Accounting for the options themselves
Until now I have ignored anything that goes on
until you exercise the option,
which honestly is probably good enough for your personal accounting,
but if you wanted to you could account for the options themselves
as their own kind of security (say, EMPO).
Receiving options
Initially they have no realized value
(you "buy" them for 0 EUR each),
so you could just record:
| Get a bunch of options |
Dr |
Cr |
| Asset:Stock options |
100 EMPO |
|
| Trading:EMPO |
|
100 EMPO |
This being said,
if you wanted to record them as income as they come in,
you could try your best guess at their expected value
by the time you exercise them
(say, 5 EUR in profit for each share),
and use that as their price:
| Get a bunch of options |
Dr |
Cr |
| Asset:Stock options |
100 EMPO |
|
| Income:Stock options |
|
500 EUR |
| Trading:EUR |
500 EUR |
|
| Trading:EMPO |
|
100 EMPO |
Then any unrealized gains/losses subsequently reported by GnuCash
will be with reference to this initial price of 5 EUR per EMPO.
You can update your "best guess" into the GnuCash price database,
and these gains/losses will show up in the total
EUR credit balance your trading accounts,
and in the Advanced Portfolio report.
This will carry through as you convert them to actual shares,
although the reports sometimes get tripped up
by complicated multi-split transactions.
Letting them go
If the options expire and you end up deciding not to exercise them,
you can just return them to the universe
(aka. the Trading accounts):
| Discard options |
Dr |
Cr |
| Trading:EMPO |
100 EMPO |
|
| Asset:Stock options |
|
100 EMPO |
If you recorded income,
you'll have to record the losses as well:
| Options loss |
Dr |
Cr |
| Expenses:Option losses |
500 EUR |
|
| Trading:USD |
|
500 EUR |
You could also reimburse the income account instead,
depending on how you'd like it to show up on reports.
Exercising them
If you do exercise your options,
you would record the transaction as:
| Vest option |
Dr |
Cr |
| Assets:Employer Stock |
100 EMPL |
|
| Assets:Stock Options |
|
100 EMPO |
| Assets:Checking |
|
850 EUR |
| Trading:EUR |
850 EUR |
|
| Trading:EMPO |
100 EMPO |
|
| Trading:EMPL |
|
100 EMPL |
Then when you sell your shares you can proceed as above.
Note that if you simultaneously hold
different option lots with different strike prices,
and you want to assign non-zero values to them for reporting purposes,
you will have to use a different security for each lot.
Conclusion
You'll have to decide what level of detail you need in your accounting,
based on how you handle your options, your tax reporting needs, etc.
I also haven't gotten into what to do if you actually have accounts
denominated in USDs or the like.
If you need to complexity,
GnuCash has many features which can help you manage it,
and the underlying double-entry mechanics are actually quite interesting!
But it will probably require some careful reading and experimentation
on your part if you want to go down that path.
