You can. But as you might have discovered empirically it’s not consistently 
used: A rough grep finds 35 uses of xaccAccountGetCommoditySCU, which returns 
the fraction set in the Account Edit Dialog, and 104 uses of 
gnc_commodity_get_fraction, which returns the fraction set in the currency 
editor.

Regards,
John Ralls

> On Jun 18, 2026, at 15:49, Clint Chaplin <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> What I find interesting is that GnuCash has the ability for me to set any 
> arbitrary USD cash accounts to 3, 4, 5 or more decimal digits, and yet that 
> ability cannot be carried over to the USD cash side of conversions/transfers 
> to and from non-USD accounts.
> 
> On Thu, Jun 18, 2026 at 10:46 AM John Ralls <[email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>> Clint,
>> 
>> Don’t sweat the pennies in stock basis, they don’t make a practical 
>> difference anywhere.
>> 
>> For splitting the DRIPs bases alternate the rounding so that for the first 
>> one your basis is (e.g.) .45 and your sister’s is .46, the second your basis 
>> is .46 and your sister’s is .45, and so on. Notice that if there are an even 
>> number of such dividends you come out even and if there are an odd number 
>> your sister comes out .01 ahead. That’s to promote familial peace. It 
>> doesn’t actually matter,
>> 
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls
>> 
>> > On Jun 18, 2026, at 09:30, Clint Chaplin <[email protected] 
>> > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>> > 
>> > Hmm, I actually have two use cases, neither of which involve stock splits, 
>> > sorry for the deke.
>> > 
>> > I and my sister inherited some stock from our father, split 50/50.  It 
>> > took several years to settle the estate, and meanwhile the stock split 2 
>> > for 1 twice and kept DRIPping.  When it came time to actually distribute 
>> > the stock, we had to split the original stock with the basis at the time 
>> > of death, and also the subsequent DRIPs.  If the total value of a DRIP 
>> > happened to be odd, then the amount bequeathed to each person when split 
>> > 50/50 would have a half cent.
>> > 
>> > Second use case: spinoffs.  To record the split, the original stock is 
>> > "sold" for the original value and basis, and then "bought" for the 
>> > modified value and basis, which could be any fraction of the original 
>> > value and basis (in my case, .9581688 of the original amount and basis), 
>> > while the remainder value is used to "purchase" the spun off stock (in my 
>> > case, .0418312 of the original value).  This ain't gonna be an even number 
>> > of cents...
>> > 
>> > On Thu, Jun 18, 2026 at 8:54 AM Derek Atkins <[email protected] 
>> > <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] 
>> > <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote:
>> >> Keep in mind that gnucash does not store the price in the register, it 
>> >> stores the #shares and total $value.  Are you saying you would have a mil 
>> >> in the total value of the split? 
>> >> -derek
>> >> Sent using my mobile device. Please excuse any typos.
>> >> 
>> >> On June 18, 2026 11:38:28 Clint Chaplin <[email protected] 
>> >> <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] 
>> >> <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote:
>> >> 
>> >>> Unfortunate.  My use case is stock that has split.  The suggested way to
>> >>> record this change in basis in GnuCash is to sell all the stock, and then
>> >>> rebuy at the split quantities at the new pricing.  This will lead to
>> >>> amounts that are fractions of a penny, but simply cannot be recorded in
>> >>> GnuCash with the current restriction.
>> >>> 
>> >>> Even worse is when a spinoff happens and needs to be recorded.  The basis
>> >>> of the stock needs to be modified, but the only way I can see is to 
>> >>> "sell"
>> >>> and "buy" at the new basis, but the total amount per purchase cannot be 
>> >>> in
>> >>> fractions of a penny.
>> >>> 
>> >>> When I have over 100 lots to do this to, the rounding to the nearest 
>> >>> penny
>> >>> will catch up...
>> >>> 
>> >>> On Wed, Jun 17, 2026 at 2:53 PM John Ralls <[email protected] 
>> >>> <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] 
>> >>> <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote:
>> >>> 
>> >>>> No, no more than you can get a 10th of a penny at the bank or the 
>> >>>> grocery
>> >>>> store. Prices can be in fractions of a penny, amounts cannot.
>> >>>> 
>> >>>> Regards,
>> >>>> John Ralls
>> >>>> 
>> >>>> 
>> >>>>> On Jun 16, 2026, at 10:39 PM, Clint Chaplin <[email protected] 
>> >>>>> <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] 
>> >>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote:
>> >>>>> 
>> >>>>> Is there a way to set GnuCash to take USD tenths and mils on some
>> >>>>> accounts?  My default is USD, if that matters...
>> >>>>> 
>> >>>>> --
>> >>>>> Clint (JOATMON) Chaplin
>> >>>>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>> 
>> >>> 
>> >>> -- 
>> >>> Clint (JOATMON) Chaplin
>> >>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
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>> >> 
>> >> 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > --
>> > Clint (JOATMON) Chaplin
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> --
> Clint (JOATMON) Chaplin

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