Hi Eric,
I haven't done this myself yet (I don't have options), but I think what
you're doing is incorrect.
You're not meant to track the cost basis of unexercised options, e.g., what
if they vest OOM?
I would track the cost of the option itself.
With the method I suggest below you can just enter price values for your
particular option as the underlying moves.
For example, an ITM option close to expiration should converge closely to
the payoff, so having a recent-ish database of option price values in your
ledger should allow calculation of the cash equivalent.
I had a quick shot at it below, and this is probably closer to want you
want (assuming ESP options, which I _assume_ an employer would
automatically report the gains for on your W-2, for each exercise during
the year, again, I haven't actually been in that situation so I might get
some of the particulars wrong. I read up some IRS documents online to
figure out what I needed, as I was curious).
I'd love to hear some feedback,
;; Notes:
;;
;; * I put the exercise price in the commodity name itself, e.g., FOO_X100,
as
;; in 'X' for strike price and '100' for 100$/share. This defines the
;; instrument. Put the expiration date in there as well if you feel a need
;; to do that (use the exchange codes if it makes sense to you).
;;
;; * I track the value of the option itself, not of the exercise price. When
;; you "use" the option by exercising it, I would track that as an expense
;; as in the below with 'Expenses:OptionsExercises' because the option
;; vanishes and it acts as a privilege token you've now used.
;;
plugin "beancount.ops.auto_accounts"
2014-06-01 * "Stock options - acquire"
Assets:BorganSchmanley:FOO-X100 8 FOO-X100 {0.80 USD}
Income:BorganSchmanley:OptionsVesting ;; Note: Non-taxable if statutory
2014-12-01 * "Stock options - exercise"
Assets:BorganSchmanley:FOO-X100 -4 FOO-X100 {0.80 USD} @ 120.00
USD
Expenses:OptionsExercise 3.20 USD
Assets:BorganSchmanley:FOO 4 FOO {120.00 USD}
Assets:BorganSchmanley:Cash -400.00 USD
Income:BorganSchmanley:Gains -80.00 USD ;; These gains to be
reported on W-2 AFAIK.
2014-12-01 * "Stock options - sale"
Assets:BorganSchmanley:FOO -4 FOO {120.00 USD} @ 121.00 USD
Assets:BorganSchmanley:Cash 484.00 USD
Income:BorganSchmanley:Gains -4.00 USD
;; In my sale example above, I assume you waited a bit before selling after
;; exercise and got a small gain/loss from it. If you did not and you sold
at
;; 120.00 (same as FMV at exercise) then you would have a gain or zero.
;;
;; If you wanted to represent an exercise + sell in one transaction, you
could
;; do it this way, without the stock, you'd just get the money:
2014-12-15 * "Stock options - exercise & auto-sale"
Assets:BorganSchmanley:FOO-X100 -4 FOO-X100 {0.80 USD} @ 120.00
USD
Expenses:OptionsExercise 3.20 USD
Assets:BorganSchmanley:Cash 80.00 USD
Income:BorganSchmanley:Gains -80.00 USD ;; These gains to be
reported on W-2 AFAIK.
On Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 11:40 PM, Eric Weigle <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm trying to figure out how to model stock options in ledger. My goals
> are that
> (1) individual lots are tracked separately by the grant price, and
> (2) I can track the potential value in a sane way.
>
> This seems to work for (1) when I exercise for cash:
>
> 2014/06/01 Stock options - acquire
> Assets:Stock Options:Foo 4 FOO_OPTIONS {$100} @ $0
>
> 2014/12/01 Stock options - exercise
> Assets:Stock Options:Foo -4 FOO_OPTIONS {$100} @ $0
> Assets:Stock:Foo 4 FOO @ $100
> Income:Transient Stock $-400
>
> 2014/12/01 Stock options - sale
> Assets:Stock:Foo -4 FOO {$100} @ $200
> Income:Capital Gains $-400
> Income:Transient Stock $400
> Assets:Checking $400
>
> But I can't seem to figure out a way to track what the exercise would be
> worth at, say, August in my example. I tried adding a pricesdb value for
> FOO_OPTIONS of $150, but then it thinks I have $600 rather than $200,
> because it doesn't account for the $100 exercise price. All the transaction
> variants I've tried for FOO_OPTIONS {$} "rebase" the option, which is not
> what I'm hoping to do.
>
> I'm coming from Gnucash. What I did there was to track an account "Stock
> options" in dollars, and just do "change in value" transactions monthly.
> This achieved #2, but not #1.
>
> Any suggestions appreciated. Maybe some magic with virtual transactions to
> track #1 and #2 separately?
>
>
> Thanks
> -Eric
>
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