Reports

[Phil Longstaff]

I've been thinking about how reports are structured and created.  I'm not an 
accountant, but I have worked in a financial office.  The accounting package had 
some interesting features to support report creation, and I'd like to see some 
of the adopted for gnucash:

1) Row structure was specified separately from column structure.  There were 
two basic row structure domains: asset/balance sheet structures and 
income/expense/profit structures.  The structure allows you to insert 
headings/subtotals and accounts.
2) To create a report, you take a row structure and then specify columns for 
different dates.

As an example, I can set up how I want my income statement structured as far 
as what headings/accounts/subtotals there.  I can then set up a number of 
columns (e.g. monthly, quarterly, ...).  I can think of reasons for setting up 
a report row structure differently than just the normal account hierarchy (I 
might want a report putting certain accounts in non-discretionary and 
discretionary subtotals which I might not want to include in the hierarchy.

Does this fit into the (potential) new report structure of html with embedded 
scheme?

Phil