register sort - balance incorrect

[Beth Leonard]

On Sun, Sep 16, 2007 at 12:05:53PM -0700, houndhne wrote:
> I am trying to make the switch from Windows to Linux and thus from Quickbooks
> to GnuCash. After entering several items in the register of a bank account I
> tried to sort the register a different way. My register was sorted by the, I
> guess, default way 'Standard Order'. I wanted to sort by Date Entered. When
> I did the ending balance was different. I was thinking that the balance
> should be same no matter how the entries were sorted. Has anyone else had or
> noticed this happening? 

The balance is computed as of the standard order, regardless of date
entered.  So for example if you enter a deposit for $100 dated March,
$50 dated January, followed by $25 dated February, and then you sort
by date entered, it will look like this:

Date	Description	Deposit	Balance
3/1/07	Paycheck	$100	$175
1/1/07	Deposit Gift	$50 	$50
2/1/07	Rebate		$25 	$75

Of course if you sort by "standard sort order" it would look like
this:
1/1/07	Deposit Gift	$50 	$50
2/1/07	Rebate		$25 	$75
3/1/07	Paycheck	$100	$175

That is, the balance in the balance column will always be the balance
as of the date of the transaction, regardless of how transactions
are sorted.

--Beth
Beth Leonard
http://www.LeonardFamilyVideos.com