Balance Sheet Query - 2.3.7

[Roger]

On the Balance Sheet for version 2.3.7 I see the main sections ASSETS, 
LIABILITIES, and EQUITY which is fine.

EQUITY is the parent of an account Retained Earnings which also makes 
sense to me except that it should represent the difference between the 
total earnings of the company and the total dividends paid out since 
inception.  So, I would expect a structure similar to:

EQUITY
    Retained Earnings
       Retained Earnings from Previous Years
       Current Earnings
       Dividends

ASSETS = LIABILITIES + EQUITY

Which is quite different from what the Balance Sheet in 2.3.7 shows, e.g.

EQUITY
    Retained Earnings
       Opening Balances (Possibly the same as Retained Earnings from 
Previous Years)
       Dividends
Retained Earnings (Note: this is on the same level as EQUITY and seems 
to represent Current Earnings)

which yields:

ASSETS = LIABILITIES + EQUITY + Retained Earnings

To me the Gnucash 2.3.7 implementation is quite confusing and doesn't 
seem to be standard (Note, I am not an accountant).  I would very much 
appreciate it if someone could tell me the rational behind the Gnucash 
2.3.7 Balance Sheet implementation.

Thanks,
  Roger