Accounting period and Trial Balance

[David Love]

On 16 February 2012 04:39, Maf King <maf at chilwell.net> wrote:
> On Wednesday 15 Feb 2012 00:05:31 David Love wrote:
>> I have recently started to use GnuCash and Imported a .qif account
>> from another program.  This was successfully and shows my accounts
>> from 01.04.2007 to the present date.
>>
>> However,two questions:
>>
>> (1)  How do I set the beginning/end of the financial year.  In my case
>> it is from 01 April  to 31 Mar the following year.  The Preference
>> menu does not appear to cover for this type of entry.
>
> Hi David,
>
> Welcome to GC and the list.
>
> I set the accounting start & end to "absolute"  and then enter the relevant
> dates.
>
>>
>> (2)  Any Trial Balance I generate includes the TOTAL accounts (from
>> 01/04/2007 to 13/02/2012.  How do I generate a Trial Balance for one
>> specific year, e.g. 01/04/2010  to 31/03/2011?
>
> I think that you can set a start date in the Trial Balance report - run the
> report, then click "Options" and go to the "General" tab

Thanks for your prompt response.  I must be particularly "thick"
because I am still not achieving what I want.  Let me explain.

(1)  I Imported accounts which commenced on 01.04.2007 and end on the
13.02.2012. The current Financial Year being 01/04/2011  to
31/03/2012,

(2)  In Preferences, I note that there is no option to set the period
from the beginning of April to the end of March.  If I omit the year
and then close and reopen the Window, it shows that the current year
has been added.  This is very confusing, as the End Date is then
earlier that the Start Date!

(3)  I amend the Start Date to 01/04/07 and the End Date to 31/03/08
in Preferences and generate a Trial Balance and the report returns
data for the whole period of my accounts (2007 - 2012), not just the
one required.  This happens whatever dates I choose for a starting and
ending date.

(4)  I then do as you suggest.  While the Trial Balance is displayed,
I adjust the Start and End dates through Edit/Report Options/General
to 01/04/2007 and 31/03/2008 and get the Trial Balance I require.
Eureka!

(5) I then Close the Trial Balance and generate a new one for the next
period - 01/04/2008 to 31/03/2009 - and find that the amounts
displayed for Income and Expenditure are for the period requested plus
the previous one.  This happens for each succeeding accounting period,
so that by the time I seek a Trial Balance for the period 01/04/2011
to 31/04/2012. the totals displayed are for the whole accounts.

(6)  For the life of me I cannot see where I am going wrong and a
GnuCash - Creating a Trial Balance for Idiots tutorial is required!