Compiling and install with checkinstall

[Liz]

Debian users may be familiar with checkinstall, which creates a deb
package and installs it with the knowledge of the package manager.
In this case, I have jumped ahead 2 versions on the package manager,
and it won't try to install an older version later on when I update.

Usual compilation process
./configure
make
[then]
sudo checkinstall make install

I had multiple problems with the install process because commands
like  /bin/mkdir -p
'/usr/local/lib/gnucash/scm/ccache/2.0/gnucash/report/report-system'
wouldn't run from checkinstall running the script, so it would stop. I
would find the offending unmade directory, run [here]
sudo  /bin/mkdir -p
'/usr/local/lib/gnucash/scm/ccache/2.0/gnucash/report/report-system'
and then restart the install.
Frustrating but eventually effective.
I don't know where the problem lies, presumably permissions related,
but running checkinstall from a root account didn't make any difference.

Does anyone understand this process better and can identify the place
at which this fails?

Liz