Long-term Error in Report Not Fixed (was Report Problem Since Updating GnuCash)

[Geert Janssens]

On Thursday 03 December 2015 12:11:29 Matthew Lybanon wrote:
> > From: Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net>
> > Subject: Re: Report Problem Since Updating Gnucash
> > Date: September 9, 2015 at 3:20:21 PM CDT
> > To: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU>, "<gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> > User" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>> 
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >> From: Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net>
> >> Subject: Re: Report Problem Since Updating Gnucash
> >> Date: September 4, 2015 at 10:05:33 AM CDT
> >> To: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU>
> >> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> >> 
> >> Begin forwarded message:
> >>> From: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU <mailto:warlord at MIT.EDU>>
> >>> Subject: Re: Report Problem Since Updating Gnucash
> >>> Date: September 4, 2015 at 8:57:28 AM CDT
> >>> To: Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net
> >>> <mailto:lybanon at earthlink.net>> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> >>> <mailto:gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> >>> 
> >>> Hi Matthew,
> >>> 
> >>> Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net <mailto:lybanon at earthlink.net>> writes:
> >>>> I’d appreciating some help in tailoring a Gnucash report—or
> >>>> choosing
> >>>> the correct report.  Sorry about the length of this post.
> >>>> 
> >>>> A club I belong to has an annual show that’s big enough to have
> >>>> its
> >>>> own account, and I’m the “show treasurer.”  All I need to do is
> >>>> balance a checkbook—just income and expenditures, no salaries,
> >>>> taxes,
> >>>> investments, etc.  For years I’ve used Gnucash very happily.  The
> >>>> software is capable of a lot more than I use it for, and it does
> >>>> what
> >>>> I need very well.
> >>>> 
> >>>> For a long time I stuck with an old version (2.4.13) of Gnucash. 
> >>>> I
> >>>> recently upgraded to version 2.6.7, and everything is fine—except
> >>>> for
> >>>> one report.  (I run Gnucash on a Mac under OS X 10.5.5, but I
> >>>> don’t
> >>>> think that has anything to do with the issue.)
> >>>> 
> >>>> The report in question shows all the transactions (+ and -) for a
> >>>> month, in chronological order, with a running balance.  Here is
> >>>> the
> >>>> beginning of a report generated by Gnucash 2.4.13 (I saved the
> >>>> html
> >>>> file on my hard drive), column headings and the first
> >>>> transaction:
> >>>> Date
> >>>> Description
> >>>> Transfer
> >>>> Deposit
> >>>> Withdrawal
> >>>> Balance
> >>>> 07/06/2015
> >>>> Check 1302 (details omitted)
> >>>> Expenses:Check
> >>>> 
> >>>> $118.23
> >>>> <gnc-register:split-guid=d372c061e18e55b63e9516bdeab75633%23>
> >>>> $13,536.49
> >>>> <gnc-register:split-guid=d372c061e18e55b63e9516bdeab75633%23>
> >>>> 
> >>>> (I apologize if the columns don’t line up.)  The amount in the
> >>>> rightmost column is the checkbook balance after the transaction. 
> >>>> And
> >>>> here is the beginning of the same report (for a later month)
> >>>> generated by Gnucash 2.6.7:
> >>>> 
> >>>> Date
> >>>> Description
> >>>> Transfer
> >>>> Deposit
> >>>> Withdrawal
> >>>> Balance
> >>>> 08/06/2015
> >>>> Check 1303 (details omitted)
> >>>> Expenses:Check
> >>>> 
> >>>> $4,036.00
> >>>> <gnc-register:split-guid=1fcf319a36c92431d5e149e36bd67fbc%23>
> >>>> -$4,036.00
> >>>> <gnc-register:split-guid=1fcf319a36c92431d5e149e36bd67fbc%23>
> >>>> While the earlier report shows the checkbook balance after the
> >>>> transaction in the rightmost column, the later report doesn’t. 
> >>>> It shows the result of applying the transaction to a zero
> >>>> initial balance.  (What’s more, I still have the old report in a
> >>>> tab in Gnucash.  Instead of showing the checkbook balance after
> >>>> the transaction, as it did before, now the rightmost column of
> >>>> the old report shows the result of applying the transaction to a
> >>>> zero balance. I understand that Gnucash re-generates reports
> >>>> each time it starts up—which means now old reports have the same
> >>>> problem as new ones.)
> >>>> 
> >>>> I’m obviously not a “power user” of Gnucash, but I’ll describe
> >>>> how I
> >>>> created the report.  In the Gnucash tab that shows, in effect,
> >>>> the
> >>>> checkbook register (Assets:Current Assets:MyAccount), I choose
> >>>> Filter
> >>>> By… in the View menu.  On the Date tab I choose Select
> >>>> Range/Choose
> >>>> Date, and enter the beginning and ending dates for the period I
> >>>> want.
> >>>> Then I choose Account Report from the Reports menu.  I eliminate
> >>>> two
> >>>> columns I’m not interested in (Num and Memo), and there’s the
> >>>> report,
> >>>> showing the transactions for the selected period.
> >>>> 
> >>>> As well as I can remember, that’s how I did it when I was running
> >>>> Gnucash 2.4.13.  Can someone tell me what I need to do to have
> >>>> the
> >>>> “Balance” column show the running balance from the checkbook
> >>>> register, rather than what it shows now?
> >>> 
> >>> Is this ia Custom Report (that you wrote?) or is this one of the
> >>> GnuCash reports?  If the latter, which report?
> >>> 
> >>> Thanks,
> >>> 
> >>>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> >>>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> >>> 
> >>> -derek
> >> 
> >> Not a custom report.  It’s one of the built-in GnuCash reports. 
> >> Reports Menu:  Account Report, after selecting the date range for
> >> which I want to see transactions.>