How difficult is it (really) to reorganize a Chart-of-Accounts after the fact?

[Patrick Doyle]

Hello Buddha,
Thank you for the excellent explanation.  What you described, was
_exactly_ what I was trying to avoid.  To avoid that, I decided/hoped
that making Equity subaccounts would do the trick.

Following your example, I would have 1 asset account: Assets:Checking,
and three Equity accounts: Equity:Food, Equity:Books, Equity:Gas.

I would _not_ have any Income nor Expense accounts.  (I realize this
is heretical, but bear with me before you cast me out into the
darkness where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth).

On payday, I would put in the following transaction:

2015-01-01 Wages
    Debit Assets:Checking $200
    Credit Equity:Food $100
    Credit Equity:Books $50
    Credit Equity:Gas $50

A quick check of my accounts summary screen would show that I have a
balance of $100 in Equity:Food, etc.

When I buy groceries, I would put in the following transaction:
2015-01-02 Weekly Groceries
    Debit Equity:Food $87.50
    Credit Assets:Checking $87.50

A quick check of my accounts summary screen would show that I have a
balance of $12.50 in Equity:Food.  It would also show that
my Assets:Checking account now has a balance of $112.50, as it's
simply the roll-up of the sub-accounts.

I think this system works even when all my transactions involving
food, books, or gas don't go through checking.

Let's say I am out at the pub with friends and I discover I
accidentally left my wallet at home. My friend John spots me $10 so
I can stand my round.

I can't credit that transaction to Assets:Checking:Food -- nothing has
come out of my bank account, but I can credit it to Liabilities:John.

So it would have to be entered as

2015-01-03 Round of drinks at the pub
    Debit Equity:Food $10.00
    Credit Liabilities:John $10.00

So now my "food bucket" will contain only $2.50, as it should.  When I
eventually stop at the ATM and take out $10 to pay John back, I would
enter:

2015-01-10 Pay John back
    Debit Liabilities:John $10
    Credit Assets:Checking $10

Reconciling my checking account is easy, as is reconciling my monthly
statement with John (who, as it turns out, regularly has to loan me
money to buy drinks at the pub).

I can replace John with a credit card account, and get the same sort
of behavior.

At this point, we've digressed from the topic of this thread and
landed on my "Old Dogs, New Tricks" thread.

It seems like I should just give my method a try and see where it
takes me.  If it takes me too far astray, I'll have to figure out how
to adapt my thinking to the rest of the world.

If it works for me, and I can find a wiki/blog on which to describe
it, perhaps others will find it useful.

--wpd