[GNC] Change account type by editing XML?

[Geert Janssens]

Op zaterdag 2 mei 2020 17:58:11 CEST schreef Stephen M. Butler:
> On 5/2/20 2:44 AM, Geert Janssens wrote:
> > Op zaterdag 2 mei 2020 08:23:19 CEST schreef Adrien Monteleone:
> >> Indeed, I clicked Edit on an Asset account and I can only change it to:
> >> 
> >> Bank
> >> Cash
> >> Asset
> >> Credit Card
> >> Liability
> >> 
> >> I get the first three if there is going to be a limitation, but allowing
> >> the last 2 and not allowing even another debit balanced account like
> >> Expenses?
> >> 
> >> Strange.
> >> 
> >> I’m starting to wonder if this is a bug. If not, can someone shed light
> >> on
> >> the reasoning for not being able to refactor accounts except within their
> >> current parent type?
> > 
> > The idea here is that you can't put expense accounts under the an Asset
> > parent account. So if you want to change an asset account to become an
> > expense account, you will first have to select a parent account that is
> > an expense account. That will then allow you to change the account type.
> > 
> > I agree the UI can use some more polish to make this a better experience.
> > The UI's original idea was to show the valid account types that are
> > available for a given parent account. I think this would be more easily
> > understood if the parent account and the accountype widgets would switch
> > places. It is more intuitive if a lhs selection (for left to right
> > interfaces) affect what can be selected in a rhs selector. Not the other
> > way around.
> > 
> > Playing with this a bit more I wonder if other combinations make sense or
> > possibly conflict with gnucash' internal assumptions. For example, are
> > there valid use cases to store an income account under an expense account
> > or the other way around ?
> 
> For a small business I was carrying Cost-of-Goods-Sold (COGS) as an
> expense item.  When my CPA filed the taxes, I noticed that he placed it
> as a deduction to revenue.  So, after a chat with the in-house
> accountant, I moved COGS to be under the Income parent.
> 
> Thankfully, the internal representation for amounts still worked
> correctly and the COGS account now showed as a reduction to Income
> without me having to go change the sign on each transaction.
> 
Do you mean that when you moved the COGS account under the Income parent you also 
changed the account type to "Income" or did it remain an expense ?

Note by the way that I have seen it mentioned several times on the mailing lists that the 
Account Hierarchy view does not necessarily follow the same ordering as your balance sheet.

Regards,

Geert