[GNC] Expense Over Time report

[gnu Gord]

Thank you to everyone that replied.
I'm still a bit confused as to why I can select the accounts to
include/exclude plus I can/need to select the level. It seems redundant to
me but maybe in some situations it's required.

In my example, it appears I have created my hierarchy incorrectly. The
suggestions I received seem to say I should have no transactions in branch
accounts and only in leaf accounts. (I didn't realize I needed to be a
gardener to do accounting!) LOL
I rearranged my example and it seems the report options work more the way I
would expect, but I'm still not clear on the level vs. account selection.

To summarize the way I understand it, all but the lowest level accounts
should be marked as Placeholder accounts (or at least have no
transactions). Is this closer to 'standard' accounting practice?

Here is the way I've redone the example. With "Expenses", "L2" and "L3" all
having the Placeholder option ticked:

[image: image.png]


On Sat, Feb 20, 2021 at 11:36 AM Dale Alspach <alspachde at gmail.com> wrote:

> Some accounting software, e.g., Quickbooks, use a virtual leaf  "Other" in
> reports to remove any ambiguity when there are  transactions in a branch
> account which are not in a leaf.  Thus a report for the situation L3 $100
> transaction and L4 $500 transaction would display
> L3
>       L4 500
>       L3 - Other 100
>
> Dale
>
> On Sat, Feb 20, 2021 at 8:04 AM D. via gnucash-user <
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
>
> > Geoff,
> >
> > That was an excellent answer, and explains clearly a big reason why users
> > should strive to limit their transactions to leaf nodes in the account
> > hierarchy. (My own books include numerous violations of this premise,
> BTW)
> > Gnucash has always allowed users to put transactions in intermediate
> level
> > accounts, which some in the community have felt was Not Good, although
> I've
> > been a little more equivocal about it. I'm not sure, but there may be an
> > outstanding bug request on the behavior.
> >
> > I *do* think Gord's final question is an interesting one. It might be
> > useful to conduct some tests to see the interaction between account
> > selection and level setting in the various reports that use that method
> of
> > grouping, and then update the docs with information.
> >
> > Best,
> > David T.
> >
> >
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > From: Geoff <cleanoutmyshed at gmail.com>
> > Sent: Fri Feb 19 18:37:21 EST 2021
> > To: gnu Gord <gnucashgord at gmail.com>, gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > Subject: Re: [GNC] Expense Over Time report
> >
> > Hi Gord
> >
> > It appears that L3 is both a parent of L4 and has transactions worth
> > $100 itself.
> >
> > Thus reporting on L3 is ambiguous - do you want only its transactions
> > ($100), or its transactions plus the sum of its children ($100 + $500 =
> > $600)?
> >
> > I suggest that you only record transactions against the lowest level
> > children accounts in your hierarchy (the "leaves" and not the
> "branches").
> >
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Geoff
> > =====
> >
> > On 20/02/2021 10:07 am, gnu Gord wrote:
> > > I'm trying to understand this report and it just isn't working the way
> I
> > > expect.
> > > Below is a screenshot of my test chart of accounts, for reference.
> > > I have one expense of $100 in account L3 and one expense of $500 in
> > account
> > > L4
> > >
> > > If I ask for an Expense Over Time report and select L3 and* "Show
> > Accounts
> > > until Level" 3*, I get $600 in the report. If I select *"Show Accounts
> > > until level" 4*, I get $100
> > > If I select 2 or 1 in the "Show Account until level" I get nothing,
> which
> > > is OK.
> > > If I select 5 or 6 I get the same output as 4.
> > >
> > > This is not the way I expected it to work.
> > > I'm not really clear what the "Show Accounts until level" option is
> used
> > > for. If I can select the account I want to be included/excluded in the
> > > report why do I need to also specify the level?
> > >
> > > Version: 4.4
> > > Build ID: 4.4+(2020-12-28)
> > >
> > >
> > > [image: image.png]
> > >
> > >
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