[GNC] Expense Over Time report

Sat Feb 20 21:00:26 EST 2021

I'm a beginner, too, and here's what I would do. This may be largely
repetition of the previous discussion, but I'm repeating for clarity (I
hope).

To keep yourself honest and eliminate temporary confusions, display which
accounts are placeholders: On the list of accounts, the header line starts
with "Account Name".  All the way to the right is a down-pointing triangle.
Click it and check "Placeholder". A new column will appear with boxes
(some checked) indicating whether each account is a Placeholder or not,
meaning, as I think you know, that that account cannot be deposited in
directly; rather, all deposits made to that account must specify a
subaccount to use.  Displaying the Placeholder column will make it clear if
you've forgotten to declare any branches as placeholders.

If you're going to do this, it would make sense to name accounts in a
manner similar to this simple example, where P indicates a paceholder

Expenses P
   Medical
   Charity
   Other

So if Expenses is a placeholder account, you would place anything that is
not in Medical or Charity in Expenses:Other.

Of course Medical and Charity could have subaccounts, in which case you
could make them Placeholders as well. For instance, you could make add a
Medical:Other account to track expenses that you didn't set up categories
for. For example:

Expenses P
   Medical P
      Doctor
      Dentist
      Other
   Charity
   Other

Then medical expenses other than Doctor and Dentist would go into
Expenses:Medical:Other, whereas an expense that is neither medical nor
charity would continue to go into Expenses:Other.

As far as general accounting rules are concerned, you could, if you wish,
eliminate the Placeholder properties and the "Other" subaccounts. Then put
what would ordinarily go into XYZ:Other directly into XYZ. Either system is
consistent with accounting rules, which really just require you to record
expenses in such a way that you can make sure you fulfill and later justify
that you have met your legal and tax obligations. But without placeholders,
to answer the question "What expenses are not in subaccounts," you'd have
to add up the sum of the subaccount expenses and subtract this from the
total branch expenses. So I find the Placeholder/Other method clearer, but
not everyone does and it's not required.

I should say that I don't know how what I've described (and what you appear
to be doing now) works with the "Level" specification, because I have never
used that.

-P.

On Sat, Feb 20, 2021 at 6:33 PM gnu Gord <gnucashgord at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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