[GNC] Confusing and inconsistent headers in transaction entry and report forms

[Peter S. Shenkin]

Adrian,

I do have full account names turned on. I forget where I did that. I have
no customized sort that affects the order of accounts within a transaction
in either register view nor in the transaction report. (I prefer to sort
the transactions by date in the transaction report, but that's just me.)

You point out correctly that in the register view, where transactions are
entered, each line of the transaction (which is shown completely in my
screen shot) shows the debit first (on the left) and credit second, as is
customary. I had the labeling of the columns set to the out-of-the-box
defaults of Increase and Decrease, respectively. This is highly misleading,
because in fact both of these accounts increase as the result of the
transaction. I later changed the labels to Debit and Credit, an available
option, which is less misleading, but other than the labels, the
transaction looks exactly the same in both the account register and the
transaction report. That is, the Credit and Debit labels are still reversed
in the transaction log.

You seemed to express uncertainty about the account register. The way I
enter transactions is to pick an account (for instance, by clicking on it
in a balance sheet). That opens the register tab, set to that account. If I
am remembering correctly, it will always list that account on the first
line of the transaction, then you can add your currency total in either the
Debit or the Credit column for that account. For the balancing account or
accounts (in the case of a split), you similarly enter the currency total
for each account on a succeeding line, in either the debit or the credit
column, and select the account from a pulldown you can invoke from that
line.

There is no specified order in the register view for the accounts involved
in a transaction; the account you selected to open the tab will always be
listed on the first line nd the succeeding lines will appear in the order
in which you entered them.

I'm pretty new to Gnucash (or is it gnu to Newcash?), so maybe there is
another way of entering transactions, but this is the one I know.

-P.

On Tue, Aug 2, 2022 at 2:51 AM Adrien Monteleone <
adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:

> I took another look at your initial report screenshot.
>
> It is correct and *not* reversed.
>
> There are some parts of it missing, but you can see them in my
> screenshot version.
>
> The main difference otherwise in our two reports is that you've listed
> the Donations transaction first and the Checking transaction after. (not
> sure how that worked out, because I thought they appear in their order
> in the Account Tree, but I guess you have a customized reversed sorting
> order in Options > Sorting > Primary Sort Order > Descending. Default is
> Ascending)
>
> The first line then, is from the perspective of the Donations account.
> In that account, the amount is a credit and that is what the report
> shows, with the transfer account being Checking.
>
> The second line is from the perspective of the Checking account, and
> that amount is a debit (also correctly shown) with the transfer account
> being Donations.
>
> I can't find an option to turn off the Account name. I'm guessing you
> copy/pasted the lines or blocked out that part resulting in missing labels.
>
> Look at my screenshot again showing both accounts ,and the extra labels
> and info, which should make the report more clear.
>
> Regards,
> Adrien
>
> On 8/2/22 12:24 AM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
> > Peter,
> >
> > Yes, I caught all of that.
> >
> > I'm referring to default options of the report - not GnuCash generally.
> >
> > If you have the report still open, close it.
> >
> > Now, run it again. Note, you shouldn't get anything at first except a
> > page telling you that you need to set options first, particularly to
> > choose accounts.
> >
> > Click the Options button on the toolbar, on the Accounts tab, select
> > only the Checking account. Set the date range however you like in the
> > General tab, but narrowing it down to the one day of the transaction
> > will remove cruft. Do not change any other report options.
> >
> > You should now see a list of transactions on that date affecting the
> > Checking account.
> >
> > Is it correct?
> >
> > Note, if you have only that one transaction, you should see only one
> > line in the report, not two.
> >
> > Now, edit the Options > Accounts again, and this time, select *both*
> > Checking & Donations and click Apply.
> >
> > Now, you should see separate sections of the report, one for each
> > account with subtotals and you'll see the same transaction twice, once
> > from the perspective of the Checking account, and the other from the
> > perspective of the Donation account.
> >
> > I've done a sample transaction with similarly named Asset & Revenue
> > accounts and attached screenshots of the register, the Transaction
> > Report with just Checking selected, and the Transaction Report with both
> > Checking & Donation accounts selected.
> >
> > If your report doesn't look exactly like this save for the specific
> > Description and amount, something is off.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Adrien
> >
> > On 8/2/22 12:05 AM, Peter S. Shenkin wrote:
> >> Hi, Adrian,
> >>
> >> My first image shows a single transaction (the "wepay to checking"
> >> transaction). But I separately pasted in the Checking balance from the
> >> previous transaction, which is not fully shown. I wanted the reader to
> >> see
> >> that indeed the transaction I did show raised the Checking balance. And
> I
> >> also pasted in the header line from the top of the page.
> >>
> >> I'm not sure which default/non-default options you are referring to.
> >> If you
> >> mean using Debit/Credit headers as register labels instead of
> >> Increase/Decrease, I tried it both ways and it didn't change the
> >> appearance
> >> of the transaction report.
>
>
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