[GNC] Monthly period in charts should use end-of-month values, not start

[Adrien Monteleone]

I guess I read the chart differently.

It does make sense to know what you started a period with in regards to 
an asset like a bank account or cash on hand. (And I also see your point 
of wanting to know where you ended up.)

Though I suppose an option could be added, clearly, your position on say 
April 1st is also your position on March 31st. (This is problematic for 
December in an annual chart though.)

Maybe a Balance Sheet or Cash Flow report is more in-line with what 
you're after?

On a whim, I checked out the Expense Chart. It correctly shows total 
expenses in a category for a period, but lists them as a full date as 
the 1st of each month, not just month/year. (so 1/1/22, 2/1/22, etc.)

Of course, those are not 'balances' as of those dates, but rather sums 
for the period, so it is nonsensical to show the day part of the date.

That for sure I would assert as a bug.

Regards,
Adrien

On 8/10/22 10:57 AM, Colin Arndt wrote:
> Hello fellow GnuCashers,
> 
> I’ve used GnuCash very happily the last few years - it’s a fantastic application with superlative support from both the developers and fellow users on this list. But here’s my issue.
> 
> Today I created a bar chart report tracking my cash across bank accounts over time.
> 
> When using Month as the period (step size), the report returns the balance at the start of the month, not the end.
> 
> I was looking at the bar for January of this year, confused why it didn’t include a bonus I got at work. It took me a moment to realize the report used January 1st balances. Therefore, that deposit wasn’t reflected until February. This means when interpreting the bar values, I have to mentally shift them all back one month.
> 
> Another example. If I want to see the cash balance at the end of 2021, I have to look at the January 2022 bar, not the December 2021 one.
> 
> Do you see my point? In some cases I can see this making sense, but not for this use case. A period’s balance should be calculated from the end of the period, not the start.
> 
> Could an option be added to use the end of a period vs the start?