[GNC] reports

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 3/6/2022 9:03 PM, Chuck wrote:
> Hi:
> Thanks for all the help, hints & so on.
> What do you think is the best option to generate a custom report?
> Chuck

It depends.

Consider that I was a pro (and though not fluent in LISP, can read most 
anything -- SCHEME is a LISP dialect). But even so, when I first began 
using  gnucash for an organization the lawyer/accountant on the board 
said "Mike, don't bother writing custom reports. Just generate the raw 
reports, export them, and we'll use our favorite editors to assemble the 
finished product. It's what any of us accountants would do."

So you need to decide for yourself, which will be easier. Doing the 
customization inside gnucash (and printing that out) or if the data 
needed for the finished report is available on existing gnucash 
report(s), just get the report(s) out of gnucash and edit/message them 
outside of gnucash. It depends on WHAT your "customizations" are. Just 
selecting certain accounts? Well existing reports allow you to do that.  
You want something else for the report title, ditto.  You wan to check 
out ALL the report options for a report before asking about "custom".

Describe for us WHAT customization you want/need for what report(s). We 
can then better advise. Might already exist.

Michael D Novack

PS: Mind, I was going to need LOTS of "customizing" besides simple 
things like showing two side by side. Things like the ability to add 
annotation (an amount that was unusual "marked" with a symbol and in the 
footnotes text explaining. Like an account that was supposed to be 
showing an amount being zero might be flagged and the matching note 
below "invoice for printing and mail annual meeting notice not yet 
received for the vendor". Also mind that as treasurer, I might need a 
level of detail (for gov't reporting) that would be of no interest shown 
that way to the board at quarterly meetings.

Thus for deciding whether 1099-MISCs needed and for whom I need the 
annual "Statement of Revenues and Expenses" report (that's what a 
non-profit calls the report a business would call "Profit and Loss") to 
show for each intern how much paid, how much for mileage reimbursement. 
But the board would only want to see the parent "interns" total among 
expenses. Not how much we gave Tom and how much Mary and how much of 
what we gave them was pay vs mileage reimbursement. In other words, 
easier to run the full report in gnucash, export it, keep one as the raw 
report and make a copy in which unwanted information is edited out. 
Existing report options can be useful but sometimes not. Thus "omit 
accounts with zero amount" is an option but I might not want that 
globally << an account with an unexpectedly zero amount might belong on 
the report, probably with an annotation >>