[GNC] Changing from one year to the next

[Kalpesh Patel]

I recall a bug/feature in 4.x version where if you changed the accounting period the COA totals would not reflect new period totals until after another action is taken -- like update quotes. Also remember that there are multiple total types (Total, Total(Period), Total (USD) , etc.) in COA so selecting correct one is also necessary.

-----Original Message-----
From: Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) <stan+gc at fastmail.fm> 
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2026 8:30 PM
To: R Losey <rlosey at gmail.com>
Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Changing from one year to the next




> On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 12:41 PM Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) 
> <stan+gc at fastmail.fm <mailto:stan%2Bgc at fastmail.fm>> wrote:
> 
>     On 2026-01-19 10:18, R Losey wrote:
>     > There is a end-of-year closeout in which income and expense
>     accounts are
>     > zeroed (by rolling them into Equity). This is not necessary to do for
>     > GnuCash to work, but some people like doing it (I am one that does
>     - it
>     > makes Income and Expense account totals reflect only the current
>     year).
> 
>     Like you, I zero out income and expense accounts every year. But it's
>     not necessary to do that to see the totals for the current year. That's
>     always possible on the Accounts pane, assuming you've set your
>     accounting period to start and end with the start and end of this year.
>     (That's in Edit » Preferences » Accounting Period.)
> 
>     To show the current period income and expenses in the Accounts pane,
>     clock the triangle at the extreme right of the headings and tick "Total
>     (Period)".


On 2026-01-19 13:02, R Losey wrote:

> True, Stan. I do have it set for current year, and that does work for 
> income/expense... but not for categories under Assets or Liabilities.

Are you sure about that? It sure looks to me like Asset and Liability accounts show the amount of change, positive or negative, in the account during the current period, just as for Income and Expense accounts. That equivalence is less obvious, of course, if Income and Expense accounts start each year at zero.

For instance, my liability to Wells Fargo was $1073.77 on 2025-12-31 and will be $724.90 on 2026-01-26. That is a reduction of $348.87, and
Total(Period) shows $(348.87), just as I would expect.

Stan Brown
Tehachapi, CA, USA
https://BrownMath.com