This is exactly what I use closing entries for. So I do:

ledger equity Expenses

I copy the output into my ledger file, change the signs, and change the
balancing account to "Income Summary." Next:

(I call "Revenues" "Income")
ledger equity Income

Same exact process for that one. Finally, I add an entry like:

12/31 Year End
  Income Summary =$0
  Equity:Retained Earnings

That balances it all out.


On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 11:52 AM, Rick F <[email protected]> wrote:

> Well, now that I'm dealing with a real accountant to get my taxes done, I
> have to produce these accounting reports.  How to produce these reports has
> been covered already on this list, but to summarize (assuming you have the
> standard five accounting categories):
>
> Profit and Loss: ledger bal '/^Revenues|^Expenses/'
> Balance sheet: ledger bal '!/^Revenues|^Expenses/'
>
> Here's where having a real accountant comes in.  The above produces a
> balance sheet that doesn't balance.  He expects there to be an
> Equity:Retained Earnings account where this year's profits end up in order
> to make the whole thing balance.  I tried adding an entry:
>
> 12/31  Year End
>     Revenues =$0
>     Expenses =$0
>     Equity:Retained Earnings
>
> But that fails if Revenues and Expenses have subcategories, and frankly
> they're not useful if they don't.  Even if I get rid of subcategories just
> to force this, it balances the balance sheet, but it also balances the P&L,
> making it look like I made no money last year.
>
> How do others get this to work?
>
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