Jude DaShiell <jdashiel@panix.com> writes:

> This is a running balance table and I don't know what kind of a #TBLFMT
> line would be useful for that either.
>
> | date         | transaction      | amount |   fee | balance |
> |--------------+------------------+--------+-------+---------|
> | [2023-01-11] | original balance |  +0.00 | +0.00 | +423.17 |
> | [2023-01-12] | dunkin           | -18.68 | -1.00 |  403.49 |
> | [2023-01-13] | WalMart          | -28.68 | -1.00 |  384.88 |
> | [2023-01-16] | Deposit          |      + |       |  634.88 |
> | [2023-01-17] | Capris           |      - |     - |  615.34 |
> | [2023-01-17] | Mcdonalds        |  -4.74 | -1.00 |  609.60 |
> | [2023-01-18] | verizon          |      - |     - |  543.35 |
> | [2023-01-26] | dunkin           |      - |     - |  542.37 |
> | [2023-02-01] | damgoodcafe      | -13.28 | -1.00 |  528.09 |
> |              |                  |        |       |         |

One thing I could see as useful is a check column to enusre that

balance - amount - fee actually gives the previous balance:

| date         | transaction      | amount |   fee | balance |  check |
|--------------+------------------+--------+-------+---------+--------|
| [2023-01-11] | original balance |  +0.00 | +0.00 | +423.17 | 423.17 |
| [2023-01-12] | dunkin           | -18.68 | -1.00 |  403.49 | 423.17 |
| [2023-01-13] | WalMart          | -28.68 | -1.00 |  384.88 | 414.56 |
| [2023-01-16] | Deposit          |      + |       |  634.88 | 634.88 |
| [2023-01-17] | Capris           |      - |     - |  615.34 | 615.34 |
| [2023-01-17] | Mcdonalds        |  -4.74 | -1.00 |  609.60 | 615.34 |
| [2023-01-18] | verizon          |      - |     - |  543.35 | 543.35 |
| [2023-01-26] | dunkin           |      - |     - |  542.37 | 542.37 |
| [2023-02-01] | damgoodcafe      | -13.28 | -1.00 |  528.09 | 542.37 |
|              |                  |        |       |         |      0 |
#+TBLFM: $6='(- $5 $4 $3);N

As you can see, The balance after WalMart does not add up, so I think
this could be a good check to have.

> Suggestions for any other improvements I could make on this table will be
> appreciated and implemented if possible.

I use ledger-cli for such tables which can generate suitable output.

https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/languages/ob-doc-ledger.html
https://www.ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Org-mode-with-Babel

You could do some clever stuff like

#+name: ledger-to-table
#+begin_src elisp :var data=""
(concat "#+name: ledger-results\n"
          data
          "#+tblfm: \n"))
#+end_src

#+begin_src ledger :results raw :post ledger-to-table(*this*) :cmdline --register-format "| %(format_date(date)) | %(payee) | %(display_account) | %(display_amount) | %(display_total) | \n" reg -M --wide --date-format %y-%m-%d
2022-06-15 * py2guile
    ArneBab:Assets:Autorenhonorar:epubli             3.13€
    ArneBab:Income:sale:nonrpg:epubli
#+end_src



#+begin_src elisp :exports results
(org-babel-do-load-languages
 'org-babel-load-languages
 '((ledger . t)         ;this is the important one for this tutorial
  ))
nil
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:

If you use ledger-cli for accounting, you can do pretty clever
post-processing inside org-mode. Here’s an example that uses
[[https://www.ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Output-customization][--register-format]] to provide the register results directly as an
org-mode table:

#+begin_src org
,#+name: ledger-to-table
,#+begin_src elisp :var data=""
(concat "#+name: ledger-results\n"
          data
          "#+tblfm: \n"))
,#+end_src

,#+begin_src ledger :results raw :post ledger-to-table(*this*) :cmdline --register-format "| %(format_date(date)) | %(payee) | %(display_account) | %(display_amount) | %(display_total) | \n" reg -D --wide --date-format %Y-%m-%d
2022-06-15 * py2guile
    ArneBab:Assets:Autorenhonorar:epubli             3.13€
    ArneBab:Income:sale:nonrpg:epubli
,#+end_src

#+end_src

This results in output like this (evaluated live on every export of this website):

#+name: ledger-to-table
#+begin_src elisp :var data=""
(concat "#+name: ledger-results\n"
          data
          "#+tblfm: \n"))
#+end_src

#+begin_src ledger :results raw :post ledger-to-table(*this*) :cmdline --register-format "| %(format_date(date)) | %(payee) | %(display_account) | %(display_amount) | %(display_total) | \n" reg -D --wide --date-format %Y-%m-%d
2022-06-15 * py2guile
    ArneBab:Assets:Autorenhonorar:epubli             3.13€
    ArneBab:Income:sale:nonrpg:epubli
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
#+name: ledger-results
| 2022-06-15 | - 2022-06-15 | ArneBab:Assets:Autorenhonorar:epubli | 3.13€ | 3.13€ | 
| 2022-06-15 | - 2022-06-15 | ArneBab:Income:sale:nonrpg:epubli | -3.13€ | 0.00€ | 
#+tblfm: 


Also see 

- https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/languages/ob-doc-ledger.html
- https://www.ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Org-mode-with-Babel




Best wishes,
Arne
-- 
Unpolitisch sein
heißt politisch sein,
ohne es zu merken.
draketo.de