grist-accounting/references/queries.md

SQL Queries and Reports

Common queries and financial report templates.

Contents

• Common Queries
• Financial Reports
• Reconciliation Queries

Common Queries

Unpaid Bills by Vendor

SELECT v.Name, b.BillNumber, b.BillDate, b.Amount, b.AmountDue
FROM Bills b
JOIN Vendors v ON b.Vendor = v.id
WHERE b.Status IN ('Open', 'Partial')
ORDER BY b.DueDate

Bills Summary by Vendor

SELECT v.Name as Vendor, COUNT(b.id) as Bills, SUM(b.Amount) as Total, SUM(b.AmountDue) as Due
FROM Bills b
JOIN Vendors v ON b.Vendor = v.id
GROUP BY v.Name
ORDER BY Total DESC

Account Balances (Non-Zero)

SELECT Code, Name, Type, Balance
FROM Accounts
WHERE Balance != 0
ORDER BY Code

Owner Reimbursement Balance

SELECT Balance FROM Accounts WHERE Code = '2203'

Expense Summary by Account

SELECT a.Code, a.Name, a.Balance
FROM Accounts a
WHERE a.Type = 'Expense' AND a.Balance != 0
ORDER BY a.Balance DESC

Transaction History for Account

SELECT t.Date, t.Description, t.Reference, tl.Debit, tl.Credit
FROM TransactionLines tl
JOIN Transactions t ON tl.Transaction = t.id
WHERE tl.Account = {account_id}
ORDER BY t.Date DESC

Verify All Transactions Balance

SELECT id, Description, Total, IsBalanced
FROM Transactions
WHERE IsBalanced = false

Financial Reports

Balance Sheet

Shows Assets = Liabilities + Equity at a point in time.

Important: Parent accounts roll up child balances. Query only top-level parents (Parent = 0) to avoid double-counting.

-- Assets, Liabilities, Equity (top-level only)
SELECT Code, Name, Type, Balance
FROM Accounts
WHERE Type IN ('Asset', 'Liability', 'Equity')
  AND Parent = 0
ORDER BY Type, Code

-- Net Income (for Equity section)
SELECT
  COALESCE(SUM(CASE WHEN Type = 'Income' THEN Balance ELSE 0 END), 0) -
  COALESCE(SUM(CASE WHEN Type = 'Expense' THEN Balance ELSE 0 END), 0) as NetIncome
FROM Accounts
WHERE Type IN ('Income', 'Expense')
  AND id NOT IN (SELECT DISTINCT Parent FROM Accounts WHERE Parent != 0)

Presentation:

Assets
Cash & Bank Accounts	$X.XX
Accounts Receivable	$X.XX
Total Assets	$X.XX

Liabilities
Accounts Payable	$X.XX
Due to Owner	$X.XX
Total Liabilities	$X.XX

Equity
Retained Earnings	$X.XX
Net Income (Loss)	$X.XX
Total Equity	$X.XX

| Total Liabilities + Equity | $X.XX |

Income Statement

Shows Revenue - Expenses = Net Income for a period.

SELECT Code, Name, Type, Balance
FROM Accounts
WHERE Type IN ('Income', 'Expense')
  AND Balance != 0
  AND id NOT IN (SELECT DISTINCT Parent FROM Accounts WHERE Parent != 0)
ORDER BY Type DESC, Code

Presentation:

Income
Service Revenue	$X.XX
Total Income	$X.XX

Expenses
Software & Subscriptions	$X.XX
Professional Services	$X.XX
Total Expenses	$X.XX

| Net Income (Loss) | $X.XX |

Trial Balance

Lists all accounts with non-zero balances. Debits should equal Credits.

SELECT
  Code,
  Name,
  Type,
  CASE WHEN Type IN ('Asset', 'Expense') THEN Balance ELSE 0 END as Debit,
  CASE WHEN Type IN ('Liability', 'Equity', 'Income') THEN Balance ELSE 0 END as Credit
FROM Accounts
WHERE Balance != 0
  AND id NOT IN (SELECT DISTINCT Parent FROM Accounts WHERE Parent != 0)
ORDER BY Code

Accounts Payable Aging

SELECT
  v.Name as Vendor,
  b.BillNumber,
  b.BillDate,
  b.DueDate,
  b.AmountDue,
  CASE
    WHEN b.DueDate >= strftime('%s', 'now') THEN 'Current'
    WHEN b.DueDate >= strftime('%s', 'now') - 2592000 THEN '1-30 Days'
    WHEN b.DueDate >= strftime('%s', 'now') - 5184000 THEN '31-60 Days'
    ELSE '60+ Days'
  END as Aging
FROM Bills b
JOIN Vendors v ON b.Vendor = v.id
WHERE b.Status IN ('Open', 'Partial')
ORDER BY b.DueDate

Year-End Tax Reports

Date-parameterized queries for tax year reporting. Replace {start_date} and {end_date} with Unix timestamps (e.g., 2025: start=1735776000, end=1767312000).

Period Income Statement (P&L)

Sums TransactionLines by Income/Expense account for a date range (Schedule C core data):

SELECT a.Code, a.Name, a.Type,
  SUM(tl.Debit) as Debits, SUM(tl.Credit) as Credits
FROM TransactionLines tl
JOIN Transactions t ON tl.Transaction = t.id
JOIN Accounts a ON tl.Account = a.id
WHERE a.Type IN ('Income', 'Expense')
  AND t.Date >= {start_date} AND t.Date < {end_date}
GROUP BY a.Code, a.Name, a.Type
ORDER BY a.Type DESC, a.Code

Period Expense Detail

All expense transactions with individual line items, grouped by account:

SELECT t.Date, a.Code, a.Name, t.Description, t.Reference, tl.Debit, tl.Credit
FROM TransactionLines tl
JOIN Transactions t ON tl.Transaction = t.id
JOIN Accounts a ON tl.Account = a.id
WHERE a.Type = 'Expense'
  AND t.Date >= {start_date} AND t.Date < {end_date}
ORDER BY a.Code, t.Date

Vendor Payment Summary

Total payments per vendor for 1099 determination ($600+ threshold):

SELECT v.Name as Vendor, COUNT(bp.id) as Payments, SUM(bp.Amount) as TotalPaid
FROM BillPayments bp
JOIN Bills b ON bp.Bill = b.id
JOIN Vendors v ON b.Vendor = v.id
WHERE bp.PaymentDate >= {start_date} AND bp.PaymentDate < {end_date}
GROUP BY v.Name
ORDER BY TotalPaid DESC

Period General Ledger

All transactions in the period with full detail:

SELECT t.Date, t.Description, t.Reference, t.Status,
  a.Code, a.Name, tl.Debit, tl.Credit, tl.Memo
FROM TransactionLines tl
JOIN Transactions t ON tl.Transaction = t.id
JOIN Accounts a ON tl.Account = a.id
WHERE t.Date >= {start_date} AND t.Date < {end_date}
ORDER BY t.Date, t.id, a.Code

Point-in-Time Balance Sheet / Trial Balance

Use Accounts.Balance (cumulative) for businesses that started tracking in Grist during the reporting year. If prior-year data exists, subtract beginning-of-year balances. See the Financial Reports section for balance queries.

Note

: If tl.Transaction JOIN fails due to the reserved word issue, fall back to get_records on TransactionLines + programmatic joining.

Reconciliation Queries

Cleared Balance for Bank Account

Use get_records to avoid the Transaction reserved word issue:

# Step 1: Get all TransactionLines for Checking (id=14)
lines = get_records("TransactionLines", filter={"Account": [14]})

# Step 2: Get cleared transaction IDs
txn_ids = list(set(line["Transaction"] for line in lines))
cleared = sql_query(f"SELECT id FROM Transactions WHERE Status = 'Cleared' AND id IN (...)")
cleared_ids = set(row["id"] for row in cleared)

# Step 3: Sum Debit - Credit for cleared lines
cleared_balance = sum(
    line["Debit"] - line["Credit"]
    for line in lines
    if line["Transaction"] in cleared_ids
)

Outstanding Items (Not Cleared by Bank)

SELECT t.id, t.Date, t.Description, t.Status,
       tl.Debit, tl.Credit
FROM TransactionLines tl
JOIN Transactions t ON tl.Transaction = t.id
WHERE tl.Account = 14
  AND t.Status != 'Cleared'
ORDER BY t.Date

Reconciliation History

SELECT id, StatementDate, StatementBalance,
       ClearedBalance, Difference, Status
FROM Reconciliations
WHERE Account = 14
ORDER BY StatementDate DESC

Active Bank Rules

get_records("BankRules", filter={"Account": [14], "IsActive": [true]})