This thread is old but I'm experiencing similar problem with MEMO/DESCRIPTION option in reports. A DESCRIPTION in an expense transaction will NOT find its way into a transaction report under the MEMO/DESCRIPTION header.  Only MEMOs appear under that header.

This is very counterintuitive and quite frustrating.  A report header labeled "MEMO/DESCRIPTION" ought to show at least the DESCRIPTION since that is one of the main fields of an expense record.  They are treated as separate fields for transactions but combined for reporting purposes and one is mostly ignored.

I don't get it.