The Source Journal requires you to know in advance what 'flavor' of journal you are looking for (ie. you can't enter a range) so it's not a broad enough search to answer the question 'what changed since the last time I looked'.

Plus it's an extra step. You can export and sort just as quickly and you're not restricted to a type of journal. My query about sorting within the 'view account transactions' was just to have a quick way to look at the account on an 'as assembled' basis. Probably not a big deal!

For batch status inquiry, yes a 'find' button would do the trick... I often know what batch I'm interested in and usually what I'm trying to do is print a listing with the GL summary box ticked so I can quickly see the effect of the batch on an account without having to aggregate the detail.