How to algorithmically select the appropriate accounts from a tree of accounts

To create an accounting report (such as Income statement/Balance sheet/ Cash flow statement), certain accounts have to be considered, for an income statement we need to consider the revenue, depreciation, cogs, interest, tax,... and so on.

My qestion is for an accounting software to generate the report, there is a critria/algorithm to use to pick the right group. How would this be approached?

1. surely not enumerating all the possible accounts, since those will just be names, and can be any value,
2. Enumerating the the tree then? enumerating the right part of the chart of account tree? This implies some rigidity in the initial setup of the tree, making sure every new account falls somewhere in the current tree (Assets/Liabilities/EQuity/Income/Expense)?

For a report like the income statement this is more involved since the income related to operating activities has to be distinguished from investing and financing, can this be distinguished in software simply from examining the right part of the chart of account tree?

Yes, it can be distinguished in software simply from examining the right part of the chart of account tree