diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.hs
index 54fe4d3ce..342bec686 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.hs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ module Hledger.Cli.Commands.Stats (
 where
 
 import Data.Default (def)
+import System.FilePath (takeFileName)
 import Data.List (intercalate, nub, sortOn)
 import Data.List.Extra (nubSort)
 import qualified Data.Map as Map
@@ -39,7 +40,8 @@ import Hledger.Cli.Utils (writeOutputLazyText)
 
 statsmode = hledgerCommandMode
   $(embedFileRelative "Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.txt")
-  [flagReq  ["output-file","o"]   (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "output-file" s opts) "FILE" "write output to FILE."
+  [ flagNone ["verbose","v"]    (setboolopt "verbose") "show more detailed output"
+  ,flagReq  ["output-file","o"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "output-file" s opts) "FILE" "write output to FILE."
   ]
   [generalflagsgroup1]
   hiddenflags
@@ -48,15 +50,15 @@ statsmode = hledgerCommandMode
 -- like Register.summarisePostings
 -- | Print various statistics for the journal.
 stats :: CliOpts -> Journal -> IO ()
-stats opts@CliOpts{reportspec_=rspec, progstarttime_} j = do
+stats opts@CliOpts{rawopts_=rawopts, reportspec_=rspec, progstarttime_} j = do
   let today = _rsDay rspec
       q = _rsQuery rspec
       l = ledgerFromJournal q j
       intervalspans = snd $ reportSpanBothDates j rspec
-      showstats = showLedgerStats l today
-      (ls, txncounts) = unzip $ map showstats intervalspans
+      (ls, txncounts) = unzip $ map (showLedgerStats verbose l today) intervalspans
       numtxns = sum txncounts
       b = unlinesB ls
+      verbose = boolopt "verbose" rawopts
   writeOutputLazyText opts $ TL.init $ TB.toLazyText b
   t <- getPOSIXTime
   let dt = t - progstarttime_
@@ -68,8 +70,8 @@ stats opts@CliOpts{reportspec_=rspec, progstarttime_} j = do
     RTSStats{..} <- getRTSStats
     printf
       (intercalate ", "
-        ["Runtime stats       : %.2f s elapsed"
-        ,"%.0f txns/s"
+        ["Runtime stats       : %.2f s elapsed"  -- keep synced
+        ,"%.0f txns/s"                           --
         -- ,"%0.0f MB avg live"
         ,"%0.0f MB live"
         ,"%0.0f MB alloc"
@@ -84,7 +86,7 @@ stats opts@CliOpts{reportspec_=rspec, progstarttime_} j = do
   else
     printf
       (intercalate ", "
-        ["Runtime stats       : %.2f s elapsed"
+        ["Runtime stats       : %.2f s elapsed"  -- keep
         ,"%.0f txns/s"
         ] ++ "\n(add +RTS -T -RTS for more)\n")
       (realToFrac dt :: Float)
@@ -93,8 +95,8 @@ stats opts@CliOpts{reportspec_=rspec, progstarttime_} j = do
 toMegabytes n = realToFrac n / 1000000 ::Float  -- SI preferred definition, 10^6
 -- toMebibytes n = realToFrac n / 1048576 ::Float  -- traditional computing definition, 2^20
 
-showLedgerStats :: Ledger -> Day -> DateSpan -> (TB.Builder, Int)
-showLedgerStats l today spn =
+showLedgerStats :: Bool -> Ledger -> Day -> DateSpan -> (TB.Builder, Int)
+showLedgerStats verbose l today spn =
     (unlinesB $ map (renderRowB def{tableBorders=False, borderSpaces=False} . showRow) stts
     ,tnum)
   where
@@ -103,8 +105,8 @@ showLedgerStats l today spn =
     w = 20  -- keep synced with labels above
     -- w = maximum $ map (T.length . fst) stts
     (stts, tnum) = ([
-       ("Main file", path) -- ++ " (from " ++ source ++ ")")
-      ,("Included files", unlines $ drop 1 $ journalFilePaths j)
+       ("Main file", path') -- ++ " (from " ++ source ++ ")")
+      ,("Included files", if verbose then unlines includedpaths else show (length includedpaths))
       ,("Txns span", printf "%s to %s (%d days)" (showstart spn) (showend spn) days)
       ,("Last txn", maybe "none" show lastdate ++ showelapsed lastelapsed)
       ,("Txns", printf "%d (%0.1f per day)" tnum txnrate)
@@ -112,8 +114,8 @@ showLedgerStats l today spn =
       ,("Txns last 7 days", printf "%d (%0.1f per day)" tnum7 txnrate7)
       ,("Payees/descriptions", show $ size $ fromList $ map (tdescription) ts)
       ,("Accounts", printf "%d (depth %d)" acctnum acctdepth)
-      ,("Commodities", printf "%s (%s)" (show $ length cs) (T.intercalate ", " cs))
-      ,("Market prices", printf "%s (%s)" (show $ length mktprices) (T.intercalate ", " mktpricecommodities))
+      ,("Commodities",   printf "%s%s" (show $ length cs)        (if verbose then " (" <> T.intercalate ", " cs <> ")" else ""))
+      ,("Market prices", printf "%s%s" (show $ length mktprices) (if verbose then " (" <> T.intercalate ", " mktpricecommodities <> ")" else ""))
     -- Txns this month     : %(monthtxns)s (last month in the same period: %(lastmonthtxns)s)
     -- Unmarked txns      : %(unmarked)s
     -- Days since reconciliation   : %(reconcileelapsed)s
@@ -122,7 +124,8 @@ showLedgerStats l today spn =
      ,tnum1)
        where
          j = ljournal l
-         path = journalFilePath j
+         path' = if verbose then path else ".../" <> takeFileName path where path = journalFilePath j
+         includedpaths = drop 1 $ journalFilePaths j
          ts = sortOn tdate $ filter (spanContainsDate spn . tdate) $ jtxns j
          as = nub $ map paccount $ concatMap tpostings ts
          cs = either error' Map.keys $ commodityStylesFromAmounts $ concatMap (amountsRaw . pamount) $ concatMap tpostings ts  -- PARTIAL:
diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.md b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.md
index 4bcc0731d..85a0227cc 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.md
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.md
@@ -4,36 +4,43 @@ Show journal and performance statistics.
 
 _FLAGS
 
-The stats command displays summary information for the whole journal, or
+The stats command shows summary information for the whole journal, or
 a matched part of it. With a [reporting interval](#reporting-interval),
 it shows a report for each report period. 
 
-At the end, it shows (in the terminal) the overall run time and number of 
-transactions processed per second. Note these are approximate and will vary
-based on machine, current load, data size, hledger version, haskell lib 
-versions, GHC version.. but they may be of interest. The `stats` command's 
-run time is similar to that of a single-column balance report.
+The default output is fairly impersonal, though it reveals the main file name.
+With `-v/--verbose`, more details are shown, like file paths, included files,
+and commodity names.
+
+It also shows some run time statistics:
+
+- elapsed time
+- throughput: the number of transactions processed per second
+- live:  the peak memory in use by the program to do its work
+- alloc: the peak memory allocation from the OS as seen by GHC.
+  Measuring this externally, eg with GNU time, is more accurate;
+  usually that will be a larger number; sometimes (with swapping?) smaller.
+
+The `stats` command's run time is similar to that of a balance report.
 
 Example:
 
 ```cli
-$ hledger stats -f examples/1000x1000x10.journal
-Main file                : /Users/simon/src/hledger/examples/1000x1000x10.journal
-Included files           : 
-Transactions span        : 2000-01-01 to 2002-09-27 (1000 days)
-Last transaction         : 2002-09-26 (6995 days ago)
-Transactions             : 1000 (1.0 per day)
-Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day)
-Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)
-Payees/descriptions      : 1000
-Accounts                 : 1000 (depth 10)
-Commodities              : 26 (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z)
-Market prices            : 1000 (A)
-
-Run time                 : 0.12 s
-Throughput               : 8342 txns/s
+$ hledger stats -f examples/1ktxns-1kaccts.journal 
+Main file           : .../1ktxns-1kaccts.journal
+Included files      : 0
+Txns span           : 2000-01-01 to 2002-09-27 (1000 days)
+Last txn            : 2002-09-26 (7827 days ago)
+Txns                : 1000 (1.0 per day)
+Txns last 30 days   : 0 (0.0 per day)
+Txns last 7 days    : 0 (0.0 per day)
+Payees/descriptions : 1000
+Accounts            : 1000 (depth 10)
+Commodities         : 26
+Market prices       : 1000
+Runtime stats       : 0.12 s elapsed, 8266 txns/s, 4 MB live, 16 MB alloc
 ```
 
 This command supports
 the [-o/--output-file](hledger.html#output-destination) option
-(but not [-O/--output-format](hledger.html#output-format) selection).
+(but not [-O/--output-format](hledger.html#output-format)).
diff --git a/hledger/test/journal/balance-assertions.test b/hledger/test/journal/balance-assertions.test
index 68782e486..c746e75da 100755
--- a/hledger/test/journal/balance-assertions.test
+++ b/hledger/test/journal/balance-assertions.test
@@ -15,9 +15,7 @@
   b   $-1  = $-3
   (b)  $1  = $-2
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 2. same entries as 1 but different parse order, assertion should still pass based on date
 <
@@ -34,9 +32,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
   a    $1  =$2
   b   $-1  =$-2
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 3. like 1 but switch order of postings in last entry,
 # assertion should fail and exit code should be non zero
@@ -54,7 +50,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
   (b)  $1  = $-2
   b   $-1  = $-3
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
+$ hledger -f - check
 >2 /Error: -:11:12/
 >=1
 
@@ -63,9 +59,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
 2013/1/1
   (a)    1  =1
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 5. should work for fractional amount with trailing zeros
 <
@@ -81,9 +75,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
   a    $0.7   =$2
   b           =-$2
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 6. assertions currently check only a single commodity's balance, like Ledger
 <
@@ -93,9 +85,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
   (a)  0  = A1
   (a)  C0 = D0
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 7. balances should accumulate (#195)
 <
@@ -106,9 +96,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
 1/2
     (a)   3F = 4F
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> !/assertion failed/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 8. what should happen here ? Currently,
 # in a, 3.4 EUR @@ $5.6 and -3.4 EUR cancel out (wrong ?)
@@ -128,9 +116,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
 #   a    $0.1   =$1.30
 #   b           =-$1.30
 
-# $ hledger -f - stats
-# > /Transactions/
-# >=0
+# $ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 8. Using balance assignment to set balances.
 <
@@ -146,9 +132,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
   a           $10 =$11.3
   b         =$-11.3
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 
 # ** 9. Multiple assertions for an account in the same transaction.
@@ -166,9 +150,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
   b   $-1  = $-3
   b   $-1  = $-4
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 10. Multiple assertions and assignments for an account in the same transaction.
 <
@@ -196,9 +178,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
   c      = 50 B
   c      = 50 A
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 11. Assignments and virtual postings
 <
@@ -214,16 +194,15 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
   [a]      = $5
   b        = $9
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
+
 # ** 12. Having both assignments and posting dates is not supported.
 <
 2013/1/1
   a    $1  =$1
   b         =$-1  ; date:2012/1/1
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
+$ hledger -f - check
 >2  /Balance assignments and custom posting dates may not be combined/
 >=1
 
@@ -247,9 +226,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
   [d]    10
 
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 14. Mix different commodities
 <
@@ -261,9 +238,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
     a     $-1 = $0
     b
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 15. Mix different commodities and assignments
 <
@@ -282,9 +257,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
     a
     b      = 0 zorkmids
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 16. Total assertions (==) parse correctly
 <
@@ -295,9 +268,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
 2016/1/2
     a         == $1
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 17. Total assertions consider entire multicommodity amount
 <
@@ -312,7 +283,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
 2016/1/3
     a       0 == $1
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
+$ hledger -f - check
 >2 /Error: -:10:15:/
 >=1
 
@@ -331,9 +302,7 @@ $ hledger -f - stats
     b       0 = $-1
     b       0 = 0 zorkmids
 
-$ hledger -f - stats
-> /Transactions/
->=0
+$ hledger -f - check
 
 # ** 19. Cost is ignored when checking balance assertions.
 <
diff --git a/hledger/test/journal/include.test b/hledger/test/journal/include.test
index cc8cb6244..ad4443707 100644
--- a/hledger/test/journal/include.test
+++ b/hledger/test/journal/include.test
@@ -74,12 +74,12 @@ $  printf '2018/01/01\n (A)  1\n' >included.journal; HOME="$PWD" hledger -f - pr
 # They use different file names so a single concurrent shelltest invocation will be fine.
 
 # ** 7. test that order of include files is maintained
-$  printf 'include _b\n' >_a; touch _b; hledger -f _a stats | grep _ | sed -e 's%.*/%%'; rm -rf _a _b
+$  printf 'include _b\n' >_a; touch _b; hledger -f _a stats -v | grep _ | sed -e 's%.*/%%'; rm -rf _a _b
 _a
 _b
 
 # ** 8. and with --auto code path
-$  printf 'include _d\n=\n' >_c; touch _d; hledger -f _c stats --auto | grep _ | sed -e 's%.*/%%'; rm -rf _c _d
+$  printf 'include _d\n=\n' >_c; touch _d; hledger -f _c stats -v --auto | grep _ | sed -e 's%.*/%%'; rm -rf _c _d
 _c
 _d
 
diff --git a/hledger/test/stats.test b/hledger/test/stats.test
index cdb7945b0..dede1acad 100644
--- a/hledger/test/stats.test
+++ b/hledger/test/stats.test
@@ -7,6 +7,6 @@ $ hledger -f- stats
 <
 include a.j
 include b.j
-$  touch a.j b.j; hledger -f- stats; rm -f a.j b.j
+$  touch a.j b.j; hledger -f- stats -v; rm -f a.j b.j
 > /Included files.*\/a\.j
 .*\/b\.j/