diff --git a/conservancy_beancount/reports/query.py b/conservancy_beancount/reports/query.py
index fb33ba129a4ab0b15a9974479c58698a5a280989..0f9d53b6b53a460b4a0bbdb2a99a82daa7f1e519 100644
--- a/conservancy_beancount/reports/query.py
+++ b/conservancy_beancount/reports/query.py
@@ -83,18 +83,22 @@ class BooksLoader:
         self.rewrite_rules = rewrite_rules
 
     def __call__(self) -> books.LoadResult:
+        logger.debug("BooksLoader called")
         result = books.Loader.dispatch(self.books_loader, self.start_date, self.stop_date)
-        for index, entry in enumerate(result.entries):
-            # entry might not be a Transaction; we catch that later.
-            # The type ignores are because the underlying Beancount type isn't
-            # type-checkable.
-            postings = data.Posting.from_txn(entry)  # type:ignore[arg-type]
-            for ruleset in self.rewrite_rules:
-                postings = ruleset.rewrite(postings)
-            try:
-                result.entries[index] = entry._replace(postings=list(postings))  # type:ignore[call-arg]
-            except AttributeError:
-                pass
+        logger.debug("books loaded from Beancount")
+        if self.rewrite_rules:
+            for index, entry in enumerate(result.entries):
+                # entry might not be a Transaction; we catch that later.
+                # The type ignores are because the underlying Beancount type isn't
+                # type-checkable.
+                postings = data.Posting.from_txn(entry)  # type:ignore[arg-type]
+                for ruleset in self.rewrite_rules:
+                    postings = ruleset.rewrite(postings)
+                try:
+                    result.entries[index] = entry._replace(postings=list(postings))  # type:ignore[call-arg]
+                except AttributeError:
+                    pass
+            logger.debug("rewrite rules applied")
         return result