‘IF’ in ‘SELECT’ statement – choose output value based on column values

SELECT id, 
       IF(type="P", amount, amount * -1) as amount
FROM report

See http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/control-flow-functions.html.

Additionally, you could handle when the condition is null. In the case of a null amount:

SELECT id, 
       IF(type="P", IFNULL(amount,0), IFNULL(amount,0) * -1) as amount
FROM report

The part IFNULL(amount,0) means when amount is not null return amount else return 0.