creditcard reconciliation impossible

[Wouter van Marle]

On Fri, 2006-06-23 at 15:03 +0200, A.J. Bonnema wrote:
> Anthony wrote:
> > But to go back to your question, I don't see what the problem is, and
> > I don't think using accounts payable is a good solution.  When you do
> > the reconciliation, you only mark as reconciled the charges and
> > payments that appear on the statement.  The "ending balance" and
> > "reconciled balance" will then be equal.  They might not be equal to
> > zero, though.  The balance would only be zero if there were no
> > purchases during the period, or if the payment posts in the same
> > period.

As a matter of fact, I do use such an account in between, but that is
mostly for other reasons: it gives a payment reminder, and I have to
split the payable amount over three accounts (personal and two companies
for which I use the same credit card).

> Okee, I get that. This balances out the expences, but it does not 
> balance out the payments.

Which is something I really wouldn't worry about. My credit card asks
some payments to be settled right away (end of the month in which they
were done), others I have to pay only the next month. So no matter what
I always have some outstanding balance.
This doesn't matter though. I always know how much outstanding balance I
have at each moment.

> Okee, I am not an accountant, so my reasoning might be faulty. But as 
> far as I can see it appears that the cc-company postpones payment of an 
> amount I do owe them. That's why the A/payable account appears to be a 
> reasonable solution to the time difference.

It's simply not really necessary. You can also enter the transaction a
week in the future: guess when the deduction from your bank account will
take place, and put it there. I assume one month's statement will show
the payment of the previous month?

Wouter.