reconciling oddity (solved i think)

[Shane Litherland]

Hi Derek,

Apologies, my rare attempt at brevity here left details wanting ;-)

First, it had not gelled with me that I could manually change the
final-balance amount in that initial reconcile dialog... I thought doing
that would cause GNUcash to get nasty on me ;-) But I can understand
from your explanation of it being static in the event I'd manually
entered a value from my statement which was different to GNUcash's
calculated (suggested?) value.
So, am I correct in understanding that what happens here is GNUcash
suggests a 'final balance' figure for the reconcile period, if it is
different to my statement I should be typing in my statement's value and
that would remain static whilst doing the reconcile. That way, if the
calculated final is different to the statement, I correct it in first
dialog and as i add missing txns the reconcile will approach that
correct amount.
The way I have been using it so far is letting GNUcash keep its
calculated amount even if different to the statement... that's probably
why I have to postpone then open/refresh the date to get its calculated
final amount to update.

Just so you can see more clearly how/where I encountered this aspect:
I'm done reconciling up-to-date now so unfortunately can't open another
reconcile today to verify step-by-step, but from recollection, here's my
situation which seems to be the same way you use it:

Clicking 'reconcile this account' icon in toolbar, first gives a dialog
where one can set date of bank statement (end of reconcile), and below
that is displayed GNUcash's calculated end-of-reconcile ('final')
account balance.

After 'OK' of that dialog, one proceeds to the main reconcile
dialog/window. Merrily clicking away, and for example find 'oh, i need
to add in that  $50 tfr between cheque and savings acct' so with
reconcile dialog still open, I go back to either of those accts and
enter the tfr. 
Back to reconcile dialog, and it has updated that info in the list. but
the 'final balance' amount stayed the same, it didn't re-calculate that
the $50 tfr in/out of the acct would have changed the final balance for
that period, despite it being in the reconcile list for me to tick off.

So, I postpone the reconcile. closes reconcile dialog.
Hit 'reconcile' icon again, and 'reconcile end-date and final-balance'
dialog comes up again, with same reconcile date (that's OK) and the same
'final balance' of pre $50 tfr being added (that's not OK). So, i go to
the date field, change the date then change it back to what it was, hit
enter/tab, and then the 'final balance' figure does refresh/update so
that the $50 tfr that was added during previous reconcile session is
accounted for.
........
Solution - just manually enter paper statement's final balance at step
one, rather than accepting GNUcash's overt helpfulness?!
;-)

-shane.


On Sat, 2012-02-04 at 21:20 -0500, Derek Atkins wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Sat, February 4, 2012 6:09 am, Shane Litherland wrote:
> > Hi again,
> >
> > Note whilst reconciling; can add/change/edit txns in relevant acct
> > during a reconcile (i.e. with the reconcile dialog still open) and
> > changes will update in reconcile dialog
> >
> > but 'final balance' won't.
> 
> Which final balance?  You mean the statement balance (which you are
> supposed to enter from the statement itself)?  Or the computed difference
> until you are done and can finish the reconcile.
> 
> > have to postpone reconcile, re-commence it, and change the date field to
> > get the 'final amount' to refresh/recalculate.
> >
> > Anyone else notice this?
> 
> You can add transactions just fine without affecting the reconcile
> balances.   I do this all the time and have never had a problem.  I've
> also changed transaction amounts during reconcile without a problem,
> either.  Although it's possible I never tried it while I had it checked
> off.
> 
> If you're just taking GnuCash's suggestion for the ending balance, then
> you are correct, that will NOT change during the reconcile session.  That
> is as designed, because the balance is supposed to be the balance from
> your statement, and that most definitely cannot change during a reconcile
> session!  (Unless you are Harry Potter, in which case the piece of paper
> could theoretically change in front of you -- but then you would just
> leave your money in Gringott's and wouldn't need GnuCash).
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> > -shane.
> 
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> 
> -derek
>