[GNC-dev] Further feedback

Stephen M. Butler kg7je at arrl.net
Fri Feb 8 00:58:50 EST 2019


On 2/7/19 7:04 PM, Christopher Lam wrote:
>
> Unfortunately it's very difficult to understand the target report.
>
> It would be much better to have a tiny test datafile - 10 amounts per
> account, of various reconciliation states.
>
> I suggest a test datafile as follows:
>
> 1. BANK
>
>   * 01-jan-19 $1.00 reconciled
>   * 03-jan-19 $10.00 reconciled
>   * 05-jan-19 $100.00 reconciled
>   * 10-jan-19 $1,000.00 unreconciled
>   * 14-jan-19 $10,000.00 reconciled
>   * 18-jan-19 $100,000.00 cleared
>   * 15-mar-19 $1,000,000.00 unreconciled (future payment)
>   * Last reconciled date 15-jan-2019 - reconciliation amount was
>     $10,111.00
>   * Today 8-feb-2019
>
> What should the reconciliation report header columns and contents look
> like?
>
> What would be the exact process for reconciliation (on the 15th Jan)
>
> How would the reconciliation report be useful for a user (report run
> today 8-feb-2019)
>
Let's start at ground zero.  There is $150,000.00 in the bank at the
start of the year (because we opened the account in early December) and
everything was reconciled to the 15-Dec-2018 bank statement (only the
deposit).

We then make the above transactions on the dates noted and do a
reconciliation on 15-Jan-2019.  The standard GnC reconciliation shows a
beginning balance of $150,000.00 and a 15-Jan-2019 balance of
$138,889.00 but the electronic bank statement shows $139,889.00.  So, we
adjust the ending balance to show that and proceed with the
reconciliation.  Before doing anything on the screen we note a diff of
$10,111.00.  As we check off the first three and the fifth items, we
note the diff decreasing to $0.00.  At which point we finish the
reconciliation.

We then run the Reconciliation Report and see.

Reconciliation Report

Account     Reconcile  Starting                 Ending                
Current
            Last Date  Balance     Reconciled   Balance    Outstanding
Balance

Assets:Bank 01/15/2019 $150,000.00 $-10,111.00 $139,889.00 $-1,000.00  
$138,889.00

Reconciled Transactions:
   Transaction Reconciled Amount
       Date      Date

  * 01-jan-19   15-Jan-2019      $-1.00
  * 03-jan-19   15-Jan-2019     $-10.00
  * 05-jan-19   15-Jan-2019    $-100.00
  * 14-jan-19   15-Jan-2019 $-10,000.00

                            ------------
                            $-10,111.00

Outstanding Transactions:

  * 10-jan-19                $-1,000.00

                              ---------
                             $-1,000.00


We note that the Starting Balance and Ending Balance agree with the Bank
statement and that the Current Balance agrees with our checkbook.
However, we get distracted by a family friend before we get a chance to
staple the report to the bank statement.

Life moves on and we enter the other transactions noted above. On
8-Feb-2019 we notice the bank statement still waiting to be filed but it
has no reconciliation report stapled to it. In a panic we open GnC and
run a Reconciliation Report (on the hopes that all we did was to forget
to attach the prior one). Low and behold it shows:

Reconciliation Report
Account     Reconcile  Starting                 Ending                
Current
            Last Date  Balance     Reconciled   Balance    Outstanding
Balance

Assets:Bank 01/15/2019 $150,000.00 $-10,111.00 $139,889.00 $-1,000.00  
$138,889.00

Reconciled Transactions:
   Transaction Reconciled Amount
       Date      Date

  * 01-jan-19   15-Jan-2019      $-1.00
  * 03-jan-19   15-Jan-2019     $-10.00
  * 05-jan-19   15-Jan-2019    $-100.00
  * 14-jan-19   15-Jan-2019 $-10,000.00

                            ------------
                            $-10,111.00
 Outstanding Transactions

  * 10-jan-19                $-1,000.00
  * 18-jan-19              $-100,000.00
  * 15-mar-19            $-1,000,000.00

                              ---------
                         $-1,101,000.00

We quickly staple this to the Bank statement and file it away.  Then we
panic as there is no way we're raising $1,101,000.00 by 15-March!


And that is my user story for the evening (and I'm sticking with it)!


Note:  Personally I would have set the double amount flag so the Debit
and Credit columns would show.  And I would want the Debits totaled and
the Credits totaled.  I could verify that the Reconciled Amount = Debits
- Credits.  In the above story, they are all Credits.


-- 
Stephen M Butler, PMP, PSM
Stephen.M.Butler51 at gmail.com
kg7je at arrl.net
253-350-0166
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