[GNC-dev] Further feedback

[Christopher Lam]

I've been experimenting and I think there's a logic error in your 
thinking -- *during* reconciliation, until it's complete, all 
'reconciled' transactions are labelled 'cleared'. Reconciled 
transactions are, so to speak, gone and don't need to be shown on a 
reconciliation report.

My conclusion for the headers is:

  * "starting-balance" - all *reconciled* on last-reconcile-date
  * "reconciled-balance" - all *cleared* until today
  * "ending-balance" - all *reconciled & cleared* until today
  * "outstanding-balance" - all *unreconciled* until today

Please refresh PR and go through the exercise again. I think this works 
better.

On 8/2/19 1:58 pm, Stephen M. Butler wrote:
> 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.
>
>