[GNC-dev] About 3.9 and reconciliation balances

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

On Tue, April 7, 2020 11:47 am, Dale Phurrough wrote:
> Cool use of cleared/reconciled for expenses. I can follow that general
> approach.
> I do have an inquiry regarding the need for the future when reconciling.
> (What am I missing...or is there a gnucash feature I'm assuming exists
> that
> doesn't?) 🤔

The path I follow is CLOSE to the path you follow, except I do a few
things at the same time in gnucash and post-date the transaction.  More
below..

> In my mind, I see two accounts
> 1) bank account, e.g. Bank of America Checking
> 2) the expenses, for simplicity lets put them all into a single
> "Reimbursable Expenses" account

In my case I also have a credit card account involved.  Also, note, that
the Reimbursable Expenses account is really an ASSET type.

> As I think through this, I would hope you can following a workflow similar
> the following:
> 1. Enter multiple transactions into "Reimbursable Expenses" account for
> all
> such expenses

Yes.  These come from various places, like Credit Cards, Cash, etc.

> 2. Submit expense reports and mark those expenses in "Reimbursable
> Expenses" account as cleared
> 3. Wait for check
> 4. Receive reimbursement check on 1 May 2020

Correct.

> 5. On 2 May 2020, use GnuCash to reconcile the "Reimbursable Expenses"
> account
> 6. Mark the splits in the "Reimbursable Expenses" that are included with
> this reimbursement check as reconciled. The reconcile date on those
> specific splits will be 2 May 2020.
> 7. Now the "Reimbursable Expenses" account is reconciled.
> 8. On 4 May 2020, deposit the reimbursement check.

This is not correct, or at least not completely correct.  Recall that the
overall process is like A/R:

A) CC -> Reimbursible
B) Reibursible -> Cash/Bank

So when I get the reimbursement check on May 1, I use my bank app to
deposit the check, but I know that deposit wont actually hit my account
until May 2 (or possibly May 4).  So on May 1st I enter in a transaction
for Reimbursible -> Bank (to process the check) dated May 2 (because
that's when it hits the bank, which is more important to me than when it
hits the reimbursible account).  The NEXT step is that, also on May 1, I
want to reconcile my Reimbursibles back down to $0 (because they've been
reimbursed)!!  In this case, I want to date the reconcile on May 2 (so it
includes the deposit that will hit the next day).

I am lazy and forgetful.  I don't want to have to remember to re-reconcile
the deposit the next day, or have to reconcile multiple times.  I want to
do it all simultaneously when I actually process the reimbursement.  But
as I said above, I care about the date I expect it to hit the bank moreso
than the date I receive the check.

> 9. On 8 May 2020, you see that check's cash was deposited into your bank
> account. You mark the credit split in the "Bank of America Checking"
> account as cleared.
> 10. On 2 *June* 2020, you use your May bank account statement to reconcile
> the "Bank of America Checking" account
> 11. You mark the splits in "Bank of America Checking" account that match
> those in the bank statement as reconciled.  The reconcile date on those
> specific splits will be 2 *June* 2020
> 12. Now the " Bank of America Checking" account is reconciled.

Other than that I often skip #9, yes, the rest of this is correct.

> In the above workflow, there is no future-reconcile handling needed.
> Reconciling the expenses is separate form reconciling the bank account.
> Reconciles always happen now or in the past.

See my corrections.  In short:

1) make expenses
2) File expense report / mark items cleared
3) Receive Check.  Deposit check (dated 1 day ahead) and Reconcile
Reimbursement (also dated 1-2 days ahead)
4) *at some point in the future* reconcile the bank account once I get the
next bank statement

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant