Reconcile initial balance error

[Derek Atkins]

No, that's not really what I'm saying (although I can see how it
sounds like that).   What I'm really saying is that you need to
reconcile each COMMODITY account separately, because the reconcile
dialog doesn't do the conversions for you.  Reconciliation is based
on the transaction's split amount (account commodity) and not the
transaction value (currency).  So in your case you DO want to
reconcile each commodity account differently, specifying the number
of shares (NOT the value of the commodities).  At least I THINK that's
how it should work; I've never actually tried reconciling my
commodity accounts.

-derek

Quoting Steve Kelem <steve at kelem.net>:

> Hmmm...
> So, if there's no cash in the account, then I have to reconcile each 
> subaccount, but if there happens to be some cash, e.g., after I sell 
> a fund, then I have to reconcile the parent account and not the 
> subaccounts?
>
> This seems awkward. Is that how it's supposed to be?  Is that how it 
> should be?
>
> Steve
>
> Derek Atkins said the following on 05/10/2007 05:34 PM:
>> Oh, I see..   If there is no cash in the account then you probably
>> DO want to reconcile each mutual fund separately.
>>
>> -derek
>>
>> Quoting Steve Kelem <steve at kelem.net>:
>>
>>> The starting and ending balances are 0 because there is no cash in the
>>> account.  There are 3 mutual funds, but no cash.
>>>
>>> What concerns me, besides not being able to Reconcile, is that the
>>> Reconciled Balance and Difference fields don't show any numbers, just
>>> the dollar sign.
>>>
>>> Steve
>>>
>>> Derek Atkins said the following on 05/10/2007 01:21 PM:
>>>> Why are the starting and ending balances 0?
>>>>
>>>> Also, the lack of entry inthe Reconciled Balance and Difference columns
>>>> seems suspicious to me.
>>>>
>>>> -derek
>>>>
>>>> Quoting Steve Kelem <steve at kelem.net>:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm trying to reconcile my 401(k) account.  When I click on all the
>>>>> appropriate transactions, I get the Reconcile popup with the following
>>>>> information:
>>>>>
>>>>> Funds In    Funds Out
>>>>> <Transactions checked and unchecked>
>>>>> Total: $    Total: $6,000.00
>>>>>
>>>>> Starting Balance:   $0.00
>>>>> Ending Balance:     $0.00
>>>>> Reconciled Balance:     $
>>>>> Difference:             $
>>>>>
>>>>> The "Finish" button is grayed out.
>>>>>
>>>>> This means I can't finish the Reconcile operation.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any ideas of what's wrong?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Steve
>>>>>
>>>>> Derek Atkins said the following on 04/30/2007 03:15 PM:
>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Steve Kelem <steve at kelem.net> writes:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> When I try to reconcile my brokerage account for the first time, I
>>>>>>> get
>>>>>>> an error with the starting balance.
>>>>>>> GC thinks that I have a starting balance of around $500,000!
>>>>>>> My hierarchy looks like the following:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Assets
>>>>>>>   Investments
>>>>>>>     Brokerage Account
>>>>>>>       Primo Investments
>>>>>>>         Funds
>>>>>>>           Global Slush Fund
>>>>>>>         Stocks
>>>>>>>           MegaCorp
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The starting dates for these transactions is 1999-3-1, and I'm
>>>>>>> trying to
>>>>>>> get GnuCash to reconcile all this old data that I imported from
>>>>>>> Quicken.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have reconciled the leaf-level accounts for March 1999.
>>>>>>> When I try to reconcile the parent, Primo Investments, GnuCash
>>>>>>> shows a
>>>>>>> starting balance of $500,000 for this account, even though no
>>>>>>> transactions are before March 1999 in any of the accounts under Primo
>>>>>>> Investments.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Why are you reconciling the Primo Investments account separately?
>>>>>> Also, did you choose the "reconcile subaccounts" flag?  It's possible
>>>>>> that the $500,000 is the amount gnucash thinks you reconciled in
>>>>>> the subaccounts.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The "starting balance" is what gnucash computes as your current
>>>>>> reconciled balance, so it thinks you already reconciled $500,000.
>>>>>> That leads me to believe that you already have reconciled transactions
>>>>>> (perhaps from the children accounts).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As I repeat over and over, when you reconcile something that looks
>>>>>> strange, ignore the starting number and just worry about the ENDING
>>>>>> number.  Enter the correct ending balance and then when the dialog
>>>>>> comes up you'll have a better idea what's going on.  If the secondary
>>>>>> reconcile window doesn't look right you can just cancel and start
>>>>>> over.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> After this problem, I added an Opening Balance transfer of 0 shares
>>>>>>> from
>>>>>>> Equity:Opening Balances to every account from Primo on down to all
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> leaf accounts under it.
>>>>>>> I have run the Check & Repair command, and I still get the wrong
>>>>>>> Starting Balance.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yeah, this wont help.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Can anyone help me out?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hopefully I have..
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>> Steve
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -derek
>



-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available