Reconciliation

[James Wilde]

I have a set of accounts which I started as of 2010-01-01, and some accounts had opening balances, which has worked fine.

In retrospect I have discovered that certain other accounts need an opening balance, but since they are already created, there is no way to add an opening balance from the edit window.  On the other hand one can add an extra line on the split transaction in the Opening Balance account under Equity.

Another method of getting the extra transaction into the accounts is to enter a transaction for the previous year, say on 2009-12-31, crediting the liability account and debiting the appropriate expense account.

Whichever of these two methods one uses, I have been unable to reconcile the liability account when the liability is paid.  The green Finished button on the reconciliation window does not turn green.

An example might explain it better.

On my credit card for gas in January I have the following transactions:

Jan 4  Gas						200 kr
Jan 12 Gas						250 kr
...
Jan 25 Paid Dec bill		750 kr					this includes the 200 kr on Jan 4
Jan 26 Gas						100 kr

Now, I want to reconcile the 750 kr I have paid.  Either I add an entry Opening Balance 550 kr or I post an entry as follows:

Dec 31	Gas		550 kr
Dec 31  Gas CC				550 kr

Then I try to reconcile the 550 plus the 200 (which appears on the credit card bill as the CC company invoices as of Jan 7) with the payment of 750 kr.  But the green button never turns green, whichever method I use.  Do I have to run a year-end close down on 2009 in order to reconcile the balance brought forward with the subsequent payment?  Or why does the green Finished button not turn green?

TIA

//James