Reconciliation

[Derek Atkins]

James Wilde <james.wilde at sunde-wilde.com> writes:

> 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.

... Which is exactly what happens when you do it via the tab during
account creation.

> 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.

This is also reasonable...

> 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.

Are you checking off the opening balance transaction too?

> 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?

What ending-balance did you give when you started the reconcile process?

> TIA
>
> //James

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-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