Balancing checking account with bank statement

[Maf. King]

On Friday 15 April 2011 14:52:43 you wrote:
> My records go back to January 1, 2011, with the beginning balances provided
> by our accountant.  By computerized, I meant the GNCash general bank
> checking account data I entered on the computer.

Hi Diann,
Thanks for the clarification!

>
> Normally with a bank - checkbook reconciliation, the ending balance on the
> previous bank statement is the beginning balance of the current month's
> reconciliation process.   I find this is not the case with Gncash. 

GC should do this.  Whilst GC doesn't carry the actual reconciled balance, as 
long as nothing changed in the account register ("computerized checkbook"), 
adding up the reconciled balance should consistently give the same number.


> I 
> "unreconciled" February, because the opening balance in the GNCash
> reconcile window did not match the ending balance on the previous month's
> bank statement, thereby creating an imbalance with an attempted
> reconciliation. The difference was between the beginning balance on the
> bank statement, and the grayed-out beginning balance shown in the GNCash
> reconciliation window. It appeared to be the running total of the balance
> in GNCash.  I find this confusing to work with.
>

Yes, I can see that what you describe would be confusing.  It certainly sounds 
odd!

So, your account is reconciled to the January statement, in effect 1 month of 
transactions?  If you set GC to only show the reconciled transactions, that 
should total the jan. statement ending balance, I think.  (from the account 
register window, go View -> Filter By... -> [status] tab -> uncheck all but 
reconciled)

Does that filtered ending balance in the register tally with the Jan statement 
close / feb statement opening balance?

Just a thought - I assume that the bank hasn't made an error, and the Jan 
close balance = feb open balance? (unlikely, but hey, worth a look!)

Maf.