Balancing checking account with bank statement

David Carlson carlson.dl at sbcglobal.net
Fri Apr 15 22:14:17 EDT 2011


On 4/15/2011 1:39 PM, Derek Atkins wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> "Diann" <dhayes at hornelaw.us> writes:
>
>> 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.  
>>
>> 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.  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.
> GnuCash does indeed use the last ending reconciled balance as the
> starting reconciled balance for the starting balance in the next
> reconciliation.  HOWEVER, that "ending balance" is computed, not
> stored.  This means that if you accidentally unreconcile a transaction
> then the starting balance will be "off".  If you do this then you will
> need to know to re-reconcile it again at the next process.
>
> GnuCash *does* use the ending balance of the register on the ending date
> as your proposed ending reconciliation balance.  You are expected to
> change this number to the actual ending balance on your statement.
>
> If your beginning balance does not match your statement then either:
>
>  1) you incorrectly set the ending balance in the previous
>     reconciliation, or
>
>  2) you accidentally unreconciled some transactions
>
> Just to make it clear:  GnuCash *DOES NOT* use the *REGISTER* balance as
> the *STARTING* balance of the reconciliation process.
>
>> Diann I. Hayes
>> Legal Assistant
>> Horne Law Firm, PLLC
>> 2315 Market Street
>> Wilmington, NC 28403
>> Tel:  910.254.7901   Fax: 910.254.7903
>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> -derek
>
Diann,

We may be confusing you with too much information.  Take a deep breath,
close GnuCash and check the weather outside.  Then print out this email
so you can cross off each line after you have completed it.

Open GnuCash and go to the checking register that you want to
reconcile.  Right click any transaction then click on"Sort by...". 
Click on the radio button marked "Date".  Click "OK".

Right click any transaction again then click on "Filter By...r".   Click
on the radio button marked "Show All".  Click "OK".

Now scroll to the top of the register and review all of the transactions
dated before the end of January.  If there are no errors, each one will
have a "y" in the column to the left of the deposit column, indicating
that they are all reconciled.  If any do not have a "y", make a note of
which ones do not.  See if those are listed in the January bank statement.

Continue down the register and see if all the rest of the transactions
have either "c" or "n".

If all the January transactions do have a "y", then the balance after
the last transaction should equal the January ending balance on your
bank statement.  If there is a transaction not marked with a "y" that is
listed in the January bank statement, then it was probably edited after
the January reconciliation. 

If you do find one or more such transactions, then I would suggest
repeating the January reconciliation.  You will probably find that some
transactions need to be checked off to finish the January reconciliation.

At this point you have verified that the January reconciliation is again
correct.  Now try again to do your February reconciliation.  This time
it should work.

Let us know if this solves your problem.

David L Carlson
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 0xDC7C8BF3.asc
Type: application/pgp-keys
Size: 1729 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/attachments/20110415/ecf92974/attachment.bin>


More information about the gnucash-user mailing list