Delayed payment of proceeds from Life Assurance - how to record?

[Michael Hendry]

In 2008 (before I started using GnuCash for my personal accounts) I surrendered a couple of Endowment Life Assurance Policies as I no longer needed the life cover, and the rate of return was low.

There was an error in the calculation of the amount due, and I’ve just received a cheque for the balance.

Apart from a 1% interest payment for the overdue amount, this is not Income, but rather the realisation of an asset.

How best should I record this asset - by going back to 2010 (when I first started using GC) and entering it as a starting balance (even though I didn’t know about it then, and would have had difficulty in asssessing its value? or by creating a new asset from that date which has a value of zero, and revaluing it at the appropriate sum with effect from the date I heard of the error? or by some other procedure.

More of a bookkeeping question than a GC query, I realise, but I expect one of you has already grappled with this question.

Michael