Wrong Begining Balance Prevents Reconcilliation

[Dorel Ciornei]

I am afraid I did not explain clearly enough this issue.
I imported about three years worth of transactions from Quicken.On this particular account, they were already reconciled up to Dec. 31 2014 and they kept the 'reconciled' status after import.I am looking at the actual bank statement from let's say Dec. 31, 2014 and it shows a balance of $996.46.In GNU Cash register the balance on Dec. 31st is identical, $996.46,  and all the transactions to this point seem to be marked as reconciled.
Now I have entered more transactions and I am trying to reconcile again.In the Reconcile window I see the Starting Balance as some ($1300)... some add number. 
I have only a handful of transactions to reconcile and they are correct, but there is now a Difference Between Ending and Reconciled totals, and because of it it's not letting me finish the Reconciliation.I can not go and change the Equity Opening Balance to bring it to zero because it would change the final balance on my register (which is correct as I showed).

Side note:
I noticed a handful of transactions from the Income Account that were imported 'reversed':They were payroll checks income that were split in several tax accounts and deposited in two checking accounts.On these few transactions imported backward, the income showed in the "Charge" column and the splits to taxes and checking showed in the "Income" column.I had to go and move by hand the transactions to the opposite columns, so it showed correctly.
It happens that one of the checking accounts where these were deposited to was the one I have issues with.I am sure there is a connection there, as by correcting the imported data, I changed transactions that were already reconciled.I am looking at that now.

I am afraid this is not any clearer either.:-(



     On Tuesday, August 4, 2015 8:38 AM, David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:
   

 Dorel,

I am confused. You say the Opening balance is wrong and that this prevents the reconciliation. But you also say that the final balances in GnuCash and your statement match. In general, if the ending balances match, GnuCash will allow you to complete the reconciliation process regardless of the opening balance. In other words, the Opening balance is only for informational purposes. So, something is awry here; if the Opening Balance is the only thing off, you should be able to finish the process. 

Did you read section 4.5 of the Guide, which covers reconciliation? It especially discusses the case of an opening balance not matching your statement, ways this can occur, and ways to remedy the problem.

As for your question regarding the origin of the Opening balance number, it is my understanding that GnuCash tallies up EVERY transaction in the register that has been reconciled to arrive at this number. This can get confusing at times when a stray transaction (say, much later in your register than you expect) has been accidentally reconciled. This can happen for example, when a transaction gets the wrong year entered.

> On Aug 4, 2015, at 3:21 AM, Maf. King <maf at chilwell.net> wrote:
> 
> On Tue 4 August 15 06:18:02 Dorel Ciornei wrote:
>> Hi all,I tried to find some answers in previous e-mails and the user manual,
>> but I can't find much.I imported the transactions from Quicken a few months
>> ago.Largely it went without much troubles, until now. I have one account
>> that refuses to reconcile.All the transactions are accurate and everything
>> is identical between the GNU Cash record and the bank statement, including
>> the final balances.The transactions to that date were imported already as
>> reconciled ("Y" in the R column). The problem now is that when I try to
>> reconcile, the Beginning Balance shown is wrong so it prevents the
>> reconciliation.I don't know how GNU Cash came up with that Beginning
>> Balance as it makes no sense. And since all the transactions are correct,
>> including the 'real' beginning balance that was imported, I don't know what
>> to do. Is there a way to delete all the reconciliation information for that
>> particular account?If I could do that, I would just reconcile again all the
>> transactions to that date.Otherwise what can I do?
>> 
>> I appreciate any ideas.
> 
> Hi,
> 
> If you ignore the opening balance in the reconcile dialogue box and carry on 
> aiming for the ending balance on your statement, does it either:
> 
> a. all work out by magic?
> 
> b. give you a clue about any missing transactions (or ones that have become 
> unreconciled)?
> 
> you can, of course quit the reconcile if nothing works out.
> 
> HTH,
> Maf.
> 
> 
> 
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