Recocile checking account with OFX file

[David T.]

Dave, 


I am in the same general boat.  I usually download the transactions in one pass, and then reconcile in a second one.


David T.


From:"dave boland" <dboland9 at fastmail.fm>
Date:Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 9:34 AM
Subject:Re: Recocile checking account with OFX file

All,

Things have changed since my Quicken days.  The biggest change is that I
don't write checks, and don't even have checks.  To pay a bill, I go
online, and then (hopefully) remember to record the transaction in
gnuCash (mostly, I forget to do that).  Other things that I often forget
to do are: record ATM withdrawals, and record purchases made with the
credit card online.  So, at the need of the month, about half of the
transactions have been put into gnuCash prior to my reconciliation
attempt.  Not a big problem with only a month to do, a real pain with
many months to do.

So, I thought why not just download the bank statement as an OFX file,
and update/reconcile gnuCash that way - it should be easier and faster
(right)?

Dave,



On Sun, Mar 15, 2015, at 05:58 AM, Michael Hendry wrote:
> 
> > On 15 Mar 2015, at 03:07, David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Import and reconcile are two different procedures. Try importing, then reconciling. It works for me.
> 
> I’m not sure why importing would help with reconciliation, assuming that
> Dave (Boland) is saying that he’s entered transactions relating to his
> bank account, but has failed to go through the process of reconciliation.
> 
> The purpose of reconciliation is surely to make sure that the
> transactions that you’ve entered through GnuCash agree with those in your
> bank statement, allowing you to pick up errors at either end, and detect
> fraudulent activity.
> 
> Unless the entry of bank-related transaction has been long delayed, there
> are bound to be duplicates after the import has taken place, which will
> have to be weeded out. If there has been a big gap in recording, then the
> reconciliation will be a futile one, between the bank statement and the
> bank’s records.
> 
> Am I missing something here?
> 
> Michael
> 
> > 
> > David
> > 
> > On Mar 14, 2015, at 11:31 AM, dave boland <dboland9 at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> > 
> >> All,
> >> 
> >> I have gnuCash 2.6 and use it do do personal accounting.  I got behind
> >> on reconciling my checking account, and was wondering if it is possible
> >> to import/reconcile the account with the OFX file I downloaded from my
> >> bank?  If so, how do I do that?  I saw one post on this subject, but the
> >> person said that the description he entered was being replaced by the
> >> generic bank description ("CHECK").  I want to avoid that problem.  The
> >> online documentation and FAQ doesn't address this specifically, thus the
> >> question.
> >> 
> >> Thanks,
> >> Dave
> >> -- 
> >> dave boland
> >> dboland9 at fastmail.fm
> >> 
> >> -- 
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> 
-- 
  dave boland
  dboland9 at fastmail.fm

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