Recocile checking account with OFX file

[Edward Doolittle]

I always ask for receipts from ATMs and do them with my regular GnuCash data entry. Online credit card purchases shouldn't be billed until they are shipped, at which time I receive a receipt by email. My email software tags receipts so they are visible. Some Stone Age businesses still don't email receipts; I refuse to buy from them. For online bills, I do one at a time while both my browser and GnuCash open. It helps to set up recurring bills as SX. Those habits have greatly increased the accuracy of my books.

Sent from my iPad

> On Mar 15, 2015, at 10:34 AM, dave boland <dboland9 at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
> -- 
> http://www.fastmail.com - A no graphics, no pop-ups email service
> 
> 
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