What is the practical purpose of reconciling in GNUCash?

[Robert Heller]

At Mon, 12 Dec 2016 15:39:50 +0000 Colin Law <clanlaw at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> On 12 December 2016 at 15:26, Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
> > At Mon, 12 Dec 2016 06:26:59 -0800 (PST) replicon <replicon at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> This might seem like a silly question, but... Does reconciliation have any
> >> actual practical side-effects, like changes in how reports are generated, or
> >> anything like that?
> >>
> >> It seems to me like nothing but a feel-good blue line that makes it harder
> >> to refactor your CoA later (e.g. suppose you suddenly want to know how much
> >> you've been spending on coffee every day, so maybe you want to create a
> >> subaccount under expenses and move all "coffee break" transactions in
> >> there). Or just in general, if I want to move accounts around, or
> >> whatever...
> >>
> >> If I always look at the final balance for my bank accounts/loans when I
> >> record something, which means my tracking file is ALWAYS in a good state as
> >> of the last entry, is there any positive side-benefit of reconciling? Seems
> >> like it's just a confirmation of something everyone should just be doing
> >> anyway (having the correct balance in the end).
> >>
> >> So, I haven't been reconciling anything. Am I missing out on anything
> >> useful/important? :)
> >
> > Reconciliation is mainly to make sure your accounting and the bank's
> > accounting match up. Generally, you get a bank statement at the end of the
> > month and you use that to check off items in your checkbook (or GNUCash
> > account ledger) and then reconcile using the bank's ending balance. If the
> > bank's ending balance equals your cleared balance, things are good.  Otherwise
> > someone (you or the bank) have made a mistake somewhere.
> >
> > You really only need/should reconcile accounts that represent your accounting
> > of a bank account (eg checking, savings, etc.). There is little need or reason
> > to reconcile any other accounts.  Reconciliation is a sort of "error check"
> > feature intended to catch [human] errors in the accounting process.
> >
> 
> And to find unexpected transactions on your back account.

YES.  And things like expected (automatic) transactions that did NOT occur. 
And checks that never cleared... 

> 
> Colin
> 
>        

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services