Cannot edit opening balance

[Geert Janssens]

Op donderdag 14 december 2017 07:41:03 CET schreef Carmelo Pagan:
> I guess I stated the issue improperly.  I was trying to edit the opening
> balance after a reconciliation attempt had failed. The reconciliation
> difference was exactly the amount of the opening on my paper statement. I
> then realized I had not entered an opening balance amount (using the
> opening balances tab) when I created the account.  I then entered an
> opening balance via the Equity:Opening Balances account. When I attempted
> the reconciliation, the “starting balance” in the reconciliation window
> displayed a deficit amount instead of the amount I had entered in the
> Equity account.
> 
> I tried several measures in an attempt to get the negative amount in the
> reconciliation to reset to the newly entered opening balance.
> 
> These included but were not limited to,.................
> 1. Deleting the previously entered opening balance, hoping I could return to
> the original state  Result: Negative starting balance remained unchanged 2.
> Unreconciled all previously reconciled transactions and reattempted
> reconciliation. Result: Same Negative balance displayed, 3. Reverted to one
> of the backup files dated before the first reconciliation. Result: Same
> Negative amount displayed.
> 
> Hopefully this sheds some light on the discussion.
> 
> Sincerely ,
> Carmelo Pagán
> 

Here is how a reconciliation should be corrected when transactions were added 
before the last reconciliation date:

1. add the opening balance in your bank account register (assuming you were 
reconciling a bank account). The transfer account is Equity:Opening Balances. 
Starting from here rather than from Equity:Opening Balances makes it less 
likely you enter the transaction backwards.

2. start the reconciliation process in the register. *Ignore* the starting 
balance. Just make sure you set the end balance to what you expect it to be 
(that is what it is on your bank's statement).

3. Check the opening balance transaction and optionally any other transactions 
you had unreconciled and that appear on the bank statement.

If the data you entered in gnucash matches your bank statement, this should 
now allow you to reconcile, even if the start balance doesn't match up. I 
don't know the exact details of how this is calculated but it's known to be 
not what you expect when you make corrections after reconciliation.

So the most important thing to take away from this is to ignore the starting 
balance in this case and just continue.

Regards,

Geert