[GNC] Matching/reconciling transfers from different banks

[John Ralls]

> On Aug 8, 2018, at 4:19 PM, brainwash <ligius+gnucash at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I've set up GnuCash to work with two different banks and their respective
> online systems. However, I can't get transfers between two accounts (at
> different banks) to match. The problem is that both their description and
> date do not match. Bank A transfers amount X at date D with a description of
> T1. Bank B receives amount X at date D+2 with a description of T2.
> 
> I would normally just delete one of the transactions in a ledger and keep
> the matching one, but, I want to keep the original description and date.
> This is in case I get some tax audits later - but also for my sanity. If the
> transaction date changes then the GnuCash ledger will not match the paper
> trail (e.g. "Balance" will be different).
> 
> 
> 
> I could create a third virtual account which will receive payment from bank
> A at date D and transfer the same amount to bank B at date D+2.
> 
> Right now the best option seems to leave everything against "Imbalance" and
> make a mental note to check the description. However, I regularly go over
> the imbalanced entries and move them to the right category, this will make
> my job a little harder. It will also "hide" the traceability of funds when
> doing reports.
> Any suggestion is appreciated.

For the most part you can ignore the problem: You’re keeping your books, not either bank’s, so you can post the transfer when you give the banks the instructions to effect it, just as you would do when you write a paper check. In general if the money doesn’t leave your control the tax folks don’t care about it.

There might be a case where you really do need to track the exact balances in the bank accounts. In a situation like that you can create a “suspense” account. When the money leaves Bank A you credit Bank A and debit the suspense account, and when it turns up in Bank B you credit the suspense account and debit Bank B.

Regards,
John Ralls