[GNC] Reconciling different periods?

[Phil Hays]

I download transactions from credit cards weekly. These are downloaded
up to today's date, and I want to reconcile all downloaded
transactions. After downloading transactions up until today's date, the
reconcile date needs to be today.

I usually use today's date and today's balance. 'Today' is the usual
'closing date' of the 'statement'.

I note that the credit cards also have monthly statements that I rarely
look at... Is there a reason why I should?


Phil Hays


On Thu, 2018-12-13 at 11:58 -0600, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
> You should always use the ending balance, never the “latest" or
> “today’s" balance. (unless ’today’ just happens to be the actual
> closing date on the statement - highly unlikely)
> 
> Reconciling March ‘18 using the balance as of today, 12/13/18 (or any
> other date) is impossible, meaningless and makes no sense.
> 
> If you want to reconcile March, enter 3/31/18 as the date and the
> ending balance on the statement.
> 
> Then to reconcile April, enter 4/30/18 and the ending balance on the
> statement.
> 
> repeat through November ’18.
> 
> You are then reconciled ’to date’ until you get your December/end-of-
> year Statement.
> 
> ‘Reconciling’ is matching the activity on your statement with the
> entries in your books. That is always ‘as of a closing date’ (in the
> past), *not* as of ’the day you happen to perform the
> reconciliation.'
> 
> Regards,
> Adrien
> 
> 
> 
> > On Dec 13, 2018, at 11:13 AM, Finbar Mahon <mahon.finbar at neuf.fr>
> > wrote:
> > 
> > Thanks, Michael, I have been trying that using end March of this
> > year as the last 'OK' date but doing it up to latest balance seems
> > to catch other errors, so I  was wondering if  I could 'stage' the
> > process.
> > 
> > Looks like D's reply indicates I could do it by varying the closing
> > balance to coincide with one I am happy with. Maybe a slight
> > problem if the closing balance is duplicated elsewhere? Maybe
> > unlikely.
> > 
> > In fact by a combination of the two replies I can go back to the
> > last 'good' situation and use the closing balance there as a
> > starting point?
> > 
> > I'll give the ending balance a try.
> > 
> > F
> > 
> > On 11/12/2018 17:56, Michael Hendry wrote:
> > > > On 11 Dec 2018, at 16:40, Finbar Mahon <mahon.finbar at neuf.fr>
> > > > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Hi,
> > > > 
> > > > My reconcile is a bit erratic. So, I thought of trying to find
> > > > the error by reconciling for different periods. If I put in the
> > > > date for the last statement for the period I want to check, can
> > > > I just put in an amount as the ending balance that coincides
> > > > with the starting period and that way check on a period by
> > > > period basis?
> > > > 
> > > > I know it sounds complicated but I cannot think of a better way
> > > > of doing it.
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks
> > > Afternoon, Finbar.
> > > 
> > > As a user of GC since 2010 for my personal accounts, I would
> > > advise that you step back from this precipice before you jump
> > > over it!
> > > 
> > > I urge you go back far enough in your accounts to get to a bank
> > > statement that is in exact agreement with your accounts, then
> > > work your way systematically forward from that date, correcting
> > > any erroneous entries in your accounts as you go.
> > > 
> > > Ideally, you should mark everything beyond the reconciliation
> > > date as “unreconciled” and go forward from there - it’s very easy
> > > to click on a duplicate transaction and mark it as reconciled, or
> > > to miss digit transpositions and other typing errors.
> > > 
> > > Best of luck!
> > > 
> > > Michael
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
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