[GNC] Reconciling different periods?

[Adrien Monteleone]

Phil,

What are you reconciling against? If you download transactions, you have the same data as the bank/credit card company. Reconciling is a process of checking your own entries against what your bank/credit card company shows.

So in your case, you are simply verifying that you downloaded everything.

But otherwise, yes, if you check ‘as of today’ then the reconciliation date does need to be ’today’ as I noted in the parenthesis after my first sentence. But this is not ’normal’ as you usually receive statements after the actual closing date, not *on* the actual closing date.

What you are describing is more of ‘clearing’ transactions pre-reconciliation than reconciliation itself. (though you can use GnuCash in a way that you reconcile on a short period basis if you want)

Concerning the monthly statements you rarely look at, that’s what the reconciliation feature is for. Of course, you don’t have to reconcile monthly at all if you don’t want to. Use the software as you wish.

Regards,
Adrien

> On Dec 13, 2018, at 1:25 PM, Phil Hays <phil_hays at ieee.org> wrote:
> 
> 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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