[GNC] unexplained reconciliation dollar amounts

[jeffrey black]

On 2/25/2019 8:11 PM, David Cousens wrote:
> Jeffrey,
<snip>
> Another strategy is to go back to the last previously reconciled period
> where you have agreement with the starting and ending balances and reconcile
> forward fixing errors as you go. This is more time consuming but can be a
> method of last resort.

The previous statements reconciled perfectly when I finished them.  I 
got lucky on one account and the account balance matched the previous 
ending paper statement balance, there were no checks floating out in 
hyper-space waiting to be cashed.  And the account balance still 
matches.  The previous ending balance in the reconcile window is wrong 
when I do the new statement.

> Adding transactions to the Imbalance account is not  an advisable strategy
> to fix a reconciliation. It just means you have introduced one more error to
> fix existing errors.

<snip>

Agreed, using the imbalance account is not an acceptable accounting 
practice.  And the only time I use it is when I import an ofx or qif 
file that contains a check or debit that has not been entered in my 
physical ledger nor GnuCash (I love my wife but; would like to ring her 
neck for her lack of record keeping). Once I receive my monthly 
statement, I dig the offending receipt out of the black hole she carries 
for a purse, correct the entry, then reconcile. [yes, I am also a 
physicist, which makes Murphy my patron Saint]

> Good luck
>
> David Cousens
>
>
>
>
> -----
> David Cousens
> --
<snip>

Some how when GnuCash abruptly ceased to being a running program under 
Windoze 10, some data was corrupted.  How much I have yet to discover.  
I am still using the default xml data format.  And I have since 
increased the number of copies GnuCash keeps for backups.

I assume that somewhere there is a key and value for the previous 
reconciled statement balance in the xml structure.  Would you by chance 
know how to locate that key for a specific account?  I could then, in a 
copy of my data file, change it to match my new statement and see if 
everything agrees.  If it does not then I know for certain that there 
are missing or inaccurate transactions, and can then enter a fudged 
transaction that can latter be split to the proper accounts when I 
eventually discover the offending transactions.  If it matches then 
happy dance.  I can continue on my merry way with my bit bucket 
(physics, love it).

--JEffrey Black M.B.A.