[GNC] Reconciliation is not adding up correctly - what t

David T. sunfish62 at yahoo.com
Tue Jan 29 06:59:45 EST 2019


Finbar, 
 
  On Tue, Jan 29, 2019 at 16:54, Finbar Mahon<mahon.finbar at neuf.fr> wrote: 
2. For this particular a/c the figure €3986.22 is the balance in the a/c, taken from the bank statement on 28.12.2017, after the last transaction on that date.

That clarifies this issue.  You created a transaction in the amount of 3986.22, presumably from Equity into Checking. 

Did you perform any reconciliation at this point?
 
3. I had a non-zero opening balance, in the sense that I created (named) the a/c in Gnucash and then started with the figure above, so that I could continue from the previous a/c into 2018. Should I have ignored the opening balance, the amount in the bank on 28.12.2017??
 
No, entering an opening balance transaction is necessary for practically everything.  It's what happens at reconciliation that is messed up...
 5. The numbers on the screen grab are exactly what my problem is. 
And I agree, but probably not for the same reason as you. My problem is that your reconcile window shows a non zero starting balance.  Gnucash calculates this amount from the transaction data directly, counting up all the transactions that have been reconciled before. So, the first time you reconcile an account, it should be zero. (Indeed, the first reconciliation starting balance merits a specific mention in the Guide) 
The fact that your window shows something else there means that there is something else going on. 
 I appreciate that a 'perfect' reconciliation should have no 'loose' centimes, but if the figures are within that sort of limit, I don't worry, I am not auditing a multinational. 
 
Again, while it might not bother you, Gnucash will not allow you to finish reconciliation until the numbers match exactly.  
 
  Thanks again for your patience. 
  Finbar
  

 
 

 
 On 28/01/2019 13:12, David T. wrote:
  
 
 There is a lot to unpack here. 
 
 You say you started at the beginning of 2018 and entered "the closing balance for 2017.
 
 
  Was that balance taken from a statement? Or just from the bank website as of that date?  
  I can't see how any of the various numbers (the numbers on the screen grab or provided in your message) could be combined to balance out. And where does this 3986.22 figure come from? 
  Next, if this truly is your first reconciliation, how is it that you have a non zero opening balance? Gnucash derives this number by taking all entries that were previously reconciled. So maybe you reconciled something already? 
  Finally, you will not be able to reconcile your account if it's inaccurate by even "a few centimes." Gnucash insists on a full match in amount before it allows you to complete the process.  So, you will need to address those as well.  
  Figure out why Gnucash shows a non zero opening balance and clean up the erroneous transactions, and see where that puts you.  
  David 
   
  On Mon, Jan 28, 2019 at 15:53, Finbar Mahon <mahon.finbar at neuf.fr> wrote:     
OK, 
 
 
As I said, I started on 1.1.2018 with 'nothing' I entered the closing balance for 2017 for the a/c and started entering transactions. 
 
Unfortunately, coming from Quicken, I didn't do any reconciliations until about December. But casually examining the entries from time to time they seemed 'ok' just a few centimes 'off' probably due to finger problems, as I had also experienced with Quicken and sorted them at year end.
 
The Opening Balance in the latest iteration of reconcile was what I showed in the screen grab a while back -
 

 
While the a/c entries starting entry shows the bank balance figure €3986.22 and the €5.117.09 ending balance tallies with the bank statement......
 
Aha, maybe there is another issue. When I do, as you suggested,  View > Filter By > Status > Reconciled I get nothing!! even when I just chose 'reconcile' or 'select all'
 
 :-( thanks for the help :-)
 :-) 
  
  
   On 27/01/2019 10:46, Colin Law wrote:
  
 
       On Sun, 27 Jan 2019 at 09:36, Finbar Mahon <mahon.finbar at neuf.fr> wrote:
  
  
No, as I said in the original post, I started on 1.1.2018 with GNU, so the first entry in this a/c should be the opening  balance for the a/c from the bank statement, €3986.22. The ending balance is correct. 
 
  
 
  Actually you still haven't stated it clearly.  The question is what does the Opening Balance show when you reconcile?  If this is the first time you have reconciled it then it should show zero (unless the opening balance has been  already reconciled).  If it is not zero then that means some transactions have already been reconciled (possibly accidentally).  If you go to the account and then View > Filter By > Status > Reconciled then it should show you just the reconciled transactions.  Clear the reconcile state on all these and you should be good to start the reconcile with a starting balance of zero.  Then the Opening Balance in the account should match the Starting Balance on your bank statement so you can reconcile that  one.
  
  Colin
    
  
 
 
Finbar
 
 On 26/01/2019 18:12, Colin Law wrote:
  
   Do the starting and ending balances shown there match the ones on the bank statement you are reconciling against?
 
  Colin
  
  On Sat, 26 Jan 2019 at 11:51, Finbar Mahon <mahon.finbar at neuf.fr> wrote:
  
  I don't understand where you are seeing the figures you describe.  Can
you post a screenshot showing it? 

 
This what I get at the bottom right hand side.
 
 
  
   
  
       
  
   


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