[GNC] Reconciliation

[Stephen M. Butler]

On 11/21/19 8:11 AM, Jack Lockard wrote:
> For the past few months the starting balance shown by GNUcash did not match with the starting balance on the bank statement even though the reconciled balance shown by GNUcash for the previous months statement did indeed match the bank statement. I have completed the new reconciliation and the closing balance would again match with the bank statement.  I could not figure out what was going on but since the closing balance matched the bank statement I did not pursue it further.
>
> Until now. This month the starting balances do not match and it will not reconcile as it has in the past. The amount shown as out of balance does not match the difference between GNUcash's starting balance and the Banks starting balance. Something is out of whack someplace and I have no idea where to even begin to get it corrected.
>
> Any ideas? I could just start a new checking account and start fresh, but I have 7 years' worth of transactions in the checking account and would rather not lose that data.
>
> Jack

First, I rarely even cross-check the beginning balance.  If the ending
balance matches what has cleared, then I'm satisfied.

In cases like yours (ending balance won't match), I usually find that
one of the following happened:

1.  I switched the numbers on the checking split (and on the balancing
split) due to reading the digits out of order.  I know this is a quirk
of mine so I look for it -- especially if the same digit happens
multiple times in the number.

2.  I checked off an entry as having cleared the bank when it really
didn't. 

3.  I failed to check off an entry that did clear the bank.

4.  The bank dropped some pennies.  Had one case where they dropped the
$xxx.06 and made it $xxx.00.  No, the bank was not willing to fix it
either.  6 pennies to my good.

5.  I reversed the DR and CR columns.  My wife looks for these when I've
tried everything else.  Another quirk of mine.  Rather noticeable if the
variance is double one of my line items.

6.  I forgot to make an entry to GnC that did clear the bank.  Bad form
if it's a large amount and the balance is running rather low.

There are times that I have to dump the year's worth of transactions
from the bank (cause I had a typo on the date) and cross check against
the year's worth of transactions.  Yup, print them out, hopefully in the
same order, and cross check them line by line.   

Thoughts:

1.  Dump a list of the non-reconciled transactions.  Maybe something
really old had their flag cleared for some reason.

2.  On the big list, pick a date in the middle and see if the running
balance is right.  Keep splitting the remaining section in half until
the running balance is off.  Effectively doing a binary search to figure
out where things went awry.

3.  Once you are back in sync, don't wait a month for the bank statement
to reconcile.  I bank online and will reconcile weekly if the activity
is high.  Less transactions to review and figure out where I made the
mistake.

4.  Sometimes another pair of eyes will spot the obvious that you missed
the last six times you looked.  Its obvious once you "see" it.

--Steve

-- 
Stephen M Butler, PMP, PSM
Stephen.M.Butler51 at gmail.com
kg7je at arrl.net
253-350-0166
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