[GNC] Best way to Auto Sync GC Checking Transactions with the Bank?

[Fran_3]

 Adrien,
Yes, in the old days before debit cards and auto-pay we did a reconciliation once a month... when the paper bank statement showed up in the mail box. In those days if we didn't write a check then no bank transaction should appear... other than bank charges. Much simpler times :-)
Now days there are often several incidental debit card charges plus a number of auto-pay charges that hit the bank.
We check the bank transactions daily to make sure we didn't miss recording any of these.

The reason for my post was to get some guidance on using the GnuCash built in tools to help find duplicate transactions.
The problem to us... as you mentioned is...
- Our Check Register Description Field doesn't match the banks- The Transaction Dates are often not the same
Regarding doing the bank transactions to recorded GC transactions comparison manually...I wrote an App Script for Google Sheets that helps with that... but it is still a lot of work... thus my question on using GnuCash tools to help.
I see David has also responded to this post so I'll read his comments then probably make a test copy of the GnuCash file and do some experimentation.
That said... for one particular entity with a lot of auto-pays and incidental debit card transactions... I still don't see any option but to check the bank daily to check what hit the bank and verify their entry into GnuCasy.
How do you handle a loose cannon with a debit card?How do you handle capturing transactions from a vendor that generates a lot of individual auto pay and/or auto deposit charges each month?
Thanks for the help.






    On Saturday, October 17, 2020, 7:58:34 PM EDT, Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:  
 
 The Help/Guide and probably the wiki (as well as various threads in this 
list) will provide more insight into how the Import Matcher works, along 
with tips and tricks to use it most effectively.

My first question would be, "What is the reason for doing this daily? 
What advantage over larger periods does this level of effort give you?"

I ask, because my first recommendation would be to do so less 
frequently, maybe even weekly at the most, but monthly would be a most 
likely target. What you appear to be doing is essentially reconciliation 
and that is traditionally (though it doesn't have to be) a monthly 
procedure.

I don't download bank transactions or use the import matcher myself, but 
after reading many, many threads here on the various nuances, I'd think 
the matcher *should* recognize 'amount', 'date', and 'description' and 
flag those qualifying transactions as potential duplicates. You get to 
decide before completing the import if they really are duplicates. If 
you leave them marked as such, if I recall correctly, GnuCash will 
change the flag in the "r" column from 'n' to 'c'—meaning the 
transaction has cleared the bank. When you do a formal reconciliation of 
the account with a periodic bank statement, those marked 'c' will be 
pre-checked for you. You would only need to verify and check off the 
remaining transactions in the reconcile window.

The date that your bank shows for the transaction may not be the same 
date as the real-world transaction. (the real date *should* be what you 
have entered in GnuCash) I think the matcher is smart enough to flag 
those for a closer look if the other key data matches.

For transactions that don't qualify as true duplicates (thus needing to 
just be 'cleared') they will be imported as new with the 'c' flag 
already set.

My second question is, "Why are you doing the comparison manually 
outside of GnuCash when GnuCash has built-in methods of helping you find 
those duplicates?"

If you still really need to do a comparison outside the matcher, yes, 
there are ways to script it, to a point. But I caution that approach 
because it will be a bit of work to set up and my suspicion is you'll 
find most of that effort will be duplicating what GnuCash is already 
capable of.

Regards,
Adrien

On 10/16/20 9:45 AM, Fran_3 via gnucash-user wrote:
> Given a checking account with a number incidental and auto pay transactions ocuring daily...
> Is there a way to automate...- logging on to the bank daily- determining which transactions have hit the bank but are not posted in GnuCash- then updating GnuCash with those unrecorded transactions?
> Doing this manually when the account has a number of incidential and auto pay transactions occurring daily is a lot of work.It is also prone for error as the transaction date and description at the bank do not always match how they are entered in GnuCash.
> Manually we have been daily downloading CSV files, and comparing them in spreadsheets...or screen capturing the latest bank transactions and the latest GC transactions, pasting them into PC Paint, and then doing the compare.or printing them out on paper to do the compare.
> In summary...1 - How can we automate this daily task?2 - If there is a way... does GC use the description field and amount field to "match" transactions?3 - or what?
> Thanks for any help.

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