[GNC] Redo account reconciliations

Derek Atkins derek at ihtfp.com
Sat Sep 4 14:16:35 EDT 2021


Exactly.  But he had already reconciled to Aug 31, so need to use that date.

-derek
Sent using my mobile device. Please excuse any typos.
On September 4, 2021 11:09:12 AM john <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:

> Oops, that'w wrong: You can't use the February statement's balance, you 
> have to use the July statement balance (assuming that you haven't yet 
> reconciled August) because the reconcile window doesn't know how to use 
> xaccAccountGetReconciledBalanceAsOfDate.
>
> Regards,
> John Ralls
>
>> On Sep 4, 2021, at 7:59 AM, john <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:
>>
>> He said the February reconcile.
>>
>> So tell the reconcile info dialog 28 Feb and type in the balance from the 
>> February statement as usual. Click OK. As long as you haven't messed up 
>> anything else you'll be able to check the one unreconciled split from 
>> February and the finish button and you're done.
>>
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls
>>
>>
>>> On Sep 4, 2021, at 7:18 AM, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Ah... But that's NOT how you are supposed to recover from that.
>>> If you reconciled up for 31 Aug 2021, and you un-reconcile a transaction,
>>> it doesn't matter what date the transaction has -- you should re-reconcile
>>> 31 August!  You just need to re-check the February transaction.
>>>
>>> -derek
>>>
>>> On Sat, September 4, 2021 9:10 am, Christopher Lam wrote:
>>>> Derek,
>>>> Consider a well-used bank account. You reconcile every end of the month
>>>> successfully up to 31 Aug 2021.
>>>> Accidentally you unreconcile a Feb 2021 split.
>>>> You retrieve your 28 Feb 2021 bank statement, try to re-reconcile and fail
>>>> because the reconciliation end balance also tallies splits from March 2021
>>>> onwards.
>>>> C
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, 4 Sept 2021 at 13:01, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Chris,
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, September 4, 2021 8:36 am, Christopher Lam wrote:
>>>>>> I agree that if an account reconciliation is done periodically
>>>>> correctly
>>>>>> every time, then it works well. If an old reconciled split is
>>>>> unreconciled
>>>>>> and we need to re-reconcile a previous reconciliation date, then the
>>>>> code
>>>>>> falls apart.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm curious why you say it falls apart?
>>>>>
>>>>>> It may be an idea to allow batch unreconciliation of all splits whose
>>>>>> reconcile date is after the reconciliation date in the Reconciliation
>>>>>> dialog, thereby allowing the user to re-do reconciles.
>>>>>
>>>>> That could be a good idea.
>>>>>
>>>>> -derek
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sat, 4 Sept 2021 at 06:34, Borden via gnucash-user <
>>>>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The starting balance is computed from all the reconciled
>>>>> transactions
>>>>>>> "to
>>>>>>>> date".  It *can* be safe to ignore the starting balance if, for
>>>>>>> example,
>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>>> transaction became unreconciled.  For example, let's say you
>>>>> reconcile
>>>>>>>> from some starting balance X to a final balance of $1000.  Then you
>>>>>>>> accidentally unreconcile a $100 transactions.  If you try to
>>>>>>> re-reconcile
>>>>>>>> that same statement/date/ending-balance of $1000, it won't show X
>>>>> as
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> starting balance, but something else (PROBABLY $900, but I'm not
>>>>> 100%
>>>>>>>> sure).  But that's okay -- just ensure the ending balance is
>>>>> correct
>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>> all the transactions that SHOULD be reconciled ARE reconciled.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> There is no way to get a transaction to reconciled status (y)
>>>>> manually
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>> the only way is through a reconcile process.  So if you have
>>>>>>> reconciled
>>>>>>>> transactions, that must've happened through a reconcile.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I would recommend you just go ahead with March, ignore the starting
>>>>>>>> balance, enter the correct March ending balance, and see if the
>>>>>>>> reconciliation works (ensure you re-reconcile anything from earlier
>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>> might have become unreconciled).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So I just want to build a bit on this answer. GNUCash doesn't have
>>>>> QBs
>>>>>>> reconciliation system - so don't equate the two. As an accountant who
>>>>>>> doesn't need to be handheld or leashed, I  find GNUCash's system
>>>>> better
>>>>>>> than QBs - albeit there is room for improvement. However, I wouldn't
>>>>>>> recommend GNUCash to someone less comfortable with bare-ledger
>>>>>>> accounting -
>>>>>>> controls exist for a reason.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I don't know how the backend works, but my experience is that the
>>>>>>> "Opening
>>>>>>> balance" is basically a running total of all the transactions marked
>>>>>>> "Reconciled" in that account. Whereas QB will _prevent_ you from
>>>>>>> attempting
>>>>>>> to reconcile August if July's reconciled balance differs from what it
>>>>>>> previously reconciled, GNUCash doesn't care - it just says "The
>>>>>>> transactions marked 'Reconciled' for this account total to $X." And
>>>>>>> that's
>>>>>>> good for when you have to go back and fix things... and know what
>>>>> you're
>>>>>>> doing.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> When you reconcile a transaction, again based on  my experience,
>>>>> GNUCash
>>>>>>> toggles the "Reconciled" flag on the account _and_ inserts the
>>>>>>> reconciliation date. I personally like this because  I can, say,
>>>>> start a
>>>>>>> fresh reconciliation for March having reconciled through August  to
>>>>> pick
>>>>>>> up
>>>>>>> the transactions that _should_ have been in the March reconciliation
>>>>> but
>>>>>>> weren't because I readded them (or whatever). However, I need  my
>>>>>>> calculator with me because I need to adjust the "closing balance" to
>>>>>>> reflect not the statement balance but what GNUCash's "running total"
>>>>>>> balance should be. Contrast this to having to undo every rec in QB
>>>>> back
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> March and redo every rec again.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Still, as I said, there's room for improvement in GNUCash:1) Since
>>>>> the
>>>>>>> rec
>>>>>>> date gets stored with the Rec flag, GNUCash can  have a function that
>>>>>>> unreconciles every transaction before a given rec date. This would be
>>>>>>> analogous to QB's batch rec undo.
>>>>>>> 2) One should be able to rec from the ledger  as QB lets you do - and
>>>>>>> prompt for a rec date. Yes it's dangerous, poor practice, etc., but
>>>>> the
>>>>>>> GNU
>>>>>>> philosophy is not to leash the user. If a user wants to sudo rm -rf /
>>>>>>> their
>>>>>>> installation, GNU warns them first, but ultimately lets them. User
>>>>> knows
>>>>>>> best. If you want your computer to dictate what you're allowed to do
>>>>>>> with
>>>>>>> it, that's what Apple's for.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I hope that helps a bit
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>>      Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
>>>>>      derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
>>>>>      Computer and Internet Security Consultant
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>      Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
>>>      derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
>>>      Computer and Internet Security Consultant
>>>
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>>



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