[GNC] Redo account reconciliations

Jeff beastmaster126 at hotmail.com
Sun Sep 5 01:06:58 EDT 2021


On 9/4/21 1:16 PM, Derek Atkins wrote:
> 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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> .

Unfortunately It is not that simple in a few cases.

I performed an update from 4,2 to 4.3 on Ubuntu. It totally screwed with 
my account balances and reconcile values. So I uninstalled it and went 
back to 4.2.

I now have several accounts that I can not reconcile unless I lie about 
the ending balance.  I have finally brought most of them back to where 
they tally with current statements.  Still have a few left that refuse 
to balance to the current statement. The majority of them rely on OFX 
imports.  I still firmly believe that QIF is a more stable format than 
OFX.  Just my 2 cents worth.

   --
--JEffrey Black M.B.A.



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