[GNC] Redo account reconciliations
David Carlson
david.carlson.417 at gmail.com
Sun Sep 5 01:31:56 EDT 2021
Updating the program should not, by itself, change any current account
balances in particular, nor, I would expect, any reconciled account
balances or reconcile dates of transactions. Are you sure that the errors
that seem to have appeared are actually a result of the update?
If there is a new bug in the reconciliation process please try to describe
it in detail here.
Import formats are not being discussed in this thread.
On Sun, Sep 5, 2021 at 12:08 AM Jeff <beastmaster126 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 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
> >>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>>>>> gnucash-user mailing list
> >>>>>>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
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> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>>>> gnucash-user mailing list
> >>>>>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
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> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> --
> >>>>>> Derek Atkins 617-623-3745
> >>>>>> derek at ihtfp.com www.ihtfp.com
> >>>>>> Computer and Internet Security Consultant
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>> gnucash-user mailing list
> >>>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
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> >>>>> -----
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> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Derek Atkins 617-623-3745
> >>>> derek at ihtfp.com www.ihtfp.com
> >>>> Computer and Internet Security Consultant
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> gnucash-user mailing list
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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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--
David Carlson
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