[GNC] Request for Automatic Reconciliation Function

[Gyle McCollam]

I agree John, this is as close as you need to get to automatic reconciliation.  The only items you need to look at are the ones that don't match and Gnucash would have no way of knowing what is correct.


Thank You,

Gyle McCollam

Gyle McCollam

gmccollam at live.com<mailto:gmccollam at gyleshomes.com>           email

________________________________
From: gnucash-user <gnucash-user-bounces+gylemc=gmail.com at gnucash.org> on behalf of John Layman <john.layman at laymanandlayman.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2023 10:35 AM
To: 'Jim DeLaHunt' <list+gnucash at jdlh.com>; gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Subject: Re: [GNC] Request for Automatic Reconciliation Function

GnuCash already provides the nearest thing resembling "automatic" reconciliation.  It requires periodically downloading and importing account activity from the bank to mark which transactions have 'cleared'.  Then, in reconciliation, GnuCash automatically 'ticks' the cleared transactions.  Nine times out of ten in my experience, this reconciles the account with the bank statement.  There is no logical way to "automagically" reconcile discrepancies.

-----Original Message-----
From: gnucash-user <gnucash-user-bounces+john.layman=ieee.org at gnucash.org> On Behalf Of Jim DeLaHunt
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2023 8:35 PM
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Request for Automatic Reconciliation Function

Bite Gao:

Thank you for continuing this conversation. I am glad to have your ideas in this discussion.

While I think I understand what feature you are asking for, I do see some difficulties with it. For example, you say:

On 2023-01-06 17:22, Bite Gao wrote:
> …For each split record in the GnuCash file, the program scan for its
> counterpart in the bank statement.… Personally, I do not found that
> how computer program could make mistake in this process.…

The obvious difficulty is that for a single transaction, the text in the GnuCash file is probably different than the text in its counterpart in the bank statement. For example, suppose I have a weekly purchase where I enter the description as "SPUD, Vancouver BC" and the date as January 5, but the bank statement may say "Small Potatoes Delivery * Paypal" and the date as January 6.  It is difficult — not impossible, but difficult — for GnuCash to see that these two transactions are counterparts. Their description text and their dates differ.

It turns out that GnuCash's Import Matcher can successfully recognise the link between these two.  But it often makes mistakes in this process.

Best regards,
     —Jim DeLaHunt


On 2023-01-06 17:22, Bite Gao wrote:
> GnuCash Developers and Maintainers:
>   Hello! While you pinpoint out the possibility of a mistake in
> automated process, it did not eliminate the meaning of the automatic
> reconciliation.
>   What an automatic reconciliation does is: the program concatenates
> the transaction's date, check number and the transaction amount from
> both the bank statement and the GnuCash file. For each split record in
> the GnuCash file, the program scan for its counterpart in the bank
> statement. And when the counterpart is found, the program marks the
> split as reconciled.
>   Personally, I do not found that how computer program could make
> mistake in this process. If you believe that the computer could have
> that happen, I would like to learn the detail about it.
>
>   Yours,
>
>    Bite Gao
> Jan 7th, 2021
>
> On 2023/1/6 20:57, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
>
>> I understand your explanation, but if you aren't checking and
>> verifying every transaction, how do you ever discover when the
>> automated process makes a mistake?
>>
>> Reconciliation was invented long before computers, but I appreciate
>> that the process demands one to slow down, take your time, and
>> methodically verify the information.
>>
>> Think of it as proof-reading - the hard way. (I learned in school to
>> read stuff backwards when proofing!)
>>
>> That is a pretty good analogy too:
>>
>> If you've ever used auto-correct with auto-checking for spelling and
>> grammar, or auto-suggestion or auto-completion for entire words and
>> have seen the embarrassment and/or nightmare that can produce when
>> the computer 'gets it wrong', would you want something like that for
>> your financial records?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Adrien
>>
>> On 1/5/23 7:50 PM, Bite Gao wrote:
>>> GnuCash Developers and Maintainers:
>>>    Hello! While you have mentioned the requirement of human
>>> intervene in the reconciliation process, I do not see it contradicts
>>> with the presence of automatically reconciliation system.
>>>    In a reconcile process, the accountant check the record in the
>>> account book with the record in the bank statement (or statement
>>> from other institution). He (or she) may found out that two record
>>> are identical, or he (or she) may found that some record are not
>>> identical. Only the latter requires human notice, since there its no
>>> point wasting time on reconciled accounting transactions. An
>>> automatic reconciliation system can load the digital statement from
>>> the institution, compares the statement with the transaction in the
>>> accounting book, and pinpoints the discrepancies out. Then human
>>> accountant could step in and perform manual operations, such as
>>> checking other vouchers, contact with banks, etc. In the situation
>>> of single user, the automatic reconcile system have no reason to
>>> block manu al reconciliation.
>>>    Besides, when I means "human err", I means that the accountant
>>> overlook an discrepancy and regards it as identical. People do not
>>> spend too much time on identical records, since major of the
>>> transaction would be in that state. However, it could cause severe
>>> consequences if there do have a discrepancy.
>>
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