[GNC] Reconciliation error - how should I correct?

[R Losey]

I agree that the statement is misleading... all it is trying to say is that
if you reconcile a balance to $1000 and then add a transaction before the
reconciliation date, the  balance will change... (that is, if you add a $50
check, the balance will be $950 now instead of the $1000 you used.

For me, this is useless, as I do not reconcile my GnuCash account balance
to the bank account balance; for years (longer than I have used GnuCash), I
have reconciled the bank balance to my GnuCash balance. I have found it a
much easier way.

There is no problem with adding transactions prior to the reconciliation
date, as long as they are un-reconciled transactions (and that is the
default).

There are potential problems when altering a reconciled transaction... I
had horrible problems with this is Quicken, but GnuCash seems to deal with
such cases better.


On Tue, Jan 31, 2023 at 3:34 AM Dr. David Kirkby <
drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk> wrote:

> On Mon, 30 Jan 2023 at 19:46, R Losey <rlosey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Normally, people 'reconcile' their records to the financial institution,
>> marking the ones on which they agree as 'reconciled'.
>>
>> If everything went right, the accounts should balance, leaving the
>> transactions that the bank doesn't know about... regardless of date.
>>
>
> I was probably interpreting this
>
> https://cvs.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-guide/txns-reconcile1.html
>
> incorrectly, where it says
>
> “
> Warning
>
> It is important to understand that reconciliation is done for a given
> date, and when you reconcile an account based on a statement from a given
> date, you are reconciling *all transactions prior to that date*.
> Therefore, if you add or modify transactions that predate your last
> reconciliation, your *reconciled* balances will be thrown off.”
>
> As far as I am aware, the transaction took place  in June. So to add the
> entry to GnuCash I needed to add a transaction that occurred prior to the
> last reconciliation.
>
> I note that bit of the documentation starts cvs. Google found me that, but
> I think the latest documentation doesn’t say quite the same thing.
>
> Dave
> --
> Dr. David Kirkby,
> Kirkby Microwave Ltd,
> drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk
> https://www.kirkbymicrowave.co.uk/
> Telephone 01621-680100./ +44 1621 680100
>
> Registered in England & Wales, company number 08914892.
> Registered office:
> Stokes Hall Lodge, Burnham Rd, Althorne, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 6DT,
> United Kingdom
>


-- 
_________________________________
Richard Losey
rlosey at gmail.com
Micah 6:8