[GNC] Help with downloading transactions.

[edodd at billiau.net]

On Fri, 17 Mar 2023 11:49:52 -0400
Michael or Penny Novack <stepbystepfarm at comcast.net> wrote:

> > This is a philosophical point.
> > There is group "M" who always enter every transaction first in their
> > books and then use the bank documents to reconcile
> >
> > and
> >
> > There is group "K" who enter some things and use the bank download
> > to keep their accounts.
> >
> > There are pros and cons to each method. Gnucash allows you to make
> > your own choice.  
> 
> Well put, but more than a philosophical difference.
> 
> The former group is "reconciling", confirming that their records
> match those of the bank. Dealing with an errors or omissions. In my
> personal experience, bank errors though rare do occur. Also rare but
> every now and then, the error or omission at the books side.
> 
> The second group is NOT reconciling anything. If the transactions in
> the books came from a download from the bank it WILL match what the
> bank bank statement. So the reconcile process in gnucash meaningless.
> Any errors the bank might have made, say misreading a check, will not
> be detected. We should also note that at any time the balance in the
> books will be larger than the actual balance by the amount of the
> "float" (checks written and sent but not yet cleared)
> 
> Michael D Novack
> 
>
Neither of us have mentioned fraud detection. The advantage of keeping
your own books and reconciling with the bank is it easier to detect
potentially fraudulent transactions.

Liz