[GNC] Checks outstanding...VERY outstanding!

[Eric H. Bowen]

In my experience with the software that is not the case. True, you can 
reconcile any transaction...but only within a limited window of time. 
Now, if you have an uncleared transaction in your register dated 
November 8th, 2022 and the .OFX file downloaded from your bank indicates 
that the check cleared on November 14th, 2022 you can match it, even 
though it's (nearly) two years later. But if the bank said that the 
transaction didn't clear until March...it doesn't even show up as an 
option under "Match Manually." Believe me, been there, done that.

The key setting appears to be "Unlikely match day threshold," under 
Edit>>Preferences>>Import. I've got that maxed out at 50 days; it will 
not go any higher than that. So if the transaction your bank reports is 
farther away than that from the entry in your register...you don't even 
see the transaction when you go to match it. It just doesn't appear.

On 8/27/2024 4:47 PM, David Carlson wrote:
>
> I think gmail sent my half written response.  You can match any 
> unrrconciled transaction in the transaction import tool.  If you 
> cannot find the correct transaction you probably already matchrd it in 
> a previous import.
> You can mark the transaction as do not import and re-run the impprt 
> later when you have decided how to correct that entry.
> If you are using both of those tools as intended, GnuCash does not 
> lose the correct status of any transacion, regardless of how or when 
> it was entered.
>
> Sorry about the fat finger spelling errors.
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 27, 2024, 4:32 PM David Carlson 
> <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     Gnucash only marks transactions cleared when you use the
>     reconciliation tool.  All uncleared transaction, no matter how
>     old, are available to match in the import transaction
>
>
>     On Tue, Aug 27, 2024, 1:27 PM Ken Pyzik <pyz01 at outlook.com> wrote:
>
>         Well, you could just not use the clearing function at all –
>         which is what I do.
>
>         If fact, all my transactions have an "n" on them in Gnucash. 
>         Instead, of trying to figure out what cleared, I assume
>         everything clears.   This makes for a much easier task - since
>         almost 100% of transactions do clear - I only have to worry
>         about the one's that don't - which for me - is almost none anyway.
>
>         But everyone's situation is different.  For me – clearing is
>         just added worked I choose not to do.
>
>         Ken
>
>         ________________________________
>         From: gnucash-user
>         <gnucash-user-bounces+pyz01=outlook.com at gnucash.org> on behalf
>         of Eric H. Bowen via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
>         Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2024 9:51 AM
>         To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
>         Subject: [GNC] Checks outstanding...VERY outstanding!
>
>         I have a few vendors and charities whom I still pay with paper
>         checks
>         (they're not eligible for my bank's electronic payment
>         system), and some
>         of them are very lackadaisical about cashing those checks.
>         It's not
>         unusual for one of them to sit on a check for three months
>         before it
>         finally shows up in my bank's payment queue...by which time
>         it's long
>         past even the maximum possible setting on GnuCash for manually
>         matching
>         a check. More annoying, and this has happened several times,
>         is if I
>         don't watch the match game with an eagle eye GnuCash will then
>         assume
>         that the paper check from a month and a half ago which just
>         cleared is
>         actually the one which is supposed to go out tomorrow and will
>         mark *it*
>         cleared...and then there's no way to "unclear" it in the matching
>         algorithm. Oh, I can manually hit the check box and change the
>         clearance
>         from C to N, but the next time I download transactions it will
>         skip over
>         that one and not clear it, even when the proper check finally
>         does come in.
>
>         One of the issues is that, according to my best understanding
>         of U.S.
>         tax law, payments are officially "made" when the check is
>         written and
>         dropped in the mail. So, if I write a check in November but
>         it's not
>         cashed until March (which has happened)...it screws everything
>         up, and
>         (even if the check is still within the window to manually
>         match) "Update
>         + Clear" brings the payment out of the proper accounting
>         period. So,
>         does anyone have a recommendation for dealing with this kind
>         of kerfuffle?
>
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