[GNC] Checks outstanding...VERY outstanding!

Eric H. Bowen eric at ehbowen.net
Wed Aug 28 15:46:18 EDT 2024


I had not thought of setting "Unlikely Match" to zero. I'll give it a 
try (when I get home) and we'll see. Thanks----Eric.

On 8/28/2024 2:20 PM, David Carlson wrote:
> I completely overlooked the setting called Unlikely Match. Over the 
> years our family has had a couple of characters that didn't deposit 
> their birthday checks for months (I was one of them), but we don't 
> send them checks any more.
>
> Anyway, I would call that a bug if the match is not shown at all when 
> it is "Unlikely".  The unlikely transaction should still appear but 
> marked as "do not import" or some similar marking, in my opinion.  If 
> the time limit cannot be extended beyond 50 days, there should be an 
> option to turn off that test. Did you try setting the limit to zero?   
> I have seen reports on this maillist that sometimes banks still accept 
> 'stale' checks, when most banks have a reasonably short time limit 
> around 60 to 90 days or even less.
>
> I wonder how that test is applied when the bank normally shows the 
> date cleared rather than the date written for checks.  The only way 
> one would know is by the date shown in the check image, when it is 
> actually legible.  Does Gnucash go by the difference between the 
> <DTPOSTED> and one of the other dates in OFX/QFX files?
>
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 9:40 AM Eric H. Bowen <eric at ehbowen.net> wrote:
>
>     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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>
>
> -- 
> David Carlson


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