[GNC] Credit card reconciliation - starting balance

Derek Atkins derek at ihtfp.com
Thu Jul 4 08:50:51 EDT 2024 

Hi,

Have you ever reconciled this account before?  Even as a test?

On Thu, July 4, 2024 8:25 am, Trevor Richards wrote:
> Hi Derek,I set up this account based on a credit card statement as an
> arbitrary starting point Aug last year.The stmt showed 105.00 as balance
> BF so I created that as my opening balance (owed). It balances with an
> account called opening balances (I think as instructed by GNU)all the
> following monthly transactions match the CC stmts (purchases & monthly
> payments from my savings acc)The savings acc reconciles OK

Different accounts.  Most likely your Savings/Checking account only has
transactions to pay the credit card, so I wouldn't expect much there.

>     The CC account
> always shows starting balance of 4,448.06 when I try to reconcile any
> month
> The ledger matches the stmts.

This is good...

> your comments make no sense to me. I can press the reconcile button
> forcing any dates I like. I do realize that it is pointless reconciling
> prior to start dates but I'm just pointing out that 4,448.06 is always the
> starting balance... I know not from where

Which part makes no sense?   My point is that reconciliation is not
month-to-month, it is always from the beginning of time to the end of the
statement.

The 4,448.06 is coming from previously reconciled transactions, or from a
marking in the account that it was previously reconciled to 4,446.08.

Are you willing to share your data file?  Or maybe attach some screen
shots of your register(s)?  (NB: Please attach, not "include")

-derek

>
>
>    On Thursday, 4 July 2024 at 23:52:09 GMT+12, Derek Atkins
> <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
>
>  Have you ever reconciled this account before?
>
> You cannot reconcile "back in time".  I.e. once you reconcile to time T,
> you have effectively reconciled from the beginning of time to time T.
> What this means is that you cannot go back and later reconcile to a time
> BEFORE T.  Part of the reason is that the starting balance is the sum of
> all reconciled transactions in the account.
>
> As a practical example, let's say you start and put an opening balance of
> $1000 on June 1, 2024 and then reconcile your transactions as of June 30,
> 2024.  After this, you cannot go back and re-fill January thru May,
> because the "opening" balance will include all your (june) reconciled
> transactions.
>
> If you started with an opening balance, reconciled, and then go back and
> filled in transactions prior to the opening balance, the only thing you
> can do is re-reconcile to the SAME place (e.g. re-reconcile June 30,
> 2024); ignore the opening balance, make sure the ending balance is
> correct, and check-off all the prior transactions from the beginning of
> time to your reconcile date.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> -derek
>
> On Thu, July 4, 2024 5:53 am, Trevor Richards via gnucash-user wrote:
>> Thanks for the suggestions but don't think they help.I've tried
>> reconciliation stepping back to months previous to when I 1st opened
>> these
>> accounts.It always opens with the same starting balance...
>> 4,448.06Ending
>> balances are zero (not surprising... no transactions)
>>
>> I do get a successful reconciliation on the corresponding bank account
>> that is connected to the credit card
>>
>>    On Tuesday, 2 July 2024 at 06:26:06 GMT+12, Tommy Trussell
>> <tommy.trussell at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  In addition to the comments below, you will need to make sure you
>> entered
>> the transactions in the correct columns. 
>> Make sure the account was correctly set up as a liability account (so
>> its
>> ending balance will decrease your overall net assets balance). When you
>> enter credit card transactions into the account, its running balance
>> should go up, and when you enter payments (last month's card payment in
>> this case) its balance should go down. The debit (left) column will
>> contain the payments to the credit card bank, and the credit (right)
>> column will contain the individual credit card transactions. 
>> If it has been awhile since you have looked at the documentation, it's a
>> good time to review the chapter on Credit Cards
>> https://lists.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucash-guide/chapter_cc.html
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 1, 2024 at 12:45 PM Phyllis Bruce <pobruce46 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Trevor, did you enter the unreconciled transactions from the previous
>> month?  Those would have to be included for your first reconciliation.
>>
>> Phyllis B
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 1, 2024 at 12:24 PM Adrien Monteleone <
>> adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Have you ever reconciled this account? If not, the starting balance
>>> should have been zero.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Adrien
>>>
>>> On 7/1/24 4:34 AM, Trevor Richards via gnucash-user wrote:
>>> > I am failing to reconcile a CC account. The ledger appears to
>>> replicate
>>> my statement in the 1st month of transactions. The 1st transaction I
>>> entered was the starting balance from the previous month's CC stmt
>>> (105.00)
>>> and all transactions appear correct in the months that follow. When I
>>> try
>>> to reconcile this CC account, it tells me my starting balance is
>>> 4,448.06.
>>> Where did that come from?
>>> >
>>> > I've searched my GNUcash file and that number does not come up.
>>> > Trevor (stumped)
>>>
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>
>
> --
>       Derek Atkins                617-623-3745
>       derek at ihtfp.com            www.ihtfp.com
>       Computer and Internet Security Consultant
>
>


-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant

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