[GNC] Reconcile Info: Starting Balance

[David Carlson]

Tom,

The starting balance is calculated from the sum of all the recorded
transaction split lines that are marked as reconciled for the account in
question.  This includes transactions dated after the selected
reconciliation date.  The other transaction split lines for those
transactions are not considered unless and until those respective accounts
are reconciled.  Usually, the reconciliation of a particular account does
not affect the reconciliation of other accounts unless a previously
reconciled transaction split line is either accidentally or intentionally
unreconciled or deleted from one of the other split accounts for that
transaction.  If there are missing transactions you will not be able to
complete the reconciliation.  Thus, the key is to not edit previously
reconciled split lines for accounts other than the account that is being
used to view that transaction.  You should see a warning if you try to do
that unless you have disabled that warning,

If your starting balance does not match the previous statement's ending
balance, chances are you probably did something in another account that
unreconciled some previously reconciled split line for the account that you
are currently reconciling.

If you are fanatic about having the reconciliation date recorded correctly
for past transactions, then you do need to unreconcile all transactions
that the bank statement(s) show as cleared after the date in question.
Otherwise, just reconcile the stray transaction(s) in the current
reconciliation period and don't worry about the starting balance.

On Wed, Mar 5, 2025 at 10:15 AM Tom Balazs <tom123online at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I got a bunch of credit card statements correctly reconciled, then
> something got messed up. Maybe changes I made to transactions in the
> checking account (such as payments made to pay down credit card balance)
> messed up the credit card account.
>
> But now when I go to re-reconcile the credit card, the "Reconcile
> Information" / "Starting Balance" is wrong. Where does that number come
> from?
>
> After I reconcile a credit card statement, on the last day of that
> statement period, I put a final transaction, for example on 10/14/24 "This
> statement covered 9/15/24 - 10/14/24, the correct balance at this point is
> $4,567.89." I do this to help me find the problem when balances get messed
> up. But this doesn't help me with the "Starting Balance" problem.
>
> And if GnuCash has the Starting Balance wrong, I can confirm the
> transactions that paid down the balance and transactions where I purchased
> items, but GnuCash (correctly?) won't let me mark the statement period as
> reconciled.
>
> I guess the Starting Balance is wrong because, while I may be going back to
> reconcile a Feb-Mar statement, there are Mar-Apr, and May-Jun transactions
> that are reconciled (which therefore don't even show up in the reconcile
> window).
>
> Would I have to go to my ledger and manually un-check all the Mar-Apr,
> May-Jun, and Jun-Jul transactions which are marked "Y" reconciled, just to
> get a correct Starting Balance for Feb-Mar. And then later manually
> re-check them all?
>
> Tom
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-- 
David Carlson