[GNC] personal accounting. Work flow?

[Adrien Monteleone]

If you are simply downloading data from the bank, what exactly are you 
'reconciling'?

Reconciliation is a process whereby you match up what the bank says 
versus what you have already recorded.

In your case, you're just taking the bank's word for it, and not keeping 
your own books. (at least with respect to transactions that go through them)

I record everything myself, each day, usually the next morning. (that is 
much less work than you think - and far more accurate than monthly or 
yearly - you'd be surprised how fast you forget things that don't have a 
receipt or detailed note) The autocomplete and autofill features make 
fast work of this the more data you enter.

I then reconcile any external records to my own, monthly.

Regards,
Adrien

On 9/25/25 3:03 PM, Carlo Albrile wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> For years we (my wife and I) have used GNUCash on my laptop to track our expenses.
> Time and again I have adapted the ledger to our needs.
> The simplified workflow is as follow:
>       A) Make as many as possible payments via Bank Card, VISA... Rational: use preferably any methods that will allow me to download transaction lists from the Bank.
>       B) Keep a paper note for cash payments.
>       C) Export data from banks and Credit Card
>       D) Import transaction as of point C) to GNUCash.
>       E) Reconcile. Bucket the expenses.
> 
> This activity is not fun so we tend to do it with delay bigger than our memory allows us to identify what and where we spent money for.
> We found ourself with bank records of which we have no recollection. Several transaction from regular shops and wandering have been there as often?
> How do people check transaction list downloaded from a Bank?
> 
> I experimented a bit with an APP (GNUCash Android) on my mobile phone. It turned out this is not the same project as GNUCash Version: 5.12 on my laptop.
> 
> What is the workflow people generally follow?
> 
> Any suggestions?