[GNC] Reconciliation problems

Tue Apr 28 20:32:49 EDT 2026

I'm still fuzzy on the problem.  But let's walk through a cycle (or two).

Start with a fresh new CC.  You make charges throughout the month and 
eventually get a bill.  Now, either you entered those daily by hand or 
you waited to download a file to import (like I do).

So you grab that downloaded file and import it.  It will either match to 
the existing entries (and set the Cleared flag as it imports) or it will 
load all new entries (and set the cleared flag as it loads).
If that flag isn't getting set, you need to EDIT, PREFERENCES, IMPORT 
and check that you have the correct actions checked off -- especially if 
you are doing QIF imports.

If you have hand entered your transactions all month, then you should 
see that all the lines are flagged as match/updated and none are being 
created/added.  If you see some being added, then you need to find out 
why you hadn't previously entered them.

Now the import is finished and you check the balance you have on the CC 
Liability account and it matches your statement unless you have entered 
some transactions since the statement closing -- in which case you check 
the balance as of the statement closing to ensure it is the same.   Now 
you could reconcile the CC account and be sure that the difference is 
zero.  It should be an easy step as all the imported transactions have 
been flagged as cleared but none of the hand entered ones since 
statement closing.  So you should have nothing to check off -- as they 
are all already checked off for you.

Now you write the check or have the bank send funds (electronically as 
in my case) and pay off that statement.

At some point you reconcile the bank statement.  Now, you either hand 
entered these as they happened or you download and import these 
transactions.  But that import is against the checking account (Asset).  
So only the checking side of these transactions should be checked as 
Cleared by the import.

The only transaction in common with the Checking account and the CC 
account is the payment to pay off the CC.  In which case, at this point, 
only the checking account entry will be marked as cleared (as long as 
the payment cleared the bank before the bank statement closing).  So 
during the checking account reconciliation only the checking account 
portion of that transaction is handled.

Next month.
Now as you import the CC file, it should see the payment and set the 
Cleared flag on the CC side of the payment transaction -- unless the 
matching algorithm failed and it loaded the payment again which will 
throw off the reconciliation for both accounts.

Note:  after the reconciliation for each account, those Cleared flags 
all get set to Y to indicate that not only cleared but also reconciled.

So where in this process does it break down for you?

Stephen M Butler
Stephen.M.Butler51 at gmail.com
kg7je at arrl.net
253-350-0166
-------------------------------------------
GnuPG Fingerprint:  8A25 9726 D439 758D D846 E5D4 282A 5477 0385 81D8

On 4/28/26 16:40, Phyllis Bruce wrote:
> Correct
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 4:08 PM Stephen M. Butler 
> <stephen.m.butler51 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     As in paying off the credit card (Liability) from checking (Asset)?
>
>
>
>
>     On 4/28/26 13:54, Phyllis Bruce wrote:
>>     Thanks, Stephen.  I should have remembered you need this info.  I
>>     am working on Windows latest version with the newest version of
>>     Gnucash.  The accounts are banking to credit and vice versa. 
>>     This is a new development.
>>
>>     On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 2:28 PM Stephen M. Butler
>>     <stephen.m.butler51 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>         I thought that was corrected a few versions back (maybe a
>>         couple of years).
>>
>>         We need more details in order to help you figure out what is
>>         happening.
>>         First:  Which version of GnuCash are you using? And on which
>>         platform
>>         (Windows 10, 11; Ubuntu 25.10, etc).
>>         Second:  Are the splits against the same account? (or
>>         sub-accounts of
>>         the one being reconciled).
>>
>>         My example is moving money from the Savings account to the
>>         Checking
>>         account.  The split for the checking account is reconciled
>>         separately
>>         from the one for the savings account.  I've had no problems
>>         keeping them
>>         distinct.
>>
>>         So, more information is needed.  Especially the wording of
>>         the warning
>>         message you get.
>>
>>         On 4/28/26 11:22, Phyllis Bruce wrote:
>>         > I don't know about you, but my account statements do not
>>         have the same end
>>         > dates.  I very often reconcile one account as much as two
>>         weeks before the
>>         > split gets reconciled.  I'm somewhat bumfuzzled by the
>>         warning I'm getting
>>         > that I may have difficulty reconciling., but it's true. 
>>         Any entry that I
>>         > have reconciled on one split is not appearing in the
>>         reconciliation list of
>>         > the other split.
>>         >
>>         > Has this been submitted as a problem?
>>         >
>>         > Thanks,
>>         > po Bruce
>>         > _______________________________________________
>>         > gnucash-user mailing list
>>         > gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>         > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>>         > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>         > -----
>>         > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>         > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         gnucash-user mailing list
>>         gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>         To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>>         https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>         -----
>>         Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>         You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>
>