Adrien, Not always true that I have the same data as the bank/credit card company. Many transactions are scheduled or otherwise entered. These should match what was downloaded. They don't always do so, usually because something changed or because I made an error.
I'm using a weekly statement generated by a download of transactions at the time of the download. I don't care about monthly statements because I use a week for accounting, not a month. Phil Hays On Thu, 2018-12-13 at 14:14 -0600, Adrien Monteleone wrote: > Phil, > > What are you reconciling against? If you download transactions, you > have the same data as the bank/credit card company. Reconciling is a > process of checking your own entries against what your bank/credit > card company shows. > > So in your case, you are simply verifying that you downloaded > everything. > > But otherwise, yes, if you check ‘as of today’ then the > reconciliation date does need to be ’today’ as I noted in the > parenthesis after my first sentence. But this is not ’normal’ as you > usually receive statements after the actual closing date, not *on* > the actual closing date. > > What you are describing is more of ‘clearing’ transactions pre- > reconciliation than reconciliation itself. (though you can use > GnuCash in a way that you reconcile on a short period basis if you > want) > > Concerning the monthly statements you rarely look at, that’s what the > reconciliation feature is for. Of course, you don’t have to reconcile > monthly at all if you don’t want to. Use the software as you wish. > > Regards, > Adrien > > > On Dec 13, 2018, at 1:25 PM, Phil Hays <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I download transactions from credit cards weekly. These are > > downloaded > > up to today's date, and I want to reconcile all downloaded > > transactions. After downloading transactions up until today's date, > > the > > reconcile date needs to be today. > > > > I usually use today's date and today's balance. 'Today' is the > > usual > > 'closing date' of the 'statement'. > > > > I note that the credit cards also have monthly statements that I > > rarely > > look at... Is there a reason why I should? > > > > > > Phil Hays > > > > > > On Thu, 2018-12-13 at 11:58 -0600, Adrien Monteleone wrote: > > > You should always use the ending balance, never the “latest" or > > > “today’s" balance. (unless ’today’ just happens to be the actual > > > closing date on the statement - highly unlikely) > > > > > > Reconciling March ‘18 using the balance as of today, 12/13/18 (or > > > any > > > other date) is impossible, meaningless and makes no sense. > > > > > > If you want to reconcile March, enter 3/31/18 as the date and the > > > ending balance on the statement. > > > > > > Then to reconcile April, enter 4/30/18 and the ending balance on > > > the > > > statement. > > > > > > repeat through November ’18. > > > > > > You are then reconciled ’to date’ until you get your > > > December/end-of- > > > year Statement. > > > > > > ‘Reconciling’ is matching the activity on your statement with the > > > entries in your books. That is always ‘as of a closing date’ (in > > > the > > > past), *not* as of ’the day you happen to perform the > > > reconciliation.' > > > > > > Regards, > > > Adrien > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Dec 13, 2018, at 11:13 AM, Finbar Mahon < > > > > [email protected]> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > Thanks, Michael, I have been trying that using end March of > > > > this > > > > year as the last 'OK' date but doing it up to latest balance > > > > seems > > > > to catch other errors, so I was wondering if I could 'stage' > > > > the > > > > process. > > > > > > > > Looks like D's reply indicates I could do it by varying the > > > > closing > > > > balance to coincide with one I am happy with. Maybe a slight > > > > problem if the closing balance is duplicated elsewhere? Maybe > > > > unlikely. > > > > > > > > In fact by a combination of the two replies I can go back to > > > > the > > > > last 'good' situation and use the closing balance there as a > > > > starting point? > > > > > > > > I'll give the ending balance a try. > > > > > > > > F > > > > > > > > On 11/12/2018 17:56, Michael Hendry wrote: > > > > > > On 11 Dec 2018, at 16:40, Finbar Mahon < > > > > > > [email protected]> > > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > > > > > My reconcile is a bit erratic. So, I thought of trying to > > > > > > find > > > > > > the error by reconciling for different periods. If I put in > > > > > > the > > > > > > date for the last statement for the period I want to check, > > > > > > can > > > > > > I just put in an amount as the ending balance that > > > > > > coincides > > > > > > with the starting period and that way check on a period by > > > > > > period basis? > > > > > > > > > > > > I know it sounds complicated but I cannot think of a better > > > > > > way > > > > > > of doing it. > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks > > > > > Afternoon, Finbar. > > > > > > > > > > As a user of GC since 2010 for my personal accounts, I would > > > > > advise that you step back from this precipice before you jump > > > > > over it! > > > > > > > > > > I urge you go back far enough in your accounts to get to a > > > > > bank > > > > > statement that is in exact agreement with your accounts, then > > > > > work your way systematically forward from that date, > > > > > correcting > > > > > any erroneous entries in your accounts as you go. > > > > > > > > > > Ideally, you should mark everything beyond the reconciliation > > > > > date as “unreconciled” and go forward from there - it’s very > > > > > easy > > > > > to click on a duplicate transaction and mark it as > > > > > reconciled, or > > > > > to miss digit transpositions and other typing errors. > > > > > > > > > > Best of luck! > > > > > > > > > > Michael > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > gnucash-user mailing list > > > > [email protected] > > > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > > > > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > > > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more > > > > information. > > > > ----- > > > > 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 > > > [email protected] > > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > > > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. > > > ----- > > > 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 > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. > ----- > 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 [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. 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