Multiplying all transactions by -1 will only tell you that /something/
doesn't match, but won't tell you what. I get the same information
without the multiplication thing by looking at my ending bank statement
balance compared with the ending balance Ledger reports. Finding out
/where /a discrepancy is//requires comparing each transaction in Ledger
and your bank statement, either by hand, or with an auxiliary program.
When I reconcile Ledger against my bank statement, I run "ledger -wcBU
reg checking". I search my bank statement for each transaction, and when
I find the transaction I store it's posting date (the date the
transaction finished going through the system and became real). In
Ledger you do this by saying "<spending date>=<posting date>".
By storing the posting date, I can run "ledger -wBC --sort d --effective
reg checking" and see the transactions in roughly the order they will
appear on my bank statement (my bank sorts by posting date). This makes
it easy to compare a running balance: Starting at the beginning of the
month, I make sure the balances on the statement and in Ledger match. I
then run through each day of the month, and if the balances for any
given day do not match, I know something's wrong, and about where that
something is.
If I get to the end of the month and all balances match, I know I'm
reconciled! I do this whole process closer to weekly (with my bank's
online transaction log) than monthly, so it doesn't build up.
-Brian
On 12/11/2010 04:36 AM, Łukasz Stelmach wrote:
Hello.
I'd like to ask everyone a question about keeping records for bank
accounts. What is your way to keep track of your operations and check
them agains bank generated monthly reports?
I log every tranascation (cash or card) the day (week?) it happened. At
the end of a month a get a report from my bank. I convert the CSV to
ledger format and now I've got two (not including cash transactions)
lists comprising more or less (I'd like to see how much more or less)
the same events. What is the best way to compare/merge[*] them?
Is there a way to to make ledger multiply transactions from one file by
-1 to try to balance two files?
[*] card transactions have better description in the file I create
manuall, others, like banking expenses are only in the report.
