[Kmymoney] Reconcile Problems

[Jack]

On 2012.08.12 19:37, Doug Brown wrote:
> 
> On 11/08/2012 10:34 AM, Jack wrote:
>> On 2012.08.11 14:24, Doug Brown wrote:
>>> I am running kmy 4.6.2 on Mint 11 in a VMWare instance running on  
>>> Windows 7.
>>> 
>>> I reconciled a checking account last month ok. When I try to  
>>> reconcile it this month, the starting balance is wrong.
>>> 
>>> The "Last Reconciled" date is correct.
>>> 
>>> If I look at the register, the balance as of the "Last  
>>> Reconciliation" marker is correct.
>>> 
>>> There are no non-reconciled transaction dated prior to the date of  
>>> the last reconciliation.
>>> 
>>> After doing a OFX import, I noticed a debit transaction was  
>>> imported with a date after the last reconcilation date, and was  
>>> marked as reconciled (which is obviously incorrect). The value of  
>>> this transaction is equal to the amount the starting balance is  
>>> incorrect. I have deleted this transaction, but the starting  
>>> balance hasn't changed.
>>> 
>>> I am storing my kmy data in a compressed xml file. I opened up the  
>>> xml file and there is no occurrence of the offending amount.
>>> 
>>> I am thinking my register is corrupted, but I have no idea of how  
>>> to fix it.
>>> 
>>> Any suggestions?
>> 
>> I'm a bit surprised that a transaction could be imported as  
>> reconciled - it should only be cleared if you accept the import. Are  
>> you sure that transaction wasn't simply being matched to a  
>> transaction from before the last reconciliation?  Did you really  
>> mean to delete it?  I mean was it a real transaction?  Was it  
>> perhaps a duplicate that should have matched another transaction but  
>> didn't?
>> 
> Yeah, I'm pretty sure in imported as R as the transaction date was  
> well after the previous reconciliation date. I meant to delete it  
> only because I thought it must be the source of the problem since the  
> balance was out by exactly the amount of the transaction, and that  
> was the only transaction of that value in the kmy file. It was a real  
> transaction - I can see it in the OFX file and it looks fine to my  
> untrained eye.
What I meant by "real" is whether it represents a transaction that you  
really made, but it sounds like it is.
> 
>> However, my suggestion is to save a copy of your file in case of any  
>> problems or if I'm wrong, but try the reconciliation ignoring the  
>> starting balance.  One of the developers would have to say for  
>> certain, but I don't believe the starting balance is actually used  
>> in the reconciliation process.  I know I don't even look at the  
>> starting balance when I do a reconciliation, which I do monthly on  
>> two checking accounts, two savings accounts, and two credit card  
>> accounts, all of which use OFX imports at least some of the time.
>> 
> Thanks for that suggestion - ignoring the opening balance, the  
> reconciliation went fine. Given the opening balance was wrong, I  
> can't imagine how that could work, but it did. When I start  
> reconciling for next month, the opening balance is correct again.

Thomas - can you confirm where the opening balance on the reconcile  
dialog comes from (how is it calculated) and whether it is actually  
used in the reconciliation process?  My memory from previous  
discussions (when I was rewriting the manual section on this) is that  
it is not used, and the actual reconciliation assumes that the previous  
reconciliation balance correctly reflects all transactions marked as  
reconciled - and is just therefore checking that adding all the cleared  
transactions brings you to the new "ending" balance.

> 
> Thanks for your help.
You're welcome.