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Anonymous
Not applicable

Last Months Closing balance is NOT the opening balance for this month??? WTF?

Okay, I'm not an accountant and I'm seriously regretting the HOURS I've spent trying to get my head around how QB works. BUT BUT.. 

How is is even POSSIBLE that the opening balance for the reconcile isn't the closing balance of last month. Yes, I'm screaming because I'm so utterly frustrated. To be fair I can print two different reports about the reconciliation one that shows the last months' balance as I would expect it - the other "Transactions cleared plus any that have been changed since the last reconciliation".. Huh? The difference is $68.12. I'm not aware of making any changes on already reconciled transactions.. I know better than to do that.  So should I punt and accept the new number QB is giving me? I suspect that leads to chaos. How do I deal with this. It is the amount of a FB ad posting to my account on the first of the month. 

3 Comments 3
Anonymous
Not applicable

Last Months Closing balance is NOT the opening balance for this month??? WTF?

Yes reconciliation discrepancies can be a bitch to find - under any system.

When you commence the 'reconcile' process QB shows a 'prior reconciled balance' - if this amount is different than the actual reconciliation you did last month then something has changed.  But that 'change' may not be a transaction amount - any change to a reconciled entry (even in the notes) can cause it to become 'uncleared', and that changes the 'prior reconciled balance'.

Here one way to fix the problem: start the reconcile process, but put in a date that is one day only after the last reconciliation date, and for the closing balance enter the reconciled balance  from last month - and 'hide transactions after the statement date'. Now 'clear' anything that showed as cleared on the last report and 'Reconcile' - this gets you back to square one.  

Then start the real next reconciliation.

 

Still cant find the discrepancy? A reconciled transaction may have deleted, or been redated into the future.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Last Months Closing balance is NOT the opening balance for this month??? WTF?

RE: How is is even POSSIBLE that the opening balance for the reconcile isn't the closing balance of last month.

 

This happens when someone changes the Amount on a reconciled transaction, adds a new reconciled transaction in the register, or deletes or voids a reconciled transaction.

 

This is because the opening reconciled balance is calculated and is equal to the sum of all prior reconciled transaction in the account.

 

To find out what transactions were edited in the account, or deleted,  since the last time you reconciled the account, use the Audit Trail report and filter it for the suspect account.

qbteachmt
Level 15

Last Months Closing balance is NOT the opening balance for this month??? WTF?

"How is is even POSSIBLE that the opening balance for the reconcile isn't the closing balance of last month"

 

The Beginning Balance is the net of all previously Cleared entries. If any entries were changed, affecting their Cleared Status, or deleted and recreated, the Money might still be fine, but that Status is affected. Or, someone deleted what they thought was a duplicate transaction, deleting a Cleared one. If you run the Discrepancies report, this shows you Changes (it is Not an Error report).

 

And you an simply Ignore the beginning balance. Try reconciling to the known ending balance as usual and see if any "older" transactions show as needing to be Cleared, again. If so, checkmark them.

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