Reconciling/balancing

Does anyone know a way to have Money automatically reconcile to an electronic
bank statement? i.e. when I am done downloading my latest bank transactions
electronically, there are still some pending transactions in my own register
that haven't cleared yet (e.g. ATM withdrawals, checks I've written, etc).
So my own register doesn't match the bank's balance. The only way to
reconcile the two balances is to wait until I get a paper statement and then
do "Balance". Or I can manually add up the pending transactions and see if
adding that to my own balance equals the bank's balance.

I don't want to wait until I get my bank's monthly statement to reconcile.
Any help out there?

Cal
Sun Oct 08 15:53:53 CDT 2006

In microsoft.public.money, jpasmith wrote:

>Does anyone know a way to have Money automatically reconcile to an electronic
>bank statement? i.e. when I am done downloading my latest bank transactions
>electronically, there are still some pending transactions in my own register
>that haven't cleared yet (e.g. ATM withdrawals, checks I've written, etc).

Since you used the word "automatically", no.

>So my own register doesn't match the bank's balance. The only way to
>reconcile the two balances is to wait until I get a paper statement and then
>do "Balance". Or I can manually add up the pending transactions and see if
>adding that to my own balance equals the bank's balance.
>
>I don't want to wait until I get my bank's monthly statement to reconcile.
>Any help out there?

R
Mon Oct 09 08:18:47 CDT 2006


"jpasmith" <jpasmith@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B1A52CFE-726F-4D07-AB86-44A371B86473@microsoft.com...
> Does anyone know a way to have Money automatically reconcile to an
> electronic
> bank statement? i.e. when I am done downloading my latest bank
> transactions
> electronically, there are still some pending transactions in my own
> register
> that haven't cleared yet (e.g. ATM withdrawals, checks I've written, etc).
> So my own register doesn't match the bank's balance. The only way to
> reconcile the two balances is to wait until I get a paper statement and
> then
> do "Balance". Or I can manually add up the pending transactions and see
> if
> adding that to my own balance equals the bank's balance.
>
> I don't want to wait until I get my bank's monthly statement to reconcile.
> Any help out there?

Yes, you can manually adjust the balances and reconcile every day if you
want. I reconcile our checking account several times a month in my head or
on a scrap of paper if there are more than a couple of reconciling items.
Money won't do this automatically but I can do it in my head in about 5
seconds most days, 1 minute if I need paper to do the math. There is no
reason to wait for a paper statement ever. Just look at your bank's website
when the statement is posted and use the statement date for reconciling.
Most of my banks no longer send me paper statements and I don't want them.
Who wants to store paper when you can look the statements up on the
internet? Same for cancelled checks.

Regards,

Bill Wood

Steve
Mon Oct 09 16:29:04 CDT 2006



On Oct 8, 4:28=A0pm, jpasmith <jpasm...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Does anyone know a way to have Money automatically reconcile to an electr=
onic
> bank statement? =A0i.e. when I am done downloading my latest bank transac=
tions
> electronically, there are still some pending transactions in my own regis=
ter
> that haven't cleared yet (e.g. ATM withdrawals, checks I've written, etc)=
. =A0
> So my own register doesn't match the bank's balance. =A0The only way to
> reconcile the two balances is to wait until I get a paper statement and t=
hen
> do "Balance". =A0Or I can manually add up the pending transactions and se=
e if
> adding that to my own balance equals the bank's balance. =A0
>
> I don't want to wait until I get my bank's monthly statement to reconcile=
. =A0
> Any help out there?

Seriously, why would you think something like that could be done
"automatically". How would ANYONE except YOU know you had just written
a check and posted it to your register? Sometimes, you just have to use
your own brain to do things like reconciliations. Having the "magic"
computer do a "magic" download and "magically" reconcile your bank
statement just can't be done in our world yet. Sorry. Steve

R
Mon Oct 09 17:22:48 CDT 2006

Well, I have to disagree on that. Money could auto-balance my checking
account easily.

Generally the only reconciling items for me are outstanding checks and
deposits in transit. Since I download most transactions rather than enter
them manually, I can spot the reconciling items easy because they are the
ones without an "E" in the Cleared column. They have no E because I entered
them manually before they cleared the bank and thus could not be downloaded
yet. After any downloading session, Money could simply add or subtract the
non-E transactions in my register (depending on whether they were deposits
or withdrawals) and my register balance would reconcile with the bank
balance any day of the week.

I haven't thought this through very carefully and certain weird situations
may cause a problem but this is how I reconcile in my head or on scrap paper
several times a month and it has worked fine for many years.

I'd like to see a quick auto balance feature in Money. It would definitely
save me some time.

Regards

Bill Wood



"Steve" <sjcohen730@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1160429344.859586.214950@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...


On Oct 8, 4:28pm, jpasmith <jpasm...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Does anyone know a way to have Money automatically reconcile to an
> electronic
> bank statement? i.e. when I am done downloading my latest bank
> transactions
> electronically, there are still some pending transactions in my own
> register
> that haven't cleared yet (e.g. ATM withdrawals, checks I've written, etc).
> So my own register doesn't match the bank's balance. The only way to
> reconcile the two balances is to wait until I get a paper statement and
> then
> do "Balance". Or I can manually add up the pending transactions and see if
> adding that to my own balance equals the bank's balance.
>
> I don't want to wait until I get my bank's monthly statement to reconcile.
> Any help out there?

Seriously, why would you think something like that could be done
"automatically". How would ANYONE except YOU know you had just written
a check and posted it to your register? Sometimes, you just have to use
your own brain to do things like reconciliations. Having the "magic"
computer do a "magic" download and "magically" reconcile your bank
statement just can't be done in our world yet. Sorry. Steve

jpasmith
Tue Oct 10 15:28:02 CDT 2006

... which is just what Quicken does, "automatically". Thanks, Bill.


"William R Wood" wrote:

> Well, I have to disagree on that. Money could auto-balance my checking
> account easily.
>
> Generally the only reconciling items for me are outstanding checks and
> deposits in transit. Since I download most transactions rather than enter
> them manually, I can spot the reconciling items easy because they are the
> ones without an "E" in the Cleared column. They have no E because I entered
> them manually before they cleared the bank and thus could not be downloaded
> yet. After any downloading session, Money could simply add or subtract the
> non-E transactions in my register (depending on whether they were deposits
> or withdrawals) and my register balance would reconcile with the bank
> balance any day of the week.
>
> I haven't thought this through very carefully and certain weird situations
> may cause a problem but this is how I reconcile in my head or on scrap paper
> several times a month and it has worked fine for many years.
>
> I'd like to see a quick auto balance feature in Money. It would definitely
> save me some time.
>
> Regards
>
> Bill Wood
>
>
>
> "Steve" <sjcohen730@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:1160429344.859586.214950@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> On Oct 8, 4:28pm, jpasmith <jpasm...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> > Does anyone know a way to have Money automatically reconcile to an
> > electronic
> > bank statement? i.e. when I am done downloading my latest bank
> > transactions
> > electronically, there are still some pending transactions in my own
> > register
> > that haven't cleared yet (e.g. ATM withdrawals, checks I've written, etc).
> > So my own register doesn't match the bank's balance. The only way to
> > reconcile the two balances is to wait until I get a paper statement and
> > then
> > do "Balance". Or I can manually add up the pending transactions and see if
> > adding that to my own balance equals the bank's balance.
> >
> > I don't want to wait until I get my bank's monthly statement to reconcile.
> > Any help out there?
>
> Seriously, why would you think something like that could be done
> "automatically". How would ANYONE except YOU know you had just written
> a check and posted it to your register? Sometimes, you just have to use
> your own brain to do things like reconciliations. Having the "magic"
> computer do a "magic" download and "magically" reconcile your bank
> statement just can't be done in our world yet. Sorry. Steve
>
>
>