I cannot reconcile my bank statement

Jerry Montgomery

I am using Deluxe 2020 version 5.14.3 on my MacBook. I reconciled my bank statement last month, but cannot get it done this month. I have counted every transaction in my Quicken and compared it to my statement---deposit and debits, etc.--gone through and marked every transaction several times, done everything I can to figure this out. I am getting nowhere. I don't want to adjust the balance, as it will just create further problems. What am I not thinking of? Also, what happens when I reconcile a particular item last month, it accidentally gets deleted (my Mac keyboard is way too sensitive and this happens a lot), and I have to add it back in and singularly reconcile that one item again. Does that mess up the reconciliation? I am going crazy.

smayer97

To answer the last part first, if you know for sure of a transaction that has been accidentally deleted (and assuming that you cannot correct the delete by simply choosing Undo), you can add it and manually mark it as reconciled...one way is to OPT-Click the CLR field (it must be made visible in your register) which will cycle through Blank, Cleared and Reconciled statuses.

For the rest, please read: FAQ: Why Reconciliation opening balance has changed and no longer agrees

smayer97

Jerry Montgomery said:

... I have, in the past, noted checks and amounts as VOID, still leaving the amount in that column ...

If you are leaving the amount in the Amount column (or Payment/Deposit columns) this would affect your reconciliation, especially if you marked them as reconciled.

Does the opening balance in Quicken match the closing balance of your last reconciliation? If not, then something in your data has changed and you need to identify what it is. The article should guide you to track down the possible causes.

Jerry Montgomery

I read one of the articles you mentioned (I think). It was specific to an earlier version (3.5) that talks about a change in 2016 that changed the way reconcile works. I've never had a problem with checks I entered with amount and then voided or were not reconciled (that I know of), but followed what this article talked about. I imagine the changes made to version 3.5 are still valid today. Yes, the opening balance (which I had been changing to match the bank's balance) this time does match the closing balance of the last reconciliation. After reading the article (and spending way too much time on the problem), I just okayed an adjustment. We'll see what the next bank reconciliation looks like. I hate doing adjustments because the problems of doing so have followed me. Anyway, thank you so much for your comments and references. I think I understand more after reading the articles.

smayer97

To answer the last part first, if you know for sure of a transaction that has been accidentally deleted (and assuming that you cannot correct the delete by simply choosing Undo), you can add it and manually mark it as reconciled...one way is to OPT-Click the CLR field (it must be made visible in your register) which will cycle through Blank, Cleared and Reconciled statuses.

For the rest, please read: FAQ: Why Reconciliation opening balance has changed and no longer agrees

Jerry Montgomery

Thank you for your suggestions. I was reconciled last month. I have, in the past, noted checks and amounts as VOID, still leaving the amount in that column so that I know how much it was that I voided. It should not affect me going forward, so I don't see a problem there. I also have compared my checks and deposits against the banks statement, still to no avail. I keep wondering if the new version I recently downloaded has some algorhythm (sp?) that I don't see that would affect it. I read the article, and it was confusing to me. According to the bank statement and my figures, I have more money in my account that the bank says I do. I'm lost as to what to do now. I hate having to do adjustments. Thanks for your attempt to help.

smayer97

Jerry Montgomery said:

... I have, in the past, noted checks and amounts as VOID, still leaving the amount in that column ...

If you are leaving the amount in the Amount column (or Payment/Deposit columns) this would affect your reconciliation, especially if you marked them as reconciled.

Does the opening balance in Quicken match the closing balance of your last reconciliation? If not, then something in your data has changed and you need to identify what it is. The article should guide you to track down the possible causes.

Jerry Montgomery

I read one of the articles you mentioned (I think). It was specific to an earlier version (3.5) that talks about a change in 2016 that changed the way reconcile works. I've never had a problem with checks I entered with amount and then voided or were not reconciled (that I know of), but followed what this article talked about. I imagine the changes made to version 3.5 are still valid today. Yes, the opening balance (which I had been changing to match the bank's balance) this time does match the closing balance of the last reconciliation. After reading the article (and spending way too much time on the problem), I just okayed an adjustment. We'll see what the next bank reconciliation looks like. I hate doing adjustments because the problems of doing so have followed me. Anyway, thank you so much for your comments and references. I think I understand more after reading the articles.