Everything reconciles EXCEPT bottom line on Quicken - this is wild!!

mylan

I reconciled Quicken and it was perfect with my bank statement. I just glanced at the bottom line at the end of October and it is giving me a different figure than the reconciled balance. It has the correct figure at the end of last month. This is a first - what is going on???

Boatnmaniac

@mylan - Which view are you looking at?  Register?  Calendar?  Bill and Income Reminders?

mylan

Register

Boatnmaniac

There are several things that can affect what you see for balances in the register.  These are 3 of the more common things that can adversely affect your register view and make it appear that account balances are out of whack:

• Register is sorted incorrectly:  Check to make sure the register is sorted properly by date by clicking on the date column header and then scrolling to the bottom of the register.
• Register includes Reminders:  Upper right Gear icon > Reminders to show in register > Don't show reminders (if you don't want reminders shown in your register).  (Personally, I really like Reminders showing in my register because it gives me a very clear picture of future balances so I can better avoid overdraft.)
• Check for uncleared and unreconciled transactions in the register:  Click on the Clr column header to sort the register by cleared status.  Since you just reconciled your account it should show only R status transactions.  If you find any C or Blank status transactions, this could be the problem.  In this case you will need to determine if they are valid and should remain in the register or if they are duplicates or otherwise invalid and should be deleted.

Let me know if adjusting for any of these resolves your issue.

Tom Young

"I reconciled Quicken and it was perfect with my bank statement."

It's not entirely clear what you are saying here.  Does "perfect with my bank statement" mean that the statement balance shown by the bank exactly matched your register balance on the statement date?  Or, does it mean that over on the Reconciliation screen the "Statement Ending Balance" was the same as the "Cleared Balance", with a "Difference" between the two of $0?

Assuming for the moment that you were really referring to the latter situation with that "perfect with my bank statement" wording, it's entirely possible, even quite typical, that the register balance as of a statement date might not agree with the balance shown by the bank on that statement, but still have the "Cleared Balance" agree to the "Statement Ending Balance."

The most common reason for this situation, I'd guess, is either outstanding checks, (checks you've written before the statement date that haven't cleared the bank), or deposits in transit, (deposits made before the statement date that haven't cleared the bank), though there can be others.  These would be picked up in the 3rd bullet point posted by @Boatnmaniac above.  Those are the items you need to look at, and think about. 

If you find outstanding checks that haven't yet cleared the bank, checks you know are correct and will be cashed as some point, leave them alone.  They'll get that "R" symbol with next month's reconciliation.  The same goes for deposits in transit; if they're legit, let them be.

A reconciliation doesn't mean that the bank's statement balance agrees to your Quicken balance, it means that you can reasonably and properly explain the differences between the two balances.