Why doesn't opening cleared balance match cleared balance that was entered.

Dennis19

Last month, and for years before that I diligently reconciled my credit card statement against the charges shown on the Quicken Reconcile screen and have never had a problem. This month I entered the charges shown on the statement and the ending balance in the data entry screen. I pay off the charges every month, so nothing is carried forward. PROBLEMS: (1) This report shows a prior ending statement date that does not match the prior ending statement from last month. Amazingly, the screen correctly shows the last reconciliation date in the finance section of the report, a bi-polar sighting. (2) But that is background because the real problem is, I enter $927.71 as the charges and the cleared balance. But when the reconcile screen opens, the cleared balance is $1813.01 which is $461.18 more than entered. Then, after reconciliation, the balance is $424.41. Interestingly in November 2018 I cleared a $424.41 charge.
What is going on and how can I fix this? Fudge it with fake charges, etc. or get the program right?

splasher

If the beginning balance of the reconcile is changing from what they were, it is because the Reconciled transactions have changed.

The opening balance of the reconcile is the sum total of all of the R transactions in the register and is calculated at the time of reconciliation and not stored for future reference.

What could change that # is one of the following:

1. a blank or C was changed to a R
2. an R was changed to a blank or C
3. the amount of an R was changed
4. a new transaction was marked R to begin with
5. a R transaction was deleted

BTW, when I reconcile, I enter $0 for the payments and charges, entering only the Ending Statement Date and the ending Balance.  Entering payment and charge totals is not required and IMO a waste of time.

Dennis19

Thanks for the explanation. It fits with the way the credit card company reports credits and adjustments and I make my entries.