I want to reconcile as of 12-31-2019 and ignore the fact that there's no prior reconcilation

Winemaker

I want to begin reconciling as of 12-31-2019 and ignore all figures prior to that. I want to leave the prior Quicken numbers alone but reconcile everything after that. How can I get Quicken to ignore everything prior?

Chris_QPW

You can't.  You might set all the previous transactions to reconciled, and if needed put in an adjustment transaction to on 12-31-2019.

To change the reconcile status select the first transaction, and then hold down the shift key to select the last transaction, from there you can right click and select Reconcile status.

For a transaction to adjust the balance you put in a transaction where the category is [This Account], where "This Account" is the one you are working in.

Frankx

Hi @Winemaker,

As a warning - if you follow the steps below, your bank account register will not necessarily include all transactions because this process will adjust your account balance to be brought up to date - without properly reconciling the account - so that you can move forward with a reasonable facsimile of the balance at 12/31/19.

Just to be clear - you don't really want to reconcile any transactions before the year 2000.  If that is correct, you should:

1) Open up the account register;
2) Click on the "Gear" icon in the upper right;
3) Select "Reconcile":
4) in the pop-up window, check the "Use paper statement" button and enter 12/31/19 in the date field;
5) Enter the bank statement balance as of 12/31/19 in the "Ending balance" field (if you don't have the bank statement, enter the balance of the account shown in Quicken as of 12/31/19);
6) On the next screen click the "Mark All" button;
7) Click "Done"
8) The "Adjust Balance" window will open - click the "Adjust" button.
9) Either "save" or "don't save" the reconciliation report.

Once you've completed the above, you can move forward and complete your reconciliations that will cover periods after 12/31/19.

Let me know if you have any followups.

Frankx

Chris_QPW

I will put in one warning about the procedure that @Frankx posted.

Quicken includes "All reconciled transactions" in the calculation for the starting online balance and for the totals in the debit/payment columns.

So entering a statement ending date of 12/31/2019 will not prevent it from including any reconciled transaction after that date.

So to do it that way and get the right amount for the adjustment you would have to make sure that none of the transactions after 12/31/2019 are reconciled (and then re-reconcile them after this is finished).

Also the adjustment dialog will default to today, you will need to change it to 12/31/2019.

Winemaker

Otherwise, I'll have ten years worth of reconciliation to do and for what?

Chris_QPW

Winemaker said:

Otherwise, I'll have ten years worth of reconciliation to do and for what?

To have the reports and such for those past dates to be exactly right, would be one reason, but it really is a personal decision on what information you need and the accuracy.