My reconciliations aren't adding up

Jim Newman

I have a checking account and a credit card, from two different banks, that I'm trying to reconcile. In BOTH cases Quicken (premier for Mac) comes up with significant discrepancies from the statements. The opening balances, debits and credits are all identical between the statements and Quicken's reconcile function, but Quicken gets a different total (several hundred dollars different). When I do the math myself the bank numbers seem right. What can cause this? Can I fix it?

garysmith87

Most likely your Starting Balance in the Quicken account register has changed or was incorrect to start with.  If so, just change that entry to the correct initial starting balance.  

Other reasons may be that you disconnected your account from downloads and re-connected it...resulting in another separate Starting Balance transaction was entered.

Or, a previously reconciled transaction was deleted or changed.

Just asking, but do your sync Quicken to the mobile or web based app?  If so, that may explain why any of those happened. 

Jim Newman

Thanks, but I don't think those are the problems. The Quicken arithmetic is wrong. The previous month's balance, debits and credits in Quicken all match the bank statements for the two accounts, but the ending balances come up different. When I do the arithmetic myself they match the statements. I don't see how an opening balance or previous transactions could be causing these problems.

Quicken Alyssa

Hello @Jim Newman,

Thank you for choosing to come to the Community with your question. I have some follow-up questions for you if you don't mind.

How long has this been an issue for you? Was last month's reconciliation correct? Were there any changes that occurred right before this happened? Changes like OS updates, Quicken updates, any changes in the computer at all. 

If you reconciled last month and everything was fine then, I would like you to restore a backup from a time period BEFORE the issue. Then update your accounts and see if you still have the same issue.



Quicken Alyssa

Jim Newman

> @"Quicken Alyssa" said:
> Hello @"Jim Newman",
>
> Thank you for choosing to come to the Community with your question. I have some follow-up questions for you if you don't mind.
>
> How long has this been an issue for you? Was last month's reconciliation correct? Were there any changes that occurred right before this happened? Changes like OS updates, Quicken updates, any changes in the computer at all. 
>
> If you reconciled last month and everything was fine then, I would like you to restore a backup from a time period BEFORE the issue. Then update your accounts and see if you still have the same issue.
>
>
>
> Quicken Alyssa

Thank you, Alyssa. Both accounts reconciled correctly last month (in early October). The OS has been updated since then (now MacOS Monterey 12.0.1). Not sure about Quicken -- I just install the updates as they come. But looking at my automatic backups, there are pre- and post-migration backups on Oct 22 and a pre-update backup on October 2 (which I think would be before my last reconciliations). Restoring a backup sounds like a big job, I'm not sure when I can do that. But can you suggest what backup I should start with?

Quicken Anja

Hello @Jim Newman,

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Community to explain your problem to us, though I apologize that you are experiencing this and for not having received a response yet.

In regard to your last response; If the pre-update backup from October 2 is from before your last reconciliation, then we'd recommend starting with that backup file in particular.

Thank you!

Wallacean

I'm having the same problem. I've reconciled 7 times today, and it shows a big difference between starting balance and ending balance.

Quicken Alyssa

Hello @Wallacean,

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Community and add to this discussion. I do have some follow-up questions for you. 

How long has this been an issue for you? Have the account/accounts you're having issues with been disconnected and reconnected recently? 

If this hasn't been an issue very long, you can always restore a backup from a date before the issue, as we recommended earlier in this discussion. 

Do let us know how this goes and what result comes of it. 



Quicken Alyssa

garysmith87

I'll reiterate...

Most issues with Quicken's reconciliation not working after previously reconciling to balance the previous month is because the Starting Balance has somehow changed.

This can be due to Sync to Mobile turned on and the sync process itself changing the balance, or disconnecting the account from downloads and then re-connecting again, or even a recent software update.

Other less likely causes are a previously reconciled transaction deleted.  Or a transaction included in the reconcile process that is outside of the statement ending date.  

The only way to check this is to restore your backup data file after the previous reconcile and compare the Starting Balance in the register from the restored file and your current file.  

If those two are correct, then you'll need to hunt down the missing transaction(s).  Which can be a very painstaking process.