Why does my reconcile always come up off? (Q Mac)

Jim31@

For almost a year now, when I reconcile, my balance is always off. My adjustments are always in the negative and there are no missing transactions. This has already led to one overdraft fee! I have even gone through with statements to confirm all my downloaded transactions are correct. It's almost like the math isn't adding up somehow.

I've been using Quicken since 2008 back when you had to purchase a disc at Wal-Mart. This never happened when with the purchased versions before the subscription service. What gives?

Frankx

HI @Jim31@

Please give us more information so that we'll have something to go on to help you.  Are you unable to connect your accounts to your Quicken file?  Are you unable to reconcile your accounts?  Do you believe this is caused because some transactions are not being downloaded into your Quicken datafile?  Or is it something else that is causing these problems? How do you connect your bank account in Quicken?  Is Quicken Bill Pay or paying your bills through Quicken part of these problems? 

Any additional information will help us to help you.

Frankx

Jim31@

My back accounts are setup for download. For some reason, my primary checking account will never reconcile correctly. When I do the reconcile, my register balance is always higher than my actual account balance. I am never able to find the discrepancy as all the downloaded transactions match my statements. In order to get the balances to match I have to make an adjustment and it's always in the negative.

Frankx

Hi again @Jim31@

A few additional questions...  I assume that the amount of the difference changes each month - but what is the dollar range - is it always less or more than $100.00? ...less or more than $50.00?  Could the issue be not recording of (or incorrectly recording)  monthly service fees or other monthly charges (e.g. some banks even charge for Quicken connections)?

Have you tried doing a side-by-side comparison of entries (one-by-one) on the bank statement against those in the Quicken register?  If you haven't done that lately, that should be your next step.

Frankx

Jim31@

It changes but this month its over $500! I have done that in the past when this has happened, side-by-side comparison and there are no extra or fewer transactions.

jacobs

When you click Reconcile, on the start-up screen, are you using "Use Statement Balance"? Is the Ending Balance shown on the right side unchanged from your previous reconciliation? If the previous ending balance agrees between Quicken and your bank statement, it's mathematically impossible that the bank statement and your Quicken register for the current month contain exactly the same items, yet total different amounts. So there has to be something not yet identified which is causing the discrepancy.

NotACPA

When you begin the Reconciliation, does the Prior Balance equal the closing balance from the immediately prior statement?

Jerry_

@Jim31, I want to mention a procedure that I utilize in helping the Auto Reconciling Function from time to time.  Here is what I do:

1. Go to the affected account, and temporarily add a Column by the name of Downloaded Posting Date.  - (Select the Gear Icon to the far right in the account header, select the Register Columns menu entry, and checkmark the Downloaded Posting Date Entry). (If the Ctr Column is missing, apply the procedure utilized in adding the Downloaded Posting Date. to add the Ctr (Cleared) Column), 

2.If any transaction does show a Downloaded Posting Date. scroll over to the Ctr (Cleared) Column and enter a "R" (reconciled) to show the transaction as being reconciled. Update the transaction. (Of course, those transactions not having a Downloaded Posting Date should not have a "R" in the Ctr (Cleared) Column).

3. Utilize the steps in #1 to remove the Downloaded Posting Date column; if so desired. I would leave the Ctr Column present on the Account Screen.

If you have found downloaded posting dates and have marked the affected transactions by the above-mentioned steps, future auto reconciliation should be no problem for the affected Account. At least, the procedure created no problems for me. I hope that this Procedure might help you.

Running on the Quicken Windows Premier Subscription Plan
Retired - former Computer System Analyst

jacobs

@Jerry_ Thank you for trying to help, but you are using Quicken Windows and this question is in a Quicken Mac thread. 

pwdouglas13

I have resolved the problems after working three days updating files and verifying the corrections.

Jerry_

jacobs, 
Sorry. But I was certain that I read a post here from Jim31@ that he was running Windows 10 Pro. It seems that particular post, however, has been deleted.

UKR

ISTR some older discussions where Q Mac treated the account register's Opening Balance transaction as a "placeholder transaction" and, with every download, recalculated the OB amount as the sum of all transactions plus the Online Balance reported by the bank.

This would go on causing imbalances every time until fixed by editing (or deleting and replacing) the OB transaction with a properly dated one whose amount matched the bank statement on opening date.

Can a Q Mac expert user comment here, please, and provide details on how to do this correctly? (I'm just a frequent flyer here in the Community, reading lots of discussions and not a Mac user)

jacobs

@UKR I think you're describing a "Live Opening Balance" in a Quicken register. The Live Opening Balance is calculated by totaling all transactions in the register from the online balance downloaded from the financial institution: 

There is a similar Live Balance Adjustment which can be created by clicking the little down arrow to the right of Today's Balance/Projected Balance on the top right of any register screen, and selecting 
Adjust Account Balance at the bottom of the drop-down menu:

I believe these probably cause as many, if not more, problems than they are intended to solve. Because the amounts can change, it can make pinning down a discrepancy in the account more difficult. I recommend only using static opening balances or adjustments, and manually changing them if ever needed.  (The time when a Live Opening Balance can be quite useful is when someone is adding a new account to Quicken and manually entering older transactions.)

UKR

Thanks, @jacobs , for this explanation.

I second your opinion that Opening Balance transactions should be static ("laid in concrete") and should never be changed by Quicken.

@Jim31@ and all others should review the settings of their OB transactions and ensure that they are using a correct static balance amount.

mrdadd

I have the same problem reconciling. I have used Quicken to reconcile my accounts for 28 years & never had the slightest problem until about a year ago. Since then reconciling has require balance adjustment of thousands of dollars. I do NOT use a live balance because it makes no sense. I try to reconcile the same way I used to before my Mac. I don't know how this great software that I NEVER had any problem which has suddenly become less than useless. The worst has occurred since version 6.5 gave me 5-additional log ins which I occasionally accidentally clicked before I realized what was going on.

jacobs

From what I've been reading on this forum, there have been problems with Quicken Cloud data somehow overwriting transactions in some people's local data files, messing up prior transactions and reconciliations which should typically never be touched months and years later. It's hard to piece together if the same thing is affecting everyone who reports this. the only thing I can offer is that if you have Cloud Sync enabled, and you don't really need to use the mobile app or web interface, turn it off and leave it off. (Normally I'd say to also reset the Cloud file, to blow it away and prevent any future interference from the Cloud, but some people have reported this creates additional problems, although that should not be possible.)