Quicken reconciliation not matching balanced bank statement

cbankston

I manually balance the checkbook with the bank statement then update the Quicken register with any new transactions and do the Quicken reconciliation. The manual balancing and Quicken reconciliation normally match and the final balance in the Quicken register matches the ending balance in the checkbook, as it did when I balanced the 1/15 and 2/15 bank statements. The 3/15 statement balanced with the checkbook, but the balance in the Quicken register and reconciliation is $1500.00 higher than the checkbook balance. There were only a few transactions since the previous statement none of which was $1500.00. There were 2 $750.00 checks with February dates, both of which cleared on the 2/15 statement and Quicken register. One of those checks was written and originally entered in the Quicken register in January, but I edited the date in the register and my checkbook to the February date that I actually gave the check to the payee. I changed no other field in the register entry. Is there any way the cleared balance in the reconciliation and ending balance in the register could have been affected by the changing of the date? Is there any way to view or redo a previous month's reconciliation?

Tom Young

It seems like those two $750 checks are the source of the problem, given that they amount to the same $1,500 difference.  I don't see how simply changing a date of one of those checks could affect the 3/15 reconciliation as moving the check from January to February wouldn't change the 3/15 reconciliation's "Opening Balance."

If "$750" checks aren't the norm for you, (i.e. these checks were associated with an unusual event), you might put $750 in the "Search" box in the register, which would bring up every transactions with "$750" as part of its amount, and scan the list to see if you can spot the problem.

You can "redo" previous reconciliations.  You do that by removing the "R" placed in the "Clr" column associated with the reconciliation of those statements.  This can be a little tricky if you routinely have a lot of timing differences associated with your reconciliations.  If you formally document your manual process of reconciliating the checkbook with the bank statement, and keep them, then you should have the information you need to "undo" the 1/15 and 2/15 reconciliations, making your "Opening Balance" in Quicken for the 1/15 reconciliation the correct starting number.

cbankston

Thanks for the suggestions. I did try the searches for $750 and $1500 and found only those 2 checks in 2022. I also think those checks are the most likely source of the problem, but it's strange that the result was a higher balance in the Quicken register than in the checkbook.

I will try to redo the earlier reconciliations as you described. I usually balance the checkbook and enter any recent transactions in Quicken within a day after getting the bank statement, so I typically have less than dozen uncleared transactions in the checkbook each time.

Rich 73

I'm having the same issue but Quicken is only adding $5 but still I'm not sure I trust it anymore.

Quicken Jared

Rich 73 said:

I'm having the same issue but Quicken is only adding $5 but still I'm not sure I trust it anymore.

Hello @Rich 73,

I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing these difficulties, as well. Thank you for following this discussion in search of a resolution.

Have you attempted 'redoing' any previous transactions using the methods recommended by @Tom Young? If so, we look forward to hearing about your results.

I am eager to hear more from you about this.

Thank you,

Quicken Jared 

cbankston

I tried the safe way. I restored a 1/3/22 backup, re-entered transactions since then, and reconciled with each month's bank statement. It worked. The Quicken register balance and checkbook balance now match. Fortunately I don't have a large number of transactions in the checking account each month.

Thanks again for the replies.

Quicken Jared

cbankston said:

I tried the safe way. I restored a 1/3/22 backup, re-entered transactions since then, and reconciled with each month's bank statement. It worked. The Quicken register balance and checkbook balance now match. Fortunately I don't have a large number of transactions in the checking account each month.

Thanks again for the replies.

@cbankston,   

It sounds as though the issue has been resolved. Thank you for taking the opportunity to follow up with us and keep us updated. I am happy that you were able to match the balances successfully.

Feel free to reach out again with any additional questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Quicken Jared