Reconciliation issues: previous reconciliations now show inexplicable negative balances??

dlevin7

I'm a Quicken for Mac user and logged in today to balance one of my bank accounts. To my dismay, the balance from reconciliation today didn't add up at all, and upon inspection, it turns out that suddenly clusters of transactions in the register from *much earlier* in my account history (all of which had been previously reconciled & balanced) are showing inexplicable negative balances. So now my entire bank register appears to be buggy. Anyone have any tips on how to address this? It appears to be a local problem (with last month's reconcilation) but also a much broader problem (with much earlier, previously 'balanced' reconciliations). Wondering what to do: how can i reinstate a previously reconciled register? where are these clusters of negative balances coming from!? is there some fix or work-around? Or do I need to do something radical (and hugely time consuming) like delete the account and use time machine to try to reinstate an earlier, pre-bugged version? Would be super grateful for any tips!

jacobs

You can pursue a few different options…

One might be to try opening a backup file from prior to when this problem occurred. If everything is okay in the backup file, it may be easier to re-enter recent transactions and move forward with that file.

Another option is to try to locate the source of the problem in your current file. When you open Reconciliation History, scroll back to the earliest reconciliation which is now showing an error. When you open that reconciliation, it will show you what transactions have changed since the original reconciliation. Chances are, there are transactions which have been deleted, and the window gives you the option to restore those transactions. Sometimes, fixing one such problem in an older reconciliation will make all your subsequent reconciliations snap back into line. 

jacobs

You can pursue a few different options…

One might be to try opening a backup file from prior to when this problem occurred. If everything is okay in the backup file, it may be easier to re-enter recent transactions and move forward with that file.

Another option is to try to locate the source of the problem in your current file. When you open Reconciliation History, scroll back to the earliest reconciliation which is now showing an error. When you open that reconciliation, it will show you what transactions have changed since the original reconciliation. Chances are, there are transactions which have been deleted, and the window gives you the option to restore those transactions. Sometimes, fixing one such problem in an older reconciliation will make all your subsequent reconciliations snap back into line. 

dlevin7

@Jacobs: OMG, you just saved me some serious outlay for Advil/Tylenol! Thanks a million -- per your suggestion, I checked out Reconciliation History, found a transaction that had been deleted (no idea how that happened, but so be it), and voila! my reconciliation problem -- and all of the intervening clusters of negative balances -- disappeared. Thank you so much!!