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Statement Management and Reconciliation in Quicken

Michael Wacey

Problem Statement:

Currently, Quicken lacks a robust system for managing and tracking account statements. This makes it difficult to:

Verify the completeness of statement records.
Efficiently reconcile transactions against specific statements.
Maintain a clear historical record of account balances and activity periods.
Easily access and reference official statement documents.
Proposed Solution:
Implement a comprehensive statement management feature within each account, enabling users to:
Create and Store Statement Records:
- Each statement record should include the following metadata:
  - Statement Production Date: The date the statement was generated by the financial institution.
  - Statement Period Start Date: The beginning date of the statement period.
  - Statement Period End Date: The ending date of the statement period.
  - Ending Balance: The final balance reported on the statement.
  - Optional fields: Opening Balance, Interest Earned/Paid, Fees, etc.
- Allow for manual entry and, ideally, automated import of statement data (e.g., from downloaded CSV or OFX files).
Link Transaction Records to Statements:
- During reconciliation, enable users to tag each transaction to a specific statement record.
- Provide a clear visual indicator (e.g., a column or icon) within the transaction register showing the associated statement.
- Allow filtering and reporting of transactions by statement.
Attach Statement Documents:
- Enable users to attach PDF (or other relevant file formats) copies of the official statements to the corresponding statement records.
- Provide a convenient way to view and access attached statement documents.
Statement Summary and Reporting:
- Generate summary reports showing a chronological list of statements for each account, including key metadata.
- Provide options to export statement data and reports.
- Show a visual indication of missing statements.
Reconciliation Enhancement:
- When reconciling, show the ending balance of the statement that is being used to reconcile.
- When reconciling, show the difference between the quicken calculated balance, and the ending balance of the statement.

User Benefits:

Improved accuracy and completeness of account records.
Streamlined and more efficient reconciliation process.
Enhanced audit trail and historical record-keeping.
Reduced risk of errors and discrepancies.
Easy access to official statement documents.
Improved ability to detect missing statements.
Development Considerations:
Data storage and indexing for efficient retrieval of statement records.
User interface design for intuitive statement management and reconciliation.
Support for various file formats for statement attachments.
Potential integration with financial institution APIs for automated statement retrieval.
Consider the user experience for users with very long transaction lists.
By implementing these enhancements, Quicken can significantly improve its statement management and reconciliation capabilities, providing users with a more robust and reliable financial management experience.

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Windows

Reviewed

Product Enhancements

Status: Reviewed

Comments

NotACPA

I disagree entirely.

You're demonstrating either: Expectations beyond what Q is intended for, Or a complete misunderstanding of the product.

Much of what you're demanding is already available.

If you want a more robust product, go buy Financial Navigator. It's ONLY $30,000 per year.

Chris_QPW

As stated, this "idea" will never even get enough votes to be considered.

First of it isn't an "idea", it is multiple ideas so one can't vote on "just one" or the ones they want. As a "do it all" kind of idea it is no better and an idea like: "I don't like your product, fix it". You might think by throwing out every possible thing you might want will up your chances of getting it all, but it does the exact opposite.

And second, I agree with @NotACPA much is what is stated is already there, or it for someone that is an "accountant" instead of a personal finance program.

UserDavidC

Here's another negative vote.

@Chris_QPW makes a great point. I rarely vote up an idea that has multiple items because invariably I disagree with one or more of the items.

Michael Wacey

It sounds like I went overboard in specifying how this change would work. It is actually a simple change and completely in line with Quicken storing transactions and allowing for reconciliation. Here is a simpler approach.

Could Quicken's reconciliation process be enhanced to record the specific statement details (like the closing date) for each transaction when it's marked as reconciled? Right now, the 'R' status confirms it was reconciled, but not when or against which statement. Adding this link would greatly improve historical tracking and make troubleshooting discrepancies much easier.

Chris_QPW

That does seem like a much more doable feature. For that I would vote for it.

I suggest submitting a new idea to that effect just so everyone is clear of what they would be voting for.

EDIT. I see you already did that. I have voted for it.

JerryBfromMN

I am a retired CPA and I have been using Quickbooks and Quicken since the early 1990s. I use Quicken to track my investments and Quicbooks for all other personal financial information, including all savings, checking, and other financial records. After finishing the calendar year in Quicken I post summary entries in Quickbooks at year end. I have always wished Quickbooks could manage investments, but it will never happen. I have always been frustrated using Quicken in that I cannot lock down periods (months) to prevent changes to posted and reconciled transactions. My wife uses Quickbooks to post all her activity (checking and credit card). No secrets in our family.

Recently I began teaching one of my sisters how to use Quicken to get a grip on her financial status. It is incredibly frustrating because it is so easy to screw up downloaded transactions and also ones that have been reconciled. I find after 6 months of training that it is just easier for me to do all the work, instead of spending hours trying to figure out what she has changed and inadvertently screwed up.

P.S. A few years ago Quickbooks move away from a pure desktop system to a subscription service. I tried the subscription product for a few months. During the renewal period they upped the fee to hundreds of dollars per month. I went back to my 2014 desktop version and will have to use that for the rest of my life. Sadly there is no comparable product on the market.

jtemplin

I'd be very curious to know how many Quicken users reconcile against statements vs. the downloaded bank balance. I haven't looked at paper statements for years. I reconcile about twice a month against the bank balance. I don't have need for the audit trail OP is apparently suggesting.

It's a mindset change. I recall having a conversation with my spouse who was struggling with reconciling against paper statements that had to be manually downloaded first. I said, if you think about what reconciling does (i.e., comparing your register against what the bank thinks is your balance), you could theoretically reconcile every day. Not that you would want to, mind you, but being tied to paper statements seems last century to me.

Seems to me, as mentioned by other users, if you need that kind of audit trail, you probably need a more "accounting" solution than Quicken.

Chris_QPW

I personally, do reconcile pretty much every day to the online balance. I like the approach of doing a tiny amount everyday over doing a lot at a longer period of time.

From my perspective when I see people talk about "Quicken lacks a robust system for managing and tracking account statements" especially if they mention that they are an accountant, I think that they really don't understand the user group that Quicken is targeted for.

And maybe don't understand that it REALLY matters what a program was designed to do.

Software is built up layer by layer. No different than a building that has a foundation and then builds up from there.

One of the MAJOR differences between Quicken and QuickBooks or any accounting program is that Quicken was never designed for "auditing".

When you design for such a system you ensure that any changes have to go through some system that makes sure that is "authorized". That way you can block things like changing past records.

Quicken wasn't designed this way, it is for the average person that for the most part sees no problem at all with changing in a 10-year-old transaction. This also allows flexibility to the programmers. Instead of going through one "tunnel" they can call database functions from various parts of the program was they see fit.

On the other hand, Quicken could have used more of the "accounting approach" which is very evident from the long-standing bug that changes the Opening Balance in certain circumstances when it shouldn't, and Quicken Inc's inability to fix this problem.

But as I said there are something that are just next too impossible to change after the main foundation of the program is put in. This is the same reason you will never see a useful undo option in Quicken Windows (even though Quicken Mac has it, because it is a newer total rewrite. And Quicken Windows will never be totally rewritten, Quicken Mac's rewrite started in 2007 and isn't finished to this day).

UserDavidC

I balance my bank accounts monthly based on the paper statements (well, actually a pdf of my statement).

I find that the process that I need to use in Quicken for this is fine. I don't have any problems with it.

Even in my main checking account (which has most of my transactions), I don't have enough transactions to make balancing daily or weekly worthwhile for me.

Quicken Alyssa

Hello All,

This Idea seems to have stalled, and we would like to gauge the current interest in this request. Please vote if you have not done so already!

Thank you!