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reconciliation issue

ddavidson824

I am using Quicken Classic Deluxe on a subscription I bought just a few weeks ago. I am using this for personal, home use, not for business or anything sophisticated.

I started a brand-new Quicken Windows file on August 5 with an Opening Balance equal to the bank balance. I had gotten a previous Quicken file into a mess that I could not remedy and needed a clean start date. Later, Quicken downloaded two earlier transfer transactions ($900 on 8/3 and $500 on 8/5). All subsequent transactions are reconciled, but these two remain cleared (C). During reconciliation, checking them creates a $1,400 difference; leaving them unchecked results in a perfect reconciliation. What is the correct way to repair the reconciliation history without altering valid transactions?

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Sceptic

@ddavidson824 I am not sure this will be helpful, but I asked Copilot and here are some steps it created for reconciliation -

1. Confirm the Opening Balance

Open the account register.
Locate the Opening Balance transaction.
Compare it to the bank’s beginning balance from your first statement.
Correct it if it changed (this is the most common cause).

2. Look for Changed or Deleted Reconciled Transactions

Sort the register by Clr column.
Review all R (reconciled) transactions.
Check for:
- Amount changes
- Date changes
- Category changes
- Deleted reconciled items
Restore or fix anything altered.

3. Identify Duplicate Transactions

Sort by Date or Amount.
Look for two identical entries (manual + downloaded).
Delete the duplicate or manually match them.

4. Ensure All Downloaded Transactions Are Accepted

Click Update Now.
Accept all downloaded transactions into the register.
Make sure they are marked c (cleared) if the bank shows them as cleared.

5. Check Transfer Transactions

Transfers affect two accounts.
If one side was edited or deleted, reconciliation breaks.
Verify both sides exist and match exactly.

6. Search for Missing or Deleted Transactions

Run Reports → Banking → Transaction.
Look for gaps or missing expected entries.
Re‑enter anything deleted.

7. Verify You’re Reconciling to the Correct Balance

Prefer Reconcile using statement balance.
Online balance can differ due to pending transactions or download timing.

q_lurker

It seems likely that the current Opening Balance value in your Quicken account already includes the $1400 debit? Perhaps the bank was including those as pending transactions and reported a balance to you where those two transactions had already been taken into account.

If that is the case, I'd be inclined to:

move the date of the Opening Balance back to say 8/2,
add the $1,400 to the amount, and
edit the two transactions changing their Clr status to 'R'.

Hope this helps

ddavidson824

Looking at my August 5 bank statement, the Opening Balance I entered ($1,601.99) is the ending balance after both the $900 transfer on August 3 and the $500 transfer on August 5. Does that mean those two downloaded transfers should be marked reconciled and the Opening Balance adjusted upward by $1,400 so that it represents the balance before those transfers?

q_lurker

Does that mean those two downloaded transfers should be marked reconciled and the Opening Balance adjusted upward by $1,400 so that it represents the balance before those transfers?

Yes. If you want to include the two transfers in your account register, you need to use an opening balance that does not include those transfers.

ddavidson824

I know I am asking a lot, but I am trying to get these opening balances correct.

I understand the Opening Balance should represent the balance before those transfers. These two transactions are transfers from checking to savings and the corresponding deposits correctly appear in my savings account. If I adjust the checking Opening Balance upward by $1,400, should the checking-side transfer transactions remain in the register as reconciled transfers, or should they be removed? I'm trying to preserve the integrity of the linked transfer between the two accounts.

q_lurker

If they are currently ‘linked transfers’, that is likely the proper setup. Deleting on one side will delete the other side. That would not seem to be what you want, so I would not encourage that.

Reconciling on one side does not transfer to a reconcile on the other side. It can be correct to have one side reconciled and not the other. Reconciliation is a within-the-account activity.

Keep asking away as needed.

ddavidson824

I really appreciate your help. Thank you. I will work on it again and see how it goes.