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QMac: stupid new reconcile method

In quicken 2.9, they have decided to "help" me. They want to reconcile using my quicken balance instead of my statement balance. This does not help me. I use several "fake" accounts to hide money from myself. Those transactions to and from those fake accounts do not reconcile. Therefore my quicken balance is very different from my bank balance. If I cannot use bank balances, I cannot check the accuracy of my bank statement. Can someone tell me of a way to change a setting in quicken to get rid of this?

Comments

  • John_in_NCJohn_in_NC SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    When in the reconcile mode, click the “Back” button. Then choose to reconcile to a statement.
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017
    I too am have a problem with reconciliation.  Three times since January 2017 Quicken carries the wrong balance forward.  Twice the amount exceeded $1700.  August was a difference of $0.01.  What is wrong.  I have used Quicken since 1991 and never had an accounting issue before this. 
  • Quicken KathrynQuicken Kathryn Administrator admin
    edited October 2017
    Hi All,
    The reconcile feature in the new release of Quicken for Mac 2.9 has been updated to match changes in the later products.  You can read more about how to use reconcile here: https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/quicken-mac-v3-5-reconcile-troubleshooting



    Hope this helps,
    Quicken Kathryn
    Quicken Kathryn
    Community Administrator
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017

    When in the reconcile mode, click the “Back” button. Then choose to reconcile to a statement.

    This does not solve the problem as the software does not correctly use the starting balance I input. Because of that, it wants to put in a bogus multi thousand dollar transaction to "fix" things.
  • Unknown Member
    edited August 2018
    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.
  • jacobsjacobs SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    David, all I can say is that the newer reconcile method does make sense -- it's actually more accurate. And it does work for users -- sometimes after a painful period to get back in balance the first time, typically by getting rid of adjustment transactions Quicken inserts. Once you're squared away the first time, it works fine. It's definitely not a reason to abandon using Quicken over this, in my opinion. You may decide otherwise, but I just wanted to offer the opinion.
    QMac 2007 & QMac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    It is not more accurate because it forces you to accept what the bank is telling you. It is not a check on the bank.
  • jacobsjacobs SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    David, perhaps I'm not understanding what you want to do. What the bank says on a bank statement is reality, and you ultimately need to reconcile to it. If the bank made an error, you can contact the bank, but their version of your balance and your version of your balance must be reconciled in some way. I reconcile to my monthly bank statement, not to an online balance. What do you mean that you want to reconcile to your Quicken balance? Reconciling is matching your balance in Quicken to your bank account -- either an online balance or a monthly statement balance. So when you say you want to reconcile to your Quicken balance, what exactly do you mean? 
    QMac 2007 & QMac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    The bank sends me a statement. I do not download transactions. That is also accepting the bank. I agreed with the starting balance on the statement or I would have protested the last statement. If I cannot take the transactions I agree with and get their ending balance, there is an error. Your method of reconciliation does not me to do that because you do not start from the statement opening balance.
  • John_in_NCJohn_in_NC SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    jacobs: I think I understand what David's problem is. As we know, the new reconcile now pre-populates the Starting Balance field with the sum of reconciled transactions (as it should). Previous versions didn't do this, and simply allowed users to type in a starting balance and allowing them to reconcile to $0 even if their account balance was way off. This was corrected in the new reconcile.

    Now, if you type in a different starting balance (such as from a statement), the program will accept this, but then an adjustment is already created to overcome this discrepancy. See below in a copy of 2015 recently updated to the new reconcile format. Notice the Adjustment from my wildly entered starting balance:

    image

    David, you might not want to hear this, but I highly suspect your prior transactions (and cleared/reconciled status) are the source of your problems. The sum of cleared reconciled transactions should be the starting balance on your statement. If the sum of reconciled transactions does not equal your starting balance, you have prior problems you must resolve. Or, you take the adjustment.

    This is not a download/manual entry issue
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    The point is that quicken should be a tool. The only balance that matters is the one the bank says is right. Quicken should be a tool to help me verify the bank balance. The new reconciliation method does not do that. It is designed to make Quicken “accurate”. I do not care. What I want is a way to make the computer do what I used to do by hand. Anything else is trusting the bank. All of this move towards downloading transactions and the new reconciliation method is helping the banks defraud us.
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    I should add that I used to have complete control of this issue. I previous “upgrade”to quicken broke that solution as well.
  • jacobsjacobs SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    David, if you don't care to find what's incorrect in your Quicken data, then simply accept the adjustment Quicken creates to make your account agree with the starting balance you type in, as John says. Again, this has noting to do with downloading transactions, and certainly not with banks defrauding you. I still manually enter all my transactions, as I have for more than two decades. (I don't believe my bank is out to defraud me or others -- rip us off with ever-higher fees, perhaps, but not try to slip false data past me.) 

    As John explained, the sum of all your debits and credits in your Quicken data file, from the beginning to today, do not add up to the starting balance on your bank statement. That could be due to lots of different things we could explore -- but you can decide you don't care why and just want to make an adjustment so you can move forward. (Just make sure you take into any uncleared transactions, since those transactions are in Quicken but not not the bank statement; if you don't account for them, you'll face the need for another adjustment next month.) You DO have complete control over the situation.
    QMac 2007 & QMac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    This comment totally misses the point. Accepting a correction that I do not understand from a piece of software completely invalidates the data. Any method that forces me to do that is in error.
  • jacobsjacobs SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    David, sorry, but I think you're missing the point. On one hand, you're saying you shouldn't need to accept a correction to force your data to match the statement, and on the other hand you say you don't care why your existing Quicken data is wrong. You can't have it both ways! You either have to find what's off and correct your previous Quicken data so Quicken shows the correct starting balance on your bank statement, or you have to make an adjustment to force Quicken to match the starting balance on your bank statement. Which way you choose to get past this is up to you, but you can't reject both of those options and say the software is stupid -- there *is* a way forward, and you just have to choose one path or the other. 

    Yes, the previous versions of Quicken 2015 allowed users to overlook data that was incorrect in the data file, and this version now forces users to deal with past errors one way or the other. And once you do, life continues on happily. 

    Please understand I'm not trying to argue with you; I'm only trying to help you get past the mental block I think you're having over this issue.
    QMac 2007 & QMac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    I am saying that the software should be my tool. It should work in a way that I understand. I should not be a tool of the software. That is what you are trying to tell me to do. If the I do not understand the software, I need new software. If the quicken company agrees with me fine. If not, they should change back to,something I understand.
  • jacobsjacobs SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    You're saying you don't understand, you don't care to understand, but it's Quicken's fault for not working like you think it should. I'll bow out now, since I've tried to explain there are multiple paths forward for you.

    I don't work for Quicken, but I feel confident in saying that Quicken is not going to go back in time -- to an old reconcile method which was flawed and which has been fixed -- because you choose not to follow any of the options.

    If you'd rather move to some different software because you don't care to understand how to fix your reconcile issue with Quicken, then good luck and best wishes.
    QMac 2007 & QMac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • smayer97smayer97 SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2018
    Though this will not solve your problem right now, since you will to find the root cause of the discrepancies, there is a feature that exists in QM2007 that could be of help to track these types of discrepancies MUCH FASTER. 

    You may want to add your VOTE to Track/store Prior Reconciled Statements/periods.

    First, click on the underlined link above to go there, then click VOTE at the top of THAT page, so your will vote count for THIS feature and increase its visibility to the developers by seeking to have the features you need or desire end up in the latest version.

    While you are at it, you may want to add your VOTE to related IDEAS found on the List of Requests for Reconciliation Process. Click on the underlined link, then follow the instructions to add your vote to more related ideas. Your VOTES matter!

    (If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)
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    (
    Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)

  • Unknown Member
    edited August 2018
    My point is that I do not have a problem. Quicken has a problem with the way I want to work. They can solve it or I will find different software that does not have a problem. My accounts are in order. Why should I accept a multi thousand dollar correction so that Quicken thinks they are? Once I do that, I no longer am sure they are in order.
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    You will never convince me that any method that insists on putting a multi thousand dollar correction in what I consider to be good data is not flawed.
  • jacobsjacobs SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017

    My point is that I do not have a problem. Quicken has a problem with the way I want to work. They can solve it or I will find different software that does not have a problem. My accounts are in order. Why should I accept a multi thousand dollar correction so that Quicken thinks they are? Once I do that, I no longer am sure they are in order.

    I'll try one more time: David, your accounts actually are NOT in order... if you add up every deposit and withdrawal in your Quicken account, you'll find it doesn't match your bank statement. That's exactly what the new reconcile process is telling you.

    Quicken used to let you ignore this by entering your own starting balance, but this proved problematic for many people because it was masking the underlying problem with their data, so they "fixed" it. The problem is that for some people, like you, this requires either hunting down the discrepancy(ies) in the past (which for some is very simple and for some is time-consuming), or making a one-time adjustment to get your Quicken transactions back in line with your bank statement. 

    Essentially, Quicken used to let you add 1 + 1 and set the total to 3. They stopped allowing that because users eventually had some other problem due to the underlying wrong total, and then blamed Quicken because it had let you cheat.

    You say "Quicken has a problem with the way I want to work." In reality, you have a problem with the way Quicken works, which is now mathematically consistent.

    So, as you keep saying, your option is to go find different software. I believe you would spend far more time researching, learning, and migrating your data to another program that you would to simply fix the underlying problem with your data -- but the choice is obviously yours. I'd just suggest that you don't keep spending time complaining about your perceived problem with Quicken. All Quicken 2016 and Quicken 2017 users went through this change in the reconciliation process a year ago -- some with a lot of grumbling -- but because it's now correct, I think you're wasting your breath complaining here (to fellow users, not management) that they should go back to letting you set 1+1=3.
    QMac 2007 & QMac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Unknown Member
    edited October 2017

    My point is that I do not have a problem. Quicken has a problem with the way I want to work. They can solve it or I will find different software that does not have a problem. My accounts are in order. Why should I accept a multi thousand dollar correction so that Quicken thinks they are? Once I do that, I no longer am sure they are in order.

    I will try one more time as well. Here are two statements.

    I know exactly where every penny of my money is.

    I told my financial software exactly where every penny of my money is.

    You seem to feel the first is only true if the second one is true. I do not. The new reconciliation method requires the second one to be true. I am not interested in that. I am not interested in the software introducing fake transactions to make the second one true. The first one is true for me.
  • smayer97smayer97 SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017

    My point is that I do not have a problem. Quicken has a problem with the way I want to work. They can solve it or I will find different software that does not have a problem. My accounts are in order. Why should I accept a multi thousand dollar correction so that Quicken thinks they are? Once I do that, I no longer am sure they are in order.

    Let me give this a try. You are correct in the ability to reconcile any period you want, and by entering the correct starting balance and ending balance you could reconcile just that period alone and get it to reconcile correctly. Even QM2007 allows for this. AND I agree that this functionality should still be preserved. And it sort of is still there...if QMac does not allow you to complete the reconciliation without accepting an adjustment, you are always free to accept it, then delete it right after.

    That said, there have been times in the past where I have needed to reconcile statements out of order (when I fell behind several yrs, I started with the most recent yr to get up to speed; QM2007 allows you to continue, though it warns that there is a discrepancy with the past, that is the starting balance does not agree with past reconciliations). 

    Now, what Quicken has currently implemented fills a gap whereby the old method in QEM (circa 2010) onwards failed to identify discrepancies when previous reconciliation may not be correct. So you could continue with new reconciliations but there could be errors in the past.

    Note however that these discrepancies may not be as a result of user errors in past reconciliations but can also occur due to bugs in the software causing a past transaction(s) to be deleted, or the reconciled flag to be altered. Any of these could be the problem.

    So just like QM2007 and QWin, now QM2015+ identifies that there IS a problem in past data, again, not necessarily because of anything you did wrong. BUT to resolve this you will have to track it down OR accept the suggested adjustment (which I too would not feel comfortable accepting).

    Of course, QM2007 has a feature that helps to quickly identify where such a problem may exist, which would be a great help to have added back into QMac (see post above if you want to add your vote for it).

    HTH.
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    (
    Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)

  • Unknown Member
    edited November 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    Is there a way to see exactly where the errors are that are being adjusted?
  • smayer97smayer97 SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017

    Kathryn's reply does not help. The point is that I do not want this "feature". If Quicken is wedded to it, I guess it is time to find a new product.

    No. unfortunately, it is a brute force effort...that said, consider voting for a feature that would do exactly that the links found in the post below:
    https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/stupd-new-reconcile-method?topic-reply-list%5Bse...

    (If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)
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    (
    Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)

  • Unknown Member
    edited August 2018
    I too have the same problem.  The program was much easier back in 2007 when I did things manually.  Now it wants to do things.  I am off anywhere from $1700 to $13,000 each month. I cleared everything on the reconcile up to a certain date and then let it adjust off thousands of dollars. The very next month.. it wants to adjust $2,300?  really?  no reason why. I cleared all the entries and manually checked them off, but it does not track how much is in the deposits and in the debits... bad program
  • Unknown Member
    edited May 2018
    I too have the same problem.  The program was much easier back in 2007 when I did things manually.  Now it wants to do things.  I am off anywhere from $1700 to $13,000 each month. I cleared everything on the reconcile up to a certain date and then let it adjust off thousands of dollars. The very next month.. it wants to adjust $2,300?  really?  no reason why. I cleared all the entries and manually checked them off, but it does not track how much is in the deposits and in the debits... bad program
  • smayer97smayer97 SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    rob said:

    I too have the same problem.  The program was much easier back in 2007 when I did things manually.  Now it wants to do things.  I am off anywhere from $1700 to $13,000 each month. I cleared everything on the reconcile up to a certain date and then let it adjust off thousands of dollars. The very next month.. it wants to adjust $2,300?  really?  no reason why. I cleared all the entries and manually checked them off, but it does not track how much is in the deposits and in the debits... bad program

    You may want to add your vote for the IDEA request here, which would restore a feature in QM2007 which would simply this process.

    (If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)
    Have Questions? Check out these FAQs:COMPLETE list of Product Ideas - Quicken for Mac to VOTE on

    Object to Quicken's business model, using up 25% of your screen
    ? Add your vote here:
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    (
    Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)

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