Account balance

My bank balance is incorrect. How can I change the balance amount and let it begin a new balance?

Answers

  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Assuming that your account registers are correctly sorted by Date, the running Balance in your register should match the bank balance on any given day. (In a filtered register or one that is not sorted by Date, the running balance as displayed in the Balance column may be meaningless)

    Recommend you carefully reconcile, i.e., compare your Quicken account register(s) to the printed bank statements and resolve any discrepancies: missing transactions, duplicate transactions, incorrect amounts, withdrawals posted as deposits or vice versa, bank fees or interest deposits not recorded.
    Get rid of Balance Adjustment transactions you may have recorded over time.

    Go back in time until you find a month-end statement balance that matches your register balance on that date, then go forward with comparing and fixing transactions as needed, etc.

    Also review the Opening Balance transaction in your register:

     

    About the Opening Balance transaction in your register:

    Make sure that the "Opening Balance" transaction in your register
    - always is the oldest transaction by Date
    - occurs only once in your register
    - its amount matches the bank statement balance shown on that day
    - if you owe money in a credit card account, the Opening Balance transaction as shown in the register must be a negative amount, e.g., $-123.45
    - the transaction is marked "R"(reconciled) in the "Clr" column
    - uses the same account name, surrounded by [square brackets], as Category as the account it's in (e.g., Opening Balance transaction in your MyChecking account has Category = [MyChecking]) *
     

    If the Opening Balance isn't correct, your register balance on any given day will never match the bank's balance on the same date and your register will never reconcile correctly.

    * that's called a "transfer back into the same account" and is OK. Quicken uses this method to establish the Opening Balance without making it appear as an Income or Expense in any views or reports.

  • Billy D
    Billy D Member
    can i just edit the years opening balance to match the banks, and let it recalculate going forward?
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