Reconcile issue - Incorrect starting balance

System
System Member admin
edited January 17 in Registers & Transactions (Windows)

This discussion was created from comments split from:

Bank reconciliation issue - balance is off and reconciled transactions no longer reconciled [Edited]

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  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭

    I'm having a problem reconciling also. Don't know if I'm doing the cut paste thing right, but I'll try.

    Screenshot (62).png Screenshot (64).png

    My starting balance is incorrect. I can change the opening balance amount, but quicken then decides to account for it as a difference. All my transactions balance, and have no idea why it's doing this! Please help!

  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 17

    I also did a backup and validate my files also. No change. I don't do anything on mobile, and it's turned off. Im having the same problems with my other accounts at the same institution. In waiting on an answer, I tried to restore a backup from 1/1/26. What a problem! Now on my two credit card accounts, it's asking for the account to be reauthorized, but it won't do it. It just tries to duplicate my account for both of them.

  • Quicken Kristina
    Quicken Kristina Quicken Windows Subscription Moderator mod

    Hello @Kathryn See,

    Thank you for reaching out. To clarify, when you say your starting balance is incorrect, are you referring to the opening balance on the account, or the starting balance for the reconcile (the previous reconcile's ending balance)? Did restoring a backup correct that issue, or just add more issues?

    Regarding the separate issue you mention with reconnecting your credit cards in the restored backup, when you get to the add/link screen in Quicken, does it give you the option to click the dropdown and select the existing accounts to link to?

    Link to Existing.png

    I look forward to your response!

    Quicken Kristina

    Make sure to sign up for the email digest to see a round up of your top posts.

  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 18

    Thanks so much for your reply Quicken Kristina. In the reconcile window, the beginning balance (last months ending) is totally incorrect. It will allow me to enter the correct prior balance, but then throws off the total reconciliation.

    Screenshot (63).png

    On the second problem, it doesnt give me a drop down. It just says "don't add to quicken".

  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 18

    Quicken KristinaI have now solved problem #2 I think!

  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    One possibility for the previously reconciled balance being off is that Quicken has changed the account's Opening Balance, usually the very first transaction in the register. Annoyingly, this sometimes happens when you reconnect an account for downloading.

    If you don't know what the opening balance should be, you can open a backup from before the problem started, write down the account's opening balance, then return to your working file and update the Opening Balance transaction.

    To make it easier to recover from this problem, I record each account's correct opening balance in the Memo field of the Opening Balance transaction. This makes it easy to check and if necessary correct the transaction.

    QWin Premier subscription
  • NotACPA
    NotACPA Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    WHEN/If you open that backup, save it to a different name than your current production file …so as to not over-write the current file.

    Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
    Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
    Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP

  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭

    Thanks Jim_Harman! Sounded great, but my account went back to 2022. After this reconciliation, I was going to archive 2 years of data! I have no idea what my opening balance was. Would Quicken have added a transaction?

  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Kathryn See

    Have you been making regular backups of your Quicken files? Automatic ones should be in a folder called BACKUP inside the folder where your Quicken data file is stored. If you go to File > View/restore backups, you should see recent automatic backups.

    Usually the date of the backup is part of the file name in the list it shows. Pick one from before this problem started. In the dialog that opens, be sure to select Create a copy, to prevent your current file from being overwritten. The next dialog gives you the opportunity to give the file a new name.

    Then you have the opportunity to open the file you restored. Click on Yes, go to the Opening Balance transaction in the problem account, and write down what the correct Opening Balance is.

    Now click on File and open your working file, it should be the second one in the list at the bottom. Go to the Opening Balance transaction in the problem account, and if it does not match the one in the backup file, correct it.

    QWin Premier subscription
  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭

    @Jim_Harman Ok I tried what you suggested, and now i'm locked out. I tried too many passwords I think. I hate working with backup files! Really confusing to me. Back to your suggestion. I would select file>copy or restore>select old file and copy. Use that new copy and look up starting balances. Then close and reopen current file. Verify opening balance is correct. Is that correct?

    So then what do I do if they balance? Is there something magical about the reconcile function window and how it operates?

  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 18

    I'm back in Quicken @Jim_Harman. Now it won't allow me to do a one-step update. It has a box to enter passwords, but won't allow me to add accounts or put in passwords for them. I changed my vault password as it prompted. If I just ignore, the second pic is what it shows. It doesn't update anything, and my accounts are unaffected.

    Screenshot (66).png Screenshot (67).png
  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Locked out? Are you working with the restored backup or did you go back to the original data file?

    Once you found out what the correct opening balance was from the restored backup, you should have gone back to your original data file. Did you do that?

    QWin Premier subscription
  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭

    @Jim_Harman Honestly, the file I chose was not right, but by the time i went through all that, I was too scared to try another file. My transactions are all correct, and the online balance matches the register. It's just the reconcile window itself and the Quicken Last Ending Balance is populated incorrectly by Quicken. Do you have any ideas on how I can move forward?

  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 19
    https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20533178#Comment_20533178

    As for what file I had used, I really don't know how to tell the difference. What is the difference between the files with the red Quicken icon and the others? I probably chose a DAT file. Whatever it was, it was data from 2015, so not useful.

    Screenshot (69).png Screenshot (68).png
  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭

    SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP!!!!!

  • Kathryn See
    Kathryn See Member ✭✭✭

    Well, HALLALULAH! I'm back in business and all is working! Thanks @Quicken Kristina ! I was reading old posts with the same/similar issue. Once I corrected my One Step Update problems, i tried to reconcile again (using a new file copy) and it worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeesh! That was so unnerving!

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