This is a superb note about how reconciliations should be used. Abhijit
On 24 April 2017 at 12:02, Buddha Buck <blaisepas...@gmail.com> wrote: > I am not a Quicken convert, but I'll point out a benefit of entering your > transactions manually as Russell and CM suggest: It gives you a point of > comparison when doing a bank reconciliation. > > The purpose of an account reconciliation is to make sure that your view of > your accounts with an outside entity match their view of your accounts with > them. If you think you deposited $500 into your bank account, you want to > be sure the bank thinks the same thing. If the bank thinks you paid $354 > via a debit card, you want to be sure that you agree. If you don't agree, > then there's a problem -- either the bank made an error, you made an error, > or something nefarious is going on. > > If you import transactions that your bank says you did, then that > fraudulent $354 debit card transaction will become part of your personal > record of what happened in your account. You won't catch it unless you > review your transactions. Reconciliation will say "Yep, the bank says I > spent $354, my records says I spent $354, so OK, everything's good". And > you're out $354. > > On the other hand, if you manually enter your transactions, then do a > reconciliation, then you will see the $354 transaction from the bank, but > not in your records, and you have an opportunity to go "wait, what's up > here?" and catch the fraud. You would also catch the $25 birthday check you > gave your nephew that he hasn't cashed yet, and the $25 birthday check to > your niece that you forgot to record that she *has* cashed. None of those > would be noticed if you imported your transaction report from the bank. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.