If you have multiple currencies or if you buy and sell commodities or securities there is another level of opportunities for issues.
David C On Feb 15, 2018 5:55 PM, "Adrien Monteleone" <adrien.montele...@gmail.com> wrote: > I just noticed the subject was wrong due to a user-digest error, > re-applying the original. > > ——— > > I’m having a bit of issue understanding the point of the trial-balance > report in modern times. (I generally don’t use it as I mentioned) > > If each transaction self-balances, that is, debits = credits, how is it > possible to add up the debits individually and the credits individually and > not get a result that still balances? You can’t add up 1+2+3 = 5 and 1+2+3 > = 6. It’s a mathematical impossibility. > > In addition, if you enter a transaction that doesn’t balance, Gnucash > forces it to balance by using either the imbalance or orphan accounts. So > at least you’re alerted to amounts you need to fix, but technically, debits > still equal credits. > > Let’s assume I entered a transaction backwards and debited my cash account > instead of crediting it, and credited an expense account instead of > debiting it. This should not affect the trial-balance. Sure, the amounts > are wrong for each account, but they still balance. Debits still equal > credits. > > If I transpose two digits (the divisible by ‘9’ trick) then as long as my > individual transaction I did this in balances, it still shouldn’t show up > as an imbalance on the trial-balance report. The other side would ALSO have > to be transposed or incorrect to match it. Gnucash won’t save the > transaction unless it’s balanced. > > I can’t see what possible error could produce individually balanced > transactions (required by Gnucash) and yet still have a trial-balance where > the debits do not equal credits AND both the imbalance account and orphan > accounts are empty. > > (note, I understand why this report is run with paper records because > you’re copying stuff all over the place and might do so incorrectly. But > this isn’t the case with Gnucash) > > Regards, > Adrien > > > On Feb 15, 2018, at 5:06 PM, Adrien Monteleone < > adrien.montele...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > The 1899 date seems to make me think that has something to do with a > setting in your OS concerning how to interpret 2-year dates. (I don’t think > Gnucash has this option, it might be hard coded) > > > > Try running the report again and make sure to enter the full 4-digit > date and not just ’16’. Also, test with 12/30/2016 and 01/01/2017 and see > if it does the same thing or only on exactly 12/31/2016. You might have > some corrupt data. That might even be the source date of the imbalance. > > > > I just entered those two dates in the same report and it worked fine, so > this wouldn’t be a generic bug to the app, though it might be a bug for a > certain platform. (I’m on macOS 10.13 at the moment) > > > > Since you’ve narrowed down to a few weeks, I’d just take a look at the > General Ledger which contains all transactions from all accounts. Click on > View > Filter By… and set your date range. (maybe even a day before and > after just to be thorough) Also be sure to check all boxes on the Status > tab in the Filter options. You want to see all transactions for that date > range. Then just look over them and see if anything looks out of place. In > particular, look for either the amount you are out of balance by or half > that amount if the variance is an even number. (meaning you have an entry > that is entered in reverse debit/credit, or entirely duplicated) > > > > For myself, I think I want to tackle one other area first. I recall > doing some re-organization and I went through a series of unposting paid > invoices and reposting them, causing my lot assignments to get out of > whack. I know I have some open lots that shouldn’t be there and many that > are applied to the wrong documents. I’ll clean that up first, then re-run > the trial balance and see if that does the trick. I’m not sure where the > Trial-Balance report is pulling its numbers from, but it won’t hurt to > perform that cleanup anyway. > > > > Regards, > > Adrien > > > >> On Feb 15, 2018, at 2:35 PM, Elmar <etsc...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> > >> > >> On 02/15/2018 02:28 PM, gnucash-user-requ...@gnucash.org wrote: > >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>> > >>> Message: 1 > >>> Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2018 13:27:17 -0600 > >>> From: Adrien Monteleone <adrien.montele...@gmail.com> > >>> To: "gnucash-user@gnucash.org" <gnucash-user@gnucash.org> > >>> Subject: Re: trial balance - how to find mismatch question > >>> Message-ID: <823da1a8-b449-470f-ab10-e66505686...@gmail.com> > >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > >>> ... > >>> > >>> Elmar, > >>> > >>> Reduce your ending date so the range is half of what it was. Re-run > the report. Is it s[t]ill out of balance? Keep doing this till you get a > balance, then set that ending date to a new start date, and start working > forwards till you get out of balance again. This will help you narrow down > where on the calendar the error occurred. > >>> > >>> Regards, > >>> Adrien > >> OK - did that and ran into something VERY strange. Everything stayed > in balance up to 07/12/2016. Setting that as the start date and 12/31/2016 > as the end date, as soon as I hit "apply", QC overwrites the end date with > - get this - 02/27/1899 !!! This of course produces nonsense. One day > later (01/01/2017) works fine and shows the imbalance. So, have I 1) found > a bug, and 2) given I have narrowed the date range to a few weeks, what > report should I run to find the weirdness? - Elmar > >> _______________________________________________ > >> gnucash-user mailing list > >> gnucash-user@gnucash.org > >> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > >> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. > >> ----- > >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > gnucash-user@gnucash.org > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. 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