Reconciliation of Accounts in GnuCash with statements from a bank or other institution is a way of
double checking the accuracy of your (and your banks) transactions and the balance of your
accounts. It also is useful to track uncleared checks and other outstanding transactions.
The reconciling process in GnuCash involves two dialogs: the Section 5.8.1, “Reconciling Information” dialog
followed by the Section 5.8.2, “Reconcile” window. They provide access to various GnuCash
functions to make it easy to enter and update account information during the reconciliation.
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The Reconcile window is accessed from the account tree window or the account register window by selecting → . | |
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If you are reconciling an Liability Account of type credit card using a credit card statement you have the option of using the Transfer Funds dialogue that opens automatically and enter a credit card payment. You can change this behaviour in the GnuCash Preferences from the menu → in the Register tab by activating the checkbox Automatic credit card payment. (see Section 10.2.10, “Register”) | |
The Summary Bar at the bottom of the Account Register Window indicates the amounts of Present (Balance), Future (Balance), Cleared (Transactions), Reconciled (Transactions) and Projected Minimum. Online account information can be used to mark which transactions the bank has processed by changing the R (reconciliation status) column in the register from n (new) to c (cleared). The bank statement is then used with the Reconcile window to reconcile the account which changes the R field to y (reconciled).
The Reconcile Information dialog is used to indicate the closing Statement Date and the Starting Balance (fixed from last reconciliation) and Ending Balance from the statement. The Include Sub-accounts check-box is used if one or more subaccounts are used to track the account you are reconciling. The button is used to add a transfer to the accounts for an interest payment. If selected a dialog will be displayed to add the Section 5.8.1.1, “Interest Payment” to the account.
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The button is shown only if you are reconciling an account of Bank type. | |
When you have entered all relevant data, press to proceed to the Section 5.8.2, “Reconcile” dialog or to discard the reconciliation process.
There are three panes in the Interest Payment dialog. At the bottom is a button called which will cancel the dialog. The top pane contains the Payment Information.
Amount: Enter the amount of the interest payment.
Date: Select the date for the interest payment.
Num: Enter a number for the transaction (optional).
Description: Enter an informational description for the transaction.
Memo: Enter a note about the transaction (optional).
The Reconcile Account pane highlights in the tree the account that the interest payment will be transferred to or from.
The Payment From pane contains a list of accounts where you can select the source account.
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If the payment is for a credit or loan account then usually the payment would be from an Expense account. If the payment is for a checking or savings account then usually this would be from an Income account. | |
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The check-box shows or hides the Income and Expense accounts. | |
Select to enter the interest transaction (or the payment) and return to the initial reconciliation screen.
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For a detailed description of menu items and buttons on the reconcile window, see Section 4.5, “Reconcile Window”. | |
The Reconcile dialog is where the actual process of matching your statement to
GnuCash data takes place on a per transaction basis.
The Reconcile dialog is composed of a toolbar and three panes; Funds In on the left, Funds out on the right and a balance pane.
| Note |
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If you enabled the option Use formal accounting labels in the
Accounts section of the | |
The Funds In and Funds Out pane shows all unreconciled deposits to the account. Both panes are composed of five columns.
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To order the listed transactions with a preferred criteria, click on the relevant column header. To reverse the selected order click a second time on the column header. | |
- Date
The date of the unreconciled transaction.
- Num
The number of the unreconciled transaction.
- Description
The Description of the unreconciled transaction.
- Amount
The Amount of the unreconciled transaction.
- R
Shows a check if the transaction will be reconciled when done.
To mark a transaction as reconciled just click on it and a checkmark will appear on the relevant R column.
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You can check or uncheck the reconcile status of all transactions in either pane by clicking on a transaction in the required pane then clicking Ctrl-A followed by space. This will toggle the reconcile status of all transactions in the pane to either checked or unchecked state. This procedure can be repeated to achieve the desired status for the transactions in the pane. | |
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Under each pane a Total for reconciled transactions is shown. | |
The balance pane shows a summary of the balances used in reconciliation.
- Statement Date
The date on the statement set on the Section 5.8.1, “Reconciling Information”.
- Starting Balance
The balance at the end of the last reconciliation.
- Ending Balance
The balance entered from the statement.
- Reconciled Balance
The balance of selected transactions.
- Difference
The difference between the Reconciled and Ending balances.
The set of unreconciled transactions in the Funds In and Funds Out panes can be changed by using the menus and Toolbar to access the account and transaction information. You can create a transaction, a selected transaction, add a Balance transaction (of the same amount as listed under Difference in the balance pane), and delete the selected transaction.
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To modify a listed transaction, double click on it. | |
By pressing the Open icon the register of the account to reconcile will be opened.
If you wish to postpone the reconciliation until later use the → (Ctrl+P) menu item or pressing the icon. If you wish to cancel the reconciliation use the → menu item or press the icon.
All previous commands are also available in the Reconcile dialog menu.
Select each unreconciled transaction matching a transaction on the statement so a green tick appears in the R column. The Balance pane changes to reflect each selected transaction until the Ending Balance equals the Reconciled Balance and the Difference is zero. Once this is done select the button or → (Ctrl+W) to finish the reconcile process.