Quicken reports a discrepancy when I try to reconcile

[Sister Gerdes]

This seems to be a common problem with Quicken. I have seen posts referring
to Intuit's suggested procedure for resolution:

http://www.intuit.com/support/quicken/2003/win/7010.html

I have followed the steps to reset the Smart Reconcile feature. This seems
to be reset (now when I change items in the Clr field it no longer pops up
the dialogues asking if I wish to use Quicken's Smart Reconcile feature),
but this did not clear up the problem (I still get the discrepancy dialog
when I go to reconcile).

Peculiarities of this situation include:

1) The first Statement Ending Date reported by Quicken as having a
discrepancy (8/24/2002) does not correspond to any of my bank statement
ending dates (should have been 8/28/2002)
2) Unfortunately I have not been on top of my monthly backups since I
got a computer that didn't have a zip drive. I do have monthly zip backups
up through 11/2002, 3 months after the discrepancys that are now appearing
show up. The backups I started making recently to CD appear to all have the
discrepancy problem (I've been ignoring for a while because I've been too
busy to track this down...and why should I have to, pray tell?)
3) If I open the 11/2002 backup, there is no discrepancy reported when I
go to reconcile
4) If I output the entire register report for this account from my
current database and from the 11/2002 backup and compare the tab delimted
output (MKS visual differencing tool), I see no substantive differences that
would affect the register balance up through 11/2002...three months after
the discrepancies start appearing in my current database.
5) Choosing Reconcile Again and selecting the earliest statement, but
correcting the statement opening and closing date and ending balance brings
up the reconcile window, but all entries in my account up through the
current statement period (not just the ones for the current statement
period) show up as reconciled...these are entries going all the way back to
1991...nearly 9000 entries. Is that how the Reconcile Again feature is
supposed to work?
6) There have been crashes every now and again in attempting these
procedures (on copies) but Super Validation did not reveal any problems with
the database.

If anyone has any suggestions, please send them along. At this point, don't
hold back on the "I don't use Quicken, but this is my favorite home
accounting software" suggestions.

[John Cordes]

Sister Gerdes <mart1914@bellsouth.net> wrote: This seems to be a common problem with Quicken. I have seen posts referring to Intuit's suggested procedure for resolution: http://www.intuit.com/support/quicken/2003/win/7010.html

<snip>
If anyone has any suggestions, please send them along.

You apparently have 2003, whereas I am still using 2002. However, I'll
pass this on anyway in case it may be of some help.

Just a couple of days ago I encountered my first reconcile problem
in a long while, and looked up an old (2002) post of a former highly
valued contributor to this ng, Peter J. Ricciardiello. I followed his
instructions (see below) and it cured my problem. YMMV!

Good luck,

--
John Cordes

********************************************************************

From prgroups@twcny.rrx.com Sun Jun 16 10:34:58 2002
From: Peter J. Ricciardiello <prgroups@twcny.rrx.com>
Newsgroups: alt.comp.software.financial.quicken
Subject: Re: how to turn off smart reconcile?
Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 22:35:25 -0400
Lines: 68

Paul K. Couch wrote:
Of course I can just click Ignore, but I want to turn this ill conceived feature off for good.

Or you can correct the problem and continue to use the Smart
Reconciliation, realizing that there is a known (at least to the users)
bug that causes the message you see.
From a previous post of mine:

AFAIK, nothing official from Intuit yet, but many of us Q2002 users,
myself included, have encountered this problem and we all are of the
opinion that it is a bug in Q2002. In fact, I can reproduce it on
demand simply by altering a category of a split transaction that has
already been reconciled.

To correct the problem and resolve the message:

1) Request a Reconcile in the checking account with the error.
Immediately you should see the "Reconciliation Notice: Previously
cleared items no longer match the ending balances of prior statements"
message.

2) Click on the RESOLVE button of that message, which brings up a window
of all prior reconcile statements.

3) Locate the statement that has the discrepancy amount (where it is not
$0.00)

4) Starting with the *most current* statement, highlight the statement
and click with the right mouse button to bring up a menu, then choose
the DELETE option.

5) Keep working backwards from the bottom of the list upwards until you
delete all statements from the most current to the statement with the
discrepancy. When you get to the statement with the discrepancy amount,
delete it, then STOP deleting.

5a) If there are additional, previous statements in your list at this
point, push the DONE button to indicate you are done removing just the
affected statements.

Otherwise, if you ended up deleting all statements in the list, you can
skip this step and go right to (6), since Quicken will automatically
recognize that you are done deleting statements.

6) Quicken will now congratulate you (seriously!), then present the
standard reconcile box again. When you click OK, you will now see the
standard statement with checks and payments on the left and the deposits
on the right.

The only difference is that ALL the previously reconciled transactions
from the deleted statements will now appear here.

7) Select them all (except those transaction you know have not cleared
the bank yet) either one-by-one or with the MARK ALL button. Assuming
the DIFFERENCE field now reads 0.00 (and it should, unless you
mistakenly marked transactions that have not cleared yet), you can
click the FINISH button.

That should resolve the discrepancy and prevent the "discrepancy
message" from reappearing during successive reconcile attempts.

[Sir Osler]

There may be a simpler solution. I'm using Q 2002 but the procedure is
probably still the same. If you believe the balance is correct then what
you really want to do is get rid of Quicken's bogus history information.

Start with a transaction that is already marked as 'Reconciled'. Change it
to 'Unreconciled'. Save the transaction. Then go back to it and make it
'Reconciled' again. That should reset the system and get rid of the error
for now. Unfortunately Quicken seems to get these problems frequently and
you may find that you have to repeat the process from time to time. In my
case I think the most common cause involves brokerage transactions that
Quicken alters (introducing a 1 penny rounding error) when it downloads from
Vanguard. If these correspond to checking account transactions that have
already been reconciled problems can occur. I haven't looked for a way to
turn the 'feature' completely off.

In any event, give this 'quick and dirty' method a try and I think you'll
find it works.

Sir Osler.

"John Cordes" <cordes@dal.ca> wrote in message
news:OEG6b.67337$PD3.4698328@nnrp1.uunet.ca... Sister Gerdes <mart1914@bellsouth.net> wrote: This seems to be a common problem with Quicken. I have seen posts
referring to Intuit's suggested procedure for resolution: http://www.intuit.com/support/quicken/2003/win/7010.html <snip> If anyone has any suggestions, please send them along. You apparently have 2003, whereas I am still using 2002. However, I'll pass this on anyway in case it may be of some help. Just a couple of days ago I encountered my first reconcile problem in a long while, and looked up an old (2002) post of a former highly valued contributor to this ng, Peter J. Ricciardiello. I followed his instructions (see below) and it cured my problem. YMMV! Good luck, -- John Cordes ******************************************************************** From prgroups@twcny.rrx.com Sun Jun 16 10:34:58 2002 From: Peter J. Ricciardiello <prgroups@twcny.rrx.com> Newsgroups: alt.comp.software.financial.quicken Subject: Re: how to turn off smart reconcile? Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 22:35:25 -0400 Lines: 68 Paul K. Couch wrote: Of course I can just click Ignore, but I want to turn this ill conceived feature off for good. Or you can correct the problem and continue to use the Smart Reconciliation, realizing that there is a known (at least to the users) bug that causes the message you see.From a previous post of mine: AFAIK, nothing official from Intuit yet, but many of us Q2002 users, myself included, have encountered this problem and we all are of the opinion that it is a bug in Q2002. In fact, I can reproduce it on demand simply by altering a category of a split transaction that has already been reconciled. To correct the problem and resolve the message: 1) Request a Reconcile in the checking account with the error. Immediately you should see the "Reconciliation Notice: Previously cleared items no longer match the ending balances of prior statements" message. 2) Click on the RESOLVE button of that message, which brings up a window of all prior reconcile statements. 3) Locate the statement that has the discrepancy amount (where it is not $0.00) 4) Starting with the *most current* statement, highlight the statement and click with the right mouse button to bring up a menu, then choose the DELETE option. 5) Keep working backwards from the bottom of the list upwards until you delete all statements from the most current to the statement with the discrepancy. When you get to the statement with the discrepancy amount, delete it, then STOP deleting. 5a) If there are additional, previous statements in your list at this point, push the DONE button to indicate you are done removing just the affected statements. Otherwise, if you ended up deleting all statements in the list, you can skip this step and go right to (6), since Quicken will automatically recognize that you are done deleting statements. 6) Quicken will now congratulate you (seriously!), then present the standard reconcile box again. When you click OK, you will now see the standard statement with checks and payments on the left and the deposits on the right. The only difference is that ALL the previously reconciled transactions from the deleted statements will now appear here. 7) Select them all (except those transaction you know have not cleared the bank yet) either one-by-one or with the MARK ALL button. Assuming the DIFFERENCE field now reads 0.00 (and it should, unless you mistakenly marked transactions that have not cleared yet), you can click the FINISH button. That should resolve the discrepancy and prevent the "discrepancy message" from reappearing during successive reconcile attempts.

[John Pollard]

Sir Osler wrote: I haven't looked for a way to turn the 'feature' completely off.

The "'feature'" is smart reconcile; it is designed to be
triggered by changing the amount of a reconciled transaction,
but has been reported to also get triggered by changing the
category (possibly in a split) of a reconciled transaction.
Here is how Intuit suggests turning the "'feature' completely
off" (in a given account).

http://makeashorterlink.com/?B2F731183

--
John Pollard
j underscore pollard at mindspring dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

[Sister Gerdes]

Thanks to John Cordes, Sir Osler and John Pollard for your replies.
Although Sir Osler's suggestion had already been tried and failed in this
case, John Pollard's suggestion (a variation of the technique which requires
adding a bogus entry) seemed to work the magic. I'll hold John Cordes'
suggestion in reserve for future battles.

"John Pollard" <invalid@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4Z77b.3903$PE6.1329@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net... Sir Osler wrote: I haven't looked for a way to turn the 'feature' completely off. The "'feature'" is smart reconcile; it is designed to be triggered by changing the amount of a reconciled transaction, but has been reported to also get triggered by changing the category (possibly in a split) of a reconciled transaction. Here is how Intuit suggests turning the "'feature' completely off" (in a given account). http://makeashorterlink.com/?B2F731183 -- John Pollard j underscore pollard at mindspring dot com Please reply to newsgroup