Warning, /office/kmymoney/doc/details-reconciliation.docbook is written in an unsupported language. File is not indexed.

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <chapter id="details.reconcile">
 <chapterinfo>
   <authorgroup>
     <author> &Michael.T.Edwardes; &Michael.T.Edwardes.mail; </author>
     <author>&Jack.H.Ostroff; &Jack.H.Ostroff.mail;</author>
   </authorgroup>
   <date>2022-08-08</date>
   <releaseinfo>4.5</releaseinfo>
 </chapterinfo>
 
 <title>Reconciliation</title>
 
 <sect1 id="details.reconcile.whatis">
 <title>What is reconciliation?</title>
 
 <para>
   Reconciliation is the process of matching the transactions you have entered
   into &kmymoney; with the transactions listed for that account by the
   institution.  This is most commonly done with the list of transactions in a
   statement, be it a bank statement, credit card statement, loan statement, or
   any other statement. It can also be done against an on-line listing of the
   account, although this is less common.  If any discrepancies are found, then
   either you or the person who created the statement have made a mistake.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   To reconcile an account, display that account in the ledger and click on the
   <guiicon><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata fileref="reconcile.png"
   format="PNG"/></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></guiicon>Reconcile icon,
   select the <menuchoice><guimenu>Account</guimenu>
   <guimenuitem>Reconcile...</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> menu item, or use the
   <keycombo>&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>R</keycap></keycombo> shortcut.  You can also
   right click the account in the <guilabel>Accounts</guilabel> View and select
   <guimenuitem>Reconcile...</guimenuitem> from the context menu.
 </para>
 </sect1>
 
 <sect1 id="details.reconcile.wizard">
 <title>The reconciliation wizard</title>
 <para>
   Any of the specified actions will open the reconciliation wizard.  The first
   page of the wizard briefly describes the process you will follow.  Click on
   <guibutton>Next</guibutton> to actually start the wizard.
 </para>
 
 <para>
 <screenshot>
         <screeninfo>Reconciliation wizard</screeninfo>
         <mediaobject>
         <imageobject>
         <imagedata fileref="reconcile1.png" format="PNG" />
         </imageobject>
         <textobject>
         <phrase>Reconciliation wizard</phrase>
         </textobject>
         </mediaobject>
 </screenshot>
 </para>
 
 <sect2 id="details.reconcile.wizard.statement">
 <title>Statement details</title>
 <para>
   The statement date, starting balance, and ending balance can be found in your
   statement.  The default values displayed by the wizard are determined by your data.
 </para>
 
 <para>
 <screenshot>
         <screeninfo>Reconciliation wizard</screeninfo>
         <mediaobject>
         <imageobject>
         <imagedata fileref="reconcile2.png" format="PNG" />
         </imageobject>
         <textobject>
         <phrase>Reconciliation wizard</phrase>
         </textobject>
         </mediaobject>
 </screenshot>
 </para>
 
 <para>
   The default value for the statement date is 30 days after the prior
   reconciliation, so you will often need to adjust this by one or two days.  You
   may need to adjust it by two months if you only receive quarterly statement
   from the Institution for this Account.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   The starting balance shown is the balance on the date of the previous
   reconciliation.  The ending balance is the cleared balance at the end of the
   Statement date.  This is the starting balance with the values of all cleared
   transactions between the previous reconciliation and the statement date added
   or subtracted as appropriate.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   If the values all match, click on the <guibutton>Next</guibutton> button.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   If the figures do not match there are two paths you can take.  The first is to
   cancel the reconciliation, resolve any discrepancies between your data and the
   information shown on the statement, and then start the reconciliation again.
   The second is to adjust the ending balance to match the value on the
   statement, and then click on the <guibutton>Next</guibutton> button.  You will
   have an opportunity to resolve any discrepancies during the next step of the
   reconciliation process.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   Note that you cannot adjust the starting balance.  If the amount displayed
   does not match the amount on your statement, it indicates there is a problem
   with the previous reconciliation, or maybe even an earlier one.  In this case,
   you need to cancel the reconciliation and start again after fixing any
   problems with your data.  The most common reason for this situation is that
   some time after the prior reconciliation, you have inadvertently edited a
   transaction prior to that date.  There are plans to make &kmymoney; more
   resistant to this problem, but for now, you need to work your way back to find
   the earliest reconciliation which does match as the problem is most likely
   with one or more transactions between that date and the prior reconciliation.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="details.reconcile.wizard.interest">
 <title>Interest</title>
 <para>
   If you are reconciling a bank account or any account which pays interest
   and/or charges fees, then enter these values in the appropriate fields.  Note
   that both of these fields are optional.  If you do fill in one or both of
   them, a category must be assigned, and the appropriate transaction(s) will be
   created by &kmymoney; prior to the next step of the wizard.
 </para>
 
 <note>
 <para>
   The interest field is for interest you gained.  If you have to pay interest,
   &eg;, for a credit card account, this has to be entered as a charge.
 </para>
 </note>
 
 <para>
 <screenshot>
         <screeninfo>Reconciliation wizard</screeninfo>
         <mediaobject>
         <imageobject>
         <imagedata fileref="reconcile3.png" format="PNG" />
         </imageobject>
         <textobject>
         <phrase>Reconciliation wizard</phrase>
         </textobject>
         </mediaobject>
 </screenshot>
 </para>
 
 <para>
   Click on <guibutton>Continue</guibutton> to start matching your statement to
   what you have entered.  Note that this is the last screen of the
   Reconciliation Wizard, but it is not the end of the process of reconciliation.
   It also changes the ledger display by only showing transactions that have not
   already been marked as reconciled.  As described below, you still need to
   clear transactions and then tell &kmymoney; that the account is reconciled.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="details.reconcile.wizard.clearing">
 <title>Clearing transactions</title>
 <para>
   During the reconciliation process, any transaction can be edited to make it
   match the statement, and new transactions can be created as usual.  To mark a
   transaction as cleared, click on the <guilabel>C</guilabel> column in the
   ledger.  A transaction is cleared when it matches the transaction on your
   statement.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   The command frame (just below the transaction list area) displays the
   statement amount on the left, the cleared amount in the center, and the
   difference on the right.  As you mark transactions cleared, these values
   update to show the change.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   Note, however, that as reconciliation is the process of matching the data in
   your account with that on a statement, changes to any transaction with dates
   after the statement date you entered in the wizard will be saved, but will not
   have any effect on the cleared amount shown in the command frame.
 </para>
 
 <screenshot>
         <screeninfo>Reconciliation wizard</screeninfo>
         <mediaobject>
         <imageobject>
         <imagedata fileref="reconcile4.png" format="PNG" />
         </imageobject>
         <textobject>
         <phrase>Reconciliation wizard</phrase>
         </textobject>
         </mediaobject>
 </screenshot>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="details.reconcile.complete">
 <title>Completing Reconciliation</title>
 
 <sect3 id="details.reconcile.finish">
 <title>Finishing Reconciliation</title>
 <para>
   When the difference between the statement and the cleared balance is zero then
   the account is reconciled and you can click the <guibutton>Finish</guibutton>
   button.  When you do this, &kmymoney; takes all the transactions which have
   been marked as cleared and marks them as reconciled, and the value in the
   <guilabel>C</guilabel> column changes from <quote>C</quote> to
   <quote>R</quote> to reflect the change. In addition, it saves the changes and
   records that the account has been reconciled. (You still need to save the file
   to permanently save all the changes.)
 </para>
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="details.reconcile.postpone">
 <title>Postponing Reconciliation</title>
 <para>
   If you are having trouble completing the reconciliation, or you need to gather
   some additional information before you can complete the process, you can
   postpone the process to a later time by clicking on the
   <guibutton>Postpone</guibutton> button. When you do this, &kmymoney; remembers
   the values you entered when you started the wizard, it does not mark cleared
   transactions as reconciled, and it returns the ledger to its normal view.  If
   you exit &kmymoney; before clicking either <guibutton>Finish</guibutton> or
   <guibutton>Postpone</guibutton>, it has the same effect as clicking
   <guibutton>Postpone</guibutton>.  Any edits you have made, such as marking
   transactions cleared or entering new transactions, are not touched, and you
   can still save them before you exit &kmymoney;.  However, you will have to run
   the reconciliation wizard again in order to reconcile the account.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   When you run the reconciliation wizard on this account the next time,
   &kmymoney; remembers the values you entered when you previously ran the
   wizard, and you will be able to change them, if necessary.  In this case, the
   initial screen of the wizard is different, to remind you of this.
 </para>
 
 <screenshot>
         <screeninfo>Reconciliation wizard</screeninfo>
         <mediaobject>
         <imageobject>
         <imagedata fileref="reconcile-redo.png" format="PNG" />
         </imageobject>
         <textobject>
         <phrase>Reconciliation wizard</phrase>
         </textobject>
         </mediaobject>
 </screenshot>
 
 </sect3>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="reconcile.investments">
 <title>Reconciling Investment Accounts</title>
 <para>
   Although it may change in the future, <link
   linkend="details.investments.accounts">Investment Accounts</link> currently
   contain securities, but no cash.  Because of this, from &kmymoney;'s
   perspective, it makes no sense to reconcile them.  However, some users use the
   reconciliation process to indicate that the number of shares of each security
   owned matches the Institution's records, whether from a printed statement or
   indicated on-line.  Beyond the number of shares, you could also match the
   total investment value of each security, which would depend on the last <link
   linkend="details.investments.prices">price</link> for that security on or
   prior to the date of the reconciliation.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   If you choose to do this, the process is slightly different from that
   described above.  First, the starting and ending balances will always be 0, as
   there is no cash in an Investment Account.  Next, when you complete the
   wizard, below the ledger, the statement balance will be shown as 0 and the
   difference will be the investment value of the account.  Finally, after you
   click the <guibutton>Finish</guibutton> button, you will manually need to
   change all the transactions marked as Cleared to be Reconciled.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 </sect1>
 
 </chapter>