Keep in mind that the "starting balance" can change depending on which
transactions are marked as "reconciled" - so, if you manually mark a
transaction as reconciled (CTRL-SHFT-M), that will affect what Money
computes as the starting balance.

--
Michael Gordon
MVP


"Greg Bullock" <sbcng[at]tsppd.com> wrote in message
news:dNtJe.1598$zr1.774[at]newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
- quote -

Thanks, Colleen.

I'll check into this in more detail, but a quick glance seems to support
your observation. Indeed, the difference in balance that Money is reporting
is in the opposite direction (and about twice the size) of the difference
between the actual starting and ending balances on the January statement.
The result is that its reported difference in balance gets *worse* as I
check all the transactions that cleared during that month. Amazing.

Please keep us (or me, at least) posted on what you all decide in the help
ticket.

Regards.
Greg


"Colleen" <Colleen[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CC7AFD70-DD42-4A15-B2FF-CBBB952DEDCC[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

I just confirmed that I'm using the correct statement date, from last
January.

Thanks for the suggestion. I wish it had been that easy.

Regards.
Greg


"harrelsonesq" <harrelsonesq2[at]yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:%23TVtQ$5mFHA.3408[at]tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
- quote -

Hi Greg
I'm sure it's not you! I've been having to "adjust my balance" since I
moved to a newer version of Money in March (thanks to my dumb bank forcing
the move). After this many months, I realize what it is doing. It is NOT
looking at the beginning statement amount nor the ending statement amount.
It is looking at the difference between deposits & withdrawals & wanting an
adjustment in THAT amount. Check it out on your paper bank statement & see
if that is what your's is doing. I've just opened my 2nd help ticket to work
with a Money person via email about this - again - cuz I've just figured out
what it is looking at.

Colleen

"Greg Bullock" wrote:

- quote -

Are you using the right "statement date" for the first month?

It defaults to 30 days after the last reconciliation. However, I don't
recall what the default is for the first statement. It might be current
date, in which case it is about 7 months off. Change the date to the actual
statement date & see if it works any better.

The fact that there are transactions after the statement date should really
be irrelevant, since you're still doing one month at a time.

Susan

"Greg Bullock" <sbcng[at]tsppd.com> wrote in message
news:ZMtJe.1597$zr1.796[at]newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
- quote -

Thank you, Michael.

As you must know, hearing the advice from experienced practitioners is very
valuable to us newbies.

Regards.
Greg

"Michael Gordon, MVP" <gordonm[at]denison.edu> wrote in message
news:%234Y1zl1mFHA.3448[at]TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
- quote -

Thanks for the comments, Richard.

There are two things I notice, one isn't necessarily an error, and the other
is a message I wish I could get past.

While balancing the account with just the first month's statement, the first
thing I notice is the message

The difference between your statement and register is: ($$$).
When all transactions are cleared, the difference should be zero. If
not, you can make an adjustment later.

As I check off transactions that cleared with that month's statement, the
($$$) shows a running total difference. The difference tends to get worse
(grow in magnitude) as I check off the items, but that's probably unrelated
to the immediate problem.

Once I've finished checking off the entire month's transactions as reported
on the statement, I click the Next button and get the message and three
choices:

Your account doesn't balance with your statement.
A statement transaction may not have been cleared in Money, or a
transaction cleared in Money may not appear on your statement.
Alternatively, a cleared transaction in Money may have an incorrect amount.
What do you want to do?
( ) Go back to balancing the account.
( ) Use AutoReconcile to help find the error.
( ) Automatically adjust the account balance.

I must choose one of these. AutoReconcile reports that it can't help, and
I'd rather not adjust the account balance because I think it's pretty much
right (the main problem is that I haven't worked through the subsequent 6
months worth of statements yet), so my only alternative is to go back to
balancing the account.

Do you agree that the likely problem is that Money really wants to have the
entire 7 months' backlog of statements cleared in one balancing session?

I really appreciate the comments and suggestions.

I'd read the both the KB articles, including the one on "The starting
balance entered from your statement does not match the starting balance
calculated from your Money records." Its suggestions didn't seem to apply,
as I believe the starting balance is correct, the Beginning Account Balance
is correct for that date, and I haven't knowingly changed or deleted
reconciled transactions (and I'm hopeful that the conversion from Quicken to
Money wouldn't do such an unspeakable thing :-) ) Also, I hope I've been
following the steps of the other KB article, but the article doesn't
specifically mention what to do when you have a 7 months backlog of
statements (and would prefer to do them just one month at a time).

Regards.
Greg



"Richard Bollar" <bollar[at]bollar.org> wrote in message
news:%23chgBK1mFHA.3304[at]tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
- quote -

My 2¢: in this situation, I'd reconcile all seven months in one session.

--
Michael Gordon
MVP


"Richard Bollar" <bollar[at]bollar.org> wrote in message
news:%23chgBK1mFHA.3304[at]tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
- quote -

Generally, I think that reconciling one month at a time is the right way to
go. Specifically what error do you have? "Starting balance in your
statement does not match SB in Money?"

Also, here's an KB article that describes how balancing works in Money:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...kb;en-us;76422

And this one describes: "The starting balance entered from your statement
does not match the starting balance calculated from your Money records"

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;114002

--

"Greg Bullock" <sbcng[at]tsppd.com> wrote in message
news:R2iJe.3397$fJ1.2405[at]newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
- quote -

I switched from Quicken to Money 2005 about six months ago, and I'm still
pretty new at this.

For the first time, I tried to balance my account today, starting with a
bank statement from last January. I entered the statement date, starting
and ending balances.

Everything works fine, except I'm not sure I understand why Money complains
about a large difference between my statement and the register. The balance
in the register on the starting date of the statement roughly equals the
starting balance of the statement. Same thing near the ending date -- the
register and statement are pretty much in agreement. So why does Money
complain? I'm guessing it complains because I've cleared only one month's
worth of transactions -- I haven't got to the next 6 statements yet. Do I
have that right?

But if that's the case, can't it just relax while I get to those statements?
I wouldn't mind its complaining, but it refuses to let me finish with this
statement until I get the balances in agreement. Is there any way to work
with just one statement at a time, or do I have to do all 7 months' worth of
statements in one reconciliation step?

Thanks for any help.

Regards.
Greg