- quote -

I turned off the tools|options|online
service|"automatically reconcile downloaded
transactions". I think you have solved the problem.
Although it may take a month to prove it out, it makes
sense. Automatic reconciliation will not work with the
algorithm in the "Balance the Account". The software
should detect that configuration and change the balance
algorithm or warn the user when the automatic
reconciliation is on. This is unconscionable on the part
of Microsoft. This has wasted a huge amount of my time.
And their support was unable to suggest it.


- quote -

Alex,
You got the wrong idea of how balancing works. Do even look at the
unrecognized, you need to worry about the cleared items instead. Take your
starting balance plus deposits(C) minus withdrawals(C). Then you should come
up with the correct ending balance.

Cindy
"Alex Sidline" <asidline[at]comcast.net> wrote in message
news:0a4501c39370$8f749bb0$a101280a[at]phx.gbl...

- quote -

I really don't want to belabor this. The following is
only an observation. What is balance?
When I receive a paper statement, I pick up my statement
balance. Checking my hand entered register, I add up all
the unreconciled credits. Then I subtract all my
unreconciled debits (checks, atm, etc). The result
should be equal to the final value of my register.
Simple? You bet. If not I check my entries, additions,
etc.

In Microsoft Money, when I ask it to balance, the
application asks for statement date. That is the date up
to which time the application should compare for any
unreconciled activity. The application asks for the
starting balance. It is the balance of the previous
statement. That should be automatic. Then it asks for
the ending balance.
What the application should be doing is examining my
account for any unreconciled activity and do exactly what
I stated: add to the last balance the unreconciled
credits, and subtract the unreconciled debits. That
value should then be identical with my final balance.
And it should go Kaching, congratulations, or whatever.
It is not doing it.

So be it. You have been very helpful. The Microsoft
help person (in India) could not resolve it. I will hand
balance until I get maybe a sudden insight on what I
might be doing wrong.

Thanks again.
Alex Sidline

- quote -

I really don't want to belabor this. The following is
only an observation. What is balance?
When I receive a paper statement, I pick up my statement
balance. Checking my hand entered register, I add up all
the unreconciled credits. Then I subtract all my
unreconciled debits (checks, atm, etc). The result
should be equal to the final value of my register.
Simple? You bet. If not I check my entries, additions,
etc.

In Microsoft Money, when I ask it to balance, the
application asks for statement date. That is the date up
to which time the application should compare for any
unreconciled activity. The application asks for the
starting balance. It is the balance of the previous
statement. That should be automatic. Then it asks for
the ending balance.
What the application should be doing is examining my
account for any unreconciled activity and do exactly what
I stated: add to the last balance the unreconciled
credits, and subtract the unreconciled debits. That
value should then be identical with my final balance.
And it should go Kaching, congratulations, or whatever.
It is not doing it.

So be it. You have been very helpful. The Microsoft
help person (in India) could not resolve it. I will hand
balance until I get maybe a sudden insight on what I
might be doing wrong.

Thanks again.
Alex Sidline

If you are downloading your info from the bank, make sure you do not have
"automatically reconcile downloaded transactions" check under options. If
you do there could be a download that is sneaking by you that you did not
catch causing your balance to be off. Make sure it is not checked and try
again.

Cindy
"Cal Learner-- MVP" <via_newsgroup[at]please.tnx> wrote in message
news:v57rovsp21ee7524kkod11svoh79er0ugt[at]4ax.com...
In microsoft.public.money, Alex Sidline wrote:

- quote -

And the result was what? [don't bother answering]

The thing I thought I was addressing was that your account was in
balance with reality, but that you could not get Money to go through
the balancing procedure. The rest of what you are writing leads me
to believe I total misunderstood you.

- quote -

This makes no sense to me unless by "account" you mean file. Then
creating a new file to experiment with makes sense. Making a copy of
your .mny file to experiment with makes sense too.


- quote -

If you bring in the .qif file as a statement, instead of a new or
recovered account, that's what Money does -- ignoring identical QIF
entries, even in the SAME QIF import. I consider it a bug. If you do
new or recovered account, I think Money does not check for
duplicates. But that would

- quote -

Good luck.

In microsoft.public.money, Alex Sidline wrote:

- quote -

And the result was what? [don't bother answering]

The thing I thought I was addressing was that your account was in
balance with reality, but that you could not get Money to go through
the balancing procedure. The rest of what you are writing leads me
to believe I total misunderstood you.

- quote -

This makes no sense to me unless by "account" you mean file. Then
creating a new file to experiment with makes sense. Making a copy of
your .mny file to experiment with makes sense too.


- quote -

If you bring in the .qif file as a statement, instead of a new or
recovered account, that's what Money does -- ignoring identical QIF
entries, even in the SAME QIF import. I consider it a bug. If you do
new or recovered account, I think Money does not check for
duplicates. But that would

- quote -

Good luck.

- quote -

I tried essentially what you said.
I closed one account in question and created another one.
Then I went to the bank and exported all transactions
from the day after my last manual balance, creating
a .qif file, and imported it to M.M. Compared all the
activities and made some corrections. (More about that
below). There were no unreconciled transactions and the
bank balance for the final available date was identical
to the M.M. balance. This then is the simplest case of
balancing two same accounts.
Having the identical accounts, this then should balance.
In the M.M. balance process, I chose the last date of the
known true balance (you said to use a day later),
starting balance which was from the creation date of the
M.M. account, and the final balance, which was the
latest. M.M. pop up said the starting balance (my
original complaint) is incorrect, so I tried to let M.M.
balance it for me. It inserted some number, marked it
Reconciled, and then messed up all the balances. So that
did not work.
Deleted the M.M. "starting balance corrections" then
tried balancing using the bank statements, piecewise,
starting from the first statement after the last manual
balance. Same thing.

Maybe I should reload my M.M. There may be a corrupt
file.

On the other matter "more about that below" I mentioned,
M.M. imports from the qif file or what the bank sends
automatically. Now here is a curious bug. If there are
2 identical (genuinely so) transactions, M.M. assumes
that one is a duplicate and enters only one. I checked
the text of the qif file and it showed both
transactions. So the problem is in the M.M. software.

Maybe I should go to Quicken because I am quite disgusted
at the amount of time I spent.

Thanks again.

Alex Sidline
asidline[at]comcast.net
location: Doylestown PA.

In microsoft.public.money, Alex Sidline wrote:

- quote -

This may work for you to get you going.

If you wish to start fresh and declare an account balanced, you can
mark all entries balanced. Select to show only unreconciled
transactions. Sort by date, and go to the oldest transaction.
Hold down Cntl+Shift+M and let auto-repeat work thru the
transactions until none are left showing. Then balance making the
starting and ending balance match the known balance. Choose the
balance date to be the day after your last transaction.

Thereafter, follow the normal procedure.

Searched faqs and recent posting without success.
I am trying to balance a new checking account with
Microsoft Money 2004, windows XP. My statement balances
are identical with that of the corresponding bank. I
have a 3 month report. Yet when I try to balance the
account, I always get the message: The starting balance
entered from hyour statement does not match the starting
balance calculated from your Money records". If I choose
the option for Microsoft Money to enter a starting
balance, all my balances no longer compare with that of
the bank.

Spend over an hour with support but they couldn't figure
it out. I have entered the statement date with starting
and ending balances. I have also used a running balance
provided by the bank. All the transactions are
reconciled, so there should not be any problem with the
starting balance or balancing. It is so much easier to
balance manually. But I thought I would save time with
Microsoft Money! So far I am disappointed.

I wonder if there is a bug here.