Account reconciliation

[morganal]

I just felt I had to say how good and quick the account reconciliation process is, when one receives a statement.

Having moved from MS-Money, I was used to their method of individually matching each transaction with its equivalent on the bank statement.  Initially I missed doing that (though I know you can use the C or not C feature as an equivalent), but now I really appreciate how much quicker it is using the Genie method which means that you don't have to trawl through every item.

Alasdair

[ideasguy]

That is very encouraging, Alasdair.
In my telephone support conversations, the first thing I ask new users is if they are using the Reconcile button to create statements equivalent to those supplied by Banks (and have mastered the functionality of the Exclude and Include buttons).
I'm heartened to learn that the vast majority have mastered that technique. As you have stated, Bank Genie does it rather differently. A few are stuck in the method used in their other software so I have to explain the advantages.
When transactions are broken up into Reconciled statements the list of transactions are easily unmanaged.

One little tip, if you have monthly statements.
If you click on a transaction - say a monthly bill or income item - then use the Statement Back arrow button.
Bank Genie searches for the same item in your previous statement and selects that item. Repeat Back arrow works as long as the transaction appears in each previous statement. Also works going forward.
This is a feature which I find particularly useful.

[barryl]

I had the same mental process as morganal. When I was looking for a program to move to from Quicken to use for accounting ans was trying out Bank Genie, at first I thought the BG reconcile feature was poor compared to that in Quicken (which worked in the same was as MS-Money). Later I became totally converted to the fat that it is actually much simpler. A word of caution: I dont think it wise simply to use the total as you might have more than one transaction for the same amount and be including the wrong one(s). I normally EXCLUSE all transactions and include them one at a time as I see them on the statement. Of course different people may use the provided facilities in different ways.

A small correction: I dont see a "statement back" button; simply "previous" and "next" which do what George said.

[ideasguy]

Thanks Barry.
Its very difficult to get out of entrenched habits and Reconciliation is the biggest single feature which is unique in Bank Genie.
I'm really pleased to read that Bank Genie is simpler in comparison to the others, even if is takes a little time to appreciate.

I check my accounts regularly online, and keep Bank Genie exactly aligned each session. I now use the  C (= cleared) button extensively  to identify the ones I have found to be cleared online.
When the actual statement arrives from the Bank I'm always ahead of the game with the items already "C"ed.
Its a simple matter of setting the Statement Date in Bank Genie to the same date as the new actual Bank Statement, excluding the starred items, check the Closing Balance and click Reconcile.

Another tip. For multiple EXCLUDE - in this example when reconciling:
Set Statement Date to agree with your new Bank Statement.
Items which are after the Statement Date will have a star (*) as a prefix.
Right click on any transaction in the Manage Transactions screen.
In the shortcut menu which appears, click Select all past Statement Date.
All the * items will be highlighted.
Click Exclude button.

Are there little tips useful?
I can create a new section called Tips and do more.