Running Total & Statement Balance

Problem

Reconcile / Reconciliation / Reconciling problems in Goldenseal accounting software
Things to remember while trouble-shooting:
Statement Balance and Running Total

RUNNING TOTAL

The Running Total in the Bank Transaction window is a "snapshot" of the account balance at that time, assuming that everything before that item has cleared, and everything after it hasn't. That rarely happens in real life.

The running total will usually not match either the Bank Statement or the Reconcile's Statement Balance. It is calculated as follows:

Running Total = Account Starting Balance + Deposits - Payouts

All transactions prior to this item are included (except for Void items). The current item is ALSO included in the running total.

NOTE-- Very early versions of Goldenseal accounting software did not include the current item in the running total.

Goldenseal ignores any items that are AFTER the current item when it calculates the running total.

STATEMENT BALANCE

When an account is reconciled, the GS accounting software program uses the following formula to calculate the statement balance:

Statement Balance = Account Start Balance + Deposits + Transfers In - Bank Checks - Payments - Transfer Outs

It includes all items that have anything in the Statement field.

Users will need to reconcile the first period exactly against the statement (adjusting the start balance if necessary). Then they need to go through in order and do each month, and get it to reconcile exactly before starting on the one after it.

Comments

Entered 10/12/01 by Gor. Updated 10/24/2010.