A Better Way to Manage Your Everyday Money - Book - Page 77
Balancing manually
Balancing a checking account statement manually is done with a paper statement instead of a
downloaded transaction file. Instead of opening a transaction file, you double-click the items in
the program’s transaction register that appear on the statement. Otherwise, the balancing steps
are the same.
When the statement does not balance
When the Results box in the Balance Checking Account window shows "Not balanced," you
have the option to:
● accept the unbalanced results,
● find and fix errors, or
● force a balance.
Accept the unbalanced results - Clicking the OK button in the Balance Checking Account
window will display a message box stating that the results are not balanced and offering the
option to continue anyway. When you choose this option, all transaction entries that are X'd as
cleared in the Transaction Register list will be marked as cleared in the cashflow space's
transaction register. The balance of the Unallocated ledger is not changed.
Using this out of balance option may be needed the first time you balance your checking account
in a cashflow space. Doing so in other instances is not advised since the cashflow space's
transaction register may become out of sync with the actual status of the checking account.
Find and fix errors - You can expect that a cashflow space's transaction register will not balance
to the penny occasionally because of minor differences between the payment and set aside
amounts in the cashflow space vs. the actual amounts recorded by your bank or credit union.
Whether you prefer to research or to ignore an out of balance amount is entirely up to you.
When you want to research why a cashflow space's transaction register does not balance with a
bank or credit union statement, here are a few suggestions for trying to find the error.
● Verify that the ending balance from the bank or credit union's statement has been entered
correctly in the Statement box.
● If you have a residual check register:
○ Verify that the ending balance from the residual check register is entered correctly
in the Check Register box.
○ Verify that the total of the non-cleared items in your residual check register is
correct and that this total has been entered correctly in the Check Register box.
○ Re-add the total for all of the uncleared deposits in your residual check register.
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