Where does the beginning balance come from?
Nobody types it. Accounting software adds up every transaction in the account that is already marked as reconciled. So the number can only move if one of those transactions moved.
It should equal the ending balance of your last reconciliation, which equals the bank’s balance on that statement date.
What changes it?
Four things, all in periods you had already reconciled:
- A reconciled transaction was edited. Its amount or its account was changed.
- A reconciled transaction was deleted or voided.
- A reconciled transaction was un-reconciled, by hand or by undoing a reconciliation.
- A transaction was added with an old date and marked as cleared.
How do I find what changed?
Start with the size of the difference. It is often the exact amount of one transaction.
- Compare the last reconciliation report with the account register for the same dates. A transaction on the report that is now missing, or has a different amount, is the one.
- Look at the audit log, filtered to that bank account and to changes made after the last reconciliation date.
- Some software has a reconciliation discrepancy report that lists exactly these changes. Use it if you have it.
How do I fix it?
Put the transaction back the way it was when it was reconciled: the same date, the same amount, marked as reconciled. The beginning balance returns to the right number by itself.
If the change was a real correction, for example a payment that had been coded to the wrong account, keep the correction but keep the amount and the reconciled mark the same. Changing which expense account a payment went to should not change the bank balance.
What should I not do?
Do not accept an automatic adjustment that the software offers to make the balance agree. It posts a plug to an adjustment account and hides the change. See why not to plug a reconciliation.
Why does this keep happening?
Because nothing stopped the edit. Once a month is reconciled it should be closed, so a change to it needs a deliberate step and leaves a record.
In LedgerDock a locked month cannot be edited quietly: a database rule blocks changing the amount, date or accounts of a sealed line, and a correction is a new entry with a name and a date. See how to fix a mistake in a closed period.