I finally found the imbalance in my checking account that prompted my [url]earlier post[/url]. I had a bogus, but reconciled transfer operation that contained contained a split operation and an un-reconciled deposit that, added together accounted for my discrepancy. This brings up two questions:

1. What could I have done to get an obviously improper transaction reconciled in the first place? While it's not impossible that I could have entered a final balance that was off by the exact amount of the discrepancy and then checked the improper transaction as reconciled since it perfectly balanced the account, this explanation seems improbable. Could I have entered the split transaction in another account, reconciled and checked it there then changed it to a transfer (by user error) creating an unlinked (broken) transfer operation that now appeared the the checking account as reconciled? That doesn't seem likely either, since I thought I always need to check the transfer operation separately on both ends. Or could I have -- again by user error -- changed the "from" account on an already reconciled transfer, causing it to show up in checking in reconciled state?

2. I didn't even know that an operation could be both a transfer and a split transaction. I remember trying it before and not being able to figure out how to make it work, then deciding that this was not a supported feature. Is splitting categories in a transfer in fact supported by Skrooge? If so, what's the proper way to create one? (I think I'd like to be able to do that, since I have many operations that consist of a transfer from checking to a loan, then another transaction in the loan account for the interest. The lending bank reports this as one transaction: a payment with part deducted as interest and the rest credited toward principal. If I could do that in Skrooge, the two ledgers would look more alike.)

Thanks. And thanks again for this nice piece of software.

rbruce wrote:I finally found the imbalance in my checking account that prompted my [url]earlier post[/url]. I had a bogus, but reconciled transfer operation that contained contained a split operation and an un-reconciled deposit that, added together accounted for my discrepancy. This brings up two questions:

1. What could I have done to get an obviously improper transaction reconciled in the first place?
While it's not impossible that I could have entered a final balance that was off by the exact amount of the discrepancy and then checked the improper transaction as reconciled since it perfectly balanced the account, this explanation seems improbable. Could I have entered the split transaction in another account, reconciled and checked it there then changed it to a transfer (by user error) creating an unlinked (broken) transfer operation that now appeared the the checking account as reconciled? That doesn't seem likely either, since I thought I always need to check the transfer operation separately on both ends. Or could I have -- again by user error -- changed the "from" account on an already reconciled transfer, causing it to show up in checking in reconciled state?

If you click on a check box of an operation with Ctrl pressed then you break the previous reconciliation.

rbruce wrote:
2. I didn't even know that an operation could be both a transfer and a split transaction. I remember trying it before and not being able to figure out how to make it work, then deciding that this was not a supported feature. Is splitting categories in a transfer in fact supported by Skrooge? If so, what's the proper way to create one? (I think I'd like to be able to do that, since I have many operations that consist of a transfer from checking to a loan, then another transaction in the loan account for the interest. The lending bank reports this as one transaction: a payment with part deducted as interest and the rest credited toward principal. If I could do that in Skrooge, the two ledgers would look more alike.)

In fact, a transfer is just 2 operations having opposite amounts, same dates and being grouped.
So, you can:
1-Create a single operation in account A with amount 100€ and split.
2-Create a single operation in account B with amount -100, split or not.
3-You can group them. They will be considered as a transfer.

rbruce wrote:
Thanks. And thanks again for this nice piece of software.

Thank you for using it and helping to improve it.

smankowski wrote:1-Create a single operation in account A with amount 100€ and split.
2-Create a single operation in account B with amount -100, split or not.
3-You can group them. They will be considered as a transfer.

Thanks, I'll give this a try with the next round of payments coming up next week. ( #@%* student loans)

I now understand how this works. Unfortunately, I also now understand that what I was hoping to do just can't be done.

I was trying to "have my cake and eat it too" by making a loan payment from one account (checking) to another grouped (loan) with the transaction valued as (e.g.) $100 from checking into the loan resulting in a $10 reduction in principal. I can make the transaction on the loan side valued as $10 split as a $100 payment and $90 interest, but I can't group this with the outgoing transfer from checking since the total values aren't equal ($100 != $10, and there's no way around that math fact).

Really, it's the fault of the two financial institutions' different reporting schemes just not being compatible with each other. I can either link the (equal) payments in the checking and loan accounts and have a second interest operation, or I can group the payment in the loan with interest deduction and not group the transaction out of checking with the one into the loan.

So basically, I was asking for the impossible.