Using transaction file
Semi-automatic balancing of your monthly checking account statement is done with a file of cleared transactions downloaded from your bank or credit union's website. The first time that you use a downloaded transaction file you must first create a transaction file map so that the file can be used in A Real Budget.
In your browser
Download the transactions and review the statement by:
- Logging into your checking account on your bank or credit union's website
- Downloading a spreadsheet (.CSV) file of the transactions included on the statement being balanced
Banks and credit unions do not isolate transactions by statement the way that credit card companies do. The filter for the download of transactions must, therefore, have a start date that is before the date of the previous statement to ensure that all needed transactions are downloaded. The previous transactions that are not needed will be deleted as a part of the balancing process.
- Reviewing the statement to:
- Find and enter any charges or fees on the bank statement that have not yet been entered in A Real Budget
- Note the statement date and ending balance for entry below
Balance the statement
Either click on "Budget space > Checking account" or the checking account icon at the right of the window to open the Checking Account slider.
In the Checking Account slider, click on the "Balance statement" button to display the Balance Checking Account window.
In the Statement section:
- select the statement "Date"
- enter the statement's "Ending balance"
If you have a residual check register with uncleared entries, in the "Check Register" section enter the:
- calculated total of all "Deposits not on stmt"
- calculated total of all "Chks/withdrawals not on stmt"
- the residual check register's "Ending balance"
Click on the Open button to open and list the downloaded .CSV transaction file.
In the Auto Balancing question box, click on the OK button if the statement date is correct.
The program matches the downloaded transactions to the entries in the transaction register. Entries that match are highlighted.
In the list of downloaded transactions on the right, select the unneeded transactions from the previous statment and press the Delete key.
This is the manual part of this semi-automatic process: resolving any transactions on the left that don't match with the bank or credit union's transactions. When you need to exit the Balance Checking Account window to fix something, the status of the balancing will be remembered so that you can reopen the window and pick up where you left off.
Remember to not close A Real Budget until you are done balancing your checking account statement.
In this illustration:
- The deposit transactions are dated after the statement date and are ignored for this balancing.
- The differences between the unmatched transaction register and bank or credit union transaction amounts are minor. This is a common reason for transactions not to match. In this case, no correction is necessary as will be seen below.
Even though the amounts do not agree, the unmatched transactions in the transaction register have cleared. Double-clicking these transactions marks them as cleared. The amount they are out of balance is displayed in the Results section.
When the columns do not balance and you need some help, look at the "Does not balance" topic for your options. For this illustration, clicking on the "Balance" button is the best option.
The Balance Checking question box displays what will happen to the balance of the Unallocated ledger. Clicking on the OK button finishes balancing
