Opening Balance Changed

Posted by Andrew on October 8, 2009, 7:52 am

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R. C. White wrote:

> Hi, lanman.

> One of the first words that a junior auditor learns is

> "transposition". ;^}

> That often occurs when the correct digits are entered, but in the

> wrong order; they are transposed. Like, "46" instead of "64". And

> it doesn't have to be the whole number; any part of the number can

> produce this result: $1,234.56 instead of "$1,243.56.

> Transposition is the first thing that springs to an auditor's mind

> when the error amount is evenly divisible by 9. The answer when you

> divide the difference by 9 tells us how far apart the two digits are,

> and which column (units, tens, hundreds...) the error is in.

> So your $1,800 error is most likely transposition of digits with a

> difference of 2 and in the hundreds column. For example:

> 6498

> -4698

> =1800

> Other examples: 7999-9799 = -1800 (yes, it works in both positive and

> negative directions); 2000 - 200 = 1800; 1234.56 - 1243.56 = -9.00,

> which indicates a difference of 1 in the units and 10s columns. It

> even works when the digits are not in adjacent columns: 1234 - 1432

> = -198; that's still divisible by 9 (=22), but "which column" is not

> so obvious, except that there's obviously no point in searching the

> 10,000 column.

> Of course, other errors, or a combination of errors, can also produce

> an $1800 difference, so this is not an iron-clad cinch, and it may

> not work in your case, but it usually makes a very sensible starting

> point.

> RC

>> When I started the reconcilliation process for my checking account

>> this past month, I noticed that the opening balance had changed. The

>> opening balance has always equaled the closing balance from the

>> previous month, but for some unexplained reason, it differed by some

>> $1,800.00. I reconciled perfectly last month, and have never had to

>> "force" a balance. Has anyone had this happen? Can I fix it without

>> forcing a balancing entry? Thanks...

Wow! You need to unretire, RC, move up to these here parts in NY City, and
help out the banks! What an interesting post. I knew about the 9s somewhat,
but not to the degree you explained. Most interesting!

--
-------------------------------------------------------------
Regards -

- Andrew

Posted by D. Parker on October 8, 2009, 1:52 pm

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Andrew wrote:

> R. C. White wrote:

>> Hi, lanman.

>> One of the first words that a junior auditor learns is

>> "transposition". ;^}

>> That often occurs when the correct digits are entered, but in the

>> wrong order; they are transposed. Like, "46" instead of "64". And

>> it doesn't have to be the whole number; any part of the number can

>> produce this result: $1,234.56 instead of "$1,243.56.

>> Transposition is the first thing that springs to an auditor's mind

>> when the error amount is evenly divisible by 9. The answer when you

>> divide the difference by 9 tells us how far apart the two digits are,

>> and which column (units, tens, hundreds...) the error is in.

>> So your $1,800 error is most likely transposition of digits with a

>> difference of 2 and in the hundreds column. For example:

>> 6498

>> -4698

>> =1800

>> Other examples: 7999-9799 = -1800 (yes, it works in both positive and

>> negative directions); 2000 - 200 = 1800; 1234.56 - 1243.56 = -9.00,

>> which indicates a difference of 1 in the units and 10s columns. It

>> even works when the digits are not in adjacent columns: 1234 - 1432

>> = -198; that's still divisible by 9 (=22), but "which column" is not

>> so obvious, except that there's obviously no point in searching the

>> 10,000 column.

>> Of course, other errors, or a combination of errors, can also produce

>> an $1800 difference, so this is not an iron-clad cinch, and it may

>> not work in your case, but it usually makes a very sensible starting

>> point.

>> RC

>>> When I started the reconcilliation process for my checking account

>>> this past month, I noticed that the opening balance had changed. The

>>> opening balance has always equaled the closing balance from the

>>> previous month, but for some unexplained reason, it differed by some

>>> $1,800.00. I reconciled perfectly last month, and have never had to

>>> "force" a balance. Has anyone had this happen? Can I fix it without

>>> forcing a balancing entry? Thanks...

> Wow! You need to unretire, RC, move up to these here parts in NY City, and

> help out the banks! What an interesting post. I knew about the 9s somewhat,

> but not to the degree you explained. Most interesting!

Great post, RC. I understand your analysis perfectly. Thanks for doing
such a great job of helping out the newsgroup.

David Parker

Posted by Don on October 8, 2009, 5:42 pm

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> Andrew wrote:

>> R. C. White wrote:

>>> Hi, lanman.

>>>

>>> One of the first words that a junior auditor learns is

>>> "transposition". ;^}

>>> That often occurs when the correct digits are entered, but in the

>>> wrong order; they are transposed. Like, "46" instead of "64". And

>>> it doesn't have to be the whole number; any part of the number can

>>> produce this result: $1,234.56 instead of "$1,243.56.

>>>

>>> Transposition is the first thing that springs to an auditor's mind

>>> when the error amount is evenly divisible by 9. The answer when you

>>> divide the difference by 9 tells us how far apart the two digits are,

>>> and which column (units, tens, hundreds...) the error is in.

>>>

>>> So your $1,800 error is most likely transposition of digits with a

>>> difference of 2 and in the hundreds column. For example:

>>> 6498

>>> -4698

>>> =1800

>>>

>>> Other examples: 7999-9799 = -1800 (yes, it works in both positive and

>>> negative directions); 2000 - 200 = 1800; 1234.56 - 1243.56 = -9.00,

>>> which indicates a difference of 1 in the units and 10s columns. It

>>> even works when the digits are not in adjacent columns: 1234 - 1432

>>> = -198; that's still divisible by 9 (=22), but "which column" is not

>>> so obvious, except that there's obviously no point in searching the

>>> 10,000 column.

>>> Of course, other errors, or a combination of errors, can also produce

>>> an $1800 difference, so this is not an iron-clad cinch, and it may

>>> not work in your case, but it usually makes a very sensible starting

>>> point.

>>> RC

>>>

>>>> When I started the reconcilliation process for my checking account

>>>> this past month, I noticed that the opening balance had changed. The

>>>> opening balance has always equaled the closing balance from the

>>>> previous month, but for some unexplained reason, it differed by some

>>>> $1,800.00. I reconciled perfectly last month, and have never had to

>>>> "force" a balance. Has anyone had this happen? Can I fix it without

>>>> forcing a balancing entry? Thanks...

>> Wow! You need to unretire, RC, move up to these here parts in NY City,

>> and help out the banks! What an interesting post. I knew about the 9s

>> somewhat, but not to the degree you explained. Most interesting!

> Great post, RC. I understand your analysis perfectly. Thanks for doing

> such a great job of helping out the newsgroup.

> David Parker

No kidding - the guy certainly knows his stuff, and always does a great job
explaining it in somewhat laymen terms where you can understand it.

--
Don

Posted by Renny Bosch on October 8, 2009, 9:23 pm

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>> Andrew wrote:

>>> R. C. White wrote:

>>>> Hi, lanman.

>>>>

>>>> One of the first words that a junior auditor learns is

>>>> "transposition". ;^}

>>>> That often occurs when the correct digits are entered, but in the

>>>> wrong order; they are transposed. Like, "46" instead of "64". And

>>>> it doesn't have to be the whole number; any part of the number can

>>>> produce this result: $1,234.56 instead of "$1,243.56.

>>>>

>>>> Transposition is the first thing that springs to an auditor's mind

>>>> when the error amount is evenly divisible by 9. The answer when you

>>>> divide the difference by 9 tells us how far apart the two digits are,

>>>> and which column (units, tens, hundreds...) the error is in.

>>>>

>>>> So your $1,800 error is most likely transposition of digits with a

>>>> difference of 2 and in the hundreds column. For example:

>>>> 6498

>>>> -4698

>>>> =1800

>>>>

>>>> Other examples: 7999-9799 = -1800 (yes, it works in both positive and

>>>> negative directions); 2000 - 200 = 1800; 1234.56 - 1243.56 = -9.00,

>>>> which indicates a difference of 1 in the units and 10s columns. It

>>>> even works when the digits are not in adjacent columns: 1234 - 1432

>>>> = -198; that's still divisible by 9 (=22), but "which column" is not

>>>> so obvious, except that there's obviously no point in searching the

>>>> 10,000 column.

>>>> Of course, other errors, or a combination of errors, can also produce

>>>> an $1800 difference, so this is not an iron-clad cinch, and it may

>>>> not work in your case, but it usually makes a very sensible starting

>>>> point.

>>>> RC

>>>>

>>>>> When I started the reconcilliation process for my checking account

>>>>> this past month, I noticed that the opening balance had changed. The

>>>>> opening balance has always equaled the closing balance from the

>>>>> previous month, but for some unexplained reason, it differed by some

>>>>> $1,800.00. I reconciled perfectly last month, and have never had to

>>>>> "force" a balance. Has anyone had this happen? Can I fix it without

>>>>> forcing a balancing entry? Thanks...

>>>

>>> Wow! You need to unretire, RC, move up to these here parts in NY City,

>>> and help out the banks! What an interesting post. I knew about the 9s

>>> somewhat, but not to the degree you explained. Most interesting!

>>>

>> Great post, RC. I understand your analysis perfectly. Thanks for doing

>> such a great job of helping out the newsgroup.

>> David Parker

> No kidding - the guy certainly knows his stuff, and always does a great

> job explaining it in somewhat laymen terms where you can understand it.

> --

> Don

Yes, a great exposition, but come on guys, the OP said it reconciled last
month, he made no changes, and now the opening balance is off. How do we
explain that?

Renny

Posted by JimH on October 9, 2009, 12:20 pm

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Renny Bosch wrote:

> Yes, a great exposition, but come on guys, the OP said it reconciled last

> month, he made no changes, and now the opening balance is off. How do we

> explain that?

> Renny

I worked as a software developer for the last 20 years of my career. I
often heard exactly the same claim when one of my users experienced a
problem. I almost always found out that they forgot about that one,
little, unrelated change that couldn't possibly have caused a problem,
but did.

I've also had the Quicken opening balance change in an account. I had
never touched anything in the account either. I did change a transfer
transaction in another account though.

If I never touched anything in an account for a month, it wouldn't need
reconciling.

--
Jim