[poundwise]

I'm not sure that the original question is a Quicken question or just one about handling your personal account(s). Pardon me if I have misunderstood but whether or not you have Quicken, or any other personal finance software, you need to reconcile (balance and verify) your account.

I know some people just check with bank (online, by phone, or in person) when they need to know how much money they have. That's crazy! You ought to know your own balance, or be able to calculate it rather simply, at any given time yourself.

When you reconcile then, you are simply checking and verifying that what you have is what the bank has in terms of transactions and balance. More often than not, this will help you catch mistakes that you have made, not the bank, however, there are some instances where the bank, or a merchant (debit card transaction), or another company with access to your account (bank drafts) will make a mistake and you, obviously, need to know that too.