Balance looks wrong after an import
On this page
If an account's balance doubled, moved the wrong way or is off by the same amount everywhere after an import, the cause is usually in the import itself. Your AI can check what was imported, find the cause and fix it.
Why it happens
The same transactions came in twice
Pennyweight skips an imported row when a transaction already in that account has the same date, amount, currency and merchant. Importing the identical file again doesn't double anything. A second export of the same period is different: if the merchant names are written differently, or a date moved by a day, the rows don't match exactly and are imported. A row with the same date and amount but a different merchant is flagged for a look and imported unless you say otherwise. On a file uploaded straight to Pennyweight, a row also counts as a duplicate when the existing transaction's merchant matches another column of the line, such as a details column. See reading an import preview.
When some rows are duplicates of transactions already there and the account already has an import covering those dates, Pennyweight warns your AI before saving. The warning starts with the number of those rows and continues: "of these rows already exist from a prior import of an overlapping period — they'll be skipped as duplicates. If you intend to re-import, confirm; otherwise the new rows import fine on their own." When no row is a duplicate, there is no warning.
When your AI asks Pennyweight to plan an import, an account that already has imports gets a note marked ALREADY IMPORTED: that gives the number of rows and the dates already covered, and ends "SKIP or import only a date-bounded delta to avoid doubling."
The import's duplicate check looks only at the account you import into, so the same statement imported into two accounts isn't flagged.
The signs are flipped
A transaction's amount is the change it makes to the account's balance: money out is negative, money in is positive. When your AI imports a statement, it tells Pennyweight whether the batch raises or lowers the balance. For a statement that only goes one way, that choice sets the sign of every row, so one wrong choice turns the whole statement around. After each import, your AI is told to check the change against the statement and, if it's inverted, to undo the import and run it again.
The opening balance is missing or wrong
A manual account's balance is its opening balance plus its transactions, so a wrong opening shifts every balance by the same amount. Once an import has set an account's opening balance, a later import's figure isn't applied.
It's a card or loan
A negative balance on a credit card or loan is the amount you owe, not an error. See why a credit card shows a negative balance.
How to fix it
- Ask your AI what was imported into the account, whether anything is in there twice, and what the balance is now.
My Everyday Checking balance looks off since I imported my statements. Check what's been imported into it, whether anything is in there twice, and what the balance is now. Don't undo or import anything.
- If a statement went in twice or backwards, ask your AI to undo that import, then import the corrected file. The undo previews first and needs a reason. See undo an import.
- If only a few rows are repeated, ask your AI to check the account for duplicates and delete the copies after you confirm. Two imported rows on one account are paired when they share the amount, a similar merchant name and the date, or dates a day apart when they came from different imports. The check covers the last 60 days unless your AI asks for a longer period, up to a year. Routine purchases, such as a daily coffee, aren't listed by default, and copies with different merchant names aren't paired, so a search finds those.
- If the opening balance is wrong, tell your AI what the account held before its first transaction. See set or correct an opening balance.
To avoid the problem next time, tell your AI up front to skip rows that are already there:
Import overlap-checking.csv into my Everyday Checking account. Some of these rows may already be in there and I don't want them counted twice: if Pennyweight says rows already exist, skip those and bring in the rest. Then tell me the account's new balance.
What your AI reports
For the first prompt, your AI lists the imports into the account with their dates or row counts, gives the current balance, and says whether anything came in twice. For the second, it says which rows were already in the account and skipped, imports the rest and gives the new balance.
Good to know
- Undo is reversible for 30 days. Your AI can restore removed transactions one at a time, by id, with a reason.
- Undo can clear an opening balance. If an import set the opening balance and the undo leaves the account with no transactions, the opening balance is cleared too. One you set yourself after the import stays. If a later import brings its own opening balance, that figure replaces yours.
- Check the balance, not the change. The change your AI quotes after an import can include rows that were skipped. The account's balance counts only what was saved. See reconcile an account against a statement.
- Cards and loans take a positive opening. A negative one is refused with a message that says "Enter the amount owed as a POSITIVE number".
- Duplicates across accounts. A purchase recorded on two different accounts is a job for find and fix duplicates.