1) The account balance is the amount that shows on the Balance Sheet, in the Balance for Account screen and at the bottom of the Transactions Activity screen. This is the amount that the program maintains for each account by month. It is updated by transactions entered in any journal such as a checking account, general journal, etc.

2) The running balance in the Transaction Activity screen is a calculated amount from the account balance at the end of the previous month plus all the transactions shown on the screen for this journal.

Differences can occur for several reasons:
1) Transactions can be entered in another journal such as a general journal that affect this account balance but do now show on the screen since they were not entered in this journal.

2) If for some reason the account balance is incorrect, then the previous month's balance plus the transactions does not equal the account balance for that month.

Solution:
Run the Transactions by Account report (not the Transaction Register) on the journal for the month range in question. If there are transactions entered in another journal such as a general journal they will be listed showing the journal name above the transactions.

Also at the bottom of the report will be a line for "Changes in Account Balances" if the ending balance does not agree with the beginning balance plus all the transactions. If this occurs then from the Utilities menu run Test & Correct | Balances for Accounts. Test & Correct | Transaction file will also check to see if the multiple distribution amounts agree with the total of the distributions.