The Reserve Balance on a reserve study drives percent-funded, the funding gap, the 30-year projection, the study PDF, and the reserve balance pre-filled into condo questionnaires. Vlge can take that number from your general ledger automatically, or you can type it in. This article explains how the source is chosen and how to set it up.
👉 The three states you will see
Under the Reserve Balance figure, both the metric card and the Reserve Profile panel show one of these labels:
From general ledger: The balance is the posted book value of the reserve accounts you mapped. It updates as journal entries post. This is the recommended state.
Manual override: You typed the balance and recorded a reason. Vlge uses your number instead of the books and prints the reason on the reserve study PDF.
Typed: GL not mapped or Typed: confirm GL accounts - Vlge is falling back to the typed value because it cannot safely read the balance from the books yet. See Why the general ledger is not being used below.
👉 Step 1: Map your reserve accounts
Vlge will only trust a balance you have explicitly confirmed. Until you do, it shows an auto-detected figure for comparison but does not use it.
Open Financial Dashboard → Reserve Activity Tracker.
Click Settings. The Fund overview accounts dialog lists your active Chart of Accounts lines grouped by Equity, Asset, and Liability.
Check the accounts that together represent the reserve fund's balance.
Click Save.
Full details on the dialog are in Reserve Activity Tracker → Configuring Fund Overview Accounts.
Which accounts to choose
Pick one representation of the reserve balance, not both:
Equity fund balance (for example, 3200 Reserve Fund Balance) if your books track reserves as a fund-balance equity account. This is the cleanest choice for associations on fund accounting.
Reserve cash and investments (for example, 1020 Reserve Account, reserve CDs, money market) if the reserve fund is defined by where the money sits.
Do not check both the equity fund balance and the cash accounts that back it. The mapped accounts are added together, so selecting both counts the same dollars twice and overstates percent-funded.
Also leave out operating cash that happens to sit in a reserve-labelled bank account. If a money-market account holds parked operating surplus, it does not belong in the reserve balance.
Only Asset, Equity, and Liability accounts can be mapped. Income and Expense accounts (including Reserve Study Fees or Reserve Contributions) are not balances and will be rejected.
Clearing the mapping
Clear selection then Save removes the mapping. Vlge returns to auto-detection, which is display-only: the reserve study falls back to the typed balance until you map accounts again.
👉 Step 2: Choose the balance source on the reserve study
Open Financial Dashboard → Reserve Studies and select the study.
In the Reserve Profile panel on the right, click Edit.
Under Reserve balance source, choose one:
General ledger — Uses the mapped accounts. The current GL figure and the account list appear under this option. If the option shows an amber note instead, the mapping is missing or unconfirmed (see Step 1), and the typed amount field below stays available as the interim value.
Manual override — Type the balance and fill in Why override the general ledger? The reason is required. Use this when the books are known to be behind (for example, a reserve CD that has not been recorded yet) or when a reserve study professional has supplied an audited figure you want to hold constant.
Set the Annual Reserve Contribution and click Save Profile.
👉 Removing a manual override
When an override is active and the mapped GL differs from it, the Reserve Profile panel shows the difference and a Use general ledger instead link. Click it and confirm. Percent-funded, the funding gap, and the projection recalculate from the books immediately. The typed value and reason are kept in the profile but no longer used.
If the override equals the GL exactly, the link reads Remove override and follow the general ledger.
👉 Why the general ledger is not being used
No reserve accounts mapped - Nobody has completed Step 1. The Reserve Profile panel links straight to the Reserve Activity Tracker settings.
Reserve accounts are only auto-detected - Vlge found accounts that look like reserve accounts (names containing "Reserve", account 1020, bank accounts marked Reserve) but you have not confirmed them. Auto-detection can sweep in the wrong accounts, so it is never used for the headline number. Open Settings on the Reserve Activity Tracker and save the correct selection; you can uncheck anything the heuristic guessed wrong.
Manual override is active - Intentional. See Removing a manual override.
👉 What the warnings mean
Manual override in effect — differs from the GL by $X — Shown above the funding metrics when an override is active and the books say something different. The reason you recorded is included so board members reading the page understand the choice.
Typed balance differs from auto-detected reserve accounts by $X — Shown when accounts are unconfirmed and the heuristic figure disagrees with your typed balance. Confirming the accounts resolves it and switches the study to the general ledger.
Bank cash … differs from the GL — The connected bank balance for a mapped reserve account does not match its book balance. This is a reconciliation issue in the books, not a reserve study setting; finish the bank reconciliation and the numbers will converge.
👉 What appears on the reserve study PDF
The Executive Summary metric card shows the balance source under the Current Reserve Balance. The Reserve Funding Overview table lists the balance, its source, and the general ledger figure for mapped accounts. When the headline is not the general ledger, an amber note under Recommendations explains why, including your override reason if one is set. Boards and lenders reading the PDF can always tell whether the percent-funded figure came from the books.
👉 Permissions
Mapping accounts requires banking-management permission in the organization. Editing the Reserve Profile requires the Manage Reserve Studies permission. Both the Reserve Activity Tracker and Reserve Studies features must be enabled for the organization.