THANKS TO MICHEL WALSH & JOHN VINSON i think i'm a step closer.
but i still need help trying to count consecutive records >=1, restarting
count at o when there is a record <1.

i renamed my "bal" field to "field"
to match the sql. provided.
i created q1 (query) by copying an pasting the first SQL:

SELECT a.date, a.BAL,
COUNT(*) AS Rank
FROM myTable AS a LEFT JOIN myTable AS b ON a.date<=b.date
GROUP BY a.date, a.BAL;

when i run the query i get the following:

date               BAL            Rank
6/15/2006     6    16
6/16/2006                   9    15
6/17/2006                 12               14
6/18/2006                 -5                13
6/19/2006     0               12
6/20/2006                   2    11
6/21/2006                   5    10
6/22/2006      0    9
6/23/2006               8    8
6/24/2006                  1    7
6/25/2006                  4    6
6/26/2006                   0    5
6/27/2006                  25    4
6/28/2006      0    3
6/29/2006                   0    2
6/30/2006                   1    1

i'm not sure what to do next.  i tried to copy an past the 2nd sql,

SELECT a.date, a.field, a.rank - Nz( Max(b.rank))
FROM q1 as a LEFT JOIN (SELECT rank FROM q1 WHERE field <1) As b
   ON a.rank >= b.rank

into a second query, q2.

when i run q2 i get an error msg:

cannot find the input table or query 'SELECT rank FROM q1 WHERE field <1'.  
Make sure it exists and that its name is spelled correctly.

i would appriciate a helping hand.

thanks