best way to do reconciliation?

[DonMunro]

Hi folks,

I am a long time (casual) user of FM but have recently decided to try to use more of the features that Mark has taken the time to build in.

What is the best way to do a Statement Reconciliation? My broker does not provide Online Retrieval or OFX/QFX files. I have to work from a printed report.

Do I have to go into Edit All Data and mess around with all the data records?

If that's the case... Mark, how about a nice form to enter all the bits 'n pieces of data into?

cheers
Don

[Mark]

Hi Don,

In this case I would suggest just creating a simple Portfolio Value report on the date of your statement. Sort the report in the same order as your printed statement, and then just go down and compare share balances for each investment. Share balances are all that matter when reconciling. As long as the share balance is correct, the value will be also, whenever you update the prices.

To make comparing easier, if your statement is displaying a different number of significant digits than your report, adjust this in Fund Manager under "Options / Report Preferences... / General / Share Digits to Display".

If you do find an investment with a different number of shares than shown on your statement, just left mouse click on this investment in the report. This will open up the Data Register. Set the "Data Type" to "Investments (all)" and make sure all your recorded transactions are correct and present. The share balance is simply the sum of all prior recorded transactions. If you find one wrong or missing, you can add it here by pressing New... or Edit....

[DonMunro]

Mark,

Ah, I see... I have no problem keeping my shares at the correct count, I was thinking more of the dividends, interest and stuff like that.

Don

[Mark]

Hi Don,

If the dividends are reinvested, any problems would show up when reconciling the share balances.

To make sure all your non-reinvested distributions are recorded you can either use the Data Register to look at all of your transactions, or you could look at a "Investment Transactions" report. You can create an Investment Transactions report for either individual investments, or a whole sub-portfolio. In the Data Register, you can only look at transactions one investment at a time.

[DonMunro]

Mark,

Most often the Stock dividends come into the account as cash, so they have to be entered into the Cash Account as a purchase. I guess what I was getting around to was hoping that there was some way of working with the Cash Acct without pretending it is an Investment.. just a plain old cash account, dollars in.. dollars out.. interest accrued.. interest charged etc...

Thanks, I will go and look at those reports right now.

Don

[Mark]

Hi Don,

If you set up your cash investment as the "Default Cash Account" for this sub-portfolio, you can then just record the distributed distribution transaction in the appropriate investment. The cash generated from this paid out distribution will automatically be deposited into your default cash account.

Cash accounts are normally always kept at a price of $1/share. When you add or remove money, the number of shares equals the value.

Is this how you were tracking your cash, or were you looking for some other sort of feature specific to the cash account?

[DonMunro]

Mark,

Yes, that's the way I have it set up, and it works fine. I have only tested it for share purchases. I haven't tried dividend distributions yet.

thanks
Don

[surendar jeyadev]

Interesting that this topic came up just as I was considering a post. I
do have a request for Mark at the end of this.

My broker (Banc of America Direct) does not provide an OFX statement,
either, and I have to make do with the paper one. However, I am able
to retrieve the transactions from the account. I just use the "Internet
Retrieve -> Transactions" for this. Once I have them I have to mess
with the list a bit. For some reason there are multiple mutually cancelling
entries in the transaction history. For example, a divided will come in with
a positive amount and say "(Imported ....)". Along with this come 3 other
transactions for the same exact amount, two negative and one positive.
After much agony, I found that one has to simply choose not to select
these entries. It is easier to deselect all and then check mark (i.e. select)
the "real" transactions in the retrieved list. Everything works fine then.

But, once in a while, transactions go AWOL. Last month I did 2 sells and
1 buy on the same day. The sells came through, but the buy did not! I
had to put that transaction by hand in the cash account as well as open
a security position. (Last month, the reinvested money market amount
did not show up, either!)

Finally, the request. My ancient Managing Your Money allows the entry
of the statement amount and date and then doing the reconciliation (by
hand, of course!). If you succeed, you get to hit a button that says
"Reconcile" and the software updates the date of last reconciliation, etc.
Could it be possible to allow such a feature in FM? Right now, the only
way to really get the software to understand that things have been
reconciled is to use the wizard, and this means one cannot use a paper
statement. How about allowing a manual process for those of us who can
only get a non-OFX statement? Date and final statement amount should
be entered by the user and when the correct transactions are all
present, the discrepancy should be zero. It would be nice to always
display the discrepancy (as MYM does!) as it gives vital clues in fixing
errors and missing data.

thanks
sj

[Mark]

Hi sj,

Thanks for the feedback. A way to manually reconcile, and keep track of when you did so, would indeed be a nice addition.

BTW, if you can retrieve transactions, you should also be able to retrieve your statement too. Have you tried? Just use "Edit / Reconcile...", select your sub-portfolio, and choose the statement source: "Retrieve From Broker/Fund Company". This uses the same OFX connection as when you retrieve transactions, but in this case it retrieves current positions.

[surendar jeyadev]

No, I have not, but will do so.

Given the hokey state of Banc of Amerina's service,
I suppose I will not be much further down the road
when I entered every single transaction into MYM,
back in 1994.

Thanks for the suggestion ... I will give it a shot.

sj