Period Beginning: Period Ending: Question

[cir]

When entering a distribution for some investments, I am required to enter a "Period Beginning:" and "Period Ending" date while entering distributions for other investments I am only required to enter one transaction "Date:". Why is this and what is the implication with respect to reports, etc...

[Mark]

Hi cir,

For "Cash" type investments you are prompted for a date range when recording a distribution. This information is used when FM calculates the "Distribution Per Share". This dist/share number is used when plotting "Price + Dist." graphs, and is also displayed in the Data Register when you have one of the "Distribution" data types selected. This does not have any impact on reports.

For cash investments the dist/share is calculated by dividing the distribution amount by the average number of shares owned over the period, which is why you're prompted for the date range. For other investment types it is calculated by dividing the distribution amount by the number of shares on the specified date.