generic import with multiple currencies

[bralim]

Hi again,
This time I am trying to import data for a multiple currencies account that contains a separate cash account for each of the currencies/securities I trade. So if I want to buy equity in Euros and i have dollars, I sell usd, buy eur and then with the cash balance in euros I buy the shares I want. Dividends will be paid to the eur cash account and so forth for each currency. Hence I have several cash accounts and each of them is the "default" for the securities of its own currency. I tried to import transactions but all the cash legs were ignored as I had not specified a default cash account.
At this moment I can only think of splitting the import into one import per currency, changing the default cash account for each import. Or perhaps there is some way to specify the cash account to be used in the generic import per line? I have not seen that possibility though.
Do you have any brilliant suggestion to simplify things? Is there something I am not seeing here?
Regards,
bralim

[bralim]

On second thought, it would seem perhaps better to have a subportfolio per currency, the default cash account is then obviously the cash for the given currency and i can control the portfolio to which the transactions are imported from the generic transactions import format. All these separate accounts will share a dollar cash account though (the source for the fx transactions but with no security transactions) i guess i can put this at the root of the tree. So portfolio A with dollar cash and subportfolio euros, gbps, etc. this way i can also easily see the performance of the investments by currency and then aggregate them in the base currency. The dollar cash account at the root of the portfolio seems perhaps a bit strange but i cannot see a drawback.
What do you think?

[Mark]

Hi bralim,

Yes, your suggestion of having 1 sub-portfolio per currency is a good one. This is usually how I recommend tracking accounts with multiple cash accounts in varying currencies.

[bralim]

Sounds good. Thank you.

[NickyB]

Hi Mark

I would like to add to this topic. I have exactly the same scenario - I set up a main portfolio with separate currency specific sub portfolios with a currency specific cash accounts. Everything works great, except the portfolio performance report is completely out of sync.

Example:
1) In CHF cash account in my CHF sub portfolio - sell CHF1000. Treated as a redemption. Portfolio performance report - treated as a withdrawal at the sub portfolio level. This is fine.
2) In GBP cash account in my GBP sub portfolio - buy GBP500 with the CHF proceeds (fx rates are wrong, but follow the logic). Treated as a purchase in the GBP cash account - treated as a contribution in the GBP sub portfolio level in the performance report- this is fine.
3) In GBP cash account in my GBP sub portfolio - transfer in GBP6000 from outside the top portfolio, so a proper transfer in. Not showing up as a contribution at the sub portfolio level. This is not fine - it should be showing up.
4) In GBP cash account in my GBP sub portfolio - sell GBP6500. Shown as a withdrawal on the portfolio performance report - net result - massive gain in on GBP portfolio due to the real contribution not being counted.

At total portfolio level the sum of all the contributions and withdrawals (read purchases and redemptions) are show. Surely it should only show the transactions classified as either transfer in and transfer out.

So in summary:
1) Transfer ins are not counted as contributions at the sub account level
2) At the top portfolio level it is summing all the purchases and redemptions instead of the transfer in and transfer out transactions.

Please help, I must be doing something wrong!

[Mark]

Hi NickyB,

It sounds like there was a lot going on there. Let me try to clarify how things are supposed to work, and some tips to help figure out if something isn't right. First, I would suggest reading this:

https://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/hel ... _flow.html

All Transfers are always considered "external", so should show up as an external contribution/withdrawal. When looking for other external transactions, Fund Manager matches up all existing transactions within whatever sub-portfolio you're looking at, and any un-matched transactions are considered external. If both halves of your transactions going across currencies are matched for the recorded exchange rate, those should also cancel, and not be considered external at the portfolio level. If you buys cash 1 and sell cash 2, that is a contribution of cash 1 at that investment level, and a withdrawal of cash 2, but at the portfolio level that contains both of these cash investments, this should be considered internal, and won't show up as a contribution/withdrawal at that level.

You can also make use of the "Investment Transaction" report, and turn on the filter option "Include Only Portfolio External Transactions". This can help you identify items that aren't matched up, so will show up as "external" at that sub-portfolio level.