I cannot reconcile cash balance?

[ThomasK]

buy/sells
transfers
distributions

Hi Mark,

I somehow put my cash balance in one of my accounts off kilter. I was perfectly balanced up to the end of Q2 (June). This could be a clue as I didn't do any entries until today.

So, to find the error, I used a Portfolio Value report to take a look for "when" the error occurred and I found the only transaction to be a share transaction, but that looked okay...I thought, "hey, I'll just re-create cash" but I am still out.

I was careful TO check "Delete Existing Buy/Sells" and "Delete Existing Distributions" but also NOT to check the "Delete Existing Transfers..."

My understanding is that when I go to re-create default cash I should have an accurate cash balance IFF my transfers are recorded correctly in the cash account itself AND that all share transactions and dividends are correctly entered. I've rechecked the investments line by line and checked the transfers...no mistakes can I find.

Question: is there any another reason that FundManager would show a cash total that doesn't jive with my statements? If so, what would be the fast fixes?

Note that I use "Transfer Out" for moving cash from my brokerage account to my bank account (you said to use "Buy/Sell" as it was easier) but I never found an issue with using Transfer Out.

Thanks,
Thomas

[Mark]

Hi Thomas,

If your account isn't reconciling, look which investment isn't reconciling, and then within that investment, look at the recorded transactions. You can look at the balance at the last point where you reconciled, and make sure that is okay. Then, you only have to look at recorded transactions since the last reconciliation date. I'd suggest watching this tutorial on reconciling:

https://youtu.be/eewZ250W_FY

[ThomasK]

Thanks Mark,

Here's something I just discovered looking into cash...an undeleted set of imported entries.

I did an Import>Transactions>Generic and I had a "bad" symbol and had to "redo" the import after fixing the symbol. My broker used the ticker of "TCK.B.TO" whereas FundManager uses "TCK-B.TO", so I inadvertently imported essentially a "new" symbol.

Question 1:
I'm guessing that under the above scenario, deleting transactions in a stock's data register doesn't automatically delete the values in the cash account's data register, yes? I.e. I have to manually do both, yes? OR I'm going to guess a faster method is to Re-create cash? Thoughts?

Question 2:
What really happens when I edit a transaction WITHIN the cash account??
Am I correct to think that FM pulls the transaction info FROM the stock's data register INTO the cash account's data register. This makes sense for us to be able to Re-create cash! Thus, why are we even 'allowed' to edit a transaction in cash account from a stock's data register? Perhaps a warning?? My guess is that the stock's data register remains as is and the cash balance gets adjusted...and all is then made fine with a Re-create cash, yes?

Thanks for any feedback.

Thomas

[Mark]

Hi Thomas,

I'd suggest watching this tutorial on how to track cash, it goes over much of this:

https://youtu.be/K_OJEOWoqX4

To answer your questions:

Q1) When you delete a transaction in a non-default cash account (like a stock investment), if there is a corresponding entry in the default cash account, that will also be deleted.

Q2) You can edit the cash side of a transaction. It doesn't affect the source of that cash entry, if it was created automatically. Here is how it works: When you manually add, import, or retrieve a transaction, if you're using the default cash account, a transaction will automatically be added to that default cash account. For example, if you buy $1000 worth of a stock, a sell of $1000 cash will be recorded. You can go edit that cash sell, and the stock buy remains un-changed. However, if you edit or delete the stock transaction, and there is still a matching cash transaction recorded, that cash transaction will also be edited/deleted.

[ThomasK]

Thanks Mark,

The videos are good, especially as I'm more: show-me-hands-on.

FYI, what I think I did after importing the 'new' symbol (see above) I did two things:
a. I re-ran the generic import with the 'corrected' symbol (and all worked seamlessly of course)
b. I "closed" the investment from within the Portfolio Editor.

I found another instance where I did a Test Investment and closed it from the Portfolio Editor and, for whatever reason, again, the corresponding entries were NOT automatically deleted in the default cash account. At least that's what it looks like, although I might have did something else.

In any case, re-creating cash worked immediately for getting rid of all the "Test Investment" transactions in the default cash of that account.

Thanks,
Thomas

[Mark]

Hi Thomas,

Yes, that sounds likely. If you "close" an investment, that does not remove any corresponding default cash account entries from transactions in that investment. You would have to "delete" the transactions in that investment, to have the default cash account entries removed.