Symbol change

[Mike]

Mark, I see no way to make a symbol change when one occurs across the db. Again, the nature of FM's db is the problem If there are 30 client subportfolios holding a security and its symbol changes, there should be a way to make that change universally. So far as I can tell, it has to be laboriously done on a subportfolio by subportfolio basis. Any thoughts?

[Mark]

Hi Mike,

You're right on this. This is something that I hope will be addressed in 9.0 to make this easier.

[surendar jeyadev]

Mark,

If a "major" release (i.e. Ver9) is being thought off, could you PLEASE
consider a request to put in a method for reconciling accounts based
on a paper statement.

I was very pleasantly surprised when, after my switch to Quicken (yecch!),
I found that they do exactly what I would like to see: once you have all
the transactions downloaded, you enter the current balance from the
paper statement, tick off the transactions that match and ...... away you
go.

Several of the retirement accounts do not have a facility to get an
electronic file that once can reconcile against and so I would really
like to see this being part of Fund Manager. I suppose the Quicken
implementation is pretty much the template.

thanks
sj

[Mark]

Hi surendar,

Thanks much for the idea/feedback. For paper statement reconciliation, I usually suggest to use a Portfolio Value report, sorted the same as your statement, and just compare all the share balances. This seems like less work than manually typing in all your share balances to compare against? Am I overlooking something, or are there other benefits to typing in your share balances for reconciliation?

[surendar jeyadev]

Mark,

Thanks for the note. I should explain better ...

I do use the Portfolio Report to make sure that the amounts (individual
as well as total) match. This is something I do after I either

1) electronically retrieve the transactions and positions when
possible (e.g. my broker), or
2) entering things by hand in the 401-k accounts that do not have
any electronic updating capability

In *either* case, what I would like to see is the ability to get Fund
Manger to acknowledge that you have done the reconciliation and
update the date of reconciliation.

This is why I suggest the Quicken (or, for that matter, my old Managing
Your Money) method, where you can tell the software that you have done
the reconciliation and that it should be recorded as such. Right now, for
example, FM says that the 401-k accounts have never been reconciled
even though I do the cross checking every quarter as you suggest.

I am *not* advocating typing in anything other than the total balance
in your account (not individual ones) and the date of the statement
and then hit the "Reconcile" button. Provided that the amount entered
matches FM's portfolio value as of that date, one is done.

Manually entering all transactions is needed only for those accounts
which do not allow electronic retrieval of transactions -- like some of my
401-k accounts. But, after entering the transaction data and updating
the prices, one is still left with the need to *record* the reconciliation.

Allowing to record reconciliation against a paper statement covers
all four possibilities.

Hope this is clearer.

thanks
sj

[surendar jeyadev]

Mark,

I did make an error when I said:

> I am *not* advocating typing in anything other than the total balance
> in your account (not individual ones) and the date of the statement
> and then hit the "Reconcile" button. Provided that the amount entered
> matches FM's portfolio value as of that date, one is done.

Actually, you would also have to check off which of the FM transactions
and positions actually occur in your statement. One can expect some
activity in the account to have occurred before the statement arrives
(and one gets to sit down and do the reconciliation!).

Again, note that I am not advocating typing in everything all over.
One checking off the FM view of the account against the paper statement.
This capability already exists in FM as the transaction history is shown
after an electronic retrieval and one can (as I do) choose the ones you
need to keep to match the statement.

The missing bit now, is the recording of the fact the one has manually
checked FM's balances against the paper statement and the date of the
statement.

thanks
sj

[Mark]

Hi surendar,

Thanks for the clarification, I do understand the desire to be able to set/update the reconciliation date when you've done it manually.