Dividends in Cash Account

[johnreid]

When I report dividends (manually), FM asks if I want the dividends posted to the cash account. I agree. But, the dividends are not posted to the Dividend sections but are located in the Purchase section of the Data Register. How do I ensure that the Dividends end up in the Dividend section and not in the Purchase section?

Second, when the Dividends are posted there is a long sentence to explain where they came from. Is there a way to edit that to shorten that explanation?

johnreid

[Mark]

Hi johnreid,

I'm not aware of any prompt asking if you want the proceeds to go to the cash account when recording a dividend? Can you tell me the exact text in the dialog you are talking about? If you are recording the dividend in an investment located in a sub-portfolio with a default cash account assigned, they will just automatically go there. It will be recorded as a purchase in the default cash account.

Are you asking about customizing the memo? Can you give me an exact "long sentence" that you're looking to customize?

[johnreid]

Yes, that is the question. I thought that Dividends would end up in the Dividends section of the Data section, not in the purchases. Is it possible to set FM up to send the dividends to the Dividend section?

On the second question, I'll go back and extract the "long explanation" and send it to you.

Thanks,

johnreid

[Mark]

Hi johnreid,

You will get the actual dividend posted in the "Dividends" section of the investment that paid the dividend. You will get a purchase into your default cash account for the proceeds of that dividend (assuming it wasn't reinvested).

[johnreid]

Here is the offending text, found in the Cash Account under Purchases in the Data Register "Distributed Dividend from Great West Lifeco Inc". Why could it not read Dividend Great West Lifeco Inc? And why does it appear under Purchases instead of Dividends in the Cash Account?

johnreid

[Mark]

Hi johnreid,

I see... Sorry, that memo field isn't user-adjustable. It would be nice to make that an option, but it isn't currently.

You received cash from a distribution in Great West. This is correctly recorded as a purchase into cash. It is not a cash distribution, it is a deposit of cash from a dividend in another investment. A cash distributions would be money generated by the cash itself, like interest on the cash balance. This is not what is happening when you deposit cash from a dividend in another investment. If you look in Great West though, under the "Distributions (all)" data type, there is where you should see it recorded as a dividend.

Great West earned and paid the dividend. The proceeds were deposited into cash.