New Account Reconcile

[sbfree]

Hi:
I imported transactions for a new portfolio for 2015 to present. Is there a proper way to make a balancing entry for the cash account?
Thanks,
Scott

[Mark]

Hi Scott,

You can adjust your cash balance by recording a buy or sell transaction.

Ideally you would have all your cash transactions recorded as they actually happened, so you don't need an adjusting entry. When you deposited cash, record a buy. When you withdrew cash, record a sell. Record an automatic default cash account entry for all the transactions that happened: buy/sell security, security paid a dividend, etc. If you imported without recording corresponding default cash account entries, and you want to after the import, you can use "File / File Operations / Re-Create Default Cash Transactions...". If you want to record a starting balance of cash at some beginning point, you can record a buy for the amount of cash you started with, like a deposit. All cash transactions should be done at a price of 1.

[sbfree]

Thanks.
I received errors from Fidelity trying to import all transactions. I had to import just a quarter at a time and didn't want to go back further than one year because of that. I was also unsure what to do when the new account wanted to adjust the cash balance using a reconciled default cash for another. I didn't allow this, not wanting to get the first account out of balance.
Scott

[Mark]

Hi Scott,

Typically you want to make sure each account has its own default cash account. It is possible to specify a default cash account from a different account, but this isn't typical. You might want to check your settings here. Look at the properties of the account level sub-portfolio, and see what the default cash account setting is. Make sure "Show All" is not checked next to the default cash account option, as that indicates you are picking a cash investment from a different sub-portfolio than the current one.

[sbfree]

If I uncheck 'show all' then the money market account does not show up.
I'm a new user please bear with me. I had three portfolios and could not get them to reconcile, deleted them all and started over. I have one portfolio with two subs. I got the first to reconcile but seem to be on the wrong track in having set up the second. I obviously goofed in choosing a cash account from a the wrong place. Do you have a suggestion? Should I just delete everything and start over? I never did get Fidelity to give me a complete transaction history.
scott

[Mark]

Hi Scott,

Do you have a money market investment in the sub-portfolio? If so, it should show up when you un-check "Show All". If not, then create a money market investment for this account by using "New Investment...". Once you have a money market investment in this sub-portfolio you will be able to choose it, without selecting "Show All".

I'm not sure whether it would be easier to start over or not, you may be the best judge of that. It wouldn't be a bad exercise to try and straighten things out, as it may help you see how the program works.

When using the New Portfolio Wizard, Fidelity only provides the last 3 months (90 days) worth of transactions in a single request, so that is going to limit how far back you can go with this method. If you want further back, importing multiple downloaded files may be better.

If you have 3 accounts, you want a hierarchy something like this:

Code: Select all

- Master Portfolio (no default cash)
  - Acct 1 (def cash from Acct 1)
  - Acct 2 (def cash from Acct 2)
  - Acct 3 (def cash from Acct 3)