Bank balance shown in investment account differs from the correct balance.

Old Gasser

I have always religiously reconciled my accounts. Suddenly in July I had a $7.12 shortage in my bank account. I traced the difference all the way back to 2013 at which time I gave up and posted a balance adjustment transaction and reconciled the bank account. Today I noticed that the investment account shows the bank balance to be $7.12 less than the real bank balance. There have not been any transactions in the interim period. How do I get the investment account to reflect the correct bank balance?

Quicken Diana

Hello @ Old Gasser

Thank you for posting in the Community today, though I’m sorry that you are experiencing this issue with the investment account balance.

The best way to correct this is to compare the transactions in the Quicken register to those posted on the corresponding bank account.

If you are unable to identify the transaction causing the inconsistency, then creating a balance adjustment will be the best way to reflect the accurate balance.

Thank you

- Quicken Diana

Old Gasser

Actually, I just discovered the discrepancy. When I look at the account "Value" screen, which I seldom use, it shows a cash balance of $7.12 in addition to the linked money market account. The problem is, I don't see any way of accessing that cash balance so I can merge it with the linked account. Any ideas?

Old Gasser

This actually shows in the "Account Status" section which is below the "Value" window.

Boatnmaniac

Old Gasser - Cash should not be showing up in an investment account when it is linked to a separate checking account.  The fact that it is tells me that something in your investment account might be corrupted.

Have you tried to Validate & Repair your data file (File > File Operations > Validate and Repair)?  This process will often fix account data issues.  If you haven't tried it you might want to...after you first backup your data file.

Old Gasser

Hi Boatnmaniac: I did try the validate and repair. The log showed a few minor issues, mainly old stock splits. It did not however solve my problem. When I open the "Holdings" window with the button on the transactions page there is a section at the bottom of the page labeled "Account Status". There are six line below the Account Status label: 1. (Boldface) Security Value. 2. (Boldface) Cash Balance. 3. (Boldface) Total Market Value. 4. (Not Boldface) Linked Cash Balance. 5. (Not Boldface) Last Transaction. 6. (Not Boldface) Last Reconcile.

The sum of the Cash Balance and the Linked Cash Balance is my correct money market balance but I have no idea how the $7.12 got into that account category and no idea how to get it out. All the other items seem to reflect correct amounts.

I was going to try to open some of my old backup files to see if this cash balance was shown but decided not to after realizing what was involved. I may do that yet after I consider the steps involved.

Old Gasser

Bob_L

Something else you could try is to toggle off the option to show cash in a linked checking account and then toggle it back on again.  You can do that from the Edit account screen for the investment account.  Be sure to BACKUP FIRST as all of the cash related transactions get moved around and the linked account disappears.  Be sure to verify things look correct when you re-establish the linked account.

Frankx

Hi @Old Gasser,

You said "but I have no idea how the $7.12 got into that account category".  I think that it is likely that the entry you made as discussed here "posted a balance adjustment transaction and reconciled the bank account".

I suggest that you consider deleting that entry, since it appears to be causing the out of balance situation in the investing account. Then you should re-enter the transaction in the investment/brokerage account, if the account is still out of balance. 

Let me know how that goes.

Frankx