Cash balance wrong on investment account linked to checking account - how to fix?

UserSteve

I have a large Quicken file with many accounts. In one of my investment accounts, I tried enabling the feature that says "Show cash in a checking account" under the account details setting. It built a new checking account linked to the investment account and updated all the transactions. The cash balance in the linked checking account is correct but the investment holdings are showing an extra $2531 in cash in addition to the amount in the linked checking account. The stock positions appear to be valued correctly - just the total account value is too high by $2531. Before I made this change the cash balance in the investment account was correct. Any suggestions on how to fix this problem? Thanks

Sherlock

UserSteve said:

The additional cash appears in the Account Overview line for cash balance. Lower down, there is additional cash showing in the Linked cash balance line - which is correct. The account overview cash balance is wrong. In the holdings region, it shows the sum of both cash balances on the cash line. Looking at earlier dates does not seem to affect it. The value of cash holdings changes, but it's always the sum of the cash account balance at that time plus a fixed offset. It almost seems like there is a fixed offset of $2530.84 in there all the time. I searched both account registers and cannot find any specific entries that are that amount. This seems like a bug from when I did the conversion. And yes, I wish I had backed it up before selecting that checkbox - sigh. My bad

If you choose a date earlier than the first transaction, is the additional cash is still present?

Sherlock

I suspect you may have one or more placeholder transactions in the investment account.  If you haven't already, you may want to review: https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7267839/quicken-faq-managing-placeholder-entries-in-quicken-for-windows

UserSteve

Sherlock, Thank you for the suggestion. I did review that link. I have searched thoroughly through the account and I cannot find any placeholder transactions. When I run a transaction report on this account and the linked cash account no placeholders appear either. I do have the "show hidden transactions" preference selected. On the investments holdings screen it shows both a cash balance in the investments account and a cash balance in the linked cash account. My understanding from reading the help is that if a linked cash account is used, there should not be any cash balance showing in the investment account. Any further ideas? Thanks.

Sherlock

UserSteve said:

Sherlock, Thank you for the suggestion. I did review that link. I have searched thoroughly through the account and I cannot find any placeholder transactions. When I run a transaction report on this account and the linked cash account no placeholders appear either. I do have the "show hidden transactions" preference selected. On the investments holdings screen it shows both a cash balance in the investments account and a cash balance in the linked cash account. My understanding from reading the help is that if a linked cash account is used, there should not be any cash balance showing in the investment account. Any further ideas? Thanks.

The Holdings region of the Account Overview window should show the cash balance of the checking account.  The Account Status region of the Account Overview window should have $0.00 for Cash Balance and the ending cash balance of the checking account for Linked Cash Balance.

If the additional cash is appears in the Holdings region, I suggest you attempt to determine the transactions in the investment register triggering the issue by resetting the As of: date.  Once you have identified a problematic transaction, I suggest deleting and reentering the transaction. 

Note:  Always save a backup before making any significant changes to your Quicken file: press Ctrl + B

UserSteve

The additional cash appears in the Account Overview line for cash balance. Lower down, there is additional cash showing in the Linked cash balance line - which is correct. The account overview cash balance is wrong. In the holdings region, it shows the sum of both cash balances on the cash line. Looking at earlier dates does not seem to affect it. The value of cash holdings changes, but it's always the sum of the cash account balance at that time plus a fixed offset. It almost seems like there is a fixed offset of $2530.84 in there all the time. I searched both account registers and cannot find any specific entries that are that amount. This seems like a bug from when I did the conversion. And yes, I wish I had backed it up before selecting that checkbox - sigh. My bad :)

Sherlock

UserSteve said:

The additional cash appears in the Account Overview line for cash balance. Lower down, there is additional cash showing in the Linked cash balance line - which is correct. The account overview cash balance is wrong. In the holdings region, it shows the sum of both cash balances on the cash line. Looking at earlier dates does not seem to affect it. The value of cash holdings changes, but it's always the sum of the cash account balance at that time plus a fixed offset. It almost seems like there is a fixed offset of $2530.84 in there all the time. I searched both account registers and cannot find any specific entries that are that amount. This seems like a bug from when I did the conversion. And yes, I wish I had backed it up before selecting that checkbox - sigh. My bad

If you choose a date earlier than the first transaction, is the additional cash is still present?

UserSteve

OK, I think it's fixed. Thanks so much for your help. Your suggestion about looking at the holdings by date was the trick! I had to go all the way back to 1995 but I found a period of time where the cash balance in the holdings window matched the cash balance on the same date in the cash account. Then, after that point it did not. I was then able to locate a stock sale that was for exactly 1/2 the amount of the offset. That stock sale entry in the brokerage account did not have a corresponding entry in the cash account, even though the category field listed the cash account for the transfer and it was coded SellX. I deleted and then re-entered that sale and the cash balance corrected itself. I then needed to put in an offset balance adjustment in the cash account but don't care since I dated it in 1995. Why it was a 2x error I don't know but maybe it was a broken entry and caused a double debit/credit or something. Anyway, I'll monitor it for a few days but I think it's fixed. Cheers! Steve