How do I resolve duplicate transactions result of going from manual to online with broker?

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HammoJ
HammoJ Member ✭✭
edited May 2023 in Investing (Windows)
Clearly, I shouldn't have changed from manual to online. I "removed" the duplicate transactions and it has terribly messed up some of the investment/portfolio reporting.

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  • Ducksoup_SD
    Ducksoup_SD Member ✭✭✭
    Answer ✓
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    You don't say what's been messed up, but based on my past experiences, you probably accepted all the downloaded transactions - and shouldn't have. If you were happy with the entries you had in the account, you should have only accepted any NEW transactions (after you moved to the online mode) and deleted or manually matched (instead of accepting) any downloaded transactions from previous dates. Can you easily restore from a backup? (You did backup your file just before you did your first download, right?) That might be the best way to get back up to speed. An alternate way would be to make a duplicate account for just the downloaded account and figure out how to get it to match your hand entries over time by adding/copying/moving transactions. Eventually, the downloaded account should match your hand entry version and you could get rid of the hand entry version then. That also lets you take your time in dealing with all of the new data, because your old entries are still good (useful for taxes, etc), while the new entry automation will speed up your accounting when it is finally working 100%.

    I have also found that I don't always think the way Quicken and/or the financial institutions' computers do, so sometimes I skip register entries that they include and sometimes they skip entries that I include. That can also lead to a tangled register. I can eventually understand what's happened and whether I want to keep my entries or the Quicken/FI entries, but I would only want to do that for individual transactions and not years worth of data. Best of luck to you!

Answers

  • Ducksoup_SD
    Ducksoup_SD Member ✭✭✭
    Answer ✓
    Options

    You don't say what's been messed up, but based on my past experiences, you probably accepted all the downloaded transactions - and shouldn't have. If you were happy with the entries you had in the account, you should have only accepted any NEW transactions (after you moved to the online mode) and deleted or manually matched (instead of accepting) any downloaded transactions from previous dates. Can you easily restore from a backup? (You did backup your file just before you did your first download, right?) That might be the best way to get back up to speed. An alternate way would be to make a duplicate account for just the downloaded account and figure out how to get it to match your hand entries over time by adding/copying/moving transactions. Eventually, the downloaded account should match your hand entry version and you could get rid of the hand entry version then. That also lets you take your time in dealing with all of the new data, because your old entries are still good (useful for taxes, etc), while the new entry automation will speed up your accounting when it is finally working 100%.

    I have also found that I don't always think the way Quicken and/or the financial institutions' computers do, so sometimes I skip register entries that they include and sometimes they skip entries that I include. That can also lead to a tangled register. I can eventually understand what's happened and whether I want to keep my entries or the Quicken/FI entries, but I would only want to do that for individual transactions and not years worth of data. Best of luck to you!

  • HammoJ
    HammoJ Member ✭✭
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    Very helpful, thanks for your reply. I figured out one of the problems and your suggestions should help get the other things straightened out.
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