Negative share count

SeeCwriter

I'm on Windows 11, version R54.16, build 27.1.54.16.

I sold shares of mutual funds in a Schwab account last year. In some cases I sold all the shares. Today I downloaded all transactions and balanced the account in Quicken. But the account value in Quicken is about $10k less than the value reported by Schwab. When I click on the Holding button, a window pops up showing all the funds the cost basis, the market value, etc. But the funds I sold are still listed and the share count is negative. How can I have negative shares, a negative market value, and a negative cost basis?

Tom Young

"I downloaded all transactions and balanced the account in Quicken."

Not sure what that means exactly but for the sake of the conversation I'll assume it means that the "Total Market Value " shown down at the bottom of the screen agreed to Schwab's number.

Mechanically it's quite easy to make entries into a Transaction List and end up with negative share balances, market values and cost basis, so I'd have to say that something - a transaction or series of transaction downloaded - have created that situation, and probably an offsetting overstatement of of some other securities.

My first guess is that these funds could easily have distinct "share classes." These different share classes have the exact same name, the exact same market price, and only are distinguished by the share class modifier, e.g., A, B, C, or "Investor" vs. "Institutional", and so forth. In that case you might have a mutual fund that in your Quicken Account is one of these share classes, but in the real world you own that same mutual fund with a different share class. So you sold shares that you really don't own and they came into your Quicken Account as, basically, a "short" position.