Net Worth Report Not Functioning Properly

Carlos G.

Similar issue as previously posted here:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7941660/net-worth-report-is-not-correct

I've been a Quicken user for 20+ years. Currently using Quicken Classic, Business and Personal, R61.17.

My account bar is showing the correct account balances and net worth. However, when I pull a net worth report (Reports→ Net Worth & Balance→ Net Worth), I'm showing two problem banking accounts. When I further dug into when the differences occurred (comparing the respective registers to the report), I have 100's of transactions during the time, not for the problem difference, that is, I cannot isolate to a few to re-input.

Can someone please help?

Why is this even an issue with corruption? Why can't the database be fixed through a process similar to "Validate and Repair"?

A very frustrated, long time user.

[Edited - Fixed Link]

Quicken Kristina

Hello @Carlos G.,

Thank you for coming to the Community to let us know you're encountering this issue. Based on your description of the issue, it sounds like you suspect data corruption may be causing this to happen, but you're not able to narrow down which transactions are causing the problem.

If you haven't already done so, the first step when troubleshooting possible data file issues is validating your data file.  Please save a backup file prior to performing these steps. 

Validate: 

1. File
2. Validate and Repair File...
3. Validate File
4. Click OK
5. Close the Data Log
6. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
7. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.

If the validate does not correct the issue, the next step is to try restoring a backup from before the problem started, if possible.

Please let me know how it goes!

Boatnmaniac

When my Net Worth report produces an output that is different from what I see in the Accounts side bar the first thing I will do is to customize the Net Worth report:

1. Account Tab: Make sure all of the correct accounts are included and that no Separate accounts are selected.
2. Categories Tab: Make sure that all appropriate categories are selected.
3. Securities Tab: Make sure that all securities are selected. (I find this to be one of the most common causes of this issue. For some reason, Quicken sometimes does not automatically select new securities when they are added to the investments portfolio.)
4. Tags Tab: Make sure that all appropriate tags are selected.

Another thing to check for (assuming you have downloaded investment accounts): Placeholders. Quicken enters Placeholders into investment accounts when there is a discrepancy between the holdings shown in Quicken and the holdings that the investment company reports to Quicken. Placeholders will make the Account Register holdings and value appear to be correct but they are not, And the various investment and net worth reports do not include the Placeholders causing a values discrepancy between those reports and what is shown for the account value in the sidebar Accounts list and account register. Check your account register to see if there are any Placeholder transactions present. If you do not see an Placeholders in the register, go to Edit > Preferences > Investments > make sure the box to Show Hidden Transactions is checked. Then check the account register, again. There should also be a tab beneath the account register for Placeholders if they are present. Click on that tab to see them. Any Placeholders found will need to be resolved.

Carlos G.

@Quicken Kristina , thanks for your reply. The Validate and Repair process did not fix the issue.

@Boatnmaniac, thank you as well for your reply. All correct accounts were selected with no Separate accounts selected. I also confirmed steps 1-4.

I had previously gone through these steps as well, but was double checking. As previously stated, the issue is isolated to two banking accounts. One of the accounts started experience the issue in 2020 and judging by the dollar amount of the issue represents 100's of transactions. The second account's difference from the net work report started in 2005. Again, 100's of transactions that could potentially be an issue.

This is very frustrating as the report should be pulling directly from the items and balances in the respective registries.

Boatnmaniac

@Carlos G. - What I am hearing you say: You have narrowed the issue down to 2 checking accounts. The checking accounts registers are in balance and accurate but they are not accurate in the Net Worth report. Is my understanding correct?

I'm not sure I understand that bit about "hundreds of transactions". Where are you seeing those transactions? In the checking accounts or in the Net Worth report?

Carlos G.

@Boatnmaniac , you are correct. I'm seeing the issue in 2 checking accounts. The registers are in balance but the correct balances are not showing up on the Net Worth report.

There was a divergence from the registers to the Net Worth report on those dates. The Net Worth report that I was using was one with yearly intervals and within those yearly intervals, I have 100's of transactions in each check account register.

Boatnmaniac

In the Net Worth report:

• Is the ending balance of those checking accounts in balance?
• Is the issue with earlier years, not with the ending balance?

Also, are you using the default Net Worth report or are you using a previously customized Net Worth report that you had saved to My Saved Reports?

Carlos G.

@Boatnmaniac, yes, the ending balance as of today is in balance. The issue appears to be with the year-ending balances of those two accounts not reconciling with the Net Worth report (which also reflected year-ending balances). I'm using the standard Net Worth report (as mentioned in the first entry) as well as a custom one and get the same result (i.e., the registry balances for the accounts are not in sync with the same accounts listed on the report). This appears to be a known issue as I linked to in my first entry. However, I have 100's of entries in the year when the discrepancy first started.

mshiggins

@Carlos G. your issue sounds like the paycheck corruption issue that started occurring in March 2022. Please have a look at this discussion covering that issue:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7912649/paycheck-corruption-problem

Carlos G.

Thanks for your reply, @mshiggins. The way that I'm interpreting that post is that the Quicken versioning issue with the paycheck is if it occurred after March 2022. My issue (with two banking registers), which I've been able to narrow the timeframe to using a similar method, occurred before March 2022 (2005 in one account and 2020 in the other).

mshiggins

The bad code that caused the issue released in 2022, but the corrupted paycheck entries were sometimes years earlier. Have you checked paycheck entries during the problem time periods for your report?

Malcolm Booth

I am having the same issue. I have 17 accounts of various types. For some reason, the Charles Schwab (Shares) account is approximately double in the Net Worth report, compared to the amount in the Account Balances sidebar. The other accounts look accurate.

Carlos G.

@mshiggins , thanks again for the reply.

I have paychecks in both accounts about the time that register diverges from the report (one starts diverging in 2004 and the other starts diverging in March 2011). I say start, because there need to be 100's of entries to add up to the order of magnitude that I have in the most current view. How can I check if this is the source? I have multiple entries on the day when the report starts to diverge from the account registry.

This is such a painful process. I would have over 100 paychecks that I would potentially to fix in each register. How has the Quicken team not developed a fix for the issue they created?

mshiggins

The problem paycheck transactions will look ok in the account register, the problem only becomes apparent when you view the paycheck details. Have you tried viewing paycheck details for paychecks in the problem period?

I agree, it is a terrible insidious problem and it is a shame the fix was only go forward and not retroactive.

Carlos G.

@mshiggins, thanks again for the reply. Maybe I missed it. What should I be looking for in the paycheck details to indicate that there is an issue with the entry?

mshiggins

See this post for a description of the bad paycheck splits:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20250608#Comment_20250608

Carlos G.

@mshiggins, thanks for directing me to that post. This is indeed what appears to be happening. The register has one value for a paycheck but when I open up the paycheck, it shows a different amount than the register shows was deposited into this account. It is consistent with the post you directed me to. I had three paychecks that may up the variance between the report and the registry the first month. For this account, the issue being in March 3, 2011 which means that there are ~360 entries to correct and I have two accounts that require correct. Is there an easier solution than deleting and re-entering each corrupted transaction? Since this is a paycheck, there are numerous entries that flow through to other accounts (e.g., 401K) from the paycheck.

mshiggins

Hoo boy, sorry it has turned out to be the paycheck corruption issue.

Do you have a source to get the correct paycheck data? If so, one possible way to rebuild the paycheck splits would be to use QIF file import. A longtime poster here built a free QIF import utility, you can get it from his website:

https://www.quicknperlwiz.com

Carlos G.

@mshiggins , by source, I think you mean the original paychecks. I do not have the original paychecks going back that far.

What I'm understanding from your post is that I would need to re-enter all of the paychecks with the correct information (as was done originally) and delete all of the problem paychecks. The QIF would simplify the re-entering process because I can mass import them. Is this correct? Is this the most simple solution?

@Quicken Kristina, has Quicken acknowledged this issue? If so, have they simply ignored the issue by not providing a simple mechanism to fix the paycheck corruption issue they created?

mshiggins

@Carlos G. your understanding is correct. I don’t know of any way of correcting the corrupted paychecks other than deleting and re-entering the transactions.

q_lurker

@Carlos G. I’d say restoring an old backup would be the best ‘source’, if available. I don’t know the exact time frame for that bug but a backup from before then would be needed.

mshiggins

Thinking on the fact that the paycheck amount shown in the account register is correct but when you open the paycheck form the corruption causes the amount to differ. I wonder if the underlying split data is correct and it is just the form that is wrong?

There is a keyboard shortcut to open the paycheck as a regular split entry, it’s either CTRL while clicking the transaction or Shift CTRL. What does the split data look like? Is it also bad?

Carlos G.

@q_lurker , the back-up would have to be from 14 years ago. This would not work for various reasons, but thanks for your suggestion.

@mshiggins , I couldn't get the CTRL or CTRL+Shift function to work. I googled this as well and couldn't fund a way to do it (CTRL+S was suggested, but this did not work for me). I think that the same thing may be accomplished by hovering over the Paycheck Entry in the Category column. Unfortunately, these numbers reconcile to the bad number (i.e., not the one displayed in the registry).

It seems like Quicken Support was engaged with one post on this thread which was not helpful. Does anyone know how to get their attention to provide a formal response on this issue and provide a suitable work around (one that doesn't require hours of work to accomplish)?

Boatnmaniac

@Carlos G. - I couldn't get the CTRL or CTRL+Shift function to work, either. Yes, you can hover the cursor over the Category field to get a glimpse of the splits but that does not provide the complete picture and it is read-only.

So, maybe you can click on the check mark in the Category field as shown in the picture below? That should open the Edit Current Paycheck popup..

Scroll down the Current Paycheck. Do the Net Pay and Deposit amounts equal each other? If so, that is good.

Scroll up the Current Paycheck.

• At the very top of the splits list (not visible in this picture) is the Salary amount. Is that correct?
• Do all of the other items listed and their amounts appear to be correct or does something appear to be incorrect or out of line?
• If you find any errors, are you able to Edit them (click on the Edit button) and then click on Enter to Save the Edit?
• Does the Deposit amount still look correct after Saving?
• If you open the Current Paycheck, again, does the Edit you made earlier still look OK?

q_lurker

the back-up would have to be from 14 years ago. This would not work for various reasons, but thanks for your suggestion.

(Referencing the post @mshiggins cited above for dates and releases.) The needed backup would have been from sometime before Mar, 2022 when R39.17 was released or just before whenever you installed that release. That vintage backup would have non-corrupted paycheck transactions from 14 years ago which you could now access cleanly and use for reconstruction. It is conceivable to me that such a restored backup file even might be able to produce a QIF file with the paycheck data. There might be a lot of unneeded info to filter out.

mshiggins

In Q2017 holding Shift CTRL and clicking on the green check mark opens the paycheck transaction as a regular split.

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20477437#Comment_20477437

Ah. Subscription does that, too. It didn't know that. But I had to first click on the Category field to see the check mark. Then I could do the Shift CTRL and click on that check mark. This is what the Edit Current Paycheck picture posted above looks like with a regular split category:

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20477310#Comment_20477310

The problem referenced in that discussion was fixed in R39.23. Unfortunately, that update only prevented that issue from happening or reoccurring. It was not able to fix any paycheck reminders that had already been affected. The fix for reminders that had already been affected was to restore a backup or delete/recreate the problem paycheck reminders.

Thank you!

Carlos G.

Ugh. My oldest back up is from October 2022, which is after the March 2022 issue was introduced. Thanks for bearing with me on the backup issue though, @q_lurker.

@Quicken Kristina , this is a poor response for a paid product with a significant defect. Expecting users to spend hours trying to trouble shoot an issue that has been brought to Quicken's attention does not bode well for the product or its future.

@mshiggins and @Boatnmaniac , thanks for bearing with me on the issue of pulling up the categories in an alternate way (i.e., CTRL+S+ Clicking on the category green checkmark). I did this and see that there is an unclassified balancing transaction for the difference between the Net Pay on the paycheck entry and the registry entry. I assigned it a category ("Misc: Adjustment Entry") and saved it and now it looks like the Net Worth report is in balance for this entry. Do you think that this is the best way to correct the Quicken defect? Trying to understand before I spend the time to adjust the 100's of entries.

mshiggins

@Carlos G. to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever examined the corrupted paycheck as a regular split and found the unclassified balancing amount. Or if they have, they didn’t report it here. So we are in uncharted territory.

As a first step, I would take a backup. Then you’ll have to decide if the extra effort of fixing all the amounts in the paychecks is worth it or try the alternate to categorize the unclassified balancing. Either way, you’re better off.

Carlos G.

Thanks for all of your help, @mshiggins ! Sound advise to do the backup.