Update accounts

Question

I consolidated two investment accounts with broker. Some assets were held by both, as well as other accounts not involved in the consolidation. On download of new account data, individual transaction costs (basis) were lost. All assets show zero basis. I have accurate average cost data for each asset and need to enter a cost (basis) for each asset in the new account. Suggestions? Thanks. Tom.

Cain47 · Answer

A new account was created by the broker and the assets of the two previous accounts were transferred by brokerage. When next I downloaded data the original two accounts were empty as were the accounts in Quicken.

Jim_Harman · Answer

To expand the recommendation of @NotACPA, the way to consolidate accounts is to click on Enter Transactions in the account that is being emptied and select "Shares transferred between accounts" as follows:

There are a couple of ways to do this, but I would use the method below because it mimics what happened in real life. This will enter one Removed transaction for each security held in the old account(s) on the transfer date and an Added transaction in the new account for each current tax lot of each security. It preserves the cost basis and acquisition dates of the securities transferred. The pre-transfer cash and security transactions will remain in the old accounts.

* Make sure the holdings in your old account(s) prior to the transfer are up to date and accurate. 
* Back up your data file in case something goes wrong.
* In the old account(s), click on the gear, pick Edit account details, and on the Online Services tab, click on Deactivate.
* If there are transactions in the old account(s) that remove the holdings for the transfer, delete them.
* Set up the new account in Quicken if you have not already. If there are already transactions that transfer the holdings into the account or transactions that duplicate ones that are already recorded in the old account, delete them.
* In the old account(s), click on Enter Transactions and pick Shares transferred between accounts. Set the date for the Shares Transferred to the actual date the securities were transferred.
* Select All securities and click on Enter/Done.
* If there is any cash in the old account(s), enter a Cash Transferred out of account to move it to the new account.
* If you are entering the transfer after the fact and there are transactions in the old account(s) after the actual transfer date for the securities that were moved, you should use the Move Transactions operation to move those transactions to the new account.

When reporting on performance over a period that includes the transfer, include both the old and new accounts in the analysis.

NotACPA · Answer

When you consolidated those 2 accounts, was a new account created at the broker …  or was one account combined into the other?

And, in either case, why can't you simply use "Move Securities between accounts"?