How to clear a checking transaction linked to/transferred from an investment ledger

Question

Using Quicken Deluxe R66.28 (Windows)

I've got a Fidelity USA account and really didn't entirely understand how quicken was accounting for bond purchases—except to notice that the price and principal amount were wrong. I deleted several MiscExpX entries for accrued interest, which in retrospect may not have been necessary, but it is done. Then I went back to the BONDS BOUGHT dialog and corrected the price and total principal in the purchase. And it seemed logical to enter the accrued interest where there is a space for it in that BONDS BOUGHT dialog box. Only then did I figure out that Quicken insists on breaking out accrued interest into a separate entry. Well okay, if you insist. At least the principal is now correct.

But now, in the checking register, I have these newly created (not downloaded) MiscExpX entries for the accrued interest. And these have little red pencils. I'd like to change the status to "cleared" but when I try to do that, I'm directed to make the change in the investment account. But when I go to the "matched transfer" where/how do I adjust the entry in the investment ledger to indicate that this is cleared or reconciled in the checking ledger?

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Jeanne · Answer

UPDATE: reconciling the account changes the status to "R" of course. But I'll re-iterate:  Is there a way to adjust the cleared/not-cleared status via the matching transfer?

And since I doubt it, I'll re-iterate a complaint that the linked checking function is awfully restrictive. I recall that I cannot enter a memo in the checking register. When I follow orders and enter the memo in the investment ledger, it does not appear in the checking register. I'd like to be able to enter a memo any place I like.

Maybe it's just me.

Thanks for listening.

Jeanne · Answer

Thanks for writing. You are correct that the misc exp is for accrued interest. I only have experience with Fidelity and Merrill Lynch, and I don't trade bonds daily, but here's what I see:

When I buy a bond or CD (secondary market), Quicken takes the SETTLEMENT AMOUNT and divides by the QUANTITY and mis-states both the PRICE and the PRINCIPAL AMOUNT. It then creates a separate entry for a MiscExpX with the category ACCRUED INTEREST. Note that I say Quicken does this or that but realize that I might just as well say the broker feeds this into  Quicken in this way.

Bonds_Bought.jpg is an entry I edited, putting the correct principal and quantity and price. Note the last two fields: I ALSO filled in the ACCRUED INTEREST field and Quicken computed the correct TOTAL COST (SETTLEMENT AMOUNT). But after I clicked DONE, Quicken wiped out the accrued interest, reverted the TOTAL COST to the PRINCIPAL. And it created a new MiscExpX entry for the accrued interest. See NEW_Misc_Exp.jpg. So I have two entries for each purchase: a BoughtX and a MiscExpX--which are both correct so that's fine, except....

My query concerns the not-cleared status of the new entry: The BoughtX entry was originally downloaded so its status is cleared. But I had foolishly deleted the MiscExpX entry and unknowingly generated a new one when I edited the Bonds Bought entry (adding the accrued interest that then disappeared and became a separate entry). Now the "new" MiscExpX entries have little red pencils and I cannot change their cleared status.

When I try to change the cleared status, Quicken insists that I go back to the matching transfer but I don't see a way to change the cleared status there.  How do I tell Quicken to accept these as cleared?

Any insight/hack/kludge is welcome.

Bonds_Bought.jpg

NEW_Misc_Exp.jpg

NotACPA · Answer

When you buy a bond, unless you buy it AT ISSUE and From the issuer, you pay the seller the interest that was earned why they held the bond.

That's, probably, what the MiscExp represents.

But, your explanation of what you've recorded is a bit confusing.  SO, can you show us the "Buy Bonds" dialog, posted as a JPG or GIF please.