renaming a security

Question

I created a name for a 529 mutual fund. Later I found the official name and began using that. I now have many transaction entries using the name I created and many later ones where i used the official name. It messed up my basis calculations as it sees them as 2 different securities. I tried to do a search and replace but it wouldn't let me do that in the security field. I then tried editing/renaming the original name to the new name, but it won't do that saying that security already exists. Is there a way to change all the old transactions to the new name automatically? Otherwise I would have to edit each individual entry, of which there are around 100.

q_lurker · Answer

I’ve always recommended editing the individual transactions to eliminate the undesirable security.  Corp Acq or MF Conversion can get data aligned, but still leaves the undesired security name in historical records.

My recommended approach (with a good backup at hand):

* Sort the transaction list by security such that all the transactions needing to be edited are grouped together
* For the top transaction in that grouping, edit the undesirable name to the desired name.  Before saving that edit, copy that desirable name to the clipboard (normally highlight the whole name and Ctrl-c)
* Save the edited transaction which should advance you to the next transaction to be edited
* Click the security name, paste in the desired name, enter to save and repeat. You are making the edits with a minimal number of clicks and keystrokes.
* When finished, you resort the transaction list and delete the now unused undesirably named security.

Although 100 edits might seem daunting, it will go faster than you expect and leave you with a cleaner file.

Note that you can rename the retained security as you see fit at the end

NotACPA · Answer

In doing a bit of research, I can confirm your finding that Find/Replace doesn't work in investing accounts, at least not for the Payee/name …. it appears to work in the F/R dialog, but doesn't show in the account register.

re: CorpAcq, since you took a backup before trying, see what happens when you use the most recent price for the official name.  You can always restore if that's unsatisfactory.

QST3302711431 · Answer

Thanks for the response. Good ideas both. find/ replace for payee worked for transactions that were entered as transfer and buy, but didn't work for securities bought from account cash balance. Weird. Corp Acquisition would probably work but, I am not sure how to handle the valuation - cost per share of each at time of transaction.