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Posted by R. C. White on February 18, 2007, 10:30 pm
Please log in for more thread options Hi, Stewart.
Quicken often keeps calculation results internally to several more decimal
places than it shows onscreen or in reports. Also, computers don't really
think in decimals, anyhow, but in binary or hexadecimal numbers. This often
involves hex fractions even when the decimal numbers come out even - and
vice versa.
If I understand what you said, then you started with 3533 shares. There was
a reverse split where you got 1 share for each 20 you owned, giving you
3533/20 = 176.65 Then there was a 2-for-1 split, bringing you back up to
353.3 shares. You sold 1.3 shares and have 352 shares left.
Your best bet is still as I said in my first reply: Go back and re-record
the transactions. Be sure you enter only even dollars and cents, and whole
shares. (Did they really issue you .65 shares after the 1-for-20 reverse
split?)
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Currently running Vista Ultimate x64)
> It does seem to be connected to a split but I extracted a security
> report and the fractions don't go beyond 0.1 (tenths). The split was
> in two parts: 20 to 1 and then 1 to 2. The starting position was 3533
> shares. At the end there were 352 shares and a sale of 1.3 shares for
> the residual.
>
> if I click on the + to the left of the stock in the Portfolio view it
> doesn't show any lots. If there was a fractional share somewhere is
> would be associated with a lot.
>
> There doesn't seem to be any way to get a transaction report that
> shows the number of shares in the account after each transaction.
>
>
>>Hi, Stewart.
>>
>>Quicken probably thinks you still have some tiny fraction of a share
>>because
>>of rounding of prior transactions. It happens often.
>>
>>A quick example: You buy 100 shares; it splits 4-3, so you are entitled
>>to
>>133.3333333 shares. You get 33 new shares, plus cash for .333 fractional
>>shares. You record the sale of .333 shares - and Q thinks you still have
>>133.00033333 shares left. Then you sell all your stock and record the
>>sale
>>of 133 shares. Q thinks you still have .00033333 shares, so it continues
>>to
>>show the security. And if the stock is worth $10 per share today, your
>>net
>>worth also includes $0.033333 for this phantom security.
>>
>>The best way to handle this - now and in the future - is to never let Q
>>compute the number of shares. Always enter transactions in even shares
>>(to
>>no more than 3 decimal places, even for mutual funds) and even pennies for
>>total dollar amounts. It's OK to have tiny fractions in per-share prices,
>>because they are seldom of long-term significance except as history. But
>>always record total dollars to the nearest penny, and record stocks to the
>>nearest whole share (or .000).
>>
>>Go back and check all your transactions for this security, working
>>chronologically. For any transaction (split, spin-off, etc.) that did not
>>involve only whole shares, delete the transaction and enter it again,
>>letting any rounding go to price per share, not total dollars or total
>>shares. For any sales, be sure to use the option to "select lots" and let
>>Q
>>select the number of shares to zero out each lot.
>>
>>Or use the feature added to Quicken's recent versions, in the Enter
>>Transactions list, to Adjust Share Balance to zero. I've never used this,
>>but I hear that it works well.
>>
>>RC
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