Phatom Security

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

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 transacti>Hi, Stewart.

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

The way the process is viewed is:

The 20 to 1 reverse split is applied giving 176 full shares and a residual of 13 original shares. This is followed by the 2 to 1 forward split which gives 352 full shares. The residuals are converted into 1.3 new shares. Quicken then creates a sell transaction for the 1.3 shares

Quicken also shows a purchase of 13 pseudo shares under a temporary name at a cost of $0.00 and then a sell of the 13 pseudo shares at the price the company defined for leftover shares.

I am not sure how to handle replacing the split transaction. Is it: Sell 13 shares for a total of $X (residuals) Sell 3520 shares for a total of $Y Buy 352 shares for a total of $Y

This is a n>Hi, Stewart.

Hi, Stewart.

MOST unusual! I never heard of a reverse split that left "residual shares". Can you tell us the name of this corporation? Or point us to its website so that we can read the explanation that they probably supplied at the time?

RC