1. Home
  2. Quicken Personal Finance
  3. Possible Price Per Share Calculations Issues with Q 2005 - Please Read

Possible Price Per Share Calculations Issues with Q 2005 - Please Read

I've run into a problem with Q 2005 regarding the precision of Price Per Share calculations. I checked Quicken Help & Support on the Intuit website as well as Google, but couldn't find anything related to the problem. Please have a read and offer your comments.

It is probably easiest for me to describe via a real example:

My brokerage statement indicates that 0.5158 shares were bought at $46.4490 per share.

So, 0.5158 x $46.4490 = $23.9583942 which my brokerage account recorded as $23.96

In Q 2005, I key in this entry as follows:

Transactions tab -> Enter Transactions -> select Reinvest - Income Reinvested (for reinvested interest, dividends, and capital gain distributions)

After I select the Security Name from the drop down window, I enter the Amount ($23.9583942) which Q 2005 unfortunately automatically rounds to $23.96. I then enter the number of shares (0.5158).

Now, Q 2005 incorrectly calculates my Price Per Share to be $23.96/0.5158 $46.452113 because it didn't retain the precision of the Amount field! The calculation should have yielded $46.4490.

So, is there any way to force more precision into the calculation (keep Quicken from rounding the Amount) and/or is there a way to override the Price Per Share field.

This problem is affecting all new transaction entries.

What is interesting is that when I imported my Q 2001 files into Q 2005, the transaction register shows the correct information per my brokerage statement, but when I click on Edit I see an incorrect Price Per Share.

For example, for an older dividend, in the transaction register I see:

Date ReinvDiv 0.4118 @ 51.796989 which is correct - right from my brokerage statement

but when I click on Edit (just to check), I see

Price Per Share = $51.8024 which is incorrect

Clicking on the Summary tab and checking the stock, I also see the incorrect Price Per Share.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Please post your suggestions. I really hate to have to roll back to an earlier version of Quicken to resolve this problem.

Thanks.

-Walt

Reply to
11Sense
Loading thread data ...

Actually rolling back to Q 2001 doesn't resolve this problem. What do you guys do, if anything, about this issue?

Reply to
11Sense

As the truly good folks in this forum have pounded into my head in the past, what's REALLY IMPORTANT on investments (for taxes, for example) are the number of shares and the total paid or received for a lot. Price is a distant tenth. In other words, enter shares and total and let Quicken calculate the price.

Jay

Reply to
Jay M Apple

Jay,

Thanks for the feedback, but please elaborate on your comments.

If the price per share isn't correct, then the cost basis calculation is inaccurate. And an accurate cost basis is essential (for determing taxes) upon selling the stock.

Is there a way to configure Q 2005 to use more precision when entering amount of the dividend, instead of just 2 decimal places?

-Walt

Reply to
11Sense

This is just not true; your "cost basis" is the total amount you paid for that lot ($23.96 in your case). The IRS could care less how much you paid per share.

And actually, the price per share that Quicken computes by dividing the total cost by the number of shares is probably closer to what you actually paid than you think.

You agreed to pay $23.96 for however many shares that amount would buy, namely .5158 shares; that is the legal transaction that occured. Both those numbers have ongoing meaning, the price per share does not. That means that effectively, you did pay $46.452113 per share ... no one but the idly curious should care that the price quoted for the purchase was $46.4490, but if you do, you can record it in the memo field of the transaction.

Here's another way to look at it. Ignoring the unrealistic request and any commissions: If you call your broker and tell him to buy .5158 shares when the price hits $46.449 ... you will get charged $23.96. Your actual price/share: $46.452113222179139201240791004265. C'est la vie.

Reply to
John Pollard

John,

I agree..you are right, upon closer inspection, the cost basis number in Q does match my brokerage account statement (both are rounded) while only the price per share differs. Looking at a Schedule D tax form, I do see the Cost Basis field as well as the Share Price field which is a product term, not a price per share...so OK I see your point...it would be nice for all the numbers to match up though....

Thanks.

-Walt

>
Reply to
11Sense

BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.