Personal Plus 2016 adding of totals just dead wrong. Can I trust the software?

Chris Vening
Chris Vening Member Posts: 18
This is about being able to trust the software. The journey started with one step update not working on my new Win10 PC which caused me to look at what was updating and what wasn't. This caused me to realise the total in my personal cash flow category was different between machines. How is this even possible when I am using a restored copy?. I took the time to add the amounts into a spreadsheet and I found not only is the total different between copies but it is wrong in both copies to the tune of 2567.84. all the account amounts are the same but the total is different and wrong. So the backup restores different and the total is wrong anyway. WTF. I want and pay for things to be 100% in any accounting package. What else can't I trust? I certainly would not run a business with legal obligations with any accounting software that does not have reliable backups and can't total things. Am I missing something? 

Comments

  • gazza73
    gazza73 Accredited Partner Posts: 802 Accredited Partner Accredited Partner
    edited February 2017
    Chris

    First,  are your cashflow figures in anyway dependent upon the current value of currency exchange rates and/or  stock values?

    Secondly,  if the answer above is YES,  but you don't invest in US stocks,   have you UNTICKED US stock price downloads on the 2nd machine, as that feature, since 25th May, has an issue which can also prevent latest pricing appearing for AUST stocks and/or Currency rates ?

    Thirdly,  before trying to reconcile the impact of above,  be sure that update for and AUST stocks and or monies invested in foreign currencies, are in fact downloading in the 2nd set offiles you are referring to.

    I'd like to suggest you ensure that the values before backup (based on whenever they were updated for currency/stock values),  VERSUS  the updating of figures on the restored database,  are in fact comparing apples with apples (valuation wise).

    Otherwise,  if it is some OTHER value of some account that you are referring to, that is NOT involving the above three points, then more detail would be needed to understand the situation you are sharing here.

    Cheers

    Gary


    Gary Pope
    m: 0408994799 
    e:  gaz@alchester.com.au
    An Accredited Partner- Consultant (VIC. Aust)
    http://www.alchester.com.au/reckon-ac...
    "Working with Accountants/Bookkeepers PPs/APs, as an
         independent IT Professional and retired FCPA Accountant"
  • Chris Vening
    Chris Vening Member Posts: 18
    edited November 2016
    G'day Gary,

    Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions. I admire your passion for the product.  I see this as one overarching problem with 3 issues. 1. The total for all accounts in my personal cash flow is wrong in my original version. 2. The backup did not restore 100%. It restores a different a Personal Cash Flow total amount and it is still wrong. All the individual account totals are correct but the total is different from the unrestored version and still wrong. 3. The one step update is broken, has been for over a year. quick but essentially useless suggestions/work arounds from nice people on the support desk don't hide a major flaw in the software. I will continue to run in Win7 and restore backups in Win10 to see what happens. regardless of the change in the PC I still expect the Personal Cash Flow total to equal the individual account totals. Hope I am using the correct terminology
  • gazza73
    gazza73 Accredited Partner Posts: 802 Accredited Partner Accredited Partner
    edited February 2017
    Chris

    As is everything accounting/personal,  it is hard to deal with this anonymously, because personal details are at risk.   So,  let me suggest an approach to isolate this issue for you.

    You can open a 2nd set of PP2016  BOOKS.  Call it something like:  "Test-Research"  or something NOT personal/obvious.

    Start with what you believe to be the perfect machine.... Win7 PC I understand.

    Setup some example figures,  that you enter and know what they are.   Then backup, restore and retest on the Win7 machine,  followed by restore/test on the Win10 machine,  and share the results so we can observe your predicament.

    But you still haven't advised if any of your expected calculations are based on currency rates or stock prices,  versus just some personal monthly budgetting in local $AUST.

    But if you can demonstrate the issue with Test-Research file,   then you coud email that to PSG for comparative analysis.  PLUS,  any issues with the installation status of the Win10 PC could be investigated further.

    Cheers

    Gary


  • Chris Vening
    Chris Vening Member Posts: 18
    edited November 2016
    thanks Gary - I am more concerned with the total of my personal cash flow being wrong. surely it should add correctly??
  • gazza73
    gazza73 Accredited Partner Posts: 802 Accredited Partner Accredited Partner
    edited February 2017
    Chris 

    Sorry to have to ask again,  but there are lots of factors that can yeild a different total.  The most obvious one is currency rate dependence, which is why I still seek to clarify if any of your transactions or activities are with different currencies.  I'd like to ensure that is NOT part of the data here.

    IE:  If any ACCOUNTS or transactions comprising your cashflow are based on different currencies, they will tally differently based on exchange rates,  and that will depend on on the status of the currency update.   For example, investments in $US plus cash in local bank in $AUS

    Notice the first screen shot based on $US rates in 13/6/2016 of 0.737373

    image



    versus the value of cashflow AFTER doing a currency update today 20/6/2016 at 1:57.

    image


    IE:  if you take files from one PC with data calculated at one set of exchange rates,  AND/OR any missing transactions,  and carry that over to another machine where you may or may not have performed a matching currency update,  then the totals will differ, and so they should: They're being calculated at a different rate.

    Anyway, enough of that - because we don't know yet if you even do transactions in different currencies.   But let's cross that off the list of possibilities one way or the other.


    Cheers


    Gary

  • gazza73
    gazza73 Accredited Partner Posts: 802 Accredited Partner Accredited Partner
    edited December 2016
    Good news!

    replacement:  qwutil.dll  now sorts out reaching Markt On Demand late today
    over at 209.234.234.183.    See fix at tail end of page 2 of:
    https://community.reckon.com/reckon/topics/why-have-us-share-prices-stopped-updating-on-personal-plu...


    Gary
  • gazza73
    gazza73 Accredited Partner Posts: 802 Accredited Partner Accredited Partner
    edited February 2017
    One step closer on this.   After some great detective work by Chris,  we have collectively observed
    a) WIn7 works fine
    b) in Win10 the issue comes about due to the following situation of PRICE.

    The latest buy or sell PRICE is left in the PRICE HISTORY.  Take a really crazy example of say,  a stock of TLS shares with a real market value of say 5.50.    Craazy as this may seem, but imagine having the ability to sell off some of that stock at 100.00 each, and post the transaction to the BROKERAGE account.

    The result, is, that the PP2016 in Win10 will now attempt to revalue the REMAINING stock of TLS,  assuming a value of $100 rather than the ASX valuation as at close of business.   That translates to the value seen in the BROKERAGE account being the physical monies PLUS (or minus, if a loss)  the market GAIN valued on the basis of your remaining stock at the absurd $100 value.

    This is demonstrable and repeatable, by EDITING the PRICE HISTORY  file, back to say $5.50 (instead of the absurd 100).

    To our way of thinking, the Win10 installation of PP2016 somehow causes the market value of remaining shares to be based on a PRICE related to  TRANSACTION rather than a ASX closing day price f a share.

    See the following screen shots where we edit the PRICE from 5.50 versus 100 and note the difference it makes to the BROKERAGE ACCOUNT total.


    Here's the $100 price left in the PRICE HISTORY as a result of two absurdly high priced SALES:

    We started with a cash balance in the BROKERAGE account of $50,000.
    Purchased 1000 shares at a cheap $5.00    (for $5000)
    then sold two lots of 100 shares at an absurdly high $100  (for ($10,000 each trans).
    That left the 800 shares left, at an alleged value of $80,000 plus our original cash injection,
    making an overall alledged value of $130,000 in BROKERAGE account. 



    image


    After editing the PRICE HISTORY to a more realistic market value of $5.50,
    here's the more appropriate value of the BROKERAGE account at  $54,400
    being the 800 we have in stock at today's ASX value of 5.50
    along with the 50,000 of initial cash funds.

    image


    What is wrong with my interpretation here,
    AND:  why does this behaviour differ under Win7 versus Win10 ?
    (both with the latest qwutil.dll too).


    Gary

  • Chris Vening
    Chris Vening Member Posts: 18
    edited November 2016
    Goddamn it. This software sucks. Update to 2016 (at cost) has added over 24M to one on my share portfolios. No transaction record just a change to the balance. My mistake was not putting an effort into leaving it. 
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