Wondering which settings to use on the Cost Basis Reconciliation Report in PortfolioCenter? These are the ones I find most useful:
CHECK – Print only unreconciled accounts
By default, the Cost Basis Reconciliation report shows only positions that fail to reconcile. Most of the time this is all you need. However, if you need to verify an account is in fact reconciled, un-check this box.
UN-check – include missing accounts
An account is “missing” if it is open in PortfolioCenter but is not included in the reconciliation file from your broker. To reduce daily clutter, leave this setting unchecked. However, at the end of each month, I recommend reconciling with this box checked box to make sure all the accounts you think are reconciled are in fact reconciled.
Note: Fidelity provides cost basis reconciliation for all accounts only on Mondays. On the other days, the reconciliation files contain only accounts whose cost basis figures have changed since Monday. Unless it’s Monday, checking this box will mislabel most Fidelity accounts as missing.
UN-check – use tolerance setting
Typically, you can leave this alone. By default, the Cost Basis Reconciliation report reconciles to the penny. However, you may decide to ignore differences that are less than say $1.00.
CHECK – Exclude non-taxable accounts
Leave this checked. Since brokers are only required to report cost basis on taxable accounts, un-checking this setting will list all your tax deferred accounts as ‘missing.’
CHECK – Exclude Not Fully Known Cost Basis
If the position is comprised of multiple trade lots and the custodian only has cost basis for a fraction of the lots, the cost basis is flagged as “not fully known.” If even one lot is missing cost basis, the entire position is excluded from the reconciliation report.
When I am searching for outstanding problems, I un-check this box. On a daily basis, leave the box checked to see status of only completely verified positions. By default, this box is checked.
CHECK – Exclude Not Certified Cost Basis
Cost basis is considered “certified” if the position is “covered” under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the cost basis is “fully known.”
The default is to exclude these positions and leaving the box checked for daily work is fine. When I am hunting for positions that still need attention, I un-check this box.