Users sometimes want to leave the Cash Balance Account off of performance reports in brokerage accounts.  We attempted to include such a feature, but we found that it was not practical for the following reasons:

1.Many cash flows go through the cash balance account.  When a sell or buy transaction takes place, the presence of the cash balance account in the transaction tells Advisors Assistant that the transaction does not involve new money from the client.  This is essential when calculating the returns at the account level.  A sell going directly to a client, will usually be from the cash balance account.  If the account is ignored, then the rate of return for the account would not be accurate.

2.The cash balance account often contains funds and they can be substantial enough to affect the return on the account.  Ignoring these funds could be a compliance violation.

3.When the cash balance account contains funds at the end of the reporting period, ignoring the balance will cause the reports from Advisors Assistant to be out of Sync with other reports the client receives.

See Also

Cash Accounts

Account Daily Cash Balance