An investment account with ledger capability uses two connected records: the investment account tracks holdings, valuations and performance, while its linked cash account records the actual money moving into and out of the portfolio. Add or review transactions from the investment account’s Transactions section. The cash ledger remains the accounting source of truth, and Worthic uses investment-specific transaction details to understand how each relevant cash movement affects the portfolio.
Available transaction categories
The default investment ledger includes the following categories:
- Credits: Asset sales, Dividends, Interest, Retirement contribution employee, and Retirement contribution company.
- Debits: Asset purchases, Interest, Fees, Trade taxes, and Non-trade taxes.
- Transfers: Forex transfers, Inter-account transfers, and Other transfers.
Credits generally represent money entering the investment cash ledger, while debits represent money leaving it. Transfers move cash without treating the movement as investment income or expenditure. Interest is available on both sides because an investment account may receive interest or incur interest-related charges.
Asset purchases, asset sales and dividends receive additional structured treatment. Ordinary entries such as fees, standalone taxes, interest and transfers remain normal categorised ledger transactions unless they form part of a structured trade or dividend breakdown.
Recording an asset purchase
Choose Asset purchases and select the instrument using its ticker or ISIN. If the instrument is not available, you can add a custom instrument. Enter the instrument name, units purchased, price per unit, brokerage and trade taxes.
Worthic calculates the transaction as follows:
Gross trade amount = units × price per unit
Total purchase cost = gross trade amount + brokerage + trade taxes
The total purchase cost becomes the cash-ledger outflow. The investment detail is stored against the same transaction, and Worthic rebuilds the holding quantities and investment roll-up from the recorded trade metadata.
Recording an asset sale
Choose Asset sales, select the instrument, and enter the units sold, price per unit, brokerage and trade taxes.
Worthic calculates:
Gross sale amount = units × price per unit
Net sale proceeds = gross sale amount − brokerage − trade taxes
The net proceeds become the cash-ledger inflow, while the units sold reduce the recorded holding. Brokerage and trade taxes are therefore part of the sale breakdown and should not normally be entered again as separate transactions.
Recording a dividend
Choose Dividends and identify the relevant instrument. You can record the instrument name, ex-dividend date, payment date, gross dividend and tax withheld.
Worthic calculates:
Net dividend = gross dividend − dividend tax
The net dividend becomes the ledger inflow. Worthic retains the gross amount and tax breakdown for reporting, while dividend totals and investment-return calculations use the recorded net amount. The payment date identifies when the cash was received; the ex-dividend date can be recorded separately when known.
How transaction breakdowns work
An investment breakdown adds structured detail to one underlying cash-ledger transaction. The breakdown does not create separate cash movements for the instrument value, brokerage and tax. Instead, Worthic keeps the single amount that actually affected cash and records the components behind it. This prevents fees or taxes from being counted twice while still preserving enough detail to calculate holdings, cost, proceeds, dividends and performance.
For example, a purchase of 10 units at $20 with $5 brokerage and $2 trade tax produces one $207 outflow: $200 gross trade value, plus $5 brokerage and $2 tax. A $100 gross dividend with $15 withholding tax produces one $85 inflow, with the gross dividend and tax retained in the breakdown.
Split transactions
Use a transaction split only when one source cash movement genuinely needs to be allocated across multiple reporting lines, descriptions or categories. Each split component can have its own date, reporting line, description, amount, category and notes. The components must add back to the source transaction amount, within one cent, before Worthic will save the split. Worthic keeps the components together as one transaction group and preserves the supporting attachments and audit trail.
Do not use a general split merely to separate the gross trade amount, brokerage, trade tax or dividend withholding tax. Those belong in the dedicated investment breakdown fields. If a broker statement contains several genuinely separate trades in one cash movement, record or split them carefully so that each holding-changing trade can be identified and the combined components still reconcile to the source amount.