The Investments tab is where you manage all financial investments owned by your business, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or other securities.
This tab provides a comprehensive view of your investment portfolio, tracking quantities owned, market values, and investment performance over time.
To create a new investment, click the New Investment button.
If you already own investments when you begin using Manager, you can enter their existing quantities and cost basis through Settings → Starting Balances → Investments.
Learn more: Starting Balances — Investments
When you create your first investment, Manager automatically adds two essential accounts to your Chart of Accounts:
• Investments - A Balance Sheet account that shows the current market value of all your investments
• Investment Gains (Losses) - A Profit and Loss Statement account that captures both realized gains (from sales) and unrealized gains (from market value changes)
The Investments account balance is automatically calculated based on the market prices you enter in Settings → Investment Market Prices. This ensures your balance sheet always reflects current market values.
Learn more: Investment Market Prices
The Investment Gains (Losses) account automatically captures the difference between your investments' market value and their cost basis. This includes:
• Realized gains/losses - Actual profits or losses when you sell investments
• Unrealized gains/losses - Paper profits or losses from market value changes on investments you still own
To analyze your investment performance in detail, use the Investment Gains (Losses) report under the Reports tab. This report separates realized gains (from completed sales) and unrealized gains (from market value changes).
To record an investment purchase:
1. Go to the Payments tab and click New Payment
2. In the payment form, select Investments as the account
3. Choose the specific investment from the dropdown that appears
4. Enter the quantity purchased and the total amount paid
Important: To record the quantity of shares or units purchased, you must enable the Qty column by checking the Qty checkbox at the bottom of the payment form. This allows you to track both the amount paid and the number of units acquired.
To record an investment sale, use a Receipt transaction and select the Investments account. The process mirrors purchasing but records money coming in rather than going out. Enter a negative quantity to reduce your holdings.
The Investments tab displays the following columns:
The investment code or ticker symbol. This helps identify investments quickly and can be used for sorting and searching. Examples: AAPL for Apple stock or FUND001 for a mutual fund.
The full name or description of the investment. This should clearly identify what the investment is, such as "Apple Inc. Common Stock" or "Growth Fund Series A".
Shows which control account manages this investment. For most businesses, this will display Investments. Custom control accounts can be created to separate different types of investments (e.g., Long — term Investments vs Trading Securities).
The total quantity of shares, units, or other investment units currently owned. This is automatically calculated from all purchase and sale transactions. Click the quantity to see a detailed transaction history.
The current market price per unit of the investment. Click to update market prices.
Learn more: Investment Market Prices
The current market value of your investment holdings, calculated by multiplying the quantity owned by the current market price. This total represents what your investments are worth if sold at current market prices.
Many investments are traded on foreign currency markets. In Manager, all investment values are displayed in your base currency, regardless of the market they trade on.
An investment is not a foreign currency. While an investment may trade on a foreign currency market, the same investment can trade on multiple markets across different currencies simultaneously (dual-listed companies, futures contracts, commodities, precious metals, etc.).
When a foreign currency weakens, the price of the investment typically rises to compensate for the forex loss, maintaining equilibrium. An investment's value might be rising in foreign currency terms but remain flat in your base currency.
This is why Manager tracks all investment performance in your base currency—it provides a consistent basis for evaluating returns across your entire portfolio.