I'm getting my knickers into a twist making a full cash
withdrawal of a member. I thought I was correctly following
the instructions in the One Minute Treasurer, but....

1. I setup an account named "Member Withdrawal"
2. I clicked "Member Withdraw", selected the member name &
appropriate dates; no fee to enter; ... clicked Refresh and
got the appropriate $$$ amount.
3. I then transferred the identical amount of $$$ to the
"Member Withdrawal" account from the main TD Ameritrade
account and wrote the check.

My Bivio account now contained in the TD Ameritrade account
1. a "Full Withdrawal" debit transaction from Bivio for the
member and
2. an Account transfer from TDAmeritrade Account to Member
"Withdrawal Account" (with a corresponding credit appearing
in the "Withdrawal Account".

Now, the member withdrawal check clears and there is an
Unidentified Debit in the TDAmeritrade account. I then
Identified the transaction as "Account Transfer" pointing to
the "Withdrawal Account".

Now, the TDAmeritrade Account has a Transfer of the $$$ but
it also show a reduced account balance.
The "Withdrawal Account" shows a transfer as a Credit into
the account.

Where did I go wrong and how do I fix it??


Thanks in advance for the help.

Dear Jay,

The point of accounting for a withdrawal this way is to leave the cash in your bivio brokerage
records until the check actually clears. This allows you to reconcile easily every month, even if
a member takes a long time to cash the check you gave him.

The only thing you did wrong in following the instructions was to enter the Transfer from Brokerage
to Member Withdrawal early. If you just eliminate what you did in step 3 below, everything would
have worked out fine.

The withdrawal account would have had a negative balance until the check actually cleared. At that
point, the transfer transaction would be entered from Brokerage to Member Withdraw. That zeroes out
the Member Withdraw Balance and lets you track the actual cash flow from your brokerage account.

Laurie Frederiksen
bivio Inc.


1. I setup an account named "Member Withdrawal"
2. I clicked "Member Withdraw", selected the member name &
appropriate dates; no fee to enter; ... clicked Refresh and
got the appropriate $$$ amount.
3. I then transferred the identical amount of $$$ to the
"Member Withdrawal" account from the main TD Ameritrade
account and wrote the check.

My Bivio account now contained in the TD Ameritrade account
1. a "Full Withdrawal" debit transaction from Bivio for the
member and
2. an Account transfer from TDAmeritrade Account to Member
"Withdrawal Account" (with a corresponding credit appearing
in the "Withdrawal Account".

Now, the member withdrawal check clears and there is an
Unidentified Debit in the TDAmeritrade account. I then
Identified the transaction as "Account Transfer" pointing to
the "Withdrawal Account".

Now, the TDAmeritrade Account has a Transfer of the $$$ but
it also show a reduced account balance.
The "Withdrawal Account" shows a transfer as a Credit into
the account.

Where did I go wrong and how do I fix it??


Thanks in advance for the help.

Dear Laurie,
Thanks for your super prompt response.

There's something unsaid in your response.
"...The withdrawal account would have had a negative balance
until the check actually cleared. .."
Now how would the "withdrawal account" have a negative
balance unless, unless, somehow when I did the Member
Withdraw I somehow pointed to the Withdrawal Account, which
I obviously didn't do. As I said my TDAmeritrade account
showed the "Full withdrawal, ..." transaction. It seems
that somehow I should have pointed to the Withdraw Account
when I did the member withdraw.

Assuming that's correct, the main question for me now is
what specifically should I do to clean up this mess?

Thanks..........Jay
Laurie Frederiksen wrote:
> Dear Jay,
>
> The point of accounting for a withdrawal this way is to leave the cash in your bivio brokerage
> records until the check actually clears. This allows you to reconcile easily every month, even if
> a member takes a long time to cash the check you gave him.
>
> The only thing you did wrong in following the instructions was to enter the Transfer from Brokerage
> to Member Withdrawal early. If you just eliminate what you did in step 3 below, everything would
> have worked out fine.
>
> The withdrawal account would have had a negative balance until the check actually cleared. At that
> point, the transfer transaction would be entered from Brokerage to Member Withdraw. That zeroes out
> the Member Withdraw Balance and lets you track the actual cash flow from your brokerage account.
>
> Laurie Frederiksen
> bivio Inc.
>
>
> 1. I setup an account named "Member Withdrawal"
> 2. I clicked "Member Withdraw", selected the member name &
> appropriate dates; no fee to enter; ... clicked Refresh and
> got the appropriate $$$ amount.
> 3. I then transferred the identical amount of $$$ to the
> "Member Withdrawal" account from the main TD Ameritrade
> account and wrote the check.
>
> My Bivio account now contained in the TD Ameritrade account
> 1. a "Full Withdrawal" debit transaction from Bivio for the
> member and
> 2. an Account transfer from TDAmeritrade Account to Member
> "Withdrawal Account" (with a corresponding credit appearing
> in the "Withdrawal Account".
>
> Now, the member withdrawal check clears and there is an
> Unidentified Debit in the TDAmeritrade account. I then
> Identified the transaction as "Account Transfer" pointing to
> the "Withdrawal Account".
>
> Now, the TDAmeritrade Account has a Transfer of the $$$ but
> it also show a reduced account balance.
> The "Withdrawal Account" shows a transfer as a Credit into
> the account.
>
> Where did I go wrong and how do I fix it??
>
>
> Thanks in advance for the help.

Dear Jay,

I'm sorry. I thought you indicated that you had chosen the Member Withdrawal account as the one you
were paying the withdrawal from. That is what the instructions say. In that case, it would show
a negative balance until the check cleared and you recorded the transfer.

At this point, everything is a moot point since the check has cleared. Since you recorded the
withdrawal in the TDAmeritrade account, the amount was debited from your brokerage account at that
time. The AccountSync entry when the check actually cleared is now redundant. You can just delete
it.

  Laurie Frederiksen
  bivio Inc.

Laurie & Rip,

Thanks for the great support. I have the account
straightened out now (and hopefully we won't have another
withdrawal anytime soon.)

While I have your attention, is there someway to put a
"Memo" entry into the Transaction file? I tried entering an
Expense of $0.00 with the comment that Check # XXX was used
to pay of the Withdrawal, but Bivio doesn't like zero
amounts.

Thanks again..............Jay

Laurie Frederiksen wrote:
> Dear Jay,
>
> I'm sorry. I thought you indicated that you had chosen the Member Withdrawal account as the one you
> were paying the withdrawal from. That is what the instructions say. In that case, it would show
> a negative balance until the check cleared and you recorded the transfer.
>
> At this point, everything is a moot point since the check has cleared. Since you recorded the
> withdrawal in the TDAmeritrade account, the amount was debited from your brokerage account at that
> time. The AccountSync entry when the check actually cleared is now redundant. You can just delete
> it.
>
> Laurie Frederiksen
> bivio Inc.

Hi Jay,

You are very welcome. I'm glad we could help.

There is a place to add a comment when you fill out the withdrawal form. This is a good place to
note the check number. Unfortunately, a withdrawal is the only transaction in bivio that you
cannot edit once it has been entered. You can, however, delete and then reenter it. I'd print
out the withdrawal report before I did this. That way you can make sure you reenter the exact same
information that you entered the first time.

 Laurie