My portfolio doesn't match my broker — what to do

Why your Sharesight portfolio doesn't match your broker

If your Sharesight portfolio shows different holdings or quantities compared to your broker, this guide will help you work through the issue step by step.

Portfolio mismatches are common — especially for investors who have been in the market for many years. The most frequent cause is that broker imports and CSV files only include standard buy and sell trades. Certain transactions — including corporate actions, dividend reinvestment, and off-market transfers — are not included in broker data, even when your integration is set up correctly.

Step 1 — Identify which holdings are affected

Start by comparing your holdings in Sharesight against your broker statement or annual holding summary.

In Sharesight, go to the Portfolio Investments page
For each holding, check whether the quantity of shares matches your broker
Note any holding where:
- The quantity of shares is different from your broker
- A holding appears in Sharesight that shouldn't be there
- A holding is missing from Sharesight entirely (might be in the negative balance section)

Work through one holding at a time.

Step 2 — Triage each affected holding

Not every mismatch needs to be fixed. Before spending time on diagnostics, ask yourself two questions for each affected holding.

Is this holding already sold?

Sold long ago (several years) If you no longer hold this stock and it was sold many years ago, consider whether the historical data is worth recovering.

If historical portfolio performance doesn't matter to you → you can delete the holding entirely. This removes all historical buy and sell records for that holding and recalculates your portfolio return accordingly. No further action needed.
If you want to keep historical records → proceed to Step 3.

Sold recently (within the last year or two)

Australian customers: consider whether the sale falls within a financial year for which you have already lodged your tax return (Australian financial year ends 30 June).
- Tax already lodged → you may be able to remove the holding, unless you need it for record keeping or audit purposes.
- Tax not yet lodged → the holding needs to be correct before you file. Proceed to Step 3.
Customers outside Australia: use your own tax calendar and judgement.

⚠️ Deleting or removing a holding will affect any tax reports generated in Sharesight for that period. Only do this if you are confident the records are no longer needed.

Do you still own this holding?

If yes — it must be fixed. Proceed to Step 3.

Step 3 — Diagnose what's missing

For holdings that need to be fixed, check the trade history in Sharesight against the following documents:

Broker transaction history
Annual holding statements
CHESS or share registry statements

Look for any transaction that appears in your records but is missing from Sharesight. Use the table below to identify the most likely cause:

What you're seeing	Most likely cause
Quantity too low	Missing corporate action (SPP, rights issue, merger, demerger, IPO)
Quantity too low	Incomplete CSV import or broker sync
Quantity too low	Missing DRP shares
Quantity too low	Trade history missing after broker transfer
Unexpected holding appearing	Merger or demerger created a new holding
Holding missing entirely	Trade history not carried over after broker transfer
Holding missing entirely	Account type change (e.g. individual to joint)
Quantity too high	Duplicate trades from import

Once you've identified the cause, follow the relevant guide:

Corporate actions — mergers, demergers, rights issues, SPPs and IPOs Dividend reinvestment plans (DRP) Broker transfers — missing trade history Account type changes — moving from individual to joint Incomplete imports and duplicate trades

Step 4 — What if you can't fully reconstruct the history?

In some cases, the complete trade history simply isn't available. This is more common than you might think — shares inherited from a family member, trades made through a broker that no longer operates, or records lost over time are all situations where a full fix may not be possible.

If you find yourself in this situation, here are your options — from most to least preferred.

Option 1 — Use best available information

If you have some information but not exact details:

Date uncertain → use the 1st of the month the transaction likely occurred, with the market closing price for that day
Price uncertain → use the market closing price on the known date

This won't be perfect but is a reasonable approximation. We recommend noting the uncertainty somewhere in your records.

Option 2 — Use an opening balance

An opening balance lets you set a starting point for a holding — a total cost base and quantity at a chosen date — without needing to record every historical trade.

To add an opening balance:

If the holding is missing entirely: go to the individual holding page > Trades & Income tab > Add a trade or adjustment > select Opening balance as the trade type, enter the total cost base and quantity.
If you want to convert an existing buy trade: go to the individual holding page > Trades & Income tab > Edit the trade > change the trade type from Buy to Opening balance

Important limitations to be aware of:

You still need to record any trades (buys, sells, corporate actions) that occurred after the opening balance date
For Australian customers, the ideal opening balance date is 1 July (start of financial year) — this ensures Sharesight captures all trades within the current financial year for tax reporting
To use a past date as your opening balance, you need the correct total cost base at that date — which your broker may not easily provide. You may need to work backwards from your current cost base, adding back any sells that occurred since that date
If you don't have complete history, you may not be able to reconstruct the correct cost base — in which case the opening balance figure will be an approximation
Opening balance removes historical dividend data and performance calculations, since Sharesight won't know the full purchase history

Option 3 — Zero cost base (last resort)

If no cost base information is available at all, you can enter an opening balance with a total cost base of $0.

To do this: go to the individual holding page > Trades & Income tab > Add a trade or adjustment > select Opening balance > enter $0 in the total cost base field.

This is the most conservative approach — if the ATO or your tax authority questions the records, all proceeds will be treated as a capital gain. You may pay more tax than necessary, but you will never be understating gains.

Option 4 — Accept the limitation

If none of the above options are viable, it's worth knowing that:

Your portfolio will not perfectly match your broker for historical holding
Historical return and dividend data will be incomplete
Your going-forward tax reporting will still be accurate as long as you record all new trades correctly from this point

This is not the ideal outcome, but it is a real one — and Sharesight will still provide accurate reports for everything recorded going forward.

Still need help?

If you've worked through this guide and still can't identify or resolve the mismatch, contact our support team with the name of the affected holding and a summary of what you've already checked. We'll do our best to help you work through it.