When you say "i entered a sale of a security and i was prompted, "acquire investment" dialog box but when i entered the new account name it disappeared" are you referring to the 'acquire investment' dialog box or the new account name?

Also, what do you mean by "when i entered the new account name"? Is this a different account name than the one that is entered prior to getting the "acquire investment" prompt? The order of a investment transaction should be the following:

1. Enter ID.
2. Enter Date.
3. Enter Payee.
4. Enter asset Account.
5. Answer "Yes" to "Acquire Investment" prompt.
6. Enter Charge/Credit Amount.
7. Enter Shares/Symbol on the resulting Multiple Distribution screen.

Is this the exact order that you are following or are you taking any additional steps?

I understand that you are following steps 1-4 above, and then you enter the amount. Instead, FN should be giving you the "acquire investment" prompt before taking you to the amount field.

Here are some things to check to see why FN is not giving you the prompt:

1. Are you entering the transaction into a broker cash journal?
2. What is the Format Type for the broker cash account? On the Asset and Liability Information screen, the Format should be “Broker Cash Account.”
3. For sales, what is the Format Type of the investment account you are selling? It should be something like Common Stock, not a non-investment Format Type.
4. Is the investment account already sold? On the Asset and Liability Information screen for the account, make sure the Format type is not like “Sold Stock” and make sure the Date Sold field is blank.
5. For purchases, is the new account in the Marketable Investments Category of the Chart of Accounts?
6. Can you see all the columns on the Transaction Activity screen? If not, there will be a scroll bar on the bottom of the screen and you need to enlarge the screen. This caused some problems in FN 8.1 but should not be an issue in FN 8.2.

If you still have problems, try opening the FN Sample data (it is usually in the FN program file folder). Try selling a security like Astro Gear from the Broker Cash Acct/Hilo. Do you get an "acquire investment" prompt?

Please let us know if this helps.