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Historical Cost Report
Available on Sharesight Starter, Standard, Premium and Sharesight Business plans.
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Report Overview
The Historical Cost Report shows opening and closing balances at cost price. It is designed for people with shares under a company or family trust that are required to prepare annual accounts each year. The report also includes market value columns to allow a quick comparison between cost price and market value.
The portfolio holdings are organised by a specified grouping in the holding table, default is by market.
Opening Balance
The total cost base of the holding carried forward to the start date of the report — the cumulative cost of all shares acquired, net of any prior sales and cost base adjustments, up to the start of the selected period.
Opening Market Value
The market value of the holding at the start of the report period. Calculated as the market price on the start date multiplied by the opening quantity.
Opening Quantity
The number of units or shares held in the investment at the start date of the report.
Purchases
The cost price of any shares purchased during the selected period.
Cost of Sales
The original buy value of shares sold during the selected period. If the holding has multiple buy parcels, the cost is determined by the portfolio's cost allocation method — for example, under FIFO (First In, First Out), the cost of the earliest parcel is used first.
Capital Adjustments
Cost base adjustments applied to the holding during the period, typically from trust distributions such as AMIT cost base increases or decreases. These adjustments do not represent cash received — they change the cost base of the holding, which affects the capital gain or loss when the investment is eventually sold.
Closing Balance
The cost base of the holding at the end of the selected period. Calculated as: Opening Balance − Cost of Sales. Purchases made during the period add to the balance, and Capital Adjustments from trust distributions may further increase or decrease it.
Closing Market Value
The market value of the holding at the end of the report period. Provided as a comparison against the closing balance. The Historical Cost Report can be exported to Spreadsheet, PDF or into Google Drive.
Closing Quantity
The number of units or shares held in the investment at the end date of the report.
Running the Historical Cost Report
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvWo0kLuNoc
1 — From any page click on the Tax tab.

2 — Click the Historical Cost Report tile.
3 — From the dropdown calendar, select the date range you would like to run the report in. By default the current tax year is displayed.

4 — Select the grouping option.

Select the grouping you wish to view the trades of your portfolio in:
- Market
- Currency
- Sector Classification
- Industry Classification
- Investment type
- Country
- Do not group (Holdings)
- Custom Group - If you have already created Custom Groups, you can view the holdings in your portfolio via your own organised specifications
If you haven't already created Custom Groups, you can click the 'Custom Group Settings' to set up a Custom Group to organise your holdings into your own specifications.
You can also click 'Custom Group Settings' to edit your Custom Groups.

You can toggle on 'Include brokerage' box if you would like to include brokerage costs as part of the asset cost of your investments. Alternatively you can exclude brokerage if you account for this separately as an expense.
5 — Click on the Save Changes button to apply your chosen setting.
The holding table will reload with the selected date range, grouping and settings.

Click on any column heading to reorder the table by the contents of that column.
Click on the holding to load the holding's Individual Holding Page.
Cost base adjustments from trust income
If you hold ETFs, managed funds, or other trust investments, AMIT cost base adjustments (increases and decreases) affect the cost base shown in this report. These adjustments come from your annual trust tax statement and are separate from purchases and sales. The Closing Balance reflects the accumulated effect of all cost base adjustments applied to date.
Last updated 17th April 2026