When you distribute a fixed dollar amount across many holdings, each holding's share rarely lands on a whole cent. The Exact rounding method rounds every share down to the cent, then shares the leftover cents out so the payments add up to exactly the amount you entered.
Note: Some holdings receive one extra cent, called a residual adjustment, so the distribution balances to the cent. For example, $1,000.00 across three equal holdings pays $333.34, $333.33 and $333.33. Every residual adjustment is shown in the Residual Adjustment column of the Distribution Audit Report.
Which distributions this applies to
Rounding settings apply to the two Total Dollar calculation methods:
Total Dollar Amount
Total Dollar Amount (at record date)
Other calculation methods, such as cents per unit, are not affected.
Choose a rounding method
Create or edit a distribution
In the Calculation method section, select a Total Dollar method
In the Rounding method field, select one of:
Exact (round down and apportion remainder): the default for new distributions
Round to the nearest cent: rounds each holding's share on its own, so the total paid can differ from the amount entered by a few cents
The rounding method applies to every Total Dollar component on the distribution. Existing distributions keep the method they were saved with.
Note: With Exact, the amount must be in whole cents (or the smallest unit of the fund's currency) and cannot be negative.
How the remaining cents are shared out
With Exact, Caruso works out each holding's share in three steps:
Calculate each holding's exact share of the total, to as many decimal places as needed
Round every share down to the cent. The rounded shares now add up to slightly less than the total
Give the leftover cents out one at a time, starting with the holding whose share lost the most when it was rounded down. No holding receives more than one extra cent
If two holdings lost the same amount, the larger holding receives the cent first. Where they are still equal, Caruso uses a fixed order, so recalculating the same distribution always gives the same result.
Worked example
A fund distributes $1,000.00 across three investors with equal holdings.
Holding | Exact share | Rounded down | Residual adjustment | Paid |
Investor A | $333.3333… | $333.33 | $0.01 | $333.34 |
Investor B | $333.3333… | $333.33 | $0.00 | $333.33 |
Investor C | $333.3333… | $333.33 | $0.00 | $333.33 |
Total | $1,000.00 | $999.99 | $0.01 | $1,000.00 |
Rounding down leaves $999.99, one cent short. All three shares lost the same amount, so the cent goes to one holding under the fixed order, and the payments total exactly $1,000.00.
Note: Withholding tax is calculated from each holding's exact share, before any rounding or residual adjustment.
See the adjustment in the Distribution Audit Report
The Distribution Audit Report shows how each holding's payment was reached. For Total Dollar distributions it includes:
Holding Component Gross Distribution (un-rounded): the exact share before rounding
Holding Component Gross Distribution (rounded before adjustment): the share rounded down to the cent
Residual Adjustment: the cent added to that holding, or zero
Holding Component Gross Distribution (rounded): the final amount paid
The adjustment columns only appear for distributions calculated with the Exact method.
Tip: To check a distribution balances, total the Residual Adjustment column. It equals the cents left over after rounding down, and is always less than one cent per holding.
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If you have any questions or need help at any stage, please contact our Caruso Support team either by email or live chat.