---
title: "Accuracy"
description: "Accuracy averages, across your holdings, how much of each one's target value its whole-share position covers — every holding counts equally."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/portfolio-holdings/accuracy"
last_updated: "2026-09-11"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/portfolio-holdings/accuracy.md"
---

# Accuracy

Accuracy is the average, across your holdings, of how much of each holding's target value its whole-share position actually covers. Each holding's own figure is its deployed amount divided by its target value, so it measures only what rounding down to whole shares left behind; the KPI then averages those figures with every holding counting equally, whatever its size. Fincanva shows it as the "Accuracy" KPI on the Holdings view for the book at the selected rebalance date.

## How is accuracy calculated?

Accuracy is the plain average of the holdings' individual accuracies, and each holding's accuracy is its deployed amount divided by its target value.

$$
\text{Accuracy} = \frac{1}{N} \sum_{i=1}^{N} \frac{\text{deployed}_i}{\text{target value}_i}
$$

where $N$ is the number of holdings that hold at least one share, $\text{deployed}_i$ is holding $i$'s whole-share quantity times its price, and $\text{target value}_i$ is the amount the strategy aims to hold in it before any rounding (see [target vs deployed](/docs/portfolio-holdings/target-vs-deployed)).

In words: only rounding moves each holding's ratio — the deployed amount is rounded to whole shares and the target value is not, so the shortfall from 100% is exactly what rounding left behind. The average then gives every holding the same say. A holding worth 2% of the book moves Accuracy as much as one worth 40%, so a single small or high-priced holding that rounds badly can pull the figure down while almost all of the money is deployed, and a large holding that rounds badly counts for no more than any other.

A holding too small to buy even one share takes no position at all, so it is left out of the average rather than counted as 0% — and so is a holding in a Combined whose strategies' whole-share positions cancel out to zero shares, even when its net target is not zero. Accuracy therefore does not register a holding that ends up with no shares.

## What counts as good accuracy?

A figure near 100% is good: in the typical holding, rounding down to whole shares left almost nothing behind. A lower figure means that at least some holdings lost a noticeable share of their target to rounding — often one or two small or high-priced ones, because every holding counts equally. Each holding's own figure sits under its "Deployed" amount in the "Target positions & exits" sheet, which is where to look to see which ones pull the average down.

**Shorts behave the same way as longs here.** Rounding moves a short's share count toward zero just as it does a long's, so a short's deployed amount is normally no larger than its target either.

**A reading above 100% is possible.** A holding whose quantity falls within a hair of a whole share is counted as that whole share, which can put it over its target by a fraction of a point. A Combined can move a holding much further, in either direction: when two of its strategies hold the same instrument on opposite sides, each side is rounded to whole shares on its own before they are netted, and the net that remains can sit well above or well below the net target. At a price of 100, a long target of 12.01 shares rounds to 12 and a short one of 10.99 rounds to 10, so 2 shares — 200 — are deployed against a net target of 102, and that holding reads 196%.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- Accuracy is shown as a percentage KPI on the Holdings view, to one decimal place, and reflects the book at the selected rebalance date.
- It is an unweighted average: every holding with at least one share counts once, whatever its size. A holding that ends up with no shares — too small to buy one, or a Combined whose sides cancel out — is not in the average.
- It tends to rise with more capital, because the whole-share leftover on each holding becomes a smaller fraction of that holding's target.
- It measures how faithfully the targets were filled — it is not a rating or ranking of the strategy's quality or its expected return.

## Worked example

Suppose a book of 10,000 holds two instruments. Holding A has a target value of 9,000 at a price of 100: that is exactly 90 shares, so 9,000 is deployed and its accuracy is 100%. Holding B has a target value of 1,000 at a price of 300: 3.33 shares round down to 3, so 900 is deployed and its accuracy is 90%.

The Accuracy KPI shows 95.0%, the plain average of 100% and 90% — even though 9,900 of the 10,000 target, or 99%, is deployed. The small holding pulls the figure down exactly as much as the large one holds it up, which is what averaging with every holding counting equally means.

*Accuracy measures how closely a paper target book was filled, never real orders, and no reading of it is a reason to put money behind a strategy. Fincanva provides no financial advice — see [Is this financial advice?](/docs/investing-theory/is-this-financial-advice).*