When Quicken files become subject to legal discovery or a tax audit, providing Quicken files to opposing counsel or the IRS could result in sharing more data than expected. Quicken does not remove all data for an account upon account deletion. Furthermore, this data can be retrieved and reviewed.

Introduction
Quicken is the leading personal finance software package with more than 70% of the market share for retail personal finance software.¹ It was first released in 1984, and more than 20 versions have been released.

Quicken is used by 3 million small businesses² because it offers simple accounting entries—invoices and expenses—without the complexity of a full accounting system like QuickBooks. It is also used because of its online banking functionality and ability to download securities and other investment information. Some small business owners mix their personal and business account information in the same file. Additionally, accounts from different clients may reside in the same Quicken file. When accounts are mixed, an opportunity for the perfect legal storm is created since Quicken may not delete all data associated with an account. Instead, fragments of deleted data remain hidden and not obviously visible in Quicken.

Case 1: Deleted Account Data Found in Quicken .QSD file

Figure 1: Example of Quicken files by version.

Depending on the version, a Quicken file exists as one or more electronically stored files.³ (Figure 1) Each Quicken file has a primary file that stores a user’s account and financial data (a .QDF file) and a set of support files such as the .QPH file which stores the history of security prices.

Figure 2: Inside view of compound file in Quicken versions 2010 or later.

Beginning with version Quicken 2010, users see a single .QDF file. This resulted from Quicken’s redesigned file structure where support files were stored within the .QDF file. The .QDF file acts as a container and stores data as a set of smaller related files.⁴ (Figure 2)

Supporting files from pre-2010 versions of Quicken are a potential repository of data associated with deleted accounts. These files can contain data for deleted Quicken accounts even when a new Quicken file is created through the backup and restore of a prior Quicken file where accounts have been deleted. This scenario is illustrated in the following example using a Quicken 2000 file. Quicken 2000 consists of three files—the primary .QDF file and the .QSD and .QEL supporting files. The .QSD and .QEL files store online banking information for a Quicken account.