Hello,
One way to check any value is to force a dump and look at the value in the dump. To make it easy to find your value of interest in the dump, put an "eye-catcher" before and afterthe field.
Something like:
01 my-stuff.
05 eyecatch1 pic x(16) 'before the value'.
05 the-value pic s9(4) comp value -1234.
05 eyecatch2 pic x(15) 'after the value'.