I took at a stab at coding this thing. I don't know if this helps or not, you may find the function anyCompare useful...Could be some problems with this code...Dunno..its early in the morning here... 
my $test_array_ref = [
          [
            'Amber Benedit C',
            '23455443',
            '2008-01-11',
            'X',....
....... like in your post........
        ];

my %accountNames =();

foreach my $record_ref (@$test_array_ref)
{
   my ($name, @new_data) = @$record_ref;
   
   if (exists $accountNames{$name})
   {
      my @current_data = @{$accountNames{$name}};
      my $i =0;
      foreach my $new_thing (@new_data)
      {
         if (anyCompare($new_thing,$current_data[$i])>0)
            {$current_data[$i]= $new_thing}; 
         $i++;
      }
      @{$accountNames{$name}}=@current_data;
   }
   else 
   {
      $accountNames{$name} = [@new_data];
   }
}

foreach my $name (sort keys %accountNames)
{
   print "NAME=$name\n";
   print join ("\n",
              map{/^\s*$/  ? '""' : $_}
              @{$accountNames{$name}}),"\n";
   print "\n";              
}

sub anyCompare      #returns <0,0,>0 like normal <=> or cmp
{
   my ($a,$b) = @_;
   if ( isNumeric($a) && isNumeric($b) )
        {return $a <=> $b}
   return ($a cmp $b)  
}

sub isNumeric      #returns True/False
{
   my $string = shift;
   my $isNumeric = ($string =~ m/^[-+]*\d+(\.\d+)?$/);
   return $isNumeric;
}

__END__
prints:
NAME=Amber Benedit C
23455443
2008-01-11
X
11
0
7.00
""
2
2
3
""
-2.0
""
""
""
""
""
""
3.0
2008
1112399

NAME=Amy Israel D
22345666
2008-03-04
X
999
0
8.00
""
0
2
0
""
-5.00
""
""
""
""
""
""
2.0
2008
1112399

NAME=Auser Ferro
987778999
2008-11-30
W
888
0
0
""
1
2
4
""
-5.00
""
""
""
""
""
""
2.0
2008
1112399

NAME=Yuong John
22357790
2008-03-27
W
50
0
4.00
""
4
2
3
""
0
""
""
""
""
""
""
3.0
2008
1112399

NAME=Zilda Mil
88997665
2008-05-12
X
999
0
4.00
""
1
2
3
""
0
""
""
""
""
""
""
14.0
2008
1112399

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In reply to Re: Loosing Negative Values in Array Ref by Marshall
in thread Loosing Negative Values in Array Ref by Anonymous Monk

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