The 640 MEG Shareware Studio 2/The 640 Meg Shareware Studio CD-ROM Volume II (Data Express)(1993).ISO/person/pcbdgt.zip/PCBUDGET.DOC

Text File | 1992-09-20 | 95KB | 2,816 lines

PCBUDGET*


User's Manual
Version 2.6





Program Created by

Kenneth E. Merker





















ProLogic Software Inc.
Loveland, Ohio


Document ID No. PCBMAN26-09-1992



WARRANTY

THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
OF PARTICULAR PURPOSE, PERFORMANCE,
OR OTHERWISE; ALL WARRANTIES ARE
DISCLAIMED. BY USING THE PCBUDGET
PRODUCT, YOU AGREE THAT NEITHER
PROLOGIC SOFTWARE NOR ANY OF OUR
EMPLOYEES, AFFILIATES, OWNERS, OR
OTHER RELATED PARTIES WILL BE LIABLE
TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY USE
OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THIS SOFTWARE,
OR FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER. EVEN
IF WE ARE APPRISED OF POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGES OCCURRING.


COPYRIGHT NOTICE

PCBUDGET is Copyright * 1990-1991 by Kenneth
Merker dba ProLogic Software.  All rights reserved.

This document is Copyright * 1990-1991 by Kenneth
Merker dba ProLogic Software.  All rights reserved.


TRADEMARKS

PCBUDGET is a trademark of ProLogic Software Inc.

Microsoft, MS, and MS-DOS are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

IBM, PS2, PS1, PC, AT, and XT are registered
trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation.


LICENSE

PCBUDGET is approved by the Association of
Shareware Professionals (ASP) as a "Shareware
program".  This program is provided at no charge to
the user for evaluation.  The essence of
"user-supported" software is to provide personal
computer users with quality software without high
prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers
to continue to develop new products.  If you find
PCBUDGET useful and find that you are using
PCBUDGET and continue to use PCBUDGET after
a reasonable trial period, you are required to register.
The registration fee will license one copy for use on
any one computer at any one time.

No user may modify PCBUDGET in any way,
including but not limited to decompiling,
disassembling or otherwise reverse engineering the
program.  All users are granted a limited license to
copy PCBUDGET only for the trial use of others
subject to the following:

PCBUDGET must be copied in unmodified form,
complete with the file containing this license
information.

The full PCBUDGET documentation must be
included with the copy.

No fee, charge or other compensation may be
accepted or requested by the licensee.

PCBUDGET may not be distributed in conjunction
with any other product.




ACKNOWLEDEMENTS

PCBUDGET was originally developed because I
needed a way to balance my checkbook and track my
expenses.  Oh yea, I liked computers too, and
programming believe it or not was a way for me to
relax and unwind.  At first the program was designed
to fit my own needs.  As my needs grew, so did the
PCBUDGET.  Soon afterwards I began allowing
family members and friends use of the program.
Quickly, the program matured into a contending home
finance software package.

The growth and success of PCBUDGET can be
contributed to my patient and understanding wife
Ginger, my two sons Andy and Luke (who would
rather have me playing Nintendo with them), late
nights with the computer and a pot of coffee, the
Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP), and all
my beta testers and idea generators including:

        David Merker
        Ken & DiAnn Riggenbach
        Ken Gibbons
        Mike Quinn
        Tim Klei
        Dan Roe

Thank you to all involved, and thank you for
considering and using PCBUDGET.  I encourage any
ideas and comments that you may have about the
program.

    Kenneth E. Merker
    Author: PCBUDGET


REGISTERING

By registering PCBUDGET, you will receive:

*    Printed User's manual
*    Free copy of the latest version
*    Technical Support
*    Notification of product updates and new releases

You can register PCBUDGET in either of the
following ways:

1.    CompuServe Shareware Registration Database.
    Type GO SWREG and request program ID 54.

2.    The Public Software Library.  With your
MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or
Discover card.  To order by credit card
call 1-800-242-4775 or 713-524-6394

3.    Directly from ProLogic Software.  Please
fill out the form REG.FRM on your
PCBUDGET program disk or call or
write at:

ProLogic Software Inc.
P.O. Box 71
Loveland, Ohio 45140
[phone]





1.0    INTRODUCTION    1
1.1    SYSTEM CONFIGURATION    4
2.0    GETTING STARTED    5
2.1    BACKING UP YOUR DISKS    5
2.2    DISK CONTENTS    5
2.3    FLOPPY DISK SYSTEM    7
2.4    HARD DISK SYSTEM    7
2.5    PREVIOUS USERS OF PCBUDGET    8
2.6    IF YOU HAVE A MOUSE    9
3.0    USING PCBUDGET    10
3.1    THE PCBUDGET SCREEN    10
3.2    PULLING DOWN MENUS AND SELECTING COMMANDS    12
3.3    USING DATA ENTRY WINDOWS    15
3.4  COPY AND PASTE    17
3.5    SCROLLING THE VIEW WINDOW    18
3.6    RETURNING TEMPORARILY TO DOS (DOS SHELL)    18
3.7    PRINTING    19
3.8    EXITING PCBUDGET    19
4.0    PCBUDGET FILE MANAGEMENT    20
4.1    CREATING A DATA FILE    20
4.2    STARTING A NEW MONTH    25
4.3    STARTING A NEW YEAR    26
4.4    SELECTING THE VIEWING MONTH    27
4.5    BACKING UP YOUR DATA FILE    27
4.6    SELECTING OTHER DATA FILES    28
5.0    ACCOUNTS    29
5.1    CREATING ACCOUNTS    29
5.2    MODIFYING ACCOUNTS    38
5.3    SETTING UP LOANS    39
6.0    TRANSACTIONS    42
6.1    MAKING TRANSACTIONS    42
6.2    MANUAL GROUPED TRANSACTIONS (SPLITS)    48
6.3    PROGRAMMED GROUPED TRANSACTIONS    50
6.4    MODIFYING TRANSACTIONS    54
6.5    AUTOMATIC TRANSACTION ENTRY    55
6.6    RECONCILING ACCOUNTS    56
7.0    BUDGETS    62
7.1    COST BUDGETS    63
7.2    PROFIT BUDGET    65
7.3    CASH BUDGET    66
7.4    BUDGETED CASH FLOWS    66
8.0    REPORTS    67
8.1    PERSONAL NET WORTH    67
8.2    INCOME AND EXPENSE    67
8.3    ACCOUNT BALANCES    67
8.4    FEDERAL INCOME TAX ESTIMATOR    68
9.0    ADVANCED FEATURES    74
9.1    PAYMENT REMINDERS RECURRING TRANSACTIONS (PRRT)    74
9.2    MAILING LIST    76
9.3    SEARCH FOR ITEMS    77
9.4    POP-UP CALENDAR    77
9.5    POP-UP CALCULATOR    78
9.6    QUICKSTAT UPDATE PROGRAM    79
10.0    ANALYSIS REPORTS    80
10.1    LOAN AMORTIZATION    80
10.2    ACCUMULATION SCHEDULE    80
11.0    BAR GRAPHS    82
12.0    SETTING OPTIONS    84
12.1    PRINTER SETUP    84
12.2    ENABLE CHECK PRINTING    87
12.3    SETTING SCREEN COLORS    88
13.0    SPECIFICATIONS    89
14.0    INDEX    90



1.0    Introduction

    Dear PCBUDGET Customer:

Welcome to PCBUDGET.  PCBUDGET is a simple
and organized budgeting tool for your computer.
PCBUDGET is designed to help assist, simplify, and
organize your home financial records.  You can use
PCBUDGET as a simple Checkbook manager or as a
detailed record keeping and tracking home accounting
system.  You can keep track of your bank accounts,
credit cards, expenses, incomes, assets, liabilities,
loans, and bill payments.  You can use PCBUDGET
to track budgets, plan your future needs, measure your
progress, and alarm you of problem areas.

The most important thing to remember about
PCBUDGET is to stick with it.  The more you put into
it, the more you will get out of it.

PCBUDGET organizes your finances by assigning
each account you create with a two digit account code.
As transactions are recorded, the accounts affected
will automatically update their monthly and year-to-
date balances.  At any point in time, you can view your
Net Worth, Total Income, Expenses, compare budget
reports, and view a variety of other reports and lists.

Among the types of accounts that you may wish to
create with PCBUDGET are:

Incomes  -- Salary, Dividends . . .
Expenses -- Groceries, Telephone, Taxes . . .
Credit Cards -- MasterCard, Visa . . .
Liabilities -- Car Loan, Mortgage, Personal Loans . . .
Bank Accounts -- Checking, Savings, IRA . . .
Assets -- Personal Property, Stocks, Bonds, Auto . . .

You should begin creating accounts immediately after
you have created your data file.  If you don't create all
your account's first, accounts can be created as you
need them while making transactions.  Each account
can have a budget assigned to it.  For example if the
Grocery budget is $200 per month, and you write a
check from your checking account for $220, Paid to
Grocery, you have just exceeded the Grocery budget
by $20.

PCBUDGET uses a double entry accounting system.
Double entry accounting simply means that all
transactions will affect at least two accounts.  For
example, when you used your Checking Account to
purchase Groceries in the above example, two
accounts were affected.  Your Checking Account
balance decreased and your Grocery account
increased.

As more and more transactions are recorded, the
better you will be able to get the "big picture" of where
your money came from, where it is going, and how to
keep it under control.

If you feel uncomfortable with PCBUDGET, even
after a trial period of use, feel free to contact us of any
features or functions that seem cumbersome or are
difficult to understand.  ProLogic Software invites your
ideas and suggestions.


1.1    System Configuration

PCBUDGET can be used on any IBM PC, AT, XT,
PS2, PS1 or compatible.  System memory
requirements are 512K RAM and MS-DOS 2.1 or
higher.  A hard disk is recommended for PROGRAM
files and Data Files.  However, a two floppy disk
system will also work.

This manual refers to the PCBUDGET Program Disk
and the PCBUDGET Data File.  The PCBUDGET
Program Disk is the disk that contains the
PCBUDGET.EXE file or the PCBUDGET.HLP file.
The PCBUDGET Data File is the disk (or directory)
which you will create the first time you use
PCBUDGET.  The Data File will contain all the
information concerning your month to month finances.

A graphics card is not required for normal use,
however, to view BAR graphs, the minimum
requirement is a CGA graphics card.  All video modes
up to and including VGA are supported by
PCBUDGET.

If you're going to use a printer with PCBUDGET, your
printer should be connected to LPT1.  All standard text
printers are supported by PCBUDGET.


2.0    Getting Started

2.1    Backing Up Your Disks

If you will be installing PCBUDGET on your hard
disk, there is no real need to make backup copies of
the PCBUDGET program disk(s).

If you are running from a two floppy disk system, you
should first make working copies of your PCBUDGET
Program Disk(s) using the DISKCOPY or COPY
command from DOS.  Place the master PCBUDGET
Program Disk(s) in a safe place and use the copy from
now on.  If the copy is ever damaged or destroyed, you
can make a new copy from the master Program
Disk(s).

2.2    Disk Contents

The files provided with the PCBUDGET program
system are described below.

DISK #1 -- Help/Installation Disk

INSTALL.EXE
PCBUDGET Installation program (binary).

    PCBUDGET.DAT
    Data file path and backup path names (ASCII).

        PCBUDGET.SET
Color scheme and special settings.
(ASCII).


    PCBUDGET.HLP
    Text for PCBUDGET on-line help (ASCII).

    PCBUDGET.TAX
Tax tables used by the Federal Income Tax
Estimator (ASCII).

    PCBUDGET.DOC
    The file containing this manual (ASCII).

QSTAT.EXE:
QuickSTAT program (binary). For a quick
update of your checking account and bills.

    REG.FRM
Registration form (ASCII). PCBUDGET is a
Shareware program. If you use PCBUDGET
you must register your program.

DISK #2 -- Program Disk

PCBUDGET.EXE
The PCBUDGET executable file
(binary).

    README.DOC
    Important license and warranty. (ASCII).

VENDOR.DOC
Vendor information for the distribution of the
PCBUDGET program.

If you have been running a previous version of
PCBUDGET, you may notice some files from the old
version that are not shown above.  You can delete the
old files not shown above to save space on your hard
disk.

    2.3    Floppy Disk System

To use PCBUDGET if you have a two floppy disk
system, insert the PCBUDGET program disk (Disk 2)
in the A: drive and a blank formatted floppy disk in
the B: drive.  The blank disk will be used for your data
file.  At the A: prompt, type

A:\>PCBUDGET [Enter]

After the PCBUDGET program file loads, you will be
required to insert the Help/Installation disk (Disk
#1).  Disk #1 should be left in the drive while
PCBUDGET is being used.

Running from a two floppy disk system occasionally
requires you to remove your program disk (disk 1)
from the A: drive.  This happens when you make a
backup of your data file or when starting a new year.
PCBUDGET will direct you when you need to switch
disks.

    2.4    Hard Disk System

To use PCBUDGET if you have a hard disk, insert the
Help/Installation disk in drive A: and type:

A:\>INSTALL [Enter]

The install program will copy the PCBUDGET
program system to your hard disk.  After the
installation is complete you can change back to your
C: drive and type PCBUDGET at the PCBUDGET
directory prompt.

When your PCBUDGET program files are installed
on your hard disk, you can either use your hard disk
for storing your data file or you can use a floppy disk
for your data file.  It is recommended to use your hard
disk because PCBUDGET will operate much faster
during program execution.  You may wish to use a
floppy disk for your data file backup.

2.5    Previous Users of PCBUDGET

If you are a previous user of PCBUDGET and are
running from a hard disk system, insert the new
PCBUDGET Help/Installation disk into your A: drive
and run the Install program.  The Install program will
ask you for the location (drive:\pathname) of your old
PCBUDGET program files.  The Install program will
remove the files from the previous version and replace
them with the files of the new version.

For two floppy disk users, use the new PCBUDGET
program disks from now on.



    2.6    If You Have a Mouse

You can use PCBUDGET with or without a mouse.
PCBUDGET is designed for use with the Microsoft
Mouse or compatible.  Before running PCBUDGET,
make sure that your mouse driver has been loaded.



3.0    Using PCBudget

    3.1    The PCBudget Screen

When you start PCBUDGET, your screen appears as
shown.




The following list explains the parts of the screen and
refers to the figure above.

1.    Menu Bar  Names each menu.  The Highlighted
letter indicates the key to be pressed along with the
Alt key to activate the menu selection.

2.    Title  When running PCBUDGET, different reports,
list, and schedules will be displayed on the screen.
This line contains the title of the screen and
identifies the data being displayed.

3.    View Window  A window into your financial
database.

4.    Mouse Cursor (mouse only).

5.    Data Entry Window  PCBUDGET displays a Data
Entry Window when you are entering data or when
additional information is required.
    To move the cursor within the Data Entry Window
you can use the up, down, left, and right arrow keys,
or you can use a mouse.

    All Data Entry Windows have at least two selections
which can be made while they are being displayed.
In the example above, there are three selections.
RECORD, DEFAULT, and HELP. To select one of
these items, use the TAB key to highlight the
brackets surrounding the item, then press the Ctrl
and ENTER key sequence.  Or,  press the function
key or the Esc key as it applies.

    Many of the Data Entry Windows have numerous
function keys associated with them.  All active
function keys for the current Data Entry Window
are located on the information bar (the bottom line
of the screen).  All Data Entry Windows have a
TOPIC help file that describes in further detail what
the Data Entry Window is asking for and how to go
about using it.

6.    Scroll Box  Shows relative position to all data
available in the view window.

7.    Scroll Arrows  Scroll the view window one line at a
time (mouse only).

8.    Data File Path Name  This tells you where your data
file is located.  When PCBUDGET is accessing your
data file, the data file name will blink.  The data file
path name is stored in the file called
PCBUDGET.DAT.

9.    Today's Date and Time  The date and time are
retrieved from the DOS system.  The date can be
modified when entering the date at the beginning of
your PCBUDGET session.

10.    Viewing Month  The Viewing month indicates which
month's data is active and/or is being displayed.
When you are viewing a month that is different from
the actual month the Viewing month will blink.

11.    Information Bar  Displays information about
softkey functions and actions taken when they are
pressed.


3.2    Pulling Down Menus and Selecting Commands

PCBUDGET commands are organized in menus on
the menu bar.  The PCBUDGET environment is
designed for fast and simple operations that can get
you to and from any activity without having to step
through needless screens and prompts.  Refer to the
figure below to see the File menu.



To pull down PCBUDGET Menus, do the following:

Press the Alt key, then press the first letter of
the menu name.

or,

If you have a mouse, point to the menu name,
and then click on the left mouse button.

If you pull down the wrong menu, take one of the
following actions:

Cancel the menu by pressing the ESC key.

Move to another menu by pressing the LEFT
or RIGHT arrow keys.

If you have a mouse, click on the right mouse
button.  The right mouse button always has the
same effect as pressing the ESC key.

To select from the menu, do the following:

Press the key corresponding to the highlighted
(or underlined) letter.

Use the UP or DOWN arrow keys to move the
highlight to the selection that you want, then
press the ENTER key.

If you have a mouse, point to the selection that
you want, then click the left mouse button.

Sometimes there may not be a letter in the window
that is highlighted.  This is because the items in the
window have been determined by the types of
accounts and account names you have created on your
data file.  For these cases, you will have to use the
arrow keys or mouse (if you have one) to make your
selection.

When there are arrows in the top right and bottom
right hand corner of the window, there is more
information or items to select from.  You can use the
PAGEUP, PAGEDOWN, HOME, and END keys to
view the rest of the window or, if you have a mouse,
place the mouse cursor on the arrows in the window
and click the left mouse button.



    3.3    Using Data Entry Windows

PCBUDGET displays a Data Entry Window when you
are entering data or when additional information is
required.  For example, a Data Entry Window might;

Prompt you for a data file path name.

Ask for an opening balance for a new account.

Ask you to verify an operation.

In this example, the Transactions Data Entry Window
is shown.



All Data Entry Windows have at least two selections
which can be made while they are being displayed.  In
the example above, there are three selections.
RECORD, CANCEL, and HELP.  To select one of
these items, use the TAB key to highlight the brackets
surrounding the item, then press the Ctrl-ENTER key
sequence.  Or,  press the function key or the Esc key as
it applies.

Every Data Entry Window has a Help file associated
with it.  You can always press the F10 key to view the
Help file.

Many of the Data Entry Windows have numerous
function keys associated with them.  All active function
keys for the current Data Entry Window are located
on the information bar (the bottom line of the screen).
All Data Entry Windows have a TOPIC help file that
describes in further detail what the Data Entry
Window is asking for and how to go about using it.

Often, Data Entry Windows hide information in the
View Window.  You can press the Alt-W key sequence
if you wish to temporarily erase the Data Entry
Window.  This allows you to scroll the View Window
to view the information behind it.  Press Alt-W again
to recall the Data Entry Window.

3.4  Copy and Paste

With the PCBUDGET user's interface, you can copy
certain areas of a Data Entry Window and then later
paste the information into new areas of the same or a
different Data Entry Window.  To identify the
information that you want to copy, place the cursor at
the start of the information you want to copy and press
and hold down the shift key.  Use the right arrow key
to highlight the selected text and then press the Ctlr-
Insert keys.  To paste the text to the new area, press
the Shift-Insert key.


3.5    Scrolling the View Window

Often, the reports, lists, or schedules that you generate
are much too large to fit into the View Window.  To
look at the rest of the screen, you can move the text up
or down.  This is known as "scrolling".  The following
table summarizes the keystrokes used for scrolling the
View Window.
Move down one line        Page Down
Move up one line        Page Up
Move down one page        Ctrl-PageDown
Move up one page        Ctrl-PageUp
Goto the end of the page    End
Goto the top of the page    Home


    3.6    Returning Temporarily to DOS (DOS Shell)

The DOS Shell selection on the File menu lets you
return temporarily to the DOS command level, where
you can execute other programs and DOS commands.
PCBUDGET remains in memory so that you can
return to the same point you left off at, without
reloading it.

PCBUDGET needs to find the COMMAND.COM
file before it can execute the DOS Shell command.  If
COMMAND.COM is not found, you will get a
message that tells you to insert the disk with
COMMAND.COM.  If you are running from a floppy
disk system, try loading COMMAND.COM onto your
PCBUDGET program disk.

To return to PCBUDGET from the DOS command
level, type EXIT at the DOS prompt.

3.7    Printing

To print the information shown in the view window,
pull down the File menu and select Print.  See section
11 for more information on setting up your printer for
special print commands.  The print selection in the file
menu will print all information shown in the view
window and all information available when scrolling
the screen.

If you're viewing a bar graph, you can print the graph
by pressing the "P" key.

3.8    Exiting PCBUDGET

The Exit selection on the File menu removes
PCBUDGET from memory and returns you to the
DOS prompt or to your menu program.

All data is automatically stored to disk.



4.0    PCBudget File Management

4.1    Creating a Data File

Creating a Data File is the first thing you must do to
use PCBUDGET.  PCBUDGET looks at the file
named PCBUDGET.DAT on your PCBUDGET
program disk.  The PCBUDGET.DAT file is a text file
that contains the name of your data file and the name
of the backup data file. The first line item in
PCBUDGET.DAT contains the drive/path (name)
where your data file resides.  If a data file is not found
at this location, a Data Entry Window will display.



This is the opening screen when starting PCBUDGET
for the first time. From this screen you can read a brief
overview of PCBUDGET, you can create a data file,
or you can cancel the screen.  Canceling the screen
doesn't really get you anywhere because PCBUDGET
will remember that it could not find a data file and
therefore will not allow you to do much of anything.  If
you do press Cancel, you can still create your data file
by pulling down the File menu and selecting Create
Data File.  When you select Create Data File, you must
first enter the drive/path where you want your data
file to be located at.



Enter the name you wish to give to your data file.  A
good name to enter is the current year.  Then when
you start a new year, you can easily differentiate a data
file from one year to a data file from another year.
For example, next years' data file can be named 1992.
You can, however, enter any valid DOS file name, a
drive letter specifying a floppy disk, or both.  For
example, suppose your PCBUDGET program files are
on your hard disk in a directory named C:\PCB26.
The following are all valid data file path names:

1992    Your data file is stored in a subdirectory
of C:\PCB26 with the subdirectory
name of 1992.
C:\1992    Your data file is stored in a main
directory named 1992.
A:    Your data file is stored in the root
directory of a disk in drive A:.
B:    Your data file is stored in the root
directory of a disk in drive B:.
    A:\1992    Your data file is stored in a main
directory called 1992 of a floppy
disk in drive A:.

Whenever a directory needs to be created,
PCBUDGET will create it for you automatically.

After you have selected the name for your data file,
PCBUDGET will ask you for a starting date for your
PCBUDGET data.  You should consider at what point
in time the PCBUDGET data will become current.
That is, how and when will PCBUDGET get in synch
with your current finances and/or your bank or credit
card company.



To get PCBUDGET in synch with your current
financial situation you could do 1 of 3 things.

METHOD 1

The first method you could use is to enter a starting
date of January 1 of the current year.  When you enter
January 1, the opening balance for your checking
account and the Y-T-D balances for all other accounts
you create should be what the balance was on January
1.  PCBUDGET data is organized by year and then by
month.  After each month, data is transferred into the
next month, and after each year, data is transferred
into the next year. Income accounts and expense
accounts are always reset to $0 when a new year starts.
So with this method, all income and expense accounts
that you create will have a Y-T-D balance of $0.  For
Bank Accounts, Assets, Credit Cards, and Liability
accounts, you should determine what the total balance
was for the account on January 1.  For example, how
much money did you have in your checking account on
January 1, how much money did you have in your
saving's account, etc.  For Credit Cards or Liabilities,
what was the balance due for that account on January
1.  After your accounts have been created, you should
begin making every transaction that occurred since
January 1 of that year.

You should start by recording all the January
transactions.  Then transfer January data into
February and record all the February transactions.
Then February into March and record March
transactions.  Get the picture.  See Section 4.2
Starting a New Month for information on starting or
transferring monthly data.

If it's late in the year, this might be a long and tedious
task.  So you need to decide if you want to go with this
method or switch to method 2 or 3. Method 1 is the
absolute most accurate method to use because your
data file Y-T-D figures will truly be actual figures,
whereas method 2 and 3 Y-T-D figures may not be.

METHOD 2

Method 2 is probably the best method given the fact
that it doesn't involve entering a million transactions
but it's still fairly accurate as far as bringing your
checking account balance and other accounts up to
date.  For method 2, you need to get your most recent
bank statement from your checking account. You
should enter the "bank balance" shown on this
statement and enter it on the line that says Opening
Balance.

Then enter the date that this balance was correct.
This will be the Starting Date for your PCBUDGET
data file.  Lets suppose that the Starting Date is June
15, 1992.

At this point, you can either begin adding more
accounts or you can begin making transactions to bring
your Checking Account up to date.

If you're going to create other accounts at this time,
you should try to enter the Y-T-D balance for the new
accounts to be whatever the balance was on the
Starting Date (the date entered above).  If the
balances for the new accounts are unknown, like most
expense account balances are, then just enter $0.  You
should refer to Section 5.1 Creating Account if you are
going to create more accounts.

To bring your checking account up to date, enter all
the transactions that occurred in June but after the
Starting Date.  Also, don't forget about the
transactions that were made prior to the Starting Date
that were not included on your bank statement.

When you're done entering the June transactions, you
may be ready to begin July transactions.  If the actual
month is still June don't worry.  You can begin July
when July actually comes.  However if the actual
month is July, you will need to transfer your June
balances into July and make all the July transactions
to date.  See Section 4.2 Starting a New Month when
you're ready to start a new month.

METHOD 3

Method 3 is by far the easiest method to use.  All you
really need to know is your Checking Account balance
at the present.  Simply enter your current Checking
Account balance and todays date.  Now you're ready
to go.  You won't need to enter transactions until you
use your Checking Account.  You may wish to begin
adding other accounts at this time or you can simply
add them as you need them.  See Section 5.1 Creating
Accounts for more information on creating accounts.

4.2    Starting a New Month

Balances are transferred to a new month when the
date entered at the beginning of your PCBUDGET
session is a month later than the Last use date.  Or,
you can transfer balances by pulling down the File
menu and selecting Transfer Month/Year.  When you
transfer your data file to the next month all Y-T-D
balances for all accounts are transferred into the new
month.


4.3    Starting a New Year

A New Year is started when the date entered at the
beginning of your PCBUDGET session is a year later
than the Last use date.  Or you can start a New Year
by pulling down the File menu and selection Transfer
Month/Year.  When you start a New Year, Bank
Accounts, Assets, Credit Cards, and Liability Y-T-D
balances from December will be transferred into the
January Y-T-D balances.  Income and Expense
account Y-T-D values will be reset to $0.

Starting a New Year requires you to start a new data
file with a new data file path name.  This way, if you
need to refer to a previous year, you will have a unique
data file which differentiates one year from another.



Enter the target disk (or file) path.  This is where your
data is going to be transferred to for the New Year.
Also, enter the New Year.  Press the F9 key to transfer
your data file.  After the transfer is complete,
PCBUDGET will automatically change your data file
to the New Year data file, and it will set the system
date to January 1 of the New Year.



4.4    Selecting the Viewing Month

The Viewing month is displayed in the bottom right
hand corner of the screen. The Viewing month defaults
to the month entered when you enter the date at the
beginning of your session.  The Viewing month
determines what month a transaction should be
applied to.  Also, when viewing your Personal Net
Worth, Income and Expenses, and other periodic
reports, you will be viewing the monthly data of the
Viewing month and the Y-T-D data up to and
including the Viewing month.  To change the Viewing
month, pull down the File menu and select Open
Month.  Select the month you wish to view. When you
are viewing a month that is different from the actual
month, the Viewing month indicator will blink.

You can make transactions in an earlier month by
changing the Viewing month to the earlier month.  The
balances of the accounts affected by the transaction
will be transferred through to the actual month
automatically.

4.5    Backing up your Data File

At the end of each PCBUDGET session, it is best to
backup your Data File in case of damage to your
primary data disk.  Pull down the File menu and select
Backup Data File.



Enter the target disk (or file) path. This is where your
data is going to be copied to.

4.6    Selecting other Data Files

To select a different data file, pull down the File menu
and select Select Data File.  Selecting a different data
file will change the data file drive/path specifier
located at the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

The Select Data File function allows you to have more
than one data file at a time.


5.0    Accounts

5.1    Creating Accounts

After your data file has been created three accounts
will have already been created for you.

    They are:    Checking Account    CH
            Misc Expense        ME
            Misc Income        MI

To view the accounts you already have pull down the
Reports menu and select Account Balances.




This is a very useful screen to go to.  From this screen
you can view all the accounts that you have created.
You can view the account code, type, Y-T-D balance,
and monthly balance.

To begin adding more accounts to this list pull down
the File menu and select New Account.



Each account you create must have a unique two digit
account code attached to it.  For most activities
involving accounts, if you enter the account code first,
the name, description, or memo will be automatically
inserted for you.

Generally the account code is somewhat
representative of the account name. For example the
account GROCERIES might have an account code of
GR. You have complete control over the account
codes though.  You can change the account code for a
particular account even after you've created it.

Some codes are reserved by PCBUDGET.  They are
G0, G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, L7,
and L8.  These codes are used for Group Entries (G0-
G5) and Loans (L1-L8).

Account Types

The following are all the different accounts and
account types that you can create with PCBUDGET.

Income Accounts

Income accounts are those accounts that provide for
the SOURCE of all cash inflows.  Such as: Salary,
Dividends, Interest received from Bank Accounts etc. .
.

Generally, you'll mostly be concerned here with the
income you receive from your full time job, your
spouses full time job, or both.  If you work and earn a
salary (or if you don't work but still earn a salary!),
you'll want to keep track of how much money you've
made throughout the year.  Therefore, you should
create an income account to track your income.

The Y-T-D balance you enter should be what
you have made up to the present time or up the
time shown at the bottom middle of the screen.

The monthly budget for an income account is the
amount that you expect to earn each month.

    Expense Accounts

Expense accounts are those accounts that reduce your
net worth when a payment is PAID TO the account.
Examples of these accounts are: Groceries,
Telephone, Electric, Finance Charges, Cable TV,
Rent, Gifts . . .

Unfortunately everyone has expenses.  I say
unfortunately because expenses are more or less a fact
of life that must be dealt with.  Expenses don't do
anything except drain your checking account.  The best
way to keep a handle on expenses is to create as many
expense accounts as necessary.  Apply a realistic
budget to each account and stick to your budget.  An
easy way out is to lump all expenses into the Misc.
Expense category.  While this may simplify your
budget, you'll have a hard time figuring out where all
your money goes.  Of course you can't possibly create
an account for every expense conceivable.
PCBUDGET allows up to 50 expense accounts. This
should give you plenty of room to build a sensible list
of expenses that you may need.  To give you an
example, here's a list that may help:

        Misc Expense
        Entertainment
        Finance Charges (non tax deductible)
        Finance Charges (tax deductible)        *
        Groceries
        Home Improvements
        Child Care                    *
        Rent
        Clothes
        Federal Taxes                *
        State Taxes                    *
        F.I.C.A.                    *
        Home Owners Insurance
        Auto Insurance
        Life Insurance
        Auto Expenses
        Hobbies
        Computer Hardware/Software
        Medical/Dental                *
        Goodwill                    *
        Household Appliances
        Electric Utilities
        Telephone

This list should get you started anyway.  Not all the
items may apply to you and there may be (and
probably are) items that you'd like to add to the list.

The items marked with the star * should be created if
you're going to be using the income tax estimator.

The budget amount for an expense account should be
the amount you expect to spend each month for the
given account.

    Credit Card Accounts

Credit Card Accounts identify the credit cards that you
own. Credit cards can be handled one of two ways
depending on the type of credit card or by the way you
make the payment.

If the credit card is one that requires you to pay the
full balance each month, you may not need to create a
credit card account.  For this type of credit card you
only need to create the accounts that might be used
when making purchases with the credit card.  Then
when the credit card bill is paid, select your checking
account and make the payment Paid To the type of
account that was used when the credit card purchase
was made.  If the credit card was used to purchase a
number of items and each item is from a different type
of account, you can use the account code 'G0' when
making the transaction.  The code 'G0' (Group Entry)
allows you to break the transaction down into multiple
transactions.  For example suppose within a one
months' time frame you used your credit card to
purchase clothes (expense account code 'CL') for $60
and also to purchase dinner at a restaurant (expense
account code 'FO') for $40.  When your credit card bill
is paid, you could simply select your checking account,
enter $100 in the Amount field and the account code
'G0' in the Paid To field.  Then, you could break the
transaction down into $60 for code 'CL' and $40 for
code 'FO'.

For credit cards whose balance is not paid in full each
month, the credit card account should be created.
When a credit card account exists, transaction should
be entered into PCBUDGET whenever the credit card
is used.  For example if you used your credit card to
purchase clothes (expense account code 'CL') for $60,
select your credit card account from the transaction
menu and enter $60 in the Amount field and the
account code 'CL' in the PAID TO field and record
the transaction.  When your credit card bill is to be
paid, select your checking account from the
transactions menu, enter the amount of the credit card
payment in the Amount field, and enter the credit card
account code in the Paid To field.

The budget for a credit card account should be the net
change that you expect each month for the card.  For
example, if the Y-T-D balance on a credit card is $500
and you hope that each month the total balance
decrease by $50, you should enter -50 in the budget
field.  You can meet this budget is you spend less than
$50 a month using the card and make a $100 payment
toward the card.

Liability Accounts

Liability Accounts are those accounts that identify
money that you owe to other people (other than credit
cards). Examples of liability accounts are: mortgage,
car loan, student loan, or basically any type of loan.

Like expense accounts, liability accounts are nothing
to write home about.  There's good news and bad news
about a liability account.  First the bad news.  You
owe, you owe, you owe! You borrowed money from
somebody and now you have to pay them back.  You
net worth is reduced by the amount you borrowed and
you have to pay an interest expense charge each
month you keep the loan.  Now for the good news.
Every time you make a payment toward the loan your
debt decreases and the monthly finance charges go
down.

After you create your liability account(s), you can
create a Loan.  When you create a loan you can
automatically determine how much of your payment
reduces the liability account and how much is made up
of interest expense.  See section 5.3 Setting up loans
for more information on loans.

Bank Accounts

Bank Accounts are those accounts such as your savings
account, checking account, IRA, company savings
plan, pension plan . . .

Bank accounts are really just assets (discussed next).
For PCBUDGETs use, you should consider an asset
account a bank account if you normally increase and
decrease its balance.  Like a checking account or
savings account.  An IRA can be a bank account, your
company savings plan or pension plan can also be
considered bank accounts.

The budget for a bank account should be what you
expect the account to net for the given month.
Generally a checking account will have a budget of $0.
This is because on average this type of account doesn't
increase or decrease (although month to month it may
go up or down, over a whole year the net change will
probably be $0).  A saving account, however, should
include a positive monthly budget.  This would be
saying that you expect the balance in your savings
account to increase each month.

Asset Accounts

Asset Accounts are those accounts that identify
personal property or the value of an item that could be
converted into cash if sold.  Asset accounts are: Value
of your home, automobile, other personal property,
stocks, bonds, mutual funds.

Asset accounts can be a way to offset liability accounts.
For example if you had to create a liability account for
the loan on your new car, it may have been distressing
to know that your net worth had been reduced by the
amount of the loan.  If this is the case then you should
also create an asset account that represents the value
of your automobile.

Budget amounts for individual months can be entered
by pulling down the Budgets menu and selecting Cost
Budgets.

As accounts are created, they will automatically
display on the Account Balances report.

When creating accounts, you can specify additional
information about the account.  For example, suppose
you're creating an expense account that identifies your
telephone.  Let's say that the payment is actually made
to the City Telephone Co.  If you press the F1 key
while creating this account, you can specify additional
information about this account such as the address of
where the bill is sent to or the account number.  This
additional information automatically becomes part of
your mailing list.





If you use PCBUDGET to print checks, this
information will be automatically inserted into the
check's memo field when the account is used.

5.2    Modifying Accounts
To modify an account, pull down the Reports menu
and select Account Balances.  Press the F1 key, and
then move the highlight bar to the account you wish to
edit.  If you wish to delete the account, press the F5
key. Otherwise, press the F1 key again.  When the
account appears in the Data Entry Window, change
the desired items and then press the F9 key to record
the changes.

If you are changing the Y-T-D balance for the account
selected you should keep in mind the month that you
are viewing.  Generally speaking, you'd always want to
be viewing the actual month when making Y-T-D
balance adjustments.  Adjusting the Y-T-D balance
while viewing a previous month doesn't affect the real
Y-T-D balance for the selected account.  I say the real
Y-T-D balance because when you are viewing a
previous month, the Y-T-D balance displayed is the Y-
T-D balance of that account on the last day of that
month



 A good rule of thumb is to always be viewing
the current month when modifying account
names and account balances.

5.3    Setting up Loans

To setup a loan you must first create at least two
accounts.  The first account is the principle loan
account that identifies the debt you owe to your
lender. This account should be a liability account since
it is money that you owe. The second account must be
an expense account that identifies the interest expense
incurred whenever you make a loan payment.  If you
have many different types of loans, you can use the
same interest expense account for each loan.  You
should keep in mind however that some interest is tax
deductible and some isn't.  If the loan is a mortgage or
home equity loan, the interest is probably tax
deductible and should be categorized differently from
other interest expense.  It's probably best to create two
different interest expense accounts.  One that is tax
deductible, and one that is not.

After the principle loan account (liability) and interest
expense account (expense) have been created, pull
down the File menu and select Setup Loan.

Enter the following information to setup a loan:



Name:  Enter the Name of the loan.

Principle Loan Account:  The Principle Loan Account
is the liability account that identifies the debt that you
owe to your lender.  You must create the liability
account before creating the loan.  To create a liability
account, pull down the File menu and select NEW
ACCOUNT.

Interest Expense Account:  The Interest Expense
Account is the Expense account that will track the
finance charges that you pay to your lender. You must
create the expense account before creating the loan.

Other Account #1, #2, #3:  If other accounts are
affected by your loan payment such as, property taxes,
insurance, or any other escrow type account, Enter
them here.  These accounts must be created before
creating the loan.

Payments made to date:  Enter the number of
payments you have made so far For example, if you
have already made 10 payments toward this loan, then
enter 10.

Payment Amount:  Enter the amount of your payment.
This amount should not include amounts that are
applied to escrow accounts such as property taxes,
insurance, or other.  The amount should only include
the principle and interest portion of the loan payment.

Number of annual payments:  Enter the number of
payments that are made each year towards this loan.
For a normal loan, this is 12.  Some loans (some
mortgages) are paid twice a month, or every two week.
For a loan like this, enter 26.

Length of loan (years): Enter the number of years you
have to pay the loan.

Annual interest rate: Enter the annual interest rate for
this loan in percent (9.5, 10.5 . . .)

After your loan has been setup, you can use the
account code Lx (x=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) when making
transactions.  The transaction will appear as at least
two different transactions.  The first one will involve
the principle interest account and the second one will
involve the interest expense account. If other accounts
(#1, #2, #3) where also affected by the loan payment,
they will also show up as separate transactions.

To delete a loan, you can press the F5 key while
viewing the loan information. This allows you to
specify a new loan for the given loan number.


6.0    Transactions

6.1    Making Transactions

The Transactions menu is probably the most
important menu selection of PCBUDGET.  With
Transaction data entry, you begin to tell PCBUDGET:

How much money you're spending.

Where you're spending it.

How much you have left.

Of course, since entering transactions is the activity
that you will be using the most, entering the data
accurately, efficiently, and quickly is of most
importance.

An example of a transaction might be:

*    Writing a check from your checking account to pay
your phone bill.

*    Using your MasterCard to purchase clothes.

*    Depositing a dividend check into your savings
account.

*    Making a payment to a loan.

*    Getting paid by your employer.

To make transactions, pull down the Transactions
menu.

The Transactions menu will display all available Bank Accounts,
Credit Cards, and Income accounts.  All transactions will originate
from at least one of these accounts.



The Transaction Data Entry Window allows you to
enter the following data:

Amount:
Enter the amount of the transaction.  You can enter
any amount that is greater than 0 and less than
$99,999,999.99.

Memo:
Enter a description of the transaction in the Memo
field.  When printing checks, the memo field will be
inserted into the Paid to the order of: line on the
check.

Paid to:
In the Paid to field, enter the two digit code for the
account that is being charged for the transaction.  To
reverse charges for the transaction, press the F1 key.
When you press the F1 key, the Source account will
change to the Paid to account and the Paid to account
will change to the Source account.  Most transactions
will have the Source account be a bank account or
credit card, and the Paid to account be an Expense.

The following are examples of different types of
transactions and the proper Source and Paid to
designation;

*    Using your Checking account to pay the City
Utilities bill:

Source: Checking Account (Bank Account
decreases)
Paid to: City Utilities (Expense increases)

*    Using your Checking account to pay your
Mastercard bill:

Source: Checking Account (Bank Account
decreases)
Paid to: Mastercard (Credit Card decreases)

*    Using your Mastercard to buy a new computer
monitor:

Source: Mastercard (Credit Card increases)
Paid to: Computer Equipment (Expense
increases)

*    Transferring money from your Savings account to
your Checking Account:

Source: Savings Account (Bank Account
decreases)
Paid to: Checking Account (Bank Account
increases)

*    Receiving your paycheck and distributing it to
other accounts:

Source: Paycheck (Income increases)
Paid to: Paycheck Deposit (Group Entry)

(see section 6.3 for more information on how to handle your
paycheck)

PCBUDGET does not allow you to enter an Income
account in the Paid to field.  Logically, a transaction
that involves an Income will always have the Income
account being the Source of cash, and the other
account(s) will be the Paid to account.  PCBUDGET
recognizes this. Therefore, if you make a transaction
with the Paid to account as the Income,  PCBUDGET
will automatically switch the Paid to and Source
designation after you press the F9 (RECORD) key.

Check #:
    Enter the check number if you are using your checking
account.  The check number will automatically
increment if you are using the account identified by
the Main Checking Account Code.  To select the Main
Checking Account Code, pull down the Options menu
and select Preferences.  This account code defaults to
CH.

Date:
    The day of the month defaults to the current day. The
day of the month can be changed within the
transactions Data Entry Window, and the month can
be changed by opening a different viewing month (see
section 4.2 on how to change viewing months).

Tax:
    If the transaction is tax related, place a T in the tax
field.  The tax field will be automatically filled in if the
account code entered has been defined as a Tax code
(see section 8.4).

Cleared:
If the transaction has already cleared your bank or
financial institution, type a C in the Cleared field.
Usually this type of transaction is a result of an
unexpected service charge on your bank statement, or
a check or transaction that the bank reported but you
did not record.  Most transactions that you record will
not yet be cleared by your bank.  When you get your
bank statement and you wish to go back and clear
these transactions, pull down the TRANSACTION
menu and select Reconcile Account.  You will then be
able to easily clear all transactions and verify account
balances.

After all information has been entered, press the F9
key to record the transaction.  The transaction will
appear in the transaction list in the order of the date
of the month.

Sometimes, there may be more than one way to make
a transaction.  For example, suppose you were
transferring money from your checking account to
your savings account.  You could:

1.    Select your Checking Account from the
Transactions menu and enter your Savings Account
two digit code in the Paid to field.

2.    Select your Savings Account from the Transaction
menu, then press the F1 key to reverse the Source
and Paid to accounts, then enter your Checking
Account two digit code in the Source field.

Both of these transactions would have the same effect
on both accounts and would look the same in the
Transaction list.


6.2    Manual Grouped Transactions (Splits)

Since PCBUDGET uses a double entry accounting
system, all transactions will affect at least two
accounts.  For example, when you write a check from
your checking account to pay your telephone bill the
two accounts affected are your checking account (it
decreases) and the Expense account setup for
telephone (it increases).  There are some types of
transactions, such as your paycheck, which will affect
more than two accounts.  For transactions like these,
there needs to by a way of grouping the accounts
affected together, or splitting the transaction up into
multiple categories.

There are two methods of entering grouped
transaction.

One method uses the account code G0.  When the
code G0 is entered in the Paid to field of the
Transaction Data Entry Window, PCBUDGET allows
you to separate the amount of the transaction into as
many transactions as desired (max=15).  The accounts
affected and the corresponding amounts for each
account are entered as the group transaction is being
made.  All transactions will be recorded as soon as the
sum of all the grouped transactions add up to the
original amount specified.

Lets say for example that you have an American
Express card.  The balance of this card must be paid
off every month.  Therefore you don't necessarily have
to create a credit card account identifying Amex.  You
should, however, create the accounts that would be
affected by using your Amex card.  For example, let's
say you used your Amex card for going out for dinner.
You should  create an expense account identifying this
activity.  There are probably numerous other expense
accounts that you would use with your Amex card.
These accounts should be created too.  When it's time
to pay your Amex bill, and the charges made for that
month affect more than one account, use Group Entry
code G0.

To setup a group entry:

1.    Select your checking account (source of funds)
from the transactions menu.

2.    Enter the total amount of the transaction in the
transaction Data Entry Window.

3.    Enter the code G0 into the Paid to field.

When you record the transaction a new data entry
screen will open.  This screen allows the transaction to
be split up into as many as 15 categories.




6.3    Programmed Grouped Transactions

Programmed grouped transactions are similar to
manual splits (discussed in section 6.2) except the
account categories affected are predetermined.  Also,
when you use programmed groups, the dollar amounts
are remembered by PCBUDGET so that the next time
you use the group you may not have to enter any data
at all.

The best use of programmed groups are for recording
your paycheck.  The most accurate method of
recording your paycheck is to identify and create all
accounts that are affected when you receive your
check.

For example, suppose your paycheck is as follows:

             GROSS PAY : 1000.00      (Income)
         FEDERAL TAXES : 280.00       (Expense)
               F.I.C.A : 75.00        (Expense)
           STATE TAXES : 45.00        (Expense)
  COMPANY SAVINGS PLAN : 80.00        (Bank Account)
               PENSION : 10.00        (Bank Account)
COMPANY LIFE INSURANCE : 4.00         (Expense)

               NET PAY : 506.00

The first thing you should do is create an Income
account.  You can call it 'Salary' or 'Wages' or
anything like that.  Next, you should create an account
for each of the items that are deducted from your
'Salary' or 'Wages'.  Therefore, if the above example is
similar to your paycheck, you should create the
Expense account FEDERAL TAXES, FICA, STATE
TAXES, and COMPANY LIFE INSURANCE.  You
should also create the Bank Accounts COMPANY
SAVINGS PLAN, and PENSION.  Company Savings
Plan and Pension can be  considered Bank Accounts
or Asset Accounts.  The bottom line here is that these
accounts have a value that increase each time you get
paid.

After all accounts have been created, you should
create your group.

To setup a programmed group:

1.    Pull down the File menu and select Setup Group.

2.    Enter the group number to modify or add (you
are allowed up to 5 programmed groups)

3.    Enter the categories affected by the group.






You should keep in mind that the account(s) that
receive your NET PAY must also be accounted for.
For example, if your NET PAY is usually deposited
into your Checking Account, then your Checking
Account should also be one of the accounts in the
Group.  If sometimes you deposit some of the NET
PAY into your Checking Account and some of it into
your Savings Account or other bank account, then you
should include both accounts as part of the Group.

There probably are times when you receive cash back
from your check.  For example, you get paid and go to
the bank and deposit some of it in checking, maybe
some in savings, and perhaps $50 or so you get back
and put in your pocket.  You'll have to account for that
$50.  Ask yourself what you're going to do with it.
Does it just get spent on miscellaneous things that
arise?  If so, you might just charge it to ME (Misc.
Expense).  Are you getting cash because you're going
out of town for a long weekend or holiday?  In this
case you may want to charge it to EN (Entertainment).
In any event, you may want to include in the Group
the account codes for these types if cash withdrawals.

To record your paycheck, select your Income account
from the Transactions menu (that's the one called
'Salary' or 'Wages' that you've created). Enter the
GROSS amount of your check in the Amount field.
Next, enter the code 'G1' (Group Entry 1) in the Paid
To field and press F9.



When you press the F9 key to record the transaction
you will get another Data Entry Window that looks
like:



Enter each amount next to its corresponding account
name.  Press the F9 key and all transactions will be
recorded.

PCBUDGET will remember the values entered
whenever you use a Programmed Group Entry.
Therefore, if your paycheck never changes (or seldom
changes) you should only have to enter the numbers
once.  The next time you use the Group the values will
default to those used previously.

6.4    Modifying Transactions

To edit a transaction, pull down the Reports menu and
select Transaction List, or if you are currently making
transactions, press the ESC key to erase the
Transaction Data Entry Window.  Press the F1 key
and then move the highlight bar to the transaction you
wish to edit.  If you wish to delete the transaction,
press the F5 key.  Otherwise, press the F1 key again.
When the transaction appears in the Data Entry
Window, change the desired items and then press the
F9 key to record the changes.

You can modify or delete a transaction in the viewing
month or in a previous month.  When you modify or
delete a transaction in a previous month all account
balances for both accounts affected will be updated
and transferred forward to the current month.

6.5    Automatic Transaction Entry

Transactions can be entered into the Transaction Data
Entry Window automatically by using the F5 or F6
key.  Before these keys can be used, however, the
Payment Reminder or Recurring Transaction (PRRT)
list must have entries in it.  You can add items to the
PRRT list one of two ways.

The first and easiest way to add items to the PRRT list
is to insert them as you are making transactions.
When you're making a transaction, just prior to
pressing the F9 key to record the transaction, press the
F4 key.  This will memorize the transaction by adding
it the PRRT list.  An item added this way will show up
as being due again the following month on the same
day with 7 days notice before a reminder is posted.

The other way to add items to the PRRT list is to
manually enter them in the PAYMENT
REMINDERS screen.  See section 9.1 PAYMENT
REMINDERS for more information on entering
through the PAYMENT REMINDER screen.

After items have been placed in the PRRT list,
pressing the F5 key will recall them automatically into
the Transaction Data Entry Window.  After the
transaction has been recorded, the item in the PRRT
list will be marked as Paid for that month.  Pressing
the F6 key will recall only those PRRT items that have
not been marked as Paid.  Therefore, if all of your
monthly bills are placed in the PRRT list, you need
only press the F6 key and enter the correct amount.
After all PRRT items have been marked as Paid,
PCBUDGET will beep whenever the F6 key is
pressed.

6.6    Reconciling Accounts

Reconciling an account will verify that the bank
balance (shown on your bank statement) and the
PCBUDGET balances agree.  RECONCILE
ACCOUNT will gather all uncleared transactions for
the given year and add the amount to the current
balance in that account (deposits are subtracted).  The
resulting total should be equal to the balance shown
on your bank statement.  An uncleared transaction is a
transaction which does not have a C placed next to it
in the left most column of the transaction list.

For example, suppose your current checking account
balance (according to PCBUDGET) is $100.
PCBUDGET will start with $100 and begin to add all
the uncleared transactions that have reduced your
checking account balance (Withdrawals).  The reason
the transactions are added to the current balance is
because your bank does not know they have occurred
yet.  Therefore your bank will think that your balance
is much higher than it really is.  Likewise,
PCBUDGET will total all uncleared transactions that
have increased the balance in your checking account
(deposits).  The total of these transactions will be
subtracted from your current checking account
balance.  In this case, your bank does not know yet
that the deposit has taken place and therefore they
think you have less than what you really have.  This
results in:

Bank Balance =
Current Balance + Uncleared Withdrawals - Uncleared deposits





To reconcile an account, pull down the Transactions
menu and select Reconcile Account.  Then select the
account you wish to reconcile.  The reconcile screen
will appear similar to the one shown above.

If no transactions exist for the selected account or all
transactions have already been cleared (i.e., a C has
been placed in all transactions for the given account),
you will receive a message stating that all transactions
have been cleared and that a reconcile is not required.

The reconcile screen is slightly different from the
normal transaction list that you may be used to seeing.
The reconcile screen only displays the uncleared
transactions that used the account selected.  The
reconcile screen displays all withdrawals from your
checking account in the Debit column and all deposits
into your checking account in the Credit column.  This
format should more closely resemble your bank
statement.

To begin clearing transactions, simply use the arrow
keys to move to the transaction that matches your
bank statement and press the [Enter] key. If the
transaction has an error in it, you can press the F1 key
to modify the transaction.  You can modify the check
number, memo, and the amount. Press the F9 key to
record the modifications.

You will notice that as transactions are cleared, the
bank balance shown at the bottom left corner of the
screen changes.  Clearing a Withdrawal will subtract
that amount, clearing a deposit adds that amount.
After all transactions have been cleared, the bank
balance shown at the bottom right of the screen should
agree with the bank balance shown on your statement.

If difference exists, you can look for:

Service charges that haven't been entered
into PCBUDGET.

Errors in numeric entry.  If the error is off
by 9 cents or 9 dollars you probably have
two numbers transposed.  For example
you may have 10.54 entered when the
actual value was 10.45.  Or, you may have
34.20 when the correct value is 43.20.

If errors still exist, you may have entered an incorrect
balance for the account when you first started
PCBUDGET.  If the is the first time you have
reconciled the account this is probably the problem.
Determine how much you are off by and then pull
down the Reports menu and select Account Balances.
Press F1 to modify the account.  Adjust the Y-T-D
balance up or down depending on how much the
account is off by.  After you have adjusted the account
go back and reconcile the account again.  This time
the bank balance should agree.  If the balance is off by
twice as much as it was before, you adjusted the
account in the wrong direction.  Go back to Account
Balances and adjust the account the other way.

When reconciling credit cards the same procedure is
followed.  The method of computing the credit card
balance is reversed, however.  For a credit card, the
current balance (PCBUDGET balance) is used as a
starting point.  Then all uncleared transactions that
use the card to make purchases are subtracted from
the current balance.  All uncleared transactions that
apply payments toward the credit card are added to
the current balance.  The result should be equal to the
balance as seen by your credit card company.

Don't be alarmed if a transaction doesn't appear in the
reconcile list that appears in your bank statement.
You may have already cleared the transaction.  For
example, suppose you withdraw $100 from your
checking account and place it in your savings account.
If you reconcile your savings account first, you will
probably clear the deposit of $100 into your savings
account.  Then if you go to clear your checking
account, the checking account bank statement will
show a withdrawal of $100 but the reconcile list will
not display that transaction.  This is because it has
already been cleared when you cleared your savings
account.

When you start a new year all uncleared transactions
get recorded to your data file.  Therefore, when you
reconcile an account early in a year you can view and
clear the transactions from the previous year.  After
the transaction has been cleared you will no longer be
able to view the transaction.


7.0    Budgets

PCBUDGET provides multiple methods of reporting
and viewing the budgets of the accounts on your data
file. Cost Budgets can be prepared for every account
on your data file.  The Profit Budget reports your
actual vs. projected income and expenses.  The Cash
Budget allows you to view how much cash will be
required to meet expenses, payments to debt, and
transfers to bank accounts.  The Budgeted Cash Flow
reports how well you met your cash flow needs and
requirements.

The budgets that report actual vs. projected amounts
also will report the variance.  Variance is the deviation
of the actual result from the projected or budgeted
result.  All variances are favorable F or unfavorable U.
You will notice while viewing your budgets the F and
U placed in the right most column of the budgeted
report. A favorable F result indicates that you were on
or better than the budgeted amount for that account
or accounts. An unfavorable U result, however,
indicates that you failed to meet the budgeted amount.




7.1    Cost Budgets

Cost Budgets, by definition are the monthly budgeted
amounts for all expenses.  As well as expenses,
PCBUDGET allows the monthly budgeted amounts to
be made for all types of accounts. These budgets allow
you to view the actual vs. budgeted amounts for any
account over the entire year. When the Cost Budget is
viewed for the first time, the budget amounts are equal
to the budgeted amounts specified when the account
was created.  Pull down the Budgets menu and select
Cost Budgets.  A listing of all created accounts will
display in a window.  Select the account that you wish
to budget.



In this example, we have chosen to budget the City
Utilities Account.  When we created the account, we
specified a monthly budget of $175.00.  Therefore, all
months display the $175 budget.  From here, we can
modify the budgets of the individual months by
pressing the F1 key.  With the arrow keys, move to the
month you wish to change and enter the new value.
Press the F9 key to record the budget amounts.

The actual amount is the amount of activity for that
account during the month.  This is important to
remember when you are budgeting things like Credit
Cards and Bank Accounts.

For example, suppose you wanted to save $150 dollars
every month in your savings account.  To do this, the
NET increase in your savings account should be $150,
therefore the budget should be a plus $150.  At the
same time, suppose you have a large balance on your
credit card, and you would like to see the balance
decrease by $100 each month.  To do this, the NET
decrease should be $100, and the budgeted amount
would be a minus $100 (or -$100). If you enter a plus
$100 for your credit card budget, that would mean that
you expect the credit card balance to increase.  For
most people, this is undesirable.  The only advantage
of this is it would free up more cash for you to use on
expenses, or to pay off other credit cards or debt.
Remember that Assets and Bank Accounts are treated
alike, and Credit Cards and Liabilities are treated
alike.


7.2    Profit Budget

The Profit Budget (also called Budgeted Income and
Expenses) displays the actual vs. budgeted profit for
your household for the given month.  This net profit
(or loss), is the amount of change in your Net Worth.
Therefore, if all your Cost Budgets for your Expenses
and Incomes have been entered and are correct, and
the Profit Budget displays a positive Net Income, your
Net Worth should increase by that amount.  You may
ask yourself, where does the rest of the money go?
Well, you should notice that the Profit Budget does
not include your payments to your credit cards,
principle toward your mortgage payment, or the
amount of money you wish to put into savings each
week.  All of these items (increases in assets and
decreases in liabilities) are those which will increase
your Net Worth, and this should be the goal of every
household. If your Profit Budget shows a negative Net
Income, verify that you have estimated your monthly
income properly.  Also, check that each Budgeted
Expense has been estimated properly.  When your
actual expenses are less then your budgeted expenses,
PCBUDGET will place an F for Favorable next to
that expense.  On the other hand, if your actual
expense is greater than the budgeted, then
PCBUDGET will place a U for Unfavorable next to
the account.  Your income will also display Favorable
and Unfavorable results.



7.3    Cash Budget

The Cash Budget is a detailed plan of future cash
flows.  It has two primary elements, cash inflows and
cash outflows.  Cash inflows are provided from
income.  Cash outflows are made up of expenses,
payments made to decrease debt, and payments made
to increase Bank accounts and other Assets.

The Beginning Cash Balance used by the Cash Budget
is the balance of the account identified by the Main
Checking Account Code.  PCBUDGET assumes that
payments to the Sources of Cash Outflows originate
from this account.  To change this account code, pull
down the Options menu and select Preferences.

7.4    Budgeted Cash Flows

The Budgeted Cash Flow is similar to the Cash
Budget, except that it reports the actual vs. projected
cash flow for the current viewing month.


8.0    Reports

To select reports, pull down the Reports menu and
select the report you wish to view.

8.1    Personal Net Worth

PCBUDGET will calculate your net worth
automatically every time you select Personal Net
Worth.  Your Personal net worth reports all of your
Bank Accounts, Assets, Liabilities, and Credit Cards.
Your net worth is defined as your total assets and bank
accounts minus your total liabilities and credit cards.

8.2    Income and Expense

The Income and Expense report reports all of your
monthly and year-to-date income and expenses.

8.3    Account Balances

To view your account balances, pull down the Reports
menu and select Account Balances.  This selection
displays all accounts currently in your data file.  It
displays the name of the account, the type of account,
the account code, the balance for the viewing month,
and the year-to-date balance.  To edit an account
name, balance, code, or to delete an account, press the
F1 key.


8.4    Federal Income Tax Estimator

This selection allows you to estimate your personal
Federal Income Taxes.  Before using the tax estimator,
you should setup the tax information about your filing
status and number of exemption.  Pull down the
Options menu and select Tax Id Codes.



Your filing status basically depends on whether you're
single or married.

1.    Single.  You can enter a '1' if you're single,  never
been married, legally separated or divorced, or
widowed.

2.    Married Filing Jointly.  If you're married you can
file a joint return.  This is probable the best thing
to do to pay the least amount of tax.

3.    Married Filing Separately.  You'll generally pay
more taxes if you file separately but it may be
good to figure it both ways to see which way
benefits you the most.  When your married and
you file separately, each of you fill out a separate
tax form and pay taxes on each individual income
level.  When you file separately you should keep
in mind you report only your own income,
exemptions, deductions, and credits.

4.    Head of Household.  This filing status is for
unmarried individuals who provide a home for
certain other persons.

5.    Qualifying Widower.  If your spouse died within
the past 2 years you may be able to file as
Qualifying Widower.

There are three different tax id Data Entry Windows:

1.    Income
2.    Adjustment to Income
3.    Itemized Deductions




The Income tax id codes identify the taxable income
account categories that you have.  For example, if
you've created an income account called 'Salary' or
'Wages' then you should enter the account code for
this account on the line that says Gross Income from
your W2.  You should enter the account codes for all
the income accounts which you have created that
correspond to the Income id code.



The Adjustments to Income id codes should also
include all accounts which you've created that
correspond to the categories shown.  Adjustments to
Income might be deposits into an IRA or Keough
(Bank Account) or payments made toward health
insurance or alimony (Expense).



Your itemized deductions are mostly expense
accounts.  For example, if you have a mortgage, the
interest portion of your payment is an expense paid to
taxable interest.  You should enter the account code
for taxable interest on the line that says Deductible
home mortgage interest.  Enter all the other accounts
codes for accounts that correspond to the Itemized
Deductions list.

Remember, if you forget an account code, your can
press the F3 key to view and select from all accounts.

To effectively use the Income Tax Estimator, you
should remember to:

*    When making transactions, always record your
gross income rather than your net income.  See
the section on Programmed group entries for
more information on handling your paycheck.

*    Be sure to identify an expense account for federal
income taxes paid throughout the year.  Enter
this account code on the line that says Federal
Income Taxes:.  This account should be affected
when you record your paycheck since that's
usually when you pay federal income taxes.

*    If you have a mortgage, setup a loan and make
sure you identify the taxable interest for each
payment.

To estimate your Personal Federal Income Tax, pull
down the Reports menu and select Tax Estimator.
Enter the amount(s) of income, adjustments to
income, and itemized deductions on each line as they
apply.  If you have identified an account code for a
taxable item, the amount of each item will be the total
amount PCBUDGET has recorded to date.  If you are
estimating your taxes to the year end, PCBUDGET
will take the year-to-date figure, and based on that, it
will estimate the year end amount.  For example,
suppose it is the end of August (243 days into the
year), and you have identified an income account code
in the TAX ID CODES and its year to date amount is
$23,000.  PCBUDGET will compute the estimated
year end income to be $34,546 (23000 / 243 * 365).

If you do not have your TAX ID CODES identified,
the Tax Estimator can still be used.  All data, however,
will have to be entered manually.

Tax laws are always changing.  PCBUDGET Version
2.6 was written around the 1992 tax laws.  The file on
your program disk named PCBUDGET.TAX contains
the tax tables for the 1992 tax year.  If the tax laws
change for 1992, a new version of PCBUDGET or a
new PCBUDGET.TAX file will be available to
accommodate the new tax laws.


9.0    Advanced Features

9.1    Payment Reminders Recurring Transactions
(PRRT)

To view and/or add items to the PRRT list, pull down
the Reports menu and select Payment Reminders.
Items in the PRRT list are those transactions that are
made on a regular basis or those which you wish to be
alerted of when they become due.  When making
transactions, press the F5 or F6 key to automatically
insert PRRT items into the transaction input window.
This payment will then be marked as Paid.  When
PCBUDGET first runs, it looks at the unpaid bills that
are due at that time.  PCBUDGET will then alarm
you that there are bills that need to be paid in the
Enter date Data Entry Window.



The bottom right-hand corner of the PRRT list
displays the total amount due for the given month.

To modify or delete items from the PRRT list, cancel
the PRRT Data Entry Window by pressing the ESC
key, then press the F1 key and move the highlight bar
to the PRRT item you wish to modify or delete.  To
delete the item, press the F5 key.  Otherwise, to
modify the item press the F1 key again and make the
necessary modifications, then press the F9 key to
record the changes.

You can add items to the PRRT list automatically
when making transactions by pressing the F4 key just
prior to recording the transaction.  Adding an item this
way will set the Date due to the date entered in the
Transaction Data Entry Window and the Days notice
will be set to 7.

If you wish the transaction to automatically occur
when the payment becomes due, enter a Source code
in the Auto Source field.  The Source code is the
account that will provide for the source of funds to
make the payment.  For example, your bank may
automatically withdraw money from your checking
account each month to pay a certain loan or other bill
payment.  In this case, the Auto Source is the account
code for your checking account.  The Code field is the
Paid to account for the transaction.  Therefore, if the
payment is payment toward a loan, the Code field
should contain the loan code (L1-L8) which identifies
that loan.  If the payment is paying an expense
account, then the Code field should contain the
account code for the expense account being charged.

In the example above, a PRRT item has been setup
for the 'City Utilities' bill. In this example, the 'City
Utilities' expense has the account code of CU.  The
payment is due on the 15th of the month with 7 days
notice.  As soon as a date is entered which is within 7
days of the 15th of the month, this payment will
automatically take place.  A transaction will show up
in the Transactions window that shows a withdrawal
from your checking account (account code CH) and
paid to the 'City Utilities' account (account code CU)
for the amount of $89.60.

9.2    Mailing List

To view and/or add items to your mailing list, pull
down the Reports menu and select Mailing List.  If the
first 15 characters of the first line of the mailing list
item is the same as an Account Name on your data
file, this mailing list item will be automatically inserted
when you print a check.  Press the F3 key to view all
accounts that are currently on your data file.  Press the
F1 key to edit or delete a mailing list item.

When a mailing list item is displayed in the Data Entry
Window, you can,

1.    Press the F1 key to print the item on an envelope.

2.    Press the F5 key to print the item on a label.

3.    Press the F9 key to record the new or modified
item.

When printing a mailing list item on an envelope, your
return address can also be printed if you have entered
your name and address.  To enter your name and
address, pull down the Options menu and select Name
and Address.  If you do not want a return address
printed on the envelope, pull down the Options menu
and select Preferences.   The preferences Data Entry
Window allows you to enter a 'Y' to print return
address or a 'N' to not print a return address.

9.3    Search for items

To search the viewing month for any particular
sequence of characters, pull down the Reports menu
and select Search for Items.  PCBUDGET will search
all transactions for the sequence of characters that you
have specified. To search for TAX ITEMS, press the
F5 key.  PCBUDGET will search for all transactions
marked with a T in the tax column.

9.4    Pop-up Calendar

To select the Pop-up Calendar, pull down the Options
menu and select Popup Calendar.  The calendar
defaults the month and year to the current date.
You can pop-up the calendar at any time by holding
down the Ctrl key and pressing the C key.  Press the
ESC key to cancel the calendar.


9.5    Pop-up Calculator

To select the Pop-up Calculator, pull down the
Options menu and select Popup Calculator.  The
calculator allows addition, subtraction, multiplication,
and division operands.  To use the calculator, simply
type out the math expression just as you would on a
piece of paper.  For example, to subtract 15.35 from
39.50, you should enter,



then press the F9 key to compute.

You can pop-up the calculator at any time by holding
down the Ctrl key and then pressing the "P" key.  Press
the ESC key to cancel the calculator.


9.6    QuickSTAT Update Program

QuickSTAT is a utility program to be used in
conjunction with PCBUDGET.

QuickSTAT allows you to get a quick look at your
checkbook balance and the last check you've written.
QSTAT will also alarm you of unpaid bills that are
due.

To use QuickSTAT place the file QSTAT.EXE in
your root directory.

Type: QSTAT d:\path p

where, d:\path is the drive and path of your
PCBUDGET program files.

The parameter p is optional.  If used, QSTAT
will pause and wait until you press enter before
quitting.  Omitting p will cause QSTAT to
automatically exit in 7 seconds.

To view your PCBUDGET status whenever you turn
on your computer you can place QSTAT in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file.


10.0    Analysis Reports

PCBUDGET is great for entering and storing data,
displaying reports, and analyzing performance.  But
you can also use PCBUDGET to analyze situations
involving loans, investment opportunities, retirement
planning, and college tuition.

10.1    Loan Amortization

To generate a loan amortization schedule, pull down
the Reports menu and select Loan Amortization.  You
must enter the amount of the loan, the length of the
loan, the interest rate percentage, and the first
payment you want to be display.

The maximum number of months allowed is 360
months (30 years).  Depending on what type of
computer you have, the speed to determine 360 loan
payments will vary, but may take up to 60 seconds.  If
you are only interested in the actual monthly payment,
enter the total number of payments in the First
payment field.  For example, if you are computing a
loan over a period of 360 months, enter 360 in the First
payment field.  This will very quickly give you the
monthly payment for a loan of that length.

10.2    Accumulation Schedule

The flip side of the loan amortization schedule, is the
accumulation schedule. To generate a report of
compounding interest for any initial value of money
and/or time deposits for any length of time, pull down
the Reports menu and select Accumulation Schedule.
The accumulation schedule can be used to determine
how much money you will have for, Retirement,
College Tuition, New Home, New Automobile, etc. . .


11.0    Bar Graphs

Thus far, you have used numbers and reports to view
your financial status and progress.  Another method
provided by PCBUDGET is the use of Bar Graphs.
To view Bar Graphs, pull down the Graphs menu and
select the type of Bar Graph you wish to view.

There are five major types of Bar Graphs available.

Type
Bar 1
Bar 2
Bar 3

Net Worth
Y-T-D
-
-

Income and Expenses
Month
Y-T-D
-

Account Totals
Month
Budget


Account Distributions
Account
-
-

Selected Account
Month
Budget
Y-T-D


For all graphs except Account Distributions, the
horizontal axis is time in months.  The time span
defaults to January through December.  To change the
time span, select the Parameters from the Graphs
menu and enter the new time span.  The Parameters
menu selection also allows you to change the
Minimum and Maximum dollar values shown on the
vertical axis.  If you enter values in these fields, you
must set the scaling parameter to M for manual
scaling.  PCBUDGET will default to A (auto) scaling.
You can also enter the maximum number of bars that
you want displayed.  Some graphs allow up to 3
different bars per time period.  If you only wish to view
1 bar for example, enter a 1 in the Maximum bars field.

For Account Distributions, the horizontal axis is all of
your accounts for the selected distribution.  The axis is
labeled with the two digit account codes for each
account.

When you are viewing Account Totals for Bank
Accounts, Assets, Liabilities, and Credit Cards, the bar
graph will be displaying the change in that account for
the given time period.  For example, if you had $2000
in your savings account at the end of March, and $2150
at the end of April, the bar graph for April will show
$150.

To print graphics, press the P key while you are
viewing the graph.  For best results, select a screen
mode that has a two color contrast.  These modes
include: VGA and MONO.  PCBUDGET will print to
any standard graphics printer.


12.0    Setting Options

12.1    Printer Setup

To setup your printer for a particular formatted output
pull down the Options menu and select Preferences.
You setup your printer by sending it setup strings.
You are allowed to enter four independent setup
strings.  They are for:

Reports printing
Envelope printing
Label printing
Check printing

Printer setup strings define the printer actions when
printing takes place.  For example, depending on your
printer, you can specify bold, NLQ, double strike,
double wide, double high, or virtually any printing
style that your printer supports.

The format for the printer setup string is as follows:

\27\120.1

This command sends decimal '27', decimal '120', and
the number '1' to your printer.  (NLQ select for an
Epson printer)

Your printer manual may specify the setup for Near
Letter Quality (NLQ) mode in this way:


ESC x

Format:
Ascii code:    ESC    x    n
Decimal:    27    120    n
Hexadecimal:    18    78    n

Comments:
    The following values can be used for n:
    0: select the draft mode
    1: select the near letter quality mode (NLQ).

The above table shows the setup string to turn the
Near Letter Quality (NLQ) mode on for a printer that
supports NLQ.  You can specify this setup string in 1
of 2 ways:

\27\120.1

        or,

\27.x.1

Notice that all strings using the Decimal value are
preceded by a backward slash ( \ ) and all strings using
the Ascii value are preceded by a period ( . ).

Always use the decimal string when specifying the
ESCape character.

The printer setup string depends solely on the type of
printer that you have.
Most printers respond the same to setup string
commands.  The following are some generic
commands that will work for most printers.

\27\64
Initialize printer.

\27\120.1
Turn Near Letter Quality mode on.

\27\120.0
Turn Near Letter Quality mode off.

\27\56
Disable paper out sensor.

\27\57
Enable paper out sensor.

\27\15
Select condensed mode.

\27\116.1
Turn on graphics characters.

\27\116.0
Turn off graphics characters.



You can put string commands together.  For example
if you wish to initialize your printer, disable the paper
out sensor, and turn Near Letter Quality mode on, the
setup string would be

\27\64\27\56\27\120.1

If your printing reports, and you notice strange
characters being printed where there should be solid
lines, try turning on the graphic characters by sending
the \27\116.1 setup string to your printer.


12.2    Enable Check Printing

You can use PCBUDGET to print checks as you are
making transactions.  To enable check printing, pull
down the Options menu and select Preferences. Enter
the 2 digit account code you wish to use for printing
checks (in most cases this will be CH).  Whenever you
use the account that has this account code, you will be
asked to if you wish to print the check after making the
transaction.  To disable check printing, enter a blank
in the account code field.

The format used for printing checks is shown below.
This type of check has two parts to it.  The top part is a
copy of the check that you keep for your records.  The
bottom part is the actual check.



    8 1/2 inches wide  7 inches high
    (copy is 3 1/2 inches high and check is 3 1/2 inches high)

It may be best to experiment first by placing a blank
sheet of paper into your printer to get an idea of what
the output is going to look like.  Your local bank or
printer can supply you with a variety of computer
printed checks that meet this format.

12.3    Setting Screen Colors

To change the screen colors of PCBUDGET, pull
down the Options menu and select Screen Colors.

The screen colors Data Entry Window also allows you
to specify the graphics screen mode used when viewing
bar graphs.  You can specify modes of CGA, EGA, or
VGA.  It's best to use CGA MONO or VGA if you're
going to print your bar graphs.  These modes give you
a better color contrast on your printer.


13.0    Specifications

Maximum number of accounts 300
Maximum number of Income Accounts 50
Maximum number of Expense Accounts 50
Maximum number of Credit card Accounts 50
Maximum number of Liability Accounts 50
Maximum number of Bank Accounts 50
Maximum number of Asset Accounts 50

Maximum number of Transactions 4320
Maximum number of Transactions per month 360

Maximum number of Mailing List items256

Maximum number of Payment Reminders 50

Maximum number of Loans 8

Maximum number of Group Entry Accounts 5

Maximum number of searched items 360

Maximum number of unreconciled transactions per
account 360

Bar Graph Screen modes supported CGA, EGA,
VGA

Maximum number of time periods for amortization or
future value 360


14.0    Index

A
Accounts
Deleting, 38
Types, 31
American Express card, 48
Amortization, 80
Asset, 36
B
Bank Account, 36
Bar Graphs, 82, 88
Budgets
Amount, 37
Cash, 62
Cash Flows, 62
Cost, 62
Profit, 62
Variance, 62
C
Cleared, 46
College Tuition, 81
COMMAND.COM, 18
Compatible, 4
Credit Card, 33
D
Data File, 4
Creating, 20
New Year, 26
Transfer, 25
Date and Time, 12
DISKCOPY, 5
Double entry, 48
E
Expense, 31
F
Favorable, 62
Floppy Disk, 18
G
Graphics, 4, 88
Print, 83
I
Interest Expense, 39
L
Liability, 35
Loans, 80
Delete, 41
LPT1, 4
M
Mailing list, 37
Main Checking Account Code, 66
Memory, 4
Menus
Closing, 14
Selecting, 14
Mouse, 14
Mouse Cursor, 11
N
New Automobile, 81
New Home, 81
P
PC/AT/XT/PS, 4
PCBUDGET.DAT, 5, 12
PCBUDGET.TAX, 6
Preferences
Check number, 46
Check printing, 87
Main Checking Account Code, 66
Printer setup, 84
Return address on envelopes, 77
Print checks, 38
Print to
Check, 76
Envelope, 76
Label, 76
Printer, 4
Program Disk, 5
Program disk, 4
R
README.DOC, 6
REG.FRM, 6
Reports, 67
Retirement, 81
S
Screen
Scroll arrows, 12
Scroll box, 12
View window, 11
Search
Sequences, 77
Tax items, 77
Shareware, 6
T
Tax, 39
Tax deductible interest, 39
Tax laws, 72
Tax Related, 46
Transactions
List, 47
memorize, 55
U
Unfavorable, 62
V
Variance, 62
VGA, 4
Viewing month, 12, 27

Page: 21


Introduction         ProLogic Software

ProLogic Software Inc.         PCBUDGET

86