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Personal Finance Manager
Version 4.6
by John A. Mac Evoy
TELEWARE (tm)
301 N. Beauregard St. #1218
Alexandria, VA 22312
Copyright (c) February 2, 1985
Page [2] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
Table of Contents
-----------------
1.0 Introduction 3
1.1 TELEWARE 3
1.2 Program Capabilities 3
1.3 Warranty 4
1.4 Hardware & Software Requirements 4
2.0 Operation 6
2.1 Getting Started 6
2.2 Data Entry 8
2.3 The Menu Structure 11
2.4 The Checking Account 13
2.4.1 Entering New Checks, Deposits,
Cash Purchases, Etc. 14
2.4.2 Changing Entries 14
2.4.3 Deleting Entries 15
2.4.4 Balancing the Checkbook 15
2.4.5 Printing Budget & Checking Account Reports 16
2.4.6 Changing & Renaming the Active
Checking Account 17
2.5 Savings & Investment Accounts 20
2.5.1 Entering Investments and Savings
Account Transactions 20
2.5.2 Changing Entries 21
2.5.3 Deleting Entries 22
2.5.4 Listing a Summary of Investments 22
2.5.5 Printing Investment Reports 22
2.5.6 Deleting All Entries Relating to
One Investment Account 23
2.6 Program Utilities 23
2.6.1 Sorting Files by Date 23
2.6.2 Adding, Changing, Deleting and Displaying
Investment Categories and Purchase Groups 24
2.6.3 Installing a New Owner's Name 25
2.6.4 Setting the Checking Account
Minimum Balance Warning 26
2.6.5 Starting New Data Files 27
2.6.6 Exiting The Program 28
3.0 Miscellaneous 29
3.1 Changing the Default Drive 29
3.2 Keeping Backup Copies of Data 29
3.3 Making Additional Program Data Disks 29
3.4 Troubleshooting 30
Page [3] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 TELEWARE
This program is being distributed using a public domain
software marketing concept that relies heavily on computer bulletin
board systems, hence the name TELEWARE (TELEphone softWARE). Users
are encouraged to copy this software and pass it along to their
friends, or post it on Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) for general
distribution. There is no restriction on copying made by the author,
however it is requested that the program and its documentation not be
modified in any way. If you like this program, a contribution of $24
is requested. Please mail it to:
TELEWARE-1
301 N. Beauregard St. #1218
Alexandria, VA 22312
1.2 Program Capabilities
The Personal Finance Manager (PFM-4), Version 4.6 is an IBM
PC/XT/Jr program intended for use by the household budget manager.
All functions are menu driven requiring no knowledge of commands. A
cursory understanding of paragraph 2.1 of this manual is sufficient
for most people to operate the program effectively.
PFM-4 provides four major and several minor functions useful
for controlling home finances, including:
Page [4] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
* A checking account program to keep track of all purchases
including major cash purchases. PFM-4 will operate 5
separate checking accounts on one disk.
* An investment and savings account program to track where
your money is invested and how well those investments are
performing. Up to 99 separate accounts may be tracked on
one disk.
* Budget reports that show how much was spent on any user
defined budget item such as food, movies, computer
equipment, or any budget categories (PURCHASE GROUPS) you
may want to scrutinize. Each of the 5 checking accounts may
have up to 99 separate purchase groups.
* Tax-deduction purchase reports, available for any time
period, for coping with the IRS.
This version of the Personal Finance Manager, like all past
versions, is fully compatible with data files made with any other
version. Refer to paragraph 2.6.5 to find out how to rename pre-
version 3.0 files to run with PFM-4.
The following discussion provides more detail on how each of
these functions is operated. Please read paragraph 2.1 to get the
program started correctly.
Page [5] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
1.3 Warranty
PFM-4 and this documentation are copyrighted by the author.
Users may copy the program and give it to others but they may not:
* Modify the program or documentation in any way,
* Sell or trade the program for money or any valuable
consideration,
* Remove reference to the author or TELEWARE in the program or
in this documentation.
This software is sold AS IS with no warranties express or
implied including the warranties of M E R C H A N T A B I L I T Y and
fitness for the purpose intended. Users have the right to fully
inspect the program prior to making any payment.
Registered users will be notified of the availability of
program revisions and enhancements. These will be provided at no cost
if a formatted disk and return envelope are sent to me, otherwise a
nominal charge will be made for a disk and a mailer.
1.4 Hardware Requirements
PFM-4 is designed to run on an IBM PC, XT, or JR with at least
192Kb RAM, one disk drive, either a color graphics or monochrome
display, and DOS 1.1 or higher. It will not run properly on some
"100%" compatible machines, such as the Zenith 150.
An electronic disk "RAM drive" capability can greatly speed
data searches on this and just about any other program and is
recommended but not required.
Page [6] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
2.0 OPERATION
2.1 Getting Started
PFM-4 consists of just one compiled program. Unlike version
1.0 there is no need to also copy any data files. This program
establishes and accesses data files on the default drive, which is
usually, but not necessarily drive A:. The default drive may be
changed from within the program (see paragraph 3.1). To load and run
the program:
1. Copy the file called FINANCE4.EXE to a disk formatted as a
"system" disk. There should be about 100k free
for data. Refer to your DOS manual for information about
formatting disks and copying files.
2. Put the new disk with the program in the default drive
(usually A:). Following the DOS prompt "A>", type
FINANCE4. The program will begin loading.
3. After reading the opening screen and suffering a minor
guilt attack for not sending any $$ to the author (who
spent many, many hours writing this program, sigh), strike
any key to go to the Main Menu.
4. Select option 3, "PROGRAM UTILITIES" from the Main Menu
(see "DATA ENTRY" at paragraph 2.2 for an explanation of
cursor controls).
Page [7] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
5. Select option 7, "START NEW DATA FILES" from the Utilities
Menu. This function starts new files to accept program
data and should only be run once for any given disk,
unless you want to erase any existing PFM-4 data files.
These specially formatted files MUST be present on the de-
fault drive or DATA WILL NOT BE STORED!
The following files, if present, will be erased:
CHECK?.DAT INVEST.DAT GROUP?.DAT INVCAT.DAT
(The ? stands for any character)
6. The program is now ready for operation. While you're in
the Utilities Menu you should select option 5 and put
either your name or the name of your disk in the data
file. This name will now appear at the top of most of the
menus and tell which PFM-4 data disk you are working
with.
7. The next step is to select the various "PURCHASE GROUPS"
to be included in your budget such as Food or Mortgage,
etc. PFM-4 will keep track of items in each category for
you and tell you how much you've spent on each, within any
time frame. The Purchase Groups are entered from option 4
in the Utilities Menu.
8. If you intend to use the Investment and Savings Account
programs, enter the name of each account using option 3 on
the Utilities menu.
Page [8] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
2.2 Data Entry
1. A full screen of data is entered at one time. Use the
four cursor control (arrow) keys on the numeric keypad
control ALL cursor movement (the backspace key acts as a
cursor left key, and the delete key is not used). The up
and down arrows shift the cursor from data field to data
field. The left and right arrows move the cursor by one
character left and right or to a new field when the end of
a previous field is reached.
Note: Some users have found the program "SIDEKICK" to be
very useful when run with PFM-4, but the PFM-4 cursor
control subroutine interferes with "SIDEKICK." To remedy
that, the F10 key toggles the cursor keys on and off.
Each time you press the F10 key, the current cursor key
condition will go from off to on to off, etc., and a
status message will appear at the bottom left corner of
the screen to indicate whether the keys are off or on.
See paragraph 3.4 for a warning.
Moves cursor up or to
the left by one field
/\
||
8
Moves cursor left <=== 4 5 6 ===> Moves cursor right
by one character by one character
(also done by the 2
backspace key)
||
\/
Moves cursor down or to
the right by one field
Page [9] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
*** Don't forget that the Num Lock key changes ***
*** the cursor keys into number keys, and the ***
*** F10 key turns off all cursor control. ***
At any point in the entry process the data may be entered
to the disk file by pushing the Enter Key. However if
required data is missing or invalid, the cursor will
return to the field in error.
2. Many screens allow you an escape from entering bad data by
saying "Enter a 1 in this field to save the transaction,
or a 0 to cancel the transaction." Entry of a 0 simply
ignores the data you have entered to that point and allows
you to start over. Entering a 1 does two things. First
the program verifies that all mandatory data has been
entered, and that it looks correct. Second, if the data
passes the tests, it is entered into the disk file.
Note: Attempting to enter a screen full of data with a
zero or blank in some fields will call up a help
subscreen. These fields are indicated by an "*" on the
screen or a prompt at the bottom of the screen.
3. Do not enter negative numbers (the program takes care of
subtractions) or numbers with punctuation other than a
decimal point. A comma will make 12,543 be entered as 12.
Page [10] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
4. On the Checking Account Transaction entry screen, the date
of the last transaction entered is automatically reentered
for you. You may override this date with any other valid
date by typing over it.
The number of your next check is also automatically
entered on the screen. Like the date mentioned above, it
may be overwritten.
5. The reports are not formatted to display numbers greater
than $999,999.00, but if you do have that much money (why
are you using an IBM PC?) the numbers will still print
without being truncated or rounded. However they will
make the reports look funny and they will be preceded by a
"%" to indicate that the limits of the program have been
exceeded. If this happens, simply correct the transaction
using the change program, or if it wasn't a mistake, use
all that money to hire an accountant to count your money
for you.
6. Deleted transactions will remain in the data files until
you run the Sort routine (see paragraph 2.6.1) for that
data file. These records may be reused until that time by
searching for them using the Change routines. Find them
by their old record numbers, make any changes, and they're
as good as new. After sorting that data file though, the
remaining deleted records will be removed.
Page [11] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
2.3 The Menu Structure
The following chart shows the relationship of all the menus:
MAIN MENU SUBMENU SUBMENU
========= ======= =======
| 1. Enter Data
| 2. Change Entries | 1. Check Registr
1. Checking Account ----| 3. Delete Entries | 2. Tax Deduction
| 4. Balance Checkbook | 3. Purch Summary
| 5. Print Reports ---------| 4. Purch Details
| 6. Change Account | 5. Deposits
| 7. Return to Main Menu | 6. Go to Menu
| 1. Enter a New Purchase, etc.
| 2. Change Entry
| 3. Delete Entries
2. Savings/Investment --| 4. List Summary of Investments
Accounts | 5. Print Reports
| 6. Delete all Entries for One
| Investment
| 7. Go to Main Menu
| 1. Sort Investment File by Date
| 2. Sort Checking File by Date
| 3. Add/Change/Delete/Display
| Investment Categories
| 4. Add/Change/Delete/Display
3. Program Utilities----| Purchase Groups
| 5. Install New Owner's Name
| 6. Set Checking Account Minimum
| Balance Flag
| 7. Start New Data Files
| 8. Go to Main Menu
4. Change the Default Drive
5. Exit the Program
Function Keys: F10 Toggles Cursor Keys On and Off
Page [12] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
2.4 The Checking Account
The Checking Account keeps a running list of all checks,
deposits, withdrawals, and interest in your account. It also keeps a
record of major cash purchases. Cash purchases do not affect the
balance of the account, but are included in the Budget reports which
list expenditures in each area.
Five separate checking accounts may be operated from within the
program. The Active Account is selected or renamed from option 6 on
the Checking Account Menu. Once an account is selected ALL
TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING CHECKING ACCOUNTS APPLY ONLY TO THAT ACCOUNT!
Thus, if you have account 3 (for example) selected:
* The Checking Account Sort routine only operates on Account 3
* Adding, Changing, Deleting, or Displaying Purchase Groups
only affects the Purchase Groups associated with Account 3.
* Adding, Changing, or Deleting Checking Account records only
affects Account 3.
* Printed reports will only select data from Account 3
* For each of the functions listed above, the name of the
active account will print at the upper left of each menu
screen to notify you of which account you are working with.
* The Minimum Balance Warning applies only to Account 3
(i.e., it may be set to a different value for each account)
Page [13] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
As mentioned, the Active Account is selected using option 6
on the Checking Account Menu. Note that each account may
also be named from within option 6.
2.4.1 Entering New Checks, Deposits, Cash Purchases, etc.
Option 1 from the Checking Account Menu provides the data input
screen for this file. The data requirements are self explanatory on
the screen. Some general requirements are that numbers may not be
less than zero, dates must be "real" (no month 13, or day 45) and some
fields that are not applicable are automatically skipped or ignored
(i.e., check number when entering interest).
A Purchase Group (budget group) number must be entered for each
check or cash purchase. This group is used to print special reports
of expenditures (see paragraph 2.4.5). Attempting to enter the screen
full of data with a Purchase Group equal to 0 or blank will result in
the displayed Groups scrolling to allow the display of more groups.
This means that the final data input field (that asks for a 0 or 1 to
complete data entry) must have a 1 or 2 in it when you press the
ENTER key. At this point the scrolling will occur. See paragraph
2.6.2 for adding new Purchase Groups.
Note, in the final field, a 0 cancels the entire transaction, and a 1
or a 2 enters the data on the disk. However using a 2 leaves the data
on the screen for copying into the next entry. A 1 erases it.
For those who would like to enter torn-up checks with a $0.00
value for record keeping purposes, just use $0.00001 as the dollar
amount to bypass the edit feature. The program will not allow you to
Page [14] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
make a zero dollar entry, but it will accept teensy little numbers.
Each expenditure may be marked as a tax deductible item. Tax
deductions may then be displayed using a separate report, explained
below.
2.4.2 Changing Entries
All data entered in the Checking file may be retreived,
displayed, and changed using the change function, option 2 on the
Checking Menu. The Change Screen requests the characteristics of the
record being sought. A search for a given record by number (as shown
on the reports) is the fastest. Use of any other method requires that
the Type of record be specified (i.e., Check, Withdrawal, etc.) plus
one or more other characteristics (Date, $ Amount, or Check Number).
Since there could be more than one record with a given check number or
$ amount, the more information specified the better the chance of
finding the desired record. Except for record number searches, the
program must search the entire file for the record in question (time
consuming for large files). If the record is near the end of the
file, put a B, left justified, in the record number field on the
change screen to do a backwards search. Note, backwards searches take
more time to search the ENTIRE file and are a bit harder on the disk
drives but are marvelous at finding records near the end of the file.
Once found, any data in the record may be changed to any other
valid value. The same rules apply to changes that apply to new
Page [15] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
entries. Dates must be valid; no negative numbers; some fields may
not be left blank. Entry fields marked with an "*" will cause a help
subscreen to be displayed if entry of the record is attempted with a 0
in the field. This means that the final field (that asks for a 0 or 1
to complete data entry) must have a 1 in it when you press the ENTER
key. At this point the help screen will appear.
2.4.3 Deleting Entries
Any record in the Checking file may be searched for, displayed,
and deleted using the Delete function, option 3 on the Checking Menu.
Use the search method described in paragraph 2.4.2. Note that deleted
records remain in the file (but don't display or affect the balance)
until the Sort routine is run (see paragraph 2.6.2).
2.4.4 Balancing the Checkbook
Now that all your checking transactions and cash purchases are
in the Checking file, you may as well let PFM-4 balance your checkbook
for you. Select option 4 from the Checking Menu to run the Balance
program. There is an immediate escape if you want to go back and look
at anything. Next, the date you last balanced the account will be
displayed (if you did run a balance) followed by a request for the
ending balance from your bank statement.
Note: If you are using data files from an older version of PFM, this
date will be messed up the first time you balance your account using
PFM-4. It will straighten itself out though. Trust me.
Page [16] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
After entry of that information, each transaction (except for
any cash purchases) will be displayed on the screen with a request for
you to indicate whether or not this transaction has been received in
your latest bank statement. Answer Y or N as appropriate. The
program does the work. After all entries have been "yessed or noed"
the balance that your checkbook SHOULD display is shown next to the
ACTUAL balance in your PFM-4 account, which reflects the information
you gave it (Garbage In = Garbage Out, remember?). You may now either
consider the balance complete or go back to the Checking Menu to check
entries against the bank statement. If you're like me, it's sometimes
too much trouble to find where I made an error, so I enter a dummy
check or deposit under the date 01/01/01 to cancel out the error.
2.4.5 Printing Reports
Reports produced by this program are available both on the
screen and on a printer. The print screen capability is also
available to print a copy of one screen (SHIFT-PrtSc).
Five different reports are available by selecting option 5 on
the Checking Account Menu. They are:
Check Register: A list of all transactions in the Checking
file displayed along with a running balance (Cash Purchases do not
affect the balance). The report may be limited to the transactions
between any two dates. When option 1 from the Checking Accounts
Reports Menu is selected, the next screen requests the beginning and
Page [17] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
ending dates. Pick the dates, indicate whether you need the report on
the printer, press Enter and the report prints. This report prints
the balance in the account resulting from each transaction, starting
from record 1 (even though prior records may not be printed because of
the date limits). If no dates are selected, the program automatically
selects and prints all records.
You may elect to have all transactions that lower the account
balance below a certain value to be highlighted on the screen. See
paragraph 2.6.4 for selecting the minimum balance warning flag.
The displayed fields on the report are identified at the top of
the page. They are all self explanatory except for TX and V?. These
mean Tax Deductible (Y or N) and Verified on Bank Balance Statement (Y
or N) respectively.
Tax Deduction List: Called from option 2 on the Checking
Account Reports Menu, the Tax Deduction List prints every purchase,
either cash or check, that was indicated to be tax deductible. As
with the other reports, this one can also be limited to purchases
between any two dates. Thus, at 10:00 PM on April 14th, while engaged
in an "income tax frenzy" you will within seconds be able to get a
list of all tax deductible purchases made during the previous Jan.
1 to Dec. 31. The possibilities are simply mind boggling! Sort of.
Remember, if you didn't enter the purchase as a tax deduction, it
won't print as a tax deduction.
Page [18] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
Summary of Purchases: A summary of all PURCHASES (cash or
check) made in each purchase (or budget) group. This report may also
be limited to transactions occurring between any two dates as
mentioned in the paragraph above. Thus if you need to know how much
money you've spent in each of your budget categories this month, year,
or whatever, all you need do is run this report for the time period in
question. This report is run by selecting option 3 on the Checking
Account Reports Menu.
Detail of One Group: This report, also available between any
two dates, lists a detailed accounting of each PURCHASE (cash or
check) to occur in a particular purchase group. Typically you could
ask, "Gee, how much have I spent on computer equipment this month?"
This report will tell exactly how much. You may not want to look.
But if you do, run this report by selecting option 4 on the Checking
Account Reports Menu.
List of Deposits: This report is identical to the Check
Register report described above, but prints only deposits.
Remember, these reports provide information only on the active
checking account. To see what's happening in the other accounts it is
necessary to return to the Checking Account Menu and change the active
account using option 6, as discussed below.
2.4.6 Changing and Renaming the Active Checking Account
PFM-4 will, on one disk, track 5 separate checking accounts.
Each account has its own name, purchase groups, data, etc. Also, any
PFM-4 function that works on a checking account record or a purchase
Page [19] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
group record works only on the active account, or the purchase groups
associated with that account. Functions limited to the active account
include:
* Adding, changing, or deleting checking account transactions,
* Printing any of the checking account reports,
* Adding, changing, displaying, or deleting purchase groups,
* Setting the minimum balance warnings,
* Sorting the checking account from the Utilities Menu,
* Balancing the account.
Note, however, that Starting New Data Files (option 7 on the Utilities
Menu) will erase ALL(!) PFM-4 data files, not just the active checking
account.
The active checking account is changed using option 6 on the
Checking Account Menu. Simply select the number of the account
desired. The name of the account, which prints in the upper left hand
corner of all menu screens used for dealing with checking account
matters, may also be changed from here. For example, to change from
account #1 to account #4, enter a 4 in the brackets. To
change the NAME of account 4, enter a 9 in the brackets. Confusing,
eh what? It really isn't. Just take a look at the menu.
Page [20] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
2.5 The Savings and Investment Accounts
This section of PFM-4 is designed to keep track of accounts
that are primarily used for investments, such as savings accounts,
money markets, treasury bills, stock purchases, etc. Up to 99
separate accounts may be followed. The name of each account is
entered in the Investment Categories routine, option 3 on the
Utilities Menu. PFM-4 is not an investment analyzer that computes
expected returns on bonds, or helps follow stock market trends. This
program is designed to follow the cash transactions on each of these
accounts, such as purchases, sales, broker fees, cash dividends, and
rollover interest (interest paid to the account). The information
saved and reported will tell you where your money is invested, how
much money is invested, how well that investment is performing, and
will provide a handy summary for preparing your income tax forms.
2.5.1 Entering Investments and Savings Account Transactions
Option 1 from the Investments Menu provides the data input
screen for this file. The data requirements are self explanatory on
the screen. Some general requirements are that numbers may not be
less than zero, and dates must be "real" (no month 13, or day 45).
Unlike the Checking data entry screen, all entries are applicable and
none are skipped over.
Notice that a Purchase is the same as a deposit, and a Sale is
the same as a withdrawal. Thus the same data entry screen can be used
for standard savings accounts or investments. Also notice that, like
the checking account, a 2 in the last field allows the data to remain
on the screen for copying into the next record.
Page [21] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
An Investment Category (the number that stands for the name of
the investment or savings account) must be entered for each
transaction so the program knows where to file it. This Category is
used to print the various special reports on each investment (see
paragraphs 2.5.4 and 2.5.5). Attempting to enter the screen full of
data with an Investment Category equal to 0 or blank will result in
the displayed Categories scrolling to allow the display of more
Categories. See paragraph 2.6.2 for adding new Investment
Categories.
2.5.2 Changing Entries
All data entered in the Investment file may be retreived,
displayed, and changed using the change function, option 2 on the
Investment Menu. Some characteristics of the record being sought must
be specified. These are all requested on the Change screen. The
fastest way to find a record is with the record number, which is
displayed on most of the reports (see paragraph 2.5.5). To use any
other method requires that the Type of record be specified (i.e.,
Purchase, Fee, etc.) as well as at least one or more other
characteristics such as the Date or $ Amount. Because there could be
more than one record with a given date or $ amount, the more
information specified the better the chance of finding the desired
record. See paragraph 2.4.2 for "backwards search" information.
Once found, any data in the record may be changed to any other
valid value. The same rules apply to changes that apply to new
entries. Dates must be valid; no negative numbers; some fields may
not be left blank. Entry fields marked with an "*" will cause a help
Page [22] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
subscreen to be displayed if entry of the record is attempted with a 0
or blank in the field.
2.5.3 Deleting Entries
Any Record in the Investment file may be searched for,
displayed, and deleted using the Delete function, option 3 on the
Investment Menu. Use the search method described in paragraph 2.5.2.
Note that deleted records remain in the file (but don't display or
affect the balance) until the Sort routine is run (see paragraph
2.6.2).
2.5.4 Listing A Summary of Investments
This report prints, on the screen or printer, the balance in
each investment account, and at the end, a grand total of dollars
invested.
2.5.5 Printing Reports
All reports produced by this program are available on the
screen or the printer. If you need a paper copy of just one screen,
you may also use the print screen capability (SHIFT-PrtSc). Two
different reports are available. The first is a list of all
transactions in each Investment file displayed along with a running
balance. The report may be limited to the transactions between any
two dates. When option 5 from the Investment menu is selected, the
next screen requests the beginning and ending dates. Pick the dates,
indicate whether the report is to print on the printer, then press
Enter and the report prints. This report prints the balance in the
account for each transaction starting from record 1 (even though prior
records may not be printed because of the date limits) If no dates are
Page [23] Personal Finance Manager, Version 4.6 3/ 3/85
selected, the program automatically selects and prints all records for
this investment. A summary prints at the end of each report showing
the total fees, purchases, etc. on the account. Note that sale of an
investment for a greater value than the purchase price correctly
causes a negative balance but a positive profit.
The second report is a summary of all Investments. This report
is not limited to transactions occurring between any two dates, but
rather shows the current status of each account.
2.5.6 Deleting All Entries Relating to One Investment Category
When done with an investment, if you no longer want to keep a
record of the transactions, they may all be deleted with this option.
As with all other deleted records, they will not be purged from the
files until you run the Sort routine (see paragraph 2.6.1)
2.6 Program Utilities
2.6.1 Sorting Files by Date
Use option 1 on the Utilities Menu to rearrange the Investment
File transactions, and option 2 to rearrange the Checking file
transactions, in order of transaction date. Checking Files are sorted
in order of transaction date, then by the type of transaction (Cash
Purchases followed by Deposits, then Interest, Withdrawals, and
finally Checks), and last, the checks are rearranged in order of check
number on the given day. Remember, only the active checking account
is sorted.
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The FINANCE4.EXE program can sort 3,000 transactions in each
file for which it requires a total memory of 192Kb RAM. This number
of transctions is about 5 years' worth for most people. The sort
routine now checks to see if the file needs to be sorted. If not, a
rather brief message flashes on the screen and the Utilities menu is
displayed. If sorting is required, only the out of place data is
rearranged; previously sorted data is untouched, greatly reducing sort
times on large files. The practice of rewriting the file in sorted
order is still retained. This speeds up report writing and saves
cycles on the disk drives, but unfortunately slows down the sort while
the rewrite takes place. Floppy disks are not too good at locating
data scattered all over a disk, so this technique speeds up program
operation for the average user. It can be changed if a majority of
the users have hard disks and ask for a change.
Since an entirely new file is written during the sort, you'll
need enough empty space on the disk for the new file and the old
files. Old files are automatically erased. The program takes care of
all file maintenance.
2.6.2 Adding, Changing, Deleting, and Displaying Investment
Categories and Purchase Groups
Use options 3 and 4 to do whatever is required with the
Purchase Groups and Investment Categories. The menus and input
screens are essentially self explanatory. Purchase Groups are the
same as budget items, such as food, clothing, insurance, gasoline,
etc. Investment Categories are the names of your investment and
savings accounts, such as Beneficial Theft and Trust, or G. F. Mutton.
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You may specify up to 99 Purchase Groups (for each checking account)
and 99 Investment Categories.
Purchase Groups are entered only for the active checking
account. Thus you may have one set of purchase groups for account #1,
a different set for account #2, and so on. If you want to use one set
of purchase groups on more than one account without retyping them, do
the following:
Enter all the purchase groups for one account
Exit the program to the operating system
Copy the purchase groups from the first file into the second by
using the DOS copy command. For example, to copy the purchase
groups from account #4 to account #3, type:
COPY GROUP4.DAT GROUP3.DAT
The purchase group files will now be duplicates.
Return to operating the program.
2.6.3 Installing a New Owner's Name
The Owner's Name displays at the top left corner of most menus
and serves to identify which disk files you are working with. You may
use your name, or you may have a separate name for each PFM-4 data
disk. By naming each set of disk files you may have several different
copies of PFM-4 in use at any one time, and be able to readily
identify which one is in the machine at any given time. When the
functions of a menu apply only to the active checking account, the
owner's name is replaced by the active account name.
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If you use more than one set of data files, they may each be on
different disks, or they may all be on one disk in different
directories. If they are on different disks, return to the main menu
to close the old data files before using the new disk. This prevents
the buffer from messing up the data on the new files. The default
drive may be changed from the Main Menu (see paragraph 3.1), but if
you want to change the subdirectories on one disk, exit the program to
change default directories then restart the program. Using
subdirectories tends to slow down data access times considerably and
increases the number of cycles on the disk drives for each record
accessed. But if you like 'em, use 'em. Use option 5 on the
Utilities Menu for the Name change function.
2.6.4 Set Checking Account Minimum Balance Warning
Using option 6 on the Utilities Menu you may select a dollar
value that causes your checking account balance to display with dark
letters on a bright background (reverse video) when it drops below the
selected value. Any number greater than zero may be used. If you
lose your interest when the bank balance falls below $100, then use
$100 as the entry here. The minimum balance warning may be set to a
different value for each active checking account. To set the warning
for a different account, change accounts according to the instructions
in paragraph 2.4.6, then return here to set the new warning.
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2.6.5 Starting New Data Files
PFM-4 requires files to be initialized using option 7 before
they can be used. This only amounts to putting some key numbers in
the first few records (nothing exciting), but the program will not
accept data, and the sort routines won't work, until this is done.
However, DON'T, I repeat: DON'T, run this routine twice on one disk
unless you want to erase your existing PFM data files and start over.
The following files, if present, will be erased:
CHECK?.DAT INVEST.DAT GROUP?.DAT INVCAT.DAT
(The ? stands for any character)
To use data files from previous versions of PFM with versions 3
or 4 requires only a name change of two files, but done in the
following manner:
Put FINANCE4.EXE on a blank, formatted disk
Load and run the new FINANCE4 program
Open new PFM-4 data files as instructed in this paragraph
Assuming you have your old data files on drive A: and the new
PFM-4 disk in drive B:, copy your existing CHECKING.DAT file
onto the new PFM-4 disk as follows:
COPY A:CHECKING.DAT B:CHECK1.DAT
Your old data file on the new PFM-4 disk will now be named
CHECK1.DAT
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Now copy the Purchase Group files to the new disk as follows:
COPY A:PURGRP.DAT B:GROUP1.DAT
Copy the old Investment Data and Investment Category file to
the new disk without a name change as follows:
COPY A:INVEST.DAT B:
COPY A:INVCAT.DAT B:
That's it. You're ready to roll. Just be aware that your Date
Last Balanced will be incorrect (and probably illegible) the first
time you run a checking account balance. This will correct itself.
It happens because the balance date location on the first record in
the data file is used for the account name (a new feature on PFM-4),
and the balance date is moved to a different field.
2.6.6 Exiting the Program
ALWAYS use the EXIT routine when leaving this program. Reason:
Data is stored in buffers prior to being written on the disk file.
Buffers accumulate data until they are full and then, when good and
ready, they write to the disk. If you exit by rebooting, there will
be unwritten data in the buffers that will be lost. If you exit via
the Exit routine, the buffers will first be emptied, then the program
will quit. There are Exit options scattered throughout the program.
You may use any one at any time.
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3.0 Miscellaneous
3.1 Changing the Default Drive
The drive where PFM-4 looks to find its data files may be
changed using option 4 on the Main Menu. Thus you can have data in
one or both drives, and use this feature to shift between them.
Changing subdirectory names, if you use them, must be done through the
Operating System. Note that unless you tell the program otherwise, it
always looks for its data on the default drive. (Remember, data files
must be initiated originally from option 7 in the Utilities Menu).
3.2 Keeping Backups
After a few months you'll have sizable data files. Think about
keeping an original and two backups of your data files, an "odd day"
backup and an "even day" backup. If you are backing up data on an
odd-numbered day, use the odd day backup disk, etc. This way if you
have disk problems (which some of the less reputable disks are wont to
do) and you unwittingly back up bad data on your backup disk, you'll
have a bad original and a perfect backup of the bad data. With two
backup disks, if you only use one disk every other time you backup
data, you will always have a second disk to use to restore both the
original and the bad backup.
3.3 Making Additional Program Disks
Any number of data disks may be used with the program. To make
a new data disk without having to rewrite all the purchase groups and
investment categories, make a new system disk as in paragraph 2.1.
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Then:
1. Load PFM-4 from drive A:
2. Remove the old PFM-4 disk and insert the new formatted disk in
drive A:
3. Open new data files using option 7 from the Utilities menu
4. Put the old disk in B: and copy INVCAT.DAT (for investment
categories) and GROUP?.DAT (for the purchase groups) to the new
disk.
3.4 Troubleshooting
Two users have reported problems with sorting data. The
program would complete the sort and then die in the middle of writing
the new data file. This appears to have been caused by "strange" data
in the data file. In each case the users had another program resident
in memory along with DOS and PFM-4, in particular PROKEYS or
SIDEKICK. Also, when PROKEYS was loaded, the sort routine would
hesitate after sorting each 200 records. This is not typical behavior
for PFM-4, and if it is happening on your machine, you may want to
consider running without other programs loaded with PFM-4.
If you do get bad data on your disk, locate the faulty record
and rewrite it. ('Sounds like the old elephant stew recipe, "First
shoot one elephant . . .")
1. Load DEBUG from your DOS diskette, (refer to your DOS manual)
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2. "Name" the file SORT.DAT, which will be on your PFM-4 data disk.
(Sort.dat is written during the sort process and is erased at the
end, so you will normally never see it)
3. "Dump" data until you get to the end of the SORT.DAT file,
4. Read the last entry in the SORT.DAT file. It will be mostly
Grecco-Martian, but if you made a text comment such as "Tiffany's,
Diamond Necklace," that comment should be legible.
5. "Quit" debug (all you were doing was reading the file)
6. Run PFM-4,
7. Find the faulty record (which was the last record in the SORT.DAT
file which you located using DEBUG. "Tiffany's," etc.) by
reviewing the Check Register or Investment printout,
8. Delete the record and reenter it. The problem should go away.
If you have trouble with this, I can send a data bug locator
program that will indicate the record in error. Send me a disk and
return mailer or $5.00. Data errors have not been common (2 incidents
to date), but if the sort routine doesn't make it to at least 3,000
records, this is probably the cause.
Good Luck. If you're a registered user you'll be hearing from me
again. A separate program for graphing PFM-4 data should be available
to registered users in a few months. If you have any functions you
would like to see added, please send a me a note at the address on the
first page. Ditto if you have any problems.
-John Mac Evoy
