GENERAL:

This program automates the management and budgeting of your personal cash registers (checking, saving accounts, etc…).

The TAB key may be used to move from one entry field to the next. Holding down the shift key and pressing the TAB key will move you form entry field to entry field in reverse order. In several places you can complete an entry by pressing the Return or Enter key.

The custom in accounting is to show negative balances in parentheses (it is easy to over look a small dash in front of a number). The negative balance indicates that the result is opposite of what is expected. A negative balance on a cash account is refereed to being in the Red (or spending more than you have, which in the government is called deficit spending). A negative budget means that cash has been added to a budget above the initial creation (this in theory should not happen). A positive balance on a budget means your operating in the Black (or under budget, which means at the end of the year, that your initial projections were off).

Remember, a budget in general does not take into account the unexpected. Therefore being over budget does not mean you have a financial problem as long as your expenses do not exceed your income. Being over budget only means that you need to take a closer look at how you are managing your money, and the need to re-evaluate your expectations on spending/saving during the year.

The Home Accounting has a built-in converter program that will load a preference or data base file created with an older version of Home Accounting.

This program tries not to use modal dialog boxes (not including file related dialog boxes). To do this and maintain the integrity of the data base, I have implemented a window manager that prioritizes the stacking order of the program's windows. This allows windows such as the Calculator to be used with windows that would normally be modal (such as the DB Preference window).

In general, selecting Close Window (command-W) from the File menu, clicking a window's close box or clicking on a Done or Cancel button closes a window and ignores any changes made. The Budget-Monthly, Preferences and DB Preferences will verify a close if you have made any changes.

Many times a verification window will appear to verify your choice. You may select a button by pressing the key for the first character of the button's name.

In several windows you may notice a small button with a question mark. This button is normally located near a window item. Clicking the button will bring up additonal help about that window item.