HOME ACCOUNTS V1.4e (S3A Version) ---------------------------------- (c) F A Richey 1995 As an avid user of the original Series 3 Finance program, I was rather disappointed when the Series 3A version didn't give me the same functionality. I therefore decided to write a program for the 3A which took the best ideas of both programmes, and added some extra modules which I would find useful. This program is the result. V1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 were well received, so I have incorporated all the comments and suggestions I received into this latest version, along with a number of other enhancements. As it stands, this Shareware version is still only intended as a demo, and therefore will allow only 3 Accounts, 5 Standing Orders, 5 Budget Categories, 5 Shares and 5 Rooms for the Insurance. Registration will give you a more realistic 20 Accounts and 50 Standing Orders in each Group, and 20 Budget Items, 50 Shares and 18 Rooms (or more if you request them specifically) Please pass any problems/comments/suggestions to me by: Compuserve : 100023,543 E-mail (Internet) : alanrichey@aol.com If you wish to register the program, see the file REGISTER.TXT for my latest address. Registration gets you a personalised registration code to remove the 'nag' screens, and allow full use of the program (). Note that you will not need a new copy of the program, all the functionality is in there, it just needs the code to 'unlock' it. I will also ensure that this code remains forward compatible for future versions of the program so, unlike other programs, I will not be asking for a further fee for an upgrade. Upgrades will normally be put onto Compuserve, CIX, Internet and various BBS. Registered users who do not have access to these areas will be sent upgrades on disc. To Install the program, carry out the following actions: 1. Copy BANKS3A.APP to your \APP\ directory. 2. Generate a Subdirectory \BANK\ under the APP directory, ie \APP\BANK\ 3. Copy BANKS3A1.OVL, BANKS3A2.OVL and BANKS3A3.OVL to the Subdirectory. These modules are ESSENTIAL to run the program. 4. You can then copy BANKSBUD.OVL, BANKSSHA.OVL, BANKSPET.OVL, BANKSHOU.OVL, BANKSPLN.OVL , and BANKS3AH.OVL if you wish to use the Budget, Shares, Petrol, House Contents, Annual Planner and On-Line Help modules, which are optional. (other modules are currently under development) 5. Install BANKS3A.APP using as described in the manual. If you fancy a challenge, you can learn everything you need to about the program by playing with it and checking the effect of each MENU selection, as well as the effect of pressing , , or in each screen. Alternatively you can work through the tutorial on the following pages, which will familiarise your with all the capabilities of the program. If you do 'fly blind' and get into trouble, please read the rest of this document before me asking me to help. I have yet to be asked a question which couldn't have been answered by reading this document. Important Points to Note: 1. The program is designed to work with all the DATA files in one disc. If you run Groups on different drives (A:, B: or M:) then you will run into problems with some of the data files which are common to all Groups, ie Currency, Budget, Shares and Petrol. Therefore, please decide, before you start, on which disc you wish to have your data files. (There is, however, nothing to stop you copying ALL the files to a different drive at a later date, as long as they all remain on the same disc.) This only applies to data files, the program itself can reside on a different disc. 2. The configuration file and registration details are saved on your default disc, so don't be surprised if you seem to lose that information (and registration) if you change default discs. 3. The program regularly saves and overwrites the data files to avoid problems with data loss. This means that you should NOT hold the data files on a Flash SSD, but hold them on a RAM SSD or in Internal memory. 4. Please do NOT try changing the name of a Group from the system screen. The title you use for a Group is used for all the data files, not just the one shown under the icon. If you do wish to rename a Group, simply use the 'Save As' file command from within the Program, to save the Group under a new name, change to that new Group, then use the 'Delete Group' command to get rid of the original. TUTORIAL 1. Highlight 'Bank4' under the BANK Icon. 2. Press to generate a new file (or select via the FILE menu). 3. Select the required drive (Internal or a RAM SSD). 4. Type ACCOUNTS as a title (or anything else you fancy). 5. Work through 'nag' screens by pressing . If you want to skip these screens you will have to register your copy !! 6. You are now in the 'top-level' menu, which will contains details of the accounts you have in the Group. (You actually need only one Group to run your accounts, but personally I like to run different groups for my normal accounts, my savings accounts and my expense account. Basically you treat the Groups and Accounts in the same way as you would treat directories (or folders) and files on your PC, MAC or Psion !)) Important Note for Non-English Users: Before starting to enter data, press and select your country as the Base Currency and the Group Currency. If your country is not shown, jump forward to the 'Currency' part of the Tutorial to see how to add your country. 7. Press the MENU key and then the left arrow key and you will see the various optional modules that make up the whole program (assuming you loaded the appropriate .OVL files). Press the left arrow again to see the 'core' modules. These can all be selected either by using this MENU selection, by pressing a 'hot-key' ie for the Currencies, or by using the diamond key to cycle through the screens. This tutorial will take you through each module in turn. 8. Press the MENU key again twice for the FILE commands. I hope these are obvious, and are the usual commands you expect to see in most programs. Just note that you will not be allowed to Delete the Group you are working on, you will have to Open into another Group first. (There is no requirement for a SAVE command, as this happens automatically). 9. Press the MENU key again for the EDIT commands and select 'Enter new account' (or press ). As an example, type 'Current' for the short title, 'Current Account' for the Description, and whatever you feel like for the Opening Balance (Credit or Debit). (For real, this will be the final figure on your last bank statement.) Note the short title is limited to 10 characters, the description can be quite a bit longer. Don't worry too much about the Type field, it's mainly for Quicken users, although you may wish to play with it. Finally, note that you have the option of removing an Account from the 'Total Worth' calculation if you so wish, and of entering a Credit Limit. Press on completion. 10. Now enter (using ) a 'VISA' account as well, for use later in the tutorial. 11. Note that you can use the 'Update Account' ( or ) option if you want to change the details, or the 'Delete Account' ( or ) option if you make a mistake. I have also incorporated a Move Down command () if you wish to change the order later. (It didn't seem worth having a Move Up command as well, as you can have the same effect by 'Moving Down' the account above the one you want moving up !) 12. The initial setting is for the Status Window to be hidden. You can switch it in using the normal method (), or or via the Menu. You will see later that each module can display additional information if you have the Status Window hidden. Personally I like having it in view. I suggest you experiment later within each module, but for now leave the Status Window in view. 13. Note also that the Cursor keys (& PgUp/PgDn/Home/End) allow you to select an account, or you can press the first letter of the Account to jump to it straight away. Select the 'Current' account for the next stage. 14. Now move into the 'Transaction' Module. This can be done either by pressing the Diamond key, using the Mode MENU option, pressing or, the easiest method of all, just press . 15. Now enter an example transaction, such as writing a cheque. Use the MENU, or just press to start the process. Select the date, (to make it easy it defaults to today's date), a description and an amount (leaving it as a Debit in this case, as we are spending money). Move down to the 'Transfer' item and use the key or the arrow keys to see how you can select another account if it is an inter-account transfer (ie a cheque from the Current Account paying the VISA bill). Use 'External' for now, to show a cheque being paid to an external agency. Skip the 'Budget Item' field for now, I'll explain that later. Finally, you can use the Reference field for anything you like, it's this case it's just a free field. Press when complete. 16. Add a few more, and to demonstrate the Transfer function, do a VISA payment by paying a cheque as before, but selecting VISA in the Transfer field. Press when complete. Now press (or Shift-PSION-A or via the MENU), to get back to the Accounts screen, select the VISA account, and check the transfer went in OK. 17. Go back to the transactions in the Current Account and practice updating entries ( or ) and deleting entries ( or ). (Please note, In the case of a transfer, unlike other programs, it will update/delete only that entry, not the one in the other account. I have this on my list of enhancements for V1.5). Note that the Update menu replaces the Transfer field with an Attribute field, (leave this at the moment, it is explained next) Also, note that if you press key to remove the Status menu, you will see the additional details in the Reference field displayed on the screen. 18. We can now simulate receiving a bank statement. At the start, the Initial Balance figure should match the starting balance on the statement (In real life, if it doesn't, you must have made a mistake reconciling the previous statement!). Now reconcile each entry on the statement, using , or, more easily, the Space Bar. Once you have a reconciled entry, the Initial Balance window changes to Reconciled Balance. After each entry is checked, the new Reconciled Balance should match the balance on the statement. 19. Having confirmed the statement, we should now archive the entries (You must do this regularly, as you can hold a maximum of only 100 transactions in each Account). Press to create an Archive file. This will default to the same disc/directory as the normal data, but can actually be put anywhere. (The way I use this facility is to call the archive 1995 and use it till the end of the year. Then change the filename to 1996, and use that. Once I feel I will not require regular access to the 1995 archive again, I store it on a floppy and delete it from the SSD. Another method many people use is to have a separate Archive file for each account.) Now archive the account using , and store the reconciled transactions in an Archive file. (If required, you also have the flexibility of Archiving ALL entries, just removing the entries (but still updating the balance), and specifying an end-date.) The system defaults to Append mode, but at a later date you may wish to overwrite an Archive. At this point, it's worth pointing out the difference between 'Remove' and 'Delete'. Use 'Delete' when you have made a mistake and want to get rid of the transaction, and use 'Remove' when you have finished with a transaction but still require it to be taken into account in future Balance calculations. 20. You can then view the archive at any time by pressing (or by using the Diamond key or the MENU). When the file gets quite long, there is a 'Find' and 'Find Next' option to enable you to find a transaction. If, at a later date you wish to use another archive file just use . As this is just a practice session, I suggest you now delete the Archive file using . Press or to remove the message, then to get back to the Accounts screen and use to specify your preferred name for the future. 21. Another option I have included is the 'Deferred Transaction' idea, where you can put in a transaction which you know will happen in the future, but not include it in the balances. To see this, go into the Current Account, select the transaction, and use the menu or just press D or (Illogical I know, but I ran out of letters !!). The entry will then be ignored in all future calculations. I have also included an 'Auto' option for this, accessible from the main screen CONFIG menu. If this is set to Auto, any transaction entered for a future date will be automatically deferred, and when the date arrives, the deferred flag will be automatically cleared. Following some adverse comment from users, I have also added the option of displaying the Balance after a Deferred Transaction, either incorporating or ignoring the value of the deferred entry (Use to set) 22. By popular request, I have also included an option to draw a line under a transaction ( OR ). You can use this to indicate a credit card statement date for example. 23. For advanced users, I have also incorporated a 'Default Transaction' option. Using the CONFIG Menu (or ), you can define up to 20 default transactions. These can then be quickly obtained by pressing instead of when in the transaction screen (or ), and then most of the fields will already be completed. If you call one of the defaults 'Cheque' or 'Check', it can also automatically increment cheque numbers held in the Reference field. This completes the initial tutorial, and if this is all you need you can stop here. However, the program has much more built in. I suggest you follow this demonstration of the more advanced functions: STANDING ORDERS 1. Select the Standing Orders screen using the MENU key, successive presses of the diamond key or . 2. Now use or to enter a Standing Order. The date field is the first date when the order should be actioned. Leave it on today's date for the demonstration. You should use 'External' in the FROM or TO fields if you are paying or receiving to/from an external agency (use or cursor keys to select other accounts), fill in a description and an amount, then press . Note that I have given you the opportunity to have a different value for the first time a Standing Order is used, as this happens fairly regularly (If either of the Amount fields is left empty, it will assume it is the same as the other). You now enter the second input screen. Specify how regularly you want the order actioned. Note that the program can accept, for example, 3- weekly Standing Orders, and the 'last day of the month', unlike some others. Use today's date for the demo,' Current' in the FROM field, 'VISA' in the TO field and 2 weeks as the period. Leave the Budget Item field, it will be covered later, and if required, specify the number of times you want the Standing Order to be actioned (0 means indefinitely). 3. These Standing Orders will be automatically credited/debited to/from the appropriate accounts when the initial date arrives, the date reset to the next occurrence and, if appropriate, the number of times will reduce by one. If it was the last time, the order is left with 'Completed' flag against it, and you can then either delete it, or leave it as a reminder. No further action on your part is required. 4. As usual, you can Update ( or ) or delete ( or ) entries as required, and note the period and number of times are displayed if you turn the Status Window off. There is no 'Move' command as the Orders are automatically sorted into date order. 5. To prove it works, press to go back to the main screen. You should see the Standing Order being processed, and when complete, the Accounts should have been updated. Go into the Orders screen, and you should see the Order date has moved on the appropriate period. 6. There is also an option to use the Standing Order screen to allocate an estimated interest figure automatically on the 1st of every month. Simply use to specify the first date, and which account should be actioned. The Interest rate to be used must be specified for the account in the Transaction screen using . The amount to be credited/debited is calculated using this figure, and the final balance on the account. (The exception to this is an account of the 'Credit Card' type, where no interest will be credited, only debited if the account is in debt.) 7. Finally, there is an option to have a 'Total' window displayed using if you feel it is useful. CURRENCIES The program provides full support for all currencies. It caters for what I believe is the most difficult case, of someone living in Country A, running some accounts in Country B, and occasionally visiting Country C. It does this by using 3 currency settings: a. The Base Currency is the main currency for the program, and will normally be your country of origin. b. The Group Currency is the country where the bank account/investments are held. c. The Secondary Currency is the country that you are temporarily visiting. To reduce any possible rounding errors caused by currency switching, the Shares, Budget and Petrol, House Contents and Planning files are held on disc in the Base currency, and the Account files are held in the Group Currency. Although you would normally set these currencies at the start, and not change them, the program will allow you to change them and recalculate the values. To show the capability: 1. Select the Currency screen (). If you want, enter a few more currencies () (France for example), specifying the Country, Symbol (ie FF) and the exchange Rate relative to the Base Currency. (Note the usual update and delete options are available, as well an 'Update All' option if, like me, you do them all at once from the evening paper. 2. You will see there is a 'G' against your currency, which shows the Base Currency in use. There might also be a '*' against the currency you selected as the secondary currency. The purpose of the secondary currency is to allow you to enter transactions in a different currency to the Base Currency if you are temporarily there on holiday or business. The next few steps should demonstrate this. 3. Select a secondary currency different to the Group Currency. (Either via the MENU, or selecting it and pressing . Press again, then to go into the Transactions screen for the Current Account. 4. Now select the Foreign Currency option . This will now remain in force for this Account, until reversed, even if you exit the program (Note that it only affects this Account, not the whole Group, if you want the whole Group to be affected, use the option from the main screen.). Now enter a new transaction (). The difference is that the Reference field is now replaced by a Currency field. This defaults to your secondary currency, but can actually be set to any currency you like. When you enter the transaction, using the local currency value, you will find that the amount has automatically converted to the Group Currency. (If you press CTRL-MENU, you will see that the original value (rounded down because of screen space !) has been stored in the Reference field.) Once you are happy, deselect the Foreign Currency option before you quit. 5. Back in the Currency screen, there are options to set the number of decimal places, inverse the rate display and, for those who have fixed overseas allowances, an optional allowances column to enter daily allowances. (This is for info only and is not used in any calculations. Use the Update option to set the figure) 6. Finally, there is a conversion option (), which is quite straightforward, and can actually be accessed from any screen by pressing . BUDGET/EXPENSES This module allows you to keep track of how much you are spending for various categories (Oil, Gas, Holiday, Car etc) 1. Select the Budget screen using the MENU, the diamond key or . 2. Now use (or ) to enter a category. Use Electricity as an example, and any numbers you fancy for the Annual Estimate and start date, as these are purely for information. Press to put it in, and add a couple more, such as 'Car' and ''Phone' for interest. Then note that, as usual, you can Update () or Delete () or Move () the entries later. When you try updating, (or ), you will see I have programmed it to allow a change to the spend, rather than an absolute value. I decided on that because I thought the normal use would be if you paid a bill by cash and wanted to add it to the total. If enough people want to edit the absolute value I can always incorporate that option. 3. Now press , select 'Current Account' and press . Enter a transaction, pretending you are paying an Electricity bill (). Fill in the usual details , then move to the 'Budget Item' field. Use the key or the cursor keys (or press 'E') to select 'Electricity' then the transaction. 4. Now go back into the Budget screen (), and you should see that the Electricity entry now shows an appropriate increase in current spend. (Negative to show that it is a spend). If you have the Status Window removed, you will also see the spend expressed as a percentage, to enable you to see how you are doing. 5. Finally, note that if you prefer, you can reverse the logic of the display (using ) and have amount remaining, rather than amount spent, displayed. This module is common across all Groups, unlike the Standing Orders, which are specific to a Group. Any subsequent updates to account transactions, or deleting entries, should amend the Budget reading accordingly. Also, it can be used retrospectively to include existing entries, if the Budget Field is amended during an update from 'NONE' to the Budget item. Please note that the date is only for information. The program does not keep a record of where the 'Spend' came from, so don't expect a change in date to affect the total figure. There is also an option of setting a 'filter' in the Transaction screen so that only transactions from those categories are shown. Use in the appropriate screen to activate the filter. BUDGET PLANNER This is an extension to the existing Budget module, and allows for accurate future budgeting. It basically works on 3 different levels: Level 1. To start up the module, use the Menu, diamond key or . Now use to enter a couple of agencies who send you bills, such as Electricity and Phone (The usual Update, Delete and Move options are available as always). You can now move the vertical highlight to the required agency, and the horizontal agency to the required month, and use to enter the estimated bill. The bottom line will show the total for each month. Note that, although it starts up with January as the first month, you can use the horizontal cursor to make any month the first to be displayed. All the setting you have will be remembered between sessions. Once a payment has been made, you can use (or the Space-Bar) to show a cost in Bold as a reminder. The default is for a 12-month display, which is usable for costs up to 999. If you need more than 3 figures, there is an option to reduce the number of months on display to prevent overlap. Level 2. If, like me, you run a separate account to pay the bills, you can use the planner to decide how much to transfer into the account each month. Press to switch the bottom line to 'Transfer' and use to put an initial estimate in for the amount. Note that you can put the amount in for individual months, to the end of the screen (if you have less than 12 months in the display it will fill up the remaining months as though they are displayed), or for all months. Now press again, and the line will show the Balance for each month. You can now increase or decrease the transfer accordingly, depending on how much in debt you are willing to go. There is also an option to adjust the initial balance in case you are not starting from zero. Level 3. This is the fully automatic mode that I operate. Use to enter the mode once you have completed all the entries. From now on, the present month will always appear in the second column, leaving the previous month in case there is an outstanding payment. All future payments will be de- reconciled, and the bottom window will show the predicted balance based on the previous months total. This total is shown in bold, and can be changed if required. Once the next month arrives, everything will move one column to the left, so you continually have a prediction for 11-months ahead. SHARES If you have a shares portfolio, you can use this program to keep track of their value, and their history. 1. Select the Shares screen ( or the MENU or the Diamond key). 2. Enter a couple of example shares. () (For reasons that will become obvious, you can't use in this case). Note that the currency in use is shown on the top line, if you wish to change it, then go into the screen from a Group which has the correct Base currency. 3. The usual update, delete and move options are available, plus a new 'Update All' option (). I use this once a week to update every share at once. Try this, and then say 'Yes' to the 'Update History' question. Now select a share and press (or ) and you will see the history display. Once you start updating regularly, the values will be tabulated on the left, and a graph of performance will be drawn on the right. (While you are in this screen, you can set the X-Scale Factor () to the number of pixels/entry; use this depending on how many entries you have, and the Y- Scale factor () to the max/min values of price or, probably the best way, an automatic scaling). In this mode, you can also change the start date, if the history file starts to get a bit long. 4. This option to update the history file is also available if you update individual shares and, if you make a mistake, you can delete the last entry. If you use this module to track Unit Trusts, you can specify non-integer share numbers via the Config menu, and also, as shares are often quoted to 3 dec places, I have allowed you to overwrite the Global decimal places setting for the share price, again through the Config Menu. 5. gets you back to the Shares screen, and I suggest you now delete the history file , as this was only a demo. 6. Finally, I personally have the Shares included as a separate Account inside my Savings Group, and it is programmed to automatically update the total if I change the Shares screen. This option is offered to you if you generate a new Account in any Group with a short title called 'Shares' (or 'Stocks'). 7. Press to go back to the Accounts screen. PETROL I have included this option to keep track of my petrol consumption. Initially it was just for one car, but some of my friends asked if it could cope with more than one. It will now accept 10, which should be enough for anyone. 1. Go into the Petrol screen ( or Menu or diamond) and press to remove the warning message. Note that it defaults to Litres and Miles, if you want to use UK or US Gallons, or kilometres, press and to change the defaults, and press again to remove the messages (Sorry about those, but I have spent a great deal of time on this programme and I am keen that you should register !!). 2. Type to add the first car, calling it anything you like, although the type is probably a logical choice. 3. You can now enter the details manually, or automatically. First try a manual entry: type and fill in the details. The cost in the first screen is how much you spent. Note that in the second screen it will actually allow you to enter the total in litres or gallons, or the price per litre/gallon (but not both). It will always default to your last selection, (NOT the screen selection, as I personally like to enter the total in litres and have the screen show Miles/Gallon) If you called the screen from an account where the foreign currency option was selected, or the global foreign currency option is selected, you will also be offered a foreign currency. Put in a representative mileage for the first entry (Please Note: this is the total mileage read directly off the mileometer, NOT the mileage since you last filled up the tank). After entry, the screen will indicate the baseline entry. 4. Now type in another value, again using a logical TOTAL mileage. You should see that the spot MPG (or KPL etc) has now been evaluated, and that the average MPG is the same as the spot. (Logical, of course, because it only has 1 entry to work on. Once there are a number of entries a genuine average MPG will be calculated.) 5. This method of entering is really only for the case where you pay cash for petrol. If you pay by cheque or plastic, you can enter it automatically. To demonstrate this, press and then go into the Current Account. Enter a new transaction, making sure the description or the Remark is 'Petrol' (or 'petrol'). (If you are a USA customer, you can configure it to accept the word 'Gas', using the Terminology option in the Config menu in the main screen) After pressing you should be asked if you wish to update the History file. Press Yes, and fill in the details as before. On completion, go to the Petrol screen and you should see that it has been entered, and the MPGs/MPLs have altered accordingly. 6. Now try entering a second car () (don't worry if you don't have one, you can delete it later). The screen will now display the new car, and you can repeat a similar exercise as for the first car. If you now enter a petrol transaction into the Current Account you will see that an extra field has appeared, allowing you to specify which car the purchase relates to. For this demo use the second car. Pressing in the Petrol screen will give you the opportunity to return to the original car. 7. Finally, go back to the petrol screen, select the second car using and delete it using (and the first one as well, if you don't want to use this option). 8. Because this is a history file, I have not included an option to delete any entry except the last line, as this would wreck the 'Average MPG' calculation. Also, if you subsequently alter a Petrol transaction in the normal Account, it will NOT automatically update the Petrol history. Therefore, I have just incorporated an 'Update' option to correct any mistakes you might make. In particular, note that an entry put in out of order will NOT automatically be put in the right place. HOME CONTENTS This module is used to allow you to keep track of the value of your possessions for the purposes of insurance policies. The module is very easy to use, and simply contains details of every one of your possessions, based on a description, a value, a serial number for your electrical goodies such as the Series 3A, a room location and a category. The rooms and categories can be added, updated and deleted from their individual screens. The items can be entered either from the main room screen or from the item description screen. UTILITY MODULE (Warning - This module has not been externally tested, but it seemed a shame to leave it out. Treat it with care !!) This module is designed to allow you to keep track of those Utilities you have that are metered, ie Electricity, Water, Gas etc.. In my case I pay the bills quarterly and I like to keep track of the figures weekly, so that is how the module is designed. I have allowed for 3 different utilities to be tracked, each of which can have 2 different meteres (to allow for cheaper overnight use), I believe the use of the module is fairly obvious. Use , and to set up the 3 utilities, with titles, Standing Charges, costs for each meter and a tax\rate is applicable. I have also allowed for an initial balance setting in case you are starting mid-bill. Then, each week, you can enter the meter readings, and the display will show the weekly usage as well as a running total. Once a bill is received, this can be entered and will be deducted from the running total. (Enter the full amount of the bill, including tax and the standing charge) All the usual keys are available, plus the extra one that the right and left arrows move between the 3 utilities. Also, I have given you the option of displaying more than 1 utility at a time by setting the number of windows. In this case, although you can still enter a meter reading for any of the utilities, if you wish to amend or delete a line, the associated utility must be in the top 'Edit' screen. Finally, there is a 'Swap' facility in case you want to change the order of the utilities. This completes the Tutorial, there simply remains a list of the more advanced features you may wish to use: GENERAL. 1. By popular request, I have included a 'Quicken' Import and Export option. As it was very simple, I have also included an option to export an ASCII file, and a 'Comma Separated Variable' (CSV) option which could be loaded into any spreadsheet. Because of different ways of exporting the date field between UK and US versions of Quicken, you have to specify, during the Import/Export process, which version you are using. (USA Versions, regardless of display format, export & import dates as MM/DD/YY, UK versions use DD/MM/YY). To export, use from the Accounts screen or the Transaction screen, and fill in the required details. I believe they are all self- explanatory. To import from Quicken, select and specify whether you wish to start a new account or import into a the selected account. 2. Just to be REALLY safe, I have also provided a BACKUP and RESTORE option ( and in the Accounts screen). I think the program is safe, but then I would say that wouldn't I !! Use this option to keep a COMPLETE copy of all your data files somewhere on the system. If you lose some data and you haven't kept a backup of some description, don't expect any sympathy from me !! 3. To register, press and CAREFULLY enter the code obtainable from me (or my agent) for the registration fee. 4. I have provided information screens. Press from Main screen and from the Transactions screen. 5. After popular demand, I have incorporated a 'Look Ahead' mode . For example, on the 27th of the month, you can have a prediction of your status on the 2nd of next month when all Standing Orders and Deferred Transactions are taken into account. I have also left in the Transaction Enter/Update/Delete options, so you can do some 'what if' budgeting. In V1.4, I improved this option, so that you can either do it for all accounts in a Group (the default), or for a single account. 6. In a similar vein, I have implemented a 'Pay Bills' option - in the main screen, similar to that provided in Microsoft Money. It is very similar to the 'Look Ahead' mode, except it now gives you the option of actually actioning the Standing Order to pay it in advance. Once complete, unlike the 'Look Ahead' mode, it does NOT restore the original values, but stays with the new values. 7. When I first wrote the programme, it was obviously designed for my use. Following comments received from V1.0, many of the details have become configurable. So far, these are as follows: a. The Symbols for Cleared, Reconciled and Deferred entries can be defined. b. You can use the term 'Future Transactions' rather than 'Standing Orders'. c. The Escape key can be configured to offer a quick way of changing accounts, rather than returning to the main screen. This option is also available by using from the Transaction screen. d. I like to have 'Initial Balance' displayed in the transaction screen, but other people prefer 'Current Balance'. You can toggle between them using . e. The Terminology menu also incorporates selections for 'Check' & 'Cheque', 'Petrol' & 'Gas', and 'Shares' and 'Stocks'. 8. If anyone else has some different preferences, let me know, and I can incorporate them in V1.4 9. Note the individual Groups can be Password protected. Use from the Accounts screen. from V1.4 onwards, this password is not case- sensitive. 10. Many of the screens have a Print option. The Printer Setup menu allows you to specify page length. (Because it only outputs text, there is no necessity to specify the printer type.) It also gives you the option of outputting to an ASCII file for another word processor. 11. I have put in a separate option to allow foreign currencies to be used in the Budget screen even if they are not being used anywhere else. (This program is nothing if not flexible). 12. I've implemented a 'memo pad' feature along the same lines as that used for the 'To-Do' lists in Agenda. Simply access a Notepad using . 13. Don't forget the Help menu ( or for context sensitive help and for an Index) If I've forgotten something , please let me know.