Personal Bookkeeper¢ by:Richard Parker¢¢¢ Ever wonder why your checkbook¢always seems to empty long before next¢payday? Personal Bookkeeper was writ-¢ten in response to this age old ¢dilemma. It is a full featured program,¢completely menu driven and capable of¢manipulating massive amounts of data.¢A brief description of the program and¢system requirements follows:¢¢PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS:¢ 1)Any Atari computer with at least¢ 48k (program uses all of this).¢ 2)Disk Drive¢ 3)Printer (optional)¢ 4)Atari Basic¢¢¢PROGRAM FEATURES:¢ 1)Stores up to 525 checks in ¢ memory at once.¢ 2)Set your own personalized cat-¢ egories of expenditures.¢ 3)Powerful search and display¢ functions.¢ 4)Quick, up to date comparisons¢ of actual expenses to budget.¢ 5)Tax deductible flag for year¢ end reference.¢ 6)Print option.¢¢¢PROGRAM OPERATION:¢ If the above features have cap-¢tured your interest, then read on; all¢of these features are available with¢a minimal amount of data entry!!¢ Load the program from basic then¢run. The very first menu you'll see¢will look like this:¢¢ PERSONAL BOOKKEEPER¢ By Richard Parker¢¢Addition to existing check file¢New check file, maintain ytd data¢Initial use or new year¢¢Select A, N or I¢¢¢ Selecting "A" will allow you to ¢load back into memory a detail file¢created during a previous session with¢Bookkeeper. This option may be used¢until the check file is full or near¢full (remember the Atari will hold¢up to 525 checks). Option "A" is also¢useful for searching a file for a¢particular check or group of checks.¢ Selecting "N" will maintain all¢of the year to date total monthly data,¢budget categories and budget amounts,¢but will not read back into memory any¢of your individual checks. This ¢option is useful if you write more¢than 525 checks during the calendar¢year.¢ If you select either "A" or "N",¢the program will then prompt you for¢the file name to read. Don't forget¢to include the device name as in:¢D1:CHECK.DAT. After the appropriate¢information is read to memory, you'll¢then be at the main menu.¢ Selecting "I" will take you ¢directly to the prompts to establish¢your personal budget categories and¢amounts. It is a good idea to go ahead¢and decide on at least the budget¢descriptions (30 in all) as you will¢need this information before you can¢enter any check data. You can always¢come back to this function later by¢selecting Item "A" from the Main Menu.¢If you are using a printer you may¢want to enable the printer at the Main¢Menu with a "D", then come back to¢the budget setting mode so you can get¢a hard copy of all the category ¢descriptions just selected.¢¢¢ After either loading a file to¢memory or setting the budget categories¢and descriptions for the new year, you¢will be at the Main Menu which will¢appear as follows:¢¢¢********PERSONAL BOOKKEEPER********¢**************MENU*****************¢¢--------DATA INPUT MODE------------¢A..BUDGET CAT., DESC. AND AMOUNTS¢B..CHECK INPUT¢C..STORE CHECKS ON DISK¢¢----------DATA DISPLAY-------------¢D..PRINTER OPTION¢E..DISPLAY CHECKS BY CHECK #¢F..DISPLAY CHECKS BY PAYEE¢G..DISPLAY CHECKS BY AMOUNT¢H..DISPLAY CHECKS BY DATE¢I..DISPLAY BY CATEGORY¢J..TAX DISPLAY¢¢------COMPARATIVE ANALYSES---------¢K..COMPARISON OF BUDGET TO ACTUAL¢L..COMPARISON OF MONTHLY EXPENSES¢¢SELECT DESIRED OPTION:¢¢¢ A-BUDGET CATEGORIES DESCRIPTIONS¢AND AMOUNTS. This is the function in¢the program where you decide which¢are your personal categories. There¢are 30 categories in all, but you are¢not required to use all of them. Just¢tailor the categories and the budget¢to your own individual needs. After¢inputting some check data you have the¢flexibility of using this data in¢setting the budgeted dollar amounts.¢Select the option to set the budget¢using actual data at the prompt then¢specify the range of months to use¢at the next prompt. For example typing¢in 1,3 would cause the program to¢determine the average expenses for¢January through March and load this¢average in your budget field. This is¢a useful feature for financial plan-¢ning.¢ B-CHECK INPUT. This is one of the¢strongest features of the program due¢to the defaults which may be used, ¢therefore, simplifying input. After¢selecting this option you will be¢prompted to enter a default payee¢name. This default name will be used if¢you strike RETURN for a payee name¢when entering checks. We've found this¢particular default particularly time-¢saving since about 25% of our personal¢checks are written to "Kroger". After¢specifying the default name you will¢be prompted to begin entering detail¢check data.¢ CHECK #-Enter a -1 for the check¢ number to exit check input. You will¢ then be prompted to save the file ¢ you've been entering. A return for¢ the filename will take you back to¢ the Main Menu. Enter a -2 for the¢ check number if you'd like to delete¢ a previous check which is on the¢ file. Deleting a check does not¢ increase the memory available; it¢ simply deletes the check from all¢ future displays and corrects the¢ appropriate monthly totals.¢ CHECK AMT-You may enter amounts¢ either with or without the trailing¢ decimal or zeros. For example, the¢ program would interpert an entry of¢ 10 as 10.00 and an entry of 13.2 as¢ 13.20. Do not enter more than two¢ decimal places!!¢ CHECK DATE-The date must be ¢ entered in the MMDDYY format. For¢ example, 1/1/86 should be entered on¢ the screen as 10186. The date¢ controls which monthly totals the¢ check is added to so this is a very¢ important field to the operation of¢ the program. You may hit RETURN at¢ the date prompt to repeat the¢ previous date entered; a time-saver¢ if you are not that concerned with¢ the actual check date. ¢ TAX CODE-Entering a 1 for this¢ code will flag the check for the tax¢ display (Main Menu option "J").¢ Simply hit RETURN if you don't wish¢ to flag this check.¢ PAYEE NAME-Enter a RETURN to use¢ the default name which was specified¢ before you began check input. The¢ name must be 10 characters or less.¢¢¢ After entering the payee name, you¢will be prompted to begin entering the¢next check. Remember a -1 for check #¢aborts the check input routine. After¢each check is entered the program ¢displays at the bottom of the screen¢the number of additional entries which¢can be made to this file. If you ¢accidentally hit the "break" key type¢in "GOTO 1470" and you will be back¢at the Main Menu and will only have¢lost the last check you were entering.¢¢¢¢ C..STORE CHECKS ON DISK-Using this¢option will prompt you for device and¢filename. Detail check data in memory,¢monthly totals, budget descriptions¢and budgeted amounts will be recorded¢in the specified filename.¢ D..PRINTER OPTION-Sends display¢output to the printer rather than¢the screen. If you don't have a ¢printer, investigate the ATARI 1020¢printer plotter. They're extremely¢cheap (less than $30) and work fine¢with this program(just slowwwww.)¢ E--J MISC DATA DISPLAYS-Allows¢the user to search through a check¢file based on many different parameters¢Very useful feature for referencing¢a particular check or group of checks.¢Option "I" also has the capability of¢displaying the totals for a particular¢category for an entire year.¢ K..COMPARISON OF BUDGET TO ACTUAL¢The real nuts and bolts of the program.¢This shows you where you went wrong¢with your financial planning or where¢you were right!!! Display of print¢the monthly actual expenditures, the¢budget and the amount of variance.¢ L..COMPARISON OF MONTHLY EXPENSES¢Displays one month's expenditures as¢compared to another.¢¢¢¢ Hopefully, PERSONAL BOOKKEEPER ¢will prove to be of assistance to you¢and your checkbook. If there are any¢questions or comments concerning the¢program call I/O CONNECTION BBS¢(404-446-8044) operating 24 hours a¢day at both 300 and 1200 baud.¢¢Richard Parker,¢(70717,575)¢1/6/85¢¢jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
