The Business Master (3rd Edition)

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ The Business Master (3rd Edition) / The Business Master (3rd Edition).iso / files / calctors / eq / finance2.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1984-07-01 | 31.6 KB | 840 lines

Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 by John A. Mac Evoy TELEWARE (tm) 18145 Kitchen House Court Germantown, MD 20874 Bulletin Board at 301-972-2456 (300/1200 baud) Copyright (c) February 26, 1984 Page [1] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 Table of Contents ----------------- 1.0 Introduction 1.1 TELEWARE 1.2 Program Capabilities 1.3 Warranty 1.4 Hardware & Software Requirements 2.0 Operation 2.1 Getting Started 2.2 Data Entry 2.3 The Menu Structure 2.4 The Checking Account 2.4.1 Entering New Checks, Deposits, Cash Purchases, Etc. 2.4.2 Changing Entries 2.4.3 Deleting Entries 2.4.4 Balancing the Checkbook 2.4.5 Printing Budget & Checking Account Reports 2.5 Savings & Investment Accounts 2.5.1 Entering Investments and Savings Account Transactions 2.5.2 Changing Entries 2.5.3 Deleting Entries 2.5.4 Listing a Summary of Investments 2.5.5 Printing Investment Reports 2.5.6 Deleting All Entries Relating to One Investment Account 2.6 Program Utilities 2.6.1 Sorting Files by Date 2.6.2 Adding, Changing, Deleting and Displaying Investment Categories and Purchase Groups 2.6.3 Installing a New Owner's Name 2.6.4 Setting the Checking Account Minimum Balance Warning 2.6.5 Starting New Data Files 2.7 Exiting The Program 3.0 Miscellaneous 3.1 Keeping Backup Copies of Data 3.2 Making Additional Program Disks Page [2] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 TELEWARE This program is being distributed by TELEWARE, a new concept in software marketing that combines the advantages of user supported software with the distribution capabilities of the computer bulletin board. 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 either by the author or TELEWARE. If you like this program, a contribution of $30 is requested. Please mail it to: TELEWARE-1 18145 Kitchen House Court Germantown, MD 20874 Authors wishing to have their programs listed on the TELEWARE BBS should contact J. Mac Evoy at the above address, or leave a message on the BBS at 301-972-2456. 1.2 Program Capabilities The Personal Finances Manager (PFM-2), Version 2.3 is an IBM PC/XT 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-2 provides four major functions useful for controlling home finances: * A checking account program to keep track of all purchases including major cash purchases * An investment account program to track where your money is invested and how well those investments are performing; also this program provides controls for savings accounts * Budget reports that show how much was spent on any budget item such as food, movies, computer equipment, or any 99 "purchase groups" you want to scrutinize * Lists of tax-deductible purchases for coping with the IRS. The following discussion provides more detail on how each of these functions is operated. Page [3] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 1.3 Warranty PFM-2 is copyrighted by the author. Users may copy the program and give it to others but they may not: * Modify the program in any way * Sell or trade the program for any valuable consideration * Remove reference to the author and 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. They may then either pay for the software or not as they see fit. Revisions and corrections to PFM-2, if produced, will be made available on the TELEWARE BBS for general distribution. 1.4 Hardware Requirements PFM-2 is designed to run on an IBM PC or XT with at least 192 Kb RAM, one floppy disk drive and either a color graphics or monochrome capability. (A version with a small SORT routine is available on request for 128 Kb machines.) It was written with DOS 1.1-supported software and is compatible with DOS 2.0. 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. 2.0 OPERATION 2.1 Getting Started PFM-2 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, usually, but not necessarily drive A:. To load and run the program: 1. Copy the file called FINANCE2.EXE to a disk formatted as a "system" disk. Leave about 100k free for data. 2. Put the disk with the program in the default drive (usually A:). Following the DOS prompt "A>" after booting up, type FINANCE2 (For users with RAM drives, switch the default drive to that drive and type A:FINANCE2. The program looks to the default drive for its data) Page [4] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 3. After reading the opening screen, strike any key to go to the Main Menu. 4. Select option 5, "PROGRAM UTILITIES" from the Main Menu (see data entry at paragraph 2.2 for an explanation of cursor controls). 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 the PFM-2 data files. The following files, if present, will be erased: CHECKING.DAT INVEST.DAT PURGRP.DAT INVCAT.DAT 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 each menu and tell which finances 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-2 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. 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 and delete keys are 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. 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 2 | \/ Moves cursor down or to the right by one field Page [5] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 *** Don't forget that the Num Lock key changes *** *** the cursor keys into number keys on the PC *** 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. Attempt- ing 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 subtrac- tions) or numbers with punctuation other than a decimal point. A comma will make 12,543 be entered as 12. 4. On the Checking Account Transacton 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 the last check written is checked and the next check number is 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 "clutter" the reports 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 record numbers, make any changes, and they're as good as new. Page [6] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 2.3 The Menu Structure The following chart shows the relationship of all the menus: MAIN MENU SUBMENU ========= ======= | 1. Enter a New Check, etc. | 2. Change Entries 1. Checking Account ----------------| 3. Delete Entries | 4. Balance Checkbook | 4. Print Reports | 6. Go to Main 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 3. Tax Deduction List | 1. Print a Summary of Purchases | for Each Group 4. Expenditures --------------------| 2. Print a Detailed Purchase List by Group | for One Group | 3. Go to Main Menu | 1. Sort Investment File by Date | 2. Sort Checking File by Date | 3. Add/Change/Delete Investment | Categories | 4. Add/Change/Delete Purchase 5. Program Utilities ---------------| Groups | 5. Install New Owner's Name | 6. Set Checking Account Minimum | Balance Flag | 7. Start New Data Files | 8. Go to Main Menu 6. Exit the Program Page [7] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 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. 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) 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. See paragraph 2.6.2 for adding new Purchase Groups. 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. 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 2.4.5). To use any other method requires that the Type of record be specified (i.e., Check, Withdrawal, etc.) as well as at least one or more other characteristics such as the Date, $ Amount, or Check Number. Because 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. 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 subscreen to be displayed if entry of the record is attempted with a 0 or blank in the field. 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-2 balance your checkbook for you. Select option 4 from the Checking Menu to run the Balance program. There is Page [8] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 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. 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 the 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-2 account, which reflects the information you gave it (Garbage In = Garbage Out directly applies here). You may now either consider the balance complete or go back to the Checking Menu to check entries against the bank statement. 2.4.5 Printing Reports First, all reports produced by this program are on the screen. The last thing most people need is more paper floating around the house. If you need a paper copy use the keyboard print screen capability (SHIFT-PrtSc). Three different reports are available. The first is a list of all transactions in the Checking file displayed along with a running balance. The report may be limited to the transactions between any two dates. When option 5 from the Checking menu is selected, the next screen requests the begining and ending dates. Pick the dates, 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. See paragraph 2.6.4 for selecting the minimum balance level. 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. The second report is 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, all you need do is run this report for the month in question. This report is run by selecting option 4 on the Main Menu, then option 1 on the Purchases by Category Menu. The next report, also available between any two dates, lists a detailed accounting of each PURCHASE (cash or check) to occur in each purchase group. Typically you could ask, "Gee, how could I have spent $3000 on computer equipment this month?" This report will tell exactly how you did it. You may not want to look. To run this report, select option 4 on the Main Menu, then option 2 on the Purchases by Category Menu. 2.5 The Savings and Investment Accounts This section of PFM-2 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. Each one is named in the Investment Categories routine, option 3 on the Utilities Menu. PFM-2 is not an investment analyzer that computes Page [9] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 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 (that is compounded in 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. 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. 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 subscreen to be displayed if entry of the record is attempted with a 0 or blank in the field. Page [10] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 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). 2.5.5 Printing Reports Again, all reports produced by this program are on the screen. If you need a paper copy, use the keyboard 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 begining and ending dates. Pick the dates, 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 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 may also be limited to transactions occurring between any two dates as mentioned in the paragraph above. Thus if you need to know how the activity in an investment category for this month, year, or whatever, just run this report for the time period in question. 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. DO NOT SORT AN EMPTY FILE. The program can only sort 1,500 transactions in each file. This was done to keep the program arrays to a size that would run on 192k machines. This number of transactions is about 3 years' worth for most people. If you would like a >192 kb version that would sort considerably more records, send Page [11] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 me a note. Along the same lines, a program that sorts about 800 records is available to run on 128 kb machines. 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. The 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. You may specify up to 99 Purchase Groups and 99 Investment Categories. 2.6.3 Installing a New Owner's Name The Owner's Name displays at the top left corner of each menu 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-2 data disk. By naming each set of disk files you may have several different copies of PFM-2 in use at any one time, and be able to readily identify which one is in the machine at any given time. 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, restart the program when changing disks. This closes all data files and prevents the buffer from messing up the data on the new files. If you use subdirectories on one disk, exit the program to change default directories then restart the program. I'm not crazy about IBM's subdirectory methods; they slow down data access times consider- ably and increase the numbers 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. 2.6.5 Starting New Data Files PFM-2 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 re- cords (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 data files and start over. The following files, if present, will be erased: CHECKING.DAT INVEST.DAT PURGRP.DAT INVCAT.DAT Page [12] Personal Finance Manager Version 2.3 2/26/84 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 quits. There are Exit options scattered throughout the program. You may use any one at any time. 3.0 Miscellaneous 3.1 Keeping Backups After a few months you'll have sizable data files. Think about keeping an original and two backups, 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. 3.2 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. Open new data files, copy INVCAT.DAT (for investment categories) and PURGRP.DAT (for the purchase groups) to the new disk. Put a new name on the disk using option 5 in the Utilities menu. Good Luck. I've been using the program for about 10 months now with great results. I hope you find it just as useful. If you have ideas for improvements, let me know. -John Mac Evoy