What do you use for accounting?

Zeran · Post by **Zeran** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 10:16 pm

I'm currently using Microsoft Money Sunset (It's now free). I feel like I could get more out of it, partly because I might be being lazy.
I was wondering what do you folks use to do your accounting?

What level of detail do you go in for tracking what your are spending money on? Presently I have a few large categories. I used to log every individual item in a spreadsheet.
I guess I'm looking for some inspiration / alternative strategies, because I know I'm not at "optimal" yet.

C40 · Post by **C40** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 12:05 am

I like Excel. If you're willing to take the time to set it up (and learn excel if you're not used to it) you can do pretty much anything and everything you want with it.
There's another thread where Akratic put a version of his tracking file (a google doc's file I think) somewhere anyone can download and try it. I think it includes a transaction entry area and automatic totals in another sheet.
Here are some pictures of how I have my excel file set up.
Data entry: (I enter amounts by transactions in each cell, so I can see that detail if interested. I also often put more information in cell comments. For example, in my sales category, I list what I sold and how much I got for each item.)

Totals on another sheet.

Spreadsheet programs are nice because if you want to set up your own big data tables and modify them however you want, you can.

I've set up sheets to track my investment returns. It works very well if I'm good about keeping it updated. I have another more complicated one which includes tracking a variety of different ETFs (this one is only one - PRPFX.. numbers blurred for privacy)

And in the same file you can make your own notes lists..

And you can make whatever charts you imagine

I've tried Mint a little bit but found it too limited for my own preferences.
Some people swear by a program called You Need A Budget (www.youneedabudget.com) It is expensive ($60), but you can try it for a month for free. I'm going to try it out some time to look for ways to improve my own Excel file.

LuckyMoneyCat · Post by **LuckyMoneyCat** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 1:44 am

Zeran,
I wrote my own software in python. Basically there is a text file with each transaction and a category, python parses it, puts it in a sqlite in memory database and groups by category. The text format also supports "import somemonth"... It takes me about 15 minutes to export from my bank and categorize everything. I also just have a few simple categories.

JohnnyH · Post by **JohnnyH** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 4:18 am

Wow, nice C40... I quit tracking my spending, but once I retire I will start again.
Mint has come a long way and I think it's more than adequate if you only use cards.
I used to use clearcheckbook.com it had a simple interface for imputing transactions and categorizing them... It was a quick way to preserve the data, without really committing as you can export raw text .cvs file.

Noob · Post by **Noob** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 4:47 am

I'm with C40 on this one. I use excel. Microsoft has some really good help forums too. And with excel I can color code it so that my short attention span doesn't get distracted with too many numbers. And my accountant exports from quick books into excel and mails me my monthly statements that way too.
I use to use Money. I don't know what I was doing, but it always kept asking me to connect my account online, and I'm just not very comfortable with any software that wants constant access to my bank account. Probably just me though. I'm sure there is a way to shut it off. Still.. excel has been great to me since I figured out how to use it.

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 2:04 pm

Excel. It's much more versatile than any "personal finance" program. Just takes a little work, but not much. Any spreadsheet would work (Google Docs, etc.).

Zeran · Post by **Zeran** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:06 pm

@C40

Ooo spreadsheet porn. Thanks for the screen-shots. That is a very nice layout. The visual component on the first pic of seeing the net worth every month is a nice motivator. Also the projection of net-worth at the end showing when you'll reach retirement and FI - awesome

.
@LuckyMoneyCat

What details do you capture? And is there any additional calculating / idea you do utilizing the advantage of having written the script yourself?
I'm a programmer myself and I am somewhat tempted to write a program myself so I can do inflation adjustments to all the values.

JohnnyH · Post by **JohnnyH** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 4:57 pm

I almost prefer GoogleDocs to Excel... I know, I know it's a little clunky. But you can access it from any computer in the world and don't have to worry about installs and licenses.

LuckyMoneyCat · Post by **LuckyMoneyCat** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:15 pm

@Zeran,

just category, date, day, month, year and amount. In the start I did a bunch of diagrams based on the data. There is also a auto categorize feature based on the statement text ("food shop name" => category food). I wouldn't mind using Excel either. The core script is only 141 lines long, so it doesn't do a whole lot.

deGamba · Post by **deGamba** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:05 pm

Like the majority here I use a spreadsheet too. From the viewpoint of features and inter-operability with the rest of the world I prefer Excel but for anyone interested in the various alternative spreadsheets there is some info in the following two links.
Software:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... t_software
Online:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_on ... readsheets
Many of the solutions on the above lists are free. Note that Microsoft Office Home & Student edition (which includes Excel) costs about half of what the first list shows for Excel alone (based on current prices on Amazon).

Post by **jacob** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 4:04 am

DW uses the envelope system. I just fill my wallet with glue and spend as little as possible (why keep track when you already know you can't do any better?).
For projections, which are remarkably accuratate [in the long run, that is, +/- 3 years or so], I use a spreadsheet, but I used to use a program I had written in fortran.
I wish I had detailed logging for blogging purposes, but personally I don't find it useful.
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/wiki/ ... =Budgeting

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 4:54 am

Wow, C40--your spreadsheets are beautiful.
I use Numbers--a Mac spreadsheet program. Also, I find my journal on this site to be pretty useful for a quick reference of how my spending is improving/deteriorating.

DebtSlaveNoMore · Post by **DebtSlaveNoMore** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:00 pm

I used GNUCash. It is the free linux version of Quicken. The visualization and future projection capabilities of this tool is pretty amazing.

Jen10 · Post by **Jen10** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 4:50 am

We use an older version of Quicken (installed) that we got 10 years ago. It serves our needs. I can tell you exactly what our kids have cost us over the years. I look at it if I want to be depresssed.

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:33 am

I use PearBudget, which is basically just a spreadsheet. They have a paid version, but the free one is all I need.