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System Requirements
- Platform: Windows XP / Vista / 7, Mac OS X, Linux
- Media: CD-ROM
- Item Quantity: 1
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Product details
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Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
Product Features
Entries, Accounts and a graph are combined into a single tab in this view.
By combining Entries, Accounts and the Graph components into a single view you can see the effect your entries have instantly as you type. For example, the last transaction above shows a credit card being paid off for the month. The actual balances of the bank and credit card change in real time as you enter the amount. Everything happens automatically as you type, and that includes the graph changing too.
Database
Information on each account is recorded here.
Preset entries are used for transactions that you do regularly. For example, taking cash from an ATM machine. Once set up, you can enter a transaction with a single key press, then finish it by entering the amount. Other typical examples of preset entries are buying food and petrol/diesel.
This screenshot shows Automated Entries and the Bar Chart components combined into one panel.
Automated Entries are where you put regularly occurring transactions. This would include all Direct Debits and Standing Orders, and can also include income such as salaries, pensions, child tax credits or family allowances.
- Download bank and credit card statements (OFX and QIF)
- Convert QIF files (Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Money)
- Categorise your accounts in any way you like
- Modern intuitive spreadsheet- style interface
- Automated Direct Debits and Standing Orders
- Monthly, Quarterly and Annual Budgeting
- Graphs and Charts
- Forecasting
Manufacturer’s Description
Personal Accountz is multi platform offering a solution for all customers. You can move files from one platform to another and the software is also compatible with MacBook Air.
Personal Accountz is designed to make looking after your household accounts really simple and fast, with views into the future to help you stay in control and plan for those things you really need. Run it, enter your transactions or download bank statements from the internet, check your balances, stay in control of your money.
Personal Accountz tracks your bank, credit cards, savings and loans in the simplest possible way. You can enter all your transactions in the same window in any order so you can see exactly what you have done.
Your balances update in real time: you will always know what you have in the bank, what you have left till the end of the month, whether you will go overdrawn in the future, on what date, and by how much.
Creating the structure of your accounts is simple and with unlimited account groups and sub accounts you can see your income, expenditure and liabilities in as much or as little detail as you require.
Personal Accountz imports data (in Qif format) from MS Money and Intuit Quicken, and bank statements can be downloaded ensuring there is no quicker, easier way to manage your personal finances. Complete with user manual, context sensitive help, and electronic quick start guide. With automated direct debits and rapid data entry including our unique single key press preset entries there is no faster way to stay on top.
The price includes our legendary free forum and email support for life. Please see this link for more details: Accountz forum
Key Components
Personal Accountz can be configured in many different ways. For example, each component can be displayed in a separate tab. Alternatively all the components can be displayed in separate windows that you can re-arrange on your desktop to suit the way you work. Another way is to combine components together into single tabs. You can also have a mix of all these techniques. The following screenshots use tab mode and combine different components together in separate tabs.
Because updates happen as you enter transactions, you can see your accounts and graphs change in real time. This is what makes Personal Accountz so intuitive to use. Add a payment, for example, and see the effect immediately. No need to produce reports (although detailed monthly breakdown and analysis reports are available with just a click of the mouse).
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By combining Entries, Accounts and the Graph components into a single view you can see the effect your entries have instantly as you type. For example, the last transaction above shows a credit card being paid off for the month. The actual balances of the bank and credit card change in real time as you enter the amount. Everything happens automatically as you type, and that includes the graph changing too.
Common transactions, such as paying off a credit card can be automated in the system, so all you need to do each month is adjust the amount being paid if necessary. See below for further details of automating entries.
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Database
Information on each account is recorded here.
As well as contact information (for example your bank details, emergency telephone numbers) you can also set the forecast period for individual accounts. If you are paid at a certain date every month, you can tell the system to always forecast to that date. This will give you early warnings should your account's balance get dangerously low.
This is also the place where you can enter overdraft limits and set budgets. Other features include the ability to set the next cheque number for auto-insertion (it will then auto-increment that number for you too).
This screenshot shows preset entries combined with the calculator and another graph type.
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The calculator component lets you add up a series of numbers (cheques about to be paid into the bank for example). The beauty of this calculator is that you can see everything you have done. You can even add a description and multiple lines. It can be used as an aid to planning in this respect.
Select any account or account group and the Personal Accountz Graph will show you a different view of your accounts. The above graph is a view of income against outgoings and includes the forecast too. The Statement graph on the left is the view from the point of view of, say, your bank (i.e. it shows the result of only entries that have been reconciled with the bank).
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This screenshot shows Automated Entries and the Bar Chart components combined into one panel.
Automated Entries are where you put regularly occurring transactions. This would include all Direct Debits and Standing Orders, and can also include income such as salaries, pensions, child tax credits or family allowances.
Whether you choose to download bank statements or enter your transactions manually, this section should still be completed as it plays a vital role in forecasting your balances.
Automated entries can be set for any periods from once a day to annually (and everything in between including 4 weekly periods).
The Bar Chart components will reflect whatever accounts you want it to show. This example shows income against expenditure for each month. As you can see, there are only a few months here where expenditure was greater than income.
Reviews
Computer Shopper - Oct 2009 5 stars BEST BUY Award "Great value, easy to get to grips with and straightforward to use, this is ideal for home finances. It's a great choice for anyone who wants control over their finances, and wins the Best Buy award"
Computer Buyer - (Mar 2008 Group Test) BEST BUY AWARD
Computer Shopper - (Jan 2008 Group Test) "Personal Accountz, however, is logical, straightforward and comes with a good manual and quick-start guide.
The Independent - (5th August 2007) "take personal finance planning one step further..."
Macworld Magazine - (August 2007) "4/5 Personal Accountz provides a very visual overview of all your finances, with balances, money owing to you and bills to be paid."
Ebay Advisor magazine - (July 2007, issue 3) "If you are after a program to look after your money, there are few better than this." - Editor's Choice Award
The Sunday Telegraph - (13th May 2007) "This does everything you'd expect including planning a budget and helping you stick to it, as well as giving you an overview of your spending and assessing your net worth."
Computer Buyer - May 2007 TOP in Ease of Use comparison survey
The Daily Express - 14th March 2007 "Accounting made Simple"
About Accountz
Accountz is a British company established in 1985. It has received critical acclaim for its software from users and the press including The Times, Computer Shopper, Personal Computer World, Independent on Sunday, Computer Active.
Product Description
Personal Accountz tracks your bank, credit cards, savings, loans and
shares in the simplest possible way. You can enter all your transactions
in the same window in any order so you can see exactly what you have
done. Your balances update in real time: you will always know what you
have in the bank, what you have left till the end of the month, whether
you will go overdrawn in the future, on what date, and by how much. With
automated direct debits and rapid data entry including a unique single
key press preset entries there is no faster way to keep on top. The
price includes Accountzs legendary free forum support for life.
Specification
Minimum system requirements:
Operating system:
Mac OS X 10.3+, Windows® 2000, XP or Vista, Linux
CPU type/speed:
Mac Power PC or Intel, Windows®/Linux 1GHz CPU
Memory:
512MB RAM
Additional requirements:
CD-ROM drive
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
180 of 184 people found the following review helpful
I've used Personal Accountz for a year, and MS Money before that, and am in no doubt which I prefer. Accountz is quicker to use, and customised to fit my needs. The downside is that you have to think things out for yourself; instead of being presented with a standard template it is up to the user to decide how much detail they want. Is the most that you can realistically manage a simple breakdown of outgoings into cash, credit cards, mortgage, utilities, etc? That's fine, but if you also want to record and analyse exactly how much you and your partner are each spending on, say, alcohol, and where, you can easily include that level of detail without committing yourself to doing so for every other expenditure. If you want to be able to produce reports by payee then you can enter the payee's name; it is unlikely you will want to do so for every domestic transaction and you save enormous amounts of effort by skipping that column. If you want to be able to tell what you are spending your credit cards on then you will need to enter each transaction and allocate it to an expenditure category. The reporting function is a powerful one but depends on the variables having been input in the first place. What may have confused some reviewers is that the programme won't constantly prompt for input because it assumes that the user is omitting it by design.
It does mean investing time in deciding what you want, setting it up and understanding how the programme works, and though I haven't resorted to the support desk the help file could be better. It is not a programme for people who have no idea how to structure home accounts.
It does mean investing time in deciding what you want, setting it up and understanding how the programme works, and though I haven't resorted to the support desk the help file could be better. It is not a programme for people who have no idea how to structure home accounts.
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
It's amazing how varied are the experiences that have been reported for this product. I have used the pc version for about 3 years and it really is one of my favourite pieces of software. Really really fast data entry with real time updated balances.
It is indeed a bit different from other accounting packages - my previous experience of Quicken made me think that Accountz was a bit simple and basic when first I tried it but once you get the idea of everything being an account into which or from which money is paid, it all falls into place. For instance if you pay for petrol with a debit card the money will come from your current account in one column and into your motoring account in another column. Accounts can be set up very quickly (seconds) and just need to be identified either as a real account eg your current account or as a nominal payment eg motoring account or nominal income eg salary account. Thus your monthly pay cheque goes from the salary account and into your current account, for instance.
Data entry so very fast once you get the hang of single keystrokes - it's really a delight to use. But, like so many things you have to persevere up that learning curve - it doesn't take long, to appreciate this programme and I think it is a shame that some people bail out too early and then rubbish what is a great piece of software.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that because this looks like a spreadsheet then that's all it is. Someone a lot cleverer than I may be able to make a spreadsheet do some of the things that Accountz is capable of but believe me, this would be way beyond the average user's ability.
Would I go back to Quicken? No way!! I don't miss the fancy bells and whistles one bit. This programme does everything that I need and much better and reliably. I have never had one instance of corrupted or lost data. Reports are instantaneous and very flexible. Forcasts there for the asking. Graphs - well no - you need to take one minute to export to Excel if that's important.
One of the most helpful bits about the programme is the facility for forecasting your balance say, one month ahead. This alone has saved me the cost of the programme by avoiding bank charges.
It is indeed a bit different from other accounting packages - my previous experience of Quicken made me think that Accountz was a bit simple and basic when first I tried it but once you get the idea of everything being an account into which or from which money is paid, it all falls into place. For instance if you pay for petrol with a debit card the money will come from your current account in one column and into your motoring account in another column. Accounts can be set up very quickly (seconds) and just need to be identified either as a real account eg your current account or as a nominal payment eg motoring account or nominal income eg salary account. Thus your monthly pay cheque goes from the salary account and into your current account, for instance.
Data entry so very fast once you get the hang of single keystrokes - it's really a delight to use. But, like so many things you have to persevere up that learning curve - it doesn't take long, to appreciate this programme and I think it is a shame that some people bail out too early and then rubbish what is a great piece of software.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that because this looks like a spreadsheet then that's all it is. Someone a lot cleverer than I may be able to make a spreadsheet do some of the things that Accountz is capable of but believe me, this would be way beyond the average user's ability.
Would I go back to Quicken? No way!! I don't miss the fancy bells and whistles one bit. This programme does everything that I need and much better and reliably. I have never had one instance of corrupted or lost data. Reports are instantaneous and very flexible. Forcasts there for the asking. Graphs - well no - you need to take one minute to export to Excel if that's important.
One of the most helpful bits about the programme is the facility for forecasting your balance say, one month ahead. This alone has saved me the cost of the programme by avoiding bank charges.
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
After I recently ditched the PC in favour of a Mac I found the one application I missed more than anything was MS Money. Mac users are not exactly spoiled for choice when it comes to good, reasonably priced personal finance applications so I settled for Personal Accountz (PAZ).
Whilst PAZ does the job it is meant to do more than adequately it is not on par with, say, MS Money. The user interface in MS Money is far more intuitive than that of PAZ, and PAZ looks and behaves much more like a double entry bookkeeping system. As an accountant this isn't really a problem, but I can see that for some this may be a bit baffling at first.
Some basic set-up work is required before you can start using PAZ. But you can start with just two accounts (e.g. a bank account and an expenses account) and add to the list of accounts as you go along. So you could be up and running in no time - especially as setting up new accounts isn't all that difficult.
One area where PAZ is way ahead of e.g. MS Money is the way your accounts can be set up exactly the way you want them, and should you wish to do so you can effectively create your own P&L and Balance Sheet type lay-out. Similarly, you can set any number of groups of accounts with several levels of sub-groups which can be rolled up and summarised at the click of a button.
As I said, Mac users don't have much of a choice in this area - especially after Intuit stopped supporting Quicken for Mac in the UK - so Personal Accountz is probably the best of an average lot, and let's face it, it isn't a bad piece of software. PC users should either go for the more user friendly MS Money, or - if you're after a proper ledger system - something like MYOB or SAGE.
Whilst PAZ does the job it is meant to do more than adequately it is not on par with, say, MS Money. The user interface in MS Money is far more intuitive than that of PAZ, and PAZ looks and behaves much more like a double entry bookkeeping system. As an accountant this isn't really a problem, but I can see that for some this may be a bit baffling at first.
Some basic set-up work is required before you can start using PAZ. But you can start with just two accounts (e.g. a bank account and an expenses account) and add to the list of accounts as you go along. So you could be up and running in no time - especially as setting up new accounts isn't all that difficult.
One area where PAZ is way ahead of e.g. MS Money is the way your accounts can be set up exactly the way you want them, and should you wish to do so you can effectively create your own P&L and Balance Sheet type lay-out. Similarly, you can set any number of groups of accounts with several levels of sub-groups which can be rolled up and summarised at the click of a button.
As I said, Mac users don't have much of a choice in this area - especially after Intuit stopped supporting Quicken for Mac in the UK - so Personal Accountz is probably the best of an average lot, and let's face it, it isn't a bad piece of software. PC users should either go for the more user friendly MS Money, or - if you're after a proper ledger system - something like MYOB or SAGE.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really pleased
Took a little time to set up all of what I wanted, but well worth it. No problem in contacting Accountz.com when required.
Published 2 months ago by Rothesay Duo
4.0 out of 5 stars
Personal Accountz - rock solid & easy to use
I have used many different account packages over the years (MS Money, Ace Money, BankTree, GNUCash etc), but this is the best for me. Read more
Published 9 months ago by DHB1
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good programme
Having been using this programme for a couple of weeks now, I have to say that I am getting better! The inputting of data is a bit different to other finance packages I have used,... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Danny25
1.0 out of 5 stars
9 months experiencing Accountz is enough
I have worked daily with Accountz for the last 9 months and I will be glad to change to something different. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Gourmet Gardens
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stick with this one
If looking for a personal accounts package and can't decide whether to buy this version or the new 'super douper' Home Accoutz - STICK WITH THIS ONE. Read more
Published 18 months ago by J. Cox
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth using even if it's free
Having used Quicken for many years, and Microsoft Money before that, I despair to find personal accounts software for my Mac. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Rose Hobwin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great product
Replaced my Quicken accounting software with this. Does everything it says on the tin! Very pleased with it. A bit of trouble getting used to it, but am now quite familiar with it. Read more
Published 20 months ago by S. Klee
1.0 out of 5 stars
Buy US Quicken Instead!
There are no decent UK home finance programs. The answer is to go to Amazon dot com and buy the US version of Quicken Deluxe. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Tony Fisher
4.0 out of 5 stars
Personal Accountz
I apologise, but I am in the process of transferring files to a new computer, and it will be a little time before I can use this item. Read more
Published 22 months ago by D. Davies
3.0 out of 5 stars
Personal Accounts
I was a little disappointed with this programme, I did not find it as user friendly as was reported. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Icky
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