How to install accounting software on your home computer. Home Accounting Lite: Control Personal Finances Free

Where did all the salary go? Who is to blame for money slipping through our fingers? How to get your personal finances in order? If you, like me, are concerned about these issues, it’s time to become your own accountant.

No, we will not study balances and holdings; we do not need to master reversal entries and currency clearing. Today's review includes 3 free programs for home accounting. All of them are intended for those who, like me, have absolutely no understanding of economics.

AceMoney Lite

– the “little brother” of a comprehensive personal finance management tool – the paid AceMoney application. Unlike the full version, Lite allows you to manage only two accounts, but for many of us this is enough.

An account in IceMoney is not only a bank card and a savings book, but also a collection of cash belonging to a family or one person.

Application features

• Management of personal cash flows in currencies of 150 countries.
• Track currency exchange rates in real time.
• Budget distribution for various needs: the application contains more than a hundred different expense items.
• Tracking regular income and expenses (salaries, rent payments, loan payments, replenishing your phone balance, etc.).
• Calculating expenses for specific purposes over a certain period of time. A couple of clicks and you will find out how much you spend monthly on groceries, how much on gasoline, etc.
• Generating reports on accounts, categories and correspondents (recipients of payments from you and those from whom you receive them).
• Export reports to Excel and html formats.
• Receiving information about the status of a bank account directly from the bank.
• Tracking the value of stock shares - for those who.
• Calculation of savings, debts, mortgages.
• Control using hot keys.
• Flexible settings, enabling or disabling individual elements and much more.

The program has a Russian-language reference manual plus on the developer’s website.

How to use AceMoney Lite

Working with AceMoney Lite begins with creating an account. To do this, click the button of the same name on the top panel and click “ Add account" We will indicate its name, group (for example, bank deposit, cash or loan), number (if any), bank name, interest rate, currency and other data that you need.

Next, enter information about replenishments and: click on its name and select “ New transaction"(record about an incoming or outgoing transaction). In the window " Transaction» We note its type (income, expense, transfer), correspondent, category (what you spent on - select from the list or write manually), date, number, amount and comment.

While in the same section, you can download transactions directly from the bank’s server, if the latter provides such services. You can balance multiple transactions.

Recurring transactions (salaries and regular payments) are added to the program through the “ Schedule" Click on the button “ Add payment"and indicate the parameters - frequency, duration, type (income, expense, transfer), source, correspondent, category, amount, etc. Regular transactions will be included in the list of transactions automatically.

The distribution of finances for various needs (budget) is made in the section “ Categories" Here we can select several predefined income and expense items (refueling the car, spending on food, etc.) or add our own. When creating and editing a category, you can set a different budget period, indicate expected income and expenses, as well as a limit.

In general, AceMoney Lite copes with its tasks very well. Users note that thanks to the program they were able to reduce monthly expenses by 10-30% and finally understand where the money goes. It has only one drawback, more precisely, the current version - 4.36: writing categories in English.

AbilityCash

At first glance, the program seems incomprehensible and unfriendly - the windows are nondescript and half-empty, there are no explanations, no help (not written yet). But if you spend 15-20 minutes studying, a lot of its advantages will open up. Many of those who have mastered AbilityCash consider it more convenient than AceMoney, and generally one of the best free programs for home accounting.

Key features of AbilityCash

• Creation of invoices without restrictions on quantity and in different currencies.
• Tree structure of income and expense items (you can add as many subcategories as you need).
• Import and export of data in xml and Excel formats.
• Download current exchange rates (optional).
• Drawing up and printing reports on exchange rates, fund balances and turnover dynamics.
• View transactions by income and expense items for a selected period of time.
• Support for Ukrainian and Lithuanian languages ​​(selected during installation).

The following options are disabled by default:

• Tree structure and additional charts of accounts.
• Budget period in operations.
• Fields "Price", "Quantity" and "Time" in the list of transactions.
• Several note fields that you can give your own name.

To activate any of this, go to the menu " File" and click " Data File Settings».

How to use

Using AbilityCash, like AceMoney, begins with creating accounts and indicating the current cash balances on them. To do this, open the first tab and press the “ Insert" In the window, enter the name of the account, select the currency and indicate the balance.

By default, AbilityCash has only one currency - Russian ruble. To install additional ones, press Ctrl+R and download the latest data from the website of the Central Bank of Russia. In the last window, select the currencies you want to display in the application.

To the section " Operations"(similar to AceMoney transactions) information about specific purchases, payments, receipts and transfers of money between accounts is entered.

To get summary data on the state of finances or exchange rates, open the tab " Reports».

AbilityCash is without a doubt a worthy tool for accounting for personal funds. And it would be even better with context-sensitive help, which the developers don't seem to remember, and a more user-friendly interface. However, there is a short version on the official website. There is also a place where you can ask a question if something is unclear, or report a problem.

Economy

The “” program is perhaps intended for those who are completely unfamiliar with accounting science and for whom the concepts of “transaction” and “investment” evoke deep melancholy. There is no scientific terminology in it and everything is so simple and clear that both a child of 10-12 years old and a person of advanced age can use it. The only limitation of the free version is that the total monthly income is no more than 14,000 rubles.

Application features

• Creation of any number of accounts and accounts, including currency ones.
• Maintaining records in the currencies of several countries.
• Separate items of expenses, income and debts for each user.
• Reminder function for regular payments and overdue loan (debt) payments.
• Creation of reports on several categories: fund balances, income over a period of time, debts and loans, expenses of each user for a given time period, income minus expenses.
• Filtering data for viewing.
• Automatic backup.
• Built-in Russian-language help.
• Go from the main menu to the developer's website.

To quickly master the program, you can download a demo file immediately after installation. It contains an example of budgeting for a family of two people.

How to use

First, let's create a user and link all his accounts to the account:

Programs for reporting income to the home budget.

↓ New in the "Home Accounting" category:

Free
Auto-Manager 1.2.9.1 is an application that allows you to keep records of fuel costs, as well as vehicle repairs and servicing, insurance, and more. The Auto-Manager application will be useful both for car enthusiasts themselves and for small companies with a fleet of vehicles.

Free
Family Budget 3.1.0.3 Lite is a program for accounting for your own finances. The Family Budget program will help you keep track of your income and expenses so you can choose saving options.

Free
Your money 2.3.0.7 is a free system for accounting for personal funds. The "Own Money" program is one of the best programs for managing your finances, as it has the ability to completely control each of your accounts.

Free
DomFin - accounting for home 3.0.0.28 is a simple application for family accounting and budget planning. The DomFin - accounting for home program is quickly mastered by any user and has the ability to work via a local network.

Free
Home Economics 3.75 is a program for managing your personal finances, with the ability to plan a family budget. The Home Economics program will help you not only control your funds, but also achieve significant financial results much faster.

Free
Home accounting DaReManager 1.0 is a free program that will carry out simple accounting for household income or expenses. The “Home Accounting DaReManager” program is quite simple and convenient and is designed as a Microsoft Excel document.

Free
Home Accounting 5.1.58 is a program for keeping records of the family budget. The “Home Accounting” program will help you keep track of personal finances and the finances of the whole family, and can also be used for accounting in a small company.

Free
Home Finance Free 1.0.9 is a simple, attractive and free home accounting program. The Home Finance program can create several accounts (main, passbook, stash and others) for any currencies.

Free
Xenon Family Budget 2.5 will help any family correctly distribute the family budget with the ability to sort purchases and payments for greater savings. There will be no more questions about where the money you earned went, all purchases are strictly recorded in the program with the ability to calculate all costs and select unnecessary expenses.

Last update: 02/17/2019

The purpose of all home accounting programs– simplify the accounting of income and expenses.

The program user can set more specific goals: tracking savings, monitoring timely payment of loan payments, etc.

Some programs are specifically designed to help the user set and achieve financial goals.

When choosing a personal finance accounting program, you need to pay attention to two main criteria:

• functionality;
• program manufacturer.

Home accounting software features include:

• creating reports on income and expenses, on the dynamics of the balance of funds, accounting for different accounts;
• loan and deposit calculator;
• budget planning, calendar of future expenses.

The following options will be useful:

• fast transaction entry;
• recognition of SMS from the bank;
• multiplayer mode;
• synchronization of mobile and computer versions.

Among the software producers there are both beginners and developers with more than 10 years of experience.

Below we will consider 10 options for managing a family budget in 2019.

Excel spreadsheet for maintaining a family budget

Entering data into a spreadsheet is the first step from calculating in a notepad to modernizing family budgeting. Excel has ready-made templates for maintaining estimates of income and expenses, but you can download a more convenient template on the Internet or build your own table.

Advantages of an Excel spreadsheet for keeping track of family expenses

• No installation of additional software is required - work is done in a program from the standard MS Office set or free analogues;
• The ability to independently determine the components of accounting - categories of income and expenses, family members;
• All family members can use the program;
• You can store a data file on a USB drive and have access to accounting from any computer.

Disadvantages of an Excel spreadsheet for controlling family spending

• There is no special interface for the family budget - pictures for categories, options for categories of income and expenses;
• You can only work from a computer or laptop; there is no synchronization between different PCs (although you can configure it using any cloud storage if you wish).

An alternative to an Excel spreadsheet is Google Sheets

Google Sheets is part of the Google Drive service. You will need to create an account once and then you can use all the features.

Advantages:

• can be used for free - this is a significant plus, because we talk about saving money in the family;
• There is synchronization via the Internet + you can install the application on your phone.

Personal Finances

The program, formerly known as Personal Finances and now called Azlex Finance, has been around since 2006 and is constantly being improved.

Advantages of Azlex Finance / Personal Finances

• Possibility of accounting by several users. Each family member can create their own personal account with their own password and the ability to hide some transactions from other family members;
• There are versions for iOS and Android with synchronization of mobile and computer versions via the Internet. You can enter information directly in the store from your phone so you don’t forget anything;
• Convenient, quick transaction entry;
• Ability to edit spending categories, family composition, contractors;
• Convenient creation of reports on spending categories, accounts, family members, the ability to view financial dynamics;
• The presence of a planner that allows you to reflect future and regular expenses in the calendar;
• Nice design with the ability to assign icons to expense categories.

Disadvantages of Azlex Finance/Personal Finances

• Not all features are available in the free version;
• The program is very detailed, which requires time to familiarize yourself with all the features.

Review of Easyfinance.ru

EasyFinance Ltd has been operating since 2009 and offers paid applications for iPhone and Android or free family budgeting directly on the website. There is no version for computer available.

There are 3 tariffs with different functionality.

Advantages of easyfinance.ru

• Availability of the main functions of the budget program - reports, schedules, planning;
• The entire amount of funds for the month is shown in the form of a tachometer, where the arrow indicates the amount of money at the moment. It’s convenient to monitor expenses and avoid falling into the red zone;
• Possibility of linking a bank card to an account (not for all banks). When paying for goods and services with a card, the transaction will be automatically entered into the program, and you will not have to waste time entering it manually;
• The program specifically places an emphasis on long-term planning, which allows you to save about 15% of your income for major expenses and dreams;
• Availability of a calendar with reminders about the need to make regular payments;
• The program monitors the financial situation in the country and offers profitable solutions for opening deposits and loans.

Disadvantages of easyfinance.ru

• The free version only works on the website. Not everyone wants to post all the information about their income on the Internet, although the site is protected;
• Paid versions are presented in the form of various tariffs from 99 to 250 rubles per month.
• There is no multi-user interface - the program is focused on personal, not family finances.

Review of Drebedengi.ru

Another online service operating since 2007. Presented as a computer program and mobile applications in free and paid versions.

Paid once a year at a rate of 599 rubles.

Advantages of www.drebedengi.ru

• Availability of multi-user mode;
• Availability of applications for computer, Android, iOS, Windows Phone and the ability to synchronize data on different devices;
• Availability of a planner, reports, tracking the dynamics of balances;
• Possibility of processing bank SMS by the program for automatic entry of transactions;
• Shopping list function. You can make a list in the program before going to the store. It’s convenient that different users can make a list and make purchases - a wife can make a list on a computer from home, and a husband can see it on his mobile while in a store - and there’s no need to dictate anything over the phone;
• Data backup by sending backups by email;
• Nice minimalistic design with images assigned to categories.

Disadvantages www.drebedengi.ru

• The free version has a minimum of features: no multi-user mode and synchronization, no budget planning, no report templates.
• The free version also contains advertising.
• In fact, the free version only allows you to record transactions.

Mybudget.ws

A relatively young service, operating since 2013. Offers home accounting on a computer, tablet, phone through the website. There is a free trial version and two paid plans - 249 and 299 rubles per year.

Advantages of mybudget.ws

• Keeping records of several accounts: cash, cards, savings;
• Availability of synchronized computer and mobile versions;
• Convenient creation of reports in the form of graphs and tables;
• Financial goal. The program helps you set goals and move towards their implementation;
• Ability to assign labels to categories.

Disadvantages of mybudget.ws

• Lack of multi-user interface;
• Poor features of the free version.

Zenmoney.ru

Zen Money is a free online service that has been operating since 2010. There is a mobile version, which is sold on Google Play for 590 rubles.

Advantages of zenmoney.ru

• Multiplayer mode;
• Mobile and computer versions with synchronization;
• The mobile version has a function for recognizing bank SMS. When an SMS from the bank arrives on your smartphone, the program automatically reads the purchase information and enters the data into the desired category - no need to waste time manually entering information;
• There are many opportunities for financial analysis, there are various tables and graphs, comparison of income and expenses by period.

Disadvantages of zenmoney.ru

• There are errors with data synchronization;
• Not everyone will like the minimalist design without category labels.

Internet banking

Some banks offer financial accounting as part of the Internet Banking service.

Advantages of accounting via Internet banking

• All transactions are entered automatically when paying for the transaction by card - you do not need to create transactions yourself, nothing will be forgotten;
• The data is stored on the bank's server - it will not be lost, and you can always access it from any device.

Disadvantages of Internet banking

• It is not possible to enter expenses in cash;
• No multiplayer mode;
• Few functions for budget analysis and planning.
• In the long term, it is problematic to obtain all the cost statistics.

Rating leaders - who is the best in 2019?

Let’s summarize what program or service will be most convenient for keeping track of your family budget/personal finances.

1. Personal Finances programs (1st place)
2. Home economics (2nd place).
3. Google Sheets (if used instead of Excel), then third place.

You also need to consider that these assessments for some items may change over time and are subjective. If you notice an inaccuracy, you know a good program/service, then write in the comments, I will definitely add it.

It would also be interesting to know alternative options for keeping family money records. Write below in the comments.

Maintaining home accounting is a responsible matter. Controlling expenses is always beneficial because we consciously strive to eliminate unnecessary expenses. Your financial stability will depend on the choice of tool for home accounting. If you are not lazy and take money accounting seriously, the results will surprise you - you will spend less.

If you ask people what their monthly expenses are, for example, on food, very few will be able to answer this question. If you have a tool for tracking expenses, you will be able to find “black holes” in your budget into which money is “flowing.” Many families don't realize that cutting down on unnecessary expenses can result in significant savings.

In this review, we present the results of testing five programs for home accounting. All these programs run on Windows OS. Each application was installed on a computer and tested according to several parameters. As a result, we were able to determine the best program.

Housekeeper – personal finance accounting

Poll: Have you done home accounting before?

Home Accounting Program

Immediately after installing the program, the “Home Accounting” setup wizard appears - you are prompted to add users, select base currencies and add accounts.

In the “accounts” section, the user enters all his accounts, for example, bank account, cash, Visa card, etc. You need to fill out this section first, because when adding expenses, the program must deduct funds from an existing account.

Adding expense transactions is simple - under the table, click the “add” button and in the new window indicate: the date of the transaction, the account to write off funds, category and subcategory, as well as the amount of the expense.

The "expenses" section has several useful additions - an area with parameters for filtering the table, as well as an area with total expenses for the day, week, month and for all time. You can filter the table with expenses by clicking on the column headings. For example, if you click on the “amount” column, the table will be sorted by amount (descending or ascending). With the “income” section, you can perform all the described actions, only the amounts of money will not be debited from accounts, but rather credited.

Now let's look at the most important section of the program - reports. The section has several types of reports: expenses/income, grouping by dates, account balances, planning, currency exchange rate dynamics. After clicking the “build report” button (bottom right), we receive information in tabular form. It is also possible to obtain a report in the form of a diagram. For example, we need a monthly report by expense category. Procedure: diagram – expenses – categories – rubles.

The reporting section is not without its shortcomings. An inexperienced user will find it difficult to understand the construction of reports. Customizing the display of the chart itself is also complex. For example, if you want each expense category to be indicated as a percentage, then you should do the following operation: settings (pie chart) - sectors - sector labels - percentages on the right.

To make it easier to customize the appearance of the diagram, the developer could call the context menu (when right-clicking on the diagram), indicating all possible options for displaying sectors there. It is not yet possible to set the category color (in the category settings section). The color can be set directly on the diagram sector, but the next time it is plotted, the color will be replaced by another. It feels like the colors in the diagram were chosen arbitrarily. Visibility suffers from this, because it is convenient for the user when each category has its own color assigned. For example, green is car-related expenses; red – “food”, blue – “entertainment”.

Another important section in the Home Accounting program is the “budget of expenses and income.” This is where future expenses and income are planned. For example, you planned food expenses at 10,000 rubles per month. In the “budget” section you can monitor your food expenses. The program will show you the percentage of budget completion, as well as the difference between planned and current expenses. If you spent 12,000 rubles on groceries (the plan was 10,000 rubles), then the program will record the overspending and show the difference of 2,000 rubles. It is convenient to use the budget planning function when you approximately know the amount of monthly expenses for the selected category. This function will also be convenient for savings - knowing your income and planning your expenses, you can approximately calculate the amount accumulated for the year.

Conclusion. Downloading and installing the program is easy. The initial setup (users and accounts) is also simple. The program interface cannot be called user-friendly, although the declared functionality works without failures and at normal speed. The reporting system is quite intricate, although it is informative. In our opinion, the program is suitable for advanced users who are not afraid of difficulties and are willing to devote some time to studying the program. The cost of the program ranges from 990 to 1490 rubles.

Home Finance (professional edition)

iControlMyMoney (money manager)

My money – AbilityCash

After installation, the AbilityCash program icon did not appear on the desktop - I had to look for it in the Start menu. There is no demo database, the categories of expenses and income are not filled in. There is only one default account, and that one is empty. It is immediately clear that the program developer loves cleanliness in all its manifestations - from the interface to the database.

Let's start adding expense and income categories. Go to the “items” tab, click the right button in the “all expense items” line and select the “add” menu item. In a new window, enter the name of the category, for example, “food”. We fill out income items in the same way.

In the “accounts” section, you can add new accounts, for example, “bank account” and “stash”. To enter the initial account balance, you need to click the right button, select the “change” menu and enter the desired amount.

After setting up accounts and expense items, you can begin adding expense transactions. Open the “transactions” tab, click “add” and fill in the following positions in the new window: transaction type – expense, select the expense account – cash, indicate the expense item and enter the amount.

Based on the entered data, we will create an expense report. On the “reports” tab, indicate the “turnover” report type, set the reporting period, select accounts, in the “account transactions” section, leave a checkmark only for the “expense” item and indicate “all expense items” in the “item” section.

As a result, we get a pie chart and a table with the cost structure. The diagram contains little useful information, but the table reflects all expense transactions for the specified period.

This completes the functionality of the AbilityCash program. The application does not know how to work with debts or plan a budget.

Conclusion. You can entrust your home accounting to the program only as a last resort - when there are no other options. The main and only advantage of the program is the fact that it is free. The functionality of AbilityCash is only enough to track income and expenses. The simple interface and meager reporting capabilities do not allow the application to stand on the same line as similar programs for home accounting.

Sometimes you just don’t understand where the money is going and where it’s coming from. And sometimes dealing with this problem is not easy. Moreover, many people have loans and don’t want to constantly think about them, so as not to miss the deadline for paying the next installment.

There are two main options here:

• Use Microsoft Excel and write expenses and income there. In theory, a very simple and convenient option. But in practice it is very inconvenient, especially when you need to draw up some kind of report, for example, monthly expenses for housing throughout the year. Everything has to be done manually. However, for greater clarity, I use this method. Although, if I change the program for home accounting, then I don’t have to use this option.
• Use a special Internet service. Great option. You can access your accounting from any device: computer or smartphone. There are some disadvantages: such services have problems with data protection, and there is always a risk that someone will hack your account and find out everything about your financial condition. Yes, you need a constant Internet connection. And this costs money, especially for mobile devices: smartphones and tablets.
• Use a special home accounting program for these purposes. At the moment the most ideal option. It is very easy to create reports and there are no problems with data protection.

Now let's take a closer look at the last option. And such software is divided into two large groups:

• for home user. Everything there is optimized for maintaining a home budget. Most often, such software is free and it mainly has the following functions: accounting for expenses and income, working with debts. In principle, nothing else is needed for the home budget. I myself use a similar program. And I'm happy with everything. Among them there are also paid ones that support online banking, but here the issue of security arises. I myself don’t really trust such programs. Although even if you are hacked, they will not be able to transfer money from your account. The best programs for this are DomFin, Home Accounting, AceMoney Lite, MyMoney, Family Accounting and Zhadyuga.
• for running a family business. There is already a large set of different reports, and work with a large number of different accounts. But again, such software is far from professional accounting. But for running a small business, the simplified taxation scheme is quite enough. Such programs also have various additional features: debt payment reminders, exchange rates, and so on. Such accounting software is mostly paid, but there are also free options with maximum monthly income. This is software such as MoneyTracker and CashFly.