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******************************************************************** ******************************************************************** ** ** ** H O M E B U D G E T M A N A G E M E N T S Y S T E M ** ** ** ** Version 3.0 December 1987 ** ** ** ******************************************************************** ******************************************************************** Table of Contents page ___________________________________________________ ABOUT SHAREWARE ......................... 1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS & LIMITATIONS........ 2 OVERVIEW................................. 3 CONVENTIONS.............................. 4 SAMPLE DATA ............................. 5 SETTING UP YOUR OWN SYSTEM............... 6 MAIN MENU: (detailed descriptions) *----------------------------------------------* | | | INITIALIZING THE SYSTEM .............. 7 | | | | ACCOUNT MAINTENANCE .................. 8 | | | | BUDGET ASSIGNMENT .................... 10 | | | | LEDGER POSTING ....................... 11 | | | | MANAGE CHECKBOOK ..................... 14 | | | | REPORTS (screen) ..................... 15 | | | | PRINTED REPORTS ...................... 16 | | | | FILE EXPORT .......................... 17 | | | | CLOSE/OPEN MONTH ..................... 17 | | | | SAVE DATA ............................ 17 | *----------------------------------------------* TIPS and SHORTCUTS ..................... 18 FOR USERS of OLDER VERSIONS ............ 20 ABOUT SHAREWARE -------------------- HBMS is being distributed under the ShareWare concept. This does not mean it is a free program. While you may give the program to others and try it out for free, you are expected to contribute a $25.00 registration fee if you continue to use it. Registration not only keeps you abreast of updates, but encourages authors to create and maintain quality software. There are two different ways you can obtain the latest copy of HBMS (including the conversion program if you register). Either send me a blank 5 1/4 floppy in a POSTAGE PAID re-usable mailer, or you can send an extra $5.00 in addition to the registration fee, I will provide the floppy in a mailer that you can use for future updates. For those of you with modems, you can download HBMS directly from my computer. Please call first to set up an appointment. I don't run a bulletin board, but I can set up my communications program in a host mode (300/1200/2400 baud). Registered users will be notified of major updates, such as version 3.0. However you should also be able to find the latest version of HBMS listed on the GENIE information network and possibly CompuServe in the future. Please share HBMS with others. You may give it away for free, but please make sure that the package is complete and includes all the files listed on the next page. All comments, suggestions, and contributions are welcome. WARRANTY The Home Budget Management System (HBMS), is supplied AS IS. There is no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied. I shall not be held liable for any damages, whether direct or indirect, from a failure of this program to operate in the manor desired by the user. Brentson Worrell 6404 Mornay Dr. Tampa, FL 33615 (813) 886-2282 - 1 - SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS IBM PC, or compatible DOS 2.0 or later 256K RAM 1 disk drive Printer recommended, but full screen reports available Printer should be capable of printing 132 columns, such as a dot matrix printer using a condensed font (17 characters per inch). LIMITATIONS 254 accounts (38 per category) 38 categories 12 checking accounts 1140 Ledger Transactions total per month. 800 Ledger Transactions of one account per month (if you find you need more transactions per month, contact author) This program is being distributed in an "ARC" file format named HBMS30.ARC. The following files should be included: README.DOC text file HBMS.DOC documentation UPDATE.HST update history (old, new, and future changes) HBMS.COM program HBMS.000 program overlay CATS.84 sample data file ACCOUNTS.84 sample data file LEDGR-4.84 sample data file HCONVERT.EXE Conversion Program for data created from versions before 3.0 (supplied to registered users only) - 2 - OVERVIEW ----------- Have you ever said: "Where did all the money go?". Most of us have of course, but if you kept track of it you would know where it went, and how to handle it better in the future. Financial record-keeping is the way to go, but it's a prime target for procrastination. HBMS was created to help make this task as painless as possible. Detailed use of HBMS is covered elsewhere in this document but basically you must first decide what types of financial transactions you want to keep track of. In most cases this will be everything, so you can gain a true financial picture. These transactions will fall into four "Money Groups": INCOME, EXPENSES, ASSETS, and LIABILITIES. Each money group is split further into CATEGORIES, and finally into ACCOUNTS. These CATEGORIES and ACCOUNTS will be created and named by you. You will be "designing" your own CHART of ACCOUNTS. When working with these CATEGORIES and ACCOUNTS you will refer to them by a code name, also created by you, which consists of up to four letters. Code names are much easier to remember than numbers. All transactions are entered into ACCOUNTS. After creating your Chart of Accounts it becomes a simple matter of recording your transactions. This is done in the Ledger Posting section. HBMS is based on a double entry ledger system. This concept is explained in more detail later in this document and it's easier than it sounds. HBMS is fast, easy, and flexible. You may want to use it as a reference on your entire financial position, or just use it as a check register. It's easy to keep accurate and complete records of all your financial transactions. With faithful record keeping and a carefully designed Chart of Accounts, you will be rewarded with a variety of useful and informative reports. They can help you decide how to manage your money. These figures can also be very welcome when tax time arrives! All this data can be readily viewed on screen, or printed in formatted statements. If you are not clear on any concept, see how it is handled in the sample data. - 3 - PROGRAM CONVENTIONS ------------------------ 1. HBMS consists of two program files, HBMS.COM and it's overlay file HBMS.000. These two files must reside on the default drive. HBMS creates the following files: PRINTER .HBM optionally created printer driver CATS .yr category names ACCOUNTS.yr account names and all data LEDGR-m .yr ledger file for each month (yr = Year of data, m = month) You might want to keep these data files on a separate disk. You should be able to fit an entire year of data on one disk, or maybe have individual disks for separate budgets. In any case, when the free space gets below 20K, HBMS will warn you. 2. HBMS is set up to take advantage of a color monitor, but will recognize and adjust to monochrome. If you are unhappy with the colors on a color monitor, or the shades of gray on some monochrome monitors, use the DOS command <MODE BW80> before starting HBMS. 3. Make sure that the system date and time are set properly. HBMS uses this date to prompt you for the year of data to load, and also dates all printouts. 4. To run the program type HBMS followed by the drive\path specification for your data files. If your data files will reside on the program disk, or in the program subdirectory, leave off the drive\path specification. example-> HBMS <ENTER> or HBMS b: <ENTER> or HBMS b:\data\ <ENTER> If you are specifying a subdirectory, the ending backslash "\" is required. You might want to create a batch file if you have a long drive\path specification. 5. Throughout the program when you are prompted to enter data, you will see a field in reverse video. Your data, be it an account code, name, description, etc will be limited to the length of this field. While in this field, a full array of editing keys are available: <INSERT> <DELETE> <RIGHT ARROW> <LEFT ARROW> <HOME> <END> <BACKSPACE> <TABS> <ESC> - 4 - 6. The <ESC> key needs further mention. It is used to erase all data in a field. In most cases, entering a null value in response to a prompt will cancel the current mode and return you to a menu. You will be reminded on line 25 when this ESCape option is available. 7. In most parts of the program you will need to supply a code for the account you are interested in. If you can't remember the code you assigned to the account, hit the F1 key and you will be able to browse through your Chart of Accounts on screen. When you first access this CODE-HELP feature, the four money groups will pop up on the top of screen and the highlighted one will have it's associated Categories displayed underneath. The Left/Right arrows select different money groups. The Up/Down arrows move between different Categories. If you were in a Category field, striking ENTER will insert the highlighted code into your entry field for you. If you were in an Account code field, the ENTER key will display the Accounts under that Category. From that point you can move the cursor to the account you want, hit ENTER and it will be inserted. The ESCape key will back up one level at a time and will not insert any data. 8 Often you will be provided with a starting code. After that, your prompt will be the next code in the order of their appearance in the Chart of Accounts. 9 HBMS will refuse to do most of the functions on the main menu until the following requirements are met. You must have assigned at least one account for every category, and there must be at least one category under each money group. If you get a warning and can't remember what accounts and categories you have assigned, go to the printed reports section and print out the "Raw" account data. It will show you what has been assigned and how they have been arranged. SAMPLE DATA --------------- Supplied with HBMS you should find three sample data files consisting of CATS.84, ACCOUNTS.84, and LEDGR-4.84. The "84" extension refers to the year. I recommend that you first read the rest of this document and then experiment with this data. By running HBMS with this sample data you can easily see what the program has to offer. You will be able to see the results that can be achieved before you begin your own budget and have to wait for the data to accumulate. Just specify "84" for the year to load to use these files. WARNING: The ledger transaction files for the first three months are missing in order to keep the program package size down. DO NOT try to reopen March, as HBMS will not be able to find these ledger files in order to close the months. This also means that you will be unable to view or print these "ledger entries". All the actual values however, are still stored in the ACCOUNTS.84 file. - 5 - SETTING UP AND USING YOUR OWN BUDGET SYSTEM ----------------------------------------------- Full details about each menu selection appear later in this document. When you are ready to start your own budget, all you will need for your own system is the HBMS.COM file and it's overlay file HBMS.000. STEP 1. From the opening screen you should enter the year for your budget data. If a valid ACCOUNTS file for that year is not found, you will be directed straight to the "Begin New Year" section, located under the Initialize System menu. Here you will verify the year and beginning month. STEP 2. From the Main Menu, select "Account Maintenance". Here you will able to design your own Chart of Accounts by using the ADD, CHANGE, and DELETE functions. Building your Chart of Accounts is a very important step. A lot of thought should go into it's design. (see description under Chart of Accounts) STEP 3. From the Initialize System menu, select "Initial Balances". Here you will be able to enter any existing balances for your Assets and Liabilities. If you need to change the printer codes, you do so from here also. STEP 4. Select "Budget Assignment". Here you will be able to enter any budget values that you may want to set as goals. This step is optional. STEP 5. Now you are ready for the actual record keeping routines. From the Main Menu, select "Ledger Posting". Here you will be able to enter all your transactions. (See Tips & Shortcuts) At the end of each month you will "close the month" in preparation for the following month. Transactions can only be posted in the currently open month. Reports can be viewed or printed at any time. - 6 - INITIALIZE SYSTEM ---------------------- BEGIN NEW YEAR **** When starting a budget system for the first time or at any time when HBMS can not find a valid ACCOUNTS file, you will be forced directly to the Begin New Year section. Any other time this is just a normal selection from the Initialize System menu. You will be asked for year and beginning month information. On an existing budget system you will be given the option to re-use the Chart of Accounts. If this is the case, HBMS will optionally transfer Asset and Liability balances as well as the Budget data. In order to take advantage of this, make sure you have a COPY of the OLD data files (ACCOUNTS.yr & CATS.yr), on your NEW data disk. After the new year has been initialized you can delete the old copies of data. INITIAL BALANCES **** This section allows you to enter the current balances of assets and liabilities when you start your budget system. If you add an asset or liability account at a later date it's starting balance will be $0.00. PRINTER CODES **** HBMS was designed to work with an EPSON compatible dot matrix printer. Many printers conform to these standards with no changes. All data is printed in condensed font (17 cpi) except for the Chart of Accounts, which is printed in elite font (12 cpi). If in doubt about your printer, use this section to change any of the printer formatting codes to conform to your particular printer. This will create a separate printer support file on the data drive named PRINTER.HBM. If your printer has a wide carriage, you might want to enter null values for the condensed codes. If your printer does not support italics, enter a null value for the italics codes. Your printer manual should list all these codes. The Double-Strike, Underline, and Enlarge codes may be changed to null values to speed up the printouts, but readability will suffer. SOUNDS **** The beeps and chirps will be noticed most in the Ledger Posting section. They can be quite helpful when one person is dictating data, from notes, to another who is doing the typing. In this way the person doing the dictating can listen for the chirps and will know when the next bit of information is needed. He need not watch the screen. These sound effects may be unwelcome to some, and can be turned on or off in the Initialize System menu. Their state will be stored and will not have to be set when the program is started again. - 7 - ACCOUNT MAINTENANCE ------------------------- CHART of ACCOUNTS **** (Add, Delete, Change) Great care should be taken in creating your Chart of Accounts. It can be broad, with just a few accounts under at least one category per money group, or it can be very definitive with multiple accounts under numerous categories. You might want to keep special accounts just for tax related items. I like to keep separate principals and interest on liabilities. By doing this I have an accurate running balance on how much I owe. Group your accounts under categories for more informative reports. Categories are placed in one of the four money groups: INCOME, EXPENSES, ASSETS, or LIABILITIES. NOTE: the categories must be created first, so that accounts will have somewhere to be assigned. When you add or change an asset account you will be asked if it is a checking account. To be eligible for the reconciliation features in HBMS, accounts must be flagged as checking. Accounts may be added, changed, or deleted at any time during the budget year. While using the program, accounts and categories will be referred to by a code which you will also assign. These codes can consist of up to four characters. Try to keep them short and easy to remember. These codes are case insensitive and can be entered in either upper of lower case. The restrictions that apply are as follows: * There must be at least one category per money group. * There must be at least one account for every category. * Total number of categories should not exceed 38. * Total number of accounts should not exceed 254 with no more than 38 accounts per category. * No more than 12 checking accounts. * Account names or codes may be changed but this may lead to confusion if printed reports under the first part of the year differ from those after the change is made. None of the other data contained in these accounts will be changed. * Category codes and names may be changed but the confusion factor mentioned above still applies. * Accounts may be moved to different categories as long as they don't cross money group boundaries. (EXAMPLE: an account under an income category may not be moved to an expense category) - 8 - * Accounts may be deleted only if they have had no action during the year. (this includes beginning balances) * Categories may be deleted if they do not have any accounts assigned to them. This constraint may be avoided by moving all accounts from under the category to be deleted, to other categories first. RE-SEQUENCE ACCOUNTS **** The order in which categories and accounts appear in your Chart of Accounts can be different than the order in which they were entered. After creating or editing your Chart of Accounts, you may change their order of appearance by selecting "Re-sequence Accounts". The current order will be displayed and you will be allowed to change them around to suit your taste. If you want to re-sequence Accounts you have to specify their "parent" category. Likewise, if you want to re-sequence Categories you will have to specify the money group. - 9 - BUDGET ASSIGNMENT ---------------------- HBMS allows you to assign a budget figure for each month. By using this feature you may set goals for your projected income and expenses. While it may sound unusual, you may even set budget amounts for assets and liabilities. You might want to set goals for your savings, or budget how soon you plan to pay off a debt. Of course it wouldn't make sense to budget for your checking account, as it's balance varies to no set pattern. After selecting a code to budget for, the values for each particular month will be shown along with a grand total for the year. If you want to make changes, answer "n" to the prompt, and you will be allowed to enter figures for each month. On your first visit to the Budget Assignment section, and any time while the beginning month of the budget is still open, you will be given an additional choice to enter a yearly total and have HBMS divide it among the months. If you decide you don't want to budget for an account, just enter a zero value for each month. If all months have a zero budget value then your reports will show a "n/a" in place of a budget figure. Please note that budget figures can be updated at any time, but you will only be allowed to change values for the months which have not been closed. When you exit the Budget Assignment section you will automatically be presented with a summary of your budget status. - 10 - LEDGER POSTING -------------------- The Ledger Posting section is the part of the program where you will be entering your daily transactions. It's the heart of HBMS. When you access the Ledger Posting section you will see what looks like a blank check at the top of the screen. As mentioned before, HBMS is a double entry ledger system. This means that at least two entries will be needed to represent a completed transaction. There are some terms that HBMS uses that you need to become familiar with. They are capitalized in the text below. For any type of transaction, be it a check, cash, credit, or transfer, you will have to decide what account it will be drawn from. Most of the time you will be working with a checking account or a cash account. Once you have selected this "SOURCE" account, you must decide how it's balance will be affected by this transaction. Will it be INCREASED or DECREASED? Once you have decided on the "Action" and provided SOURCE account, you will be prompted for: the check number (if the account has been flagged for checking), the date, a description of this SOURCE account, and it's amount. Now for the other half of this double entry transaction. If you were writing a check, you would need to specify what thing or things the check was written for. These purchases would be listed in the lower half of the screen. They should be disbursed into their respective "TARGET" accounts. You need not worry whether these "TARGET" account balances will Increase or Decrease. HBMS will make that decision for you. As a matter of fact there is no place in the Ledger Posting section where you will have to provide a negative sign. Let's take an example of writing a check to the Electric Company. You will have to make a SOURCE entry that shows the money coming out of your checking account. Your checking balance will go down (DECREASE). Now that you've shown the money coming out, you will have to show where it went. This of course will be the TARGET, and will be whatever account(s) you plan to charge electricity to. Each time you write a check, there must be an equal amount disbursed to one or more TARGET accounts. It sounds like a lot of work, but the program has been designed to make it as easy as possible. If you received a paycheck, you should show the money coming into an account in the INCOME money group. We will call it Payroll, and it will be the SOURCE account. The Payroll balance will be going up so this SOURCE account will be an INCREASE. In order to satisfy the double entry requirement, you must show the money going somewhere. If the paycheck was for $500, you might deposit the entire amount in a checking account as your TARGET transaction. More realistically the paycheck would be disbursed into several TARGET accounts such as income tax, social security, and other payroll deductions. What was left might then be shown going into your cash or checking account. The sum of all these - 11 - TARGET accounts would have to equal the amount of your paycheck, the SOURCE account. When it comes to borrowing money, the same rules still apply. Taking a $10,000 loan out to buy a car, would require your car loan account (LIABILITY) to be the SOURCE of the transaction. The TARGET side of the transaction might be a car EXPENSE account or a car ASSET account, or a combination of the two. As you make monthly payments on the car loan, your car loan LIABILITY account would be on the TARGET side of the transaction, with the SOURCE account possibly being a check. Under the car payment transaction just mentioned, both the SOURCE account and the TARGET account would show a negative value, because both the checking account (ASSET) and the car loan account (LIABILITY) balances would be DECREASING. However the only decision you will have to make is whether the source account's balance is INCREASING or DECREASING. HBMS will decide how to treat the TARGET account(s) no matter what money group they fall in. Remember, negative values will be automatically entered where needed. YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO USE THE MINUS SIGN AT ALL, any where in the Ledger Posting section. The following is a step by step sample transaction of writing a check to the drug store. Step 1. At the first prompt you would select "D" to DECREASE checking. (SOURCE ACCOUNT) Step 2. Enter the code for your checking account. At this point HBMS will show you the current balance for that account. Step 3. Enter the check number. This field is optional and will be skipped if the SOURCE account is not flagged as checking. Step 4. Enter the date. Step 5. Enter who the check was written to. This field is also optional. You might not want to describe a spending cash transaction. * Step 6. Here is where some of the flexibility of HBMS shines. In the case of a checking transaction you would want to enter the full amount of the check (the SOURCE account). Later, as you disperse the money to the TARGET accounts, HBMS will prompt you with the remaining balance of the check as you go along. In the case of a spending cash transaction you might want to leave the SOURCE amount blank. As you enter the separate amounts in the TARGET accounts, HBMS will keep a running total for you. - 12 - Step 7. Now you will begin to disperse this money to the TARGET accounts. If all the money is intended to go to one account only, enter the full amount. Otherwise enter the partial value. (Remember that the ESC key will clear the field.) Step 8. Enter the code for the TARGET account selected. (The F1 key is available for help.) Step 9. Enter a description for the TARGET transaction. This field is also optional, but it really helps to describe each item for future reference. (see Tips & Shortcuts) Step 10. Now you have fulfilled the minimum of two entries for a transaction. If the value you entered in step 7 accounts for all of the money in the SOURCE account you will be finished. Otherwise you will be able to keep adding entries to be drawn from the SOURCE. A null entry at the TARGET amount tells HBMS that you are finished. When finished you will be asked if everything is ok. If you made a mistake in an entry, answer "n" and you will be allowed to go back and make corrections. However the automatic prompting for the remaining balance will not be in effect so as not to erase any values you may have already entered. The entire transaction can be aborted at any time by entering a null value for a code prompt. NOTE: Changes are not allowed to the ledger once you answer yes to the "Above ok" prompt. This is to allow a good audit trail. If you made a mistake you will have to make an another entry to account for the error. (future versions of HBMS may include a utility to edit completed transactions) VIEW LEDGER If you enter a "V" in response to step 1 you will be allowed to view any transactions already entered for the entire year. This can be very handy if you don't remember if you have entered something. First you will be prompted for a beginning month to display. After the initial transaction screen for that month is shown, you will be prompted for a record number. These are the numbers on the left side of the ledger posting screen and represent the position of each transaction in the ledger files. Now you have some choices. You may accept this prompt or enter another number to browse through the screens at will. The entire transaction screen will be shown just as you entered it. When finished just enter a null value at the "Next rec# to view:" prompt. (see Tips and Shortcuts also) - 13 - MANAGE CHECKBOOK ---------------------- The checkbook reconciliation feature only works on accounts that have been flagged as checking in the Account Maintenance section. When your bank statement comes in you can clear each check by using the "MARK/UNMARK Checks" menu selection. You will be prompted with the month after the most recent month that has all the checks cleared. You can enter any month that falls within the beginning month and the current open month. A screenful of all checks for that month will be displayed. The entire lines for the first and last check written for that month will be highlighted. Use the UP/DOWN arrow keys to move the cursor to the check you need to clear. If there are more checks than can be seen at one time, the screen will scroll. Cleared checks are marked with a ">" symbol. The ENTER key will toggle the ">" mark on or off. The PgUp, PgDn, HOME, and END keys work just as you would expect, and will move you through the selected month's data. When you are ready to switch months, use the "+" or "-" keys to step the month forward or back. When you finish clearing your checks, the ESC key will return you to the Reconciliation menu. HBMS examines each month you access to see if all checks have been cleared. However if you unmark a check in a month that previously had all checks cleared and then mark it back again, HBMS will think that this month is the last completely cleared month, even though it and all the remaining months have been completely reconciled. This situation will be resolved when you ask for a Checkbook Summary Report (mentioned below). You can also request to "Show all Uncleared Checks" for the selected account. This feature will display the uncleared checks in the order they were entered and pause at the bottom of the screen. There is no scrolling capability here as there was in the MARK/UNMARK section. The Checkbook Summary Report will prompt you for the ending balance on your bank statement. Make sure that you have entered (and cleared) any bank charges, interests, or other miscellaneous entries that appear only in your bank statement. If you have not browsed through all the uncleared checks prior to asking for a Summary Report, HBMS will have to quickly tally them up. Everything you need to verify your checkbook reconciliation will be displayed. If you are warned of a discrepancy, the information presented should help you figure out if it was a data entry error or possibly a failure to make an entry. - 14 - REPORTS (screen) --------------------- In this section you have access to almost all data that HBMS has to offer. Upon entering this section you will be prompted for the first account to view. Then you select the month you want to look at. Finally you make a selection from four formats which include: a monthly totals report, a percentage value report, an annual view, and a sorted ledger. The data will be displayed and you will be given the opportunity to display the same account in the other three formats. Just striking <ENTER> will keep the format you are in and prompt you with the next account code. NOTE: When selecting the Monthly Totals or the Percentage Format for the first time, there will be a slight delay while HBMS gathers up some data. After this has been done you will be able to flip between all four formats with no delay at all. In the PERCENTAGE view you will not only be presented with percent values for the selected account, you will also see the values for it's associated category. Monthly values as well as Year to Date values will be displayed. These percentages will be figured for both the month and YTD when compared against INCOME and EXPENSES, but they are compared against the total balances only for ASSETS and LIABILITIES. The following table shows how the values are divided to arrive at a percent figure, and they are listed in the same fashion as you will see them on screen. (the dashed line represents a division symbol; the resulting quotient is multiplied by 100) Month Actual Ytd Actual | -------------- ------------ | Month Category Ytd Category | | | Month Actual Ytd Actual | Month Category Ytd Category ------------ ---------- | -------------- ------------ Month INCOME Ytd INCOME | Month INCOME Ytd INCOME | | Month Actual Ytd Actual | Month Category Ytd Category ------------- ----------- | -------------- ------------ Month EXPENSE Ytd EXPENSE | Month EXPENSE Ytd EXPENSE | | Month Actual Ytd Actual | Month Category Ytd Category ------------ ------------ | -------------- ------------ Total ASSETS Total ASSETS | Total ASSETS Total ASSETS | | Month Actual Ytd Actual | Month Category Ytd Category ------------ ---------- | -------------- ------------ Total LIAB. Total LIAB. | Total LIAB. Total LIAB. - 15 - PRINTED REPORTS --------------------- SORTED LEDGER REPORT for the MONTH **** Prints all accounts with their values and balances, that had activity for the month selected. They will be sorted by account and appear in order of the Chart of Accounts. SORTED LEDGER REPORT for the YEAR **** Prints the data for a selected account, for the whole year if desired. TRANSACTION REPORT **** Prints a copy of your ledger transactions just as you entered them. You might want to print out the transactions after every ledger posting session. If so, HBMS will remember the last record printed for the month and prompt you for the next unprinted record number. I usually post the ledger about 4 to 5 times a month, but I like to wait till the end of the month and then print out the entire month's transactions at one time. If I need to see a transaction that has not been printed yet, I use the "VIEW" feature in the Ledger Posting section. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS **** Prints the Income and Expense Report and/or a Balance Sheet Report. The Income and Expense Report prints all the monthly oriented data including averages, budget figures, budget left, etc. Similar to the Monthly Totals screen report, any actual dollar amounts that have exceeded your budget projections will be flagged with an asterisk. The Balance Sheet gives you an opportunity to print out just the Asset and Liability information. ANNUAL ACTUALS **** Prints all the monthly totals up to and including the current month. All figures will be in whole dollars because of space limitations. ANNUAL BUDGET **** Prints all monthly budget figures for the entire year. CHART OF ACCOUNTS **** Prints a list of all accounts grouped in their respective categories according to the sequence you have selected. BEGINNING VALUES **** Prints a report similar to the Balance sheet but contains the beginning balances for your assets and liabilities. These figures would not show up otherwise, even on your first month. RAW ACCOUNT INFO **** This printout is provided in case you get into trouble while you are working with your Chart of Accounts. HBMS will not let you do many of the Main Menu functions until you have met the requirement of at least one account per category and at least one category for each money group. From this report you will be able to determine if you have an "orphan" category, or no categories in a money group. The record numbers are displayed in this report but they will serve no useful purpose anywhere else in HBMS. - 16 - FILE EXPORT ----------------- Gives you the opportunity to write most of what HBMS has to offer to an ASCII file for use in graphics and spreadsheet programs. CLOSE/OPEN MONTH -------------------- This section does just what you would expect. At the end of each month you should select the "Close Current Month" routine. HBMS will re-read the entire ledger for the current month, update totals, and declare the following month open. Just remember that ledger posting can only be done in the current open month. If for any reason you have to go back to a previous month to make additions or changes there is a reopen feature also. SAVE DATA ------------- HBMS keeps all account values for the whole year in memory in order to keep disk access to a minimum and speed up the program. All transactions for the month you are working with are also kept in memory. Even if you add or change some transaction data, this information will only be saved when you change the month. When you end the program, any data that has been changed will automatically be updated on disk. If you have entered a lot of data it might be safe to use the Save Data feature occasionally (without getting out of the program). A power outage or a program crash could negate any data that was entered since the last save. - 17 - TIPS and SHORTCUTS ------------------------ PLEASE keep backup copies of your data. HBMS is as bullet-proof as I could make it, but nobody's perfect. 1. LEDGER POSTING a) The "+" and "-" keys can be used in place of (I)ncrease and (D)ecrease in the Ledger Postion section. b) HBMS will remember the last check number for every checking account. If you make any entry other than a number (such as "jrnl" for a journal entry), it will not increment the check number. c) If you make a mistake while entering data before you are ready for the "Above OK" prompt, you can use the UP arrow to step up a line at a time. NOTE that once you use the UP arrow to go back and correct something you will be in what I'll call a "Redo" state. HBMS will now act just as if you had answered no to the "Above ok" prompt. You will no longer be prompted with the remaining balance, if any. Any values previously entered will not be changed. If you are in a "redo" state, the Down arrow will step you down a line at a time, otherwise it will react similarly to the ENTER key. These features can save you a lot of time if you have to go back and correct something on a whole screenful of data. d) If you have a keyboard macro utility such as Borland's SuperKey, you can program it to insert entries into the Ledger that you use repeatedly. Please be careful if you decide to try this. It can cause some confusion and possibly missed data if you try to go back and correct something while you are in the middle of a macro. e) If you enter the tilde <~> character only, HBMS will copy the SOURCE description entered in step 5. See the paycheck transactions in the sample data for an example. f) In the VIEW mode of the Ledger Posting section you can browse through the transactions using the Up and Dn arrows instead of entering a record number. g) NOTE: I find it helpful to save my receipts from each day and jot down any other transactions. Then at the end of each week I commit these transactions to HBMS via the Ledger Posting section. You may want to do this on a daily basis. In either case, you will then have a printed record of all your transactions available. 2. The ESC key will suffice to back you out of most of the menus and some other places that are not mentioned on screen or elsewhere in this document. - 18 - 3. The control keys work in addition to the Arrow, PgUp, and PgDn keys for you "WordStar" fans. 4. The ">" sign shows up in many of the reports, both on screen and in print. Depending on where you see it, it could mean that the check has been cleared or that the account is flagged as a checking account. 5. The "*" sign also shows up on screen and in print and means that the specified budget has been exceeded. 6. If for any reason you feel that the figures for your data are wrong, try re-opening each month in turn till you get back to a valid month. Then close each month till you get back where you started. HBMS calculates all it's values from the data you enter in the Ledger Posting section. When you close a month, HBMS reads this data from the ledger files and re- calculates its totals on a monthly basis. - 19 - TO USERS of HBMS WITH VERSIONS OLDER THAN 3.0 ----------------------------------------------------- If you have accumulated data under older versions of HBMS you will have to run the program HCONVERT.EXE to update it to the current file format. The check reconciliation feature required that I change the format. In doing so I also incorporated the STARTUP.HBM file into the ACCOUNTS file. Once you have run your data through the conversion program you can delete the STARTUP file. P L E A S E .... use COPIES of your older data. The conversion program will replace them in the process. If something goes wrong you can start over. The program HCONVERT.EXE is being supplied only to registered users. If you are using HBMS and have not paid your registration fee, please do so and I will provide you with a copy. See the ShareWare registration procedures near the beginning of this document. The old CREDIT/DEBIT format has been scratched and replaced with INCREASE/DECREASE. Although it worked fine in the way HBMS approached it, it was confusing to many who are trained in accounting and viewed it with a different meaning. I hope this will clear up the way HBMS handles ledger transactions, and I would be interested in hearing any feedback. I am using a new screen-writing technique with v3.0 that writes directly to memory. Reports speed has improved significantly. Let me know if there are any problems. HBMS now loads all it's data in a "Block" format. Also the ledger transactions for the month are now held in memory. Loading data now takes less than 25% of the time it did before. Sorted ledger displays really fly now. If you are using a floppy based system you should really see an improvement. Other addition and changes are listed in the Update History. Brentson Worrell 6404 Mornay Dr. Tampa, FL 33615 (813) 886-2282 - 20 -