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- Here is a short tutorial to give you a feel of how the Budget
- program works.
-
- First, lets start with a clean slate. Select "Setup" from
- the Budget Options Screen. This Setup Selection Requester will
- display various Setup options. Select "Initialize All Data".
- This will display a warning "All Data will be lost.". Click Ok.
- It will ask you for the Year. The Current Year should be shown.
- Simply click Ok. It will tell you when it is complete (click OK
- one more time.) Go back to the main screen by Clicking the
- CloseButton on the Setup Selection Requester.
-
-
- Prepare a sample Budget
-
- Click on the "Prepare Budget" button on the Budget Options
- Screen. This will display a "Spreadsheet looking" screen. The
- buttons on the left allow you to navigate through the Expense and
- Income Categories. The first column shows you the amount
- budgeted for the current Category. These should all be ZERO.
- The Actual Column shows the totals for all transactions for the
- current Category. Because you have not entered any transactions,
- these should all be ZERO also.
-
- The columns on the right side of the display show the budget
- summery for all Expense and Income Categories. (Currently ZERO)
-
- Click on the hourglass, next to "Category" in the lower left
- corner. This will display all of the Expense and Income
- Categories. We will start with "Misc. Exp" so simply click OK.
- The Arrow buttons allow you to step through the Categories.
-
- Click on the "Set All Months" button located at the top of
- the first column. This will display a requester allowing you to
- set all months for the currently selected Category. Enter "150"
- into the field. (As with all Dollar fields in this application,
- you can enter arithmetic expressions such as "30 * 5".) When you
- press RETURN or click OK, all monthly fields will be filled out
- with 150.00 and the Budget Summery figures will be updated. You
- can modify any of the fields individually.
-
- If you fill out all months with the following figures, you
- will have the basis for sample budget. (This is not strictly
- required for this example.)
-
- Misc. Exp 150
- Groceries 225
- Rent 525
- Household 175
- Utilities 125
- Clothes 100
- Entertain 100
-
- Payroll 1850
- Gifts 0
- Interest 20
- Misc. Inc 0
-
- If you filled these out as indicated, you will notice the
- summery totals will reflect the following amounts:
-
- Income 22,440. - Expense 16,800 = Net Income 5,640
-
- (if only you could actually spend less than you earn!)
-
- Clicking the Close Button or the "Main Panel" button will
- return you to the screen showing your Budget Options.
-
- Enter Transactions
-
- Click on the button "Enter Transactions". This will display
- the Transaction Selector. The Default Account will be Checking.
- (You can examine the other choices by clicking the hour-glass.)
- We will be working with the Checking Account for now.
-
- The remaining "Search Limits" don't make any difference
- because you do not have any transactions. Later, you can use
- them to reduce the number of transactions you will see in the
- Transaction List.
-
- Click OK to move on.
-
- You will see the Title "Checking" at the top, some fields for
- the Account Balances, and an empty List of transactions.
-
- Because we are just getting started, we nee to set the
- initial Balances. Enter 1675.76 in the Balance Field and the
- Confirmed Balance Field. For now, the Statement Balance doesn't
- matter. However, a "difference" of -1675.76 will be shown. If
- this bothers you, put 1675.76 in the Statement Balance.
-
- Click "Add" to enter our first transaction. This will bring
- up a requester with a field for the following Items:
-
- Date date of the transaction (shows the current date)
-
- Check# Check number associated with transaction
- This can be empty if you wish
-
- Payee Indicates where the money is going (more on this
- later).
-
- Category Indicate the Expense or Income Category for the
- Transaction. (more on transfers later)
-
- Amount The numerical amount for the transaction
-
- If you wish to use a different date for this transaction,
- make it in the current month for now. Enter the Check# "3167".
- This is used for informational reasons only. Enter "Wal-Mart"
- for the Payee. When you press return the default Expense
- Category "Misc. Exp" will be shown. Click on the hourglass.
- Select Household from the list by double clicking on it.
- Finally, enter the amount of "76.34". Verify the Fields and
- press OK. If you would like to Cancel, simply click the
- CloseButton and start over.
-
- The account Balance should show "1599.42". Select Add again.
- This time we are going to do a Deposit. The easy way to do this
- is to click on the Setup Deposit Button. This will put "Deposit"
- in the Payee field. Deposits must have this in the Payee field.
- The default Income Category of "Payroll" will be shown. Entry
- our net pay of "925.00". (If you wished, you could enter Gross
- pay and set up Expense categories for your deductions.)
-
- Now the Balance should show "2524.42". That's all for now in
- checking so click the CloseButton or "Main Panel".
-
- Click on the "Enter Transactions" button again. This time we
- want to enter transactions for "Savings". Click on the Account
- hourglass and select Savings. Click Ok to enter the new
- transactions.
-
- Enter the "4260.50" into the Balance Fields and Click "Add".
- This time we are going to setup a transfer from Savings to
- Checking. Click "Setup Transfer" and select "Checking". The
- Category will default to "Xfer To". Click on the Category
- hourglass and select "Xfer From". Enter the Amount "500.00" in
- the Amount and click Ok. This will show the transaction and
- change the balance to "4767.50".
-
- Now return to the Main Panel, select "Enter Transactions" and
- "Checking" for the Account. You will notice the transfer is here
- also. (We could have created it here, but I wanted to
- demonstrate the concept.) The Balance has been updated to show
- "2024.42". If you edit or Delete this transaction, the
- corresponding transaction in Savings will be adjusted.
-
- Reconciling Checkbook
-
- Your statement just came in! Enter "2090.76" in the
- Statement Balance.
-
- Let me tell you about a couple of shortcut keys now. They
- correspond to the four edit buttons at the bottom.
-
- F1 - Add
- F2 - Confirm
- F3 - Edit
- F4 - Delete
-
- In addition the Up & Down keys moves highlight cursor in the
- transaction list up and down.
-
- Move the transaction cursor to the Deposit transaction by
- using the Up and Down Keys or Clicking once on it. Press the F2
- key or click "Confirm". The Confirmed Balance will show
- "2600.76" and the Difference will be "-510.00".
-
- Move the cursor to the Savings Transfer. Press F2 or click
- "Confirm". The Confirmed Balance will be "2100.76" and the
- Difference "-10.00".
-
- Well, the statement included a $10.00 service charge. Add
- this transaction by pressing the F1 key or clicking "Add". This
- transaction can be "Misc. Exp" for the amount of "10.00". After
- clicking "Ok", press F2 to confirm the transaction. The
- Difference should now be "0.00"
-
-
-