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Why you should choose BudgetInMind

DOUBLE-ENTRY ENGINE

ACCOUNTING MADE EASY

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Why you should choose BudgetInMind

FAST & RELIABLE

ACCOUNTING MADE EASY

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Why you should choose BudgetInMind

ADVANCED TRADING MODULE

POWERFUL BUDGET ANALYSIS

Enter Transactions

Understanding the book entry module

BudgetInMind software human interface is aimed at helping you enter your account quickly, securely so that you can concentrate on the analysis quickly. While we understand that entering your account is not what anyone of us necessarily like to do, it is a mandatory step in mastering your finance. There is no free lunch. One you enter your accounts, you understand where the money goes, and you then understand better the results provided by BudgetInMind.

You may find that you are lost with so many credit cards…. but then, may be you have too many credit cards. One of the primary money leaks in your finance are the interests you pay without knowing it to all the various bank institutions that love that you keep an non-zero balance on your credit card. Well, when you enter your accounts, it will become very visible to you that you must act. Just for this, entering your accounts is beneficial.

But again, this shall not be a painful exercise. BudgetInMind interface focuses on maximizing the effectiveness with which you enter your accounts

Book entry vs Line entry

BudgetInMind allows a book entry to affect more than 2 accounts at once. To allow for this extremely useful feature, a book entry is in fact a set of lines. Most of the times, your book entries are so simple that they fit in one line (having only an employ, a ressource, and potentially third party accounts to alter). But sometimes, you may need several lines for a given book entry. This is the case for instance when you split a receipt into different expense buckets.


BudgetInMind‘s Book View interface natively supports multiple lines entry. You do not need to toggle from one view type to another to enter one or several lines.

Basic entry

As we described earlier, each transaction will alter at least twos accounts that you will either credit or debit of the amount. Here are a few examples (we just show the accounts):

  • $35 gas bill, not recording the supplier.

    Operation
    Amount
    Employ
    Resource
    Invoice 12/11
    35.00
    Utilities:Gas
    Bank:Chase Checking

  • Bought clothes for $91.50, paid with my credit card.

    Operation
    Amount
    Employ
    Resource
    2 jeans + 1 sweatshirt
    91.50
    John:Clothes
    Bank:Chase Freedom Card

  • I received $12.17 of interest on my SAVINGS account.

    Operation
    Amount
    Employ
    Resource
    Interests Savings 04/11
    12.17
    Bank:Chase Savings
    Interests:Chase Savings

  • I transfer $500 from my Checking account to my Savings accounts.

    Operation
    Amount
    Employ
    Resource
    Transfer Checking -> Savings
    500.00
    Bank:Chase Savings
    Bank:Chase Checking

Splitting receipts

BudgetInMind make the addition of a supplier straightforward. You can add a Supplier to a transaction if you want. It is not necessary for simple transactions, but recommended as you will more easily check the status with your bank statement. Adding a supplier is particularly useful if you want to split the transaction in sub entries but keep one bank transaction at the end (you charge your supplier with what you buy, then you pay the supplier). Here are a few examples:

  • Split a telephone bill in 3 accounts

    I pay my $110.13 AT&T bill that I split in 3 sub-accounts and record the supplier to have only one bank transaction.

    Operation
    Amount
    Employ
    Resource
    Local 12/11
    46.37
    Utilities:Telephone
    Supplier:AT&T
    Long Distance 12/11
    11.59
    Utilities:Telephone
    Supplier:AT&T
    Internet 12/11
    52.17
    Utilities:Internet
    Supplier:AT&T
    Payment Supplier:AT&T
    110.13
    Supplier:AT&T
    Bank:Chase Checking

  • Splitting Bank Loan

    I pay my monthly $798.36 loan & interests to reimburse my house. I split my payment into the principal reimbursement and the interest fees.

    Operation
    Amount
    Employ
    Resource
    House Loan Principal 95/360
    169.93
    Loans:House
    Supplier:Chase
    House Loan Interests 95/360
    628.43
    Financial Fees:House Loan Interests
    Supplier:Chase
    Payment Supplier:Chase
    798.36
    Supplier:Chase
    Bank:Chase Checking

  • Split Utility bill

    I pay my $121.45 water and electricity bills that I split in 2 sub-accounts and record the supplier to have only one bank transaction.

    Operation
    Amount
    Employ
    Resource
    Invoice 12/11
    77.29
    Utilities:Electricity
    Supplier:Water Company
    Invoice 12/11
    44.16
    Utilities:Water
    Supplier:Water Company
    Payment Supplier:Water Company
    121.45
    Supplier:Water Company
    Bank:Chase Checking

  • BudgetInMind 3-ways transaction

    I buy some CDs & DVDs for $85.19 at Best Buy with my credit card and want to keep track of expenses at Best Buy.

    Operation
    Amount
    Employ
    Third-party
    Resource
    2 CDs & 3 DVDs
    85.19
    Leisure & Vacations:CD & DVD
    Supplier:Best Buy
    Bank:Chase Credit Card

BudgetInMind 3-ways transaction

Since most of the time, you need 3 types of accounts to ventilate any transaction, BudgetInMind will natively support transaction entries with 3 different accounts in one line, to accelerate data entry. This explains why the Book View shows Employment, Ressource and Third Party accounts. The later account is typically for the supplier.

Advanced entries

BudgetInMind has virtually no limit on what you can enter, since it’s a double entry accounting software. As such, you can make complex entries that translate accurately what really happens in your life.

For instance, your salary entry can be complicated if you want to detail not just the net you receive but track in your accounts the taxes you pay, the ESPP or 401K plan, etc… Let’s assume you receive a salary from your Company, that you have an ESPP plan, a 401K, pay for your health insurance through the group plan and also pay your fees to the Company’s preferred Gym. In reality, you’re bank only sees the net that flows as a wire transfer to your account, and has no knowledge of your 401K or ESPP. Yet, the money you placed in your ESPP is only used twice a year when the Company buys shares with the money you placed every month. But what if you want to follow all this?

With BudgetInMind, you can enter all this in 1 book entry, consisting of several lines:

Operation
Amount
Employ
Third-party
Resource
Gross 2010WW43 & 2010WW44
1493.86
Customer:John Company
Wages:John
Taxes 2010WW43 & 2010WW44
78.10
Taxes:Income Tax
State:IRS
Customer:John Company
Medicare 2010WW43 & 2010WW44
111.28
Taxes:SS Tax & Medicare
State:IRS
Customer:John Company
Insurance 2010WW43 & 2010WW44
92.00
Insurance:Health
Supplier:Aetna
Customer:John Company
Transfer -> ESPP
50.00
Accounts receivable:ESPP
Customer:John Company
Transfer -> 401K
100.00
Accounts receivable:401K
Customer:John Company
25.00
Leisure & Vacations:Sport
Supplier:Gold’s Gym
Customer:John Company
Net transfer to account
1037.30
Bank:Chase Checking
Customer:John Company

The value of the scheduler

Of course, you do not have to create that entry every 2 weeks. Once you’ve created it once, you will be able to reuse it indefinitively, either by selecting the last one as a template for the new entry or inserting that book entry in the scheduler for automatic insertion.