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Personal Accounts Home Edition (PC)

Accountz.com Ltd

ACCOUNTZ PERS ACCTS 5 HOME ED UK
Personal Accounts Small Business (PC)

Accountz.com Ltd

ACCOUNTZ PERS ACCTS 5 SMALL BUS UK
Microsoft Money (PC)

Microsoft

Your finances, your way-fast and hassle-free. There's so much more to life than managing finances. Microsoft Money 2005 Standard makes it simple to see where your money is going by automatically consolidating all your transactions in one convenient place. It's like an always-current snapshot of your spending and budget. Money has answers to all your financial questions, so you can get on with your life. The new look of Microsoft Money 2005 makes managing your finances effortless and ensures that you get qui...
Quicken 2000 Deluxe

Intuit

It's enough to know you can balance your chequebook and set your budget with Quicken, but with this version of this bestselling software, you can even download stock quotes into your profile. Best of all, you can get an idea of your upcoming tax bill before your taxes are due.
With an interface that's truly easy to use, Quicken helps with the tedious tasks associated with managing your money. The data you enter helps analyse your spending habits and makes far-reaching plans for your financial health. The software gives you the option of paying bills directly from your online bank accounts. You can also keep track of all your assets, from money market accounts to stock portfolios, and estimate upcoming taxes or the value of your home.
Financial managers can use Quicken for workplace scenarios as well--this version even includes a function called the Employee Stock Option Grant Tracker. Other everyday features abound, almost to the point of being overwhelming. But the expansive options available with Quicken are a good part of its strength, and household--or office--managers will be pleased with the punch Quicken packs.--Acton Lane
Quicken 2004 XG

Intuit
Stox (Mac)

ProSoft Engineering
Quicken XG

Intuit

Quicken XG is the 2003 makeover of Intuit's industry leading personal finance package. The pricing structure is new this time round though. Quicken XG buys you the program plus 12 months use of the various online services. After this you can opt to join one of several flexible monthly payment plans to continue using the online services.
Quicken XG allows you to take complete control of your finances. You can record and track all your personal and business accounts as well as investments. Data can be graphed and reported against for clear and helpful analysis. Intuit include several useful extras including a Home Inventory program, the ability to backup your data online for complete security and tools to assist with your end-of-year tax affairs.
If you are new to Quicken, you'll appreciate the new Guided Setup Wizard that walks you through the setting up of all your accounts. These can be current accounts, savings, credit cards or investments. You can also choose the types of tasks you intend doing with Quicken such as tracking investments, planning for retirement, controlling business finances and many more. Of course, you can always add new accounts or features later as your needs grow.
Quicken XG supports online banking and investment updating although the range of supported institutions is limited to those who specifically support Quicken. However, most of the big ones except Barclays are supported, with Barclays due soon. Usefully, you can set up automatic downloads to ensure Quicken XG always has the most up to date information.
As well as the use of Quicken XG itself and the online services for 12 months, you also get three free consultations with a Quicken financial expert who can help set the program up or advise on how to achieve certain goals.
With so much flexibility and power, it is good news that the built in help is particularly well designed. The information is presented in both general and task-specific formats, making it a breeze to get to the information you need.
Quicken XG provides a fresh new look for existing users as well as many improvements to its general functionality and tweaks to the analysis tools. New users will appreciate the Guided Setup Wizard which is a huge help when starting from scratch. --Iain Laskey
Personal Accounts Student Edition (PC)

Accountz.com Ltd
MacFreelance (Mac)

PX Software
Microsoft Money 99 (Version 2000) auf einen Blick - reference book - German

Microsoft
Money 2001 Personal & Business

Microsoft
Just balancing a chequebook is complicated--add a few investments and a budget, and you could start tearing your hair out. Microsoft Money 2001 Personal & Business, largely redesigned for easier navigation and customisation, is a step above its predecessors and miles beyond the old ledger and portfolio. With new features, such as user-set priorities, frequent-flier manager, and Web browsing from within Money, it sets new standards for financial management software.
Installation is simple and stress-free. The file transfers are transparent, and entering financial information can be done in five or 10 minutes. Keep track of all of your investments, including ready cash, stocks, retirement funds, home equity and more--all in a well-designed Web-page format that integrates smoothly with other Web-based content. The home page is a pleasure, but the easily distracted should move the cash-flow charts and investment watch elsewhere, lest they be tempted to update them every few minutes. Pulling financial information off the Internet is usually easy (depending on your choice of financial service providers, of course) and you can port your personal data to a secure Web site for remote retrieval if you like.
There are a couple of minor drawbacks. For one, they have chosen to use their leverage to shill for MSN and other Microsoft-related services throughout Money. Also, users shouldn't rely exclusively on online statements, as download errors often, though certainly not always, result in interminable customer service calls. Other than that (and its large size--greater than 200 MB), it's hard to complain much. Families expanding their investments from checking and savings will love it, as will Internet traders and young adults who need a little coaching but can't afford a financial advisor. Microsoft Money 2001 Personal & Business will save you money in the long run, and save you time and frustration almost as soon as it's up and running. --Rob Lightner
- Powerful financial maintenance and analysis tools
- Web integration
- Customisation
  Cons:
- Non-stop shilling for Microsoft online services
- Very large program size
Note: This review applies to Money 2001 Financial Suite. Money 2001 Personal & Business includes all of the tools from the Financial Suite, plus integrated business-planning tools including VAT and invoice tracking.

Money 2003

Microsoft

Like the 10 editions that preceded it, Money 2003 offers powerful personal finance management for home users. This edition includes all of the features that made previous editions invaluable to those trying to get a handle on their finances. Money 2003 offers account management, budgeting, planning and spending reports and a lot more. These features form the backbone of the book and have been improved over the last several years. There's little more Microsoft can do to improve these core features.
In recent editions, Microsoft has increased integration with Internet features, linking to MSN Money. The increased dependency on signing into MS Passport continues to baffle users, as the updates it provides can be handled without signing into Passport. In this edition the reliance is even greater: when loading Money Express (the Money-lite) reminder system, it presents a sign-in window when Internet access isn't required, thus slowing down use.
Users upgrading from a previous edition will find very little to write home about apart from some user-interface and report tweaks, a more customisable and detailed homepage, background connection to your banks and more links to MSN Money and FTyourmoney.com. There's a small performance improvement over 2002: users of the Financial Suite edition ( Money 2003 Financial Suite) get improved investing tools for research and portfolio management and Quicken users will as usual find that there is a converter wizard should they want to transfer their Quicken data.
As with all personal finance management products, the benefit users get from this will be determined by the effort they put in. Money 2003 is a high-quality personal finance package that with regular use proves extremely beneficial. --Colin Neal

Billings 2 (Mac)

Market Circle

Quicken 2002 Deluxe

Intuit

Quicken personal finance software has been around a long time in its successive versions. But why should you invest in such software at all? For newcomers to Quicken 2002 Deluxe it will do the crucial job of pulling together all your financial accounts--current accounts, mortgages, endowments, savings, credit cards, property and the rest--under one roof. You may marvel as you discover your net worth for the first time and uncover any black holes in your finances. Most importantly, seeing your accounts side by side will show you which is performing and underperforming and help you re-establish (or perhaps establish for the first time) personal finance targets.
Quicken comes in three versions, so why opt for Quicken 2002 Deluxe rather than the entry-level Quicken 2002 Standard or the small business-oriented Quicken 2002 Deluxe & Business? Firstly Deluxe will give you more sophisticated tools with which to analyse the account data you painstakingly input when you first opened the program. As well as budgeting, you will be able to use data to forecast and plan your financial future. You can directly access personal finance news from the excellent Motley Fool Web site (a matter of convenience rather than a compelling selling point, after all you can go to the Web site anyway) and you can use Quicken to detail your home contents insurance. You can also generate "what if?" scenarios on your income, expenses and investments and track your share options.
Once everything is entered Quicken will generate reports, see where money is going by categorising transactions and check on the performance of your investments. And you can check that your ISAs, pension funds and the rest are on course to deliver the funds you'll need in five, ten or 30 years. For users wanting to discipline their existing finances and plan ahead, Quicken 2002 Deluxe is a good one-stop solution. --John Rennie

Money 2002 Standard

Microsoft

Whether you're creating a monthly budget or planning a complex investment portfolio, Microsoft's Money 2002 is a strong and dependable tool for managing your money and helping you reach your financial goals. Easy to set up, with features such as Web integration and online services providing you with access to your financial data as you shop, invest or pay bills, you'll soon have your household budget and accounts in order.
Many of the new features that make Money a worthwhile financial companion revolve around better Web integration and online services. The new MoneySide bar follows you around as you surf the Web, providing you with access to your financial data. You can also synchronise your Money data with MSN Money, which allows for up-to-date investing, banking and financial planning information. Creating charts and tracking reports have been greatly improved, as well as the ability to send these reports via e-mail. Finally, a new Bill Setup and Edit feature provides users with a central storage area for all bills and billing histories to be kept and managed.
One of the great things about Money 2002 is the scalability on offer to the user. For example, if you just want to see how much a holiday will affect your monthly budget, the program offers a one-time expense feature to use during that month. If, on the other hand, you'd rather create a six-month plan to purchase a new car, Money 2002 will help you set up a budget to account for this expense over time.
Overall, Money 2002is a strong and dependable tool for managing your money and will help you keep your financial affairs in tight order. --Chris Ryan

Money 2004

Microsoft

Money 2001 Financial Suite

Microsoft

Microsoft Money 98 Financial Suite

Microsoft

Quicken 2000 Standard

Intuit

Most self-employed and small business people see accounting and book-keeping as a necessary evil, and this is where QuickBooks software comes in, now with around three million users worldwide, and in its umpteenth version. Crucially, it won't simply provide readymade information for the year-end figures, it will give you a continuous picture of how well your business is doing, and take care of those boring but essential, 'hard to get right and expensive to get wrong' issues.
Most businesses hand their books over to professional accountants to do the work for them--but accountants aren't cheap, and if you can employ the office PC to do the job accurately and quickly yourself, why not take the plunge? It's reliable, and better still it isn't complicated--because the person entrusted with the company accounts is almost certainly not going to be an accountant. The EasyStep Interview pumps you for information about your enterprise, using the data to swiftly set up your business on QuickBooks. And the Navigator makes it simple to find your way around the program. You can create invoices, enter sales, track customer contacts, cost time spent on jobs, manage stock, handle payroll, track VAT and prepare your year-end figures.
This new version is an attempt to make the program easier to use and more flexible. You can now customise reports, dragging and dropping columns to highlight the information you need. You can batch print reports, and the new Time & Basis Stamps avoid confusion by showing you how and when each Report was created. Among other refinements and additions, Intuit has increased the ways of navigating the program, bringing back the old icon bar. And you can now e-mail and fax invoices and estimates direct from QuickBooks. Better still, Online Billing means your customers can now pay you online, via BACS or credit card. --John Rennie

Money 2001 Standard

Microsoft

Who needs a personal finance package on their PC? Well if you pay bills, own shares, plan to make a will, write cheques, have a mortgage... in fact if you are an earning, spending consumer in the 21st century, a package like Money will make your affairs easier to manage. It should even make you a little richer.
Money has quite a pedigree. Though Microsoft only entered the personal finance market a few years ago, it has quickly carved a big slice of the market. Microsoft knows we all want to get our finances in order; it also knows that, to most of us, they are a terrifying mystery. So, with yearly updates, it has honed Money so even the financially illiterate can compile a personal financial resumé in around half an hour as the software pumps you with questions. Money then swallows the details of accounts, endowments, mortgages and investments--your whole financial life in fact--and tidily regurgitates them in a tidy web browser style.
This exercise is a useful financial discipline in itself, forcing you to take a short hard look at your finances, and get organised. Money then provides figures on your net worth, your projected wealth in the next month, year or decade and give you hints on making your cash work better.
And the browser style makes it simple. You click links to take you to your bills and view quickly which are due (and which overdue). Click on accounts to see your current account, then click an Internet link to go online and download your account details from your bank, should you choose. Users of earlier editions, such as Money 2000 will find that 2001 seamlessly updates their existing files. --John Rennie