     Money Counts 7.0 Personal Edition
     Review by David Jensen, Madison PC User's Group

     Parsons Technology continues to produce high-quality, easy-to-use 
     programs to help manage your personal finances.  Money Counts 7.0 
     Personal Edition is the latest update to their basic bookkeeping 
     package.  While Parsons doesn't have the marketing clout that 
     Microsoft can put behind Microsoft Money, or a well recognized brand 
     name, they have put together a personal bookkeeping package that 
     will compete with the best of them, both in terms of features and 
     ease of use.

     Using the Program

     Money Counts allows users to do either single-entry (traditional 
     checkbook) or double-entry ("real" accounting) bookkeeping.  It 
     actually maintains the books using double-entry bookkeeping and 
     users can toggle between single- and double-entry.  It's even 
     possible that they may learn some of the features of double-entry 
     bookkeeping by using Money Counts and toggling between the two.
     Extensive accounting information is available in an online 
     accounting guide.

     Whichever way you choose to maintain your accounts, you have to have 
     them defined before you can track them.  Account management may be 
     one of the more difficult parts of accounting, as opposed to the 
     bookkeeping which is just tedious, but Money Counts has done a lot 
     to simplify that step by providing five template account systems to 
     choose from.  Even if a user wants to enhance them, the account 
     template is a good place to start, with good concern for creating 
     useful accounts.

     Once the accounts have been set up, it is time to enter transactions.  
     For transactions using the checking account, the transaction form 
     looks like a check to be filled out.  This is the case whether you 
     use the available check printing feature or not.  There is an  
     alternate entry screen that is used by transactions for other 
     accounts, but the blank check is so intuitive that it doesn't make 
     sense to change it.

     Money Counts provides quick transaction and smart data entry to allow 
     you to look up information from previous transactions and available 
     options, respectively.  It saves keystrokes and makes it easy to 
     remember what options are available from the field you are in.

     As with other programs, Money Counts will print checks on preprinted 
     forms.  Money Counts supports a wide range of laser and tractor-fed 
     forms, including those designed for Quicken, Microsoft Money, and 
     Managing Your Money.  If the form is not predefined, Money Counts 
     allows you to custom-define the locations of fields to match those 
     on your forms.

     Money Counts allows for multiple, unrelated accounts.  By default, 
     the first one is known as personal, but there is no limit to the 
     number that can be set up.  This is handy if you are keeping track 
     of, for example, your mother's checkbook as well as your own, or 
     you are the treasurer of some organization.

     You can generate reports for a chart of accounts, income and 
     expenses, balance sheet, cash flow, general ledger, account 
     balances, or a tax summary.  You can do analysis of accounts, 
     transactions, a transaction register, and cash needs forecasts.  You 
     can do budget analysis for all of the appropriate reports. For 
     investments, Money Counts provides reports for investment earnings, 
     gainsand losses by valuation or sales, market value, market history, 
     return on investment, maturity tracking, and investment analysis.  
     Each of these reports can be customized for the user's needs.

     Based on the reports available, charts and graphs can be created for 
     a quick view of where you are.  While they are not precise, it is 
     often more meaningful to see relative results, rather than suffer 
     through the dryness of numbers.  These charts and graphs are 
     excellent assets.

     Investments is a special group of accounts that Money Counts 
     supports.  Unlike regular asset accounts, investment accounts 
     provide a wider range of options, offering and requiring more 
     information.  It allows close tracking of securities including 
     market tracking, units, direct initial cost, and allocated costs 
     (fees, commissions).  It maintains securities by a first-in-first-out 
     (FIFO) tracking system, and nets all costs for purchase and sale.  
     The procedure appears to be quite robust, and considering the 
     problems of tracking, relatively simple.

     An unexpected feature of Money Counts is its ability to accommodate 
     fund accounting, the bizarre way for non-profit organizations and 
     governments to keep track of their accounts.  [I would not recommend 
     fund accounting for anyone who doesn't need to use it. Think of it 
     as a budget with a straightjacket: You can't fix the water heater 
     because there is nothing left in the repair fund, even if there is 
     the $350 you need in the entertainment fund. Only the people who 
     gave you the money in the first place can let you change the use of 
     the funds.]

     While it requires the use of double-entry accounting to maintain 
     fund accounting, it was amazing to me that Parsons had made it 
     available.  There are a lot of small not-for-profit organizations 
     that have to use fund accounting that don't need a full-blown 
     accounting package.  This package can fill the bill.

     New Features

     Parsons has made a number of changes in Money Counts since the 
     previous release (Money Counts 6.5).  These changes have improved 
     the features and ease of use of the program.  Menus are pull down 
     with full mouse support.  The mouse even works correctly in a 
     Microsoft Windows window.  The transaction screen looks like a check 
     or deposit slip, making it easy to start transaction entries without 
     the manual.

     While all of these personal bookkeeping programs have made account
     reconciliation easier, Parsons has upped the ante by providing tips 
     about possible errors in reconciling the account.  Transactions that 
     have been misidentified as cleared or may have a transposition in 
     the figures will be flagged by Money Counts as possible offenders 
     when you are trying to track down the reason you can't get your 
     numbers to agree with the bank's.

     Money Counts lets you schedule on-screen reminders of bills to be 
     paid, investments to be made, or taxes to be done.  It provides 25 
     predefined reports, and allows customization for personal 
     requirements.  Money Counts also allows you to use pie charts, and 
     bar and line graphs to see financial outcomes at a glance.

     Parsons has provided a transfer utility that allows users to import 
     and export data from Quicken, Dollars & Sense, Managing Your Money, 
     and Microsoft Money, as well as previous versions of Money Counts.

     Budgeting and categorizing have both been improved, as Money Counts 
     now allows users to budget all accounts at once, and they have 
     expanded the scope of predefined categories. 
     
     Investment management has also been improved by allowing all 
     investments to be tracked, updated, and given updated market values.  
     Reports are available to help analyze future needs and make 
     necessary changes.

     Installation and Requirements

     Installation is simple.  Run install from the command line, and it 
     will prompt you to change disks when needed.  The program comes with 
     its own icon and PIF file, so it is very easy to set it up under 
     Windows.

     Money Counts only takes up about 2.5 MB of disk space.  It requires 
     DOS 3.0 or later and 512K memory (640K is recommended).  It will 
     accept a wide range of printers and monitors.  There is mouse 
     support.

     Overall, I feel that Parsons has once again provided a good product, 
     and at $35, it is an unsurpassed price.  Money Counts 7.0 is well
     worth looking at.

     Parsons Technology
     One Parsons Drive
     P.O. Box 100
     Hiawatha, IA 52233-0100
     (800) 223-6925
     (319) 393-1002 (fax)
