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Spb Software House Week: Spb Finance

February 17, 2006

Spb Finance comes in three different versions: standalone, a Quicken version, and a Microsoft Money version. The easiest method to get everything set up is to use the standard EXE download, since the questions you answer during the installation will determine exactly what is installed on your computer and your handheld device. If you just want a standalone program, you can also use the CAB download version for quick and easy on-device installation. I chose the Quicken version for this review, since that’s what I already use to track my finances.

I’ve been using Spb Finance for a couple of weeks now and am impressed with both its simplicity and its power. The core of the program consists of four main functions, each accessed by a tab at the bottom of the screen. The first is the Accounts listing, which allows you to see all of your accounts and their balances on one screen. View options are available to choose what type of accounts you want to see, such as assets or liabilities, and you can sort them by name, type, or balance. The total current and ending balance are displayed at the bottom of the screen, which gives you an up-to-the-minute assessment of your net worth.

The Register tab is of course where all of the day-to-day action occurs. You can choose to view ALL of your transactions at once, or you can filter it by account. The sorting options are legion, including date, reference, payee, cleared status, amount, category, or just unreconciled transactions. There are also a variety of view modes, from “cram” mode that shows only one line of information per transaction (the date and amount, plus your choice of payee, category, or memo) or the expanded view that takes two lines per transaction but provides more detail. As always, the ending balance is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

The third tab relates to Budgets, and if you have them set up already in Quicken you’ll find all of the relevant information here. This is one of the easiest ways I’ve seen to keep on track when it comes to personal spending. A quick glance at the screen will show you if you still have money left in the “eating out” budget for the month, or whether you need to start brown bagging your lunch from home. Dropdown boxes at the top of the screen allow you to change the relevant dates, so you can look at this month, year to date, check on how you did last year, etc. Tap on a particular line item to change the amount for that category; you can choose whether to budget by the month, quarter, or year. The double column view shows both what you’ve already spent for the selected time period and how much is remaining (or that you’ve already overspent, if the value is in red).

Spb Finance Report Example, Spending by Category

The last tab is Reports, and I was simply amazed at what this module of Spb Finance is capable of—I never expected to see full Quicken-style reports on a handheld! There are already several predefined reports available when you install the program, and you can also customize or create new reports as you wish. I chose “Spending By Category” and almost instantaneously up popped a report that almost looked like it came from Quicken on the desktop, complete with colorful graph. I was horrified by some of what I saw—I spent how much on electronics and accessories last year?!—but I was stunned by how complete the information was. Each category is listed with a percentage and an amount spent, and I can customize the display with my choice of pie chart, line graph, bar graph, or detailed transaction list. Customization options run the gamut from which accounts and/or dates to include, categories, payees, etc.

Overall I am very impressed with the power of Spb Finance, but the ease of use and very nice graphical interface deserve a positive mention as well. Everything just works, without time wasted poring over the manual (except in the case of the Quick Entry applet, which I still haven’t mastered). All of the displays are very easy to read, even when I have the register on “cram mode”—of course the program options allow me to change the font and type size, but even at the smallest settings I can see everything clearly. The use of color is appropriate, with red for negative balances and row shading to help distinguish where one transaction listing ends and another one begins. Other tools include the ability to import and export transactions from QIF or Microsoft Excel, plus a thoughtful link to the Calculator app for quick calculations.

Spb Finance promises to help you stay on track financially, and it delivers on all of its promises. While it won’t prevent you from overspending, it will show you exactly where your money goes, so you may not be so quick to make that extravagant purchase the next time you go shopping. In effect, it delivers all the power of the desktop version of Quicken in a handheld form factor, and I assume that the same is likely also true for the Microsoft Money edition as well. Spb Finance is available for the reasonable price of $24.95 at the Spb Software House web site.