Two Ways to Cut the Drudgery of Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is the sort of tedious chore that most of us would rather avoid, or at least let our computers handle for us.

But if you’ve ever tried to keep books on a personal computer, you know the process can be tiresome and complicated, especially if you’re keeping household accounts and only because you think you ought to be more organized.

The programs I’m reviewing this week will make it easier by taking a lot of the repetition out of the job.

One of them, In-House Accountant, is well suited to the needs of a small business or a complex household with multiple income sources and business expenses. The other, the heavily advertised Dollars and Sense, is actually more limited despite having more features to brag about. It is aimed more toward household than business use.

In-House Accountant ($180), published by United Software Industries Inc., 1889 Century Park East, Suite 311, Los Angeles 90067, comes on two diskettes and is available only for the IBM PC and compatible computers. (An Apple version is under development.)

It has the look of a deluxe program, from the well-illustrated, two-color manual to the printed, self-adhesive labels provided for backup copies of the program diskettes, plus your first data disk. Nice touch. (The program is not copy-protected, so you can make as many backup copies as you wish, and you can easily install the program on a hard-disk system.)

The program is a true double-entry, small-business accounting system that automatically keeps credit and debit accounts in balance, generally without your having to worry about which is which.

You are allowed up to 250 accounts, using a standard account-numbering system within which you can number and name your accounts as desired. Each transaction can be divided among as many as eight accounts. There is also a program module in which you can store up to 500 names and addresses of employees, customers and vendors by category, to speed retrieval.

In-House Accountant also permits posting of current-, future- or previous-year transactions. Monthly budgets can be established for each account and compared to actual income and expenditures. The data may also be displayed in graph form--pie, bar and trend line--on computers equipped with graphics display adapters.

Formatted to Write Checks

The labor-saving part comes when you enter all those transactions. Simply put, In-House Accountant guesses what you’re going to do next. It assumes that the next transaction will bear the same date and be posted to the same account as the last. But if that’s not the case, you need only type the first few letters of the new account for the program to find it.

The program is formatted to write checks as you post your payables, using forms easily ordered with information provided with the program. Recurring transactions--rent, loans, etc.--can be entered automatically and at intervals, such as monthly, quarterly or semiannually.

Finally, In-House Accountant’s manual includes all the information that even a novice needs to set up a professional set of computerized books.

Dollars and Sense is published by Monogram, 8295 S. La Cienega Blvd., Inglewood 90301, in versions for the Apple II series of computers ($120), Apple Macintosh ($150) and IBM PC, PCjr and IBM PC compatibles ($180).

It comes on a single disk, which cannot be copied. When you send in your warranty card, Monogram will send you a backup program disk. Because the program was written in a special language (UCSD Pascal), it cannot be installed on a hard disk unless the disk is especially configured to make room for it; such a task is best left to expert computer operators.

On a floppy-disk computer, however, Dollars and Sense starts at the flip of the on-switch and includes some nice features. It, too, is a double-entry accounting system and comes with three sets of pre-established accounts. (In-House Accountant has none.)

One set is for small-business use, another for household use and the third for handling typical income tax deduction categories. You can use these predetermined accounts, add to them or create your own. The program will handle 125 accounts.

Dollars and Sense has a number of features, including the ability to designate up to 25 sets of automatic transactions for paying regular monthly bills, such as your mortgage. Thereafter, you have only to change the date each month to have your computer type out the check and post the proper account.

Estimating Your Taxes

For other types of transactions, the program helps you enter the required data with minimal typing. It also reconciles your bank accounts and compares your actual income and expenses to budgeted amounts. (As with In-House Accountant, you can establish regular monthly budgets as well as variable monthly budgets for items such as property taxes.)

Dollars and Sense is able to produce more elaborate graphs and charts of your accounts than In-House Accountant, and it can print them out.

Another exclusive feature is Forecast, an income-tax-estimating module that lets you find out how changes in your income and investments will affect your taxes. The program contains all the elements you’ll need to estimate your taxes, including income averaging, and they can be modified as tax laws change. (Forecast can be purchased separately for $80.)

The major problem with Dollars and Sense is the severe limitation placed on the amount of data you can store for each transaction. The program is designed to use only one line per transaction (unless you distribute a transaction over multiple accounts). As a result, you are allotted just 25 characters to describe the transaction, barely enough room to fully identify a payee or income source, let alone record the purpose.

By contrast, In-House Accountant gives 28 characters for the payee name and an additional 35 characters as a “memo” to briefly describe the transaction for use at tax time.

Dollars and Sense is a slick program, no doubt about it, but the greater flexibility and capacity of In-House Accountant, plus its more thorough instruction manual, make it the better choice for complex personal or small-business accounts.

The Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the authors cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Richard O’Reilly, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.