Account Xpress

If you are familiar with Account Xpress version 3, the following is a list of the main improvements and changes that you will find in Account Xpress version 4.

Improved user interface
In this new version, some controls have been relocated to make room for more predominant ones. For example, the tabs control has been moved from the top to the bottom of the right pane. The font size for most lists can be changed through the application preferences dialog. Scrolling is now contextual; when scrolling is done with the mouse wheel, the control (i.e. list or tree view) under the cursor is being scrolled as opposed to the one currently selected. Dialogs are all using a larger font to make them easier to read on high definition screens. A new option allows negative numbers to be displayed with a minus sign instead of parentheses. And more...

Monthly based period selection
In Account Xpress version 3, a period can start or end on any date. In Account Xpress version 4, the period must start at the beginning of a month and end at the end of the same month or a different one (i.e. only full monthly periods can be selected). This is meant for any selected period to coincide with the budget versus actual list and reports, which are also monthly based.

General transactions list
A new general transactions list now allows you to see all the transactions in a given period regardless of their respective accounts, categories and / or payees.

Accounts by Type
A new list of accounts grouped by account type (i.e. checking, savings, credit card, etc.) is now available.

Accounts by Currency
Replaces the list of Foreign Accounts, which did not include the local currency accounts nor currency group totals.

Improved navigation bar
The new navigation bar provides an alternative way to select any item in the tree view (left pane). This can be particularly useful on monitors with a small screen resolution.

Improved budgeting
The two budgeting methods provided in version 3 have been replaced with a new and improved budgeting method that uses time sensitive budget entries. Categories can now be used for budgeting only, tracking only or both (i.e. budgeting and tracking purposes). While most categories should be used for both budgeting and tracking purposes, there are a few exceptions. This is due to the difference between an expense and a payment, which is subtle, but important to understand. For example, while the full amount of a loan payment can be used for budgeting purposes, only part of that amount qualifies as an expense to accurately calculate your net worth. In this case, you could have a budgeting-only category named Loan Payment to budget your entire loan payments and a tracking-only category named Loan Interest to keep track of the expense portion of those payments.

Removal of occasional payees
Having countless occasional payees with only a few transactions has shown to be impractical and even cumbersome. In this new version, it is recommended to keep track of payees only with whom you do business regularly (e.g. at least once a month, every month) and to simply add the name of occasional payees directly to their respective transaction description (e.g. Teeth cleaning at Amazing Smiles).

Pending Transactions list
Better control of scheduled and imported transactions can now be achieved by placing those transactions in a pending transactions list, where they can be further reviewed and / or modified, and accepted independantly.

Transaction template shortcut keys
Transaction templates can now have a user-assigned shortcut key starting with Ctrl + Shift followed by an alphanumeric character of your choice. For example, Ctrl + Shift + F to create an auto Fueling transaction, Ctrl + Shift + G to create a Groceries transaction, etc.

Loan / Mortgage CSV files import
A Loan / Mortgage CSV Import wizard allows you to import data from a CSV file that contains the amortization details of a loan or mortgage.

Import mappings
Import mappings allow you to have imported transactions automatically assigned to their appropriate accounts, categories and / or payees.

Context sensitive help
The quantity and quality of the help file and context sensitive help (i.e. help provided by pressing the F1 key) have been greatly improved in the new version. Every list, report and dialog is now explained in great details.