Financial Records Management Tools
Financial records management has evolved significantly in recent years, with many new software products coming onto the market. Today, web-based solutions as well as sophisticated software packages can be used. Individuals may use these for both business and personal finance purposes.
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Accounting Software
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Numerous professional accounting software is available for financial record keeping. Quicken by Intuit has a well-established procedure for producing financial statements, paying taxes and other record keeping (see References). The software can arrange all of your records, balance sheet and projected income onto a single easy-to-read spread. Microsoft Money and GNUcash are other alternative software that provide similar services (see Resources). They can be used by professionals and amateurs alike.
Financial Planning
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Record keeping also should include a fair amount of planning and budgeting. For this process, you can use Go Simplifi and Voyant (see Resources). These online tools allow you to prepare a customized financial plan for a certain event, repayment or goal. They can also link you to a professional financial planner that can take you step by step to organize your finances. These sites are supported by advertisements, mostly from the financial services industry.
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Personal Financial Management Tools
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In recent years, personal financial management tools have entered the market. These web-based tools, such as Mint and Wesabe (see Resources), allow users to link their bank accounts and credit cards to their accounting and budgeting tools. You can set a memo so that as soon as you pay a bill, it can be applied to your budget. You also can allow for tax payments, investment planning and daily expenditures. These sites are free and are supported by serving ads that may interest you.
Traditional Tools
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Some traditionalists use more basic tools to manage financial documents. Some accounting offices still use paper filing systems to keep client records by name and year. These have the advantage of being "unhackable," but of course have numerous drawbacks for analysis, storage and transmission. For younger professionals, Microsoft Excel and Word can still be used as fairly effective tools for financial management. While they don't provide form and function of more dedicated software, the Microsoft products have all of the tools for complete record keeping.
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