Don't have time for a full-blown financial program but need something more than a spreadsheet? Need to tally up by category for tax preparation? SmartLedger may be just enough tool for the job.
SmartLedger's mission in life is to help you track income and expense without having to type numbers, dates, and names. SmartLedger makes use of pop-down lists that automatically grow as you use the program, so that you can click, rather than type, most of your information after your first few entries.
SmartLedger is ideal for adding up randomly all those receipts you've stuffed into a grocery sack, awaiting your accountant's attention. Don't sort them out by hand -- just start with the first one and continue till you reach the bottom of the bag. Leave sorting and subtotaling to the program. Other uses: quick expense reports for your employer, monitoring a chancy budget. This simple program is flexible and won't lock you into account reconciliations. Enter only the transactions that are meaningful to you or your accountant. Reconcile when you want to, using the checkboxes and Accounts button.
SmartLedger comes with make-believe sample entries. Play with the buttons to see what the program does. Then, when you're ready to start your own ledger, click "Remove Sample Entries" to get rid of the make-believe entries.
Do you have a PayPal account? SmartLedger can import your PayPal account history automatically and give you the big picture on income/expense, subtotaled by category.
For on-line vendors, an eBay fee and consignment calculator is included. To incorporate account history from other banks, use the Import Manually command under the SmartLedger Menu.
Built with FileMaker Developer as a standalone application, SmartLedger looks and behaves the same on both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Three versions are available: Windows, Mac OS X, and Mac "classic" OS 8/9.x.
As a very disorganized person who dreads collecting receipts, when all I had to look forward to was a nightmare in Excel, I started to look for accounting software for Mac. I came across SmartLedger, downloaded it for a trial and was immediately hooked. I had tried trial versions of other programs and all of them gave me headaches.
Sure, it might not be the most aesthetically pleasing program out there, but I'll take functionality over appearance any day. SmartLedger is very easy to use. Setting up the taxes, GST and PST, was a snap. I actually enjoy inputting my data now. I printed out a report to see how that works -- again, very easy. I've also been able to tailor a couple of the functions to my own specific needs (I am both employed and self-employed in the arts).
As a further note, I emailed Alex, the developer, this evening with a couple of questions regarding functions that weren't screaming "Here I am!" at me. Within two hours I'd received a reply with detailed instructions. For such an immediate and attentive response, I say bravo!