Disks Help Balance a Checkbook

A lot of people use a computer to keep track of banking transactions. Programs such as Dollars and Sense, Quicken, DAC Easy and Lotus 1-2-3 let you electronically record withdrawals and deposits, among other things.

Balancing your checkbook, however, is another matter. Even for sophisticated computer users, the best way to do it usually has been by hand, the old-fashioned way.

Los Angeles-based First Interstate Bank is trying to change that. It now can send out bank statements and software on floppy disks so that customers--particularly small businesses and individual consumers--can balance their accounts by computer.

First Interstate and other banks have offered computerized account balancing for large businesses that write thousands of checks per month, but these services have been too expensive for other customers. People who subscribe to a computerized bank-at-home service--Bank of America’s HomeBanking, for instance--can draw out computer data, but additional software is required to maintain your banking records and balance your account. First Interstate’s service is simpler and more flexible.

The service, called Accurex, can balance accounts for anyone who maintains banking records with one of an array of home or small-business accounting programs, including those mentioned above. It also can read data from a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet or from standard text (ASCII) files that can be created by most accounting, spreadsheet and database programs.

Accurex costs 7 cents per transaction, with a monthly minimum charge of $4.95. It is aimed at individuals and small to medium-sized businesses that process no more than 2,500 transactions a month.

The Accurex software was developed by Intuit, a Palo Alto-based company that also publishes Quicken, an easy-to-use personal accounting program that runs on a variety of personal computers.

When Accurex balances your account, the program compares the data from your accounting files to the items in the bank statement that comes on the floppy disk from the bank. It begins by displaying a check register that looks like the one most of us maintain by hand in our checkbooks. Then it looks at each item in the bank’s statement and compares it to the appropriate item in your register. If the items are the same, it places a mark in the “item cleared” column and moves on. If it finds a discrepancy, it highlights the items and asks you a series of questions, including whether the “bank is right or wrong.”

If you say the bank is right, the program changes your register so that it’s consistent with the bank statement. If you say that the bank is wrong, the program makes a duplicate copy of your transaction and includes the discrepancy in one of the reports that it generates at the end of the session.

On a standard IBM PC, the program is able to process about 200 transactions a minute, according to an Intuit spokesman. A machine with an Intel 80386 microchip is supposed to handle up to 1,000 transactions a minute. The company claims that using the program is 20 times faster than balancing an account the old-fashioned way.

Accurex generates four reports, including an account reconciliation summary, a detailed report on cleared transactions, a list of uncleared transactions and a list of discrepancies.

It is currently available only to First Interstate Bank customers in California. A First Interstate spokeswoman says affiliate banks in other states are evaluating whether to offer the service. Intuit’s president, Scott Cook, says other banks--including some on the East Coast--will offer the service early next year but he wouldn’t disclose any names.

Until now, individuals and small businesses that have wanted to balance their checkbooks by computer generally have had to use “on-line” services that allow you to connect your computer to the bank’s over the telephone line. Such services--which have been offered by New York’s Citibank along with San Francisco’s Bank of America--also let you check your balance, pay bills, transfer funds and obtain electronic statements.

Bank of America’s HomeBanking and Citibank’s Direct Access each charge $10 per month for personal accounts. Unlike Accurex, these services also require users to have a modem so their computers can communicate over the telephone line.

Neither Citibank nor Bank of America offer on-line reconciliation services. Users of Dollars and Sense software, however, can purchase MoneyLine, an optional program that calls up the bank’s computer and transfers the data to your computer so that you can square your records with the bank’s. Dollars and Sense and MoneyLine come from Monogram, a Torrance-based software company.

One big difference between MoneyLine and Accurex is that MoneyLine requires that financial records be kept with Dollars and Sense while Accurex works with data from a variety of programs.

Whether the data comes on a disk or over a phone line, these types of banking services are a good idea. I would like to see the concept expanded for other types of information such as utility bills and credit card statements. For example, I’d like to have my phone bill on disk so that I could more easily track business-related calls.

For more information on Accurex, contact any branch of First Interstate in California or call Intuit at (415) 322-0573 or (800) 624-8742.