Cashew - personal finance manager

[Aufty]

Hello Mike,

thank you for so detailed input. I've heard about Pocket Quicken, but didn't use it (I'm also Palm user) since I don't use Quicken on the desktop. From the first sight task is not trivial, so we have to investigate more and see what we can do here.

Thank you for your support.

Andriy,

I'm sure it is not trivial, but is definitely worth the pursuit. Just do a search on the forums for Quicken and you will see some other threads of people looking for one of these financial apps that syncs with desktop Quicken. I don't know what your business model is (is this a hobby for you, or is it how you make your living, or do you have a team and investors, etc.?), but I would highly recommend that you purchase at least the basic version of Quicken and Pocket Quicken and take a look at how they work together. Look at the conduit, etc. Then if you're really serious about having not just a viable finance app on Android, but THE finance app that will be sought after and purchased, you should contact the developers at LandWare.com and have a serious talk with them to see if you can get some tips or direction, or discover whether they intend to develop in this direction.

Secondly, I know their product was advertised by Intuit. I'm not sure exactly what the arrangement was, but there was a cooperative agreement of some kind with them. You may want to pursue it from that angle as well. If you had some cooperation, or even better, an endorsement from Intuit, you could have a real profitable possibility there!

Anyway, I'm sure that's more "advice" than you may have wanted, but I'm a former developer who is doing other things professionally now, and I really wish somebody would get on the ball and make this thing happen for Android--so I'm just hoping that you might pursue it, or that someone else reading this post might pursue it. There are plenty of us who would appreciate it.

If anyone reading this is interested, I would be happy to share some other suggestions along these lines.

Thanks again,

Aufty.

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Hello Mike,

thank you for your comments, we are going to play with Quicken and see what we can do here. I guess we may need more input on this topic later.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Hello all,

we've just published Cashew 1.0.2.52 to the Android Market. This is a maintenance release which fixes a few issues reported by our users:

- password dialog can not be skipped using the Back button;
- when Favourites only is turned on, the accounts list total displays the total of favourite accounts, instead of the total of all accounts.

Enjoy Cashew!

 

[fhrosa]

Hello all,

we've just published Cashew 1.0.2.52 to the Android Market. This is a maintenance release which fixes a few issues reported by our users:

- password dialog can not be skipped using the Back button;
- when Favourites only is turned on, the accounts list total displays the total of favourite accounts, instead of the total of all accounts.

Enjoy Cashew!

Another account attribute that would be useful, besides the Favourite flag, would be a 'Consider this account in the total balance' flag. Then in the accounts list, the "Total" line would sum only the accounts marked with this flag.

 

[bosida]

I installed Cashew two weeks ago and using it extensively until now. Thanks for developing this great application. I hope some features could be added in the future, and I register to this forum specifically for this

1) Export capability. If quicken requires long time, at least I need CSV or (better, less hassle) a .xls file to be saved in a specified folder on the SD card. This application is basically useless to me if at the end of the month I can't take out data and see what I spent and where.

2) Power users vs. simplicity Although I use several accounts and categories, I don't really need the "full" Cashew page to input some data. I actually never use "Payee" and "Number". All my statuses are "Cleared". I believe the easy suggestion to make both kind of users happy is a "Register Preferences" section where you can mark which entries the user would like to show or not, and the default values for scroll down options. If entries ar enot shown they still get registered "empty" in the database so the user can decide to set it in the future and the software maintains database integrity.

3) Fast input I use cashew for personal expenses. It is something I want to do, but is not something I love to do (as many other I guess). Imagine I buy something and want to do my "homeworks": the steps android out of standby, unlock, combination and click on cashew are already unavoidable... but, tap register, tap menu, tap new transaction could be shortened! My suggestion is to add a "Quick register" page on the main menu, fully customizable (this time in predefined account, category, default values...)

4) Customizable Quick register page Alternatively to point 3 you could have a "Quick register" page working similarly to the "reports" page: each user could add as many predefined register transactions as he wants with predefined accounts, category and default values. This would be the best (at least for me) as probably 70% of my entries are recurrent transactions in few categories with just different amounts.

5) Additional reports about expense and income. Imagine end of the month: my ideal preset report would be "income by accounts" with subtotals minus expenses by categories with subtotal and of course a "end of the month balance with the difference. At the moment I have to go manually to know it. I believe many people are interested in their balance between what they spend and what they gain rather than expenses and gains as separate entities. To do this report my suggestion is to have a new "expense and income" report category, where you set up your reports by selecting first how you want your income displayed (which accounts, which period... everything like the actual "income" custom report), then you similarly choose how you want the expenses. And in the end there is the balance between part 1 and part 2.

6) Report results: in "expense" or "income" by category, after the report is generated i can see each category total sum. If you tap into one category it will show the "breakdown" with all entries. I would love if this breakdown could show also the "notes" for that transaction: it is very hard to remember what was that amount referred to and if you need to know you have to manually go an look for it in the registry page. Even a little font (same as for date and account) below the category name would do. Of course, considering point one, you could even have "additional report entries" customizable for a menu in the related page.


Cheers,

Stefano

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Hello Stefano,

thank you very much for you write-up.

We will synchronize your wish list with our TODO list (we already had some features there or even started working on them, but there are several completely new ones). I guess we may have more questions about features you suggest later.

 

[bosida]

Sounds great!

I have a question:
I need to move one subcategory into a different category. When I tap categories/edit categories I can only edit the name... can this be done in the actual version?

Stefano

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Hello Stefano,

no, at the moment, you can not move a category into another parent category. You need to delete existing one and create a new one under a category you need.

This was done to avoid confusing cases when a user created a report where multiple categories were selected in the filter. After moving a subcategory to another parent category, the initial idea of the report might be broken, but it will be not obvious for the user.

 

[bosida]

I understand. In this case, what happens to entries belonging to the category if the category is deleted, is it possible to assign them to another category automatically?

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Currently category field of all transactions of this category becomes unassigned (no category), but feature which allows user to reassign all all the transactions from deleted category to another one makes sense and is included to Cashew todo list.

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Hello all,

Cashew 1.0.4 is available on Android Market.

This release fixes the problem with entering numbers using the on-screen keyboard on HTC Hero with German and Russian firmware and probably some other combinations of devices and locales.

Enjoy Cashew!

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Hello all,

updated version of the Cashew User's Manual is available on our web site. You can download it from the support page.

New chapters about advanced account operation have been added:
- Adjusting an account balance.
- Reconciling an account.
- Purging an account.

Enjoy Cashew!

 

[lindsche]

i'd be happy to see a simple csv-export function in the near future. is that possible?

i also think that the most used function "adding a transaction" would be best placed on the start screen.

are you planning on developping graphical reports?

cheers

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Hello,

i'd be happy to see a simple csv-export function in the near future. is that possible?

Currently work in progress.

i also think that the most used function "adding a transaction" would be best placed on the start screen.

Similar feature is already in our TODO list, but in a little bit different form - widget you can put on desktop and get access to the transaction entry form in one click.

are you planning on developping graphical reports?

Yes, it was in our initial plans, but our users request other features (e.g., import/export or recurring transactions), so currently it doesn't have highest priority (you are the second person who asked about charts for reports visualization).

Thank you for your comments.

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Hello all,

Cashew 1.0.5 is available on Android Market.

This release fixes two minor issues:

- reconcile form didn't allow to enter negative balances;
- date period input in the date picker didn't work correctly on some dates.

Enjoy Cashew!

 

[MsDee]

I would also like to see an Android app that supports Quicken. I use Quicken 2010 now, but just moved from a Windows Mobile phone with which I synchronized my Pocket Quicken with my desktop seamlessly, settings in Pocket Quicken allowed you to determine how often one sync'd.

 

[gizbug]

I would also like to see an Android app that supports Quicken. I use Quicken 2010 now, but just moved from a Windows Mobile phone with which I synchronized my Pocket Quicken with my desktop seamlessly, settings in Pocket Quicken allowed you to determine how often one sync'd.

I agree. Too bad the developer isn't pushing this option, as this seems to be the #1 option for anyone looking for a Personal Finance manager on Android OS.

 

[Eryl Flynn]

I would say syncing with Quicken is hot because we all know it as a finanace app that does what we want and likely have. I will take sync with any desktop accounting application that is affordable, tracks finances well, including 401ks, and a desktop app that can download my transactions from my bank as well.

Moneydance might be an option to sync to, I know they are working on an iphone app. So if Quicken seems daunting talk to them next.

I should also add, for Quicken syncing it might be simple to output and launch an ofx file, I beleive that is the standard format. Quicken should be registered to that file type as a way to add the data, just need to know how to format it. Then the trick is to read the updated file and manage the changes. That might be the hard part with quicken, Quicken saves in it's own format.

 

[hetomlinson]

Could you tell me if cashew is compatible with the htc tattoo as it does not appear in the market. This app seems like just the thing i need.

 

[Andriy Zakharchuk]

Hello all,

Cashew 1.0.6 is available on Android Market.

This release adds support for devices with small screen resolutions like HTC Tattoo.

Enjoy Cashew!

 

[flight3]

Very much thanks for this post!! Needed an app like this since I just switched from Blackberry.

 

[Medic_in_SC]

+1 for syncing with Quicken....

I realize that some people don't use desktop financial software, but I would think the majority of us do. A phone app that tracks finances is great, but if it doesn't integrate with the desktop software that someone uses, they have to enter everything twice, once to the phone and then later to the desktop software at home.

Me, I'll continue the tried and true method of placing receipts in my wallet and enter them only once.

Just my opinion. Your software looks great other than that.

 

[SourPatchKid]

I'll try it.

 

[tgallo5726]

yes i use desktop software quicken 2009 premier, and i would not survive without it. we badly need a app that can import or sync with the desktop software and make use of the same files as quicken files. gba money can import but screws up numbers, easy money need csv files, an money use microsoft money qif files or qif files which are from only one acct. i need to import my whole quicken setup into the program. there is a quicken playpen file which is a good example of quicken files structure.

 

[FrankThomson]

personal finance management is a complicated structure and it's very important to understand the essence of it. I think this option is really great and I will definitely download it soon.