Free Student Accounting - Manage your Money and Achieve your Goals

Life as a student isn't always all peaches and cream. After secondary school you find yourself in a new life full of responsibility. Among them is the money management. For students away from home or those who have to pay for their studies by working, it can be challenging to keep up with bills, rent, tuition, etc. 

Banana Accounting is an easy and intuitive program that will guide you through this difficult task and help you to realize your future projects.

• ▶ Video: Free Student Accounting

 

Why you should download Banana Accounting

• Constant control of your balance: one of the main features of Banana Accounting is that you can keep track of your income and expenses over time. This will allow you not to overspend and avoid reaching the end of the month without money. For a student is very important to understand how they are spending their money, especially when they have to pay for a study loan or have to pay for their studies with limited money available.

 

• Planning and saving: thanks to the Budget function you can finally plan your study expenses, the purchase of a car or the repayment of a loan. In fact, this function will let you know how much money you will have in a certain period.

 

• Quick and easy: If you want to start your accounting, just download the template on this page, which contains all the items for your student needs. Just add the amounts and the program will do the rest.

 

• Increase your digital skills: Digital skills help to master new technologies in a conscious way. Besides learning the basics of accounting and thus managing one's money, Banana Accounting will enable you to increase your digital skills. You will learn how to use a new software, to work with documents and digital links, saving paper and time. You will be able to transfer these skills into various areas of your life, for example work and private life.

 

Banana Accounting in comparison with other programs

Compared to accounting recorded in Excel or other programs, Banana allows you to process your budget in simple steps. In addition, you can obtain the liquidity plan, a tool that will keep track of the liquidity trend over time and will be able to report when there will be a shortage or lack of money.

 

How to use Banana Accounting

1. Download Banana for free (via web or application)
2. Open the program and click on "Use Free Version"
3. Download the model above that will be opened in the program
4. Change the name of the document and go to "File” àFile and accounting properties… → Enter your name in the right or left header, the opening and closing date and the basic currency

 

Create your Budget

Before starting your registrations, we recommend you to prepare your budget, i.e. a forecast of your income and outgoings. In the already prepared template, you only have to enter the amounts of your fixed income, fixed expenses and extra expenses. In this way you will be able to predict how much you will spend in a certain category and the amount of your balance in a certain period. 

 

If you want to delete entries, simply right-click on the line you don't want and click on "delete rows". If you want to add rows, simply right-click where you want to insert the row and select "insert rows". You can also apply the same changes in the Categories table.

 

Actual revenues and expenses records

We now go straight to the transactions. You will need to enter the date, the description, the amount and the category. To simplify the entry of the category, the program will suggest you the list of categories simply by entering the initial of the word. 

 

Be careful to enter the amounts in the correct column: if it is money you receive, write the amount under "Income", and if it is money you spend, under "Expenses".

 

Budget and actual expenses: A comparison

Once you have prepared your budget and made the registrations, you can compare your real balance with the budgeted one by moving to the Categories table. This will allow you to check if you are spending more money than you should, if you need to change or reconsider your expenses. 

 

 

Cash Flow Plan

To get a more immediate view of your balance compared to the budget, move to the Accounts table and click on "Charts" at the bottom right. You will see a graph with the flow of your real balance (pink) and the budget (blue).

 

Here you can also enter your starting balance under the column "Opening".

 

Loans and scholarships

If you have loans or scholarships, you will need to register them separately in order to distinguish between your income money and money that is not yours. If it is a student loan, you can also record the repayment, and keep track of how much money you still have to pay back. 

 

Attach invoices, receipts, pay checks...

In the Transactions table, Banana Accounting allows you to attach PDF files of receipts, bills, invoices, pay checks, etc.. Simply move under the DocLink column and choose the file you want. This way you will also have proof of your expenses and income details.

 

To enter the DocLink column, move to the Data Menu → columns setup → activate DocLink.

 

Final Check

If you want to be sure you haven't made any mistakes, Banana Accounting helps you with a very useful check function. It reports errors and shows you the lines where exactly they are located (for example if you forgot to record a category or an amount). 

To do the check, go to the menu Actions→ Check accounting.

 

Annual report

At the end of the year or at a period of your choice you can have a detailed summary of the cash balance and all categories of income and outgoings. In the report you can also choose to display the money in the budget and compare it with the actual registrations. This will allow you to evaluate whether you have prepared a good budget and understand if you have saved money.  To create a yearly report, go to the menu Reports → Enhanced statement with groups → yearly report compared to budget. 

 

In the window that appears you can also activate several options, the most important ones are those found in the "Columns" section, i.e. "Current", "Budget" and "Difference".

 

Finally, you will see a PDF that you can save and consult when you need to prepare next year's budget.

Monthly forecast 

You can also create a monthly forecast to keep under control the evolution of your balance. 

To create a month-to-month subdivision go to Reports menu → Enhanced statement with groups. Then click on "Period" → "1 month" and you will get the document.

 

Let's get a better understanding of Accounting: What is Accounting and what is it for?

 

The word "accounting" can give us the idea of being a complex and obscure concept.  It's actually less complicated than we think.  In simple terms it is the recording and control of our money or that of someone else or a company.  By "transactions" or "registrations" we mean the income and outgoings, i.e. the money that comes in and the money that is spent. 

 

The control of income and expenses is fundamental in the management of a company, which aims to maximize revenues while reducing costs. Through accounting you have immediate information about the economic trend, which allows you to make timely strategies to correct or improve the management of the company with a view to future achievements.

 

Accounting also makes it easier to fill out the tax return because you have an immediate view of your income and expenses, where your income comes from, how you spent the money and the status of your balance. 

In addition to large companies and small businesses, accounting also helps individuals in their everyday life, for example to keep track of family expenses or for small or important plans, such as buying a house. 

 

Accounting will enable each of us to become a real entrepreneur.

 

The basic concepts of Accounting

 

Budget

The Budget is a forecast of your income and expenses with the indication of the category. The Budget will allow you to check that your outgoings do not exceed your income and, where necessary, avoid expenses.

In order to make a proper budget you will have to write down type of income you think you will have and all fixed and extra expenses at the beginning of every year.  By predicting your expenses and income you will have a very clear vision from the beginning and a greater control over your money that will allow you to plan and optimize your savings in order not to spend more than you have. With the budget you will be able to compare your forecasts with the real evolution of your money in order to correct your expenses in case you spend your money improperly. 

 

Cash plan

The cash plan is the real evolution of income and expenditure over time. Through the categories, Banana allows you to control where your money comes from (e.g. from your part-time job), the type of expenses you make (party night with friends) and when these movements take place.

 

Cash Flow Forecasting

Through the budget you can see the future balance (expected evolution of the liquidity balance). In fact, Banana will also allow you to enter the date of your registrations, which will allow you not only to plan and optimize your expenses, but above all to know in advance a possible lack of money and avoid unnecessary expenses. In view of a more substantial expense, such as a new phone, you will be able to predict when and how much money you will need to have to afford this expense. 

 

In conclusion, the cash plan and the budget are two complementary tools extremely useful to learn how to manage your money, optimize your expenses or move in time to change them in order to achieve a certain goal. This will allow you to make your spending consciously and avoid running out of money. 

 

In a nutshell: Why Banana? 

• Free downloadable application on your mobile phone or computer
• Quick and easy
• Planning to set goals
• Learn the art of saving and become an entrepreneur

 

References

Burek, Owen. How to Budget at University. Save The Student (2019).

Roberts, Amy. Student Budgeting Planner. Tools including spreadsheets to get yo ur budget in order. MoneySavingExpert 

Segal, Troy. Money Management for College Students. Investopedia (2020).

Vohwinkle, Jeremy. Financial Planning for College Students. Learning the Financial Ropes at a Young Age Can Pay Dividends. The Balance (2018).