In this article
Free Student Accounting - Manage your Money and Achieve your Goals
Free application for students and trainees who want to manage their money independently and learn how to plan future expenses.
In Banana WebApp openen
Open Banana Accounting Plus op uw browser zonder enige installatie. Pas het sjabloon aan, voer de transacties in en sla het bestand op uw computer op.
Open template in WebApp Open tutorial in WebAppModel documentatie
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.
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
- Open the template with Banana Accounting's WebApp
- Using the File → File properties command, set the period, family name, and base currency (you can budget and do accounting in any desired currency).
- Using the File → Save As command, save the file. It's helpful to indicate the family name and the year in the file name. For example, "Giuseppe-Rossi-20xx.ac2".
ATTENTION: If you close the browser without saving, you will lose your file. Always save the file to your computer.
To reopen the saved file, click on File > Open.
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".
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.
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).
Segal, Troy. Money Management for College Students. Investopedia (2020).
Modelvoorbeeld
Sarah Winston
Basic Currency: EUR
Cash Manager
Group | Account | Description | Sum In |
---|---|---|---|
Cash | Financial availability | ||
Group | Category | Description | Sum In |
---|---|---|---|
Students Budget | |||
REVENUE | |||
Job | Monthly salary | 4 | |
Family/ gifts | Family/ gifts | 4 | |
Other revenue | Other revenue | 4 | |
4 | TOTAL REVENUES | 4-3 | |
EXPENSES | |||
Costs | |||
Rent | Rent or Mortgage | 30 | |
Household bills | Light, gas, water | 30 | |
Food | Groceries, cafeteria, takeaways | 30 | |
Television | Television, monthly fee | 30 | |
Health insurance | Health insurance | 30 | |
Taxes | Taxes | 30 | |
Transport | Train, bus, taxi | 30 | |
University tuition fees | University fees | 30 | |
Course materials | Books, copies | 30 | |
Internet and phone | Telephone and internet subscription | 30 | |
Subscriptions | Netflix, Spotify | 30 | |
Going out | Bars, Night Clubs, restaurants, cinema | 30 | |
Clothing and shopping | Clothing and shopping | 30 | |
Holidays and events | Holidays and events | 30 | |
Other | Other | 30 | |
30 | Total Costs | 3 | |
3 | TOTAL EXPENSES | 4-3 | |
4-3 | RESULT | 00 | |
Loans and Scholarships | |||
Student Loan | Loans injections | 1-2 | |
Loan reimbursements | Loan reimbursements | 1-2 | |
Scholarship | Scholarship | 1-2 | |
1-2 | TOTAL LOANS AND SCHOLARSHIPS | 00 | |
00 | CHANGE IN CASH | ||