Hilton Computer Services, 14 Avalon Road, Orpington, Kent BR6 9AX
Price: £9.95

Personal Banking System, written by Micromega and marketed by Hilton Computer Services Limited is yet another program designed to help you manage your personal accounts using a 48K Spectrum.

Personal Banking System has been available for some time but improvements to the latest version allows the transfer to, and use of, microdrives and 80-column printers. Further improvements include the use of Myrmidon Software's Microprint to give 51 characters per line, the speeding up of some routines by using machine code and the provision of an analysis code so that items of income and expenditure can be grouped together.

The program is menu driven by an eight option main menu which offers the usual options of displaying statements, entering new data, saving and loading data, searching for entries and setting standard orders. The other options allow the reconciliation of bank statements, system maintainence and a forward/back value option used to make changes to data or calculate a forward projection.

Entries can be made in a new calendar year only if an entry has already been made for December. To make data entry easier the amount is entered in pence, omitting the decimal point.

Regular payments can be handled automatically using the standing order option. The frequency, number of the payments, starting date, as well as the usual entry details of up to 10 standing orders, can be set. The standing orders are then checked and applied, if appropriate, every time an entry is made.

Reconciliation of entries with a bank statement is a common feature but PBS goes one stage further in that bank statements are entered separately. The items are compared against the PBS data and discrepancies divided into types - uncleared cheques and unmatched items, either with a PBS entry or a statement entry. The program can show those items which are similar and could be the same except for an error.

Compared to OCP's Finance Manager I found PBS slow, especially when searching for items. Although it has clear, informative screen displays and is an excellent program I still have reservations. Despite my carping, this would figure in any list of recommended programs, and is well worth considering if you are looking for a program to manage your home finances.

MONEY IS THE INSPIRATION

Software manufacturer J P Gibbons seems to have money on the mind with two new 16K Spectrum cassettes just reaching the market. One, Casino 1, is concerned with gambling away money and the other, Personal Banking System, is concerned with saving it.

Casino 1 includes three old favourites, Blackjack, Craps and Roulette. Blackjack and Craps are fairly routine card games where you stake money against the computer pot and, more often than not, lose all of it. The computer seems to hit a winning streak too easily for our liking - perhaps it has a system?

The roulette game is very interesting and we managed to win money from the computer. When the bets have been laid on the roulette board the wheel is spun and a series of numbers flashes on to the screen. If it stops on your spot you win the pot, if it does not you lose your stake.

Personal Banking System allows a user to keep an accurate record of financial affairs. It will keep track of standing orders and even locate a specific cheque through its number. The system is user-friendly and supports separate data files.

Casino 1 costs £4.95; Personal Banking System costs £9.95, including instruction manual. Both cassettes are available from J P Gibbons AIB, 14 Avalon Road, Orpington, Kent BR6 9AX.