Product Reviews

A couple of years ago, it looked like Microsoft Money and Intuit Quicken were playing leapfrog. With each release, there were a few new features, but these were mainly to catch up with the competition. What Money had one year, Quicken would have the next, and vice versa.

But things have changed. Money 2003 (see issue 99, p155) was launched with an interface tidy-up and a catch-up with Quicken. But now Quicken XG has arrived with pretty much the same features it had before. Yes, there are improvements in the peripheral stuff, like a redesign of the Business Centre's home page, a tidier setup Wizard and an enhanced Reports Navigator, but the features remain virtually identical.

The interesting changes concern the new online Advantage services and the pricing structure that goes with them. Through online chatrooms and forums, Advantage allows a member to interact with other investment users, and in real-time with Intuit specialists. The idea is that these online services are now chargeable, as Intuit pushes you to pay monthly or annually for your Quicken software.

The principle is that you're guaranteed the most up-to-date services to help run your accounts. Quicken XG Advantage, for example, is a bundle that includes all the online banking features, along with stock, investment prices and unit-trust downloads. Usefully, the service also includes foreign exchange rates, plus news and research on investments. Alternatively, the Quicken XG Security Package includes a secure, remote backup service too.

Pay-as-you go software isn't a bad idea in itself, particularly for those who upgrade to the latest version every year anyway, but beware that Quicken XG is no longer available in cheaper versions if you don't need the clever stuff. The all-in version will cost you a minimum of £3.83 per month or a £54 one-off payment, and the basic £30 starter edition has gone. This is already causing a stir among those who like to buy their software cheap and

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keep it for a few years before upgrading. You might also assume you'd get free support, but you only get three 'one-to-one' sessions - you have to buy the rest.

However, for those yet to buy into the Quicken phenomenon, this change of marketing strategy won't be that important, as the software does a thorough job of looking after both your personal and business finances. For the business user, for instance, Quicken XG can be used to prepare estimates and turn these into a real invoice later.

Job and project tracking is also on the menu, as is the ability to email HTML invoices to your customer. A proper Accounts Payable area (purchase ledger) is now in residence, so you can track supplier invoices and bill payments. It's also possible to keep an eye on your business and personal vehicle mileage within the application.

Quicken is still highly efficient when dealing with your personal bank and cash dealings too, analysing the income and expenditure as you enter transactions across your various accounts. You can track the usual bank, cash and credit cards, along with savings, deposits and building society accounts. The end result of all this data entry is plenty of information, which is thankfully easier to get at with the new Reports Navigator.

As with Money, you have the ability to track investments with portfolios of shares and stocks, complete with routines for purchasing, selling, adding dividends, reinvestments and so on. ISAs may be dealt with via a series of Wizards in the investment centre, and you can handle most of the investment types and tracking methods without needing detailed knowledge before you begin.

If lack of time is an issue, note that Intuit reckons it takes only five minutes to take control of your accounts using Quicken XG, although this is PR-speak for the time it takes to run through the Setup Wizard. Unfortunately, there's more to it than that and, although Quicken XG is more streamlined than before, software of this calibre will always take a while to master.

Which accounting package to use, Quicken or Money, now very much depends on how you like to pay. In its favour, Quicken XG is less cluttered than Money, particularly as you can choose which work centres you want to see and hide what doesn't apply to you. However, if you just want a basic home finance manager, you'd be better off looking elsewhere. Microsoft Money 2003 Financial Suite, for example, is still available from Amazon.co.uk at just £20. Then again, who knows what pricing strategy Microsoft is planning for next year.