All About Accounting Software

In wake of their $3.6 million acquisition in Series A funding, we thought we’d highlight HelloWallet’s personal finance software. Grotech Ventures and AOL co-founder Steve Case and his wife Jean, have come together to back the accounting software that is currently in beta mode. The product has only been available to public for a little over 2 months, but has a reach of over 3.5 million people. HelloWallet’s goal is to bring professional financial advisors to the masses.

HelloWallet covers all of the personal accounting bases like tracking and managing personal finances, and then some. What sets HelloWallet apart from other personal accounting software is that it aims to be a full-service financial advisor for its users. The product also proactively uncovers savings opportunities and potential threats for its members.

Additionally, HelloWallet is unaffiliated with banks and doesn’t allow them to advertise or promote their products through the software. The company claims to be untouched by business interests, thereby providing users unbiased recommendations and insight. HelloWallet plans to use the funding money to further product development and build up a stellar business development team.

The HelloWallet team helps users achieve their specific short and long-term financial goals. Financial stability is within reach with HelloWallet; the personal accounting resource will assist with life milestones like buying a home, saving for retirement, reducing debt safely, and saving for college. HelloWallet does saving for college one better by storing tuition information for nearly every university and modeling the tuition out to a users expected enrollment date. Then the service can make recommendations on how to approach educational savings on a per-case basis.

The startup company already has famous fans like President Clinton who claimed “HelloWallet gives financial advice to [all] Americans”. Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco, has enlisted HelloWallet to provide the city with financial guidance to all of its residents. The company is revolutionizing the personal finance sector and helping to democratize access to financial information. HelloWallet has a rich repertoire of partners as well, including Ernst & Young, to help them provide their users and clients with the best financial advice in the industry. The service costs $5 a month, and the company has offered a free subscription to one needy family for every 5 paying members. Philanthropy and Financial stability, what more can we ask for?

HelloWallet is causing quite a stir in the personal accounting industry. The company has broken down the barrier between the haves and the have-nots by opening up access to formerly costly financial advice. For more information visit: www.hellowallet.com.

Personal accounting site Mint.com has launched its Android application today. Mint.com users can now access their personal finances on-the-go with their Android phone.  Mint.com was acquired by Intuit for $170 million last fall, roughly the same time that the company announced its development of the Android application.

The app has similar features as the Mint.com app for the iPhone, including the ability to view real-time account balances, monitor transactions, compare spending activity against a monthly budget, and edit transaction details. Unlike the iPhone, you can add a Mint widget that shows total cash and debt on the home screen of the Android. The widget also lets users jump to the full application with just a tap.

The app is extremely useful to check balances before making large purchases. You can also keep track of every penny spent and watch the performance of your 401 (k), brokerage and IRA accounts. Here is a screen shot of the app for Android:

In order to use the application, users must create a free account on Mint.com. The application is designed to let users take full control over their personal finances. The Mint.com app for Android is easy-to-use and an extremely valuable money management client application. The only qualm consumers have about the app is the potential danger of including all their financial information in one app, if the phone is lost or stolen. To quiet those fears, Mint.com has added password-protection and the option of disabling access to the app from the Mint.com website immediately.

IT solutions provider, SunGard, has released a new online tax calculation service that caters most specifically to benefit administrators requiring federal and state tax withholding support.

SunGard’s Omni Tax Calculator offers a simple way to calculate withholding taxes on pension distributions with improved efficiency. SunGard’s software as a service (SaaS) is available on a “pay as you go” basis and helps facilitate the entire tax calculation process.

The SaaS ultimately reduces the headache associated with tax calculation, which is quite a remarkable feat. Users will avoid dealing with costly hardware, technical expertise needed to deal with hardware, and daunting manual processes.

My favorite features of the SaaS-based Tax calculator are the automatic changes to federal and state tax withholding tables every time the government updates them and the automatic software updates. Genius!

The Omni Tax Calculator provides a simple solution for benefit administrators with its highly intuitive infrastructure. SunGard has made tax calculation easier for its users, now if only they could make it fun as well.