"The product is aimed at the small businessman who is also an investor," explains Milan Ganatra. Managing director of Miles Computer Software. If you run your own firm this is ideal for you, because it handles both the business and personal aspects of your life."Since the package caters to the business and personal aspects, I get the advantage of dual usage at a very reasonable price," explains Shiavux Mistiy, proprietor, Shiavux Mistiy &- Co. The package as many options. The main menu, for example, has three broad options (inventory management, personal planner, investment management), each of which leads to an array of other options. The investment manager, for instance, has six other options of which primary (primary market investments). Secondary (traded stocks) and stock (investments made before installing the package) are a few. As we said, if you have a business of your own this may be what you were looking for.

MoneyWare is a Windows-based software for investment management and personal accounting; inventory management and business accounting. It is targeted at individuals, professionals, businessmen and investors.

The personal organiser maintains a telephone book (for business contacts), mailing lists, and n appointment diary. Mailing list addresses can be printed on labels of any size. The Calendar and Event Management module automatically updates events such as interest on fixed deposits, insurance premium due and rent due. It lets you reschedule an event or repeat an event at intervals.

The package allows you to record investments made through the primary market (application for new issues) and keeps track of all transactions entered on the floor of the exchange (by entering bills received from the broker). MoneyWare keeps a record of short term and long term gain/loss with respect to the cost inflation index. There is a facility to import and view quotation files from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) or the National Stock Exchange (NSE). MoneyWare keeps track of stock sent for registration and deliveries sent to the broker. Reports can be generated for stock status, location of stocks and the various registers.

The financial accounting section maintains records of common accounting transaction and you can print vouchers and other accounting statements. In addition, MoneyWare offers a graphical analysis of Income against expenses or Assets against Liabilities.

Inventory management tools facilitate input of sales, purchases, sales returns, purchase returns. You can print invoices (bills) and vouchers. MoneyWare also maintains records of sales tax slabs and registers for sales tax department.

We all understand the significance of record keeping and maintenance of, especially when it comes to running business. Somehow, Indian software developers tend to cater to the accounting needs of medium to large companies, forgetting the small ones. MoneyWare Personal Financial software, developed by Miles Computer Consultancy Service is finally a step in this direction.

You need to insert a key floppy diskette to run the package, it gives you the option to create a new company a collection of records of a particular person or an organization.

It offers three areas of functioning: Investment and Personal Accounting, Inventory and Business Accounting, and Personal Organiser. Investment and Personal Accounting is the most comprehensive module in MoneyWare. It caters to stock market transactions: Both primary and secondary markets. The package includes modifiable database of all the companies currently listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The primary section deals with nearly all the primary-market-related transactions. It covers everything from the time the application is made, to the allotment of shares, or the refund of the amount. You can store details for the complete issue taken out by a company as well as maintain a record of application (this is especially useful to those who try their luck under different names). You can keep a record of the applications made (Stock Invest and Call money features are present), the instruments allotted or refunds made by the company. You can print reminders and generate reports for shares, which have been allotted or refunded. The reports can be sorted by scrip name or by date.

In the secondary market section, you can keep track of the physical location and current market prices of your stock. You can calculated long term capital gains/losses by adding inflation amount to your investment cost.

This could be a dream for the small office bloke. It's whatchamacallit personal productivity software and some. Actually, you can call MoneyWare anything you please and be pleased with it. To start with it packs a good personal organizer. It has a telephone book, mailing list, appointments diary, schedule and event planner and stuff. Jump to module two which is your investment and personal accounting manager. This module can handle all your investment in shares, stocks, mutual funds, real estate, deposits, jewellery and what have you. It can update your calendar for events like conversion of debenture, redemption of debentures, fixed deposit interest, loan maturity etc. MoneyWare can do a whole lot of things for your investment like take care of you stocks sent for registration and give you a complete stock status statement.

MoneyWare is also a full-fledge financial accounting software. Keeps track of your bank receipts and payments, withdrawals and receipts. It can generate all your financial reports like bank books, credit card statements, profit and loss account and the like. Additionally, it can give you an analysis of income versus expenses for any period. It can be viewed, printed or presented graphically from a range of graphs that the software package offers.

That's not all. MoneyWare provides a comprehensive tool for inventory management. It allows input of sales, purchases, sales/ purchase returns. It can maintain records of sales tax slabs and register for sales tax computation. And….isn't good enough?

ICICI Ltd is planning to offer a free-of-charge financial management software to each investor who opens a demat account with it. With this offer, ICICI aims to grab the market share in depository services, which it will be launching for all investor in a month's times.

Earlier in January, ICICI had opened depository services for its existing shareholders and bond holders. With this offer, icici has brought in high competition in the retail financial services marketing, similar to what is seen in the fast moving consumer goods segment.

According to Ms Madhabi Puri Buch, deputy general manager, ICICI, the financial software offer fits in well with their overall marketing proposition of 'customer empowerment,' or providing the customer with tools of knowledge which will aid him/her in making an informed purchase decision.

She said that by using the financial package, an investor could be find out the best-suited financial product for him/herself. She added that this could allow ICICI to get greater business in the long-term.

But customer decision not with standing, the offer is likely to attract more customer for its depository services. Sources said that the package was an adaptation of the 'MoneyWare' software available in the market. ICICI has bought the available software from its manufacturers, picked up relevant modules and customised them to suit the investors.

The package will allow the investors to manage their assets and liabilities and give relevant information like returns on bonds. The package will also contain features like a pop-up-diary which will remind investors about the due payments and receipts. The package will also allow investors to see their ready balance sheet position at any time. Sources said the package was available in the market at Rs.2000. While a few other depository services offer similar financial management packages to investor through the Internet, ICICI chose to go for the stand alone option. According to Ms Buch, investors may prefer to keep the intimate details of their financial transaction confidential by keeping it confined to their own personal computers. They could feel more secure than putting it up on the web, she said.

Further, with personal computers being larger in number than Internet connections in the country as of now, more people could readily use the stand-alone package.

Another local product, MoneyWare from Miles Computer Consultants is both personal finance tool as well as small office accounts software. Since our focuses in this article is to look at the various investments management and personal finance software we shall focus only such features of this product. This section of the package has four items on its menu which are relevant for the retail investor. These four section are Primary, Secondary, Stock and Other Investments. While the primary section, as name implies is for the primary market investments and helps in keeping track of investments made therein, the trading of securities. In the section on stocks one starts of the with the existing inventory of holdings or is as an accountant would call opening stock or balance, that a person had before installing the software. The forth section of the software that is other investments deals with other instruments such as bank accounts, bullion, real estate, mutual funds etc. Since the software is elaborate it takes time to familiarise with the different aspects of the product and get a navigational feel before one gets comfortable with its usage. The package also has a section which enables one to set reminders for due dates for maturing bonds or FD's, payment of endurance premium etc. the best thing about the product is its ability to generate reports in various formats, including customisation of reports to meet the individuals own specific needs.

MONEYWARE is a Windows-based software package that aims to help you manage you financial matters with ease. A three-in-one product, MoneyWare aids business accounting, inventory and investment management and also comes with a personal organiser. You can manage your bank, cash and credit card transactions, in addition to complete primary and secondary market management for buying and selling shares.

You can also manage other investments like fixed deposits, loans, insurance, property and jewellery. There are also reminders for events like maturity, free stock price updates and group/family reports, etc. A new 32-bit version of MoneyWare is expected to be released in June and will contain sections on bonds, detailed tax computation, and modules.

MUMBAI-based Miles Software has recently hit the market with its new version of Financial Account package. Christened MoneyWare 2000, this user-friendly suite is designed especially for Indian home & business.

In addition, it has the ability to generate reports in various formats, including customization of reports to the individual's own specific needs.