SitoAccounting

An inherited idea

SitoAccounting was my bachelor’s thesis: a web application designed to make managing household finances easier.

The idea wasn’t entirely mine. It came from a program my father had written in BASIC when he first got into computing, and which he described to me in full detail. I wanted to bring that idea back, modernize it and add a couple of extra features.

From the start, I built it to use it myself and to make it public for anyone who wanted to take advantage of it. I still use it today, and some people I know have started using it too.

Technology

The application is built in PHP with the Symfony framework. It was what we used the most during my degree, so I decided to play it safe with the technology and focus my efforts on the product.

What it does

• Fixed expenses and income: record the transactions that repeat every month, such as rent, bills or your salary.
• Transactions: log any one-off expense or income.
• Forecasts: split your available money into budgets (see below).
• Charts: expenses by year and by month, and a simple history of expenses versus income.

Forecasts: the standout feature

What sets SitoAccounting apart is its forecast system. It lets you divide your total money into parts and assign each one to whatever you want: leisure, groceries, going out, the dentist… Each expense is then deducted from its forecast, so it’s easy to see how much is left for each thing.

Over the years I’ve noticed that modern banks like Revolut offer something very similar, and they even go a step further with virtual cards linked to each budget, so the money is taken directly from it.

Project report

If you want to dig deeper, the bachelor’s thesis report (in Spanish) explains the project in detail and includes how to use the application.

Today

Over time I’ve ironed out a few bugs, and today it’s a simple web application that does its job, no frills: a reliable tool for managing household finances.

And on top of that, it’s free! \(^o^)/