Show HN: Double-entry accounting based personal finance app

63 points · aswinmohanme · 10 days ago

Hello HN! I am Aswin Mohan, full-stack mobile + web developer and I built PaperMoney(https://getpaper.money). PaperMoney is a double-entry accounting based personal finance app. It can help you keep track of your expenses, assets, liabilities and your net-worth. It is based on the command-line tools beancount and ledger.

I had been using beancount to track my expenses for over two years. The plain-text accounting and reporting with fava was great, but I wanted a mobile based app to keep track on the go. Looked around existing solutions but everything fell short when compared to beancount. Also the major apps were not available outside the United States and only supported the dollar. They were based on assigning categories to a list of transactions which I found lacking coming from double-entry accounting. So I created Paper Money. It's based on double-entry accounting, you can add your chart of accounts and add balanced transactions. We'll use this to calculate your net-worth and the balances in your accounts.

It's built using React Native for the frontend and Elixir and Phoenix on the backend. We have support for both Android and iOS. I have plans to add automated account syncing and automated expense tracking in future versions.

The target audience currently is someone who is familiar with double-entry accounting but looking for a hosted mobile version. The future versions will be focused on more mainstream customers of personal finance apps, which means making the app more accessible for people without prior experience with double-entry accounting.

I am available at aswin@getpaper.money if you have any questions or querires, and excited to hear your feedback!

Links: Website: https://getpaper.money IOS: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/papermoney/id6737713983 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.papermoney...

Video Demo of the App: https://www.loom.com/share/40cf50afe33f4e1cb4fa3e749c19a2e3?...

25 comments

apatheticonion · 9 days ago

Nit/general rant about finance management products: awesome idea but I do my finances on a computer with a keyboard, mouse, large screen and copy/paste capabilities that don't require a microscope.

I could be wrong but it does not appear that this offers a desktop/web client which makes it DOA for me.

It seems like so many finance applications target mobile devices which is a great place for reviewing data and making small modifications but the worst place for the substantial data entry required for managing personal finances.

I use parsers to normalize statements into CSV format, pipe that into a SQL database then query/represent it in Google sheets - I still haven't found a better way to do it. I don't think that would work on this app given I don't have access to any tools on a mobile device.

Show replies

LorenDB · 8 days ago

I'm still holding out for something that can monitor my bank account and automatically register transactions instead of me having to manually enter them. https://maybe.co/ is working on a solution for American banks.

I understand that Europeans already have protocols in place for this sort of thing. Why must the EU always get the nice things?

Show replies

AnneGalathe · 4 days ago

It is well-known that PaperMoney helps track expenses, assets, and liabilities with maximum precision and convenience. Its goal is to make financial management accessible and simple for everyone, regardless of accounting experience.

The approach to organizing finances shares much in common with effectively choosing leisure platforms, such as online casinos. For example, Casino Rater NZ assists players in finding user-friendly and transparent https://casinorater.co.nz/no-deposit/no-wagering/, where everything is straightforward, and winning is possible. Just as PaperMoney simplifies financial management, Casino Rater NZ makes the gaming process accessible and optimized for a diverse range of users.

In both finance and gaming, accuracy, transparency, and accessibility are key. Whether you’re managing your budget with PaperMoney or searching for the ideal gaming platform, the right tools significantly enhance your overall experience.

threesevenths · 8 days ago

Question about data collection. On the App Store it says that no data is collected by the app. In your privacy policy on the site it states that you do collect data related to the work that the app does and among other things, device metrics. If you do collect data, would you mind updating your App Store listing to clearly indicate that you collect data. If you don’t collect anything, could that be clearly indicated in your privacy policy.

Thanks, app looks clean and useful.

Show replies

sparklethunder · 8 days ago

I'm so confused.

In your example, my income is negative. In what country does it make sense to have a negative income?

> You cannot categorize your salary as income, as your net-worth would be wrong.

Yes you can, it's called a split transaction. $1000 income: split into $700 to my savings and $300 to taxes. I don't see the point in tracking my tax withholding in this way though, so I'd rather just put in my net salary.

Show replies