This program, designed for those who hate to write down budgets and add up the horrid results, would delight Mr. Macawber - it deals in round £s only. State the month you want to start the year from, input expense and income headings and enter your budget for each month under each heading. Then, every month, enter the real figures and compare real with estimate.

You input the headings, you can alter, delete or add to them at will and need never re-enter them. Budget figures can, if identical, be automatically inserted for the year. They are not replaced with actuals, so comparisons remain meaningful. And you can view monthly or yearly totals of any heading, income, expenditure or cash flow as a normal percentage or bar chart comparison. There is even an interest calculation facility, including overdraft or earned interest automatically.

Occasionally, reaction is slow and the manual, although easy to understand, strains the eyes with its small print, overprinted on a repetitive title background. But an extremely flexible, well-designed and user-friendly package.

D.C.