Keeping omni accounting

Schedules aren't the only fit for the OmniOutliner. For small business owners, consultants, and other professionals with humble accounting needs, it's also the perfect tool to figure the finances. Accounting, like scheduling, has been dreaming about outlining from birth.

The trick is to shuffle layering in and out as needed. You only have 20 expense and 10 income items per quarter? Quit bothering with individual months. Need to separate maintenance expenses (like canvases and paint for your art studio) from big ticket items (like a new PowerBook)? Just add two categories under expenses called Maintenance and Investments.

You get the summaries for free. Every parent category will calculate the sum of it's children, which is what makes it all so incredible easy and fast to work with.

What you're really going to love is the flexibility that's very unlike the rigid spreadsheets of yesterday. You keep everything flat for a slow first quarter, but add a few extra layers for clarity in the second. Change your mind? Just drag'n'drop your items around.

But be careful. The flexibility and ease of use can seduce you into gathering data that could turn into information you'd rather not have. Like my new year's resolution on "Taxi home from party", "Pizza and fries", "Movies, Candy, and Coke", and other silent sappers of funds. It's the second of January. I fear the ultimo balance.