Help/FAQ

Registering

Please make sure the confirmation email is not in your spam box. If you do not find the confirmation email, try to resend it. Navigate to the login screen, enter your email and password, and click 'Enter'. Follow the instructions to resend the activation code by email. If you still have not received any email after following the steps above, please contact us: support@controle.finance
Yes, you can change the language at any time; however, the predefined list of categories will remain unchanged.

Logging in

If you have forgotten your password, you can reset it easily. Go to the login page and click 'Forgot your password?'. On the next screen, enter your email and check the instructions sent to your email.

Dashboard

Some widgets are automatically added to the Dashboard and cannot be removed, for instance, the financial summary is always fixed. However, you can include or exclude accounts, exchange rates, and budgets on the Dashboard. Open the desired item and look for the 'Hide on Dashboard' option.
The system automatically creates an account and adds some transactions after your registration on the website. This is for demonstration purposes only. To start from scratch, you can delete the demo account, called 'Demo'. Click on the 'cog' icon on the right side of the top menu, and click on the sub-menu 'Accounts'. Then, click on the trash bin icon of the 'Demo' account.
The Dashboard has a limit to display up to 6 budgets. The complete list of budgets can be seen in the Budget Report.
The system shows the total balance of your accounts and reports in the Default Currency defined on the Profile page. To change your default currency, go to the Profile page and select the desired currency.

Transactions

To create a transaction, go to the Transactions page, select the account on the top left side of the transaction list, then click New. Fill out Description, Date, Amount, select Category/Account and Spend/Receive. Click Add to create the transaction or Add More to create the transaction and clear the form (in case you want to add another transaction).
To delete transactions, click on the trash bin icon to the right side of each transaction you want to delete. This will ask you if you're sure you want to delete the transaction, and then upon confirming, it will be deleted and the balance recalculated.
To edit transactions, click on the transaction itself. This will bring up a form that allows you to change the transaction.
Transfers are transactions between two accounts registered on the website. To create a transfer, click 'New' on the Transactions page. In the category drop-down list, scroll down to the bottom of the list. The accounts always appear at the end. Select the desired account, fill out the fields, and click Add. Two records will be created: a debit in the source account and a credit in the target account.

Credit Card Transactions

Credit card payments are similar to transfers between accounts. Make sure that you already have an account of type 'Credit Card'. To make a credit card payment, go to the Transactions page, select the desired account, and click 'New'. Choose 'Transfer to' or 'Transfer from', select the desired credit card, fill out the form, and click Add.
To create a credit card invoice, click on Credit Card on the left menu. Click the + New button. Here, you can enter the initial balance and the period. It’s important that you first add the transactions on the Transactions page before creating the invoice. That way, the system will automatically associate with your invoice all the credit card statements that are between the start and end date.

Note

Notes are a handy way to save information that you want to remember. This could be anything, such as wishlist items you want to purchase. You can create as many notes as you want. Notes are kept on the Pin Board for easy visualization.

Exporting

You can export your transactions as CSV, XLS, PDF, or XML. To export your transactions, go to the Transactions page and click the 'Export' button. Then, choose the desired format. The export functionality will export all the transactions of a selected account.

Importing

To import an Excel spreadsheet or bank statement, go to the Transactions page. Select the desired account and click the Import button. On the Import Transaction page, click Select File. If the file format is XLS, XLSX, or CSV, you will need to map the fields Date, Description, and Amount before categorizing your transactions. If the file has a header, select the 'First row is a header' option to ignore the first row. Click Next to proceed to the last step. Make the necessary changes and select the transactions you want to import into your account.
The system can identify transactions that have already been added and thus only new transactions are selected by default.
Yes, but only the description. After importing the file, you will be presented with all the transactions in the file. You can edit the description of any transactions before confirmation.
Yes, the system auto-categorizes transactions based on your previous transaction history.
If you only want to import a few transactions from the file you imported, click the checkbox next to each transaction you want to import and then click the 'Add Transactions' button at the bottom of the page.
If you have uploaded a CSV, XLS, or XLSX file, you will need to determine what each field means in relation to what the site expects. You can set which field is the date, amount, and description.
If you import a CSV, XLS, or XLSX file, you have the option to ignore the first row, which is typically used as a header with column descriptions.

Budget

A budget is a forecast of future revenues and expenses for the administration of a particular category, account, or your finances in general. In other words, a budget helps you plan expenses in advance so you don't spend more than you earn.
To create a budget, click on Budget on the left menu to go to the budget list page. Click the + New button. Here, you can enter the amount, the duration of your budget, when you want it to reset, and which account you want the budget applied to.
To edit a budget, simply click the item you wish to edit on the budget list. This will make a form appear in a dialog box where you can edit the budget information.
To delete a budget, simply click the Trash icon next to the entry you wish to delete.
The Reset Day option is available when the duration is ‘Monthly’. For instance, if you set the reset day to 1, it will start calculating the amount you've spent from the first day of this month to the last day of the month.
Duration is the budget period controlled by the system. If you select any duration other than "Monthly", you may enter the date the budget starts.

Accounts

To create a new account, click on the 'cog' icon on the right side of the top menu and click on Accounts. On the account list page, click New. Enter all necessary information such as account name, account type, currency, and initial balance for your account.
To edit an account, click on the 'cog' icon on the right side of the top menu and click on Accounts. Then, simply click the item you wish to edit on the account list.
To delete an account, click on the 'cog' icon on the right side of the top menu and click on Accounts. Next, click on the Trash icon next to the account you want to remove. You will be asked if you're sure you want to do this and then prompted if you want to delete all associated transactions with this account.
This checkbox lets you choose which accounts appear on the Dashboard and other pages where there is an account listing, like the Transactions page. If you have old accounts that you no longer want to appear, check this option. This way, you can keep the data on the site but not see old accounts.
To change the opening date or balance, go to the Transactions page. Find the first transaction. Click on the transaction row to open the dialog box where you can change the opening balance and date.

Categories

To create a new category, click on the 'cog' icon on the right side of the top menu and click on Categories. On the category list page, click the New button. Here, you will see a form to add a category.
To edit a category, click on the 'cog' icon on the right side of the top menu and click on Categories. Then, simply click the item you wish to edit on the category list. This will make a form appear in a dialog box where you can edit the category information.
To delete a category, click on the 'cog' icon on the right side of the top menu and click on Categories. Then, simply click the Trash icon next to the entry you wish to delete.
Yes, there’s no limit on the number of subcategory levels.

Tag

Tags provide an additional way of classifying transactions. For instance, you may use tags to group transactions for a specific event, such as your holidays. Just create a tag called, for example, Maldives, and tag all the applicable transactions accordingly. Later, to see the total cost of your vacation, you can customize a report such as the Statement Summary report to include transactions with the Maldives tag.

Tags let you group transactions without categorizing them as income or expense.

If you used only categories to separate the expenses for two vacations, for example, you would need to create multiple versions of the same categories.

In the vacation example above, tags provide the total vacation amount, and categories can provide the detail (hotels, flights, dining, and so on).

Beneficiary

A beneficiary is any company, service, or individual to which you make payments. A beneficiary can be anyone who bills you. It can be a business, such as your telephone company or credit card company, or an individual, such as your landlord or newspaper carrier.

Exchange Rate

Exchange rates allow you to automatically manage the exchange rate used between your operating currencies, keeping your finances on track. To manage exchange rates, you must add at least one currency in addition to your default currency. Once you add a currency, you will get daily updates of the latest exchange rate.

Settings

To set the default currency, go to the Profile page. On the first panel, you can select a currency from the drop-down list and then click Save. The default currency will be used in some reports and overall balances. Optionally, you can also set a second currency. Some reports can display the total amount in more than one currency.
To change your password, go to the Profile page. On the second panel, you will see a form to enter your current password and then enter your new password.
If you decide that you don't need your controle.finance account anymore, it's easy to delete it. On your profile page, click on 'I want to delete my controle.finance user account'. You cannot undo this action after your account has been removed.

Security

Security is taken very seriously at controle.finance. For example, we use 128-bit SSL encryption, the same used by your online banking. Data transmitted between our servers and your web browser is encrypted using SSL, protecting it from interception by unintended recipients. Also, your password is encrypted and cannot be decoded, so we cannot read your password. We also have dedicated servers located in data centers equipped with modern technologies. If you have any questions about the security of your data, please contact us.

Tips

To illustrate, we will use a trip to Argentina as an example. First, create an account of type Cash. Select 'Pesos, Argentina' as the currency of this account. Let's say you've withdrawn an amount from your checking account to buy pesos. On the Transactions page, add a transfer from your checking account to the pesos account you just created. After confirmation, you'll see a dialog box where you can adjust the converted amount. That amount is calculated using the exchange rate of the day, but you can always change it before saving the transfer transaction.

App

We don't have an app yet, but the site has been developed to be responsive to mobile and tablet screens. You can create a shortcut on the home screen of your device, so you can access controle.finance with a few clicks.

iPhone:
  • Open Safari and type controle.finance/signin
  • At the bottom of the screen, you will see an icon representing a rectangle with an arrow pointing up. Tap this button.
  • Many options should be available. Tap the option: Add to Home Screen
  • Add the shortcut name, for instance Controle

Android
  • Open Google Chrome and type controle.finance/signin
  • At the top of the screen, you will see an icon with three dots. Tap it to expand the options menu
  • Tap the option: Add to Home Screen
  • Add the shortcut name, for instance Controle.
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