Meet AccuScore: the single most important reason to use CheqBook.
Cheqbook began with a simple question: how can a machine accurately do your accounting for you? We think our AccuScore system is the answer.
The Dirty Little Secret of Online Accounting: it doesn’t actually save you any time, in fact it can take longer than keying in your transactions manually. Why? Well automatically downloading and categorizing transactions technically works, but even the best auto-categorization engines are not 100% accurate. To get the accuracy you need you have to find and fix all the transactions the system got wrong. In testing, we found this was often longer than keying them in manually because it was detective work instead of systemic.
Cheqbook is the first company to offer an online accounting system that downloads and categorizes for you. Early systems (like inDinero, Outright, etc.) haven’t even acknowledged this is a problem, leaving you with a method we call “hunting and pecking” after the approach used by a bad typist. Under this system, all your transactions are tossed in together. Some are categorized correctly, some incorrectly. It’s up to you to figure out which is which.
Competitors have adopted something we call “quarantining”. This method does save time but isn’t as fast as promised. These systems work by holding your transactions outside your books until you approve them.
Cheqbook Built A Better Way
How is AccuScore different? Instead of simply setting aside some transactions, or lumping them all together, AccuScore rates transactions with a color-coded system, so you can tell at a glance which transactions need your attention. It’s this easy:
 |  |  |   |
| Uncoded | Crowd Sourced | Coded by User History | Personally Coded by Users |
| Not Categorized | Reasonably Accurate | Very Accurate | Most Accurate |
| Red Transactions are the only transactions that require attention because they could not be categorized. | Yellow transactions are categorized for you using outside information (including our own crowd-sourcing). | Blue transactions are categorized for you based on your past behavior. As Cheqbook learns your preferences it establishes rules you can easily manage by editing your Payees. | Green transactions were entered or approved by a real live human. With all this automated computer work, sometimes you just need to know you’ve been there and OK’d it. |
| To categorize these you enter the payee and pick a category. If there are any other similar transactions we’ll categorize those for you immediately, as well as remember where they should go in the future (see blue icon). | To review these a simple click on the icon approves them, or you can recategorize these if needed. | If necessary review these like yellow transactions, making individual exceptions in the register or changing overall rules in Payees. | The Green circle is a special type: those transactions haven’t cleared the bank yet. When they do your information will be automatically merged with the bank’s and the icon will change to a green checkmark. |
At a glance this gives you a grade for your books, telling you how many transactions of each type you have. To easily work these just click on any of these icons and you’ll be presented with those transactions to review in a register format you’re familiar with.
We think the AccuScore system saves you time and gives you confidence in your books, even if you can’t review every transaction. We’re convinced it makes online accounting easier, faster and more accurate. Try it and see if you agree.