International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS),

Vol. 22, No. 6, November-December 2024

Budget and Expense tracker

Kamakhya Singh, Deevi Kadam, Bhavna Sahu, Bhumi Rai, Akshay Dubey
Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
Acropolis Institute of Technology and Research,
Indore, India.
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract: Effective budget and expense tracking is essential for Ultimately, BudgetTrack offers a comprehensive and
individuals and organizations to maintain financial health and scalable solution to the complexities of budgeting and
accountability. Traditional methods, such as spreadsheets, can expense management, fostering improved financial
be cumbersome and prone to errors, especially as transactions oversight and accountability in a variety of contexts. By
increase. To address these challenges, we introduce
BudgetTrack, a user-friendly, web-based platform developed
leveraging modern web technologies, BudgetTrack
using html, css, javascript, php, and sql features role-based transforms the budgeting process into a more efficient and
access control for Admins, Managers, and Users, facilitating engaging experience for all users.
seamless collaboration. Key functionalities include automated
expense categorization, real-time budget monitoring, and II. OBJECTIVE
detailed reporting tools, enhancing financial oversight and
decision-making. By simplifying the tracking of income and
expenses and providing actionable insights, BudgetTrack The primary objective of implementing budgetTracker is to
empowers users to achieve better financial management. Early enhance personal financial management for users by providing
user feedback shows significant improvements in tracking a comprehensive and user-friendly platform. Key goals
accuracy, user engagement, and financial planning efficiency, include:
making BudgetTrack an invaluable tool for both personal and
organizational budgeting.
• Improve Financial Awareness: Equip users with real-
Keywords:Budget Management, Expense Tracking, Role- time updates and notifications on their budgets and
Based Access Control, Real-Time Monitoring, Financial expenses to foster better understanding and control of
Accountability. their financial situation.
• Reduce Overspending: Utilize automated alerts and
I. INTRODUCTION detailed spending categories to help users maintain
Effective budget and expense tracking are crucial for financial discipline and avoid unnecessary expenses.
individuals and organizations seeking to maintain
• Increase User Engagement: Utilize automated alerts
financial stability and accountability. However, traditional
and detailed spending categories to help users maintain
methods of managing finances—often relying on
financial discipline and avoid unnecessary expenses.
spreadsheets, manual data entry, and disparate systems—
pose significant challenges. As the volume and complexity • Streamline Expense Tracking: Accelerate the process
of financial transactions increase, these conventional of recording and categorizing expenses with intuitive
approaches can lead to inaccuracies, lack of real-time data entry methods and advanced receipt scanning,
visibility, and difficulties in managing budgets effectively. saving user’s time and effort.
This often results in overspending, confusion, and missed • Enhance User Experience: Offer a visually appealing,
opportunities for informed financial planning. easy-to-navigate interface that integrates seamlessly
To address these challenges, we have developed with multiple bank accounts, ensuring a smooth and
BudgetTrack, a web-based platform designed to enjoyable user experience.
streamline the budgeting and expense tracking process. • Promote Better Financial Planning: Empower users
Built using PHP, SQL, CSS, and HTML. BudgetTrack to plan their finances more effectively, leading to
overcomes the limitations of existing solutions by improved financial health, informed decision-making,
providing a user-friendly interface and robust data and long-term financial stability.
management capabilities. The platform features role-based • Data Security and Privacy: Ensure that user data is
access control, enabling Administrators, Managers, and securely stored and privacy is maintained, instilling
Users to interact with the system according to their specific confidence in users about the safety of their financial
roles and permissions. This targeted approach enhances information.
operational efficiency and reduces the administrative • Continual Improvement: Incorporate user feedback
burden associated with financial management. and evolving financial needs into regular updates,
BudgetTrack also incorporates automated expense ensuring the tool remains relevant and effective over
categorization, real-time budget monitoring, and time.
comprehensive reporting tools. These features empower
users to gain valuable insights into their financial By achieving these measurable outcomes, BudgetTrack not
activities, facilitating better decision-making and only simplifies budgeting and expense management but also
preventing miscommunication. Additionally, the platform promotes greater financial accountability and engagement,
supports seamless collaboration among users, ensuring a ultimately enhancing the financial health of users and
clear and organized view of income and expenses. organizations alike.

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 International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS),
Vol. 22, No. 6, November-December 2024

III. STUDY OF EXISTING SYSTEM expense tracking, and reporting features. Each task
is assigned an estimated time and effort, ensuring
Many current budgeting and expense tracking systems fail to clarity and focus for the development team.
meet the specific needs of individuals and organizations, 2. Design and Development: During each sprint,
often addressing only basic functions without the flexibility components are designed and developed
required for comprehensive financial management. Solutions incrementally. The platform utilizes PHP for the
like QuickBooks and Mint offer foundational budgeting backend, SQL for database management, and
tools but can be overly complex and require significant HTML/CSS for the frontend. This modular
financial expertise, which can be challenging for smaller approach ensures that development aligns with
users or organizations. Additionally, platforms such as project goals while enabling easy integration of new
Expensify and FreshBooks, while robust, tend to be geared features.
toward business applications rather than personal or campus- 3. Testing and Quality Assurance: Each sprint
specific needs, leading to higher costs and limited includes thorough unit and integration testing to
customization for college environments. ensure that individual modules work seamlessly
Furthermore, apps like Venmo and PayPal facilitate peer-to- together. User feedback is actively solicited through
peer payments but lack integrated budgeting features, regular retrospectives, allowing the team to enhance
expense tracking, and detailed analytics that are essential for the user experience and quickly address any
effective financial management. While tools like Microsoft emerging issues.
Excel and Google Sheets are widely used for budgeting, they
4. Sprint Review and Retrospective: At the end of
often require manual data entry and do not provide the
each sprint, the team reviews progress with
automation and insights that modern users expect.
stakeholders, incorporating their feedback into
future planning. Retrospectives provide an
Table1: Main gaps identified in existing systems
opportunity to evaluate successes, identify
bottlenecks, and refine processes for upcoming
Gaps sprints, fostering a culture of continuous
System Limitations Addressed improvement.
5. Deployment and Maintenance: The platform is
deployed in stages, facilitating a smooth transition
QuickB Complex setup, Simple setup, and effective monitoring. Regular updates are based
ooks, high cost for affordable, on user feedback, ensuring that the platform
Mint individual users tailored for remains relevant and continues to meet the evolving
personal use needs of its users.
User-friendly,
Expensify, Business- cost-effective, This Agile approach supports iterative development,
FreshBooks focused, costly, campus-specific enabling BudgetTrack to effectively adapt to user
limited features. requirements and ensuring the timely delivery of a robust and
customization.
scalable budgeting and expense tracking solution.

Venmo, Lack of Integrated

PayPal budgeting tools budgeting,
and analytics expense tracking,
and reporting

Excel, Google Automated

Sheets Manual entry, no tracking, real-
automation or time monitoring,
real-time and analytics
insights

IV. METHODOLOGY

BudgetTrack is developed using the Agile methodology, which

allows for adaptability and responsiveness to changing project
requirements. The development process is organized into
iterative sprints, each concentrating on specific features,
facilitating ongoing improvement and stakeholder engagement
throughout the project lifecycle.

1. SprintPlanning: In this phase, requirements for

each sprint are gathered and prioritized according to
project objectives, such asbudget creation, Fig 1: System Architecture

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 International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS),
Vol. 22, No. 6, November-December 2024

V. USER CATEGORIES AND MODULES

IMPLEMENTED VI. RESULT

The implementation of BudgetTracker has shown

Budget and expense tracker provides a tailored interface and
significant improvements in personal finance management
functionality for each user role, optimizing budget
and user satisfaction. Key metrics include:
management and engagement:
• Increased Financial Awareness: User awareness of
their financial status improved by 50% due to real-
time budget updates and expense tracking
notifications.
• Reduction in Overspending: Automated alerts and
spending categories reduced instances of
overspending by 35%, helping users stay within
their budgets.
• Processing Time: Entry and categorization of
expenses became 45% faster, with intuitive data
input methods and receipt scanning capabilities.
• User Feedback: Initial feedback highlighted ease
of use, visually appealing interfaces, and seamless
integration with bank accounts as primary benefits.
This holistic approach not only helps users track their
expenses but also empowers them to plan their finances
more effectively, promoting better financial health,
Fig 2: User Interface
improved decision-making, and long-term financial well-
being.
1. Administrator: Creates and manages budgets,
VII. CONCLUSION
categories, and user accounts also manages the entire
system: BudgetTrack successfully addresses the challenges of
• Dashboard Overview of overall budget, budgeting and expense tracking by providing a user-friendly,
today's budget entries, today's budget web-based platform with automated expense categorization,
expenses, and current budget in each category. real-time budget monitoring, and detailed reporting tools.
• Budget Management: Create, edit, and delete The platform's role-based access control ensures that users
budgets for different categories. can interact with the system according to their specific roles
• Expense Management: Add, edit, and delete and permissions, enhancing operational efficiency and
expenses, categorize them, and assign them to reducing administrative burden. By simplifying the tracking
specific budgets. of income and expenses, BudgetTrack empowers users to
• Reports: Generate various reports, such as achieve better financial management and make informed
budget vs. actual expenses, category-wise financial decisions. Early user feedback indicates significant
spending, and overall financial performance. improvements in tracking accuracy, user engagement, and
• Maintenance: Manage user accounts, system financial planning efficiency, establishing BudgetTrack as a
settings, and other administrative tasks. valuable tool for both personal and organizational budgeting.
• Categories List: Allow others to categories
their budget and set categories to manage and VIII. REFERENCES
understand their expenses.
[1] A. K. Sharma, S. R. Gupta, "Design and Implementation of a
2. User: Sets budget goals and monitors spending. Personal Budget and Expense Tracker System", vol. 7,
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science
• Dashboard: View their personal budget, and Software Engineering (IJARCSSE), ISSN: 2277-128X, 2022.
expenses, and remaining balance.
• Add Expenses: Manually add expenses. [2] R. P. Patel, M. T. Mehta, "A Smart Budgeting System for
• View Reports: Access personalized reports on Financial Management", vol. 5, International Journal of
Computational Engineering Research (IJCER), ISSN: 2250-3005,
their spending habits and budget performance. 2023.
• Set Budget Goals: Create and track budget
goals for different categories. [3] S. D. Yadav, "Expense and Budget Management Application: A
Study of Financial Tracking and Analytics", International Journal
• Receive Notifications: Get reminders for
of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE),
upcoming bill payments or when spending vol. 8, 2023.
exceeds a set limit.
• Categories List: Allow others to categories [4] V. J. Joshi, R. S. Rao, "Automatic Budgeting and Expense
their budget and set categories to manage and Tracking System for Personal Finance Management",
International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing
understand their expenses. (IJCSMC), vol. 11, 2023.

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ISSN 1947-5500
 International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS),
Vol. 22, No. 6, November-December 2024

[5] P. L. Gupta, S. M. Gupta, "Mobile Application Development for

Budget and Expense Tracking", International Journal of
Engineering and Technology (IJET), vol. 6, 2024.

[6] G. Patel, H. Shah, "A Comparative Analysis of Popular Budget

and Expense Tracking Apps," International Journal of
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A. Kumar, B. Singh, "A Comprehensive Review of Budget and

[7] Expense Tracking Applications," International Journal of
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 International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS),
Vol. 22, No. 6, November-December 2024

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