Few bells and whistles, but defintely NOT WORTH the hefty
 $99 price tag. That you cannot export from it into bivio
 AND THIS IS NEVER MENTIONED ANYWHERE is just adding insult
 to injury. I have written an email to EasyWare to
 complain, but don't expect a reply any time soon. Because
 I feel that we should not be forced into using the IClub
 site and we should also be able to make our own decisions
 as to which web site we prefer to use, I will continue
 using the old version and stick with bivio.com. At least
 taxes are done for free.

Seems to me that for a non-profit organization, the NAIC is
becoming very greedy.

Bob,

Thank you for your support on NCA's use of encrypted data. I have been a
loyal NAIC member, and have been profoundly disappointed that they not
only do not have the interests of their members at heart in approving
only one accounting product, but even prohibit advertising and
exhibiting bivio's superior product at NAIC functions.

The point of this post, however, is to comment on your words 'few bells
and whistles' in connection with the Nca2.0 upgrade. I do not pretend to
be unbiased in this matter, but I have had the opportunity to test and
use both bivio and the NCA2.0 version. If you were to compare the 2.0
version with the former 1.4 edition, I would say that your 'few bells
and whistles' is probably not fair. They have made a number of
enhancements to their product. On the other hand, they had made no
changes to their product since March of 1999, so one would expect a few
improvements.

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. The NCA2.0
version has copied some, but no means all, of features to which bivio
users have long been accustomed. These include editing of some
transactions, multiple cash accounts, and non-deductible expenses
[allowing the discarding of the old, off-the-book petty cash accounts].

There are numerous features that they are still missing, such as equal
allocation of expenses, automatic historical pricing of portfolios,
flexibility on valuation dates for withdrawals, and categorizing
expenses.

There are still some accounting/tax flaws in their program, although
these have been reported to them as far back as 1999. Return of capital
is not allocated properly between lots. They fail to account properly
for distributions in excess of basis.

Finally, any user of both programs can not fail to note how much easier
bivio is to use than NCA2.0. The latter takes many more keystrokes for
similar transactions. You still can't add a security on the fly. Editing
a transaction is a real transaction because you must enter various
ranges before you can get to the desired entry.

So, in my not so very humble opinion, you might have been a little
unkind if you were comparing their new version to their old version, but
'few bells and whistles' is way too kind if you are comparing their
product to bivio.

Rip West
Ridgway, CO
trez_talk@bivio.com

How far back does the automatic historical pricing go?

--Lindy Robertson


> Rip West wrote:
>
> Jeff Robinson, NAIC AL DIR and Treasure Teacher, had a question on a post
> that I made recently to this forum......
>
> I am quoting you from Re: New NAIC CLub Accounting Software (V.2.0) by
> Rip West on 07/31/2001 22:41
>
> There are numerous features that they are still missing, such as equal
> allocation of expenses, automatic historical pricing of portfolios,
> flexibility on valuation dates for withdrawals, and categorizing
> expenses.
>
> Please explain "automatic historical pricing of portfolios" that bivio
> has?
> Because there are probably other subscribers to this list that might have
> the same question, I am including my answer here.
>
> $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
>
> Jeff,
>
> Probably it would be easiest to explain what 'automatic historical
> pricing' of portfolios is by comparing how you get valuations in both
> bivio and NCA2.0.
>
> As an example, I just went into NCA2.0 and asked for a new valuation,
> using online pricing. No problem, as long as I select today's date
> [8/3/01] and today's time [2:20pm]. I got my valuation. But suppose that
> I want my valuation to be as of the close of business 7/31/01. When I ask
> for this in NCA2.0, I get this error message......
>
> <<Online historical valuations are currently not available.>>
>
> That means that if my club makes a valuation as of the end of each month,
> that I have to go online after the close of business on that particular
> day and ask for the valuation or I have to enter the prices manually.
>
> Compare that to bivio. If I want a valuation as of 7/31, I simply ask for
> it, and presto, I have it automatically using the market prices as of the
> close of business on that day.
>
> Automatic, historical pricing means just that. You can price your
> portfolio as of the close of business on any day without resorting to
> manual entering of the pricing.
>
> Let me know if this doesn't answer your question.
>
> Rip West
> Ridgway, CO
> trez_talk@bivio.com

Lindy,

Our data goes back a bit over ten years and is growing. We
maintain our own quote database.

Rob

<< As an example, I just went into NCA2.0 and asked for a
new valuation, using online pricing. No problem, as long as
I select today's date [8/3/01] and today's time [2:20pm]. I
got my valuation. But suppose that I want my valuation to be
as of the close of business 7/31/01.... >>

Historical valuations will be available in the forthcoming
update release 2.01 of NAIC Club Acct'g for Windows. A
patch will be sent to folks who already purchased NCA 2.0.
Thanks very much for your input.

Regards,
Bryce Klempner
ICLUBcentral Inc.

Bryce,

Thanks for stopping by club_cafe. It is nice to know that our
competitors are monitoring our program.

Having said that, I would also say that we don't announce features
before they are implemented in our software, and we would appreciate it
you would refrain from doing so also, at least in our forums. I know you
have already been taken to task for that on the i-c-l.

Regards,

Rip West
Ridgway, CO
trez_talk@bivio.com

> Having said that, I would also say that we don't announce features
> before they are implemented in our software, and we would appreciate it
> you would refrain from doing so also, at least in our forums.

Glad to refrain, Rip--thanks for the tip. The historical
quotes feature, however, has already been implemented in NCA
2.01. Just wanted to let your good readers know that their
input--critical and otherwise--does not go unappreciated.

Have a good weekend,
Bryce

Bryce,

Well, you have done it again. I just asked you to refrain from
announcing features that are not yet implemented in your software, and
you insisted on doing it one more time.

It's a silly game and you really are taking advantage of our wish to
have an open forum here. As you well know, NCA2.01 is not out yet. If
you have any doubts, go to your website, click on Updates, and you will
get this message.......

<<
There are no updates to NAIC Club Accounting 2.0 at this time
>>

A question. Would you allow me the opportunity to go to the ICLUB site
and post what you have called my 'remarkably even-handed' analysis of
the two programs?


Rip West
Ridgway, CO
trez_talk@bivio.com