An accounting your siblings can't argue with.
Upload Mom's or Dad's bank statements. Straightbooks checks every month adds up to the penny and lists what needs explaining. Share a read-only view with the family.
Free statement checks are paused for now.
- Opening balance
- $6,412.18
- Plus deposits
- + $2,850.00
- Minus withdrawals
- − $3,285.16
- Closing balance
- $5,977.02
Matches the bank's closing balance
- Reconciled to the penny
- No bank logins
- Read-only sibling view
Built to be checked
Reconciled to the bank's own totals.
Every statement is checked: opening balance, plus deposits, minus withdrawals, equals closing balance. If a month doesn't add up, Straightbooks shows you exactly where, and it never marks it reconciled until it does.
Every edit logged.
Amounts lock once a statement reconciles. Any correction is recorded with who made it and when, and your family can see the log. Nothing is quietly changed.
No bank logins, ever.
You upload the statements you already have: PDFs, or phone photos of paper ones. We keep only the last 4 digits of account numbers. Nobody gets a password to Mom's bank.
How it works
- Upload. Drag in 12 months of statements for up to 3 accounts. Phone photos of paper statements work too. Missing months show up as gaps, so you know what to download.
- Review. A statement that adds up is marked reconciled automatically. For any that don't, you see the statement page beside the numbers we read, with the mismatch highlighted. Fix a misread amount in a few clicks.
- Explain. Straightbooks lists the items families and caseworkers often ask about: cash withdrawals, checks to people, transfers to your own account, large one-offs. Add a note or a receipt photo to each. Record what you paid from your own pocket and what you were paid back.
- Share. Invite your brothers and sisters to a read-only view, or just email them the PDF. They see the same ledger, the same explanations and the same edit history you do. Email invites aren’t turned on for this site yet.
When families use it
- A sibling asked. “Can you send me Dad's statements? Something seems off.” Answer with a reconciled accounting instead of a stack of PDFs.
- Preparing for Medicaid. Build a running list of explanations, with dates, amounts and receipts, to go with the raw statements the agency asks for.
- Moving to assisted living or memory care. Get the last year in order before the paperwork starts.
- Year-end review. Close the year so everyone starts January with the same facts.
See what your family would get
A sample Family Accounting for a fictional family: reconciliation table for every statement, totals by category, the explanation list with receipts, the reimbursement ledger, open items honestly marked “explanation pending”, and the edit-log summary.
Open the sample report (PDF)Sample. Fictional family, fictional numbers. Not a real customer.
What we store, and what we don't
We store
- Your parent's first name only.
- Account nickname, bank name and last 4 digits.
- The transactions we read from the statements you upload.
- Your notes and receipts.
- The edit log.
- Your name and email address, and those of family members you invite.
- Comments family members leave.
We never ask for or store
- Bank logins.
- Social Security numbers.
- Dates of birth.
- Full account numbers.
How long
- Source statement files are deleted automatically after 90 days by default. You can choose 30, 90 or 365.
- The ledger and reports stay until you delete them. Export or delete any time.
Pricing
Accounting Pack
$129 one-time
12 months × up to 3 accounts, reconciled and explained: up to 200 statement files and 200 MB of uploads (receipts included), and up to 30 statement uploads in any 24 hours. Family PDF and CSV. Uploads and up to 5 family viewers for 12 months from purchase; after that your records and exports stay.
Explanation Pack add-on
$199
Extends your accounting to up to 60 months, for look-backs longer than a year. The same report, with its explanation list and receipts, to attach with your raw statements.
Refund within 14 days if your report isn't delivered; you keep an export of your data. Prices in USD. Payments by Stripe.
Questions
Is this legal advice?
No. Straightbooks is a record-keeping tool. Its flags describe facts, like "Cash withdrawal" or "Payment to a person". They don't judge any payment. We can't tell you what your power of attorney lets you do or what your state requires. For that, the free CFPB guides Managing Someone Else's Money are a good start, and an elder-law attorney can advise on your situation.
Will Medicaid accept it?
Straightbooks doesn't replace anything an agency asks for, and we can't say what any caseworker will accept. Agencies typically ask for the bank statements themselves, or the bank's own transaction histories. Your Family Accounting report includes an organized list of explanations and a receipts appendix that you can choose to include with those statements.
What if my sibling won't log in?
They don't have to. Email them the PDF. The read-only view is a convenience for those who want it.
Can my siblings change anything?
No. Viewers can read the ledger, explanations, reports and edit log, and leave comments. Only you (and any co-agent you invite) can add notes or receipts. Nobody can change a reconciled amount without it being logged and visible.
Why should I trust a small company with Dad's statements?
That's a fair question. We designed around it: no bank logins, last-4 digits only, no SSNs or birth dates, two-factor sign-in for whoever manages the accounts, automatic deletion of source files, export and delete from one page, and a public list of who processes data for us. The sample report shows what you would get, for a fictional family, before you create an account.
Who can use this?
The person managing the money: usually the agent under a financial power of attorney, or someone otherwise authorized to manage the accounts. You confirm that when you sign up. Straightbooks isn't a way to get access to someone's records.
My bank statements are paper, or password-protected.
Take phone photos of paper statements; multi-page photos work. For password-protected PDFs, turn off the password in your bank's download settings, or print and photograph. Our help pages explain how to download statements.
Can I pay for this from my parent's account?
We can't advise on that. Whether an expense like this can come from your parent's funds depends on your power of attorney and your state's law. Please ask an elder-law attorney.
We're in a serious dispute. Can you help?
We can give everyone the same facts. We can't mediate, take sides or advise. If you're worried about how someone's money is being handled, Adult Protective Services and an elder-law attorney are the right people to contact. The Eldercare Locator (eldercare.acl.gov) can help you find local services.