Financial Tracker

Client: Personal Project
Period: 2024–2025
Role: Full-stack Developer

Overview

A comprehensive web-based financial management application for tracking and analyzing both business and personal finances. This system helps Hungarian entrepreneurs and individuals manage their financial records by importing bank statements (CIB and Revolut), automatically categorizing transactions, tracking budgets, and generating detailed financial reports.

Repository: financial-tracker

Main Technologies

Backend

Python 3 with Flask
SQLAlchemy ORM (SQLite)
pdfplumber for PDF parsing
Machine learning for transaction categorization

Frontend

React with TypeScript
Vite for build tooling
Chart.js for data visualization
Modern component-based architecture

Core Features

Bank Statement Import

CIB Bank PDF parser with structured field extraction
Revolut PDF parser with multi-currency support
Automatic detection of:
- Transaction type (card payment, transfer, fee, etc.)
- Counterparty information
- Reference numbers
- Account details
Intelligent duplicate detection

Account Management

Multiple account support (business and personal)
Different account types (CIB, Revolut)
Balance tracking across all accounts
Account-specific filtering

Transaction Categorization

Manual categorization with category selection
Automatic categorization using machine learning
Rule-based categorization system
Bulk transaction categorization
Income/expense/transfer tracking

Budget Planning

Monthly/quarterly/yearly budgets
Per-category budget allocation
Budget vs actual spending comparison
Color-coded budget progress indicators
Alert system for budget thresholds

Advanced Analytics

Expense Analysis page with:
- Merchant spending breakdown
- Spending trends over time
- Category distribution
- Top expenses by amount
- Monthly comparisons
Dashboard with:
- Current month income, expenses, net cash flow
- Total balance across accounts
- Interactive charts (income vs expenses, category breakdown)
- Recent transactions list
Reports page with customizable filters

Transaction Management

Search and filter by:
- Account
- Date range
- Category
- Description
- Amount
Inline transaction editing
Manual transaction entry
Transaction notes
Transfer detection and linking

My Contributions

Designed and implemented the entire full-stack system
Built advanced PDF parsers for Hungarian and international bank statements
Developed REST API with Flask blueprint architecture
Created React frontend with TypeScript and modern components
Implemented machine learning for transaction categorization
Built responsive UI with interactive charts and dashboards
Added structured data extraction from bank statements
Wrote comprehensive documentation with setup guides and usage instructions

Technical Highlights

Backend Architecture

Clean separation of concerns with Flask blueprints
SQLAlchemy models with relationships
RESTful API design
PDF parsing with structured field extraction
Transaction categorization service with ML
Database migration scripts

Frontend Architecture

React with TypeScript for type safety
Component-based architecture
Centralized API service layer
Chart.js integration for visualizations
Responsive design with modern CSS
Form validation and error handling

Data Processing

Advanced PDF text extraction with position-based parsing
Regular expression patterns for Hungarian formats
Transaction type identification
Merchant name extraction and cleaning
Multi-line transaction parsing

User Experience

Interactive dashboard with real-time updates
Color-coded budget indicators
Modal dialogs for editing
Confirmation prompts for destructive actions
Dynamic page titles
Responsive layout for all screen sizes

Results & Impact

Unified financial tracking for business and personal accounts
Automated data entry from PDF bank statements
Intelligent categorization reduces manual work
Visual insights into spending patterns
Budget management helps control expenses
Comprehensive reporting for tax preparation
Open source reference for similar projects

User Types

Solo Entrepreneurs: Track business finances with automatic categorization
Personal Finance Users: Manage personal accounts and budgets
Developers: Reference for Flask + React + TypeScript projects

Deployment

Development: SQLite database with Flask dev server
Frontend: Vite dev server with hot reload
Build: Production-ready build system
Makefile: Simple commands for setup and running

Quick start:

make install  # Install dependencies
make init-db  # Initialize database
make dev      # Run backend and frontend

Documentation

Comprehensive documentation included:

README.md - Quick start guide and usage
Makefile - All available commands
Project specification document
API endpoint documentation
Component documentation

Key Features Breakdown

PDF Import Process

Select account and upload PDF
System parses and extracts transactions
Review parsed data with category suggestions
Adjust categories if needed
Confirm import to database

Dashboard Views

Summary Cards: Income, Expenses, Net Cash Flow, Total Balance
Monthly Chart: Income vs Expenses over time
Category Pie Chart: Spending distribution
Recent Transactions: Latest account activity

Expense Analysis

Filter by date range and account type
View top merchants with spending totals
Analyze category breakdowns
Track spending trends
Identify unusual spending patterns

Budget Management

Create budgets by category and time period
Set spending limits
Track progress with visual indicators
Get alerts when approaching limits
Compare actual vs budgeted amounts

Open Source

This project is publicly available on GitHub as a reference for:

Flask + React TypeScript applications
PDF data extraction from bank statements
Financial tracking systems
Machine learning for categorization
Modern web application architecture

View on GitHub

Future Enhancements

Multi-currency support
More bank statement formats
Export functionality (CSV, PDF reports)
Mobile app version
Cloud deployment
Multi-user support