PERSONAL FINANCE:ONE OF THE MOST common resolutions made at the start of each year is to get to grips with money management. Unfortunately by the time autumn rolls around this resolution, like so many good intentions, is usually long forgotten, and tax refunds remain unclaimed, your cashflow spreadsheet has been abandoned and you have to cross your fingers whenever you can bring yourself to check your bank balance.

Finding the time to tackle your finances is often the problem. If only you could manage your money on the move. Well now you can, if you have a smartphone, because as the slightly grating Apple catchphrase goes, there’s an app for that.

In fact there are hundreds of ingenious mobile phone applications designed to make money management a breeze. Many are free, or extremely cheap, and some are specifically designed with the Irish consumer in mind, so it’s time to make your smartphone earn its keep and get downloading.

We’ve waded through the masses of tip calculators and currency convertors out there and selected the apps most likely to take the pain out of personal finance.

TAXOk, so sorting out your taxes on your phone may not have quite the same 'wow' factor as identifying a song on the radio with the wizardry of Shazam. Nonetheless credit is due to the Revenue Commissioners for embracing innovation and launching their PAYE Anytime Health Expenses app in June. The free app allows taxpayers to record their health costs in a "diary-like manner" (split between medical, dental and nursing home expenses), and will help users to avoid a last-minute scramble to piece together their expenses months later. A claim for any tax refund due is sent to Revenue through the app, and claims for previous years are allowed.

The health expenses app is compatible with the Apple iPhone, but is not yet available to phones operating on Google’s increasingly popular Android platform. However Revenue assures us that other operating systems including Android are under consideration.

Fresh on the market is the SnipMyTax iPhone app (free) which was launched earlier this month. Like Revenue’s offering, this is designed specifically for Irish taxpayers. Essentially the user fills out a form and the company behind the app (snipmytax.ie) will claim any tax refund due. The snazziest feature has to be the medical expenses tracker, which allows you to record receipts by photographing them. On the downside, the taxpayer is charged a small commission on any refund received.

BANKINGIreland is lagging way behind other markets in terms of mobile banking developments. In the US, almost every large bank and many regional banks have launched smartphone apps that allow their customers to check account balances, transfer funds and pay bills. In the UK several of the main banks there have entered the fray, and it is estimated that over three million British people now have access to banking through their mobile phones.

Last month, Ulster Bank became the first bank in the Irish market to launch an iPhone mobile banking app. For Ulster Bank customers in the bad habit of letting their account slip into the red, this app could help them to avoid unnecessary charges in the future, as it allows the user to set up text alerts to warn them if they are close to becoming overdrawn. You can also check your balance online and view mini-statements. So far the app has received mixed reviews on iTunes, earning an average rating of three stars out of five, but at least Ulster Bank has taken the plunge, as it might put pressure on other banks to follow suit.

Bank of Ireland was non-committal when we asked if it intended to follow Ulster Bank’s lead, saying that developments in mobile phone banking are “certainly on our radar”.

The bank has, however, already developed an app that could prove very useful for those late-night moments when it’s pouring rain and you realise you have no cash for a taxi – the ATM Finder app (free) – which, as the name suggests, allows users to locate their nearest Bank of Ireland ATM.

BUDGETING AND SAVINGThere seems to be no end to the budgeting apps available on the market, but one home-grown iPhone app that has proved popular with Irish users is Coppers. It costs 79 cent to download but, unlike the Harcourt Street nightclub of the same moniker, you probably won't regret handing over your cash for this. It has most of the standard features you would expect from a money management tool, allowing you to enter a monthly budget and record your expenditure. Furthermore the graphs and pie charts help to identify any areas of over-spending.

For those adopters of Google’s Android operating system who are wondering whether they should have given into peer pressure and plumped for an iPhone, don’t despair: the Android apps market is catching up, and fast. Apple may have more than 250,000 apps available, but there are already over 90,000 Android apps.

There’s a decent array of Android-compatible budgeting apps to choose from, including the likes of Daily Expense Manager and MoneyManager. Both are pretty useful personal finance tools (and free), although the former could be improved by allowing users to enter their income, rather than just record their expenses.

Also worth checking out in the Android market is the savings calculator PiggyBank Droid, which works out how much you need to put aside at set intervals in order to reach your savings goal. This app is free but for €1.08 you can upgrade to PiggyBank Pro which comes with extra features such as savings reminders. Of course, you could always do the sums yourself on a calculator but fans of PiggyBank say the visual representation provided motivates them to save more. Plus, you wouldn’t get the cute pink piggy icon.

If you prefer to manage your personal finances online rather than through mobile apps, there are plenty of sites that allow you to do that, but the difficulty is that the most popular are generally US-focused, and therefore not ideal for Irish users.

You may well find that you can’t link up your bank accounts with these sites, or even register with them. Take mint.com, for instance, one of the most popular money management sites going. Although this US site is moving towards internationalisation it does not yet serve Ireland.

However the website buxfer.com could help students, or indeed anyone sharing accommodation or going on holidays together, to put an end to those petty disagreements over who paid for the groceries or whose turn it is to settle the rent. The site makes it easy to track shared expenses and “IOUs” between friends, and even generates optimised settlement plans.

If you’re looking for Irish online money management resources, then two free budgeting tools can be found at itsyourmoney.ie/BudgetPlanner and aib.ie/personal/loans /Household-Budget-Planner.

Taking stock

iPhone owners who like to dabble in the stock market will be pleased to hear that Davy Stockbrokers launched a free app on October 10th, which allows users to access the latest price movements on major share and currency markets, as well as equity market analysis and economic commentary.

While any self-respecting Warren Buffet-wannabe will continue to check their Bloomberg app religiously, Davy’s offering nonetheless fills a gap by covering the Irish market in depth.