Abstract:

This paper introduces the Virtual Account Manager (VAM) — a personal finance system designed to encourage controlled spending through the use of category-based virtual accounts. The framework integrates a Spring Boot (Java 17) backend with a MySQL database and a responsive HTML/CSS/JavaScript interface. Each account category—such as Food, Bills, or Education—is assigned a specific budget limit and expiration period, supported by an automated emergency reserve for fallback transactions. The system validates every transaction against both active and reserve balances, thereby preventing overspending. The integrated analytics dashboard further assists users by visualizing expense trends and category-wise usage. Functional validation confirms accurate rule enforcement and reliable expense tracking, making VAM a practical approach to disciplined digital money management.