Can anyone recommend any good packages of this type?
Something like gnucash doesn’t really cover it as it’s geared towards personal finance whereas I’m looking for something that can be used to keep accounts for a few small businesses
In the windoze world I’ve used sage (not for a number of years though) and quickbooks, something along the lines of sage is overkill for what I do these days, I don’t need payroll, just something to handle general book keeping and preferably generate end of year statements such as profit & loss, balance sheets etc
Apologies for that 69_rs_ss, I must’ve been half asleep
Thanks for the link ase1590, what I was really hoping for though is anyone that might have tried a couple of packages for themselves and so could give recommenations based on their own experiences
Also, I should probably have mentioned that I need something that can preferably deal with uk vat and possibly also tax
i can’t recommend one because i can keep up with my money by just
looking in my wallet to see if i have any…
but there are 58 pages of free/open source software packages which pop
up if you search on the terms
accounting book-keeping
at the wellspring of all that is good http://sourceforge.net
browse through the pages and see if one looks like it might fit your
needs…and, if it does (after you are happy) be a good neighbor and
drop some change (folding size) in the maker’s hat to encourage him to
keep his nose to the grindstone, see:
>
> Apologies for that 69_rs_ss, I must’ve been half asleep
>
> Thanks for the link ase1590, what I was really hoping for though is
> anyone that might have tried a couple of packages for themselves and so
> could give recommenations based on their own experiences
>
> Also, I should probably have mentioned that I need something that can
> preferably deal with uk vat and possibly also tax
>
>
I’ve set it up and used it for a while, VERY comprehensive system, handles the
accounting, even payroll, receipts and more.
It’s free, you pay for support essentially. Sourcecode is provided, if you
need it.
I’m a one-girl business, so this was serious overkill for me, but it works
quite well, is compatible with just about every OS. It uses a central
server, with client programs to access it, also web interfaces.
Well, that’s my $0.02 (not adjusted for inflation)
Me too DenverD unfortunately … but it’s OTHER people’s money I’m wanting to keep track of
As things are I’m firing up a windows vm whenever I want to work on someone’s accounts, as time has gone on I need a windows for less and less tasks, both on the work side of things and the personal, it’s down to 2 or 3 now
I should be able to completely do away with windows (yay) and use suse for everything, been using suse to an ever increasing degree for about 2 years now
If I can find accounting software that’s fairly similar to what I’m used to (by definition all acounting software will have similarities to some degree I know), then that takes me very close to being able to completely ditch windoze
And I was hoping to avoid trawling through and installing/trying/uninstalling 88,000 packages in order to find something suitable! I only wish I had that much free time
(just get my head round video editing in linux and getting subdomains working in apache then , but those are for other threads)
lornix thanks for the link there
I noticed you put $0.02 instead of how we’d put it in the uk (two penn’orth) and it is canadian software, do you know whether quasar can handle things like uk vat by any chance? Looked on the site but couldn’t see anything on that, I suspect it doesn’t
In the meantime I’ve found one called jalia to try that says it can … so far though I’ve only gotten as far as setting up the postgresql server it requires, something I’ve never done before
>
> DenverD;1836005 Wrote:
>> i can’t recommend one because i can keep up with my money by just
>> looking in my wallet to see if i have any…
>>
>
> Me too DenverD unfortunately … but it’s OTHER people’s money I’m
> wanting to keep track of
>
> As things are I’m firing up a windows vm whenever I want to work on
> someone’s accounts, as time has gone on I need a windows for less and
> less tasks, both on the work side of things and the personal, it’s down
> to 2 or 3 now
>
> I should be able to completely do away with windows (yay) and use suse
> for everything, been using suse to an ever increasing degree for about
> 2 years now
>
> If I can find accounting software that’s fairly similar to what I’m
> used to (by definition all acounting software will have similarities to
> some degree I know), then that takes me very close to being able to
> completely ditch windoze
>
> And I was hoping to avoid trawling through and
> installing/trying/uninstalling 88,000 packages in order to find
> something suitable! I only wish I had that much free time
>
> (just get my head round video editing in linux and getting subdomains
> working in apache then , but those are for other threads)
>
>
> lornix thanks for the link there
>
> I noticed you put $0.02 instead of how we’d put it in the uk (two
> penn’orth) and it is canadian software, do you know whether quasar can
> handle things like uk vat by any chance? Looked on the site but
> couldn’t see anything on that, I suspect it doesn’t
>
> In the meantime I’ve found one called jalia to try that says it can …
> so far though I’ve only gotten as far as setting up the postgresql
> server it requires, something I’ve never done before
>
> Rune
>
>
UK… wouldn’t it be Tuppence? (Used to live in Bicester)
Quasar has a LOT of options… and I’ll admit to limited Accounting knowledge,
so some had me digging for some accounting references. It’s quite likely
it’ll handle VAT. No, I don’t know for sure.
And see how much you’re learning now? Setting up Postgresql (always sounded
like postgristle to me!)
MySQL, MSQL, MSSQL, Oracle, dbd… so many databases to play with! So many to
learn!
i’ve been using gnucash to track my personal finances & small cash based businesses. it works great for me but i have not really got into using the vendors,accounts payables, and any check printing. the repots are a bit tough to customize but they can easily be exported to html for input into a spreadsheet.
> I’m firing up a windows vm whenever I want to work on
> someone’s accounts…I should be able to completely do away with windows
i fully support your goal…i did it by just doing it (in 1995)…
the longer you put it off the longer it will take…
> And I was hoping to avoid trawling through and
> installing/trying/uninstalling 88,000 packages
WHAT? no pain no gain
actually, i WISH i could say “try this MagicPak, i think it will hit the
spot”…
i AM sorry i can’t that for you (but for other’s, when they complain
about the latest email which caused them to have to reinstall (or
whatever) i say “try openSuSE Linux with OpenOffice, Firefox and
Thunderbird, i think they will hit the spot!”
> In the meantime I’ve found one called jalia to try that says it can …
> so far though I’ve only gotten as far as setting up the postgresql
> server it requires, something I’ve never done before
yikes, that sounds like an industrial strength solution…good luck…
hey, on a lark i thought (light bulb over head): it seems to me that
OpenOffice has all the bits and pieces to cobble together a killer
book-keeping app, i wonder if someone has done that… with a
firefox-type addon, maybe… and googled on
openoffice addon accounting bookkeeping
i didn’t (so far) find what i had hoped…sorry…
but i did find 4,700 more hits to look at…</sigh>
–
DenverD (Linux Counter 282315)
A Texan in Denmark
I do have an accounting/book-keeping system I created myself in a workbook that works decently enough, does things like extended trial balance, profit & loss statements, vat return figures, personal tax return figures etc
Creating copies for new clients though can be a bit time-consuming, so can editing an existing copy when things change in a business
I originally made it in excel some years ago (not long after I qualified as an accounting technician), and some of that I’d made easier using macros
Don’t have the use of those macros any more since I changed to openoffice around 4 years ago, the thought of learning to recreate them in openoffice is a bit daunting … I doubt I could even do them again in excel now, especially when I think back on how long it took me and how little sleep I got when doing it
It’s fine and usable as it is for sole traders and the like, but I do accounting for one or two small limited companies with partners, and that’s where the need for a decent accounting package comes in, call it a necessary evil for keeping my beer supplies stocked up
Loni I’m in south wales, you probably already know our english ain’t quite the same as how they speak it in most parts of england
Mysql I’m used to, postgresql, don’t have the first idea about it but I’m sure I’ll crack it … eventually!
And I must stop signing my posts as Rune, habit from it being my ‘internet nickname’ for so long, but someone else already has it registered on this particular forum
>
> Loni I’m in south wales, you probably already know our english ain’t
> quite the same as how they speak it in most parts of england
>
> Mysql I’m used to, postgresql, don’t have the first idea about it but
> I’m sure I’ll crack it … eventually!
>
> And I must stop signing my posts as Rune, habit from it being my
> ‘internet nickname’ for so long, but someone else already has it
> registered on this particular forum
>
> Ecky
>
>
Ah, well that does explain how you use the “Queen’s English” {Grin}
I really wasn’t aware you guys had computers there… kinda amazing really.
Granted, I’m in Oklahoma, United States, and one could arguably say the same
for here… there’s a lot of livestock though… honest, I thought
“cow orkers” was a joke… then I moved “home” to Oklahoma. OMG!
Ecky?!? Rune is good, I picture someone old and treasured, maybe crusty, but
cherished and sought out… Ecky? uh… y’know, nothing at all comes to
mind.
>
> DenverD;1836392 Wrote:
>> > hey, on a lark i thought (light bulb over head): it seems to me that
>> OpenOffice has all the bits and pieces to cobble together a killer
>> book-keeping app
>
> I do have an accounting/book-keeping system I created myself in a
> workbook that works decently enough, does things like extended trial
> balance, profit & loss statements, vat return figures, personal tax
> return figures etc
>
> Creating copies for new clients though can be a bit time-consuming, so
> can editing an existing copy when things change in a business
>
> I originally made it in excel some years ago (not long after I
> qualified as an accounting technician), and some of that I’d made
> easier using macros
>
> Don’t have the use of those macros any more since I changed to
> openoffice around 4 years ago, the thought of learning to recreate them
> in openoffice is a bit daunting … I doubt I could even do them again
> in excel now, especially when I think back on how long it took me and
> how little sleep I got when doing it
>
> It’s fine and usable as it is for sole traders and the like, but I do
> accounting for one or two small limited companies with partners, and
> that’s where the need for a decent accounting package comes in, call it
> a necessary evil for keeping my beer supplies stocked up
I belong to an alumni association that handled $31 million in assests, 84
employees, a $4.6 million budget, and 26,000 dues-paying members using
spread sheets for many years. After an audit a while back, we finally
managed to get a decent package in place and reduced the CFO staff by 2
slots. Wonderful what a competent accounting package can do for you!
I’ve been playing with Quasar for a while looking to replace an expensive
Firefox based system now in use. Last I looked, their payroll module is a
bit weak and it lacks membership tracking we need for contribution
reporting but it is pretty good. Since I’ve had lots of (sometime bitter)
experience with DB2, I used that for Quasar. Between the stored
procedures, user routines, and triggers it makes quick work of things like
VAT and multiple taxing entities. They have a free version that is
licensed for commercial as well as individual use and is a lot more
complete than the relational databases mentioned earlier -if you are
conversant with plain old SQL. Makes a good backend.
You’ve either been talking to people on the irc server I use or have excellent sources of information in south wales … worrying on both counts!
Cherished, doubtful, sought after, often more than I’d like
Ecky comes from an old uk tv comedy show called The Goodies when they did a spoof thing on martial arts and one of the characters was the Grand Master of a fake yorkshire martial art called Ecky Thump
I was doing judo at the time and some bright spark at school called me eckythump, it stuck and ever since I’ve been called Ecky by just about everyone that knows me
The nick Rune is a whole other story
Don’t know if you’re old enough to remember that show lorni, I at 43, am (I was 10 years old at the time)
Will Honea yeah I looked at their site and saw the free version, I’m thinking I’ll try both quasar and jalia and probably go with whichever I prefer
>
> Old? Crusty?
>
> You’ve either been talking to people on the irc server I use or have
> excellent sources of information in south wales … worrying on both
> counts!
>
> Cherished, doubtful, sought after, often more than I’d like
>
> Ecky comes from an old uk tv comedy show called The Goodies when they
> did a spoof thing on martial arts and one of the characters was the
> Grand Master of a fake yorkshire martial art called Ecky Thump
>
> I was doing judo at the time and some bright spark at school called me
> eckythump, it stuck and ever since I’ve been called Ecky by just about
> everyone that knows me
>
> The nick Rune is a whole other story
>
> Don’t know if you’re old enough to remember that show lorni, I at 43,
> am (I was 10 years old at the time)
>
>
> Will Honea yeah I looked at their site and saw the free version, I’m
> thinking I’ll try both quasar and jalia and probably go with whichever
> I prefer
>
> Thanks
>
> Ecky
>
>
OMG! Do I remember the Goodies?!? Eckythump! Black Pudding with Remote
Control chips! A Lighthouse, a Coat-of-Arms… Bed-Races, … ya, I remember
them. Grandmaster! Every time they advanced a level, their hats got larger
and larger.
I turn 40 this year, spent 8 years in England before I was 16, Coronation
Street theme music brings back memories, BBC1, BBC2, ITV… and just before
we left the last time, Channel 4. {Sigh} Worzel Gummidge, Original Dr. Who,
Tomorrow’s World, Bagpuss, The Wombles, Paddington Bear.
I came across some of the Goodies shows (Goodie Goodie Gum Drop!!) some time
back, wonderful memories. I might still have them somewhere (main system
has just over 2.2TB storage available, I have misplaced 80Gb files before,
friends STILL chide me about that)
And just to stay on topic… Good luck with the Accounting packages. Hope
one of them will be useful.
