Re: [gentoo-dev] (OT) Accounting systems: Ledger-CLI vs GNUcash

[james]

On 12/04/2016 10:10 PM, M. J. Everitt wrote:
> On 05/12/16 03:06, james wrote:
>> On 12/04/2016 06:49 PM, Robin H. Johnson wrote:
>>> On Sun, Dec 04, 2016 at 11:07:59PM +0000, M. J. Everitt wrote:
>>>> I gather both Quickbooks and Sage have a more modular approach to
>>>> "proper" accounting software applicable to small and large
>>>> businesses. I
>>>> know my mother used Quickbooks in the past with good success and the
>>>> support of her accountant, but Sage is known to be equally
>>>> accessible. I
>>>> would imagine there is an appropriate version for not-for-profit or
>>>> charities, perhaps you can seek advice with the person(s) already
>>>> contacted for accounting/finance purposes?!
>>> Our CPA (Yes, we do have one) only recommends QuickBooks, but has used a
>>> variety of other proprietary systems (none of which he recommends at
>>> all!).
>>>
>>> The catch is that either Quickbooks or Sage would be a violation of the
>>> social contract's libre-licence dependence clause.
>>>
>>> Ledger HAS filled most of our needs thus far, but lacks in reporting and
>>> some automation:
>>> - I'd love to automatically generate lots of depreciation
>>>   entries, but can't yet.
>>> - Something to anonymize private information in some entries, so that
>>>   the actual Ledgers can be published for transparency.
>>>
>>
>> All of that is routine and easy with GNUcash....
>>
>>
>> hth,
>> James
>>
>>
>>
> Grabbing the bull by the horns here, any willing/able volunteers to aid
> robbat2 getting ledger ported to gnucash and up-to-speed maybe? I can't
> really volunteer as I'm not good with finance esp. not US and have one
> too many pans in the fire right now...! :)



Well, the key skill that is needed is someone who has the vision of what 
the 'chart of accounts' needs to look like for a 501(c) gentoo 
organization. The gnucash-user list is full of helpful folks that will
help with migration, including numerous scripts that automate conversion
from other accounting systems to gnucash. Really the next step would be 
for Robatt2 figure out and list what he wants. I'm already subscribe to
gnucash-user, so if a few other folks did likewise it would get the ball 
rolling. One could even state the type of 501(c) and ask for a suggested 
list of chart of accounts for that type of business organization, on the 
gnucash-user list. I have already sent robatt2 a coulple of contacts 
that currently run 501(c) organizations on gnucash.


Define what you have and what you want to do, then ask for help on 
gnucash-user list for ideas and guidance. I do not believe that any 
custom programming is needed, but I''m not familiar with the needs of 
501(c) in general, nor any of the gentoo specific needs.


hth,
James


> For zlg's benefit .. I wasn't advocating re-writing the social contract
> (yet) just questioning whether that may be an unhelpful constraint in
> quite an important process, but I sit corrected in that there are libre
> solutions to this issue in use in similar environments .. so we just
> need to transition ..
>
> 2c50 !

I would never use FOSS accounting software because it is FOSS. I use 
gnucash, after working with accountants on dozens of PC based packages
and it is simple the best, flexible, free support and many have custom 
scripts that that share, freely, that makes gnucash my goto package for 
accounting. gnucash does no 'lock in your data' and that is a big deal 
for most organizations. Gnucash makes it easy to do what you want, with 
a robust, double entry system that has countless cool features.


ymmv,
James