I am revieiwing options for a desktop solution for small business accounting.
I'm leaning towards gnucash. My second option is currently ledgersmb. Both are in the repository.
Looking for the standard features: double-entry bookkeeping, invoices, reporting (balance sheet, income stmt, cash flow).
Nice but don't need: multi-user, depreciation can be done via spreadsheet.
I haven't found any discussion on any linux option that would import a csv file into tax software (US).
I'll spend some time on the gnucash mailing list. It seems to be very active and a lot of good info. I spotted an entry that talked about importing QB to GNUCash. That would be extremely nice.
Anyone have experience with this software or other related? Anything else to consider? Any gotcha's, wish you knew, or additional software?
Thanks.
Accounting Software
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Accounting Software
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Re: Accounting Software
Im terrible at accounting for my small business and have always kept an eye out for something linux based. I did try GNUcash some time ago and found that because of my lack of accounting knowledge it was somewhat difficult for me to use. Right now I run a VM of windows and have QBs running.
There are other options but a lot of them involve storing business info on the cloud. I am not into that and I do not believe one should have their accounting out on the cloud.
Im gonna subscribe and follow along. Hopefully others have some good input on what works for them. I will say that all my issues involve my lack of knowledge with accounting. I have learned a lot since then and probably should give gnucash an other look.
Lets see what others have to say
There are other options but a lot of them involve storing business info on the cloud. I am not into that and I do not believe one should have their accounting out on the cloud.
Im gonna subscribe and follow along. Hopefully others have some good input on what works for them. I will say that all my issues involve my lack of knowledge with accounting. I have learned a lot since then and probably should give gnucash an other look.
Lets see what others have to say
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- JoeFootball
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Re: Accounting Software
I don't think it is going to be too tough. Take it one step, or one expense/revenue/asset/liability, at a time. There is good doc and an active mailing list with good conversations, and active development. Like anything, it takes a couple of days to get comfortable. At this point, I don't know what I don't know I'm testing with Quicken (Q) and then we'll see about (QB). Here's a snippet from "GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide".coffee412 wrote:Im terrible at accounting for my small business and have always kept an eye out for something linux based. I did try GNUcash some time ago and found that because of my lack of accounting knowledge it was somewhat difficult for me to use. Right now I run a VM of windows and have QBs running.
There are other options but a lot of them involve storing business info on the cloud. I am not into that and I do not believe one should have their accounting out on the cloud.
Im gonna subscribe and follow along. Hopefully others have some good input on what works for them. I will say that all my issues involve my lack of knowledge with accounting. I have learned a lot since then and probably should give gnucash an other look.
Lets see what others have to say
To me it looks similar to Q... I mean how many ways can you display a checkbook register and accounts. I changed the font via .gtkrc-2.0.gnucash and some of the numbers were chopped off on the left side in the last column (i.e., 01 was displayed instead of 101). I fought with trying to resize the columns and then by accident I double clicked a column title and it resized automatically. I don't know if that is a standard GTK thing (I have been mostly KDE), but it is an IMPORTANT thing to know about the UI.You also have the option in GnuCash to treat income and expense accounts exactly as you would treat categories, if you are more comfortable with that method. In Quicken® and similar programs, transactions require an account and a category. Substitute an income or expense account name in GnuCash where you would normally enter a category name in the other programs, and the result should be the same. We will discuss transaction entry in Chapter 4 in greater detail.
https://lists.gnucash.org/docs/C/gnucas ... cats1.html
I had done some things in Q (because I could) that didn't import well. I think I was sloppy in Q, and I'm glad gnuCash is a more traditional double-entry accounting app. I want to support open source desktop applications, so that gives me extra energy.
Re: Accounting Software
Found some very cool software for invoices and billing.
Invoice-ninja ***** (I give it five stars)
I have IN running on my daily driver using nginx . I think It took me about 20 minutes to install at most and it really does a lot.
Ill stick with GNUcash for my accounting and then IN for my billing and invoices.
Invoice-ninja ***** (I give it five stars)
I have IN running on my daily driver using nginx . I think It took me about 20 minutes to install at most and it really does a lot.
Ill stick with GNUcash for my accounting and then IN for my billing and invoices.
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Re: Accounting Software
Another vote for Gnucash.
Note the version in repository is kinda old...but in this case that's a good things as GnuCash version 3.X still appears to have some teething problems. As noted above, the application is actively developed, the developers are very accessible through the mailing list and issues are being resolved at a rapid pace (by OSS freeware standards, anyway).
Newer versions (but not the latest) are available in both Flatpak and Snapd formats. Both install and run on Mint 19. I couldn't get the Flatpak to install on "Cindy" but the snapd package ran well. I guess the recent announcement that flatpaks will soon be upgradable deals with my biggest objection to using them.
If having the latest version is important (and there are some nice improvements, especially on the business side), the GnuCash WiKi page has detailed instructions for building from source. Uses cmake which isn't hard, but it is different from what I was used to so it took a bit to get my head around it (hint: don't put the build directory inside the source directory).
My advice is to try the repo version first. It's the best integrated into Mint and you can download the gnucash-docs package which ought to be a fixed dependency, in my opinion. The use and concept guide in the docs package will provide invaluable help and examples of how to do things the GnuCash way (which is pretty much textbook double-entry accounting).
Finally, GnuCash will export data in .csv format, but you'll likely have to use a spreadsheet to format the information the way you want. The reports facility is comprehensive, but makes extensive use of GTK toolkit functions modified by .css stylesheets. Changing them is not for the faint-hearted.
Note the version in repository is kinda old...but in this case that's a good things as GnuCash version 3.X still appears to have some teething problems. As noted above, the application is actively developed, the developers are very accessible through the mailing list and issues are being resolved at a rapid pace (by OSS freeware standards, anyway).
Newer versions (but not the latest) are available in both Flatpak and Snapd formats. Both install and run on Mint 19. I couldn't get the Flatpak to install on "Cindy" but the snapd package ran well. I guess the recent announcement that flatpaks will soon be upgradable deals with my biggest objection to using them.
If having the latest version is important (and there are some nice improvements, especially on the business side), the GnuCash WiKi page has detailed instructions for building from source. Uses cmake which isn't hard, but it is different from what I was used to so it took a bit to get my head around it (hint: don't put the build directory inside the source directory).
My advice is to try the repo version first. It's the best integrated into Mint and you can download the gnucash-docs package which ought to be a fixed dependency, in my opinion. The use and concept guide in the docs package will provide invaluable help and examples of how to do things the GnuCash way (which is pretty much textbook double-entry accounting).
Finally, GnuCash will export data in .csv format, but you'll likely have to use a spreadsheet to format the information the way you want. The reports facility is comprehensive, but makes extensive use of GTK toolkit functions modified by .css stylesheets. Changing them is not for the faint-hearted.
- happnatious1
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Re: Accounting Software
I too have to run a virtual machine of windows 7 with quick-books desktop on all the time. I tried installing quick-books using wine but it has problems getting past the licensing part. I just installed the flat-pack of gnu-cash 3.2 on my Linux mint 18.3 and it seems to be a very powerful program however, I cant see it replacing my current quick-books install without having to hire an employee just to manage it. I'm going to try setting up my company in it though to see how far I can get.
Re: Accounting Software
The use and concepts guide will be an invaluable help. The gnucash users mail list https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists is another good resource...you can search the archive even if you don't want the mail feed of new messages.
Re: Accounting Software
HI lmuserx4849,
I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.
+1 for GnuCash and KMyMoney
"Wave" is free, but online only...
FYI: Any online accounting software should work with any computer operating system through your browsers including Quickbooks Online; just make sure you can export or backup your data locally (to your hard drive).
What about Scrooge?
Skrooge - click "Features" on top
https://skrooge.org/
Installation on ubuntu - Skrooge
* There are various installation and version options depending upon which edition and version of Linux Mint you use.
https://skrooge.org/ubuntu_installation
"Manager" • Free Accounting Software for Small Businesses
https://www.manager.io/
12 Free Accounting And Money Management Software For Small Businesses
- Make sure Linux is supported
https://www.geckoandfly.com/24442/free- ... -software/
Top Free Accounting Software Options - Capterra Blog
https://blog.capterra.com/top-free-accounting-software/
Hope this helps ...
I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.
+1 for GnuCash and KMyMoney
"Wave" is free, but online only...
FYI: Any online accounting software should work with any computer operating system through your browsers including Quickbooks Online; just make sure you can export or backup your data locally (to your hard drive).
What about Scrooge?
Skrooge - click "Features" on top
https://skrooge.org/
Installation on ubuntu - Skrooge
* There are various installation and version options depending upon which edition and version of Linux Mint you use.
https://skrooge.org/ubuntu_installation
"Manager" • Free Accounting Software for Small Businesses
https://www.manager.io/
12 Free Accounting And Money Management Software For Small Businesses
- Make sure Linux is supported
https://www.geckoandfly.com/24442/free- ... -software/
Top Free Accounting Software Options - Capterra Blog
https://blog.capterra.com/top-free-accounting-software/
Hope this helps ...
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & KDE Neon 64-bit Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573, quad core i5-8250U ) 2 in 1 touch screen