Conservative Choice for Linux Accounting Software?

mikosullivan asks: "I'm a programmer for the Roanoke Rescue Mission in Roanoke, VA. The mission provides meals, shelter, and other help to the homeless. We're looking at upgrading the mission's information systems to a Linux-based network, from server to desktop. One of the major wrinkles in our plans is finding a good accounting system for Linux. My manager strongly feels (and I sympathize) that they should stick to accounting software that is already used by established accounting firms. There are certainly a plethora of Linux and open source accounting packages out there, but she wants to stay away from the bleeding edge, at least for accounting. She wants a tried-and-true, established, conservative choice for accounting software. What accounting software for Linux is most accepted and established in the marble and wood-paneled world of conservative bean counters? It doesn't have to be open source, but cost is a major issue, and open source is, of course, preferred."

Comments

I want

[finkployd]

I want the ability to link up to my bank, credit card companies, morgage companies, retirement fund, etc. and download the latest data like I can with Quicken. This is the only reason I keep windows (and quicken) around, and it is hard to live without once you get used to it. Gnucash is quite nice, but until it can do that, it is ultimatly not much more than a spreadsheet all set up for financial data.

Unfortunatly, there isn't a simple programming solution for this, it requires partnerships with all of these financial institutions. That is something I imagine would be difficult for an open source project.

Finkployd

Re:I want

[g4dget]

The protocol is open and standardized now: OFX (link down right now). It's based on XML. In theory, it should not require relations between the software vendor and the bank; the end user should be able to get all the necessary information. Reality may be different, however.

Check out MoneyDance

[jockm]

I use MoneyDance. It's Java based, so it runs on Linux, Win32, MacOS X, etc...

*Grumble*

[jsse]

Do you really care to do a little research, before Ask:Slashdot?!

The main page of Christopher Browne's "Finances, Linux, and Stuff" is here!

Click to that little "2. Linux-based Financial Software" you can find what you need.

*grumble*

Kapital

[Michael Wardle]

I asked myself the same question only a few weeks ago. I came to the conclusion that Kapital from theKompany was the best option. You'll probably need KDE and Linux or FreeBSD to run it.

Somewhat ironically, I'm using GnuCash until I can afford to buy it. :-/

Both Kapital and GnuCash claim to be able to import Quicken data files, which is a very handy feature.

Kapital is reviewed here.

Freshmeat also has a brief review that compares many Linux/Unix financial products.

If none of these seems sufficient, maybe Quicken runs under WINE. Has anybody tried doing so?

Re:Not applicable to /.

[bwatt]

Er, I might point out that it is when you don't have buckets of cash, that you should be most concerned with tracking how much you have and what you spend it on...

[Gak! That sounds highly responsible, no?]

Quicken

[JDeFontes]

Quicken 2002 on OS X. *wink*

But seriously...

I used to work for Intuit, and at one time there was an initiative to do an online version of Quicken. Some of that work seems to have shown up in their My Finances offering:

"Track checking, savings and cash accounts here. You can download balances from your financial institution..."

Why I don't like Quicken

[vegetablespork]

Even if Intuit released a version of Quicken for Linux today, I wouldn't use it.

Strike 1: Intuit charges me for the software--then has the audacity to attempt to force me to give up personal information to use it (astalavista.box.sk to the rescue again).

Strike 2: Intuit spams me with sales pitches based on information entered into the program. I already paid once, thank you.

Strike 3: Using the online services requires me to go through Intuit as an intermediary, rather than keeping the relationship only between me and my financial institution. Given their proven propensity to bother me with ads, I don't exactly trust them with my financial details.

Yer out!

One hitch

[rakeswell]

Exactly right.OFX is slated for inclusion into Gnucash.

There is one hitch, however: download method. Some financial institutions require your application (MS Money/Quicken) to download the information from your bank, while others provide a browser-based hyperlink download of the qif/ofx file for you to import into your application. As long as your app supports the file formats provided, no vendor/financial institution is needed.You can curently import qif files into Gnucash.

The setup in which you download the files with your fincance application requires your app to first connect to the vendor's "branding" server, which then redirects you to your financial institution to begin the download -- this is where vendor involvement with the financial institution gets involved.

I suppose that if someone knew the address to their FI's download servlet, their application could be written to go directly there and bypass the branding servers. However, I don't think that FI's usually publish the URI for their download servlets so getting this info could be a challenge (though tech support should be able to tell you).

I've found that this interactive download method is more error-prone and resource-intensive (for the FI) than the browser-based options.

Here's a comment on building an OFX parser found on the Gnucash project goals pags:

There are two ways to build an OFX parser. One way is to build a compile-time DTD parser that treats the DTD as if it were an IDL, and generates C language stubs for a parser. This approach was attempted and abandoned because it leads to fragile C code and a very large binary.

• The parser is fragile because minor DTD non-compliances are hard to parse, handle and recover from.
• The parser is huge because the DTD results in hundreds of (C++) objects being generated.

The other method would be to perform run-time DTD parsing. This is attractive particularly because it is a more commonly-used approach; there are a variety of XML tools available that provide this function.

Here are some links:

[Futurepower(R)]

I'm very interested in this subject, also. Here are some links:

SQL Ledger Accounting

Hansa Business Solutions

Compiere

Cheap & easy business accounting with Linux

Nola

STFB

Open source Java projects for business and accounting. But... Is Java slow and with non-standard GUIs? A prisoner of Sun politics?

Open Systems Accounting Software

GNU Cash. Impressive.

Slashdot discussed personal finance packages. Thoughts: Where does "personal finance" end and business finance begin? Wouldn't it be better just to have one package for all accounting, so that you didn't have to learn more than one? But business accounting software has been difficult to use. Accounting software requires much more learning than word processing software. Learning more than one may reduce the quality of your life, not raise it.

Quicken and clones thereof are for home use.

[Old.UNIX.Nut]

Small business and organizations with a need for accounting will not get by with the "designed for home use" accounting packages. If this were not the case then the Quicken people would not have also created Quickbooks for business people.
Based on my experience with small business people this individual needs a package for Linux that approximates the functionality of PeachTree Accounting (or a competing product with similar functionality).
Since all of my customers with accounting needs are married to Windows I cannot recommend a package for Linux, but a Quicken replacement will NOT do the trick.
The only package for Linux I've seen that looks like it might have the right stuff is SQL-Ledger http://www.sql-ledger.com/features.html, but I cannot recommend something I've never tried.
More details from the person asking about this might help get a recommendation based on required functionality.

I know I'm going to get flamed for this....

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

But what you're asking for is a nearly perfect application for Win98se/Win2000 and Peachtree. Peachtree is robust, Win98 works and nobody other than the slashdot and Apple crowds would find fault with your decision. We've used Peachtree for years and it works just fine. *ANY* accountant or auditor would have no problem reading it's reports or dealing with it's methods. It's nicely extensible, moving from a single-user setup to a peer-to-peer network with zero complications. If you need to use open source for political reasons, I can't help you. If you want the best return on investment for your group, I would seriously consider the above system.

Accpac

[Kent_Franken]

Accpac has a great accounting package and has been around in commercial distribution for a long time (I knew someone who used the Windows version back in the late 1980s). It was recently released for Linux.