[ubuntu-nz] Accounting / book-keeping software

[Dave Lane]

We'd be willing to show your our chart of accounts and any other 
configuration info, via screen shots if nothing else (perhaps you and/or 
your accountant will even come up with improvements :) ) - I'm in 
Melbourne at the moment - how soon do you need it?

Cheers,

Dave


Paulus Herewini wrote:
> Can anyone point me in the direction of setting up ledgersmb to handle 
> NZ tax? My accountant isn't very computer-literate. Even if someone 
> could provide me with a quote to customise it (or to tell me how, I'm a 
> web-developer and quite experienced with linux) that would be great...
> 
> Dave Lane wrote:
>> We've been using LedgerSMB (http://ledgersmb.org) which is a fork of SQL 
>> Ledger.  We started with SQL-Ledger in 2002, and transferred to 
>> LedgerSMB (more secure, better development team, attractive development 
>> roadmap) which is functionally equivalent (or better).  It's a very good 
>> system.  For most businesses, it's more flexible but has less "hand 
>> holding" for non-accountants.  Unless you're a competent accounts 
>> person, you'd probably want to have assistance from a professional in 
>> setting it up (although I'd recommend that in any case).  That said, the 
>> LedgerSMB email list is very responsive and offers some good resources.
>>
>> LedgerSMB is properly open source, it's client-server (uses PostgreSQL 
>> as a back end), and it's moving towards a web-services interface.  We 
>> sent PDF invoices via email to our customers.  It doesn't do direct 
>> import of bank details (a la Xero) but it offers Point of Sale, Project 
>> management, Quotes, Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, reconciliation, 
>> inventory management, multiple currencies, and lots of other stuff that 
>> other systems don't offer.  Don't underestimate the value of proper 
>> client server architecture (e.g. give your accountant a log-in and they 
>> can watch your accounts securely without you having to send them a 
>> spreadsheet or MYOB database each time) - also no user license fees, and 
>> the ability to integrate into other applications...  we're looking at 
>> doing that now with Drupal.
>>
>> We offer hosted LedgerSMB systems for some of the other companies in our 
>> Effusion Group cluster (http://effusiongroup.com) and they've found it 
>> very good.  We're not offering it as a full-fledged commercial service, 
>> but might be open for discussion.
>>
>> I don't know much about Gnu-Cash, but my impression is that it's more 
>> for individuals and not so much for business use, particularly if you 
>> expect to expand to multiple locations, branches, etc. (which LedgerSMB 
>> does support!).
>>
>> Hope that helps someone.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>> Paulus Herewini wrote:
>>   
>>> Hello, I am in the process of setting up a small business. I am hoping 
>>> to be using entirely opensource operating systems and software. I am 
>>> almost there except for one part:
>>>
>>> Accounting Software
>>>
>>> I did some quick researched and (hopefully) found that GNUcash was the 
>>> better option for me. It looks like it needs some slight customisation 
>>> to enter/calculate NZ GST correctly, and anything else NZ-related.
>>>
>>> I am enquiring as to whether anyone on this list has either setup 
>>> GNUcash (or any other opensource accounting package) successfully for a 
>>> NZ business or have seen an NZ-specific tutorial or article. I am 
>>> reluctant to ask my accountant for help with this as they aren't very 
>>> technically-literate and would simply say "Just get MYOB and install it 
>>> on a windows machine".
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance,
>>> Paulus Herewini
>>>
>>>     
>>
>>   
> 
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-- 
Dave Lane = Egressive Ltd = dave at egressive.com = m: +64 21 229 8147
p: +64 3 9633733 = Linux: it just tastes better = nosoftwarepatents
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