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Accounting Software
RedButterFly
#1 Posted : Tuesday, October 21, 2014 9:52:40 AM
Rank: New-farer


Joined: 6/19/2013
Posts: 18
Any small business owner and or farming kindly advise us on which accounting software you are using to keep your books of accounts in check and up-to-date?
No matter how great the talents or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in 1 day by making 9 women pregnant- Warren Buffet


Speculz
#2 Posted : Tuesday, October 21, 2014 10:17:13 AM
Rank: Member


Joined: 5/6/2011
Posts: 391
Location: Nairobi
RedButterFly wrote:
Any small business owner and or farming kindly advise us on which accounting software you are using to keep your books of accounts in check and up-to-date?


Just use quickbooks or postbooks.
"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?" - Stephen Wright
Toxicity
#3 Posted : Tuesday, October 21, 2014 10:21:51 AM
Rank: Member


Joined: 1/15/2010
Posts: 458
GNU Cash can be useful
update president set president = speaker where president is null
Swenani
#4 Posted : Tuesday, October 21, 2014 2:10:08 PM
Rank: User


Joined: 8/15/2013
Posts: 13,236
Location: Vacuum
RedButterFly wrote:
Any small business owner and or farming kindly advise us on which accounting software you are using to keep your books of accounts in check and up-to-date?


Excel
If Obiero did it, Who Am I?
tkzee
#5 Posted : Tuesday, October 21, 2014 2:42:13 PM
Rank: Member


Joined: 7/13/2010
Posts: 160
Location: rift Valley-Naks
RedButterFly wrote:
Any small business owner and or farming kindly advise us on which accounting software you are using to keep your books of accounts in check and up-to-date?


Use Quick Books but bear in mind there some security issues with it and stock control is also a problem.
''i can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies,but not the madness of people''-Isaac Newton
RedButterFly
#6 Posted : Tuesday, October 21, 2014 4:20:08 PM
Rank: New-farer


Joined: 6/19/2013
Posts: 18
Toxicity wrote:
GNU Cash can be useful


Have you used it? What may be the challenges and advantages. It seems relatively new to me.
No matter how great the talents or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in 1 day by making 9 women pregnant- Warren Buffet


seppuku
#7 Posted : Tuesday, October 21, 2014 4:32:04 PM
Rank: Veteran


Joined: 5/11/2010
Posts: 918
RedButterFly wrote:
Toxicity wrote:
GNU Cash can be useful


Have you used it? What may be the challenges and advantages. It seems relatively new to me.


I've used GNUCash and would recommend it. It works very well for me. I especially like that you can schedule transactions and enter new transactions based on similar ones from the past. It is also very customizable and provides a wide array of useful reports/statements. Plus it's absolutely free and open source.

The only downside I can think of is that the UI is not particularly beautiful. The emphasis is on function rather than looks. I have to say though that the charts since the last update have improved immensely.

Also, although you can use it with a flat file (XML), connecting it to a database (such as MySQL or PostgreSQL) is a much better choice from a robustness, scalability and data security perspective. This is trivial if you are tech savvy but can be a bit intimidating for other people.

Disclaimer: I am not really comparing GNUCash to anything else out there. GNUCash was the first accounting software I used and I fell in love with it. Been using it about 3 years now. So there is a chance that this is a case of "he who does not travel believing that only his mother knows how to cook good food".
Learn first to treat your time as you would your money, then treat your money as you do your time.
seppuku
#8 Posted : Tuesday, October 21, 2014 4:36:19 PM
Rank: Veteran


Joined: 5/11/2010
Posts: 918
seppuku wrote:
RedButterFly wrote:
Toxicity wrote:
GNU Cash can be useful


Have you used it? What may be the challenges and advantages. It seems relatively new to me.


I've used GNUCash and would recommend it. It works very well for me. I especially like that you can schedule transactions and enter new transactions based on similar ones from the past. It is also very customizable and provides a wide array of useful reports/statements. Plus it's absolutely free and open source.

The only downside I can think of is that the UI is not particularly beautiful. The emphasis is on function rather than looks. I have to say though that the charts since the last update have improved immensely.

Also, although you can use it with a flat file (XML), connecting it to a database (such as MySQL or PostgreSQL) is a much better choice from a robustness, scalability and data security perspective. This is trivial if you are tech savvy but can be a bit intimidating for other people.

Disclaimer: I am not really comparing GNUCash to anything else out there. GNUCash was the first accounting software I used and I fell in love with it. Been using it about 3 years now. So there is a chance that this is a case of "he who does not travel believing that only his mother knows how to cook good food".


Oh, and by the way, GNUCash does require that you have some basic accounting know-how. If you can't tell assets from liabilities or get confused by debits and credits, GNUCash will not work for you. But I say if you are running a business then you really should have these basics - otherwise you might confuse your profits for losses or vice versa.
Learn first to treat your time as you would your money, then treat your money as you do your time.
Gordon Gekko
#9 Posted : Tuesday, October 21, 2014 9:35:51 PM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 5/27/2008
Posts: 3,760
@seppuku, how do you deal with dividend payments in gnucash?

We use it for our chama and have declared a dividend. I have been unable to pay out dividends when I credit bank and debit retained earnings.

To go round the problem we have posted dividends as an expense. This however reduces taxable income.
seppuku
#10 Posted : Wednesday, October 22, 2014 12:43:36 PM
Rank: Veteran


Joined: 5/11/2010
Posts: 918
Gordon Gekko wrote:
@seppuku, how do you deal with dividend payments in gnucash?

We use it for our chama and have declared a dividend. I have been unable to pay out dividends when I credit bank and debit retained earnings.

To go round the problem we have posted dividends as an expense. This however reduces taxable income.


Well, I haven't done it before and I am not a trained accountant but here's how I would do it.

Upon declaration of the dividend, I would debit retained earnings but I would NOT credit bank. Instead I would credit dividends payable. It is only upon paying that I would credit bank and debit dividends payable. That way dividends don't have to be recorded as an expense, which they are not.
Learn first to treat your time as you would your money, then treat your money as you do your time.
Gordon Gekko
#11 Posted : Wednesday, October 22, 2014 1:14:45 PM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 5/27/2008
Posts: 3,760
@seppuku, your route still debits retained earnings, that's where the problem is, gnucash doesn't seem to allow this.
seppuku
#12 Posted : Wednesday, October 22, 2014 2:28:25 PM
Rank: Veteran


Joined: 5/11/2010
Posts: 918
Gordon Gekko wrote:
@seppuku, your route still debits retained earnings, that's where the problem is, gnucash doesn't seem to allow this.


Why would it not? I see that when you generate a balance sheet it shows a "retained earnings" account which doesn't actually exists - and that of course wouldn't be possible to post to. But I think in your case you would have to create a "retained earnings" account under Equity and post to that. I am not totally sure anyway so anyone with a good idea how this would work is welcome to add or disagree.
Learn first to treat your time as you would your money, then treat your money as you do your time.
RedButterFly
#13 Posted : Thursday, October 30, 2014 9:15:33 AM
Rank: New-farer


Joined: 6/19/2013
Posts: 18
seppuku wrote:
seppuku wrote:
RedButterFly wrote:
Toxicity wrote:
GNU Cash can be useful


Have you used it? What may be the challenges and advantages. It seems relatively new to me.


I've used GNUCash and would recommend it. It works very well for me. I especially like that you can schedule transactions and enter new transactions based on similar ones from the past. It is also very customizable and provides a wide array of useful reports/statements. Plus it's absolutely free and open source.

The only downside I can think of is that the UI is not particularly beautiful. The emphasis is on function rather than looks. I have to say though that the charts since the last update have improved immensely.

Also, although you can use it with a flat file (XML), connecting it to a database (such as MySQL or PostgreSQL) is a much better choice from a robustness, scalability and data security perspective. This is trivial if you are tech savvy but can be a bit intimidating for other people.

Disclaimer: I am not really comparing GNUCash to anything else out there. GNUCash was the first accounting software I used and I fell in love with it. Been using it about 3 years now. So there is a chance that this is a case of "he who does not travel believing that only his mother knows how to cook good food".


Oh, and by the way, GNUCash does require that you have some basic accounting know-how. If you can't tell assets from liabilities or get confused by debits and credits, GNUCash will not work for you. But I say if you are running a business then you really should have these basics - otherwise you might confuse your profits for losses or vice versa.


Thank you @seppuku for the advice and review. I downloaded and have used it for one week and it is fun and easy to use with what i am accounting for + the guide manual in their website has more info smile smile smile


No matter how great the talents or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in 1 day by making 9 women pregnant- Warren Buffet


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