Oliver Jones wrote:

Greig McGill wrote:

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* Meeting the requirements of her accountant (any accountants on the list? What requirements are there? I don't know! :)

If her accountant demands specific software she should get another accountant. Of course some people are _really_ dependant on accountants because the seem to lack the basic understanding of Small Business Accounting to be able to do such simple things are filling in PAYE and GST returns. If she is one of these people then she would be better served financially by learning these skills via some course because if she doesn't she will be paying through the nose in Accountancy costs.

Hence the "I don't know". There is a tendency among geeks to take everything at face value. Her request was vague, and my knowledge of this area is extremely limited. I assumed people here will know more, so I asked! :) I agree with your suggestion though, and will suggest this to her.

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* As complete and featureful as possible.

* Runs on Windows.

Why is she looking at F/OSS software for Windows when there is ample non-Free good Accounting packages for Windows? Accounting software is very underserved in the F/OSS world.

Because she, like many of those adopting F/OSS software for the first time, admires the ideology, but is not quite ready to leap in and run !Windows just yet. She will cope with Linux if it's single use, but her family are dependant on the windows box, and so she thought it would be nice if it also ran on Windows. I'm not sure what you mean by "undeserved"?

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This last one is really not a problem, as I have told her there will be no problem obtaining a Linux or *BSD workstation specifically to run her business applications, and she likes the idea of the separation, as her kids and partner are fiddlers! :)

Eh? This contradicts your previous statement. It must run on windows but will be installed on a Linux box?

Reading carefully before dashing off a reply is sometimes useful also Olly. :P It contradicts nothing, the requested features were just that, not inflexible requirements. They were also listed in descending order of preference. Read as "it would be cool if it also ran on windows, but if not, meh!". I'll provide her with a Linux box and basic training if that becomes necessary, but she is quite happy to read the software docs and figure it out slowly.

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Anyone done this? Olly? I vaguely remember you were playing with MYOB alternatives?

Older versions Quickbooks Pro (ie Pro 6) run under Wine/Cross-Over Office (what I use). Try running a more modern demo version of MYOB or sych under Wine/Cross Over Office to test it.

If that is the best answer, she'll probably just buy the non-free stuff and run it on Windows, as $DEITY intended! ;) She's not a F/OSS Zealot, merely enquiring about alternatives, and would like to do the F/OSS thing if possible.

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I'd be very interested in hearing from any accountants lurking on this list also as to how hard it makes your job if your clients aren't running something "standard" like MYOB?

Accountants can quite easily assemble yearly accounts from Balance Sheet & Profit & Loss printouts and other paper based artifacts. They do not need you to run specific accounting software.

In my experience (supporting lots of accountants) they LOVE to run the same software that their clients do, so they can just grab the data and work directly on it. Some of them value this ability so much that they will have a dedicated machine running heaps of different accounting packages just so they can do this. So there's a different view for you. :)

The other option is a server based solution like SQL/Ledger. SQL/Ledger has a shit interface though. There is a major need for a F/OSS Small Business Accounting package. No one except the SQL/Ledger people seem to have picked up the task. Pity really as it is one of the last remaining hurdles for serious adoption on Linux in the SOHO world.

I looked at this some time ago. If it works, and is featureful, I'm not sure she'll be worried about the shit interface. She used to work with nasty GIS software back when it had no real interface to speak of. New OSes might scare her, but learning a horrible software interface is something she's used to. As an aside, I wonder why users will do this, but not learn a new OS? Regards, Greig.

Hiya.

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GST returns. If she is one of these people then she would be better served financially by learning these skills via some course because if she doesn't she will be paying through the nose in Accountancy costs.

Hence the "I don't know".

There is a tendency among geeks to take everything at face value. Her request was vague, and my knowledge of this area is extremely limited. I assumed people here will know more, so I asked! :)

I agree with your suggestion though, and will suggest this to her.

From my experience running a small business you should not be paying anymore than around $1000 a year in accountancy costs.

Because she, like many of those adopting F/OSS software for the first time, admires the ideology, but is not quite ready to leap in and run !Windows just yet. She will cope with Linux if it's single use, but her family are dependant on the windows box, and so she thought it would be nice if it also ran on Windows. I'm not sure what you mean by "undeserved"?

Under-served. Typo.

If that is the best answer, she'll probably just buy the non-free stuff and run it on Windows, as $DEITY intended! ;) She's not a F/OSS Zealot, merely enquiring about alternatives, and would like to do the F/OSS thing if possible.

There are commercial Linux solutions too. Probably the best I've seen is Quasar by LinuxCanada.com. OOOH.... **Quasar Accounting 1.4.7 Available in Open Source* <http://www.linuxcanada.com/license.shtml> * I spoke to these guys ages ago about OpenSourcing Quasar and they said "we're thinking about it". Looks like "thinking" become "doing". I think Canada has VAT so this could work well for GST etc. Quasar is a QT app with Firebird as the backend DB.

In my experience (supporting lots of accountants) they LOVE to run the same software that their clients do, so they can just grab the data and work directly on it. Some of them value this ability so much that they will have a dedicated machine running heaps of different accounting packages just so they can do this. So there's a different view for you. :)

My accountant was oldskool and did everything in Excel/Word. Regards