[mdlug] Open Source accounting software

[Richard Staff]

Great subject/topic!!!
Many, many years ago I was using an accounting package for the Atari 800.
It was written in Atari Basic.
I was able to code modify it so it would do some things I wanted.
Then I had something for the Atari ST.
Then there was Quicken for Windows.
Then there was GnuCash for Linux.
I am now using KMyMoney.  It is a personal accounting program that is 
KDE based.
I like using KMyMoney for my personal financial income and expense tracking.
I do NOT print checks.  I do NOT run a business with it.  I do NOT 
create charts with it.
KMyMoney has a Quicken like flavor/behavior to it, but not Quicken's power.
I do print a report of account balances and a monthly expenses/income 
report.
I would think that if you want a professional quality accounting system, 
then you pay for it.
Dumb Question: Are there not Java based professional accounting systems 
available?
Dumb Thought:  A Java based application is likely to be multi-platform, 
Mac, Win, Linux.
Peace out, Rick
P.S.  I was using TurboTax for taxes, but switched to H&R Block TaxCut 
the year TurboTax dropped Win 98.
###
Drew wrote:
> I rather had the impression that spreadsheets were originally 
> designed for financial related work,
> like accounting. Never mind the fact that I have also found them 
> useful for engineering work. In
> Open Office I count roughly 60 functions in the Financial category. 
> If there's accounting work to
> do, Open Office should be suitable. (Printing checks is another 
> matter, but I'm sure that can be
> programmed.)
>
> At 08:48 PM 1/28/10, Michael Corral wrote:
>
>   
>> So you've gone from paying a person $150 to do what you could do yourself,
>> to paying $50 for software to do what you could do yourself.
>>
>> I've got that beat. I also use the full 1040 form, but I pay $0 and do
>> it all - get this! - *by hand*, with no software. Crazy, ain't it? :)
>>     
>
> That's the way I have done it, except one year that I used Online 
> TurboTimmy, er, Tax (sorry,
> too much Tickerforum) in the hope of getting a check from the State 
> sooner, which failed miserably
> due at least in part to there being no provision for providing 
> supporting documents with the online
> filing. I never saw what it was about a 1040, even with Schedule A 
> and B, that required "professional"
> help, though maybe it would be different if I were running a 
> business? It's all addition and subtraction
> with some multiplication after all, which even if they stopped 
> teaching it in elementary school,
> calculators can now be bought for one dollar. (Three orders of 
> magnitude cheaper than the first one
> I laid eyes on, in nominal dollars!)
>
> I never took "accounting" - sounded boring and uninteresting, so 
> maybe there's something esoteric
> about it that I missed. Would it really be that difficult for someone 
> used to, say, calculus and
> geometry?
>
> And I also fix my own car whenever possible. It has not been easy for 
> me during my life to convince
> people to hand money over to me, so I'm generally loathe to hand it 
> to other people unnecessarily.
>
>
> ----
>
> - Drew.
>