Accounting software for Ubuntu

[samooha]

Dear Ubuntu Community,

There are few accounting software for Linux. We felt that there is room for developing and using a good business accounting software for ourselves and also offering for the small and medium enterprises that would need such a software on Ubuntu and other flavors of Linux.

A development version of the software is available for download for early enthusiasts in the Ubuntu community to try installing and commenting on what can be improved.

Please find the download link at http://samooha.blogspot.com/2007/08/p2p-accounts-preview-on-ubuntu-linux.html

Any feedback for improvement helps the end user business community. Thanks in advance for your time.

Rajesh

[loell]

care to reveal the kind of license? never mind, most probably this is commercial license

[samooha]

License would be proprietary. But it would be Free for bundling with the Ubuntu OS. Hope that clears the doubt.

[Wharf Rat]

License would be proprietary. But it would be Free for bundling with the Ubuntu OS. Hope that clears the doubt.

I pay several hundred dollars per year for the privilege of having a current copy of Peachtree Multi-user with no regrets. Some people may not like it as much as Quick Books, and it has some issues, but continues to get better over the years.
For my business I would be interested in the following:

1. The package MUST be solid. No corruptions.
2. Following good accounting practices. Double entry.
3. Multi User.
4. Good reports.
5. Run on a Linux server. (Linux workstations would be nicer.)
6. Commerical ($$) is acceptable.

I run Peachtree on XP workstations and a Linux server. Peachtree tech support freaks out when you tell them.

[samooha]

Thanks for the inputs.

As you rightly mentioned, I myself envy the User Interface of PeachTree! It is so well done.

We are working very hard to get the package to be SOILD.

The double entry system is well done. The package is very good for multi-currency trading. We have some really good features worth exploring by emerging businesses to get their accounting better.

Works on Linux workstations seamlessly. Transactions are fast but UI needs some performance tuning.

Hopefully, we will get some good feedback to enhance it and make it more User Friendly. Please download and try it on other Debian based distros also when you have sometime.

The stable release will be available for download at http://www.p2paccounts.com in a few weeks.

[samooha]

Dear Ubuntu Community,

We are making an effort to offer an accounting software which would be closed source but Free for bundling with Ubuntu Workstation.

Business Accounting oriented Ubuntu users may be keen to check out the preview version of the software.

The download link for the development version is available at this blog
http://samooha.blogspot.com/2007/08/p2p-accounts-preview-on-ubuntu-linux.html

All suggestions, comments, brickbats are welcome at http://samooha.blogspot.com!

Thanks for your time.

Rajesh

[DoctorMO]

It looks like a worthwhile software tool for business, I shall bare you guys in mind if ever I'm asked about business grade accounting packages.

You don't mention what countries your software is limited to, (I assume there are tax and other differences between each country) this would help us here in the ubuntu forums guide our users better.

[curuxz]

Please PM me with program specs and I'll try and have it included on the GOI small linux business site.

assuming it works! ;)



why is it closed source may I ask?

[samooha]

It looks like a worthwhile software tool for business, I shall bare you guys in mind if ever I'm asked about business grade accounting packages.

You don't mention what countries your software is limited to, (I assume there are tax and other differences between each country) this would help us here in the ubuntu forums guide our users better.

Thanks for the kind words. Our initial version will be targeted at ASEAN countries. We are simultaneously gathering taxation information for other countries also. The software is flexible enough to define taxes as per the region until we offer a pre-configured set of taxes per country. This is where we would seek more support from the communities in each country.

To give you an example, in India there is a concept of Cess that is tied to a particular tax. The cess is actually a percentage of tax already being imposed. We have handled this in a very tricky way by treating cess as tax on tax :) It really works well.

In a few weeks from now the software will be made available for download from http://www.p2paccounts.com

Hope this helps and thanks again for responding.

[samooha]

why is it closed source may I ask?

To keep the answer short, the present focus is on building a community of end users with business and financial accounting knowledge.

Thanks for raising this billion dollar question :lolflag: You have the right to ask :)

More details will follow at http://www.p2paccounts.com as we progress

[wieman01]

To be frank this looks a bit like advertising to me...

[bapoumba]

To be frank this looks a bit like advertising to me...
Yeah... Hmm.
Merged the Cafe thread in here. Will check ;)

[Seisen]

I like the looks of it, now will this be a standalone package or it going to be something like WebERP.

http://www.weberp.org/

[samooha]

To be frank this looks a bit like advertising to me...

Sorry if it looked so. I think there is no point in advertising something that is not fully complete. :confused: The genuine intention is to seek feedback on the features that are made available.

[samooha]

I like the looks of it, now will this be a standalone package or it going to be something like WebERP.


It would be a desktop package with an option for multi-users in client server mode.

A web-based solution will be offered as an extension to those who would request specifically for it. Finance or accounting is the most important information of any business and they usually hesitate to leave that info on a hosted service. ASP or SaaS is only a starter plan for businesses to do some e-learning. Real volume businesses either need to host it in-house or on a dedicated server of their own in a data center and secure their data.

Companies like Net-Suite just do that for getting their customers hooked first. SaaS (Web 2.0) works for social networking and that is why everyone is there. It does not work for enterprise finance and therefore not many have moved there quickly. It needs a lot of assurance from the vendor that their client's data is safe in their hands.

There are Pros and Cons. But we leave the decision to the end users by offering them both the options.

I am open to stand corrected and learn.

[Adler]

Hi All,

I just want to post here to say the project looks interesting, and would like to keep up-dated on the thread here.

Adler

[MiniMe]

I've downloaded and played with the software a bit. It looks very promising.

Our company works on a project basis. One feature that would help us a lot would be for the software to allow us to allocate expenses and revenue to different projects, and allow us to set a budget for the projects. Just a suggestion.

Cheers and good luck!

[alf889]

it look like what I just need. How ever, I can't find the currency for Australian and The invoicing for Australian compliance Tax rule. have to be mark as"Tax Invoice" The Tax rate(GST) should be able to change the tax rate! I take off my hat to salute the Ubuntu team and many thanks....Have a nice day!

Alf889

[asmiller-ke6seh]

How does it compare with GnuCash?

GnuCash uses double entry, and also seems to have the necessary logic to support network access by one user at a time by using a file locking key to allow editing by only one user at a time.

GnuCash also seems to Open Source under the GPL license.

[samooha]

I've downloaded and played with the software a bit. It looks very promising.

Our company works on a project basis. One feature that would help us a lot would be for the software to allow us to allocate expenses and revenue to different projects, and allow us to set a budget for the projects. Just a suggestion.

Cheers and good luck!

Thanks very much for the feedback. We are working on a concept of deal in our application which allows users to allocate different costs for a project. A simple budget feature is also available in the recent version. Suggestions definitely help us to do better. Thanks again.

[samooha]

it look like what I just need. How ever, I can't find the currency for Australian and The invoicing for Australian compliance Tax rule. have to be mark as"Tax Invoice" The Tax rate(GST) should be able to change the tax rate! I take off my hat to salute the Ubuntu team and many thanks....Have a nice day!

Alf889

The tax rate is highly configurable in P2P Accounts. However, there is a plan to include a feature to select taxation for different countries at the time of installation or to make provision to import the tax structure of a specific country easily. This feature may be available in 2.0 version of P2P Accounts.

[garylamanilao]

I really love the interface. It's simple and neat unlike most free ERP/accounting programs out there. I will be trying the program out further, if all goes well, this will definitely end my dependency with Microsoft OS.

Just as my shift from MS to Ubuntu... it's another unlearning process as I shift from QB to Samooha. :)

I do hope you don't mind if I criticize along my evaluation. The interface really got me all excited. :)

[garylamanilao]

One obvious shortcoming is the absence of a "wizard" in facilitating the transition from an operating business. I guess that would be key in making the program more viable to SME's (Small to Medium Enterprises) that are moving towards paperless accounting. It just is alot simpler if you're encoding data from a particular closing period - say Asset, Liabilities, Equity values as well as outstanding receivables payables thru a "wizard". Otherwise, it would be quite challenging for "non-experts" like me to implement Samooha - since there is no guided flow on where to start or when to stop. (I do hope you get my drift)

Although the multi-currency support plus the flexibility on tax rules (both I haven't tried yet) gives your program an edge over QB. This will really be very handy for users that do business in a global scale. I do hope that the program continues to be a freeware (upto 2 users as stated on your webpage). Also, the "export" capability to worksheet format can be very helpful.

So far so good. :)

[garylamanilao]

Here's some issues I found:

1. Limited number of business entity - the program is obviously hindered to just accommodate one business entity per installation as there is no option of "create new company" on the program splash/init screen. Problem is if someone decides to scrap an initial entry, or encountered an encoding problem that would render complete redo more viable than correcting previous entries.

2. No fail-safe on "no system administrator" role - for some strange reason my user account lost system administrator function (most likely my fault), which eventually led to my business account to lose "company configuration". Looking into the program preventing a "no system administrator user" is a vital fail-safe.

3. Customer payment terms are not customizable - some go for Just Net 30, Net 60, Net 90 without discounts. I just can't find a way to add customized payment terms for my customers.

So far that's it. I'll just post any problems I encounter along the way. :)

[Raval]

Paying for a program for my business is not an issue.

I recently removed Ubuntu with the intent to reinstall at a later date so I can't evaluate your softare at the moment.

What I would need from your program is the ability to:


Import data from Quickbooks
Print receipts, invoices and estimates
track stocks

Can your software do these things?

[samooha]

I do hope you don't mind if I criticize along my evaluation. The interface really got me all excited. :)

Thanks very much for your invaluable inputs in this thread. Criticism is very much a necessity as it would drive us to deliver a popular application that actually serves our intention of empowering SMEs. I look forward for more feedback after we include your current requests.

[samooha]

One obvious shortcoming is the absence of a "wizard" in facilitating the transition from an operating business. I guess that would be key in making the program more viable to SME's (Small to Medium Enterprises) that are moving towards paperless accounting. It just is alot simpler if you're encoding data from a particular closing period - say Asset, Liabilities, Equity values as well as outstanding receivables payables thru a "wizard". Otherwise, it would be quite challenging for "non-experts" like me to implement Samooha - since there is no guided flow on where to start or when to stop. (I do hope you get my drift)

Although the multi-currency support plus the flexibility on tax rules (both I haven't tried yet) gives your program an edge over QB. This will really be very handy for users that do business in a global scale. I do hope that the program continues to be a freeware (upto 2 users as stated on your webpage). Also, the "export" capability to worksheet format can be very helpful.

So far so good. :)

A wizard is on its way! And it is a commitment to keep it Free for 2 users which makes it good enough for small businesses to use it without any fear of Piracy while the PC vendors can bundle it without any Licensing implications for their end users.

[samooha]

Here's some issues I found:

2. No fail-safe on "no system administrator" role - for some strange reason my user account lost system administrator function (most likely my fault), which eventually led to my business account to lose "company configuration". Looking into the program preventing a "no system administrator user" is a vital fail-safe.

So far that's it. I'll just post any problems I encounter along the way. :)

Thanks for your time. Could you please elaborate on this feedback. You may even like to email directly the steps to recreate the problem if you can as I check this thread once in a few weeks to respond to queries or feedback.

[samooha]

Here's some issues I found:

1. Limited number of business entity - the program is obviously hindered to just accommodate one business entity per installation as there is no option of "create new company" on the program splash/init screen. Problem is if someone decides to scrap an initial entry, or encountered an encoding problem that would render complete redo more viable than correcting previous entries.

So far that's it. I'll just post any problems I encounter along the way. :)

Regret the limitation. However, a small enterprise does not need more than one business entity. If there are two or more than two business entities we are treating it as business group.

A wizard in the upcoming version is expected to enhance the management of New Company and its data.

[cacycleworks]

Wow! I run a SME and want to leave quickbooks behind. I'm out the door right now, so am posting so I can come back and learn more. :)

fwiw, I could help with dev... I'm working on my own erp vision and the accounting (and some other bits) are remaining to be figured out.

:) Chris

[garylamanilao]

Sorry for the late reply, I haven't visited the forum for quite sometime.

To be honest, I've been evaluating several accounting programs along the way - TinyERP, Openbravo, among others. I have to admit they're excellent programs. A serious drawback is that they're dependent on external applications (JDK, Oracle XE, etc.) that it's difficult for non-techies like me to implement (I conceded when I was trying to implement Apache, them programs are hard to crack).

I'm starting to favor your project, simply because it's a standalone product. I don't need to install third party applications. As if server implementation (ex. configuring Oracle XE - is that how you call it?) is not hard enough. :D I guess that's why SMEs prefer Quickbooks and Peachtree - they're easier to use and implement plus they're cheap. What I'm trying to say is that, your project by far is the simplest to implement accounting program I've come across.

I'll try to recreate how I was locked myself from losing administrator function. Hopefully I get it done in a few days. :)

[cacycleworks]

Hi Gary,

Great timing on your reply. I'm finishing up my script to export our current html-based shopping catalog into mysql. Choosing the accounting is the next step.

Samooha, we would like it to be able to be served via apache in our office LAN ... it's my wish to move towards thin clients, though that step will be years given the (slow) speed I've been working at our transition from quickbooks.

I still might end up keeping QB... depends on how well I can connect a potential new program to our website, our credit card gateway, and my "scale" workstation.

:) Chris

[samooha]

I'm starting to favor your project, simply because it's a standalone product. ....

I'll try to recreate how I was locked myself from losing administrator function. Hopefully I get it done in a few days. :)

We have exactly the same vision of making an entry level ERP work well for end users and reduce the implementation time drastically. I have begun to call it as Nano ERP amongst our team. We will be using the term "Nano ERP" more and more when we make the final 1.0 release probably in August/September :)

Your expectations and our vision are quite identical. Thanks for the inputs.

[samooha]

Samooha, we would like it to be able to be served via apache in our office LAN ... it's my wish to move towards thin clients, though that step will be years given the (slow) speed I've been working at our transition from quickbooks.

I still might end up keeping QB... depends on how well I can connect a potential new program to our website, our credit card gateway, and my "scale" workstation.

:) Chris

Our next goal after 1.0 is to make the web connectivity work so that users can either integrate into their web systems or even access some features through the web even when they install the stand alone version.

I am sure we will be ready to integrate with your web solution if you are going at a slow pace of migration.

[java.rapchick]

:confused::confused::confused:

First I would line to say a very good work done by p2p team.I have downloaded the latest version rc7 but its having lot of errors to be fixed here are some of those I have listed out.Please have proper testing before release.I think you people are lagging in testing the software...

Its not at all worth if you have developed a software that has not tested properly...

1> In Reports when I click on Inventory Module (I am mainly concerned with inventory) no report are showing???

2> Stock register is giving errors it is is a master then have to give proper warning as to how to proceed...:confused:

3> In dash boards purchase is not working nothing is visible here!!!

Hope p2p can fix these bugs and one last but not least thing I would like to share is before releasing the product give some time for application testing preferably the end users of the software...

Regards,
Java Rapchick
In the world of Linux who needs Windows and Gates???!!!

[java.rapchick]

First I would line to say a very good work done by p2p team.I have downloaded the latest version rc7 but its having lot of errors to be fixed here are some of those I have listed out.Please have proper testing before release.I think you people are lagging in testing the software...

Its not at all worth if you have developed a software that has not tested properly...

1> In Reports when I click on Inventory Module (I am mainly concerned with inventory) no report are showing???

2> Stock register is giving errors it is is a master then have to give proper warning as to how to proceed...

3> In dash boards purchase is not working nothing is visible here!!!

Hope p2p can fix these bugs and one last but not least thing I would like to share is before releasing the product give some time for application testing preferably the end users of the software...

Regards,
Java Rapchick
In the world of Linux who needs Windows and Gates???!!!:guitar:

[Adler]

Hi All,

I think that I've been following this thread for years now.

What we need is a fully packaged .deb / .rpm package. IMHO.

Regards,

Adler

[greenwom]

I have found all finance software, windows and linux to be annoying for home budget use and I haven't found it all that helpful for small buisness. I'm giving this one a try...

[Raval]

Which if the following can your software do? 1. Import data from Quickbooks 2. Print receipts, invoices and estimates 3. track stocks

[java.rapchick]

:confused::confused::confused:

First I would line to say a very good work done by p2p team.I have downloaded the latest version rc7 but its having lot of errors to be fixed here are some of those I have listed out.Please have proper testing before release.I think you people are lagging in testing the software...

Its not at all worth if you have developed a software that has not tested properly...

1> In Reports when I click on Inventory Module (I am mainly concerned with inventory) no report are showing???

2> Stock register is giving errors it is is a master then have to give proper warning as to how to proceed...

3> In dash boards purchase is not working nothing is visible here!!!

Hope p2p can fix these bugs and one last but not least thing I would like to share is before releasing the product give some time for application testing preferably the end users of the software...

[vgrisham]

Nice! I'm glad to see someone has taken on such a mission. Accounting is a huge reason why the business world isn't abandoning windows in droves. My own small business runs MYOB on an iMac. I run Ubuntu at home and dream of one day being able to run point of sale and accounting on Ubuntu.

But the feature that I need most in order to switch is payroll. Any plans to bite into such a daunting feature? I can't imagine how one could create a free, international payroll system. Keeping up with the taxes would be a lifetime job.

[Raval]

Nice! I'm glad to see someone has taken on such a mission. Accounting is a huge reason why the business world isn't abandoning windows in droves. My own small business runs MYOB on an iMac. I run Ubuntu at home and dream of one day being able to run point of sale and accounting on Ubuntu.

But the feature that I need most in order to switch is payroll. Any plans to bite into such a daunting feature? I can't imagine how one could create a free, international payroll system. Keeping up with the taxes would be a lifetime job.

I run Windows inside of Ubuntu with Virtualbox. This allows me to run Quickbooks on my Linux PC.

I too long for a windows free setup but I find this a good alternative which allows me to use a premium bookkeeping software on my Linux PC.

While I may have to use a closed source app on windows, I get to use Evolution, Open Office and other opensource apps on my business PC.

[vgrisham]

I run Windows inside of Ubuntu with Virtualbox. This allows me to run Quickbooks on my Linux PC.

I too long for a windows free setup but I find this a good alternative which allows me to use a premium bookkeeping software on my Linux PC.

While I may have to use a closed source app on windows, I get to use Evolution, Open Office and other opensource apps on my business PC.

Intuit is just as bad as Microsoft in my opinion. We ran quickbooks for 11 years in our business and it is the most bloated piece of software on the planet. They also have possibly the worst customer service in the software industry. About a year ago we switched to MYOB Account Edge and dumped our PC for a Mac. It's been nice change from quickbooks; MYOB actually has human beings answering their customer service calls. The software is pretty sleek and stable too.

To be honest though, our business relies on a salon booking and point of sale package called STX (also Mac based). If linux ever gets into retail and booking, I can explore our free and open source accounting options. Until then, we're stuck with commercial software.

[cacycleworks]

Honestly, there is no comparison to quickbooks for payroll. We tried other means / services, and with QB, it is simply "done". Even if/when we adopt another accounting systems, at the least, we will have quickbooks in a virtual machine for payroll services.

Someone did write a php/apache connector for quickbooks, so we will eventually look into having qb installed on one machine in a VM and have apache in the linux environment as the connector for any communications needed.

We're still trying to find a good e-commerce app though... then it's to convert it to work... then go live ... then work on the back end ... then figure out how to integrate accounting to the back end processes.

:P
Chris

[vgrisham]

Honestly, there is no comparison to quickbooks for payroll. We tried other means / services, and with QB, it is simply "done".

:P
Chris

Actually, I have to say that MYOB Account Edge (which now runs on Windows and MACs) stacks up nicely in the payroll department. It takes care of tax tables and federal employment tax returns. We've been on it for a year now, and I'm not missing QB at all.

[perspectoff]

There are several large and robust personal and enterprise open-source accounting programs listed at

Ubuntu Guide (http://ubuntuguide.org)

and

Kubuntu Guide (http://kubuntuguide.org)

They are available in many languages, and some are cross-platform.

It is worth checking these out before reinventing the wheel.

[hockey97]

Are you using accountants to assist you on developing this piece of software?

[cacycleworks]

Wow, this is a blast from the past!

We ended up using xTuple / PostBooks, which runs on a Postgres database and has Qt client apps for linux/Win/Mac that access the database. All of the accounting logic is in the database, so the clients are pretty light-weight. We integrate with our e-commerce via php postgres queries.