Looking For Accounting Software (Open Source/Freeware)

[derekeverett]

I have a friend that has recently started a small trucking company. He is looking for some accounting software that is low-cost or cost-free. I'm wondering if there might be an open-source solution out there?

He is a Windows user, so something for the Windows platform would be ideal, but he is familiar with Ubuntu so that is an option for him if need be.

Any suggestions, recommendations, testimonials or nudges in the right direction would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[forrestcupp]

Well, there is GNUCash, but it's a royal pain in the backside to get it set up for real accounting. It's pretty good software, though, if you can figure it out. It's cross platform.

[audiomick]

+1 GNU cash. I am moving away from it due to specifics relating to German tax laws and what has to appear on the invoice. I found a German program that covers it better. Having said that, I have used GNU Cash for the last couple of years, and have been fairly happy with it. I would say the difficulty relates more to getting your head around double entry book keeping that to the program itself. Once you understand how that works, the program is pretty easy to use.

[forrestcupp]

+1 GNU cash. I am moving away from it due to specifics relating to German tax laws and what has to appear on the invoice. I found a German program that covers it better. Having said that, I have used GNU Cash for the last couple of years, and have been fairly happy with it. I would say the difficulty relates more to getting your head around double entry book keeping that to the program itself. Once you understand how that works, the program is pretty easy to use.

I'm just used to QuickBooks doing everything for me.

[Docaltmed]

Gnucash FTW. My company has used it for 3 years. My bookeeper likes it as much as she likes anything, and it gives me the reports I need.

What would LOVE to find, though, is an accountant who knows Gnucash. That would rock at tax time.

[ssam]

LWN has had a series of articles where the editor has been looking for FOSS accounting software that work for him.
http://lwn.net/Articles/314577/
http://lwn.net/Articles/496158/
http://lwn.net/Articles/516659/
http://lwn.net/Articles/462625/

[audiomick]

What would LOVE to find, though, is an accountant who knows Gnucash. That would rock at tax time.

That is in fact one of the several purely praecticle reasons why I am changing. The German shareware (costs a one off 100 Euros or so) Linhabu
http://mcrichter.macbay.de/Seiten/En...amme/HaBu.html

can export a DATEV file, which is the "universal" format that German accountants use. The other main reason is that their invoice blank has space for tax numbers and a few other things that need to be on an invoice here.

If it weren't for those couple of things, I would definitely stay with GNU cash.

[Plumtreed]

I use Saasu which is a form of'Cloud' accounting....it seems to be set up for various countries and is free 'till you start to make enough to be 'happy' to pay for it. It really does make sense to pay for a good business accounting system. It is easy to set up!

I like cloud accounting because of the obvious availability and I can use it no matter where my work takes me.

[kurt18947]

Gnucash FTW. My company has used it for 3 years. My bookeeper likes it as much as she likes anything, and it gives me the reports I need.

What would LOVE to find, though, is an accountant who knows Gnucash. That would rock at tax time.

That seems like the kicker if one doesn't have an in-house acountant. It doesn't take many billable hours from a CPA unfamiliar with e.g. Gnucash to make it pretty expensive. Many tax prep packages can 'flow' data from quickbooks to themselves. The same is not true of non 'mainstream' packages.

[forrestcupp]

That seems like the kicker if one doesn't have an in-house acountant. It doesn't take many billable hours from a CPA unfamiliar with e.g. Gnucash to make it pretty expensive. Many tax prep packages can 'flow' data from quickbooks to themselves. The same is not true of non 'mainstream' packages.

I sure wish that QuickBooks would work well with Wine. QuickBooks is pretty amazing software, especially if you pay for a Payroll subscription. Intuit really does nickel and dime you to death, though, with all the additional things you find out you need to spend money on.