Conservative Choice for Linux Accounting Software?

mikosullivan asks: "I'm a programmer for the Roanoke Rescue Mission in Roanoke, VA. The mission provides meals, shelter, and other help to the homeless. We're looking at upgrading the mission's information systems to a Linux-based network, from server to desktop. One of the major wrinkles in our plans is finding a good accounting system for Linux. My manager strongly feels (and I sympathize) that they should stick to accounting software that is already used by established accounting firms. There are certainly a plethora of Linux and open source accounting packages out there, but she wants to stay away from the bleeding edge, at least for accounting. She wants a tried-and-true, established, conservative choice for accounting software. What accounting software for Linux is most accepted and established in the marble and wood-paneled world of conservative bean counters? It doesn't have to be open source, but cost is a major issue, and open source is, of course, preferred."

GnuCash

[charlie763]

Try GNUCash [gnucash.org]. It comes with most distros, its open source, and it is probably the best accounting software I have used. GNUCash is arguably as good as Quicken.

Take a look at some screen shots [gnucash.org].

Close, But No Cigar

[waldoj]

GNUCash is arguably as good as Quicken.

This is more or less accurate. However, Quicken (like GNUCash) is worthless to most businesses, as it's a personal finance tool, not a corporate one.

-Waldo Jaquith

quicken

[Apreche]

quicken works in wine.

Quicken using the codeweaver's crossover plugin

[Outland Traveller]

Yeah yeah, I wish there were a native alternative, but it works now.

Here are some links:

[Futurepower(R)]

I'm very interested in this subject, also. Here are some links:

SQL Ledger Accounting [sql-ledger.com]

Hansa Business Solutions [hansaworld.com]

Compiere [compiere.org]

Cheap & easy business accounting with Linux [linuxworld.com]

Nola [noguska.com]

STFB [stfb.com]

Open source Java projects for business and accounting [arapxml.net]. But... Is Java slow and with non-standard GUIs? A prisoner of Sun politics?

Open Systems Accounting Software [osas.com]

GNU Cash [gnucash.org]. Impressive.

Slashdot discussed personal finance packages [slashdot.org]. Thoughts: Where does "personal finance" end and business finance begin? Wouldn't it be better just to have one package for all accounting, so that you didn't have to learn more than one? But business accounting software has been difficult to use. Accounting software requires much more learning than word processing software. Learning more than one may reduce the quality of your life, not raise it.

Re:Here are some links:

[SEWilco]

Many business accounting packages have had source available for decades. Customization is often needed, laws change so payroll and tax code has to be changed, and it might even need to be auditable.

Slashdot disfunctional culture

[Futurepower(R)]

Somehow it became Slashdot disfunctional culture that helping the discussion was a negative thing to do. Will the negative people rule? I think not.

Quicken and clones thereof are for home use.

[Old.UNIX.Nut]

Small business and organizations with a need for accounting will not get by with the "designed for home use" accounting packages. If this were not the case then the Quicken people would not have also created Quickbooks for business people.
Based on my experience with small business people this individual needs a package for Linux that approximates the functionality of PeachTree Accounting (or a competing product with similar functionality).
Since all of my customers with accounting needs are married to Windows I cannot recommend a package for Linux, but a Quicken replacement will NOT do the trick.
The only package for Linux I've seen that looks like it might have the right stuff is SQL-Ledger http://www.sql-ledger.com/features.html, but I cannot recommend something I've never tried.
More details from the person asking about this might help get a recommendation based on required functionality.

Re:Quicken and clones thereof are for home use.

[GigsVT]

You are absolutely correct. The people suggesting Quicken level programs obviously aren't aware that there is more to accounting than that. No business with more than 30 or 40 employees is going to use Quicken/Quickbooks level software for accounting.

Now, At work, we are going through an accounting software upgrade, I was involved in the meetings to some limited extent. We decided to stick with the product from "Ultimate" software for Windows. We had been using the DOS Ultipro for several years (based on foxpro). It wasn't cheap to upgrade, and the support isn't cheap either. Lets just say the cost is more than I make in a year.

I don't think there is any effort currently to bring anything close to this to Linux. Considering the critical nature of the app, and also the amount you would be paying for support (not just tech support, but things like tax table updates, etc), Wine is not an option.

My suggestion to the asker of the question, suck it up and get one single Windows/whatever box for the accounting if you are looking for any serious accounting apps. Maybe in a few years there will be something for Linux, but I doubt it, considering the constant need to revise for tax/employment laws and the potential liability if you screw up a tax table.

I know I'm going to get flamed for this....

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

But what you're asking for is a nearly perfect application for Win98se/Win2000 and Peachtree. Peachtree is robust, Win98 works and nobody other than the slashdot and Apple crowds would find fault with your decision. We've used Peachtree for years and it works just fine. *ANY* accountant or auditor would have no problem reading it's reports or dealing with it's methods. It's nicely extensible, moving from a single-user setup to a peer-to-peer network with zero complications. If you need to use open source for political reasons, I can't help you. If you want the best return on investment for your group, I would seriously consider the above system.

Re:I know I'm going to get flamed for this....

[metacosm]

I agree with the above post. PeachTree is an awesome package and unless you plan on doing hundreds of thousands of line-items, you will not hit the limits of the PeachTree System, it is also easy to use.

Now, the interesting bit is peachtree has a "pure online" version of its software (http://www.peachtree.com/epeachtree/) but it says you need to use "IE" to work on it. I don't know if this is a true limit, or just a limit on what they are willing to support, but it may be worth looking into.

Re:I know I'm going to get flamed for this....

[metacosm]

Another note about PeachTree. You might be able to get peachtree working properly in "Wine". Not sure, but again, it might be worth looking into, I can't recommend this account package enough.

No flame here

[mikosullivan]

There'll be no flame from me. I've heard lots of great things about PeachTree. The reasons for wanting to stick to Linux aren't political, however. Virtually every else at the mission will benefit from a changeover to Linux. If accounting can't go with Linux, it's going to be a big pain, so we're definitely very interested in bringing accounting over as well.

Re:No flame here

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

Understood. If you decide to run Peach with Wine or some other win emulator, or for that matter, in Win be aware of a dirty little Peachtree secret. Peach uses the Btrieve database engine and it wants it all to itself. We've been totally unsuccessful at getting Peach and Xilinx design tools (which also need Btrieve with a whole different set of registry entries) to work together. Since the engineers need Peach for bills of materials and part descriptions and Xilinx to design chips, they each need 2 machines.

Re:No flame here

[Twirlip of the Mists]

If accounting can't go with Linux, it's going to be a big pain...

Pardon my ignorance, but why? Linux and Windows can run on the same hardware, so you won't need to buy any special computers. The admin overhead on one or a few Windows machines should be easy to absorb, especially if you're prepared to absorb the admin overhead of Linux. Why will it be a big pain to run accounting on Windows? And, of course, the next question is, "Will it be a bigger or a smaller pain to run accounting with less well known software?"

Re:I know I'm going to get flamed for this....

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Peachtree is robust, Win98 works and nobody other than the slashdot and Apple crowds would find fault with your decision.

Actually, speaking as a charter member of the Apple crowd, I'd like to say that I support this recommendation completely. Accounting software is the closest most businesses come to something truly mission-critical. If the accounting software fails, nobody will die, but nobody will get paid or billed either, and that's about as bad as it gets for a business.

Pardon the coarse language, but don't fuck around with your accounting software. Use the best product for your particular needs, regardless of platform or-- within reason-- cost.

Accpac

[Kent_Franken]

Accpac [accpac.com] has a great accounting package and has been around in commercial distribution for a long time (I knew someone who used the Windows version back in the late 1980s). It was recently released for Linux [accpac.com].

Armor Advantage

[waldoj]

This topic came up on Kuro5hin [kuro5hin.org] in October of 2001. Though no doubt the options have changed since then, it might be worth reading through the comments posted there. Also, as I wrote at the time [kuro5hin.org]:

Armor Systems' Advantage and Premiere, both fine accounting packages (I gather -- I don't use them) both run on Unix. I don't know anything about their feature set, or even the difference between the two, but my girlfriend's mother (an accountant) runs them on her network, though on DOS, and she likes 'em fine. I've had to paw through the manual on a number of occasions when figuring out the whole multi-user setup, and there are constant references to making it run properly under Windows/DOS, Novell and Unix. Presumably it would be possible to get it to run under Linux.

Unfortunately, I know nothing more about Advantage on Linux now than I did at the time.

-Waldo Jaquith

A Linux network doesn't mean "No Windows"

[iankerickson]

Just because you switch your network to Linux doesn't mean you can't run Windows software. Even assuming all client PCs run Linux, you still have options:

Run ONE NT/2000 server just to serve up the accounting and connect to it via:
- ICA/RDP clients (buy appropriate CALs!)
- A browser (for web-enabled accounting apps)
- VNC (just kidding)

Or run a Win32 or DOS program right on Linux for i386:
- WINE or DOSemu
- VMWare or Bochs

Or buy a UNIX accounting turnkey system and connect to it from linux using X, telnet, ssh, browser, or whatever. Take a look at the offerings for Solaris, AIX, Tru64 and HPUX. Accounting vendors for these commercial UNIXes may already have a Linux version for sale. Then your manager's fears will be appeased since it's a "real" accounting app you're recommending.

ThinSoft Accounting

[himynameisbrak]

Unique Systems, Inc. has a product called ThinSoft Accounting [uniqsys.com]. It's a native UNIX/Linux modular accounting package written in Informix-4GL. According to their website, "ThinSoft is now free and in the process of being converted to OpenSource. It will be the first Enterprise Accounting System in the world that is OpenSource."

It currently relies on some commercial products, but that fact that the accounting package itself will be Open Source is a big thing.

The people at USI will customize the product for you. You will wind up spending less than half what you'd spend buying a comparable commercial solution, though.

To address your primary concern, ThinSoft has a long history and is extremely stable and reliable.

Professional Accounting Package.

[chris_sawtell]

It all depends on how complex you want to allow the exercise to become, and how many transactions you will be processing. You don't say, so I can't advise properly, but I'd probably go with Appgen Professional [appgen.com]. I looked over some products from them a few years ago and was really impressed. Not cheap, but a fair price for a quality product. Runs on several platforms including Linux.

Freshmeat has an article.

[GiMP]

Your best list will be at:
http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/269/

It is a little dated (2001), but I don't think that the offerings have changed substantially... perhaps just a few more features, also anything regarded as slow may now be faster due to moore's law

Appgen

[LWATCDR]

Runs on linux. I looked at it but just was not right for our comapany. What I did not like about it is I have enough to do without learning it's funky programing language. From what I have read it is very good.

SouthWare is a good choice

[theGoodWitch]

SouthWare (http://www.groupe-allez.com/southware.php) is an excellent choice -- full-featured, mature, stable, runs perfectly well on Linux and other *nices. We use it ourselves and many of our clients do as well, on Linux servers and Linux workstations.