Small Business Accounting Software

[Mike Kallies]

On 28/05/2012 1:07 PM, Christopher Browne wrote:
> On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 12:10 PM, Mike Kallies <mike.kallies-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> Hey Everyone,
>>
>> I'm curious about experiences and recommendations with small business
>> accounting/bookkeeping software.  This is a new area for me, so packages
>> or services with pointers to good documentation and a community of
>> Ontario small business people using it would be a huge plus.
>>
>> I'm thinking FOSS of course, but online services work too.
> 
> By the way, Linux Weekly News recently had an article on this which
> attracted some pretty lively discussion:
>    https://lwn.net/Articles/496158/

Wow, lots of great info.

I'm thinking I might give Gnucash, Wave Accounting and Freshbooks a
shake for a while.  LedgerSMB looks like it would be slick for slightly
larger operations.  I'm leaning towards Gnucash, but Wave Accounting
looks like it has some good documentation features.  Freshbooks looks
interesting, but it's really $20/mo to be useful.



Freshbooks 	www.freshbooks.com	
  - web based	(Python)
  - sliding subscription (0..3 = free, 4..25=$20/mo, 25+=$30/mo )
  - no branding invoices at free tier
  - extra for plug-ins
  - Toronto based	
  - export/import
  - Includes credit card processing on electronic invoices?
  - Commercial support

Gnucash	http://www.gnucash.org/	
  - gtk multiplatform	
  - local data
  - FOSS
  - Wiki, Mailing list and IRC support

LedgerSMB	http://www.ledgersmb.org	
  - Served from Apache (Perl)
  - "local" data (to your server)
  - GTALUG contributor :-)
  - Mailing list and IRC support

SQLledger	http://www.sql-ledger.com
  - Served from Apache (Perl)
  - FOSS
  - paid support model
  - paid documentation, wiki

Wave Accounting	http://www.waveaccounting.com	
  - "free" (ad sponsored)
  - web based
  - "ridiculously easy to use"
  - crude CSV export (potential data lockin)

Ledger	http://ledger-cli.org
  - Command line
  - local data
  - FOSS

Spreadsheet
  - Requires accounting knowledge
  - Flexible :-)
  - expensive to have looked at by an accountant

Quickbooks
  - windows binary
  - Sliding scale (starts at $79/release)
  - Familiar for accountants

Quickbooks web
  - U.S. hosted
  - Sliding scale (starts at $9/mo)
  - Should be familiar for accountants


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