Comment on What programs do you wish a good FOSS alternative existed, but doesn't or most of the FOSS alternatives simply aren't good?

• vk6flab@lemmy.radio ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Plain text accounting (and all the variants) sounds great, right until you need to use it to generate invoices, or depreciate assets, or do a monthly Business Activity Statement, or convert a currency, track repayments, etc.

  All of those things require that you write software to achieve that, which means that now instead of solving problems and writing software for my clients, I’m burning hours writing software so I can run my business.

  Even if I did that, I’d have no way to validate the processes, short of becoming an accountant.

  GNUcash, held up as an example by anyone you ask has no documentation for importing data, has no sample company datasets, has no Business Activity Statement, continues to prefer using an XML file as a database and is unreadable on a 4k monitor.

  Kmymoney is fine for home users, but specifically not for business.

  Odoo, Adiempere, ERPnext and the six or so other ERP tools have poor or non existent documentation, same issues as GNUcash in relation to data and import, and have a poor track record in solving basic issues that are completely unacceptable in a business setting. For example ERPnext didn’t do currency fractions properly (ERPnext uses Centavo instead of Cent for the USD fraction: github.com/frappe/frappe/issues/13445, took 13 months to fix).

  Last week I evaluated Apache OFbiz. It looks like a product from 1995, and trying to find anything is impossible. For shits and giggles, try setting the global date format to yyyy-mm-dd. There are three different repositories and the Docker installation instructions don’t even bother to include which one to clone in which order. It starts at: “run the docker build command”. Not to mention that it uses a database called Derby. I’ve been writing software for over 40 years and until last week I’d never heard of it. That’s not something you want in business software.

  I could go on, I’ve tested dozens. This is just from memory.

  Why did I test all these?

  Because I’m still running a 25 year old accounting package that doesn’t run on current hardware, isn’t supported, doesn’t run under Linux and has all my data hostage.

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  • jbrains@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    First, thank you for the thoughtful and detailed reply. I find it helpful.

    Plain text accounting (and all the variants) sounds great, right until you need to use it to generate invoices, or depreciate assets, or do a monthly Business Activity Statement, or convert a currency, track repayments, etc.

    All of those things require that you write software to achieve that, which means that now instead of solving problems and writing software for my clients, I’m burning hours writing software so I can run my business

    Oddly enough, I feel the opposite: I’m so glad that I have the freedom to use other tools to do what I need and that I can simply write some custom software to achieve that. I always felt locked in by QuickBooks and now I can do anything from messing around in a spreadsheet to writing what I need with jq. Plain text as an interface means that the sky is the limit for flexibility.

    It has also made my company’s financial information more accesible to me. Previously, I’d given it over to bookkeepers and accountants and only seen out of date financial statements when it was time to file taxes. Now I know what’s going on whenever I want.

    It has also turned bookkeeping into a programming exercise, which made me more interested, not less. I don’t have clients waiting impatiently for me to produce features for them, so I can enjoy this wro instead of having it feel like a distraction.

    I’ve been writing software for over 40 years and until last week I’d never heard of it. That’s not something you want in business software.

    I feel that!

    Because I’m still running a 25 year old accounting package that doesn’t run on current hardware, isn’t supported, doesn’t run under Linux and has all my data hostage.

    Our motivations definitely seem compatible, even if our constraints and preferences don’t.

    Thanks again. Good luck.

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    • vk6flab@lemmy.radio ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      You’re welcome.

      I understand that being able to write software and be deliberate about accounting gives you a closer relationship with your financial situation.

      For me the issue is that there are no guardrails around the plaintext accounting model, which means that you have the freedom to shoot yourself in the foot.

      My current accounting software as rubbish as it is, stops me from making stupid mistakes, credits instead of debits for example. Plaintext accounting won’t.

      So either you need to never make a mistake, or have a way to figure it out.

      All that kind of safety net doesn’t exist. You can still make the books balance, but at some point you’re going to find a hole and spend weeks fixing it, or the taxman will and you’ll be paying a fine.

      I exported the line items from my current software into plaintext accounting, even made it balance and match my actual accounts.

      Then I needed to write an invoice and had to make my own, from scratch and manually enter the data twice, once into the invoice, another into plaintext accounting, giving me the chance to make an error twice, perhaps even a different one on either process. And that’s just one invoice.

      I have considered writing my own accounting software from scratch, or forking something, but that’s not going to pay for food, so I kept looking instead.

      It’s not a great place to be, either from a business perspective, or a mental one, but that’s where I’m at.

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