The Grumpy Editor's next project [LWN.net]

This article is part of the LWN Grumpy Editor series.

LWN readers need not be told that this publication is strongly biased in favor of free software. So it should come as no surprise that we follow the path we preach for others. The entire LWN operation is based on free software, from our desktops to the web servers. We are a free software success story, just like all those other companies using free software.

Chances are, however, that many of those companies share the one exception which can be found here at LWN: our business accounting is done using a well-known, proprietary, small business bookkeeping tool. It has all the problems associated with such tools: it holds our company data in an opaque, proprietary format, it does not interoperate with the rest of our operation, it does not work as reliably as we would like, and it occasionally forces an expensive upgrade to a new version for no clear reason. Plus there's that proprietary operating system that the bookkeeping application depends on.

Various attempts to replace this application have failed to take off. It's hard to replace a functioning, important business subsystem, and, frankly, free alternatives in the business accounting area have been slow to reach a mature state. Your editor has recently become determined to change this situation, though. Enough is enough.

A new accounting system will have to meet a number of needs. To begin with, it must be able to import accounts and historical data from the proprietary application. It should operate in a multi-user, network-friendly manner. We need all of the usual accounting functions, from double-entry bookkeeping to easy export of data to our accountant to the creation of the occasional pie chart. And we would really like the ability to integrate it with the LWN site code, since so much of our commerce goes through that code.

There are numerous projects in this space. Your editor's list of candidates at the moment includes (in no particular order):

GnuCash: this application is mostly aimed at personal finance (see this review from 2005), but it does have some business features built into it as well.
SQL-Ledger: a longstanding web-based business accounting system. The code is GPL-licensed (this week), but its owner (DWS Systems, Inc.) has not always distinguished itself as a community-oriented operation.
Ledger-SMB started as a fork of SQL-Ledger. It has gained significant community support and diverged significantly in a short period of time.
Lx-Office is another SQL-Ledger fork. It appears to be aimed at the needs of German companies.
Compiere is an "integrated ERP & CRM solution" which happens to have an accounting module built into it. Like SQL-Ledger, Compiere is the product of a single company which has not always been as open as its user community would like.
Adempiere is a fork of Compiere with a stronger community focus.
TinyERP is billed as "the world's most advanced open source ERP & CRM." It appears to have an active community and a fair amount of documentation - as long as one doesn't mind reading a little French here and there.
Lazy8 is a general ledger package written in Java. It appears to be less feature complete than many of the others.
OFBiz is an Apache "enterprise automation software" project with an emphasis on supporting electronic commerce. It is covered by the Apache license and is used as the base for a number of other applications, both free and commercial. Free applications based on OFBiz include Neogia, opentaps, and SourceTap.
Project Open is a web-based system with an emphasis on project management.
ERP5 is "a full featured high end Open Source / Libre Software solution published under GPL license and used for mission critial ERP / CRM / MRP / SCM / PDM applications by industrial organisations and government agencies." The current pace of development on this project appears to be a little slow, though, judging from the traffic on its mailing lists.
Quasar is a formerly proprietary package which was released under the GPL at the beginning of 2005. Unfortunately, it appears that not a whole lot has happened with this package since then.
Several proprietary accounting packages for Linux exist as well. If your editor determines that none of the free utilities is yet up to the task, he will venture into this area. But one can hope that entrusting a vital business function to another proprietary package will not be necessary.

As one can see, there is no shortage of alternatives to look at; no doubt LWN readers will know of a few which your editor missed. Working through this list will be more than enough to keep an editor busy for some time; since your editor has no particular passion for accounting, it's also likely to make him somewhat grumpier than usual. It's clearly not a topic which can be covered in a single article. So expect a series of installments as your editor heads into the accounting jungle and tries to figure out whether it's possible to run a business completely on free software or not.

(Log in to post comments)

Another option

Posted May 10, 2007 2:59 UTC (Thu) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link]

I left turbocash out because it's not a native Linux application. If we start looking at stuff that can run under wine, the list grows significantly. We could even keep the application we are running now (I think). Somehow I'd rather get this task done without throwing wine into the mix.

yes, Q*ckB*ks works under wine

Posted May 10, 2007 12:12 UTC (Thu) by Webexcess (subscriber, #197) [Link]

We're using that horrid little application with Crossover Office and it works for us... for some definition of "works".

I am also using Quasar for other parts of the business, but I haven't had time to look at migrating everything from that other app.

The last time I looked, though, Q*ckB*cks refused to export all its data (presumably as a lock-in measure). I have had some really unpleasant dealings with that company, including getting scammed out of hundreds of dollars to get a bug fixed.

Another option

Posted May 11, 2007 7:33 UTC (Fri) by wookey (subscriber, #5501) [Link]

Aleph One (where I was at until very recently) use Sage under DosEMU (It ran for the previous decade on one of our PC-cards in a RISCOS machine). We did have to argue with Sage quite hard to let us keep using the DOS version, when they tried to use the millenium bug to get everyone to move to Windows.

Sage is pretty good even for quite fancy accounting (multiple companies, built in stock control etc), and bookeepers like it. The DOS GUI/function key interface is quite efficient. But no doubt that version is unobtainium these days. And of course it's not free software. That and the OED (win95 version under wine) are the only proprietary apps we use.

Another option

Posted May 12, 2007 23:51 UTC (Sat) by jejb (subscriber, #6654) [Link]

I'd have to stick my hands up and confess to running a business using QuickBooks with wine. It seems to function just fine for me ... although I use the version of wine I compiled myself rather than the one you can download with Fedora Core 6 (which is what the underlying server runs).

My basic problem is that the firm of accountants who audit the books also run Quickbooks, so unless I can *export* to the proprietary format, my accouting bill goes way up.

So, I'll watch your experiment with interest ... I suspect there are a large number of other businesses out there in this position.

The Grumpy Editor's next project

Posted May 10, 2007 3:35 UTC (Thu) by paulmfoster (subscriber, #17313) [Link]

I used to work for a company which sold a (DOS/Windows) accounting package called SBT, written in FoxPro. One of the reasons we could remain in business was that no off the shelf accounting package seems to fit the needs of any given business. Hence, most of our money was made modifying SBT to fit customer businesses. I left that company ten years ago, and built my own accounting system under FoxPro for use in my company (we do newsletters and websites). Recently, I've rewritten the whole thing in PHP, using PostgreSQL as the database. FWIW, as a former C programmer, this conversion took me about six months (PHP is a *lot* like C).

In any case, good luck. I have a feeling this search is going to make you even grumpier.

Here's another thought though-- what if you were to post the specs for the system you want, and then give up to five people lifetime subscriptions for delivering a product to your specs? Just a thought.

The Grumpy Editor's next project

Posted May 10, 2007 6:49 UTC (Thu) by davidw (subscriber, #947) [Link]

Cool! I've been looking into this for my own business as well, and the scene is not a good one.

One idea: the world is moving towards the web in any case, why not do a web-based system that, unlike Compiere or OFBiz, is focused solely on accounting. I bet a flashy looking, Rails, ajaxy application would:

1) Do ok in generating adsense if set up as the flagship website for the project, perhaps with some sort of pay for premium user level.

2) Inspire other people to collaborate.

You'd have to manage the community aspects well to make 1) above work - prominently let people know that they can download the premium version and use it for free on their own servers (or even set up their own sites), or pay to support the project.

Just an idea, but in any case, best of luck... this is something we need!

web-based accounting

Posted May 10, 2007 15:59 UTC (Thu) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054) [Link]

"why not do a web-based system that, unlike Compiere or OFBiz, is focused solely on
accounting."

I believe that's what SQL-Ledger and its offshoots are.

My prediction, having scanned this scene a while back, is that LedgerSMB will come out
on top in this list, but still not be quite good enough. I hope I'm wrong on that last part.

web-based accounting

Posted May 10, 2007 17:00 UTC (Thu) by tjc (subscriber, #137) [Link]

My prediction, having scanned this scene a while back, is that LedgerSMB will come out on top in this list [snip]

My dart landed in the same circle.

I will be following this series with great interest, as I find myself in a very similar situation. The real fun begins when one tries to export data from QB in a way that doesn't require some error-prone manual procedure.

web-based accounting

Posted May 31, 2007 21:27 UTC (Thu) by einhverfr (guest, #44407) [Link]

LedgerSMB 1.2.x has been a very painful branch (sort of like Apache 2.0.x). This was largely due to the fact that we started to refactor code from a codebase that was so utterly complex that nobody understands it properly. Also, many of the bugs we have corrected have also shown up in mainline SQL-Ledger branch, so....

My suggestion is to look towards LSMB 1.3 (current svn /trunk) to see where we are going with that. The releases will only get better as we get the codebase under some sort of sane and cunderstandable code structure. This will allow for a great deal more automated testing and more.

The Grumpy Editor's next project

Posted May 31, 2007 21:17 UTC (Thu) by einhverfr (guest, #44407) [Link]

I would recommend looking at LedgerSMB as a web-based accounting app. Disclaimer: I am highly involved in the project as a core developer.

We started as a fork of SQL-Ledger and have been focusing a great deal on nailing down the accounting and security logic of the application. The upcoming 1.3 release will feature:

role-based security (with real enforcement, unlike the codebase we inherited)

solid contact management and an ability for a customer to also be a vendor

RESTful web service interface

Vouchers and separation of duties

GAAP-compliant ways of correcting errors

and much, much more.

Managing without data import

Posted May 10, 2007 9:45 UTC (Thu) by Stephen_Beynon (guest, #4090) [Link]

It is some 3 years I decided that it was time to make the switch, as the
accounts package was the only non linux based software that I used.

Regretably I could not find any package that could import the data from
sage. The budget version of sage that I ran did not seem to have any easy
way to export the data either. The sage website seemed to indicate that I
could upgrade to a considerably more expensive version of the software and
export the data from that in csv format.

Eventually I decided that I would wait for my company year end, and start
the new company year using the new accounting software without importing
the data. For the first year after the migration I had to regularly boot
windows to refer back to old data. I still have the hard disk containing
windows, and sage in the cupboard, but it has been well over a year since
I have had to boot it.

I picked SQL-Ledger at the time, though the recent issues with SQL-Ledger
have caused me to take the Ledger-SMB fork.

I find that having given my accountant a restricted (read only) login to
the accounts web pages has considerably reduced my workload as I no-longer
get emails requesting information, and that I print out various reports
from sage, and post them to him.

Stephen

The small business Q*ckB*cks lock-in

Posted May 11, 2007 14:39 UTC (Fri) by ken_i_m (guest, #4938) [Link]

As a consultant specializing in FOSS I often talk to small business owners and Q*!(&B@@&$ is the number one reason they will not even consider switching. It is what drives their whole computer acquisition. When those "forced upgrades" come along the bookkeeper(s) gets a new computer and the old one gets handed down to the next in line. That person's computer then gets passed on and so on, like "hand me down clothes". In the meantime, they are plagued with all the trojans, viruses, and other malware that goes hand in hand with the dependent operating system platform.

I do occasional work for a consultanting group that is moving into the SAP Business One space. Their primary targets are businesses that are out-growing Q*!(&B@@&$ and need to scale upward. If the FOSS community can come up with a good replacement for that evil app then they will more likely continue to look to FOSS for their future needs.

The Grumpy Editor's next project

Posted May 31, 2007 21:11 UTC (Thu) by einhverfr (guest, #44407) [Link]

I look forward to reading your reviews. I am involved in the LedgerSMB project.

I will say that I have not yet found an accounting package that meets everyone's needs perfectly. There are differing means of calculating inventory and cost of goods sold, and there are a number of other issues worth considering.

While we are working hard on LedgerSMB to overcome these obstacles to the extent they can be, I generally advise people to make reasonable decisions about how they want to keep their books before deciding on software to automate it. For example, if you want to do FIFO inventory, then Quickbooks is not an option because it uses the average cost method.

In this spirit, I would suggest that a good series might also cover issues like how inventory is calculated, how transparent a system is, and how extensible it is. These issues, combined with what you like or don't like, may give users more insight into what solutions would work best for them.

Another Option: Postbooks

Posted Jan 13, 2009 21:23 UTC (Tue) by glikely (subscriber, #39601) [Link]

Hey Jon, I feel your pain. I've also spent a lot of time evaluating accounting packages so I could migrate away from that other package that is named with a 'Q'.

I think you should also take a hard look at Postbooks (http://www.xtuple.com/postbooks). I've found it ideal for my business (mostly consulting). When I decided I could no longer trust proprietary accounting systems I started looking at the open source options and came up with a list of requirements:

* Fully open data format
* Open source
* Network based (not tied to a single workstation)
* Multiple currencies
* Integrated vendor and customer records (and invoicing, POs, etc).
* GAAP

About two years ago I switched to LedgerSMB and used it with moderate success for day to day operations. It met all my requirements and the development team was responsive and motivated to produce a good product. However, after several serious problems with the software I became uncomfortable trusting it with my business records. I often experienced calculation errors which needed to be repaired by hand (very carefully!) in the database. Tax rate changes and foreign currency handling were particularly troublesome and reprinting invoices after a rate change would show incorrect values. Worse yet, at the end of the year it took a week worth of effort to produce a balanced set of books (mostly tracking down calculation errors). After about a year I migrated off of LedgerSMB and onto Postbooks.

Postbooks is the open source version of the commercial OpenMFG package from xTuple (http://www.xtuple.com). I've found it to be stable and relatively easy to use (as far as accounting software goes!). All of the data is stored in a Postgresql database along with stored procedures that implement the accounting logic. Foreign currencies are well supported and it meets all my needs for managing invoices and payables. But, most importantly, after a year of working with it I 100% trust it with my data.