Restarting the free accounting search

Posted Aug 7, 2017 13:58 UTC (Mon) by ortalo (guest, #4654)
Parent article: Restarting the free accounting search

Sorry to ask for a clarification, but I think I did not catch that "Colorado" thing. Could someone enlighten me? At the very least, flame me a little...

Another question more on topic, why accept that payroll processing be done as a service? Is it so different from accounting (software)?

NB: Personnally, I have been using KMyMoney since 2009 and I am pretty happy about it - though of course, personal finance managers may be far from having all the features you expect for a business.

Restarting the free accounting search

Posted Aug 7, 2017 14:24 UTC (Mon) by pizza (subscriber, #46) [Link]

Not too long ago, the state of Colorado legalized recreational (not just medicinal) use of marijuana, regulating sales to so-called dispensaries. Our Fine Editor was making a comment on how some aspects of recurring accounting work cause sufficient headaches as to require a steady supply of marijuana in order to make the pain tolerable, and the general practice where businesses typically set up corporate accounts when they need to make purchases from the same vendor on a regular basis.

Restarting the free accounting search

Posted Aug 7, 2017 14:26 UTC (Mon) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] (1 responses)

"That Colorado thing"

With regard to payroll processing: it's complex. Taxes to various governments, paperwork for various governments, withholdings for employee benefits, direct deposits, electronic filings, etc. Multiply that if you have employees in more than one US state. Payroll services are set up to deal with all of that; the services is cheap these days, to the point that it's just not worth even thinking about.

Restarting the free accounting search

Posted Aug 11, 2017 15:42 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

And don't think that Europe is any simpler. Okay, for small businesses in one jurisdiction it's not that bad, but as soon as you start sending employees overseas to other states, you get into things like are they taxed where they work or where they're paid, are they in home or host social security, etc etc.

Cheers,
Wol

Restarting the free accounting search

Posted Aug 7, 2017 14:34 UTC (Mon) by karkhaz (subscriber, #99844) [Link]

The implication is that accounting is painful enough to justify using cannabis to alleviate the stress. A "dispensary" is a shop licensed to sell cannabis for recreational purposes; these shops do operate in Colorado and a few other states in the USA.

After reading that sentence, I glanced up to check whether LWN-Tux likes to enjoy a spliff with his morning paper. But he seems disappointingly sober.