Decent double entry bookkeeping accounting software?
June 25, 2013 12:06 PM Subscribe
I'm trying to find accounting software I can live with, but I'm running out of ideas. I'm looking for something that supports double entry bookkeeping, but also syncs across devices and is fully-featured. I'm happy to pay for it, just want something that works, and nothing so far has fit the bill.
I'm looking for something that supports:
- Multiple users or syncs with the cloud or syncs with a server not in my home, so that both my husband and I can access from our laptops and the desktop. (I'm using Moneydance right now, and the lack of this functionality is it's one drawback.)
- Double entry bookkeeping -- an absolute requirement. (This excludes Mint, Xero, and a host of other packages.)
- Is not gnucash. (I've been burned once before, plus the UI can be annoying.)
- Can download transactions from my bank, and is smart about remembering common transactions so that I don't have to recategorize them every time.
Does something with all of these features actually exist?
I'm looking for something that supports:
- Multiple users or syncs with the cloud or syncs with a server not in my home, so that both my husband and I can access from our laptops and the desktop. (I'm using Moneydance right now, and the lack of this functionality is it's one drawback.)
- Double entry bookkeeping -- an absolute requirement. (This excludes Mint, Xero, and a host of other packages.)
- Is not gnucash. (I've been burned once before, plus the UI can be annoying.)
- Can download transactions from my bank, and is smart about remembering common transactions so that I don't have to recategorize them every time.
Does something with all of these features actually exist?
Response by poster: Personal. Although I might need business in the near future, for now just personal.
posted by antinomia at 12:38 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by antinomia at 12:38 PM on June 25, 2013
To clarify, YNAB definitely supports syncing multiple devices to a single file (stored on DropBox), supports PC, Mac, iOS and Android, and can download transactions. I only hesitate because I can't remember enough from 7th grade accounting class to say for sure whether double entry is fully supported. YNAB does allow transactions from one account to another, but the terminology is unconventional (inflows and outflows, rather than debits and credits) and, like I said, there may be other ways in which its not a perfect fit. Some people do use it for small businesses, but it's primarily designed for households.
posted by jon1270 at 12:51 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by jon1270 at 12:51 PM on June 25, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks jon1270. I've looked all over their website and they don't mention it, so I sent them an email. I don't really need any of the budgeting features, but if it meets the other criteria I will happily play with budgets.
posted by antinomia at 12:56 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by antinomia at 12:56 PM on June 25, 2013
Seconding YNAB, but to be really effective it needs to be paired with its methodology. Check out the forums.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:04 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by Happy Dave at 1:04 PM on June 25, 2013
My husband and I use/used Freshbooks for bookkeeping for freelance work.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:08 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by Lyn Never at 1:08 PM on June 25, 2013
Response by poster: Lyn Never, thank you, but Freshbooks doesn't support double entry bookkeeping.
posted by antinomia at 1:16 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by antinomia at 1:16 PM on June 25, 2013
Have you looked at NetSuite or Interprise Suite? How about Kashoo, inDinero, and Wave? I don't know if they do double entry.
posted by Dansaman at 1:59 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by Dansaman at 1:59 PM on June 25, 2013
Best answer: I use gnucash for personal and business accounts. I keep it synced with Dropbox. How were you burned by it? Data loss?
posted by aychedee at 4:08 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by aychedee at 4:08 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Ledger. it can't automatically download your bank's data, but you can download it, and configure it to read your bank's format. so, you download a .csv file from a bank, convert it to a ledger format, then append it to your running record, which can live in dropbox. as you enter descriptions it will save them in a file to remember them. you can also write your own rules and use regular expressions. you can track multiple units, and have nested accounts.
posted by cupcake1337 at 6:16 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by cupcake1337 at 6:16 PM on June 25, 2013
I gotta say I use GNUCash, warts and all. Does everything requested, although its multiuser support is not the same as simultaneous user. I hope one of the open source nonprofits uses their expertise to raise awareness on the subject.
posted by pwnguin at 9:50 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by pwnguin at 9:50 PM on June 25, 2013
Best answer: I use GNUCash + git for its XML files. I have nearly had a few horrible data loss incidents, but been saved by keeping its data file in git (it's a fairly straightforward XML dump of the data, so can be diffed and merged). "warts and all" is a good way to describe it though.
What happened to you with gnucash?
posted by richb at 3:43 AM on June 26, 2013
What happened to you with gnucash?
posted by richb at 3:43 AM on June 26, 2013
Response by poster: My issue with GNUcash was, indeed, dataloss -- a corrupted file that would no longer load. Lost a few years of history. This was back in 2002 or 2003. I hadn't thought about syncing through dropbox, but looking at their website it looks like Moneydance (which I'm using now) also allows that. I'm going to try that out and see how it works -- this may be my solution. I love Moneydance's beautiful homepage with plenty of info and graphs, and it's pretty easy to use, so if the dropbox idea works for moving my data around I'm going to stick with it.
We've tried Kashoo, and we have to use Quickbooks to share info with our accountant. Neither of them have tolerable interfaces, compared to what we're used to, but if I can't make Moneydance work it looks like we'll be choosing between Kashoo, Quickbooks, and Gnucash, for whichever has the least worst interface.
Well, it looks like I have some more testing to do. Thanks, everyone!
posted by antinomia at 6:30 AM on June 26, 2013
We've tried Kashoo, and we have to use Quickbooks to share info with our accountant. Neither of them have tolerable interfaces, compared to what we're used to, but if I can't make Moneydance work it looks like we'll be choosing between Kashoo, Quickbooks, and Gnucash, for whichever has the least worst interface.
Well, it looks like I have some more testing to do. Thanks, everyone!
posted by antinomia at 6:30 AM on June 26, 2013
Worth noting that YNAB has rock-solid Dropbox-based cloud syncing which is entirely automatic. I've been using it for years and never had any issues.
posted by Happy Dave at 7:32 AM on June 26, 2013
posted by Happy Dave at 7:32 AM on June 26, 2013
Response by poster: Happy Dave, the folks at YNAB got back to me, and unfortunately they don't support double-entry bookkeeping.
posted by antinomia at 7:40 AM on June 26, 2013
posted by antinomia at 7:40 AM on June 26, 2013
Ah, right, I thought the records of inflows and outflows between different accounts were effectively double-entry bookkeeping, but there's a reason I'm not an accountant.
posted by Happy Dave at 7:59 AM on June 26, 2013
posted by Happy Dave at 7:59 AM on June 26, 2013
Just because it doesn't use terms debit and credit doesn't mean it isn't double entry.
If you have to categorize a bank transaction then it is effectively double entry.
posted by canoehead at 9:56 AM on June 26, 2013
If you have to categorize a bank transaction then it is effectively double entry.
posted by canoehead at 9:56 AM on June 26, 2013
antinomia: "My issue with GNUcash was, indeed, dataloss -- a corrupted file that would no longer load. Lost a few years of history. This was back in 2002 or 2003. I hadn't thought about syncing through dropbox, but looking at their website it looks like Moneydance (which I'm using now) also allows that. I'm going to try that out and see how it works -- this may be my solution. I love Moneydance's beautiful homepage with plenty of info and graphs, and it's pretty easy to use, so if the dropbox idea works for moving my data around I'm going to stick with it."
GNUCash now supports databases, like MySQL or Postgres, which are useful for a certain class of user, and also SQLite, which is useful for everyone else on the planet. So I'd recommend SQLite for a crash safe storage engine, and dropbox / git / git-annex for remote backup.
Of course, the UI hasn't changed much.
posted by pwnguin at 1:52 PM on June 27, 2013
GNUCash now supports databases, like MySQL or Postgres, which are useful for a certain class of user, and also SQLite, which is useful for everyone else on the planet. So I'd recommend SQLite for a crash safe storage engine, and dropbox / git / git-annex for remote backup.
Of course, the UI hasn't changed much.
posted by pwnguin at 1:52 PM on June 27, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by radioamy at 12:26 PM on June 25, 2013