Managing Money With Linux Apps 142
lisah writes, "As part of a series of special reports this week, Linux.com is reviewing several ways to manage your money using Linux apps. First up is a review of GnuCash 2.0, a personal and small business accounting package. Though it has a bit of a learning curve, the reviewer says the application is 'stable and robust' and an upgrade from previous versions is well worth it for the program's new features and improved online banking support." Linux.com and Slashdot are both part of OSTG.
keyboard shortcut for switching tabs in 2.0? (Score:1, Interesting)
I am frustrated by one problem though -- I can't seem to switch from one tab to another without using the mouse. I have been all through the documentation and the website looking for a list of keyboard shortcuts that includes one for switching tabs, but no dice. Has any one found a way to do this?
Re:GnuCash 2.0 (Score:3, Interesting)
For me personally, Gnucash is a killer app. Now, I realize I'm using the term loosely because it's not really going to kill other platforms, but for me it did. =) I do like to tinker with operating systems, and sometimes for one reason or another I run Windows on my machine. Having had experience with Gnucash, I was hoping that, like most popular Linux apps, there would be a Windows port I could use. Was there? No. I would die without this program, though, so I switched (not a problem since I'm a Linux hobbyist, but interesting none the less). I find it amusing that I switched away from Windows because of better software support on another platform because usually it's the other way around.
Now that Gnucash is written in GTK2, however, I expect a Windows port? I remember reading that no port was made because the GTK1 code was too hard to port.
MoneyDance is better (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:How about moneydance? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Nice front but what about the backend? (Score:3, Interesting)
Bit of a plug, but I have a project called Fruity Banking [sf.net]. It's python/cgi and has a web interface that looks and works like GNUcash. It can use sqlite, postgresql or mysql for the backend and it's endlessly scriptable (samples are included for scripting direct debits, etc.). I wrote it for the same reasons as you stated; because I wanted to access my accounts from anywhere and have the backend scriptable and generally muckable about with.
On the downside, it only really does account management (because that was all I needed) and simple account reports. It doesn't integrate with banking services (because I don't need it), but it would be very easy to script and extend to add these facilities.
Syncing with Palm (Score:2, Interesting)
Better still, would be nice if it was possible to sync instead some better app like Mobile Money.
Re:GnuCash isn't "Linux" (Score:3, Interesting)
This will likely be a non-issue in the future, because even Quicken won't be able to do it. There was a story a couple days ago that banks are dropping the automated connections because of increased security regulations.
Re:GnuCash isn't "Linux" (Score:4, Interesting)
This must me an American thing, because the Dutch banks have never supported automatic downloading into 3rd party apps (as far as i know). Most banks support exporting of account data in Quicken or CSV format, but that's not always very useful, and it's still a manual process. I usually just type data in manually, which is also a good way to force me to check the input.
When using MS Money it always annoyed me (just a little) to see that feature and not be able to use it, but I understand the security aspect of that decision. Allowing an app to pull data of this level of sensitivity with just a password from a bank's website is just not secure enough. In my opinion, that kind of data should be protected by at least Two-factor Authentication [wikipedia.org]. My bank demands the combination of a pincode (something you know), a bankcard (something you have) and a hardware token (also something you have), which is considered strong authentication.
Re:GnuCash 2.0 (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm starting a small business and am trying to figure these things out.
How about for proposing a budget for a grant application, perhaps?
SBIR?
Business features (Score:3, Interesting)
I have used GNUCash for a long time to manage my personal finances. For this purpose, it is quite good. I love the 2.0 interface.
I don't care about the lack of on line banking support (my bank doesn't offer this service anyway). For the rest, I only have a few issues:
When it comes to small business use, GNUCash does not provide enough. It does allow you to manage invoices and clients, but a company needs some specific things for legal and fiscal reports.
Re:GNUcash? GNOsupport. (Score:3, Interesting)
We are committed to helping LedgerSMB take on Quickbooks in their home market too. And rely only on open source components. In all fairness, we are probably a few months away from having features like payroll support. But at least with our software, you can't outgrow it. And we have an awesome team of core developers including two members of the PostgreSQL core community.