plug] Re: Semi-OT: Referral for Linux-friendly accountant

[R P Herrold]

On Sun, 27 Jan 2008, der.hans wrote:

> Am 22. Jan, 2008 schwätzte R P Herrold so:
>> I need that laser check printing capability, and want two way
>> import /export, though ;)

> Were it supported and in GNUCash would FreeCheck do what you need?
> http://www.sandeen.net/freecheck/
> Looks like it hasn't changed in 5 years.

Yes - - I held this and one other project in mind when I was 
writing [my mention of LaTeX miniboxes to handle font 
alignment, was because my testing with one - I fergit which, 
had 'ragged' spacing on the MICR line, which I know from 
experience causes bank rejects and special handling fees ;( ]

>> I have offered bounties in the past;  this thread from #centos
>> at irc.freenode.net months ago; I affirm and renew it here.

> We need to concentrate the bounties and requests for service 
> such that someone sees the business opportunity in 
> supporting Free Software and open data formats.
>
> I need an accountant who'll work with Free Software. It 
> sounds like Vaughn does as well. You're $elsewhere, but 
> still need the Free Software aspect even if you don't need 
> an accountant in the Phoenix area.

Actually I was in N Scottsdale when I wrote that, but yes, 
when one needs an accountant, one needs one admitted in the 
$STATE the services are needed.  State by state, and political 
subdivision variances are to overwhelming, to pay for an 
account to be good at all of them.  Familiarity with local 
practice and requirements makes sense in selecting any 
professional services provider.

> I don't need to import data from a proprietary format, but 
> it would be awesome if we could move people from QuickBooks 
> to some Free Software program.

'Chicken and egg' problem to some degree in assembling the 
'critical mass' for any accounting firm to make the jump is 
providing competency in the market of servicing true FOSS 
accounting packages -- By articulating desire for an import / 
export interchange solution, my thought was that the 
accountant would not need to leave their comfortable fog of a 
familiar format.

A son in law is on the home stretch of a Masters of Accounting 
program, and set to work for one of the 'Big Four'.  He 
reports that part of his coursework last semester included 
getting good with a SQL-Server explorer / wizard which had 
pre-programmed routines to spot common accounting fraud tricks 
(gaps in PO or Check Number series; gaps in transaction dates; 
suspicious payee similarities; and so forth)  but practically 
focussing on where the real world usage is.

I assume that the corner accountant has similar tools to take 
the QB accountant interchange reports, and to 'cook' tax 
filings and so forth out of them.

-- Russ Herrold