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

[der.hans]

Am 28. Jan, 2008 schwätzte R P Herrold so:

> 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 do almost everything via my credit union's web interface. I'd rather
have support for GNUCash to kick off the transaction electronically.

To each his/her own :).

>>> 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,

Were your ears ringing? I mentioned several times this weekend having
someone sit in and correct my whole presentation as I was giving it :).

I've also used that experience in my classes to let the students know
I'd generally rather be interrupted with better information than let
inaccurate information stand.

> 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.

Those of us here have Arizona Chain Reaction and Local First Arizona, but
I haven't yet found an accountant that will definitely use Free Software.

http://www.LocalFirstAZ.com/

>> 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.

I wouldn't trust working via import/export with a proprietary format for
my day to day books.

> 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

Is he interested in doing some side work using Free Software?  :)

> 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.

Yeah, I could see importing to some proprietary format for auditing. In
the end I think that needs to move to Free Software as well, but it's
admittedly not the same priority as for the source data.

ciao,

der.hans
-- 
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