List of free and open source Accounting software (Part 1)

For small business and personal use. Not very rich in functionalities.Open source software literally means that the source code of the program is open to programmers, unlike traditional commercial closed source software. Image by zolierdos.

In this article we will be looking at professional Accounting software specifically and will highlight some of the popular open source products on the market today, their functionalities as well as the systems they run on. Please note that an accounting system may include impressive functionalities, but it is also important to consider whether the business owner would be able to use it when comparing functionalities of various options.

Other considerations when comparing free open source accounting software is the speed of the program, how many users can use it at the same time, if the program allows for multiple companies, departments or cost-centers (where this is important), whether the program is considered relatively bug free and whether it is web-based or not.

If you consider implementing one of these software solutions, please check first which other software in your organization would needs to be imported into this program and confirm whether such imports would be possible with the desired accounting software solution.

Usually with free open source Accounting software, the software provider will make his profits by providing professional training, consultation or manuals for the software at a fee. Some even receive donations.

Here follows a list of free open source Accounting software that could be used in a business:

• GnuCash is ideal for small businesses and is a desktop application for Linux, Windows and Mac OSX.
• Includes graphs and scheduled transactions.

Modules	Included
General Ledger, Trial Balance	Yes
Stock Control	Yes
Debtors control, invoicing and statements	Yes
Creditors control	Yes
Reports	Yes
Manufacturing	No

• TurboCash is a windows desktop application suitable for small businesses with more than 70,000 users.

Modules	Included
General Ledger, Trial Balance	Yes
Stock Control	Yes
Debtors control, invoicing and statements	Yes
Creditors control	Yes
Reports	Yes
Manufacturing	No

• Before Lazy8 Ledger was only compatible with Sun-Java but now it will work with OpenJDK which is the standard Java in Linux distributions.
• Available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

Modules	Included
General Ledger, Trial Balance	Yes
Stock Control	No
Debtors control, invoicing and statements	No
Creditors control	No
Reports	Yes
Manufacturing	No

• For small business and personal use.
• Not very rich in functionalities yet.
• Runs on PHP.

Modules	Included
General Ledger, Trial Balance	Yes
Stock Control	No
Debtors control, invoicing and statements	No
Creditors control	No
Reports	No
Manufacturing	No

• Rich in functionalities within the various accounting modules that is covered and can handle multi-currency, multi-department and multi-company organization’s accounting.
• Includes graphs and provides for scheduled transactions. It is also web and email enabled and provides for full employee records.
• Runs on Windows.

Modules	Included
General Ledger, Trial Balance	Yes
Stock Control	Yes
Debtors control, invoicing and statements	Yes
Creditors control	Yes
Reports	Yes
Manufacturing	Yes
Cash book / Bank Reconciliation	Yes

For some more information on free open source accounting software, please read Part 2 of this article tomorrow.

Yolande Kleynhans

(yolandek ‘at’ mtn.blackberry.com)

* Updated 1 Feb 2010: Check out this new post regarding an affordable web based online accounting system.

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