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Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

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Re: Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

#11

Post by stevievee »

chad_oliver wrote: post #9
stevievee wrote: post #5

"Simple - No more confusing debit / credit / asset / liability mumbo jumbo" It is just "mumbo jumbo" to you because accounting/finance is not your area of expertise.

Sure, but that just means they're creating a product for a specific market -- one whose area of expertise isn't accounting or finance. This is something we should encourage, rather than nitpicking the wording.

I am not nitpicking at all. All of the things the author said are "mumbo jumbo" are fundamental to keeping proper books. Proper bookkeeping is also regulated so it is not just my opinion.

Re: Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

#12

Post by gamblor956 »

chad_oliver wrote: post #9
stevievee wrote: post #5

"Simple - No more confusing debit / credit / asset / liability mumbo jumbo" It is just "mumbo jumbo" to you because accounting/finance is not your area of expertise.

Sure, but that just means they're creating a product for a specific market -- one whose area of expertise isn't accounting or finance. This is something we should encourage, rather than nitpicking the wording.

Those are extremely basic financial terms. If you (meaning the generic you, not you specifically) can't understand them you really shouldn't be doing your own accounting.

It would be like creating a niche programming IDE for people who don't understand the term "computer" or "programming" or "code."

Re: Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

#14

Post by adrianratnapala »

stevievee wrote: post #5

"Simple - No more confusing debit / credit / asset / liability mumbo jumbo" It is just "mumbo jumbo" to you because accounting/finance is not your area of expertise.

Accounting is not my area of expertise, but I have been learning it -- in simple terms -- by doing my personal accounts. When I started, I found these distinctions confusing, but I assumed they were wise. Now I find them arbitrary and annoying, although I am less confused by them.

I suspect there will be a third stage where I will learn their true value. But I also strongly expect that the value lies in them being a common language that other accountancy uses. If so, then they will never be useful in my own personal accounts.

Re: Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

#15

Post by hosh »

marcrosoft wrote: post #6

I think throwing out the terms credit/debit is a mistake. Everyone operates on GAAP and we shouldn't deviate.

Not only that, there are some really useful properties of the double entry system: https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.1898

That's defining a group called the Pacioli Group. One thing that is relatively easy to do with this group is to quickly verify consistency in the transactions. That is something you lose with a single-entry system.

Re: Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

#16

Post by nodesocket »

hannibalhorn wrote: post #10
sushisource wrote: post #3

No judgement, but can someone explain to me the use case for this sort of thing? I'd imagine for anything other than the simplest stuff, you're going to start using something a bit more powerful, and for the simple stuff - who with the skills and knowledge of this type of tool really needs to do small time pocketbook budgeting?

I can't speak to Transity, but I use HLedger for my entity (nothing fancy, just a single member LLC.) I can keep my ledger in git, I don't need to pay for or even learn to use QuickBooks, I can quickly write a script to import data from basically anywhere, and I can use all the standard tools in my toolbox (grep, diff, python) to visualize and work with the data. I'm sure mainstream accounting programs add value as t…

I also have a single member LLC, but can't understand the advantages of using a cli tool over Quickbooks. Beyond the obvious transactions list and graphs of income and expenses, Quickbook self-employed estimates quarterly taxes and even allows me to make payments to the IRS directly via eftps.gov. At tax time, it exports all transactions tagged and categorized to TurboTax.

Re: Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

#17

Post by adius »

gamblor956 wrote: post #12
chad_oliver wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but that just means they're creating a product for a specific market -- one whose area of expertise isn't accounting or finance. This is something we should encourage, rather than nitpicking the wording.

Those are extremely basic financial terms. If you (meaning the generic you, not you specifically) can't understand them you really shouldn't be doing your own accounting. It would be like creating a niche programming IDE for people who don't understand the term "computer" or "programming" or "code."

And that's exactly what e.g. Zapier and Airtable Blocks do ... and quite successfully so.

In specialized communities there is a lot of gatekeeping just by their slang. If I can explain something in plain english without using numerous technical terms, I've mastered the first hurdle to make it more accessible.

Re: Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

#18

Post by brianjoseff »

hannibalhorn wrote: post #10
sushisource wrote: post #3

No judgement, but can someone explain to me the use case for this sort of thing? I'd imagine for anything other than the simplest stuff, you're going to start using something a bit more powerful, and for the simple stuff - who with the skills and knowledge of this type of tool really needs to do small time pocketbook budgeting?

I can't speak to Transity, but I use HLedger for my entity (nothing fancy, just a single member LLC.) I can keep my ledger in git, I don't need to pay for or even learn to use QuickBooks, I can quickly write a script to import data from basically anywhere, and I can use all the standard tools in my toolbox (grep, diff, python) to visualize and work with the data. I'm sure mainstream accounting programs add value as t…

from where/how are you getting your data in?

Re: Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

#19

Post by hosh »

adrianratnapala wrote: post #14
stevievee wrote: post #5

"Simple - No more confusing debit / credit / asset / liability mumbo jumbo" It is just "mumbo jumbo" to you because accounting/finance is not your area of expertise.

Accounting is not my area of expertise, but I have been learning it -- in simple terms -- by doing my personal accounts. When I started, I found these distinctions confusing, but I assumed they were wise. Now I find them arbitrary and annoying, although I am less confused by them. I suspect there will be a third stage where I will learn their true value. But I also strongly expect that the value lies in them being a…

Some mathematicians had constructed a group (Pacioli Group) to analyze the characteristics of using such a system. One thing a double-entry system can do that a single-entry cannot is to quickly verify the consistency of the transactions. The specific names of "debit", "credit", etc. are jargon. The properties that allow for quick verification works on more complex transactions.

I might use a single-entry ledger for my personal finances (though I prefer the double-entry). I wouldn't run a business on it though.

Re: Show HN: Transity – Plain Text Accounting

#20

Post by ams6110 »

nodesocket wrote: post #16
hannibalhorn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak to Transity, but I use HLedger for my entity (nothing fancy, just a single member LLC.) I can keep my ledger in git, I don't need to pay for or even learn to use QuickBooks, I can quickly write a script to import data from basically anywhere, and I can use all the standard tools in my toolbox (grep, diff, python) to visualize and work with the data. I'm sure mainstream accounting programs add value as t…

I also have a single member LLC, but can't understand the advantages of using a cli tool over Quickbooks. Beyond the obvious transactions list and graphs of income and expenses, Quickbook self-employed estimates quarterly taxes and even allows me to make payments to the IRS directly via eftps.gov. At tax time, it exports all transactions tagged and categorized to TurboTax.

... and sends a copy of everything to Intuit.
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