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The end of the accounting search

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Re: The end of the accounting search

#191

Post by xtiansimon »

axiomdata316 wrote: post #5

I'm a QuickBooks ProAdvisor and have been one for over 20 years and the last few years has convinced me that Intuit is determined to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs by: 1) Forcing all their customers to migrate to the online version of their program. Many of the clients I've spoken to were happy with and preferred the Desktop version. The Desktop version is faster and can do more than the online version. 2)…

> “…I'm worried that I'm going to have to try to find a new way of supporting myself…”

What? I work in accounting and I was reading your post with curiosity until this. How do you support yourself—being a QB Pro advisor or as an accountant?

Re: The end of the accounting search

#192

Post by freedomben »

gjadi wrote: post #183
ThinkBeat wrote: post #116

My aunt was an accountant (rip). She had one of those "not calculators" with a built-in printer. Not sure what they are properly called. Her "not calculator" was old, stained with cigarette smoke and coffee and she did not wish for a new one. I got paid a bit a few times to clean it up inside and out. The thing was a tank. (If it still exists, it should still work with a bit of care and attention.) She used some form…

> Whatever key combinations were required to enter data on the terminal had become so ingrained that if you asked her how to do it, she would have to look at what her hands did. (weird). As an Emacs user, I'm like that too. I don't know which keys I need to type to perform some operations, only the movement. I'm pretty sure a lot of Emacs users are like that too.

I'm the same way with vim. Funnily enough, even though I've been using vim for 15 years and rarely ever have to think about what keys to press, when I am on display (for example in a screen share or pair programming) I'll sometimes forget how to use vim and until I can get myself relaxed a bit I'll fumble around like I have no idea how to use a computer.

Re: The end of the accounting search

#193

Post by freedomben »

rushabh wrote: post #171

We have been working on a FOSS desktop based alternative to GNU Cash with a modern UI for the past couple of years: Frappe Books - https://frappebooks.com - https://github.com/frappe/books Do check it out!

Really neat! This looks like something that could be immensely helpful to me. I have very minor accounting needs but am on the verge of outgrowing the Spreadsheet method.

May I ask how you fund development? What is your feeling on the future?

Re: The end of the accounting search

#194

Post by freedomben »

ralphc wrote: post #87

My CPA wife sets up and recommends Quickbooks Desktop installed on Right Networks, a Windows Remote Desktop shop where Quickbooks and Excel is installed. The convenience of remote work without the awful Quickbooks Online. It handles backups and you do file transfers and local printing. It doesn't stop the Quickbooks subscription pricing but you get to use Quickbooks Desktop.

As a linux user and free software advocate, I die inside at your CPA wife's recommendation, but I upvote it for it's pragmatism and applicability to so many people who don't have time or desire to screw around with software. Thank you to her and you for sharing this advice.

Re: The end of the accounting search

#195

Post by freedomben »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #102

> Getting our QuickBooks data into GnuCash took a bit of scripting using the capable (if poorly documented) Python bindings. Another set of scripts has since been written to import data from the site and from our bank account. GnuCash has a reasonably capable import mechanism for the data formats exported by banks, complete with a Bayesian system to assign transactions to accounts, but a bit of scripting makes the pr…

Some of the scripts are available here: git://git.lwn.net/qb-escape.git

But yes I heartily agree, those scripts would be immensely helpful even just as an example/reference for somebody writing their own.

Re: The end of the accounting search

#196

Post by drumhead »

_xivi wrote: post #187
drumhead wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most users and companies I've encountered want to remain on the desktop version. Its faster, gives them more functionality, its under their control and if they want they can pay or not pay maintenance fee. But the software firms are obsessed with the cloud and so are the heads of the Finance teams, they think it makes them look technically knowledgeable to move to the cloud so this pincer movement is forcing the ever…

> they think it makes them look technically knowledgeable to move to the cloud It's not about looks, it's about locking people to the platform and milking them in a subscription model

That's the software company, I was referring to management.

Re: The end of the accounting search

#197

Post by GFischer »

c00lio wrote: post #185
csomar wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter-intuitively, making terminal software is harder because you have to think hard about the UX. You have to design how the accountant (or the user) is going to use, you have to make shortcuts, you have to think about the progression, etc... This is not the case for what's happening on GUI-land where the "designers" just randomly put texts, buttons, buttons that look like text, input boxes, tables, etc... It's al…

GUI software for professional use takes the same amount of care to develop. I've been involved in data entry applications used for call center agents, cashiers and industrial control. A lot of care is taken about tab-order, keyboard shortcuts, proper use of F-keys, readability of everything, color-coding related functions and stability of known workflows. The advantage that GUI brings to the table is that a novice or…

One of the pieces of software I was most proud about was a data entry system for a P&C insurance company, the old policy subscription terminal-based system allowed for about 200 policies/hour by user, then they "upgraded" to a GUI that slowed them to about 20/hour and I built a desktop application that allowed them to go back to 200 policies/hour but with stuff like auto-filling, geolocation, error correction so the data quality was much higher.

I worked with the end users a lot to make sure the UI matched the workflow, iterated over several versions and it definitely paid off.

Re: The end of the accounting search

#198

Post by rushabh »

freedomben wrote: post #193
rushabh wrote: post #171

We have been working on a FOSS desktop based alternative to GNU Cash with a modern UI for the past couple of years: Frappe Books - https://frappebooks.com - https://github.com/frappe/books Do check it out!

Really neat! This looks like something that could be immensely helpful to me. I have very minor accounting needs but am on the verge of outgrowing the Spreadsheet method. May I ask how you fund development? What is your feeling on the future?

Thanks! We fund the development via our other product - ERPNext.

We have one full time engineer working on it. If end up using it, please give us feedback and help spread the word.

Re: The end of the accounting search

#199

Post by yyyk »

goostavos wrote: post #42
reaperducer wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if LLMs can help with these gaps in documentation and examples? I wonder if LLMs can do someone's taxes. But I'm not going to be the first to try it.

I was trying to understand what box 2b was on one of my tax forms. Google wasn't helping me because I all I found was unreadable blog spam. So, I tried ChatGPT. "On form blah, what goes in box 2b?" It descended into me arguing with the machine over whether or not 2b even existed. "GPT, I'm literally holding the physical paper in my hand and staring at the box labeled 2b!" "That is incorrect. Form blah has never had a…

>It descended into me arguing with the machine over whether or not 2b even existed.

Sounds like ChatGPT can already obsolete the tax office.

Re: The end of the accounting search

#200

Post by pradn »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #116

My aunt was an accountant (rip). She had one of those "not calculators" with a built-in printer. Not sure what they are properly called. Her "not calculator" was old, stained with cigarette smoke and coffee and she did not wish for a new one. I got paid a bit a few times to clean it up inside and out. The thing was a tank. (If it still exists, it should still work with a bit of care and attention.) She used some form…

Airline workers at the gate use similar terminals, and they're astonishingly fast at using them - rerouting passengers, checking flight openings, etc.
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