James' suggestions for SaaS packages look really good. I've only used self-installed/managed software in the past. Paid-for, I've used Sage. Free software, I've used GnuCash and SQLLedger.
Sage is the de-facto small business standard and is fine. GnuCash and SQL Ledger are double-entry systems, which I prefer as it's what the accountants do. They both suffer from Open Source Bad Interface issues, but then Sage is hardly that much better. The nice thing about SQL Ledger is that it's easy to extend and customise, so for example one company I work for automatically injects their expense claims into the systems as Accounts Payable. In terms of managing projections etc, I'm afraid my answer is still Excel! How you choose to manage budgets, cashflow and projections is very much a matter of taste, and often changes over time with changing business priorities. The constraints of an accounting package usually get in the way. That's why most people track cashflow etc over time using Excel. This is stuff I'd highly recommend talking to your accountant about handling -- for example, getting an accounting admin person in for 1 day a month to update your accounts and keep your management accounts and projections up to date for you. Seb On 11 August 2010 10:45, Tom Steinberg <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > Not a very civic tech question, this, but important for mySociety nonetheless. > > Does anyone have any recommendations for finance software packages or > services? In particular I need it to be able to: > > 1.) Record all our financial transactions of every kind > 2.) Record projections of expected transactions in the future, and > then tell us how different the actual transactions were from those > that we expected to have. > > Any thoughts would be welcome, except "Excel" :) > > thanks, > > Tom > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list [email protected] > Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: > https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public > -- skype: seb.bacon mobile: 07790 939224 land: 020 8123 9473 _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
