Nishit Dave wrote: > On Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 7:34 PM, Saswata Banerjee & Associates > >> Anyone needing help on this, contact me offline. Lets not waste time of >> others on the group on how to get accounting working on new software. >> > 0. Mr.Shah's interests will be well-served if you gave him a quotation > 1. We would love to know what it takes to make GNU/Linux a good > platform for accounting and business. Give us tips, and we will guide > business to your doors > Linux is already a good platform for business applications, including accounting. What is missing is : - Awareness - Support (commercial affordable support) - Trained people to operate the software - Good team to implement (where the business owner or Accounting head does not have the time / skill to do it on his own).
Perhaps another thing missing is compliance with Indian Tax laws. This is something every potential customer will ask and every tally vendor will use as a counter argument. However, my experience has been that it makes very little difference. If we can make extensions to the accounting software that will provide for Indian Tax regulations (most problems are on TDS to be deducted at the time of payment and for computation of Service Tax Payment and Setoff), we can resolve this problem. The software that should be offered to the client will depend on what is the business. For example, Web-ERP is very good for trading companies. Its manufacturing accounting is poor. On the other hand, Adempaire has a very good Manufacturing module. Also the company structure makes a difference. WebERP is completely Browser-based. Many people in India will not be comfortable working on it. TinyERP has both local client (in Linux and Windows) and web-client. So it gives the flixibility of working from inside the same office and from outside the office (or branch office) without equal ease. It may also be a good idea to take a 2 step approach. In all the accounting / ERP software we are now using, users can continue to work from Windows while the server can be moved to Linux. Then you can move users to Linux separately when the software implementation has been stabilised. If in some office, a few people refuse to shift to Linux, it does not matter. Others are not affected by it. In my own office, one of my partners swears by windows, so his laptop runs windows while all the others are on Linux Fedora 8. Finally, in terms of making the softwares Indian Tax Compliant - We just need to write extensions (or replacement) for the following modules : - Purchase Bill Entry --> change to provide multiple levels of taxation, each working on a different basis. Also provide for automated tax rates based on product and vendor location. Naturally we will also have to modify back-end code so that it puts the taxes into the correct ledgers - Sales Invoice Generation --> same changes as above - Expense Voucher Entry --> Make provision for Tax Deduction At Source (so only the net amount after deducting income tax goes into party account and the tax goes into the TDS account), with correct TDS rates being picked up from a master based on purpose and vendor type (eg, Company has higher rate, individual has lower). - Correct accounting of service tax and tracking service tax entries against receipt and payment (Service tax is payable to the government only AFTER you get the money from your customer and you can set off service tax on bills you have paid only AFTER YOU pay it to the vendor). The service tax due statement should be generated based on this method of accounting. - Automated Remainders for paying VAT, CST, TDS, Service Tax on due dates and allowing the system to pick up correct amount - New sets of reports for submitting to the government authorities (generated automatically and in correct format). - if possible, new module for e-TDS and e-VAT Returns (based on standards declared by the govt) I think this is all that is required. Am I answering your query or blabering ? :-) Regards Saswata -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
