Double Entry Accounting System
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I have to design double entry accounting systems as part of the package, Where Do I start?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com www.ias-research.com/blog
Do *not* do this. There are api's for every major accounting package out there, it's highly specialized and requires constant updates as tax rules change, payroll taxes change etc etc. Integrate your app with QuickBooks (for example) using their API and save yourself a world of hassle and a lifetime of pain.
“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Now that's just sick. I wouldn't associate with such disgusting filth. Liberal democrat X|
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
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Two sets of books is what lands you up in prison! :) Double entry is so called because for every entry on the left side there is a corresponding entry on the right. Example: Credit Petrol Costs £30 Debit Bank Account £30 or... Credit Purchase Ledger Account "Joe Bloggs Contruction" £117.50 Debit Purchase Ledger Control Balance £117.50 Credit Debit Purchase Ledger Control Account £117.50 Debit Sundry Items £100.00 Debit Vat Control £17.50 Credit Job Ledger Account "Job21" £100 Debit Job Ledger Control £100 This second item could be one entry on a system but which produces seven postings.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
Good lord, you people not only drive lefthanded, but do your books backward, too!
Dalek Dave wrote:
Credit Petrol Costs £30 Debit Bank Account £30
When I buy gas, I debit the fuel expense, and credit the bank account.
Will Rogers never met me.
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I have to design double entry accounting systems as part of the package, Where Do I start?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com www.ias-research.com/blog
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Two things spring to mind. Firstly it could be a security issue. They do not want an off the peg solution because they do not want the original developers to have any kind of access. (Paranoid, but possible) Secondly it could be that they want it tailor made to connect to an existing system for reporting or data input reasons that a ready-made package may not be able to handle.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
Secondly it could be that they want it tailor made to connect to an existing system for reporting or data input reasons that a ready-made package may not be able to handle.
That's very likely. I've been involved in migration activities from one package to another, where yet a third system provides the input and consumes the results. Integration issues can become so enormous that writing a custom solution is tempting. I thought XML was supposed to solve all the financial interchange problems in the world, but I don't see a whole lot of progress yet.
Will Rogers never met me.
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I have to design double entry accounting systems as part of the package, Where Do I start?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com www.ias-research.com/blog
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I have to design double entry accounting systems as part of the package, Where Do I start?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com www.ias-research.com/blog
Listen to what John C told you, if you have a choice never ever start this, you will need to support this application forever. Make an export to existing account system. I have quite a lot of experience with creating enterprise software and I know that even the big software companies avoid doing this. And what is your background in the accounting? Because if you don’t have any, even if you/your company hire a professional accountant to consult you the project probably will be a disaster anyway. Edit: Oh, I forgot; a new-baked homemade accounting system is very likely to put your client into legal problems.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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I have to design double entry accounting systems as part of the package, Where Do I start?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com www.ias-research.com/blog
2 text boxes, one labeled "number" the other labeled "that number again"
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Sometimes, when dealing with those who don't listen, porcupines are the only sane solution.
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Sometimes, when dealing with those who don't listen, porcupines are the only sane solution.
Maybe just a wee hedgehog instead? :)
WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated. There are 10 kinds of people in the world: People who know binary and people who don't.
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Good lord, you people not only drive lefthanded, but do your books backward, too!
Dalek Dave wrote:
Credit Petrol Costs £30 Debit Bank Account £30
When I buy gas, I debit the fuel expense, and credit the bank account.
Will Rogers never met me.
Actually, banks credit money to your account because your deposits end up on the Liability side of their ledgers (i.e. it's not their asset). He has it right.
WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated. There are 10 kinds of people in the world: People who know binary and people who don't.
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May I offer some assistance. (I speak from some level of expertise, I am an accountant). This is actually quite a large undertaking. It is more than just "Adding a value to one column and adding it's inverse to another". There are entries to be made directly to the Nominal Ledger. Enntries to the Bought and Sales Ledgers with the corresponding entries to the Nominal. The ability to make one entry that is posted to several accounts. (Example Adding £100 to the Bought Ledger Control Account and having £50 posted to, say, Expenses and £50 to Fuel Costs). There is also a corresponding entry for VAT (or Whatever your sales tax(es) is called). There are payment entries to be made. Don't forget also that you need Control Accounts (Bought Ledger Control, Sales Ledger Control, Vat Control etc). Some codes are Profit and Loss, some are Balance Sheet. You also have to allow for an Asset register and it's assigned Depreciation Accounts (One being P&L, the other being BalSheet). On top of this there are various legal controls, for example ensuring there can be no single sided entries. Then you have the various flag controls for Periods, Dates, Paid/Unpaid, Held/Released, Invoices/Credits etc. You will need a way to run period ends that clear period totals, but hold the year totals. The same for year end procedures. Then there is the Reporting. Apart from the legally required reports, you will want to have various useful reports for management figures and other administative purposes. Then there is the requirement to have Archiving procedures, and other useful housekeeping chores. Then, once you have planned all this, there is the actual development of the project, which will be quite large in terms of time/man hours/money. Alongside this you will need to ensure security provisions and access controls. Seriously, if you are not 'hot' on accountancy, get hold of an accountant at the planning and developing stages, and ask questions, and keep asking them. Best of luck.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
Best line from an accounting package developer I worked with many years ago... Nearing the end of the project, reviewing where we'd been, waiting for docco to be printed(!)... "Well, that was a sh*tload of work that all adds up to nothing!" Well said, Nigel, me old mate.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994.
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keencomputer wrote:
Where Do I start?
By talking to your users. Whenever you are required to develop a software system, you really should start off by listening to your users and gathering requirements from them. If you ignore your users, you might as well stuff live porcupines down your trousers - it will feel roughly the same.
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
If you ignore your users, you might as well stuff live porcupines down your trousers
:laugh:
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
listening to your users and gathering requirements from them
I second listening/communicating with the client to get the client requirements and build what they need, and not what one thinks they need.
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer "Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon "Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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Actually, banks credit money to your account because your deposits end up on the Liability side of their ledgers (i.e. it's not their asset). He has it right.
WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated. There are 10 kinds of people in the world: People who know binary and people who don't.
I know that - but most users (and companies) will be sitting on the other side of the teller's window.
Will Rogers never met me.
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PogoboyKramer wrote:
since March
Dang I cannot remember what happened this morning!
It sounded familiar, so I looked through his message history and "There it was"
I wasn't, now I am, then I won't be anymore.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Sometimes, when dealing with those who don't listen, porcupines are the only sane solution.
Maybe just a wee hedgehog instead? :)
WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated. There are 10 kinds of people in the world: People who know binary and people who don't.
After watching a National Geo special on flesh eating fish of the amazon yesterday, maybe a little catfish will do.
I wasn't, now I am, then I won't be anymore.
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I have to design double entry accounting systems as part of the package, Where Do I start?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com www.ias-research.com/blog
keencomputer wrote:
I have to design double entry accounting systems as part of the package, Where Do I start?
With the first one. Then you copy and paste to make the second.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Listen to what John C told you, if you have a choice never ever start this, you will need to support this application forever. Make an export to existing account system. I have quite a lot of experience with creating enterprise software and I know that even the big software companies avoid doing this. And what is your background in the accounting? Because if you don’t have any, even if you/your company hire a professional accountant to consult you the project probably will be a disaster anyway. Edit: Oh, I forgot; a new-baked homemade accounting system is very likely to put your client into legal problems.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
Deyan Georgiev wrote:
you will need to support this application forever
um... How is that a bad thing?
Think annual revenue.