GPL Small Business Accounting Software That Prints Checks?

[Terry Carmen]

I'm looking for something that seems like it should be easy, but appears=20
to be impossible.

What's missing seems to be usable, web-based accounting software for a=20
small consulting business. I bill for time used, invoice customers,=20
receive checks, deposit checks, receive and pay bills and write checks.=20

It doesn't seem like it should be rocket science, but so far I haven't=20
found *anything* that does Time Tracking, AR, AP, GL and prints checks.

Lots of packages seem to do most or all of the above, but they all seem=20
to stop short of printing checks.

Dolibarr seems like it *might* print checks, but the English translation=20
is spotty (when they get to a complex subject description the prompts=20
revert to French) and all the code is in French, so I'm not making much=20
headway there.

SQLLedger and it's friends contain everything but the kitchen sink, but=20
still no check printing.

The same goes for WebERP. I can create products and sales orders from=20
around the globe, using all sorts of bizarre pricing and taxation=20
schemes, but still no check printing.

Am I missing something obvious?=20

Does anybody have any recommendations? Quickbooks (even something like=20
Quickbooks v1) would be great, but I need a web application, so QB isn't=20
an option. I'd also prefer to not pay Intuit every month for their web-
based version.

Thanks!

Terry

 

[Chris Gunn]

What's missing seems to be usable, web-based accounting software for a
small consulting business. I bill for time used, invoice customers,
receive checks, deposit checks, receive and pay bills and write checks.

Howdy Terry,

You really DO NOT want web-based accounting.

1. If your Internet connection goes down, you are out of business.

2. If the remote server dies, all of your records die with it.

3. If the remote server gets hacked, your private information becomes
public or smashed.

4. If any credit card numbers get compromised, you can be fined up to
$5,000 each.

5. Remote web-based software cannot access your printer. All it can do is
display web pages you can select for printing.

Does anybody have any recommendations? Quickbooks (even something like
Quickbooks v1) would be great, but I need a web application, so QB isn't
an option. I'd also prefer to not pay Intuit every month for their web-
based version.

Lookout for, "Penny wise, Dollar foolish." If you insist on storing your
critical accounting records on somebody else's computer, you are only
waiting for a massive disaster to happen. You want your records where they
are completely under your control and burn backups to CD's at regular
intervals. Ideally, your accounting computer should not even be connected
to the Internet.

Thanks, Chris www.bizynet.com and www.bizycart.com
BIZynet Coordinator (e-mail address removed) - (575) 586-1225
Moderator of biz.ecommerce, biz.general, biz.marketplace.discussion,
biz.marketplace.web-design, biz.marketplace.international & others

 

[Terry Carmen]

=20
=20
Howdy Terry,
=20
You really DO NOT want web-based accounting.
=20
1. If your Internet connection goes down, you are out of business.
=20
2. If the remote server dies, all of your records die with it.
=20
3. If the remote server gets hacked, your private information becomes
public or smashed.
=20
4. If any credit card numbers get compromised, you can be fined up to
$5,000 each.
=20
5. Remote web-based software cannot access your printer. All it can d= o
is display web pages you can select for printing.

I probably should have been more specific. By web-based accounting, I=20
meant "useable in a web-browser and doesn't require a special client".=20
The actual server lives in a hosting center and is accessible only over a=
=20
VPN.=20

A clent/server application would be OK if necessary, although I was=20
trying to stay away from software that needs to be deployed on=20
workstations.

Lookout for, "Penny wise, Dollar foolish." If you insist on storing
your critical accounting records on somebody else's computer, you are
only waiting for a massive disaster to happen. You want your records
where they are completely under your control and burn backups to CD's a= t
regular intervals. Ideally, your accounting computer should not even b= e
connected to the Internet.

Actually, it's my computer, not somebody else's, and it lives in a=20
hosting center in a locked cabinet, behind a locked door, in a concrete=20
building, accessible only with a VPN client, so it's probably safer than=20
anything I have at work.

So . . . . Going back a couple of steps, does anybody know of any GPL (or=
=20
other free, with source code) accounting applications (web or client-
server) that can print checks?

Check printing seems like a really basic feature. I can't imagine why it=20
seems to be missing from almost everything.

Thanks!

Terru

 

[jerry]

Check printing seems like a really basic feature. I can't imagine why it=20

seems to be missing from almost everything.

*** I think there might be copywrite issues with the MICR font. I
did find a
an open source font at http://sandeen.net/GnuMICR. Same site has a
check printing
program that runs under Linux.

One day, I might address this myself. I have been writing software
to support
my own business for about a year ( of spare time ) now. But so far, I
have been just
doing the A/R side of things, where other people are giving ME
checks .

There's a lot to be said for keeping critical data disconnected
from the Internet.
A security-conscious friend of mine once developed a payments system
that was connected to the Internet server only by a serial port
running UUCP, an ancient and crippled protocol that used to be used to
transfer mail and netnews. No "remote control" of any kind possible
via UUCP.

- Jerry Kaidor
( (e-mail address removed) )

 

[Terry Carmen]

*** I think there might be copywrite issues with the MICR font. I
did find a
an open source font at http://sandeen.net/GnuMICR. Same site has a
check printing
program that runs under Linux.

... . .

( (e-mail address removed) )

This is still more complicated than I'm looking for. I don't want to
print checks on blank check stock, I want to print the AP
information(payee, amount, date, etc.) on pre-printed checks.

Terry

 

[Chris Gunn]

This is still more complicated than I'm looking for. I don't want to
print checks on blank check stock, I want to print the AP
information(payee, amount, date, etc.) on pre-printed checks.

Howdy Terry,

How automated do you want it? Not hard to create an Excel form that will
print landscape and put the payment information in the right places. You
would need to type in the payee information for each check.

I use an Excel form to print the back of my deposit slips.

Thanks, Chris www.bizynet.com and www.bizycart.com
BIZynet Coordinator (e-mail address removed) - (575) 586-1225

 

[Terry Carmen]

Howdy Terry,

How automated do you want it? Not hard to create an Excel form that will
print landscape and put the payment information in the right places. You
would need to type in the payee information for each check.

I use an Excel form to print the back of my deposit slips.

Thanks, Chris www.bizynet.com and www.bizycart.com
BIZynet Coordinator (e-mail address removed) - (575) 586-1225

These are all great suggestions, but not really what I'm looking for.

I'd like something that approximates the functionality in any version of
Quickbooks, including paying bills by checks (ie put a stack of
pre-printed single sheet laser checks in the printer, select which bills
to pay and have the software print the checks.)

I'm currently using SQL Ledger, which does most of what I need, but
doesn't print checks.

Thanks,

Terry

 

[thnclient]

hello

thanks you for your post, you help is appreciated