[TriLUG] GnuCash

[David Both]

I have been using GnuCash for over 10 years and I like it very much. It uses 
double-entry accounting which takes a bit of getting used to if you have not 
done it before, but is the only legal way to go for businesses and non-profits. 
I use two sets of books, one for my personal finances and one for my business. I 
also have a set of books I use for testing and demonstration.

You can set it up any way you want. It has a setup wizard that works well and 
you can set up anything from simple checkbook accounting to a set of corporate 
books. I don't recall that there is a non-profit option. It does have an 
invoicing system, but you do not need to use that to record income which can be 
assigned to any type of income or asset account you create such as 
Income=>Pledges or Income=>Cash Donations
etc. A pledge would be a form of receivable anyway so the matching entry for 
Income=>Pledges would be in Assets=>Accounts Receivable.

Sales is always one account for business income, but you can change the name to 
anything you want. An accountant would be able to advise you on the best 
structure for a set of accounts in a non-profit.

I use it on a Linux system.

I hope this helps.

On 06/21/2013 02:35 PM, Grawburg wrote:
> Anyone using GnuCash?  I am specifically interested in how it might be an alternative to Quickbooks for Nonprofits.
> It would be installed on a Linux and Windows XP machine.
> I am specifically interested in how it handles the receipt of non-sales money (i.e. donations). Regular Quickbooks
> treats everything as a sales receipt --- don't know how the version for Nonprofits does it.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Brian Grawburg
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
>
>
> *********************************************************
> David P. Both, RHCE
> Millennium Technology Consulting LLC
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