[Hidden-tech] QuickBooks help needed

[Mark Bucciarelli]

On Fri, Nov 10, 2006 at 02:49:11PM -0500, Matt Lampiasi wrote:
> Sounds cool, unfortunately for me, (and you know I'm an open
> source zealot) QB is one of those killer apps that keeps me
> windows based. QB's can do pretty good exporting if you
> (ka-ching) upgrade to the (ka-ching) higher level versions with
> more (ka-ching) features.

Ah, didn't know that.  I just see lots of people posting on the
Sql Ledger mailing list asking how to get data out of QuickBooks.

I'm curious, what does the version cost that gives you the
ability to export transactional data?  

And are you sure you can export the full general ledger and chart
of accounts, and not just the customer or vendor list?

> I'm no expert at it by any means (accountant gets a lot of
> emails), but in fact, the reason I chose it was because of the
> interoperability factor: every account in the world has
> quickbooks. 

You only need three reports to do your taxes: two balance sheets
and an income statement.  My accountant has been very happy the
the reports I provide--my returns are easy money for him.

Granted, that probably is true because I like accounting, but the
point I am trying to make is that with a good chart of accounts
it doesn't matter what tool you use.

BTW, the other cool thing about SL is that it is web-based [1].
People find the idea of web-based accounting software strange,
but I find have found it to be useful.  Reports are in PDF and
it's tightly integrated with email, so there is no software to
install or upgrade.  I can access my books from anywhere, and I
can give my accountant access to my books and he can log on from
where ever he is.  If I'm on the road and need to get a quote
out, look up an account history, do a price check, or lookup a
mailing address, no problem--I can do it from anyplace that has
an internet connection and a browser.

m

[1] Yes, you can make this secure.