[Finance] Introductions?

[SkyDog]

I'm Trevor a.k.a. SkyDog from the Hacker Consortium in Nashville, TN. 
I'm the President, and Seeblind, our Vice President and temporary 
Treasurer is on here also. I don't want to steal his thunder by telling 
our processes at the moment, but we had a M$ box set up with Terminal 
Services and M$'s free accounting package. The person in the treasurer 
position wanted to use an open source package, and would not touch a M$ 
program. I think that deciding on a package and sticking with it is key 
to good recordkeeping. The hard part is that it's hard to know what to 
use up front, and sometimes it's easier to just throw it in excel or 
GoogleDocs and run with it. Maybe this list can help the new groups to 
get started on the right foot.

Past that, I'm tickled that someone setup this list, and that we're able 
to discuss finances on it. Looking forward to hearing from everyone!

-Sky

On 7/12/2010 11:30 PM, Ben Brown wrote:
> Haven't seen anything on here yet despite the two-dozen people
> subscribed, so perhaps introductions are in order?
>
> I'm Ben, hailing from the Kwartzlab hackerspace in Kitchener, Ontario.
> I've been the treasurer there since it's founding last July (So far so
> good though!)
>
> My big tip (from talking with frustrated treasurers) is to use a REAL
> accounting package -- with good reporting! Google Docs/OO Calc/Excel
> just doesn't cut it. We use a donated copy of Quickbooks. Yes, it's a
> proprietary, Windows-only hellspawn (Don't even get me started on the
> company behind it) but it generates any report you could ever want,
> takes care of most of the mundane tasks (that a spreadsheet can't solve)
> and should you ever need to see a book-keeper or accountant, you'd be
> hard-pressed to find one that isn't at all familiar with it (at least in
> North America). I've also heard some good things about LedgerSMB if
> you're on the open source-only kick, but don't expect to find local
> support for it.
>
> Other than that, If anyone has questions or comments about the
> intricacies (idiocy) of Canadian finances, collecting ridiculously high
> federal taxes etc, let me know!
>
> Cheers!
>
> Ben Brown
> Treasurer, Kwartzlab Society Inc.
> http://www.kwartzlab.ca
>
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