shared API for double-entry accounting, treating it as a 'math' library.

Sat Jan 18 06:11:19 EST 2014

I am probably being dumb here, but in the context of an accounting system
what do you mean by a standard file format? Are we talking about reports?
In something like an office application an open standard document format is
obvious and critical. For an accounting system?

I read this http://npoacct.sfconservancy.org/UseCases/StorageAPI/ and it
seems somewhat naive from an accounting POV. It has a simplistic view of
what constitutes an accounting transaction (the bulk of transactions on
accounting systems will be neither payments or receipts) and also from the
need for a standard API for double entry bookkeeping. I am not sure who
would use such a thing. I can't imagine a use case where you would want the
front end of one system to talk to the back end of another, or am I missing
something?

Thanks
Tim

On 18 January 2014 10:07, Marc Paré <marc at marcpare.com> wrote:

> Hi Daniel et al,
>
> I am just catching up on the discussion. While I can't really comment on
> the technical aspects of the API, I would like to chime in on some of the
> points you raise.
>
> I also agree that we need to be sensitive from where accountants are
> coming; they are being taught in schools (whether high
> school/college/university levels) using tools that are thought of as being
> the most appropriate for their regions.
>
> Where I am hoping this project will go, is that somewhere along our
> concerted efforts to build our NPO accounting tool, that we will ultimately
> look at establishing a standard format with an eye on having it adopted as
> a universal file format for all others to adopt and help maintain. Of
> course it would have to be an opensourced format,  for which, if we are to
> consider it, already limits us -- XML, etc. ...
>
> At this point, now that the project has legs I also agree with Daniel that
> we should try to interest some international association that could be
> interested in maintaining the standard as an open standard as well as
> assure longevity to the format; or at least, that is what Daniel is
> suggesting. I for one put a lot of stock in the OASIS and its series of
> opendocument formats. As OASIS has support from many large opensource and
> NPO's, to me, would prove to our advantage to try to interest them in this
> particular project to see if they would be interested in helping document
> and adopt whichever format we decide on standardizing. If this were
> possible, we would a solid file format base to work from, and, protection
> from the OASIS group of the longevity of the file format.
>
> In short, I believe that at this point, we should be considering the
> assurance of the protection, longevity, standardization of whichever file
> format this project will adopt. Also consider if, whoever will champion
> this file format will have enough resources and industry partners to defend
> the format from any type of patent action assault. IMO, if we were to
> partner up with a group that specializes in opensource file formats such as
> the OASIS group, then, the file format will gain help from a group that is
> supported by many opensource and industry leaders, and also a group
> renowned for meticulous documentation of formats with the input of its
> stakeholder partners. Partnering with such groups will make for a more
> stable and dependable file format that could evolve in a more concerted
> effort by all of its stakeholders.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Marc
>
> [Disclaimer: I am part of the LibreOffice project -- marketing]
>
> Le 2013-11-15 13:56, Daniel Pocock a écrit :
>
>> It is also worth considering some other angles:
>>
>> - Somebody goes to school to learn book-keeping or accounting, usually
>> before they really know whether they will work for a small business, a
>> fund or NPO or whatever.  What system does the school teach with?  What
>> can they install at home to practice and improve their skills?  Which
>> free software projects could try to fill this gap?  Getting in at the
>> education stage is a very powerful way to raise the profile of free
>> software for financial purposes across the board.
>>
>> - as mentioned in my other email, how can products interact, e.g. using
>> cXML or something else to exchange invoices?
>>
>> - internationalization: many products have a focus on their local
>> market, e.g. Postbooks is strong for the US and European users have to
>> set up VAT codes manually.  Commercial vendors (e.g. Quickbooks) are
>> putting out products that work out of the box for local conditions (e.g.
>> automatically loading VAT codes in the UK, Australia, Canada and various
>> other places).  It is not really a question of language and date
>> formats, rather, it is about building up a collection of static data
>> such as tax rates and currency symbols.  Can this type of data be
>> gathered into a shared database that can be leveraged by all of the free
>> software solutions who want to provide plug-and-play support for
>> locales?  It would be silly for every free project to try and duplicate
>> this themselves.
>>
>> - industry associations: the financial profession and the NPO sector
>> have various industry associations, could they be encouraged to
>> participate in this effort, maybe forming an advisory board?  Could this
>> even help to find funding opportunities?
>>
>> - what we use ourselves: many free software developers and enthusiasts
>> are self-employed.  Many of us tend to patch and improve the software
>> that we use ourselves every day and so we get to know if very well.  The
>> same is true for financial software: if we can rally a lot of people
>> around a single product or a small group of products that they can use
>> for themselves, they will end up promoting those to other professionals
>> and businesses as well and it will gain further momentum.  If the
>> products in this pool are flexible and scalable enough then it meets a
>> diverse range of business requirements and that means more free software
>> enthusiasts are employed more of the time and there is a nice snowball
>> effect.
>>
>
>
> --
> Marc Paré
> Marc at MarcPare.com
> http://www.parEntreprise.com
> parEntreprise.com Supports OpenDocument Formats (ODF)
> parEntreprise.com Supports http://www.LibreOffice.org
>
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