Hey madhadron, you sound like you understand bookkeeping. So I have a quick question. After using Mint (from Intuit) I have everything balanced & tagged and 99% automated. I have reports, ways to export, daily/monthly/yearly totals, breakdowns by types, handle liabilities & debts, i can project net, see assets over time, etc etc. Why wouldn't a business just use mint? After watching vidoes on GnuCash like you recommend - it is like watching someone make Mint by hand. When people out there get a check (income), do they open GnuCash and start typing stuff? Really?? Mint on the otherhand, detects the income by scanning all accounts, automatically categorizes it, etc etc.
GnuCash - I could see mistakes everywhere. I don't see how this is much different than what an accountant would do in 1740 england. Why not have it all automated -- with computers??
The way this is formulated it looks like an automated response from an advertisement bot.
Also you know that Mint is a proprietary company which keeps and uses your data as it pleases, right? That's a huge difference to any open source tool which allows you to keep your company's data inside your company. If it uses a good file format you can also automate everything if desired.
Second, Mint sadly is not supported in many countries. If you are in the US, fine. But if you are not, e.g. your corp has a shop in Germany, then you simply can't use it at all.
I think the basic idea though is the difference between the "pay someone else to solve your problems" vs "solve problems yourself" approaches/mindsets. Each of them has their clear advantages and disadvantages and I hope we don't have to reiterate them here.
Also, your company's accounting information can be sensitive, and hence you may not want to share that information with Intuit (and whoever they choose to share/sell it to).
> Mint on the otherhand, detects the income by scanning all accounts, automatically categorizes it, etc etc.
Does this mean that you literally hand over your online account log in details to Intuit? Or how is this "scanning" done?
> GnuCash - I could see mistakes everywhere. I don't see how this is much different than what an accountant would do in 1740 england. Why not have it all automated -- with computers??
What kind of mistakes were you noticing? (in the Youtube video below, I assume?)
"Does this mean that you literally hand over your online account log in details to Intuit? Or how is this "scanning" done?"
Yes. They use your banks credentials and scan the accounts. It is really awesome. Because you can centralize 20+ accounts into one flow in an automated fashion ++ you don't need a bookkeeper. Ironically, it is actually more secure since I can catch things within minutes.
"Also, your company's accounting information can be sensitive, and hence you may not want to share that information with Intuit (and whoever they choose to share/sell it to)."
Worse! Intuit does all my TAX RETURNS. Their tax system is absolutely worth it. I trust them more than "Jeff" at my local small bookkeeper firm. They handle a large percent of american's taxes. [Yes, yes I understand their lobbying is terrible].
Tax returns are generally a lot less sensitive than bank/credit card statements. Plus they have your plain text credentials too, so if they get hacked someone could transfer money out of your bank account.
And my understanding is generally that your bank will disclaim liability for any "fraud" that occurs due to you intentionally and willingly sharing your credentials.
Does this mean that you literally hand over your online account log in details to Intuit? Or how is this "scanning" done?
Yes, mint screen scrapes any bank that doesnt have an api. The sheer number of sites it works with is impressive. I have moved away from it, because if the security concerns, but I wish there was a self hosted open source solution that had connectivity into everything you could want.
GnuCash - I could see mistakes everywhere. I don't see how this is much different than what an accountant would do in 1740 england. Why not have it all automated -- with computers??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqAaScYVeRQ