Comment on 'Maybe' financial tracker shuts down, releasing a final v0.6.0
napkin2020@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks agoNot sure what you are trying to say. There’s little point to simply keeping records in a plaintext file, but that’s not what PTA is about.
It’s about using plaintext files that can work with various tools, such as ledger, hledger, or beancount, all capable of generating relevant reports and more, all while being able to edit/automate easily because, well, they’re just text files.
Also, the more automation you do the more you can focus on actual analysing your finances which can help you improve.
I’m sure every other tools like this can handle automation very well but provided that you are capable of writing scripts and stuff, PTA is much more versatile and it can work for you better.
Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
They are calling what is basically bookkeeping accounting which is incorrect. Bookkeeping is the act of doing the administration, creating reports etc. Accountants do audits, make actual annual reports and other things more along those lines.
Why would I need a script to automate my bookkeeping? Nearly every software has the ability to connect to your bank. Actual Budget and Firefly III both do it through GoCardless and nearly every software I have worked with both personally and proffesionally has the ability to make rules that say that transactions to say Shell need to be processed to “gas costs” or whatever you want.
I understand that you want more versatile bookkeeping and it sounds nice in theory, but in my experience working in the field with a lot of different software is you don’t want to much freedom in the bookkeeping itself. If there is a payment that is done form the bank it should be something debit and bank credit for that same amount and the bank credit part should never change.
Some of the best software solutions are once with automatic bank connections, OCR/AI recognition software for purchase invoices and where the whole sales process can be connected to automated sales bookkeeping. There are few who do all of this, and a lot of them don’t support fringe solutions like automatically calculating the Dutch margeregeling for second hand products.
I am all for more open source and free bookkeeping software, but I am missing more software with immutable bank connections f.e. If my banks sens a file to the software containing 11 transactions I want my software to process those 11 transactions exactly like they are on the sheet. This reduces the daily/weekly/mostly reconciliation almost entirely.