TQ for the short comment. BTW, Peachtree in the box came with a Getting
Started and a User Guide book, so you are spot on. Out of curiosity, are
you a person with an accounting or systems background ?
Yes, the functions in LSMB is pretty advanced. I would rate LSMB as an
intermediate level application for SMB rather than SOHO.
For references, try looking up for Peachtree or Quickbooks books in your
library. Both are pretty good and highly rated in the market (except that
these are standalone, single site systems). Unfortunately the 'Dummies'
series on these systems are not well written.
There are few videos on Peachtree accounting :
http://youtu.be/OGJiJkAXp6k
http://youtu.be/4NiCvlYPP1g
Are these useful ? Sorry for these references to Peachtree, but looking at
it, I think LSMB has the potential to be a step up for users who have used
Peachtree before. The functionalities are there, just a little bit more
spit-and-polish ;-)
If you are interested in the bits and bytes, then a good reference would be
books on accounting / financial information systems (I had a good book but
misplaced it when I moved houses). Get a book with good flow chart and
includes sample diagrams of the forms eg quotation, invoices, etc. The book
I had, had a good explanation of journals. Will try to find it in the
bookstores later this month.
I dont recommend any books with the title how to develop an accounting
system. Looking at the codes in LSMB and learning how to create reports are
better routes to learning. Actually, learning how to amend the HTML
templates is a good starting point.
On Sun, Jun 3, 2012 at 11:27 PM, Tone Irene Andersen
<[email protected]>wrote:
> Hi.. I so agree with Raja. This is a very advanced system even for
> accountants. A good detailed Getting started section and explainations of
> everything is a good thing.
>
> PS: I still dont get the many of the words he explains in the mail so a
> good cleanup for “dummies” have to be a good thing, right?
>
>
> Mvh / Best Regards
>
>
> Tone Irene Andersen
>
> *From:* Raja Iskandar Shah <[email protected]>
> *Sent:* Sunday, June 03, 2012 5:09 PM
> *To:* [email protected]
> *Subject:* Re: [Ledger-smb-users] LedgerSMB book progress
>
> ok will do
>
> wrt to structure, normally the flow that i adopt when teaching Peachtree
> Accounting to accountants (this was 5 - 15 years ago)
>
> 1. Introduction, Basics and Quickstart
> 2. Accounting and General Ledger
> 3. Purchasing and Accounts Payable
> 4. Sales and Accounts Receivable
> 5. Inventory and Assemblies
> 6. Assets and Depreciation
> 7. Payroll and Timesheet
>
> my perspective then was the other end of the spectrum of matthew's
>
> 1. growing businesses (between 10 - 50 employees)
> 2. all were multi-users (having grown out from single standalone
> systems)
> 3. at least 1 user was someone with an accounting background
> 4. typically the 'developer' portion is outsourced... example creating
> new reports (eventhough peachtree came with it's own report writer and some
> version having crystal reports)
>
> therefore matthew's end of the spectrum is equally important
>
> for a start, it will be easier with just 1 document.
>
> as an alternative to the present accounting principles, perhaps a short
> chapter to explain that the accounts of a business is split into several
> parts:
>
> 1. assets - what is owned and owing to the business, including cash,
> equipment and debtors
> 2. liabilities - what the business owes to others, including creditors
> and bank borrowings
> 3. equity - the capital and profits (or loss) that is invested into
> the business
> 4. income - what you get for selling goods and services
> 5. costs - what is the direct cost of producing the goods and services
> 6. expenses - what you need to pay to keep the business going
>
> these parts are shown on 2 type of financial statements
>
> 1. balance sheet for assets, liabilities and equity
> 2. income statement for income, costs and expenses
>
> also some basic stuff about journals, debits and credits : usually i
> explain this through examples such as the following
>
> A Cash Sales transaction for $100
> DR Asset : Bank $100
> CR Income : Sales $100
>
> every transaction creates a journal that must have a matching total sum of
> debits and credits and these are recorded in the ledgers and summarised in
> the trial balance, the trial balance then makes up the financial
> statements. in an accounting system, these are all done for the user
> automagically in the database / background.
>
> matthew, would things like these be helpful for you to understand the
> chart of accounts ?
>
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 3, 2012 at 8:50 PM, Erik Huelsmann <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hi Raja,
>>
>> Thanks for taking the time to respond.
>>
>> imho, perhaps we can split this into 2 books ? 1 for accountants
>>> (section II) and another for admins and developers ? in my projects,
>>> typically i have 3 manuals : end user, administrator, and developers.
>>>
>>
>> While I completely understand the urge - I've even considered making each
>> part a separate book. However, I think as Matthew puts it very well:
>>
>>
>> I would also like to respond to the suggesting of splitting the book
>> up. I have no idea what the "typical" LSMB user's situation is, I will be
>> the administrator and the (only) end user for my LSMB system for the
>> foreseeable future, and I really like the idea of having a single book to
>> document all of what I need to know. Indeed, the title "Running Your
>> Business with LSMB" appeals to me because I also hope that it can evolve
>> into a book from which people like me can learn not only about this
>> software but about basic bookkeeping/accounting as well. (I've noticed
>> this already in the explanation which I've seen in the book of why it is a
>> bad idea to edit invoices.)
>>
>>
>> The audience of the book falls into multiple categories as you say:
>>
>> * admins
>> * developers
>> * accountants
>>
>> However, in a small and even a medium sized business, these are really
>> very likely to map to one and the same person. Additionally, that person
>> isn't very likely to have major accounting experience. Getting this kind of
>> person up to speed is the goal of "getting started". Once they're up to
>> speed, they should know enough to understand the remaining chapters
>> (mostly).
>>
>> The remarks such as those on the "editing of invoices" are targeted to
>> this group as well. I hope they're not in the way for more professional
>> readers.
>>
>>
>>> can i suggest that we rethink about chapter 3 ? particularly 3.2
>>> accounting principles.....
>>>
>>> i would like to give this a shot in writing for section II. i have a few
>>> accounting systems manuals lying around in the house.
>>>
>>
>> Sure! By all means! If you don't have time to write it, that's fine as
>> well: maybe you do have time to make more suggestions as to the structure
>> of the chapter?
>>
>> Anyway, I'm too busy writing the other chapters first, so please don't
>> feel pressured to come up with something too soon. When you're ready to get
>> started, please let us know (to avoid overlapping work being done).
>>
>> Thanks for taking the time to respond and thanks for the offer of writing
>> parts of the book!
>>
>> Bye,
>>
>>
>> Erik.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Live Security Virtual Conference
>> Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and
>> threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions
>> will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware
>> threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ledger-smb-users mailing list
>> [email protected]
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-users
>>
>>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Live Security Virtual Conference
> Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and
> threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions
> will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware
> threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
>
> ------------------------------
> _______________________________________________
> Ledger-smb-users mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-users
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Live Security Virtual Conference
> Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and
> threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions
> will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware
> threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
> _______________________________________________
> Ledger-smb-users mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-users
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live Security Virtual Conference
Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and
threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions
will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware
threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
_______________________________________________
Ledger-smb-users mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-users
