Hi Treasurers and other finance people, I realize that we had this discussion some months ago about accounting software. I just wanted to follow up by letting you know that Cascadia decided to go with Xero as we start. Your advice was helpful and I greatly appreciate it.
I hope to meet many of you at the Wikimedia Conference in Germany this year. Regards, Pine (now Executive Director for Cascadia Wikimedians User Group) On Aug 20, 2014 4:12 AM, "Richard Symonds" <richard.symo...@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote: > Hi Pine, > > I started off doing the accounts at WMUK several years ago and looked at a > fair few different systems, including open source. > > Initially we used Gnucash, I believe, but because no-one else used it - > including our auditors - it was not very useful when we needed to create > year end accounts. I also considered CiviCRM after viewing a talk from the > Swedish chapter in 2012. However, the talk was not encouraging - CiviCRM > needs a *lot *of work to be useable as an accounting system. I would not > therefore recommend Gnucash or CiviCRM or any other open source system: you > will find it almost impossible to find an accountant who uses them, and > also almost impossible to find a CiviCRM developer who is also an > accountant! Your auditors will not know how to use the data and will not > have the programs to access it, so in the end you will have to pay extra > for the "free" software. > > In short: open source programs are good for small charity accounts, but the > moment you start hiring staff (of any sort), or have fixed assets or > non-cash donations, the system does not scale and as a result you will > incur large overheads trying to get it to work. You might run into a > problem with CiviCRM if you need to generate invoices for a conference you > run in three or four years time - will your system be able to handle it, or > will you need to upgrade everything at much greater cost? > > We also looked at Quickbooks, Sage, and a few others. In the end, we picked > Sage - not because it was cheap, or because it was ethical - but because it > is the UK standard and practically all UK accountants know how to use it. > It has a huge support network, and it is scalable from a self-employed > person up to an organisation with many thousands of employees. Sage is not > used much in the USA though, so Quickbooks may be a better idea for you. > > My advice to you would be: > > - Plan for the future - ten year's time. Your solution needs to be > scalable with little fuss. > - Use something that has a proven track record - don't got for anything > like a startup, because you need it supported in future and you can't > take > the risk. > - Cloud-based is good, but the Treasurer really needs to understand > what's happening - things should go through him where possible. > - Don't be afraid to spend money if money needs to be spent. > - Don't be afraid to ask the WMF directly for their advice. They know > their stuff and it'd be good if your accounts were run on a similar > system > to theirs - cheaper in the long run, and you've got someone to turn to > if > it all breaks. > > I hope this helps! Feel free to drop me an email if you have any more > specific questions. > > > > > > Richard Symonds > Wikimedia UK > 0207 065 0992 > > Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and > Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered > Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. > United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia > movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who > operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). > > *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control > over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* > > > On 20 August 2014 10:57, Manuel Schneider <manuel.schnei...@wikimedia.ch> > wrote: > > > Hi Pine, > > > > you may want to evaluate CiviCRM. > > It is not perfect but supports accounting (rather than just recording > > donations as before) about a year. > > The advantage of CiviCRM is the fact that it integrates membership > > management, mailings, donors management and that it can be used > > centrally by all the committee members. > > > > The setup and customization is not so easy with CiviCRM but there are > > plenty of people in the movement who gathered some experience with that. > > > > /Manuel > > > > -- > > Wikimedia CH - Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens > > Lausanne, +41 (21) 34066-22 - www.wikimedia.ch > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
