Comments on: Comparison of book-keeping systems

By: Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett — Sun, 27 May 2007 23:32:08 +0000

Steve – yes – I do have strong views borne out of years watching CAs dishing out poor advice and being incapable of communicating with business except in accounting speak.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 27 May 2007 22:56:41 +0000

Wow Dennis, you’ve got some pretty strong opinions there. I don’t generally dismiss the business needs of my clients as you mention — *they’re* the reason I’m in business.

By: Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett — Fri, 25 May 2007 23:37:42 +0000

I like to deal in accuracy and facts. When I’m wrong, I freely put my hands up. If you read my biog, you’ll see that I too have been around this business for many years.

Multi-currency is really simple – the ability (in this context) to specify any kind of currency the selling business chooses.

In an accounting application, it will (broadly) mean the ability to offer different currencies at invoicing and then handle the to the transaction according to IAS21. It’s not rocket science in most situations.

For most non-audited SMBs, IAS21 doesn’t usually apply so common sense should prevail.

There may of course be a special sales tax treatment to consider but that’s another story and does not necessarily impact the billing application or the accounts but is a matter of practicality.

The more substantive point is that most accountants seek a solution for themselves rather than to solve the business needs of their clients. That’s the direction I prefer to steer people which is why I discussed the topic in the manner in which I did.

By: Sanjay Kumar

Sanjay Kumar — Fri, 25 May 2007 23:17:12 +0000

I don’t mean to ruffle any feathers here and I suspect by the tone of your reply that you took offense to my comment. That wasn’t my intension.

Perhaps I don’t understand what you mean by “multi-currency” in the context of a billing application. I’ve been around accounting software for decades and when someone says “multi-currency”, certain functionality comes to mind, as it does with most other accounting professionals. What do you mean by it?

Btw, I don’t see my comment as specious. When I see something that does not appear to be correct, I speak up.

By: Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett — Fri, 25 May 2007 22:34:38 +0000

Thanks for your comments Sanjay but it is you who is in error.

Read again – it says in respect of FB and Blinksale ‘billing applications.’

And where do I mention double entry in that context? I expect professional accountants to be able to work that out for themselves. Presumably you don’t.

But to conclude, you don’t support multi-currency and as that appears to be a prime requirement, why did you bother bringing up these specious arguments?

By: Sanjay Kumar

Sanjay Kumar — Fri, 25 May 2007 21:47:29 +0000

This is not correct. Neither Freshbooks, nor Blinksale support multi-currency. They do, however, support the ability to select a currency symbol, but proper multi-currency requires a LOT more than that (i.e., the ability to bill a customer in another currency and account for it in your own.) Further, neither one is an accounting application, so throw out the double-entry bit as well.

FWIW, my company doesn’t support multi-currency either, and we don’t intend to. At least not for now.

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