50 Open Source Replacements for Popular Financial Software
Open source downloads for a wide array of financial tasks, from simple accounting to full business operations tracking.
Posted July 20, 2010
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Whether you just want to balance your checkbook or you need to track the finances of a large global corporation, you can find open source software to do the job. For our list of open source financial tools, we cast a wide net and included applications related to enterprise resource management, point-of-sale and even employee time tracking. Not to mention traditional accounting and financial management tools.
One trend worth noting -- a huge number of the open source tools on this list, particularly the business applications, are now available on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis. For businesses, this model seems to make sense, as it gives them access to support and reduces the need for in-house staff to deploy and monitor applications. It also enables a more mobile workforce and keeps costs low. And of course, this model is also great for open source vendors as it gives them another way to monetize their open source projects.
Without further ado, here are fifty open source applications that might be able to replace the financial software you currently use for your home or business.
Open Source: Accounting
Replaces: ,
Specifically designed to replace QuickBooks and Sage, TurboCASH offers a
on its Web site that let's you compare features. It's easy to setup, offers comprehensive reporting, and is one of the most robust accounting programs available for small business owners. Operating System: Windows
Offering some basic ERP functions as well as fairly advance accounting functions, FrontAccounting lets you access your books from any browser. Unlike most commercial Web-based accounting systems which store your data in the cloud, you'll need your own Web server in order to use FrontAccounting. Operating System: OS Independent
Replaces: ,
This Web-based accounting and ERP solution offers many advanced features, like sales forecasting, data backup, and bill pay, that cost extra with commercial products. It's also available as a hosted service in addition to the free version. Operating System: OS Independent
GnuCash offers a complete personal finance manager, as well as basic business accounting features best suited for very small businesses. It includes investment management and tracking capabilities, plus accounts payable, accounts receivable, invoicing, etc. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
Replaces: ,
Aimed at small to medium-sized organizations, FriFinaans offers a cross-platform, multi-user client-server based accounting system. It tracks accounts, debtors, creditors, products, and more. Operating System: OS Independent
Replaces: ,
Designed to be simple, osFinancials can be used by anyone. The basic software is free, but plug-ins and support are available for a fee. Note: because it is developed by a team in the Netherlands, a lot of the osFinancials Web site and documentation is in Dutch, but English is also available. Operating System: Windows
Open Source: Billing
Although it offers special features for telecom providers, jBilling can be used by any subscription-based service to track and bill customers. Because it uses a rules engine, it adapts as your business changes, and it's much easier than creating your own in-house solution. Operating System: OS Independent
Open Source: Budgeting and Forecasting
Replaces ,
The "leader in on-demand budgeting, forecasting, and reporting solutions," Adaptive Planning software hopes to move enterprises off spreadsheets to its more adaptive and responsive budget planning and forecasting. In addition to the free open-source version, it's available in Corporate and Enterprise Editions, with all the flavors also available on a software-as-a-service model. Operating System: Windows, Linux
Open Source: Business Intelligence (BI)
Replaces , , ,
Calling itself the "most widely used open source business intelligence," the Jaspersoft Business Intelligence Suite contains modules for reporting, data analysis, data integration and dashboards. It's available in three versions: the free community edition and the paid professional and enterprise editions. Operating System: OS Independent
Replaces , , ,
Like Jaspersoft, Pentaho also claims to be the leader in open source business intelligence. It includes five modules for reporting, analysis, dashboards, data integration and data mining, and it's available in on-demand and commercially supported versions, as well as the free community version. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
Replaces , , ,
While not quite as robust as either the open-source or commercial apps above, Palo provides excellent tools for financial reporting, analysis and planning. It's available either as an Excel add-on or as a complete Web-based suite. Operating System: OS Independent
Replaces ,
Java-based JMagallanes lets users create charts and tables from a wide variety of data sources, including SQL, Excel, XML, and other file types. It's not as advanced as the other business intelligence tools in this list, but is fairly easy to use. Operating System: OS Independent
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Getting Started with Big Data
A panel of Big Data experts talks about how businesses can select a Big Data solution that best suits their needs.Have your personal finances become overgrown?
No matter what you do you can not
get a handle on
your personal finances.
Do you have a hard time keeping track of all of your banking and investment accounts?
Are you overwhelmed with all of the financial information you hear every day and ?
Have you ever thought about pruning your personal finances to help them grow?
According to Wikipedia:
Pruning is the practice of removing unwanted portions from a plant, but may also refer to:
Pruning (algorithm), a method of simplification of a decision tree
Pruning (microeconomics), the removal of “excess” items from a budget
Pruning your personal finances will help you get rid of the unnecessary or excess
that make your personal financial life more complex than it needs to be.
Pruning will help your personal finances grow and expand as well as help you
simplify your financial life.
So what should I prune?
Here are four things you can prune in your financial life to help you simplify your financial life and reduce your financial stress:
Prune your accounts
A simple easy way to simplify your finances is to prune your banking account and investment accounts. Do you really need more than one or two bank accounts?
Think about the time you would save by not having to keep track of multiple bank accounts.
Reducing the number of accounts you have enables you to do a better job of tracking your spending and savings.
Reduce your investment accounts.
Do you really need multiple brokerage accounts with similar assets in them?
Consolidate them into one account if you can.
You may not be able to combine
some retirement accounts.
But the ones you can combine its worth combining. Having less accounts enables you to monitor your assets and have a better understanding of your overall investment performance of your assets as well as overall asset allocation.
Prune your financial information
Where do you receive your financial information from magazines, news, radio, or your financial advisor?
Receiving multiple messages from multiple sources can be overwhelming at times.
Many times you are not sure what advice to follow.
The best way to reach your goals and objectives you set is to limit your information or trim back the sources of information you receive.
Find a few of sources of information you find reliable and that fit within the goals and objectives you set out to achieve and stick to them.
By doing this you are able to process less information and then make quicker decisions that help you accomplish your goals and objectives.
Prune your debt
Is your debt holding you back? Do you feel tied down and unable to move forward because of the amount of debt you have.
Develop a plan to reduce or eliminate your debt.
You have to find a debt reduction system that works best for you. The quicker you prune your debt the quicker you will be able to grow financially and increase your net worth.
Prune your spending
Are you spending more then you earn each month?
Are you living pay check to pay check each month wondering where your money has gone?
Review your spending and determine where you can cut back.
If you do not have one put a budget in place.
There are many you can use to started. Reducing your spending will enable you to have some extra cash at the end of each month which you can use to save or can be used to reduce your debt.
By pruning these four components of your financial life you will be able to improve your personal finances as well as create a simplified financial lifestyle.
So take action now by reviewing your existing accounts, debt, spending, and financial information sources.
WHAT AREA OF YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE DO YOU NEED TO PRUNE?
If you enjoyed this post please share it with others by tweeting it on Twitter, sharing on Facebook or pinning it on Pinterest.
If you are looking for some quick easy steps to simplify your finances, sign up for my weekly newsletter which offers steps to help you simplify as well as receive a free e-book which provides 9 Simple Steps to Help you Simplify Your Finances in 30 day.
Take one step at a time to simplify your finances.
Til next time have a great week.
If you want to simplify your personal finances make sure your covered. What I mean by this is you want to make sure you have the appropriate amount of insurance coverage. You do not want to be left standing naked when a medical, natural disaster, or other financial situation occurs which can place a significant financial burden on you.
Often times we may cut corners or look for cheapest insurance coverage.
This results in not have
proper insurance coverage because we say hey its not going to happen to me. But you never know its always better to be prepared for the situation than unprepared. Think of it this way can you afford to rebuild your home if it was significantly damaged without having adequate insurance coverage? Probably not. So why put your financial future at risk to save a few extra bucks each month.
Here are a few steps for you to take to make sure you are not left standing financially naked:
Annually review your insurance policies
Dust off that old policy to determine the amount of coverage you have as well as determine what is covered.
Have you purchased an insurance policies and never reviewed the policy until you needed to place a claim and then find out what you thought was covered is not covered.
Often you may have established your policy several years ago and your financial situation was different than it is today. So remember to review your policies to understand your coverage and make sure you have adequate coverage.
Review your deductible
Know your deductible amount and make sure it is adequate. An easy way to lower your lower insurance bill is to increase your deductible or reduce the amount of coverage you carry on the policy. Before you decide to increase your deductible consider the impact this can have on your financial situation. Yes it can lower your monthly or annual payment but what will happen when you need to file a claim will you have the funds to cover the repairs. For example, you may be able save money by increasing your deductible from $1,000 to $2,000 but do you have the additional funds saved in your emergency fund if something does occur. Look at the worse case and if your able to cover yourself without putting yourself in a significant financial burden if something does occur go for it. Just think before you do something just to save a few bucks each month.
If you do decide to increase your deductible to save each month consider put the additional saving in your emergency fund. The long-term consequences can be more damaging than the short-term relieve you will receive.
Financial stability of insurance company
How stable is your insurance company will the company be able to cover your claims. From year to year the financial stability of your insurance company can change which may impact their ability to pay your claims. What you don’t want to happen is your insurance company to go out of business when you need them. Trust me it does happen. Luckily, my claims were paid. So check on your insurance company’s rating to find out their financial situation.
Adequate coverage
Review your current financial situation and determine your appropriate coverage. For example, has your home increased in value and you may need to increase the coverage. Have you made improvements or additions to your home which were not originally covered. Do you have significant cash or emergency fund to cover a higher deductible or do you need to lower your deductible due to lack of cash reserves. Do you have additional drivers in your household and need to review your current auto insurance.
You have a new addition to the family and you need to review your medical coverage. Make sure you are covered for your current situation. What was sufficient last year or several years ago may not be sufficient coverage today.
Make sure you coverage meets your current needs.
Pay your premium on time
One of the worse feelings is finding out your insurance has been dropped because you did not pay your premium on time. Most insurance policy premiums have 30 day grace periods, which allows you to pay your premium within 30 days of its due date. However, if you forget to pay it within those 30 days you could be dropped and it is possible you may have to wait 30 days or longer to be reinstated. This means you will not be covered during this period so you may want to cross your fingers and hope nothing happens during that time. An easy solution to this is to set up an automatic debit from your bank account to pay the premium or have the premium automatically charged to your credit card.
Here are six insurance policies depending on your situation you should consider so you are not left standing financially naked:
1) Homeowner’s / renter’s insurance
2) Medical insurance
3) Car insurance
4) Natural disaster insurance
5) Life insurance
6) Disability insurance
If you want to live a simple financial lifestyle take action now by reviewing your existing insurance coverage to make sure your adequately covered so your not left standing financially naked wondering what to do now or how am I going to pay for
When was the last time you reviewed your insurance policies to make sure your coverage is adequate for your current financial situation?
Til next time take it one step at a time to simplify your finances.
If you enjoyed these tips and would like to manage your finances better, sign up for Simple Financial Lifestyle newsletter for more great ideas and tips to simplify your finances.
Do you know how financially healthy your finances are? Do you know what numbers can help you determine your financial health?
There are four numbers you can calculate to help you determine your financial health. Similar to a health check knowing these four numbers will help you improve your financial life as well as help you simplify your finances.
So you ask what numbers will help determine my financial health. Here are the four numbers you should monitor regularly to help you simplify your finances no matter how unhealthy they may look at first.
What is my net worth? How do I calculate it?
Your financial net worth is simply your financial assets minus your financial liabilities. Knowing your net worth is an excellent way to measure your financial health. Calculating your net worth will help you track your financial progress from year to year or from month to month.
When you calculate your net worth you want this number to be positive not negative. If you have a negative net worth this is an indication you have more liabilities/debts than assets. So review your liabilities to see what liabilities you can reduce to show a positive net worth. A simple way to improve your net worth is by reducing your debt and accumulating appreciating assets.
Debt to Income
What is my debt to income and why is it important? Debt to income measures the amount of income you earn versus the amount of debt you have outstanding. It’s another good indicator of your financial health.
You calculate it by totaling up all of your monthly debts then dividing it by your income. Using your net income is a more accurate calculation because it is the actual amount you take home which is available to service your debt.
The lower number means your finances are health and indicates low amounts of debt. A high number will indicate a high level of debt. A healthy debt to income number would be less than 35%. As you reduce your debts this number will be lower.
Credit Score
The next number you should know to help you gauge your financial health is your credit score. Your credit score determines your credit worthiness which is based on your history of managing to payment of your bills in a timely manner.
Credit score can range from low 400s to mid 800s. Here is a break down:
o Excellent credit score 720 and above
o Good credit score 719 to 680
o Average score 679 to 620
o Poor score 619 to 580
Maintaining a good to high credit score has its financial benefits because you will usually receive better interest rate as well as financing terms when you are financing a purchase. This will save you money long term.
When you have a low score you may not be able to obtain financing or offered a higher rate and less favorable terms. Knowing your number helps you during financing process because if you have a good score you can use to your advantage.
If you have a low score, it will not be a surprise if the terms are not favorable.
Obtaining a copy of your credit report along with your credit score is the best way to determine why your score may be low. There are several reason why you may have a low score. When you obtain your report review to make sure the information is accurate and then look to see what can be done to improve your score.
Yes you may save some money. But do you know what percentage of your income you actually save annually?
Having a healthy savings has significant benefits and is another indication of your financial health. Calculating your saving percentage is simply dividing your gross income by your savings amount. When calculating your total saving take into consideration the amount you saving for retirement, emergency fund and any other general savings.
Knowing your financial numbers will help you simplify your finances. So take action by determining your:
Debt to Income
Saving Percentage
Credit Score
Setting a goal to improve your just one of these number will help obtain the financial life you desire. Once you work to improve one of your numbers the others are likely to improve as well.
So which number will you work to improve so your finances can become healthier?
As the holiday season quickly approaches, now is the time of year we maybe tempted to take one of those financial teasers as we shop.
We all see them and we are all tempted by them. But in order to simplify your personal finances you must
and avoid falling for the trap.
Financial teasers are incentives which are offered to entice us to open a new account.
Financial teasers are everywhere from your banks offering higher interest rate for limited time for deposit accounts to department store offering zero interest for several months when you apply for their credit card.
These financial teasers are usually for a limited time to get you to sign up hoping you will remain a customer for a long time.
Before you agree to accept their offer ask yourself:
financial product such as an additional savings or checking account?
Will I consolidate my existing account to this one account?
Determine how this financial teaser will benefit you in the long-term not just the short-term. If the offer does not have long term and short term benefits, you should look to see if this offer fits within your financial goals and objectives and what other benefits will it have on your financial life.
Here are some of the most common financial teasers you will see and you should approach with caution:
The Irresistible Rate Offer
Financial institutions often offer special interest rates on saving and checking account and to entice you to open a new account. But how long will you receive the special interest rate and what do you plan to do with the funds when the intro rate has expired. Consider do you really need another account because many times these offers or only for new customers. Does this offer fit within your other financial goals. Will you receive notification that your intro rate has expired or do you have to set up a reminder? Do not just accept a great rate offer unless there are other significant benefits to you as well.
The No Fee Option
Often to get you in the door fees will be waived for a period of time. Before you accept this offer consider how long will your fees be waived. What are the usual fees associated with this product or service? Will I use this product if I had to pay the fee? In addition to these questions, you should consider do you have to call and cancel the service or return the product so fees are not charged to you if you do not want the service or product.
The Free Gift
Financial teasers are gifts for signing up for a credit card or opening a particular type of account. Think about it are you just signing up for the credit card or new account just for gift. What is the gift really worth? There are usually strings attached for example if you sign up for a new credit card just for the gift think about how this credit card could impact your credit score even if you do not use the card. Also determine if you will be charged any fees for openning the account which may equal the cost of the gift you received for free. If you received a gift and plan to closed the account soon after make sure there are no penalties for closing the account or period that the account must remain open. It is sometimes easier to just say no. The simple free gift could turn out to be more hassle than its worth.
Rewards Points
Have you ever signed up for a credit card just because of the rewards program. Rewards card can be great to have but consider the quality of the card not just the rewards it offers. How does this reward card compare to your current card? For example, you just signed up for this great reward card but come to find out the interest rate is twice what your other cards offer plus there is an annual fee in addition to the higher interest rate. Make sure the rewards are not the only reason you have signed up for the card.
So next time you are tempted by one of these financial teasers think before you decide to take the offer. The offer may cause you more stress than its worth. So consider all factors before you say yes to the next financial teaser you see especially around the holiday season when teasers are all around.
By not accepting these offers you may miss out on a short term benefit but in the long term you will not have an additional account you do not need or gift you did not use.
Yes, I am aware it is only October.
The temperature is beginning to drop and leaves are beginning to change depending on where you live.
It also means you only have about 13 more weeks before Christmas is here.
But that is more than enough time for me to purchase gifts and decorate the house.
Right? Yes it is but now its time to turn your attention to your Christmas budget before you make those purchases.
If you have not done so already.
By focusing on your Christmas budget it enables you to plan your finances for Christmas as well as helps you prevent that Christmas money hangover in January.
We have all experienced the post Christmas money hangover before when you receive your credit card bills and wonder how and why did I spend so much money.
It may have felt great while you were shopping before Christmas but it catches up with you in January.
If you spend more than your finances can handle it may have .
So here are 4 things you can do now to avoid having that Christmas money hangover in January.
It will make your holidays less stressful.
Pre budget planning
First step is to set a budget,
But if you don’t do a little pre-budget planning and consider the all expenses you will occur during the holidays you will probably bust your budget and end up spending more then you anticipated.
You do not want to bust your budget and then end up adding more debt to your balance sheet.
By doing some pre budget planning, you can then put together a realistic budget for yourself and hopefully stick to it.
You should list all of the possible holiday expenses you may incur during the upcoming holiday.
The obvious budget items will be the gifts you plan on purchasing which will probably be your largest expense.
However, there are other expenses you may overlook and not consider.
Here are a few others which you want to take into consideration:
New Christmas decorations for you home.
(We always seems to buy something new every year and don’t forget the cost of your tree)
Holidays cards
Wrapping paper (Maybe you are an after Christmas sale person like us and have already purchased these)
Food for holiday parties or family gatherings
Set your budget
Now that you considered what expenses you will incur during the holidays now is time to set a realistic budget.
Set a budget for each of the categories of expenses you expect to incur during the holidays.
Hopefully you have budgeted for a portion or maybe all of your upcoming Christmas expenses. If not ask yourself how much am I willing to spend or how much can I afford to spend without adding additional debt to my balance sheet.
You do not want to put it on credit card that you are not able to pay off in January.
Remember you are trying to avoid that post Christmas hanger over.
Here are few tips to .
Setting a goal to have all of your shopping completed by specific date.
This will help you avoid those last minute shopping trips which usually cause us to overspend because we are usually rushing to make those purchases and do not always think about the budget.
It also causes more stress then you need to put on yourself.
So getting your shopping done sooner than later is better for you and your budget.
Track your process
Do you go shopping and forget to purchase a gift for someone?
Do you forget how much you already spent on a gift for someone?
or Do you forget who you purchased a gift for? I know I forget some of these while I am shopping.
Instead of trying to remember everything you have purchased and how much you have already spent, establish a tracking system.
A tracking system will help you track all of your purchases you have made and track how much you have spent.
This will help keep you on budget.
Do not forget to also keep track other holiday related purchases to stay within the budget you set.
There are a few apps to help with this so you can take your track system on the go and update as you are making purchases.
Doing these simple action steps now will hopefully prevent you from experiencing post Christmas financial pain and frustration when you realize you have spent more than you planned and don’t have in January.
It will only add to your stress levels which is not a good way to start the new year.
If you do overspend have a plan to pay it off as quick as possible so it does not linger and become a long term financial issue.
a plan in place will help you simplify your holiday spending.
What do you do to help you avoid the post Christmas financial hangover?
Til next time take one step at a time to simplify your finances.
PHOTO CREDIT: Copyright:
In my recent post
, I discussed how if you are looking to simplify your finances you can not just look at the rate you will receive.
You have to ask yourself a few questions before you open the new account.
If you open a new account just to receive a better rate you may end up with more accounts then you really need.
This could lead to your finances getting out of control because you have more accounts than you can realistically manage.
Every so often I will receive offers from various service providers that offer services at a lower rate than I am currently paying.
I am sure you receive these offers as well.
When you receive a better rate from another provider why not do a little comparison shopping to see if the services are similar to what you are currently receiving.
Instead of going through the hassle to make the switch to another provider reach out to your current bank, credit card company, mortgage company or other provider to see if they are willing to match or improve the offer you received from competitor.
Its unlikely that your current provider would reach out to you to inform you about a better rate or offer they are currently offering.
Since you are a current customer there is no incentive for them to improve or change your current pricing or offering.
But if you reach out to inform them you have received a better offer, they now have an incentive and reason to possibly match or improve your rate or services.
They may not want to lose you as a customer.
If they are willing to match the rate or improve your current service, it will save you the hassle of changing providers as well as saves you some money.
I recently experienced this when I changed internet and security system providers to save money.
I checked with former providers prior to switching services and they gave me their standard pricing.
However when I called to
cancel my services both were willing to offer better or matching deals.
However, it was to late then the new company had already installed the new equipment and was providing service.
Pricing was not my only reason for changing the services.
I also was looking to consolidate providers which means instead of two bills to pay and keep track only have one now.
I was also able to save on my monthly bill and upgrade my services by doing this.
Instead of waiting for an offer consider doing a little research on your own to improve pricing or services.
Here are a few providers that may consider matching an offer from another provider:
Insurance Provider
Maybe month or two before your home and car insurance policies come up for annual renewal why not reach out to one or two other providers to obtain quote for similar coverage.
This way when you receive your renewal notice you will know what other providers are quoting for a similar coverage.
If the renewal is higher than what you have received from other providers, you can always go back to current provider to see if they would match the rate you received from other insurance agencies. Being a little proactive is always good.
If you are considering buying a new home or refinancing existing mortgage, call other mortgage companies to receive a few mortgage quotes.
Then you can reach out to your current mortgage company to see if their rates are in line with the other companies are offering.
They probably would not want to lose the mortgage so why not see if they can improve rate on a new mortgage or refinance.
Here are a few other providers who may consider matching a competitors rate if you ask:
Phone services
Security system
Internet provider
Gym membership
Can you think of any other providers that may consider matching the rate of another provider?
Asking current provider to match competitors rate or offer is great way you can simplify.
Instead of spending time making the change you can ask for match and receive it then your existing provider must make the adjustment to the bill.
You only have to make sure the adjustment was made.
If you have to switch you probably have to complete new paperwork, schedule time for service to be installed.
It never hurts to ask.
You never know they may say yes but you have to take action by asking.
Til next time take one step at a time to simplify your finances.
Copyright:
by B Simple
& We make financial decisions all of the time.
Are you making your financial decision solely on the rate that you will receive? Are you considering other factors when making financial decisions?
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& I will attend FinCon 14 this week.
I can’t wait. I have heard many great things about the conference and look forward to attending.
This will be my first year attending the conference.
If you have not heard about FinCon, it a conference for the financial media.
This is the 4th year for the conference.
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