Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Since you are reading this in a free magazine about Linux software, you are probably already interested in saving money. Not that saving money is very rewarding these days with interest rates having been cut close to zero and the rates paid on savings accounts plummeting further by the day. Consequently, this review is about a piece of financial accounting software with which you can track and monitor your bank account(s) and finances. While savings may not be that rewarding these days, as the old sayings go: “look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves” or “a penny saved is a penny earned”, hopefully this review might help you to get started on keeping track of your finances and saving a penny or two of your hard earned money too, if you are not already doing so. So assuming you are not already tracking your finances via a web site or your bank’s mobile phone app, then this piece of software called GNU Cash can help you do it on your PC or laptop. There is also an Android App, although I have not tried this as it is apparently just designed for recording transactions while you are out and about or away from home or the office, to allow for importing them into the main desktop programme. As this is not something I need to do, I haven’t tried it. I guess if you are a road-warrior who is away a lot, and has to keep track of and claim back expenses from your own credit card or bank account, then I guess that could be useful although I’m sure there are other apps too that can do that, or there may even still be real life secretaries or personal assistants to do that.
Comme vous lisez ceci dans un magazine gratuit sur les logiciels Linux, vous êtes probablement déjà intéressé par les économies d'argent. Pas parce que l'épargne monétaire rapporte beaucoup en ce moment avec des taux d'intérêt presque réduits à zéro et que, d'ailleurs, les intérêts payés sur les comptes d'épargne ont chuté. En séquence, cette critique est sur un logiciel de gestion financière avec lequel vous pouvez suivre et gérer votre (vos) compte(s) bancaire(s) et vos finances. Alors que l'épargne n'est pas bien récompensée ces derniers temps, comme le disent les vieux dictons : « Surveille les centimes et les euros se garderont eux-mêmes » ou « un centime économisé est un centime gagné », heureusement cet article pourrait vous aider à démarrer le suivi de vos finances et aussi à économiser un centime ou deux sur votre argent durement gagné, si vous ne le faites pas déjà.
Aussi, en supposant que vous ne suivez pas encore vos finances via un site Web ou une appli. de smartphone, alors ce logiciel appelé GNU Cash peut vous aider à le faire sur votre ordinateur de bureau ou portable. Il y a aussi un appli. Android, que je n'ai pas essayée car, apparemment, elle seulement conçue pour enregistrer les transactions quand vous êtes sorti ou loin de la maison ou du bureau, pour vous permettre de les importer dans le programme principal de l'ordinateur. Comme je n'ai pas besoin de le faire, je ne l'ai pas essayé. Si vous êtes un nomade souvent en déplacement, qui a besoin de garder une trace pour vous faire rembourser vos dépenses sur votre carte de crédit personnelle ou sur votre compte en banque, alors je présume que ça pourrait vous être utile, bien que je suis sûr qu'il y a d'autres applis qui peuvent le faire aussi, ou qu'il peut y avoir encore des vraies secrétaires ou assistantes personnelles pour le faire.
GNUCash is available across all major platforms. Indeed I first started using it back in 2009 on Windows, when Microsoft stopped supporting MS Money as it is a suitable replacement for that and other paid-for accounting software such as Quicken. I now use it on the the latest Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, having made the switch to Linux / Ubuntu back in 2011. As a popular piece of software, it is available in the Ubuntu Software Centre and I’m sure that other distros will probably also feature it. If not, you can read more about it and get a download relevant to your system at: http://www.gnucash.org/. Here you will find the latest version with other downloads available for the likes of Fedora, Mandriva, RedHat/Centos, as well as the latest version for Ubuntu, as the one in the Ubuntu Software centre is now slightly out of date. To be honest, it is perfectly fine to run this with an older version if it works for you, as it has been around for a long time and it tends to be pretty stable. If you want to be notified of and get the latest updates, I have found installing the getdeb repository a good way to keep this and many of your other debian-based programmes up to date. If you are on an LTS version of Ubuntu, they can become quite out of date over the years.
From the home page of GNUCash, you will also be able to see that it is available in a multitude of languages and comes with quite detailed instructions and FAQs. The main features of the program are: • Double entry bookkeeping • Cheque book style register • Scheduling of transaction • Statement Reconciliation • Reports & Graphs • Income & Expense Account Types • Stock & Fund Investments • Online Stock & Fund quote updates • Multiple currencies • Small Business Accounting • Import QIF files from Quicken and Intuit and OFX from banks
Things I have found useful I have tended to use it mostly to keep track of and reconcile my bank accounts and credit cards which is usually a good idea in this day and age of increased online fraud, etc. This may seem like a chore at first as you have to enter each transaction manually, but the programme does remember the categories and payees you use, so this gets quicker and easier as time goes by. The transaction scheduling is also a useful feature as it allows you to automate the entry of regular transactions, although I have found it hard from time to time to remember how to set these up as the top menus for doing it are not obvious… but right-clicking a transaction gives you that option directly which I have found to be the easiest way to set these up. After that, there is a future transaction editor which you can use to edit them. The ability to search for a transaction is a useful feature too so you can quickly see what you paid for your insurance last year, for example. I have also used the Investment functions to keep track of stock and fund holdings which is fine, if a little basic, and the pricing can be a bit tricky to set up as it requires Python I think. The setup should either detect and test this or allow you to download it if you say you require that feature. This then sources price data from the likes of Yahoo Finance and others relevant to your region. The update does require you to click a button to update the prices rather than being automatic – which some may find a bit lame, but useful if you only want month-end updates, for example to calculate your monthly performance. Consequently, I have now moved to tracking these with a spreadsheet and online – where price updates are much more immediate, and analysis of holdings can be more detailed.
Things I have not used or not found that useful Personally I have not had a need for multiple currencies, business accounting, or file and transaction import, although these may be useful to others – in particular if you can import transactions from your bank or credit card, this would help to offset the need to enter all your transactions manually. It may also be useful if you are switching from another package which offers the relevant file format to export your data. I have tried the reporting and budgeting features, but have not gone on to use them as I found the report outputs unwieldy and difficult to customize to my liking. While the budgeting also seemed a bit fiddly, I do not really need to budget, but it could be useful if you need to set one, but again, there are probably online resources and apps, or even a humble spreadsheet, which can do this for you and keep track of your spending in the same way that this programme can.
Summary & Conclusion GNUCash is an extensive piece of accounting software available for free; it’s been around for a long time and therefore tends to be stable and well documented and supported by its providers. Having used it myself for many years, I have come to rely on it for keeping track of my day-to-day finances, although I have moved away from it to spreadsheets and online resources to keep track of my investments. You may find it useful if you want to keep track of your finances and set a budget to improve your financial situation, and you are not willing or able to trust this data to a website or an app. It can also help you keep track of investments and even help you with accounting for a small business if you have one. Overall, I would give it 4 out of 5 Stars with the one star reduction being for some of the menus not being that easy to use and some of the other features like the reports and investment portfolio being a bit underwhelming, although maybe I have not used them enough to get the most out of them. So if you want or need to get your finances in order, then I would certainly recommend giving it a go. You might even find you are spending £40 a month on coffee which you didn’t realise and could potentially save for other things.