[ale] GNUCash "ecosystem?"

[Lightner, Jeff]

This link seems to have good information on a way of bringing payroll and other information into GNUCash.

http://www.packtpub.com/article/gnucash-payroll-management-depreciation-owners-drawing

Haven't done what it says myself (or worked with GNUCash for that matter.

Doing search for "payroll integration into gnucash" led to that link and others that I didn't examine.

As noted in a prior post payroll can be quite tricky owing to changes in tax laws (not just in federal but in state and local).   I worked at one company that gave up its own payroll development and chose to integrate a 3rd party to its GL/AP and other financial stuff just to avoid having to keep track of all that.





-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Derek Atkins
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 1:31 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] GNUCash "ecosystem?"

Hi,

On Mon, April 14, 2014 10:54 am, Ken Cochran wrote:
> Is/are there the likes of "apps" or "plugins" for GNUCash?
> Gosh I wish I could run it, but I need payroll.  Might could do that
> myself but I don't know how to "hook" into GNUCash.
> Any FAQs/docs?

GnuCash has a plugin mechanism and even sorta-kinda has an API, but it's more an internal API and not meant for "third-party" apps or plugins.  If you wanted to write something it's best to integrate it, instead of having it separate.  The GnuCash devs don't guarantee API stability.

FAQS/Docs are available at http://www.gnucash.org/ and http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/

> I might even be willing to pay for something/someone - beats spending
> what we're spending with Big-I/QB.  I'm sooo tired of being Part of
> the Wailing Masses suffering under Big-I bondage
> - they're worse IMO than M$ by far; I'm sure there's a Special Place
> In Hell just for them.

Unfortunately Payroll is a perfect example of a very complicated system.
You have so many deductions, withholdings, limits, etc that all interact with each other, and each locale has its own rules for how each item gets handled.  Doing that in a general way is nearly impossible, and keeping it up to date for every locale even moreso.

Yes, Payroll is an oft-desired feature in GnuCash, but I don't see it happening.  It hasn't happened in the past decade, and I don't see anyone stepping up to the plate to implement and donate it.  Personally if I were going to write it, I would ask for a subscription payment model if I were being expected to keep it up to date.

> Thanks, -kc

-derek

PS: I'm not sure why you're asking this on ALE instead of, oh, gnucash-user

--
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant

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