A quick introduction to accounting and the free software solutions available in Debian. This is a broad overview covering solutions for personal finances, freelancers, small businesses and non-profit organizations. The talk will include a demo of some of the more advanced solutions included in Debian, the Postbooks and Tryton ERP systems, both of which have features like multi-user and multi-currency support and a full SQL backend. This talk will show how free software solutions can do everything that is possible with proprietary software like Quickbooks and Sage while also giving the user more control of the underlying data and unlimited flexibility to adapt the system to meet future requirements. Many small businesses start out using a minimal solution to avoid up-front costs but then experience significant effort migrating all their data to the system they should have chosen in the first place. As free software doesn't have an up-front cost, businesses are free to choose the solution most suitable for their long term needs and grow into it even if they don't use many of the features in their first year of trading.
Speakers: Daniel Pocock