How Does Your Business Manage Payroll?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| dcparris Apr 03, 2007 6:58 AM EDT |
If your business uses GNU/Linux primarily, how are you handling payroll? Which hardware, software, outsource vendors and other tools do you use? If you're not using GNU/Linux for payroll, why not? What challenges would you need to overcome to manage payroll with GNU/Linux? Is migrating your accounting/payroll systems to GNU/Linux a high priority? LXer might contact you via our private message system to follow up with you about your response. D.C. Parris Editor-in-Chief |
| NoDough Apr 03, 2007 10:15 AM EDT |
Don, You may want to call Ernie Ball http://www.ernieball.com/ They've been a Linux shop for quite a few years now. |
| alc Apr 03, 2007 10:19 AM EDT |
We're concrete/masonry contractors. At the moment we're using QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions: Contractor Edition. During the peak season we have anywhere from 70 to 150 people on payroll. Never less than 40,even when it's slow. I would never under any circumstance use a payroll service.One person can have payroll done in one 8 hr. day.This includes putting the different classes of workers where they should be when it comes to paying workers comp.But even if it wasn't for the cost savings that we get doing it in house,I still would not outsource this.If you're giving your hours to a company so they can write checks for you,and that's all you're doing,then you're not tracking your jobs.(Remember,this is for a construction company.Not all people need to track their jobs like we do.)If you are tracking your jobs,and watching where every penny goes,then writing out a check for payroll won't be that big of a job for you. We only do commercial work.99% of the people that we do work for will not take workers comp from these payroll services.Read the fine print about what they really cover and you'll understand why. I haven't run across any Linux programs that will come close to what we need.Right now we use Linux for the server and open office for the computers that run windows.(win 2k)The rest of what we do can be run on Linux only machines. We're getting to the point that we need to move up to some way more expensive software and I don't see any windows relief in sight.I don't have a problem paying for software that does what I need it to do.We're paying for it anyway .My feeling is that someone like IBM needs to start backing accounting software for Linux.They are probably one of the few companies that have the financial resources for this.This is the only way that companies like Intuit are going to start making their stuff compatible for linux. Right now I doing some testing with VMware.This looks like it might be the best solution for our situation. |
| jimf Apr 03, 2007 11:24 AM EDT |
I used to use MS Access to develop all sorts of business data apps, including accounting, for small (30-40) man Companies. This allowed a highly customized application for the companies needs. Now, Access wouldn't be applicable for anything larger, as it's not extensible, but, it worked just fine for a smaller outfit. In Linux, knoda with a mysql or postgres back end would (at least theoretically) handle about any size and complexity. It's not really 'difficult' to develop and link the database, queries, forms, and reports. Those databases will easily handle the calculations, and knoda uses python to extend the capabilities. The problem is that it takes many many hours to do it, and someone who knows what they're doing in both sql and python. Of course the advantage is that you get something specifically tailored to your operation. |
| CMatters Apr 03, 2007 1:56 PM EDT |
Helios used to tout a SOHO Linux accounting package on his old website. It looked a lot like Quicken or Quickbooks. It was a commercial app but I can't remember the name of it. I scanned through Lobby4Linux and couldn't find any mention of it. Perhaps Helios can weigh in and share that name with you? Sorry. |
| dcparris Apr 03, 2007 2:04 PM EDT |
That might have been Appgen's MyBooks, which I mentioned in the article. My point is to find out how Linux-using businesses currently handle payroll. Kind of like a poll/survey. It's starting to look like no one other than alc does payroll. |
| CMatters Apr 03, 2007 2:05 PM EDT |
It just hit me like a ton of bricks... Turns out it was AppGen's "MyBooks". For some reason I thought they went under but I see DC talked about it in his article. |
| CMatters Apr 03, 2007 2:07 PM EDT |
Well.. I started on the trek about two years ago to find an accounting package. The bottom line is I never found one. Since I have small practice, it isn't a big deal. I keep manual ledger. Yes, M-A-N-U-A-L! And people say I am old fashioned. |
| dcparris Apr 03, 2007 2:44 PM EDT |
Wow. That's actually all I can say. Wow. :-) |
| Sander_Marechal Apr 03, 2007 3:22 PM EDT |
I actually spotted a newly released SOHO/personal finiance packages released for Linux a few days ago, but I didn't add it to LXer because it was closed software. Ofcourse, now I can't find the link anymore :-/ |
| jazzcat Apr 04, 2007 6:26 AM EDT |
Check out Quasar Accounting: http://www.linuxcanada.com It has more features than QuickBooks Enterprise, the interface is similar to (though not exactly like) QB, and it's written in C++ using QT so that the graphical clients are available for Linux or Windows. The server requires Linux and supports Firebird, Sybase, and Postgres database servers. It is GPL, though support contracts are available. Quasar does not have payroll. I have thought about writing some Python extensions to support this, but I don't want to be liable for errors with something that has as many potential legal issues as Payroll (and taxes, and workers comp, etc). Plus, this would only work with companies that have all employees in one locality, because multiple localities mean multiple tax districts (and different tax rules), and tax information costs $$. ALC, I'm using a one-off version of vTiger CRM to propose a new ticketing system for my company. This includes allowing employees to keep track of time spent on each ticket, to the 1/4 hour. To track costs etc in my own free time for my own personal projects (not work related), I had planned to connect vTiger to Quasar so that I could keep track of my tasks, what kind of tasks they are (because in IT, tasks have different accounting rules depending on if they are break fix {expenses} or new development {capitalization}), and how much they cost in $$. You could do this, too, except you still wouldn't have payroll. Cheers, -JC |
| DarrenR114 Apr 04, 2007 8:20 AM EDT |
CMatters, Actually Appgen *did* go under - back in 2002. They've been resurrected under some very curious circumstances and basically screwed their VARs over. But from what I understand, this was not the first time for that to happen with this product. I'd be very careful making any kind of new business using any of the "new" Appgen product line. That said, there is still "MoneyDance" which had a short affiliation with the Appgen people, has none now. |
| alc Apr 04, 2007 9:09 AM EDT |
As things stand right now,we already have an extra step that we really shouldn't have.Everything starts with our job estimate.I do this all in Calc and then we have to input this into QB.From there,QB does a pretty good job of tracking what I figured to actual.(Payroll and materials)There are programs out there that would eliminate this extra step.Finding one that does everything I want and everything accounting wants is hard to do with window based programs,finding one that does it all in Linux is impossible at the moment.This is why I feel that someone the size of IBM needs to be working on this.First they have to come up with the program and then they have to convince enough people that they want to use it.I haven't found one company that we work with that uses Linux for anything except servers.Whoever did come up with this for Linux would probably be waiting a long time to get their investment back. |
| CMatters Apr 04, 2007 9:53 AM EDT |
About 18 months ago I reviewed a ton of Linux/Open Source ERP and Accounting packages. Some had some very good features. But in the end, I found the following.. 1) I could not find the specific set of features I wanted in a single offering, 2) The closest I found I believe was created for the South African market and would have been difficult to convert for use in the US, 3) After that, the next closest product was no longer under active development 4) Next one had so many competing branches (derivatives of the same project) it all became confusing That's pretty much where I stopped the search and kept with my manual ledgers. I have no employees (I hire subcontractors per project and issue 1099s at the end of the year.) I did a follow up about six months ago and I think Compiere came up first on my list. My only issue with them was they were tightly integrated around Oracle and I wanted an Open Source database. The license costs to 10g alone would probably eat up several months of profits. There was some efforts to support open source databases but the support did not appear robust nor long term. I will probably follow up once more in the next few months.... |
| dthacker Apr 04, 2007 6:52 PM EDT |
My wife does payroll for sole proprietors, partnerships, and small businesses. I looked for a year and couldn't find anything that worked in the US. IMO, you have the same situation for payroll software that you do for tax software, a bewildering number of objects to track and report, a maze of regulations, and a lack of tolerance for error. This project would require some real contributions from accountants, interface specialistes, and HR experts. Dave |
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