Are there any nice accounting apps for linux?

If it’s a replacement for a personal finance manager such as Microsoft Money that you’re looking for then KMyMoney is worth a look. The KMyMoney interface is easy to use and intuitive, especially if you’re used to other similar applications. Designed for personal finance management, KMyMoney manages things such as your car and home loans, investments, credit cards and the like. It also makes it easy to manage payees and multiple financial institutions you have the fortune (or misfortune) to deal with. KMyMoney is not the right tool, however, if you’re in need of some small business fiscal control as it has a limited set of features intended for personal use.

The grandaddy of Linux and open source accounting applications, there was a point in time when it was impossible to talk about finance apps and Linux without mentioning GnuCash. With the result that most popular Linux distributions include GnuCash in their base install or as an easy post-install option. GnuCash falls into the business category of financial tools. GnuCash includes full double-entry and makes it relatively easy to manage a range of employees, clients and bank accounts. GnuCash is overkill if you’re planning a household budget, however. There are better tools for that. But if you’re running a small business, GnuCash might just be the ticket for you.

TurboCash is an accounting application from South Africa. Until recently, TurboCash was only available for Windows but it already has a well-established local and international user base. Fortunately, TurboCash now works well on Linux using Wine, which has the added advantage of making it easier for existing TurboCash users to switch across from Windows to Linux. TurboCash is open source software and is aimed at the single user up to the small- and medium-sized business. TurboCash is a full featured accounting application that is already available in more than 20 languages, can handle multiple accounts and books, and includes stock control for small businesses.

As its name suggests, Homebank is a personal finance manager to keep track of your home finances. Homebank runs on most popular platforms, including Linux. Like KMyMoney, Homebank can manage multiple accounts, manage payees and provides simple, easy to read reports on the state of your finances. Homebank is one of the less intimidating finance applications to work with if you’re not an accountant at heart.

Cubit is one application you can use for your business, particularly if you’re based in South Africa, where the software is developed. Being from South Africa it has an intimate understanding of the legal requirements for business accounting in the country, but can still be customised for other parts of the world as well. Cubit runs on most platforms because it web-based and can be accessed through a browser.