GnuCash vs. Quicken

[Roland Roberts]

>>>>> "thomas" == thomas moersch@accesscomm ca <thomas.moersch@accesscomm.ca> writes:

    thomas> I have been using Quicken for many years but am now
    thomas> considering switching to GnuCash.  I am having a bit of
    thomas> trouble wrapping my mind around double-entry accounting.
    thomas> I asked my accountant friend about this and he said
    thomas> "Forget it - keep on using Quicken!  For your personal
    thomas> finances double-entry accounting is overkill and you will
    thomas> soon get tired of it!"  What are your opinions?  I am
    thomas> having a hard-enough time keeping up-to-date with my
    thomas> single-entry Quicken accounting.  Is GnuCash right for me?

Your friend is mistaken.  Quicken's single-entry approach allows you
to make horrible mistakes.  I have a Quicken account for my checking
account and another one for my "wallet".  I usually enter a withdrawal
from an ATM by going to my "Wallet" account and recording a transfer
from checking.  Occasionally I would go to the "Checking" account and
do the entry.  On more than one occasion, I inadvertently entered the
withdrawal as taking money from checkin and putting it into checking.
Should be a zero-sum transfer, right?  Not with Quicken....

Besides, GnuCash does most of the dirty work for the double-entry
bookkeeping.

roland
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