Using for GnuCash for multiple companies

[Axel Essbaum]

Hello everyone,

I've been a GnuCash user for about 5 years, and I'm now using version 2.4.11 on a Mac (haven't upgraded since everything pretty much works fine).

I am starting a couple of new companies and wondering what accounting software to use.  The question hinges partially on the need to be able to open both company's accounts at the same time, but also to be able to have different settings for each, including date format, currency, fiscal year start and end dates, etc.

One company is in the US and one is in Switzerland and I need to use different date formats for each, for example.

As of GC 2.4.11 it appears that the date format is set in the GnuCash Preferences and I suspect this will affect both companies, is that right?  Is there a workaround besides using a separate user account on my computer for each company?  Can I upgrade to 2.6.3 and get around this?

Somewhat related: can I run two different versions of GC at the same time?  Meaning, can I run my existing company under 2.4.11 but also install and (concurrently) run 2.6.3 for the new companies?  I'm hesitant to upgrade the existing company from 2.4.11 for fear of breaking the invoice printing (which was very fiddly to make work in 2.4.11).

Thanks everyone!

- Axel

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Axel Essbaum
axel at essbaum.com