WHMCS and Accounting Software? What you guys use

[sparxdes]

Hi Guys,

 

I have been using WHMCS for my small web design business, and it's great! I love it so much.

 

What do you guys use for accounting software though, is there way that can integrate something in with it, or what is the easiest way to track purchases expenses etc for your books?

 

Thanks heaps!

Sheldon

[kcackler]

I started with Quickbooks, but then ended up programming my own to suit our needs exactly. I've got it integrated with the WHMCS checkout scripts and actionhooks and it works very well. It's eliminated the extra steps that I used to have to take to record expenses.

[asgard]

I've been looking for a new solution myself and I just found WebERP - http://www.weberp.org.

 

Web based and open source. Looks quite interesting. Anyone tried it?

[sparxdes]

KCackler, Sounds awesome. Any chance that you could hook me up? Or maybe small cost or something! I just want something that I could input expenses into as well through WHMCS. Would be awesome as.

[sparxdes]

What do the rest of you guys use? Lately I have been just using Excel spreadsheets but is quite annoying after a while.

[kcackler]

To sparxdes - It is something I am extending and developing all the time, with plans to release it sometime this year under an open source license. Right now it just doesn't have all of the features that a web host might need (I am not a webhost, but rather a freelance programmer). But it is tightly integrated with the whmcs DB and works flawlessly.

 

I will definitely let the whmcs community know when it's available for download.

 

To asgard - Weberp looks very promising, albeit hard to use at first glance. It definitely gives me, personally, something to shoot for. My program aims to emulate quickbooks as closely as possible, seeing as how that is what most people are used to...

[sparxdes]

Also I use Provide Support with my customer service, it is very great. I just wish that they could have Remote assistance like Logmein rescue with it as well. Does anybody know of anything that can use for remote assistance that can get through firewalls, and can just send an email link for them to click on?

[Zorro67]

@Kcackler.

 

there are also a lot of smaller hosts, resellers and design cos that might not be big enough for QB. Have you given any thought to Quicken cashbook/home & business?. It is reasonably similar to QB, but allows for differentiation of personal & buisness accounts/expenses in the one accounting program

 

Could possible help with some interfacing or layout, if you think about expanding.

[ihostgreen]

Sparxdes, LogMeIn is unrivalled!!

 

But you could try UltraVNC with their "Single Click" its pretty good as well

[uberhost]

We've had a lot of experience with Quickbooks, and it's quite feature-rich, though nothing commercially available integrates tightly with WHMCS at this point.

 

@sparxdes: If you file your business and personal taxes together, then Quicken would be an appropriate choice for you. It would allow you to code business expenses and income, as well as set up separate checking accounts, etc.

[SilverNodashi]

how well does Quickbooks integrate / work with WHMCS?

[uberhost]

how well does Quickbooks integrate / work with WHMCS?

 

You can export data from WHMCS and then import it into QB, but it doesn't integrate, per se. It would be awesome if the two apps "talked" to each other though.

[Zorro67]

Just a follow up to my earlier post.

The excell conversion module is called XL2QIF.

 

google it and you should be able to download it & install it into excell as an addon. this addon will alllow you to convert your exported .csv file into a QIf and import it direct to Quicken.

 

Not sure if it works with IIF Quickbooks files though.

[dail]

How did you go with your accounting system? Did you get it finished? If so, can I get a download.

 

Many thanks

 

To sparxdes - It is something I am extending and developing all the time, with plans to release it sometime this year under an open source license. Right now it just doesn't have all of the features that a web host might need (I am not a webhost, but rather a freelance programmer). But it is tightly integrated with the whmcs DB and works flawlessly.

 

I will definitely let the whmcs community know when it's available for download.

 

To asgard - Weberp looks very promising, albeit hard to use at first glance. It definitely gives me, personally, something to shoot for. My program aims to emulate quickbooks as closely as possible, seeing as how that is what most people are used to...

[SilverNodashi]

You can export data from WHMCS and then import it into QB, but it doesn't integrate, per se. It would be awesome if the two apps "talked" to each other though.

 

How do you mean it doesn't "talk" well? What doesn't it do?

 

 

Just a follow up to my earlier post.

The excell conversion module is called XL2QIF.

 

google it and you should be able to download it & install it into excell as an addon. this addon will alllow you to convert your exported .csv file into a QIf and import it direct to Quicken.

 

Not sure if it works with IIF Quickbooks files though.

 

Will this work in Open Office?

[jnet]

ok one question if you have quick books why do you need whmcs?

[Zorro67]

Will this work in Open Office?

 

Sorry NFI.

 

Haven't used OO

[Blueberry3.14]

QuickBooks.

 

And for all who asked "Why do you need both WHMCS and QuickBooks?"... QB is a full-blown business accounting software application. It does AR/AP, shows payments, reconciles bank statements, bank balances, etc.

 

WHMCS interfaces with the hosting software, sets up new accounts and processes payments/shopping cart.

 

WHMCS is the salesman, and QB is the CPA.

[Gears]

Personally I think WHMCS is just fine for tax purposes. There's several reports to use, and you can use the transactions page to log revenue and expenses (and you can filter too). Plus, you can create your own reports. WHMCS is just fine for me; no need for Quick Books.

[jnet]

Quick book is expensive. why all those guys want monthly payment

what about small businesses?

 

I need a software to do what quickbook does but do not want to pay monthly payment

[uberhost]

Quick book is expensive. why all those guys want monthly payment

what about small businesses?

 

I need a software to do what quickbook does but do not want to pay monthly payment

 

You can just buy it, you don't have to rent it.

 

If you can't afford QB, then just buy Quicken. It won't give you all the accounting features of QB, but it would certainly work for a home business.

[jnet]

Thanks I noticed most of the features are good for US based businesses or English speaking countries.

 

Second If whmcs can not synchronize with quick book I have to sit down and make all invoices again which is painful.

 

those who are using whmcs how do they use quick books?

 

do you enter all invoices again

 

that does not seem time saving to me

[uberhost]

that does not seem time saving to me

 

1. Businesses require accounting software.
   
2. Accounting software can't provision your hosting signups, automate domain purchases, or suspend accounts when overdue.
   
3. WHMCS doesn't do accounting (nor should it).
   

Sure, it's not "time saving" to have to import/export data between the two apps, and maybe someday they will communicate with each other, but for now you just have to live with it.

 

Truth be told, anyone setting up a business (online or otherwise) should have purchased their accounting package before buying the script that automates account deployment.

[Roger]

Micro$oft has the Express version of Office Accounting available for free. It's quite nice.

 

Download here: http://www.microsoft.com/beta/downloads/Search.aspx?SearchText=Accounting%2520Express

[gerrybakker]

I use Quickbooks and I use WHMCS with Credit Card processing and PayPal payments. Here is what I do and it works great.

 

The credit card processor drops cash into my bank account once a week. PayPal collects payments until I see about $1000 in the PayPal account. Then I transfer the PayPal amount to my bank account.

 

Then I use Quickbooks to import the weekly bank transactions and those 2 credit card/PayPal transactions don't "Match" anything already posted in Quickbooks. I then Select an "Income Account" for each and post them into Quickbooks - Now all of my income is properly accounted for in Quickbooks and an Auditor would get a lot of comfort from seeing such a simple procedure being repeated week after week. If the Tax Auditor needed to see transaction details to back up these deposits then you can run off reports in WHMCS that he can comb over for hours and eventually agree that within a percent or two it matches the net revenue transferred to Quickbooks.

This solution is simple, elegant and complete.

 

Why did I choose this method? Because Quickbooks will choke when you have more than about 1500 clients and 10,000 transactions - I know - I hit that limit. All the clients and transactions in a busy little hosting company will choke Quickbooks in a matter of a few months but Quickbooks is great as long as you don't hit those limits. This solution lets Quickbooks do the accounting and WHMCS manage the signups and provisioning - a perfect combo with minimal fuss. The entire process takes about 2 minutes once a week.