Accounting package with some form of API

[mic_y]

Hi guys,

I am in the process of speccing out a system to manage a photography agency I am involved in. I will be dev'ing most of the system myself, but would prefer to use an OOB accounting package (no point in reinventing the wheel).

Ideally I would like the system that I write to be able to create transactions in the accounting system automatically. In terms of functionality, it would be pretty straight forward transactions such as creation of invoices/quotes, debtors and creditors functionality for now, with the possibility of expansion further down the line.

Additionally, I would prefer that the accounting system be hosted in the cloud or alternatively it must provide for web-access to an instance that I can host on Amazon/Azure myself.

Currently have a subscription to Google Apps and am looking in to the options available there...

Does anybody know of something that would fit the bill? Ideally something that is already customised for South African accounting rules/laws...

 

[Nefertiti]

have a look at Xero - http://www.xero.com/

It's got an API for developer use and has a bunch of plugins already. We are planning to start using it in February next year (with the new financial year).

 

[stricken]

or http://developers.freshbooks.com/

 

[russellO]

I know Sage Pastel Evolution has an SDK but it looks like that version of Pastel is the big boy so you going to have to sell some kidneys, and family members kidneys.

I'm pretty interested in this topic as my company has a system that would greatly benefit an interfaced accounting system.

 

[mic_y]

Thanks for the responses so far guys Besides for Sage, these all look quite interesting... and if anybody has other suggestions please keep them coming

 

[russellO]

I see there is Quickbooks Online as well. Their international site has the API and SDK information.

 

[BeatBot]

I know Sage Pastel Evolution has an SDK but it looks like that version of Pastel is the big boy so you going to have to sell some kidneys, and family members kidneys.

I'm pretty interested in this topic as my company has a system that would greatly benefit an interfaced accounting system.

I think I once saw somewhere that the pastel API is for sale...:wtf: there are all my toes gone too!

 

[SBSP]

Regarding SAGE, I think you need to be a registered SAGE representative , which you pay for, you cant just download it

 

[Nefertiti]

There were also limitations with Sage that is why we are going with Xero. I am not sure what the limitations are, but I can find out from our accountant if you want. Just pm me.

 

[_kabal_]

Depends what integration you need. I have done quite a bit of sage line 50 and 100 integration in Delphi, but we only did customers, SOs, POs and CNs. Their Apis where dll's. You do have to be part of the sage developers network to get access...

Only sent customers and invoices to xero, but that was pretty painless

 

[InvisibleJim]

Some free open source options:
https://www.openerp.com/
http://www.weberp.org/
http://frontaccounting.com/
http://opentaps.org/
http://gnucash.org/ (not web based but very good)

There are also Compiere and it's various forks (Openbravo, Adempiere etc.) Although Compiere is very powerful, be aware that it has a very complex data model and although it is open source, it relies on Oracle or Postgres advanced server which are both proprietary (not sure if this is also true of the forks.)

The proprietary systems that I have come across do tend to have at least one SDK/extension mechanism but if you are looking to implement and support yourself there are some pretty interesting open source options.

 

[IndigoIdentity]

You'd need a decent VPS, cloud or dedicated server (depending on what you're planning to do). Install QuickBooks server and use its PHP API to interact with your website or rather visa versa but you get the point... Total control >:]

Oh and it's fairly cheap when compared to the alternatives in relation to development costs or the actual cost of subscriptions etc.

QuickBooks does also have a South African version which is fairly straight forward and easy enough for me to use...

Message me if you want a cheaper price, i have a good contact with them.

 

[mic_y]

Indigo, PM sent

 

[AWD]

"Sage" advice there Indigo

'pun intended'

 

[russellO]

I've been looking into it a little more.

Quite a few of the online accounting software systems have limitations and are aimed at small business:
E.g. Xero, you are limited to 1000 API requests per day (can batch actions into a request tho) and only 1000 invoices per month.
E.g. Quickbooks is limted to 100 000 total names: Employees, Customers, Vendors, and Other Names combined.

Pastel is pretty expensive:
Developer = 16 063 once off + 4 546/year
Client = 4 057 once off + 1 148/year
Client still needs to buy Pastel and user licenses as well I assume.

So now I'm currently looking at Kashflow. It doesn't seem to have any limits, pricing is good and they use SOAP API (which is easy peasy for us .Net boys).

 

[IndigoIdentity]

Today, I have decided to give back to the community. Dragging this one out of the dust as I still get random PM's asking me about this and how to do it. Although it's quite old and now cloud based accounting is a real option, it is still relevant.

The best option here is to explore Open Database Connectivity (ODBC).

You can make use of this technology in various languages like PHP and Javascript via the Node framework.

It allows you, via some form of client support, to query an existing Pervasive / Pastel DB for free and Quickbooks via a paid third-party ODBC driver.

You can use this in shell on *nix based machines via UnixODBC and FreeTDS while making use of the Pervasive/Quickbooks drivers provided in the links above.