5 ms·

I like command line access, but the critical weakness of nearly every accounting application (cli or gui) is manual data entry. The number crunching is the eas

by ende 12y ago

I like command line access, but the critical weakness of nearly every accounting application (cli or gui) is manual data entry. The number crunching is the easy part. The hard part is automating data entry through transaction gathering.

subverting 12y ago
Using a debit card api would be useful for that. Dont know if they exist.
- ende 12y ago
  I think we're getting close. I'm really hopeful that someone like Simple (https://www.simple.com https://www.simple.com) will eventually release an API for their service.
z1mm32m4n 12y ago
For one off transactions, I have no problem using a text interface. However, a sort of companion app that converted receipts and bills into ledger parseable bills would really help with mass data entry. Does anyone know if something like this exists?
- peteretep 12y ago
  ReceiptBank is probably a good starting point. Non-free.
- tincholio 12y ago
  There's hledger (a ledger clone of sorts written in haskell)[0], which comes with some facilities for automatically assigning expenses to accounts via "rules files". I've made (and a couple of sed / awk scripts) one that handles upwards of 90% of my stuff from the files I download from my bank. It also has a web UI, so you can use that to add transactions if you don't like using a text editor. [0] http://hledger.org/ http://hledger.org/
kam 12y ago
https://github.com/cantino/reckon https://github.com/cantino/reckon imports CSV to Ledger, with Bayesian automatic categorization.
- jareds 12y ago
  I use this for my creditcard statements, works pretty well.
kraymer 12y ago
Most of bank websites (in France at least) provide .QIF downloads, so I coded a tool to semi-automatically add categories to qif transactions by matching keywords from your past transactions history : https://github.com/Kraymer/qifqif https://github.com/Kraymer/qifqif I use it with GnuCash but could work with ledger as long as ledger importer links categories with accounts.
- couchand 12y ago
  I do the same thing with ledger: it takes only a few lines of script to convert the csv export to ledger's file format, then a few minutes matching up transactions that did't match. Since ledger's input format is so flexible, it's pretty straightforward.
zrail 12y ago
Manual data entry is the only thing that has kept me on track for eight years. I tried the automated stuff but I never connected with my money so I never took it seriously which led to letting it get completely out of control. Tracking every penny by hand is drudge work at first but at this point is habitualized. I have a visceral understanding of my cash flow which let's me do things like quit my job with confidence instead of panic.
rsaarelm 11y ago
I pay most of my daily shopping with a debit card and my Finnish bank will give me a plaintext dump of all the transactions that's a few regexp operations away from becoming a CSV file that can be imported to hlegder.

by ende 12y ago

subverting 12y ago

Using a debit card api would be useful for that. Dont know if they exist.

ende 12y ago
I think we're getting close. I'm really hopeful that someone like Simple (https://www.simple.com https://www.simple.com) will eventually release an API for their service.

z1mm32m4n 12y ago

For one off transactions, I have no problem using a text interface. However, a sort of companion app that converted receipts and bills into ledger parseable bills would really help with mass data entry. Does anyone know if something like this exists?

peteretep 12y ago
ReceiptBank is probably a good starting point. Non-free.
tincholio 12y ago
There's hledger (a ledger clone of sorts written in haskell)[0], which comes with some facilities for automatically assigning expenses to accounts via "rules files". I've made (and a couple of sed / awk scripts) one that handles upwards of 90% of my stuff from the files I download from my bank. It also has a web UI, so you can use that to add transactions if you don't like using a text editor. [0] http://hledger.org/ http://hledger.org/

kam 12y ago

https://github.com/cantino/reckon https://github.com/cantino/reckon imports CSV to Ledger, with Bayesian automatic categorization.

jareds 12y ago
I use this for my creditcard statements, works pretty well.

kraymer 12y ago

Most of bank websites (in France at least) provide .QIF downloads, so I coded a tool to semi-automatically add categories to qif transactions by matching keywords from your past transactions history : https://github.com/Kraymer/qifqif https://github.com/Kraymer/qifqif I use it with GnuCash but could work with ledger as long as ledger importer links categories with accounts.

couchand 12y ago
I do the same thing with ledger: it takes only a few lines of script to convert the csv export to ledger's file format, then a few minutes matching up transactions that did't match. Since ledger's input format is so flexible, it's pretty straightforward.

zrail 12y ago

Manual data entry is the only thing that has kept me on track for eight years. I tried the automated stuff but I never connected with my money so I never took it seriously which led to letting it get completely out of control. Tracking every penny by hand is drudge work at first but at this point is habitualized. I have a visceral understanding of my cash flow which let's me do things like quit my job with confidence instead of panic.

rsaarelm 11y ago

I pay most of my daily shopping with a debit card and my Finnish bank will give me a plaintext dump of all the transactions that's a few regexp operations away from becoming a CSV file that can be imported to hlegder.