[feature request] - Functionality for having "Bank Accounts"

[rihards-simanovics]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. I am currently moving from Akaunting, and I recently discovered that there is no bank selection functionality. I know that this is not necessarily something that all businesses will require. Still, in my case, as I was operating with my current account up until I found out, I could use something like Tide. For me having an option to register a payment to either bank A or B would be beneficial.

Describe the solution you'd like Add an option to store a payment in Bank A or Bank B, similarly to Akaunting.

Describe alternatives you've considered I'm not sure there is one, but I hope someone can suggest something else if this gets enough traction.

[mpember]

Would it not be enough to simply define two different payment methods?

Instead of "Bank Transfer" you could have "Bank A Transfer" and "Bank B Transfer".

[rihards-simanovics]

Hi @mpember, I thought of that but that seems more like a hack than a solution. Besides this is accounting software, what if a business has multiple accounts? I'm not asking to reinvent the wheel, this functionality exists in Akaunting (mentioning it specifically as it's also open-source) and many other accounting software.

Also when it comes to reconciliation, how do you suggest I filter all of the payments such as directors' current account and business current account?

[mpember]

Using an invoicing program as a full-feature accounting solution will probably involve a number of hacks. Not all accounting programs handle invoicing and not all invoicing programs cover in-depth accounting.

As for filtering, the current payment UI does allow filtering by payment method. That means the use of different payment methods for each bank account will allow you to filter the results. Perhaps a similar filter could be added for the expenses UI.

Since I'm only a contractor and not an accountant, I can't offer detailed advise on how best to turn Crater into the accounting solution you appear to be looking for.

[rihards-simanovics]

Hi @mpember, please accept my apologies if I sound stern in some places. There are certain things I'm afraid I have to disagree with here.

Using an invoicing program as a full-feature accounting solution will probably involve a number of hacks. Not all accounting programs handle invoicing and not all invoicing programs cover in-depth accounting.

Nobody is asking nor looking for a fragment of a more extensive system, and being a business (of any size), you want to ensure "the bare minimum of manual input" - words of my accountant. As a business owner, I don't want to spend all day manually copying the data from one software to another. I would find another software that may cost more money but does what I need automatically therefore saving my time += money in the long run.

As for filtering, the current payment UI does allow filtering by payment method. That means the use of different payment methods for each bank account will allow you to filter the results. Perhaps a similar filter could be added for the expenses UI.

I am not a laravel developer, but surely there should be a simple way to create a third category "Banking" as it is in the Akaunting app, for instance. Speaking of Akaunting, to be clear, I have and still am using their app and if you do intend to take inspiration from them, be careful about copying any code. There has been an issue raised over the code ownership before (they have an open-source invoicing, expense and accounting solution too). This way, you can have multiple bank accounts and track bank transfers, e.g. business to the director.

Since I'm only a contractor and not an accountant, I can't offer detailed advise on how best to turn Crater into the accounting solution you appear to be looking for.

That's ok. I have experience working with many paid and open source accounting solutions. I can advise or speak with my accountant for guidance if there is an interest in implementing such a feature. I mostly do front-end dev, but I have enough PHP knowledge to be dangerous, so I can help out in places.