Growing efforts to establish community schools will require good accounting practices and means to keep records. Many initial efforts start with an accounting structure based on a spreadsheet. However the needs for good financial reporting soon dictate the adoption of accounting software. GNUcash, an open-source accounting project of over 25 years, offers a favourable solution and portable to numerous OS including Windows 98, 7 - 11
Install GNUcash
Download GNUcash
Note: Windows-Edge may raise a warning that the softward has no certificate - just proceed with the installation.
Create an Accounting Structure
The default choices are useful to get start and familiar with the application. However with some previous planning, a good accounting structure will greatly facilicate the use of GNUcash. Here is a same designed for community schools, Sample Account Structure for GNUcash
A Sample Finance Manual By following this manual,A Community School Finance Manual whether as training exercise or a starting point for any small business, it will bring out the capabilities of GNUcash. With some minor adjustments, the manual should serve well a variety of community schools, particularly suited to those in the East Africa region.
Note:
GNUcash is intended to be used by a single operator but its files can easily be shared in the effort to supervise the accounting environment.