PyBookie

pyBookie is an open source Python script used for home accounting. It is a basic accounting program, lacking most features which most other accounting softwares include; however, it is enough to use as a double-entry accounting system.

Focus

The main focus of pyBookie is to be a simple home accounting program, without all of the dependencies that other accounting programs have (such as GnuCash for Linux). For the author, some of the dependencies could not be met, and so they decided to write their own accounting software with less dependencies. pyBookie can be run as long as Python and the Python Tkinter module are installed.

Accounting

pyBookie utilizes the accounting equation, in a different way than usual. You can only access four main account categories (Assets, Expenses, Liability, and Income), while the Equity category is calculated automatically and is always visible on the screen, on the status bar. The current category is also displayed on the statusbar, and its ledger is displayed in the main window. When you make an entry in the ledger, pyBookie will prompt you for which account you wish to also make the entry in. Since pyBookie uses double-entry accounting, your Assets account added to your Expenses account must be equal to your Liability account added to your Income account and your Equity. To express this algebraically: $Assets\; +\; Expenses\; =\; Liability\; +\; Income\; +\; Equity$; where Equity is Liability subtracted from Assets.

Account Categories

Assets

Your Assets account includes the worth of all of your monetary assets. In other words, if you were to liquidate all of your possessions, Assets would be how much everything is worth. Some examples of entries into your Assets account would be: Checking account, Savings account, and Cash on hand.

Expenses

This will probably be your largest account. All of your expenses will go into this account. This account is kind of like your checkbook register. You list all of your expenses here. Some examples of entries in this account may include: bills, eating out, and buying a new pair of shoes.

Liability

Your Liability account is kind of a mirror of your Expenses account. When you make an entry in your Expenses account, you will more than likely be adding that entry (or editing an existing entry) to your Liability account in order to balance the accounting equation. Entries may include credit cards and car payments.

Income

The Income account is a mirror of your Assets account. When you finally get that paycheck, you add it into your Income account, then you edit your Checking account balance in your Assets account.