Do you program for a living

[RCheesley]

I work for the NHS and I predominantly work with Excel & am finding my feet with Access - Most of my systems currently use Excel as I could pick it up and run with it, whereas Access I needed to have an understanding of how it worked and so forth before charging ahead making a rod for my own back with poor coding/design and so forth.

Hoping for my first "proper" database to start the design phase in the next month or so, therefore anticipate more posts from me!

Ruth

 

[BarryMK]

I build applications in Access for living.... until next friday that is when I become redundant.

Then I am a retired programmer

L

Bugger me Len you've had some tough breaks work-wise in the last couple of years.

 

[Mike375]

Originally Posted by Mike375
A lot of small businesses will use Excel instead of MYOB..

Well that's odd because I moved my accounts from Excel into Access when I discovered just what Access can do

MYOB is a standard of the shelf accounting/bookeeping program in Australia, nothing to with Access.

 

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Mike375
A lot of small businesses will use Excel instead of MYOB..




MYOB is a standard of the shelf accounting/bookeeping program in Australia, nothing to with Access.

I know, it's available here along with Sage etc., however they didn't meet my requirements on what I wanted from a programme

 

[Mike375]

I know, it's available here along with Sage etc., however they didn't meet my requirements on what I wanted from a programme

I don't use it myself, do like you and use Access.

But a lot of people I see will use Excel and not MYOB and I attempt to uproot the Excel like pulling a weed and replace it with an Access flower and ditto if MYOB is being used

 

[speakers_86]

I am seriously debating adding accounting functionality to my water damage job tracking db. I will have to think about my approach before I tackle this though. I downloaded a free trial of Quickbooks so I can study what it does, so I know what I need to accomplish.

Should Access be used to print checks? I'm sure it can be done, but haven't put any thought into it.

 

[Banana]

My $.02 and it's not worth much.


To be quite honest, I would actually sooner run to a off-the-shelves accounting management than trust in a DIY/one-man-shop solution. Not necessarily because of the quality but rather because of complexity and more importantly legal consequences surrounding the accounting tasks. There's so many things I would need to be familiar with, that I'd need a team of accountants and developers to ensure that accounting tasks it does is not only accurate but also complete and will satisfy the requirements that are expected for the context.

For that reason, if anyone propose to use Access for accounting, payroll, and the like, my first reaction is to say, "Forget it". (I'm willing to grant that there are cases where off-the-shelves software may not satisfy the needs and custom software may indeed be preferable but I can't imagine a situation where there was a need for custom software and there wasn't money to spend for a team of accountants to validate the software).

What I probably would be more concerned with my solution, if it did deal with finances, is to ensure it can export the required data in a compatible format to the accounting software and let it handle the analysis and whatnots.


But that's just me.

 

[speakers_86]

My $.02 and it's not worth much.


To be quite honest, I would actually sooner run to a off-the-shelves accounting management than trust in a DIY/one-man-shop solution. Not necessarily because of the quality but rather because of complexity and more importantly legal consequences surrounding the accounting tasks. There's so many things I would need to be familiar with, that I'd need a team of accountants and developers to ensure that accounting tasks it does is not only accurate but also complete and will satisfy the requirements that are expected for the context.

This is why I have been so hesitant to do this. I understand exactly where you are coming from. The reason I was thinking of doing this is because I would like to streamline the two programs (work order management and accounting). There doesn't seem to be a great answer that any end user should be able to do. Exporting to excel is a good answer, but perhaps, not a great answer. If I go this route instead, I am not entirely sure how to setup or arrange the data in excel so that it is usable by most accounting software. I'll have to look into this later. I may even start another thread over it.

 

[jsv2002]

And you’re sure the accountants get it right... Don't know about outside the UK but been developing a DB for a friend and discovered he now owes a large amount of VAT because of their advice....

Ultimately your accounts, record keeping etc are your responsibility no matter how good the software it can only work if you put all of the correct information in.

I believe there is a market for "small" companies and access developed solutions most of the accounts packages recommended by accountants are designed for "ACCOUNTANTS" not your average "Joe" just trying to run a small business. They can be confusing and in no way help them organise their day to day running.

That said whatever you put out there needs to work so ask what information do you need to give your accountant to make up your books, export this to a spreadsheet (most accountants can work with them)

After all the biggest problem for a small business is to keep it simple and get on with the job not the paper work if the database helps them do that they will love you forever..

 

[Mike375]

I tend to agree with Banana if it is a larger business.

About every time I have replaced MYOB in reality I am only making a cheque book balancer. In fact before the little business got MYOB he put his receipts, cheque butts and statements in a shoe box.

Exporting to excel is a good answer, but perhaps, not a great answer. If I go this route instead, I am not entirely sure how to setup or arrange the data in excel so that it is usable by most accounting software

This is where things come back to the size of the business. The average little business that will use Excel instead of something like MYOB only really uses it like Access tables. The accountant still wants cheque books, statements etc. Also, if you deal with small business what you make varies quite a lot because it depends on the business owner. For example, some will be quite good on the computer and others other blind when it comes to looking at the screen.

But if you want to make a living off this sort of thing I think you have to first decide how you want to go about it. Once you do that then you concentrate on the areas of Access or Excel that you need and of course you have to find people who will buy your services.

The way I see it there are three basic ways to get paid.

1) Have a job. The job might be one where only part of it is doing the computer but you get the job because you are real handy at this sort of thing. Like a big version of the girl who gets the secretary job because she did one of those little Word and Excel courses. On the other hand it might be the full on IT job.

2) Working on a contract basis.

3) Being self employed and rounding up customers. Not really too different to the plumber except your tool box is different.

Each of the three requires different knowledge and I would also say different personalities.

For me it was easy, Number 3, as I had been an insurance agent all my life. All I did was change the products in the bag

If we now take the Off the Shelf accounting package Vs Making in Access then that is self solving by being in either 1, 2 or 3 position.

 

[Len Boorman]

Bugger me Len you've had some tough breaks work-wise in the last couple of years.

Sometimes seems that way but to be truthful I am not really worried. Have been planning my retirement for some time. Pity in a way that some employers had not followed my plan.

Plan now is to do what I want to do.

Got a few hobby things lined up and perhaps a bit of contract/consultancy work for next winter.

Looking forward to the summer in the garden. Beer in the fridge ready as is the comfy chair.

L

 

[scott-atkinson]

I don't program for a living b ut it does form part of my job function, I am a Continuous Improvement manager and part of that involves building DB's and Automating Excel to which I feel that I am quite adept at.

But not my main stay, Six Sigma, and Process Improvement is my forte.

VBA is just a nice to have in my toolbox.

 

[rainman89]

I started college wanting to be a computer engineer and ended up getting my degree in information science.

Im glad that this happened. I can incorporate so many more things into my work now. For example, I learned Java in college, now I can code in java, c#, vb.net, vb, perl, and also vba

Oh and webpage design too.

My job is not strictly a programming job, but I still manage to do programming/ database design almost everyday.

Its nice and it makes for an exciting day(pretty lame I know)...