acc

acc(ounting) is a plaintext double-entry accounting command line tool. It is open source and a free alternative to properary accounting software.

acc tracks commodities like fiat money or crypto currencies using a strict following of the double-entry accounting principles. It is inspired by ledger and hledger and uses the ledger file format.

Quick Start

Start tracking every cent without trusting anybody

Installation

With cargo:

Stable

cargo install acc

Testing

git clone https://github.com/rudolfschmidt/acc
cd acc
cargo build --release 
./target/release/acc -f demo.ledger print

Create Ledger File

Record transactions in a plain text file using your favorite texteditor

2020-01-01 (123) opening balances
    assets:checking           $1234.00
    equity

2020-03-15 (456) client payment
    assets:checking           $2000.00
    income:consulting

2020-03-20 (789) Sprouts
    expenses:food:groceries   $100.00
    assets:cash                $40.00
    assets:checking

Use one of the listed commands below.

Commands

Syntax

acc [-f FILE] [command] [arguments]

The order of the command line arguments does not matter. They are parsed first and handled after.

Balance Report

$ acc -f [file] [bal|balance] [--flat|--tree]

Tree Balance Report

$ acc -f demo.ledger bal --tree
 $3134.00 assets
   $40.00   cash
 $3094.00   checking
$-1234.00 equity
  $100.00 expenses
  $100.00   food
  $100.00     groceries
$-2000.00 income
$-2000.00   consulting
---------
        0

Flat Balance Report

$ acc -f demo.ledger bal --flat
   $40.00 assets:cash
 $3094.00 assets:checking
$-1234.00 equity
  $100.00 expenses:food:groceries
$-2000.00 income:consulting
---------
        0

Register Report

Syntax

$ acc -f [file] [reg|register]

Example

$ acc -f demo.ledger reg 

2020-01-01 opening balances    assets:checking            $ 1234.001       $1234.00
                               equity                     $-1234.001       $   0.00
2020-03-15 client payment      assets:checking            $ 2000.001       $2000.00
                               income:consulting          $-2000.001       $   0.00
2020-03-20 Sprouts             expenses:food:groceries    $  100.001       $ 100.00
                               assets:cash                $   40.001       $ 140.00
                               assets:checking            $ -140.001       $   0.00

Print Report

Syntax

$ acc -f [file] [print] [--raw|--explicit]

Raw Print Report

It prints the data how it is but just formated. Useful when you want to format your ledger files. (Default choice)

$ acc -f demo.ledger print --raw

2020-01-01 opening balances
	assets:checking            $ 1234.00
	equity

2020-03-15 client payment
	assets:checking            $ 2000.00
	income:consulting

2020-03-20 Sprouts
	expenses:food:groceries    $ 100.00
	assets:cash                $ 40.00
	assets:checking

Explicit Print Report

It interprets the posting amounts and fill them with useful numbers

$ acc -f demo.ledger print [--explicit|-x]

2020-01-01 opening balances
	assets:checking            $ 1234.00
	equity                     $-1234.00

2020-03-15 client payment
	assets:checking            $ 2000.00
	income:consulting          $-2000.00

2020-03-20 Sprouts
	expenses:food:groceries    $ 100.00
	assets:cash                $ 40.00
	assets:checking            $-140.00

Accounts Report

Print the accounts in alphabetical order.

Syntax

$ acc -f demo.ledger accounts [--tree|--flat]

Tree Output

$ acc -f demo.ledger accounts --tree

assets
  cash
  checking
equity
expenses
  food
    groceries
income
  consulting

Flat Output

$ acc -f demo.ledger accounts --flat

assets:cash
assets:checking
equity
expenses:food:groceries
income:consulting

Codes Report

Print the codes in natural order.

acc -f demo.ledger codes

123
456
789

Directives

Include

Includes another ledger file within a ledger file

include file.ledger
include files/file.ledger

Includes all files with extension ledger

include *.ledger 
include files/*.ledger 

Includes any file

include *.*
include files/*.*

Include files from any directory inside directory files (first level)

include files/*/*.*
include files/*/*.ledger

Includes all files from all directories under directory files (recursive)

include files/**/*.*
include files/**/*.ledger

FAQ

Why should you not use properary software, specially for accounting?

It is ok to make money with software that costs time and effort to create it.

We ignore the fact that using proprietary software is a bad idea most of the time, there are situations in life that make it even much worse to use proprietary software and accounting and money are one of them.

The nature of accounting is that you organize the most sensitive data about yourself, your financial data.

Most proprietary accounting software will ask you to go online to connect to their server. At the moment you do so, they will store your data on their servers to "maintain" it.

Your data is on a machine of a profit-oriented company that is interested to make money out of you.

If they decide to sell your data, how can you know about it or stop them?

You cannot, because everything is closed, their software, their server.

You traded comfort against freedom and in most cases paid even for it.

Have you ever tried to buy something per invoice?

Most of the time you will be forwarded to another company that checks your credit rating. Have you ever made the experience to get rejected? If so, did they tell you the reason for it? Most of the time they do not, and there is a reason for it. They do not want you to know what they know about you and what the sources of the information are.

There is probably nothing more sensitive and private than financial data.

If freedom and privacy matter anything to you, care about your finances or others will do!

Why should you track your money?

1. Whatever you respect in your life, stays; whatever you do not respect, goes. If you do not respect your money, you will have a hard time to keep it. It will run away in direction you do not know. Money needs care and attention like everything valuable else. The best way to care is by knowing your finances.

2. Another reason is to have control over your life. Which cost exist, why they exist, and the most important question, is the amount correct. You cannot believe how many times I got invoices with different numbers that I had to complain for. If the time difference are some days, you can do it manually, but try to remember which number you got if the difference are months or even one year. Some institutions hope that you forget them and they can trick you by sending invoices with different amounts to look like that they just sent you a copy.

3. Another important reasons, maybe the most important, is to be able to take decisions based on financial data rather than on temporary feelings. A simple real-life scenario could be the question if you spent your money to go out and eat food at a restaurant or save some bucks by eating at home. Track your grocery costs and calculate the daily average and you get suprised how much you "eat at home". Eating outside will not look expensive anymore I bet.

ToDo

• Add support for expressions
• Add support for periodic transactions
• Add experimental support for other file formats like yaml