python-fints VS plaintextaccounting

German banks support an open protocol: FinTS/HBCI with which you can automize stuff. There's a Python library for it [1] and I wrote my own little tool that allows you to configure your (potentially recurring) target vs. actual expenses, while setting expiration dates to get notifications about unexpected stuff. Still somewhat WIP though

[1] https://github.com/raphaelm/python-fints

fints kennst du?

I switched from Xero to plaintext accounting,[0] and it was a huge step up.

There are several different plaintext accounting tools, but they all support automation like this. I personally use Beancount because I work best in Python.

The other huge advantage is that the "state" of your finances isn't opaque like in Xero. If you realize you've been categorizing certain transactions incorrectly in Xero, it's a hassle to go correct everything, whereas in plaintext accounting it's usually a 2-second find/replace.

The downside is that there's a steep learning curve and the documentation is kind of overwhelming, but once you learn it, it's extremely valuable.

[0] https://plaintextaccounting.org/

Can I ask how you're tracking/recording your double ledger? When I was fresh out of college, I got really into Plain Text Accounting (mostly using Ledger-CLI through Emacs).

Another one for people to consider is plaintext accounting (https://plaintextaccounting.org), not as pretty as some and requires CSV import. I personal use Beancount https://beancount.github.io/docs and Fava (https://beancount.github.io/fava/) with Git versioning on Keybase (encrypted server side) https://keybase.io.

For financing I use a simple double entry accounting system called Ledger. It's mainly simple list taking but from what I understand it can be scaled well. I personally prefer using it with ledger-mode , since I use Cone to edit it on my phone, but it is possible to use Org Babel to tangle them to a ledger file.

https://plaintextaccounting.org/ is a good option. I personal use beancount https://beancount.github.io/docs/

There might be something here: https://plaintextaccounting.org/

I currently use Excel, but I'm looking for something better.

I have many automatic payments (credit card, telephone, utilities, etc) from a transaction account. I also have a loan with redraw, and I want to have most of my funds keeping the loan balance low, but I don't want my transaction account to go negative. So I need to forecast future transactions.

Future transactions may be annual, monthly, four weekly, two weekly, etc. It's a real mess. Some are easy to predict accurately, others can only be estimated.

I have a column to keep track of which future transactions are predictions/estimates/allowances, and which ones have been confirmed.

I also have a column to keep track of which transactions have been reconciled with the bank. (This is currently a manual cross-checking process, since my bank doesn't have API access.)

My preference would be a text-based system (https://plaintextaccounting.org/), but haven't found one that neatly allows estimates of future transactions that can be modified once the details are known.

https://plaintextaccounting.org/ - slight learning curve, but gives you ability to track and report on all of your finances from ab easily editable text file

Is it possible? Yes. There's a plugin for it. You can check out Obsidian Ledger. Though if your aim is just to have an accounting system where you genuinely own your data and have it stored locally, any Plain Text Accounting should suffice.