epogrebnyak / abacus

A minimal yet valid double-entry accounting system in Python or command line.

Note

Current point of work is issue #80:

• main type of entry is multiple entry
• closing of accounts in one function
• complete list of assumptions in docs
• profit tax

Whole program signature is:

Chart -> Ledger -> list[MultipleEntry] -> Ledger -> (list[MultipleEntry], IncomeStatement, Ledger)

A minimal example:

from playground import *

# Create chart of accounts
chart = Chart(
    assets=[Account("cash"), Account("ar")],
    capital=[Account("equity")],
    liabilities=[Account("ap")],
    income=[Account("sales", contra_accounts=["refunds"])],
    expenses=[Account("salaries")],
)

# Create ledger from chart
ledger = Ledger.new(chart)

# Define double or multiple entries and post them to ledger
entries = [
    DoubleEntry("cash", "equity", 100),
    Entry("Sold $200 worth of goods with a 10% refund and 50% prepayment")
    .debit("cash", 90)
    .debit("ar", 90)
    .debit("refunds", 20)
    .credit("sales", 200),
    MultipleEntry.new(DebitEntry("salaries", 250), CreditEntry("ap", 250)),
]
ledger.post_many(entries)

# Close ledger at accounting period end
closing_entries, ledger, income_summary = ledger.close(chart)

# Show income statement data
print(income_summary.dict())

# Show account balances data for balance sheet statement
print(ledger.balances())

abacus

A minimal yet valid double-entry accounting system in Python.

Tip

Check out a brand new Streamlit demo for double-entry accounting at https://abacus.streamlit.app/

Documentation

See project documentation at https://epogrebnyak.github.io/abacus/.

Installation

pip install abacus-py

For latest version install from github:

pip install git+https://github.com/epogrebnyak/abacus.git

abacus-py requires Python 3.10 or higher.

Quick example

Let's do Sample Transaction #1 from accountingcoach.com¹.

On December 1, 2022 Joe starts his business Direct Delivery, Inc. The first transaction that Joe will record for his company is his personal investment of $20,000 in exchange for 5,000 shares of Direct Delivery's common stock. Direct Delivery's accounting system will show an increase in its account Cash from zero to $20,000, and an increase in its stockholders' equity account Common Stock by $20,000.

Solution

Both Python code and command line script below will produce balance sheet after Sample Transaction #1 is completed.

Python code:

from abacus import Chart, Report

chart = Chart(assets=["cash"], capital=["common_stock"])
ledger = chart.ledger()
ledger.post(debit="cash", credit="common_stock", amount=20000, title="Owner's investment")
report = Report(chart, ledger)
print(report.balance_sheet)

Command line script:

bx init
bx post --entry asset:cash capital:common_stock 20000 --title "Initial investment"
bx report --balance-sheet

Result

Balance sheet
ASSETS  20000  CAPITAL              20000
  Cash  20000    Common stock       20000
                 Retained earnings      0
               LIABILITIES              0
TOTAL   20000  TOTAL                20000

See further transactions for this example at documentation website.

Footnotes

1. It is a great learning resource for accounting, highly recommended. ↩