dcycle-accounting

A documented double-entry, multi-currency accounting system, not software

Whom is this project for?

Collaborators on existing Dcycle Accounting projects

You might have been asked to collaborate on, or audit, a spreadsheet which has, at the top of all its sheets, a line that states “See https://accounting.dcycle.com”; if so, that means the spreadsheet you are looking at follows some of the principles herein.

Managers of NGOs or small businesses evaluating accounting solutions

Anyone in the market for an accounting solution might want to follow the principles and use the tools defined by Dcycle Accounting. We believe Dcycle Accounting is powerful, auditable and simple:

  • powerful: because we do not depend on custom software, but rather on the humble spreadsheet, we are not imposing arbitrary limits on what we can do.
  • auditable: by applying the powerful DRY (“don’t repeat yourself” principle) to spreadsheet data entry, we can make sure we always trace back any operation to its initial data; this can help with auditing.
  • simple: after agreeing on a few principles, and learning a few spreadsheet functions such as SUM(), FILTER(), VLOOKUP() and SUMIF() (which we introduce below), we can use the humble spreadsheet to create as simple or complex a system as we need.

About this project

This project came about after my frustration managing multiple small businesses and organizations in different countries and languages with multiple currencies, requiring auditing.

Who uses this system?

Dcycle Accounting is currently used by:

  • Terre des jeunes, a small NGO which with yearly revenue of about $30,000 which tracks five currencies.
  • Bioenergie Haïti, a Hatian NGO with a dozen regular employees which tracks three currencies in addition to the dreaded weighted average system. Its revenue is close to $200,000 yearly and it must provided its books to its funders for auditing.
  • Dcycle consulting Inc., which provides web and environmental consulting to clients in three currencies and two languages.
  • Terre des jeunes Gonaïves, an independent partner of Terre des jeunes in Haiti, which tracks the depreciation of a fleet of vehicles, and a foreign-currency long-term loan.
  • If you have had success with this system and would like your organization to be listed here, contact us via Twitter, or through our contact form.