At Smart Accounts before spending any money on anything we ask ourselves: what can we get for FREE?
Why?... Because there are lots of good solutions and resources ready to be used for FREE.
We are referring to the Open Source Initiative. This is a form of collaboration in which the participants contribute work and resources to a common goal without expecting anything in return except the accomplishing of the goal itself and the freedom for everyone to enjoy the benefits of the outcome.
These developments come with ZERO responsibility or contractual support, but they are FREE to use and are usually embedded in enthusiastic communities of users very much ready to support each other for... well... for FREE again.
The concept of Open Source was developed in 1990s initially to be used for developing software (and some serious pieces of software like Linux, Apache, Open Office, PHP, Phyton, etc. are the direct output), but later was applied to many other forms of collaboration for things ranging from engineering to law and from music to painting.
Guess what?... there are very good Open Source solutions in the realm of financial processes management.