About
ZAP Accounting Software has been an idea in development since around the year 2000. Back then, a goal was set to create a stand alone, data independent, cloud based, customizable bookkeeping solution that would not be subject to the horrid forced upgrade systems and bad user interfaces found in archaic commercial software solutions that most of us don't need and don't like.
Until 2016, I never dreamed such a solution would manifest via cloud based spreadsheets. How could I? They didn't exist when my dream first started.
ZAP Accounting Software is currently a one-man-front-man operation.
Contrary to what you may think, I don't love accounting nor bookkeeping.
Take the little time it takes to master your own bookkeeping with our universal bookkeeping module. Then expand out a little into some of our other Sales Systems or utilities. Seek out simple and straight forward accounting education programs and accounting software solutions so you can do more in less time, leaving you more time to pursue that which your heart truly desires.
Best of luck to you and warm regards,
b
12/25/2018
Until 2016, I never dreamed such a solution would manifest via cloud based spreadsheets. How could I? They didn't exist when my dream first started.
ZAP Accounting Software is currently a one-man-front-man operation.
- All aspects of concept, design, development, testing, website creation, marketing, sales, support and other are currently provided by just one guy.
- That said I most certainly get a lot of silent support from groups of folks I've never met at Google, Weebly, Stack Overflow, Youtube, Internet Forums, and numerous other else-wheres, as well as a small team of peers that are second to none.
- Many thanks to all who are contributing to this social opportunity.
Contrary to what you may think, I don't love accounting nor bookkeeping.
- I view it like the greens I don't truly care for but must eat to stay healthy.
- This software, much like pinching my nose or adding honey to those greens, enables me to do what I need to do to have fun with COMMERCE while eliminating the negative emotions that accounting brings to those not initiated in the magical mathematical world that is commerce in a nutshell.
Take the little time it takes to master your own bookkeeping with our universal bookkeeping module. Then expand out a little into some of our other Sales Systems or utilities. Seek out simple and straight forward accounting education programs and accounting software solutions so you can do more in less time, leaving you more time to pursue that which your heart truly desires.
Best of luck to you and warm regards,
b
12/25/2018
About (the longer story)
My Grandfather taught me how to read stock tables in the Wall Street Journal around 1981 when I was 11 or so. In the late 1980's I started to make a little money, I owned a dual floppy PC, and I found my way to Quicken. I really liked the original versions of Quicken and I liked using it to track my finances and my very small investment portfolio. Quicken then was truly inspiring software.
In the mid 1990's I started to use Quickbooks for small business accounting for a few startups because it was really the only viable tool for that task back then. It too was rather inspiring when I first started using it, but with each passing year Quickbooks became more bloated and more expensive. Likewise, I became more and more familiar with its problems and shortcomings, kind of like when the honeymoon phase in a relationship ends, you know what I mean?
In the late 1990's, after I started futzing with residential real estate, I started using an Accountant to prepare my taxes. At that point I became very familiar with the problems associated with sharing files with Accountants who always had the latest version, which caused backwards compatible problems. And never mind the frustration and anger I'd enjoy when they'd make blind adjustments to shortcut proper reconciliation for errors...
Around 2000 or so, out of frustration with Quickbooks and the procedural dysfunction with CPAs exchanges which ultimately made it not worth more than a partially reconciled spreadsheet, I built my own web based accounting solution. I built the front end in Classic ASP with a Microsoft Access Database behind the scenes. I had to figure out a database schema for accounting, as those weren't (and still aren't) openly documented. It didn't take that long but there were some tricks to it. And some of the biggies are now exposed in this open source solution! How cool is that!
In the mid 1990's I started to use Quickbooks for small business accounting for a few startups because it was really the only viable tool for that task back then. It too was rather inspiring when I first started using it, but with each passing year Quickbooks became more bloated and more expensive. Likewise, I became more and more familiar with its problems and shortcomings, kind of like when the honeymoon phase in a relationship ends, you know what I mean?
In the late 1990's, after I started futzing with residential real estate, I started using an Accountant to prepare my taxes. At that point I became very familiar with the problems associated with sharing files with Accountants who always had the latest version, which caused backwards compatible problems. And never mind the frustration and anger I'd enjoy when they'd make blind adjustments to shortcut proper reconciliation for errors...
Around 2000 or so, out of frustration with Quickbooks and the procedural dysfunction with CPAs exchanges which ultimately made it not worth more than a partially reconciled spreadsheet, I built my own web based accounting solution. I built the front end in Classic ASP with a Microsoft Access Database behind the scenes. I had to figure out a database schema for accounting, as those weren't (and still aren't) openly documented. It didn't take that long but there were some tricks to it. And some of the biggies are now exposed in this open source solution! How cool is that!
My solution was pretty slick, but I had to manually prepare my Balance Sheet. No biggy for me, but something that I obviously needed to fix for commercialization (or did I ?).
My dream was to commercialize my solution some day with a data independent database for each user (no shared data silo among users) with customizeable web based software. The independent database on a commercial solution is hard for most to follow, but it's the customizable web based software that made the idea much more complex. All in all it was a dream with some very long legs but its good to dream. As the Software as a Service model started to take root I realized competing was going to get a lot harder, but I was always up for a good software challenge.
I was not and still am not a fan of vulture capitalists, as they never truly have the consumer's best interest in mind, so I tried numerous times to self fund my way towards full scale software development. Alas, each time I tried some wheel fell off my little cart.
The first wheel fell off in the DotCom bust in 2000. That was a big hit to a newly minted self employed fellow like me who believed in the Stock Market. After the financial bust and faux market realization, I shifted my remaining money towards residential real estate because "I thought" I'd have more control over my investments there. I'd never get caught like again, right?! Oh how little did I know about the FED, money printing and crooked bankers back then...
The second wheel came off my cart with the 2007 east coast real estate crash, just as I was trying to wrap up a bunch of projects, and that was followed up quickly with a third wheel wipe out in the 2008 mortgage crisis.
And I've been literally limping physically, emotionally and mentally on one wheel ever since with the generous and loving help of those closest to me, thank goodness.
Around 2014 I began crawling out of my hole. I had accumulated about 15 surgeries in my 44 years prior, and I was trying to put the wheels back on my cart one lug at a time when I got the foreshadowing hit that told me I might be looking a BIG problem with Bank of America. And then it happened. Bank of America committed fraud during an underwriting process in 2015 that dramatically affected the cash flow on a rental property of mine. PNC kind of did it too, but they were kinder about it to me, and amazingly most other major banks in the country were in on the sham too, but they all played nicer in the sandbox than BofA. When the quarter I used to call someone who cared kept connecting me to India, I just decided to shit can the cart entirely. Ohm and walking barefoot was way better than this poo.
My dream was to commercialize my solution some day with a data independent database for each user (no shared data silo among users) with customizeable web based software. The independent database on a commercial solution is hard for most to follow, but it's the customizable web based software that made the idea much more complex. All in all it was a dream with some very long legs but its good to dream. As the Software as a Service model started to take root I realized competing was going to get a lot harder, but I was always up for a good software challenge.
I was not and still am not a fan of vulture capitalists, as they never truly have the consumer's best interest in mind, so I tried numerous times to self fund my way towards full scale software development. Alas, each time I tried some wheel fell off my little cart.
The first wheel fell off in the DotCom bust in 2000. That was a big hit to a newly minted self employed fellow like me who believed in the Stock Market. After the financial bust and faux market realization, I shifted my remaining money towards residential real estate because "I thought" I'd have more control over my investments there. I'd never get caught like again, right?! Oh how little did I know about the FED, money printing and crooked bankers back then...
The second wheel came off my cart with the 2007 east coast real estate crash, just as I was trying to wrap up a bunch of projects, and that was followed up quickly with a third wheel wipe out in the 2008 mortgage crisis.
And I've been literally limping physically, emotionally and mentally on one wheel ever since with the generous and loving help of those closest to me, thank goodness.
Around 2014 I began crawling out of my hole. I had accumulated about 15 surgeries in my 44 years prior, and I was trying to put the wheels back on my cart one lug at a time when I got the foreshadowing hit that told me I might be looking a BIG problem with Bank of America. And then it happened. Bank of America committed fraud during an underwriting process in 2015 that dramatically affected the cash flow on a rental property of mine. PNC kind of did it too, but they were kinder about it to me, and amazingly most other major banks in the country were in on the sham too, but they all played nicer in the sandbox than BofA. When the quarter I used to call someone who cared kept connecting me to India, I just decided to shit can the cart entirely. Ohm and walking barefoot was way better than this poo.
BUT!! Even after relegating myself to walking with no wheels at all, I never gave up my aspirations for commercializing the better tool everyone really needs for their own accounting and bookkeeping -- and doing it in a way that your data and any desired customization is in your control, and that's where this broken down cart story with a guy in bare feet muttering ohm with a touch of bitters gets kind of cool...
In 2014 I struck up a relationship with a talented Acupuncturist. I needed his help badly (post surgery allopecia and an immune system on sabbatical were but two of many issues). As it turned out, he needed my help too, but it took him longer to see me for who I was than it did for me to recognize him. (He's slow that way sometimes, but we all have our own strengths and weaknesses). I eventually became his Business Manager and as part of that, I had to clean up an accounting mess left behind by some very greedy and unethical bookkeepers and office staff.
By that time I had a major upgrade to my own accounting solution in place, but I didn't want to put him on my own solution as it wasn't ready for others yet. Plus, I didn't want to put him on my solution in the event we parted ways down the road as is often the case from time to time in business.
In 2014 I struck up a relationship with a talented Acupuncturist. I needed his help badly (post surgery allopecia and an immune system on sabbatical were but two of many issues). As it turned out, he needed my help too, but it took him longer to see me for who I was than it did for me to recognize him. (He's slow that way sometimes, but we all have our own strengths and weaknesses). I eventually became his Business Manager and as part of that, I had to clean up an accounting mess left behind by some very greedy and unethical bookkeepers and office staff.
By that time I had a major upgrade to my own accounting solution in place, but I didn't want to put him on my own solution as it wasn't ready for others yet. Plus, I didn't want to put him on my solution in the event we parted ways down the road as is often the case from time to time in business.
In the summer of 2016 I shifted him from Quickbooks desktop to Quickbooks cloud solution and I was mortified by the complexity of the navigation and problems with the Quickbooks cloud solution. I searched around for other commercially available and affordable cloud based double entry bookkeeping solutions and to my surprise, there were still none that met your most basic needs.
Frustrated by what I was seeing, but not financially in a position to build out my own, I started futzing with Google Sheets one night. Within an hour I had a working prototype that I was fairly impressed with, and from there things started to fall into place.
From the fall of 2016 through the fall of 2018 this solution went through about 4 major iterations. After getting major components to work the goal was to remove all "spreadsheet" feeling functionality from the solution. I wanted everything to look, work and feel more like a database solution and that took some time with each iteration, but it's there now, and WOW. I'll be damned. Who'd a thunk it?! Google sheets it is!!
This version of ZAP Accounting Software is the data independent, cloud based, customizable, solution not subject to forced upgrades I've wanted to share with others for almost two decades now...
The interface isn't as sexy as my web based interface, and it certainly doesn't show off my old school programming prowess, but you get to control everything about your software and your data, and it's yours for life with no recurring fees -- and ultimately, that is the feeling I've wanted everyone to have for almost 20 years now.
I wanted you to know what it was like to be able to control your own accounting in a system that was yours to customize and keep for life, without the interference of software developers, designers and others who don't truly have your own best interest in mind -- and I'm as shocked as you are the solution came via a Google Spreadsheet.
The world works in mysterious ways, and this was sure a surprise for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed putting it all together. This work is almost 20 years in the making, but technically, I sense it's been percolating for a lot longer than that.
Take the little time it takes to master your own bookkeeping so you can do more in less time, leaving you more time to pursue that which your heart truly desires.
Best of luck to you and warm regards,
b
12/25/2018
Frustrated by what I was seeing, but not financially in a position to build out my own, I started futzing with Google Sheets one night. Within an hour I had a working prototype that I was fairly impressed with, and from there things started to fall into place.
From the fall of 2016 through the fall of 2018 this solution went through about 4 major iterations. After getting major components to work the goal was to remove all "spreadsheet" feeling functionality from the solution. I wanted everything to look, work and feel more like a database solution and that took some time with each iteration, but it's there now, and WOW. I'll be damned. Who'd a thunk it?! Google sheets it is!!
This version of ZAP Accounting Software is the data independent, cloud based, customizable, solution not subject to forced upgrades I've wanted to share with others for almost two decades now...
The interface isn't as sexy as my web based interface, and it certainly doesn't show off my old school programming prowess, but you get to control everything about your software and your data, and it's yours for life with no recurring fees -- and ultimately, that is the feeling I've wanted everyone to have for almost 20 years now.
I wanted you to know what it was like to be able to control your own accounting in a system that was yours to customize and keep for life, without the interference of software developers, designers and others who don't truly have your own best interest in mind -- and I'm as shocked as you are the solution came via a Google Spreadsheet.
The world works in mysterious ways, and this was sure a surprise for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed putting it all together. This work is almost 20 years in the making, but technically, I sense it's been percolating for a lot longer than that.
Take the little time it takes to master your own bookkeeping so you can do more in less time, leaving you more time to pursue that which your heart truly desires.
Best of luck to you and warm regards,
b
12/25/2018