It is a good question to ask. You say the FAQ has addressed it... I guess it was not convincing ? (If you remember where, please point me to it..)
PTA tools, some of them at least, can scale well from beginner-level single entry accounting, or even zero entry "accounting" (just a list of dated event descriptions), to fully general double entry accounting that can model any financial event. I always encourage people to start out simple. What usually happens is they learn and become more interested and more sophisticated as time goes on.
So I would say one group of people this appeals to is people who want to get their hands dirty with Double Entry Bookkeeping, with the support of a lively and enthusiastic community, in order to understand it better.
Another is people who are expert with text editors, scripting and programming and want an accounting system where they can bring these skills and insights to bear.
Another is people who want total control and privacy of their financial records.
Another is people who want their financial data to be accessible and usable for a very long time (even without software, if it came to that).
Good reasons indeed. I'm not a user of this PTA, but a couple of months ago I decided to write my own simple bookkeeping software. I reckoned: if I have to learn double entry bookkeeping one way or another, I want to do that step-by-step with my own software. Just something running locally now. I also build in some (as I call 'm) Semi-Automatic Shortcuts, which let me enter standard recurring entries. Click-click-done. And the best thing: I now understand what this whole double entry bookkeeping thing is.
Even for using of-the-shelf software from a third party, you need to learn the idea and skills behind double entry bookkeeping. The software is not going to fix that for you.
P.S. If anybody is interested in a simple locally deployed PHP-script to do bookkeeping, send me a message. There's also a simple timetracker, a balance sheet, profit/loss statement, etc. You need a local server and MySQL database to run it. I guess in it's essence it's applicable worldwide, but if you're from The Netherlands, it's ready to do taxes for you.
PTA tools, some of them at least, can scale well from beginner-level single entry accounting, or even zero entry "accounting" (just a list of dated event descriptions), to fully general double entry accounting that can model any financial event. I always encourage people to start out simple. What usually happens is they learn and become more interested and more sophisticated as time goes on.
So I would say one group of people this appeals to is people who want to get their hands dirty with Double Entry Bookkeeping, with the support of a lively and enthusiastic community, in order to understand it better.
Another is people who are expert with text editors, scripting and programming and want an accounting system where they can bring these skills and insights to bear.
Another is people who want total control and privacy of their financial records.
Another is people who want their financial data to be accessible and usable for a very long time (even without software, if it came to that).