<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<chapter id="introduction">
<chapterinfo>
  <date>2010-07-19</date>
  <releaseinfo>4.5</releaseinfo>
</chapterinfo>

<title>Introduction</title>

<sect1 id="what-is-kmymoney">
<title>What is &kappname;?</title>

<para>
  Put simply, &kappname; is a personal finance manager for &kde;.  It enables
  users of open source operating systems to keep careful track of their personal
  finances by providing a broad array of financial features and tools.
</para>

<para>
  The principal goals of the project are:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
  <listitem>
    <formalpara><title>Feature Parity</title>
      <para>
        &kappname; intends to provide all important features found in the
        commercially available personal finance managers.  Although every release
        of &kappname; gets closer and closer to that goal, there is still work to
	be done.
      </para>
    </formalpara>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
    <formalpara><title>Ease of Use.</title>
      <para>
        &kappname; strives to be the easiest open source personal finance
        manager to use, especially for the non-technical user.
      </para>
    </formalpara>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
    <formalpara><title>Correctness.</title>
      <para>
        Based on tried and tested double entry accounting principles &kappname;
        ensures that your finances are kept in correct order.
      </para>
    </formalpara>
  </listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="what-kmymoney-is-not">
<title>What &kappname; is not</title>

<para>
  As a personal finance manager, &kappname; is not intended to scale to the
  needs of an average business.  A small business might find sufficient
  functionality to use &kappname;, but features such as accounts-receivable and
  accounts-payable are not directly supported.  However, it would be possible to
  create client, supplier, document, or other features through plugins.
</para>

<para>
  &kappname; is not simply a clone of the commercially available personal
  finance programs. Although many of the features present in &kappname; can be
  found in other similar applications, &kappname; strives to present an
  individual and unique view of your finances.
</para>

</sect1>
</chapter>
