Reference Money Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Precision Financial Data Handling: Enables accurate storage/retrieval of monetary values in databases, mitigating floating-point arithmetic errors (e.g., 0.1 + 0.2 ≠ 0.3). Critical for e-commerce, fintech, or any system processing payments/pricing.
• Database Schema Standardization: Provides a reusable Doctrine-compatible solution for storing monetary values as strings (scaled by 100) to avoid precision loss in SQL queries or calculations.
• Build vs. Buy: Avoids reinventing a financial data storage layer; leverages a lightweight, MIT-licensed package instead of custom development.
• Roadmap Alignment: Supports future-proofing for:
  • Multi-currency systems (extensible via custom scaling logic).
  • Compliance with financial regulations requiring exact decimal representation.
  • Integration with Laravel Cashier, Stripe, or other payment gateways.

When to Consider This Package

• Adopt if:

  • Your app handles monetary values (prices, balances, transactions) and requires 100% precision (e.g., $0.10 + $0.20 = $0.30).
  • Using Doctrine ORM in Laravel/PHP and need a consistent way to store/retrieve scaled integers as strings.
  • Prioritizing simplicity over full-featured libraries (e.g., MoneyPHP) for basic use cases.
  • Team lacks time/resources to implement custom scaling logic (e.g., BigDecimal alternatives).

• Look elsewhere if:

  • You need multi-currency support out of the box (this package focuses on single-currency scaling).
  • Requiring advanced features like exchange rates, rounding rules, or audit trails (consider MoneyPHP).
  • Using non-Doctrine databases (e.g., Eloquent-only apps; this is ORM-specific).
  • Need real-time calculations (this is storage-focused; compute logic remains manual).

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

For Executives: "This package solves a hidden technical debt risk in our financial systems: floating-point errors in databases. By storing monetary values as scaled strings (e.g., '100' for $1.00), we eliminate rounding issues in transactions, payments, or reporting—saving time on bug fixes and improving customer trust. It’s a lightweight, MIT-licensed solution that integrates seamlessly with our existing Doctrine setup, with minimal dev effort. For ~$0 cost, we gain precision and compliance-ready data."

For Engineering: *"This is a Doctrine behavior for monetary values that:

• Fixes precision: Avoids 0.1 + 0.2 = 0.3000000000000004 errors by storing cents as integers.
• Works out of the box: Just add the trait to your entity fields (e.g., use ReferenceMoney).
• Extensible: Can customize scaling factors or add validation logic.
• Lightweight: No bloat; MIT license means no vendor lock-in.

Use case: Perfect for order totals, wallet balances, or any field where exact decimals matter. Pair it with Laravel’s built-in casting for a full solution."*