Copyright: Copyright ® 1995 Jerry Medlin


Contents
General Ledger Help Contents

Program Description

Getting Started

Registration & Upgrade

Program Configuration

Enter or Change Chart of Accounts

Enter or Change Transactions

Print Reports

Bank Reconciliation

File Menu

Index


Program Description

Medlin Windows General Ledger is an accounting program for small and medium size businesses.  The program requires Windows 3.1 or higher and a reasonably modern printer compatible with Windows.

Medlin Windows General Ledger is Shareware.  You are encouraged to try the program and give copies to anyone.  If you use the program, you should become a registered user by paying a $38 registration fee.

Select Registration from the help menu to register.

Registered users will receive:

·	A registered copy of the latest version of MWGL.

·	Copies of our other Windows accounting programs.

·	Notification of program updates.

·	Telephone support from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM Pacific Time.


Getting Started

Medlin Windows General Ledger is divided into six sections plus a help menu.  Use the mouse to move the arrow to the menu choice and then click the left mouse button.

The Processing Cycle

Usually, accounting is done on a monthly cycle, but the MWGL program allows you to use any length of accounting period.  You may have from 1 to 15 accounting periods in an accounting year.  Checks and journal entries for the accounting period are entered using the third menu selection (Enter or Change Transactions).  Debits are entered as positive <+> numbers and credits are entered as negative <-> numbers.

Once all of the checks and deposits for the month have been entered and the offsetting entries to CASH IN THE BANK have been made, you may choose Bank Reconciliation from the menu and balance your bank account.  Bank Reconciliation is an optional step.

When all of the transactions have been entered and checked you may begin printing reports.  Reports may be printed in any order and as often as desired.  Reports may be printed to the screen first to check their accuracy.  Should you discover a posting error after examining the reports, correct the error and rerun the reports.

To start a new accounting period, you must select File \ Start a New Period from the menu.   When you start a new period, the current period balances are set to zero and the transactions for the previous period are saved for later review.  You may then begin entering transactions for the new period.


Order Form
Medlin Windows General Ledger Order Form

Registered users receive the latest version of MWGL,  telephone support and notification of updates.

Send to:
Medlin Accounting Shareware	    Phone:    707-255-4475
1461 Sproul Avenue	    Fax:        707-255-9266
Napa, CA  94559-1505

MWGL General Ledger Program	$38.00
MWAP Accounts Payable Program	$38.00
MWPR Payroll Writing Program	$38.00
California sales tax (2.76 per program)	__________
Federal Express delivery (optional)	$15.00
Total	__________

Name      ___________________________________________________

Company ___________________________________________________

Address  ___________________________________________________

City  __________________    State  _______    Zip  ________________

Payment by:  Check ____  MC ____  Visa ____  Amex ____  Disc ____

Card no.:  ___________________________________________________

Expiration Date:  ___________________

Phone Number  _______________________________________________

Card holder Name  _____________________________________________

Signature  ___________________________________________________

Where did you get Medlin Windows General Ledger?

____________________________________________________________

Sorry, no COD's or purchase orders.
Programs will be mailed by First Class Mail.
Disk size will be 3.5 inch 720 K unless otherwise specified.


Program Configuration

Configuration information needs to be entered once, when you start using MWGL, and can be changed whenever conditions change.  Select Configure from the menu.

Name on financial statements

Income statement and balance sheet headings

Statement footers

Bank account number

Transaction Listing printed with descriptions

Chart of Accounts printed with balances

Print zero balance accounts on statements

Printer Fonts


Name on financial statements

Enter your company name here.  The name will appear on all financial statements and on the program title bar.  The company name can be changed at any time.  The maximum length for the company name is 32 characters.


Statement headings

These lines will appear centered at the top of the income statement and balance sheet.  The second line will also include the report date.  The maximum length for each heading is 60.


Statement footers

A "footer" is a short comment inserted at the end of a report.  An example of
a footer would be a statement like "Prepared without benefit of audit", or any other meaningless comment your attorney tells you to put on your financial statements.  You may enter a different footer for the income statement and the balance sheet.  The maximum footer length is 60 characters.


Bank account number

The bank account number is used in bank reconciliation.  The reconciled amount will be compared with the balance of this account.


Transaction Description with descriptions
Transaction Listing with descriptions

Checking this box changes the Transaction Listing report from a two column report without descriptions to a single column report with descriptions.  Since the descriptions appear on the General Ledger report, some users like to save paper by omitting the descriptions from the transaction listing.


Chart of Accounts printed with balances

The Chart of Accounts listing will normally print in a two column format without balances.  If you check this box, you will get balances with your COA listing in a single column format - in effect, a trial balance.


Print zero balance accounts on statements
Print zero balance accounts

If you want accounts with zero balances to print on the income statement and balance sheet, click here.  If checked, every account in the Chart of Accounts in included, even if the balance is zero.


Printer Fonts

Each time you click Printer Fonts, MWGL will take a few seconds to look at the printer fonts available under Windows.  Choose your favorite font for printing reports.  MWGL prints reports with the decimal points lined up even with variable pitch fonts.


Chart of Accounts
Enter or Change Chart of Accounts

A standard chart of accounts is provided with the program. Although any sequential numbering scheme will work with the General Ledger program, the one provided is in common usage by accountants.  To use the standard chart of accounts, run the program with the file MWGL.COA in the data path.

The chart of accounts can be modified at any time during the processing period.  All chart of accounts setup and modification is done using the Chart of Accounts selection on the menu.  This section allows you to add new COA items, delete or change existing ones, or examine the COA by scrolling up and down the screen. You may even change account numbers at any time and the program will automatically change the account numbers on all transactions. Use the scroll bar to scroll through the listing.  Click "Add" to add a new account number.

To insert a chart of accounts item into a location, click "Insert".  The new item will be inserted above the highlighted item.

Click "Delete" to delete the item in the box.  You will not be allowed to delete an account with a balance or with any transactions posted to the account during the year.  Upon exiting the chart of accounts section, the chart of accounts is automatically sorted in account number order.

The following information is displayed for each line in the chart of accounts:

1 	ACCOUNT NUMBER - A three or four digit number between 000 and 9999 which is used for posting transactions.

2 	ACCOUNT TYPE, TOTAL LEVEL and TITLE TYPE - Three  numbers which determine how, and on which reports, the item will be printed.  (See the section on Chart of Accounts Coding for details.)

3 	PRIOR % - This number will be printed on the income statement and is for informational purposes only.  If you don't want prior year % printed on the income statement, enter zero.  The prior year % is updated automatically at the end of the year, by the Start a New Year procedure.

4 	ACCOUNT DESCRIPTION - Up to 27 characters are allowed for the account description.

Once the chart of accounts has been setup, you won't use this section, except to occasionally add new items to the chart of accounts or delete unwanted accounts with zero balances.


Transactions
Enter or Change Transactions

All checks and journal entries for the accounting period are entered using the Transactions selection of the menu.  This selection also allows you to examine entries by browsing up and down the screen, and to insert, delete or change entries.  You may also obtain a total for a particular account and you can search all of the transactions for any string of characters.

     Each transaction contains the following information:

1 	 DESCRIPTION - Allows up to 21 characters to describe the entry.  Pressing <Enter>, <Tab> or <+> causes the previous entry to be repeated.  To enter a blank description, press the space bar, then <Enter>.

2 	CHECK NO. - A five digit check or reference number.  Numbers or letters may be used. Pressing <Enter> or <Tab> causes the previous number to be repeated.  Pressing <+> enters a number equal to the previous number plus one. (This is useful when entering a series of checks with sequential check numbers.)  A check number including the > symbol will be treated as a recurring entry.

3 	DATE - Enter the correct day of the month or use the arrow keys or mouse to highlight and change the month, day or year.  Pressing "Y" during date entry will make this transaction a year to date entry.

4 	 ACCOUNT NUMBER - Enter a three or four digit account number.  A list box of possible account numbers and descriptions will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.  Enter the number or select from the box.  Pressing just <Enter> or <Tab>, will enter the highlighted previous account number.  Pressing <Enter> or <Tab> after entering the first digit will enter the first account number displayed in the list box.  Account numbers not in the chart of accounts will not be accepted.

An alternative way to enter account numbers is by account description.  Pressing an alphabetic key (A-Z) will display an alphabetized list of chart of account descriptions.  Choose the account from the list or continue pressing alphabetic keys to select accounts by name.

5 	AMOUNT - Enter the amount.  Debit entries are entered as positive numbers by pressing the plus <+>, <Enter> or <Tab> key.  Credit entries are entered as negative numbers by pressing the minus <-> key after the number is entered or by preceding the number with a minus sign then pressing the <+>, <Enter> or <Tab> key.

If you press the <Enter> key without entering an amount, an amount equal to the net of all of the transactions for the period is entered, but with the opposite sign.  In other words, a balancing entry is created.  If the net of all of the transactions so far is +1234.56 and you press the <Enter> key without entering an amount, 1234.56- is entered.  This feature is especially useful for those users who want to enter a debit for each credit.

Pressing the <Y>  or asterisk <*> key when entering the date or amount or pressing the <*> key when entering the account number, causes an  asterisk to be printed to the right of the amount and the transaction to be posted to the year to date balance only without affecting the current balance.

The net amount of the current check, and the net of all the transactions posted for the period are constantly displayed at the bottom of the screen.  The check total is useful when posting a single check to multiple accounts.  For double entry accounting, the posting total should be zero when you finish with posting for the period.

Click on any item to change it.  If the transaction you want to change is not on the screen, click <Browse> and a scroll bar will appear.  Click on the scroll bar to move up and down through the current period's transactions.

To insert a transaction into a location, click the insert button.  The new transaction will be inserted above the highlighted transaction.

The <Total> selection is useful for checking balances.  It can, for instance, be used to add up all the purchases, so you can make an ending inventory calculation based on a desired cost of sales.

To delete the transaction in the grey box or to delete the selected transaction, click <Delete>.


Print Reports

Reports can be printed at any time and as often as you wish.  A report can cover the current accounting period or any series of accounting periods.  To provide an audit trail, you must, at least, print a General Ledger report including each accounting period, but other reports are optional.

The General Ledger, Transaction Listing and Account Summary reports can be sorted by any field.  A sort selection box will appear if sorting is selected.

Print to Screen

Font Size

Transaction Listing

General Ledger

Income Statement

Balance Sheet

Chart of Accounts

Account Summary

Periods to Print

Printer Setup

Start Printing

Print Speed and Quality


Print to Screen

Checking here will print all reports on the screen, allowing you to view reports without wasting paper.  Use the scroll bar to scroll through the report.

Close the form or press escape to  return to the General Ledger program.

Screen printing creates a file named TEMP.TXT on your data directory.  If you wish to edit or modify a report, load TEMP.TXT into any word processor and change the font to a fixed pitch font, like Courier New.


Font Size

The font point size can be either 10 or 12.  The larger 12 point fonts are easier to read, but if the numbers on the financial statements are large, the statement may look at bit crowded.  Often, you may wish to print the Income Statement and Balance Sheet with the larger 12 point font and then print the General Ledger and Transaction Listing with the smaller 10 point font.


Transaction Listing

The Transaction Listing is simply a list of all of the transactions entered for a period.  The report includes the description, reference number, date and amount. If "Transaction listing printed with descriptions" is not checked in the Configure section, a two column report with no descriptions is printed.


General Ledger

The General Ledger report lists each account number, description and opening balance, each transaction entered to the account and the new closing balance.  It is the all-important printed audit trail when the IRS comes to call.  Be sure you have a printed General Ledger report covering every period of the accounting year.  Like all reports, the General Ledger can be printed for any period or any series of periods.


Income Statement

The Income Statement shows current and year-to-date profit or loss, and current, year-to-date and prior year percentages.  All percentages are percentage of total sales.  The format of the Income Statement is controlled by the Account Type, Total Level and Total Type entered under Chart of Accounts.  If the totals don't look right, it's probably because the chart of account coding is incorrect.


Balance Sheet

A Balance Sheet is a schedule of assets and liabilities for a certain date.  A balance sheet only balances if you are using double entry accounting.  If the transaction entries are not in balance, the "profit year to date" amount on the balance sheet will not agree with the profit or loss on the income statement.


Chart of Accounts Report

The Chart of Accounts report lists all of the account numbers, codes and descriptions.  Current and Year-to-Date balances are printed if "Chart of accounts printed with balances" is checked under Configure.  A chart of accounts report printed with balances is also known as a trial balance.  Until you learn the account numbers, it is a good idea to have a printed copy of the Chart of Accounts report around.


Account Summary

The Account Summary report lists all of the transactions entered to a selected account number.  When Account Summary is checked, a drop-down box appears to select an account.  This report can be for any period or any series of periods.


Periods to Print

Click on any period or series of periods to include in the reports.  Click again to de-select.  The period-ending report date appears to the right of the period selection box.  You may change the report date if you wish.


Printer Setup

On most occasions, no printer setup is necessary, and reports will print on the Windows default printer.  However, if you want to use a printer other than the default printer, printer setup is necessary.

The Printer Setup calls the Control Panel Printer Setup.  Any changes made affect all Windows programs, so be sure to change the settings back the way they were, when printing is finished.

Printer Problems

Windows applications depend on a "printer driver" to control communication between the application and printer.  If you are having problems printing, make sure the correct driver has been selected by clicking "Printer Setup".  Your printer manual should have the correct driver name and a list of alternatives.  If none of the available printer drivers are correct, contact Microsoft for the correct driver.


Start Printing

Once the reports and periods you wish to print have been selected, click here to start printing.

Printing under Windows can be painfully slow at times.  Remember, if you are using the Windows Print Manager, the entire report must be processed before the first page actually prints.

Click the Abort button to stop printing.  Be patient.  The abort process takes a few seconds.


Print Speed and Quality

Printing is generally slower in the Windows environment, but there are things you can do to speed up the process.  Font Selection has a dramatic effect on print speed.  Fonts which are "native" to your printer print much faster.  If the print speed is too slow, use Configure to select another font and try again.

The printer resolution also affects print speed and quality.  Raising the resolution will increase the print quality, but slow the print speed.  Lowering the resolution lowers the print quality, but increases the speed.  Print resolution is changed using the Printer Setup option from the print window.


Bank Reconciliation

To reconcile your bank statement, simply select the checks that have not cleared the bank and then enter your bank statement balance and any adjustments.

Outstanding checks and deposits are selected by clicking on the check in the "Cleared Checks and Deposits" list box.  If you select an item in error, click the item in either list box to delete it from the outstanding checks list.  Be sure to delete any outstanding checks from previous periods cleared this month.  Deposits in transit (deposits that have not yet shown up on the bank statement) can be marked if your deposits have been entered individually with unique check numbers.

You may enter up to five "adjustments" to the bank balance, and a short description of each adjustment.  Examples of such adjustments:

1 	Any outstanding checks from prior months that are not in the list of outstanding Checks and Deposits".  Outstanding checks must be entered as a minus <-> amount.

2 	If you entered payroll as a total into MWGL instead of posting all of the individual checks through MWAP, outstanding checks from the Payroll program must be entered as a minus <-> amount, either individually or as a total.

3 	Deposits in transit at the end of the month should be entered as a plus <+> amount.  If your deposits have been entered as unique transactions, you may, instead, mark them as outstanding and they will be included with the outstanding checks total.

4 	Any checks from the next month that have already cleared the bank should be entered as a plus <+> amount.   If you have more than five adjustments, you must consolidate some and enter a total.

The reconciled bank balance should eventually be the same as the General Ledger bank balance for the Cash in Bank account.  The last number on screen is the difference and should be zero.  If you get zero on your first try, you are indeed living a charmed life.  If not, welcome to the real world.  There are several things to check:

1 	The GL balance is based on the closing balance in the bank account.  If you are using another account number for the bank account other than the default account number 103, use Program Configuration to change the account number.

2 	Make sure you have entered the offsetting entries to the Cash in Bank account: a credit <-> entry for all of the checks entered and a debit <+> entry for all deposits entered.

3 	Check the adjustments.  All outstanding checks from a previous period not included in the OS check listing must be entered as a minus <-> amount and any deposits in the GL but not on the bank statement must be entered as a plus <+>.

4 	Check the bank statement.  Any bank charges or adjustments must be included in the transactions with an offsetting debit or credit to the Cash in Bank account.  Any checks shown as outstanding on your last bank reconciliation that haven't cleared the bank must be voided or entered as an adjustment.

5 	Check your transactions.  Scroll through the checks and deposits for the period.  Each transaction for the current month should either be on the bank statement or marked as outstanding.  If your accounting includes several months in a single period, make sure there are no transactions in this period marked as outstanding that have since cleared the bank.  Transactions with a net of zero (ie. journal entries) and transactions to the bank account may be ignored.

Once your statement is in balance, you may print it by clicking Print.

The Bank Reconciliation selection works best when used with a bank statement that lists cleared checks sorted by check number.  Most banks now provide such a statement.


File Menu

Data is loaded automatically when you start MWGL and saved when you exit, so the file menu doesn't need to be used during every processing.  The file menu does offer a few convenient utilities.

Change Data Path

Save Data

Read AP Data

Start a New Period

Go Back to a Prior Period

Start a New Year

Go Back to the Prior Year

Change Period Breaks

Backup Data


Change Data Path

MWGL always begins by reading data in the working directory.  To read data in another directory or on another disk, use Change Data Path.

When "OK" is clicked, data is first saved to the old path, and then read from the new path.

To transfer data from one directory to another, use Backup Data.

To add a new directory for a new business see Add New Client


Save Data

Although data is saved automatically when exiting MWGL, it is a good idea to save the data occasionally, in case of a power failure.  Data is always saved to the working directory.  If you want to save the data in another directory, use Backup Data.


Default


Start a New Period

You may have up to 15 accounting periods in a single year.  Use Start a New Period to start a new accounting period or, if you have gone back to a previous period, use Start a New Period to go forward again to the next accounting period.


Go Back to a Prior Period

Use Go Back to a Prior Period, if you need to make changes or corrections in a previous period.  Each time Go Back is selected, the accounting period is reduced until the first accounting period of the year is reached.  Use Where Am I? to find out the selected accounting period.


Start a New Year

A General Ledger year can have from 1 to 15 periods.  Before entering data for a new year, use this selection to start a new year.

You will be asked for the account number of your capital account, so the profit or loss for the year just ended can be automatically posted to the capital account.  If you are using the standard chart of accounts, the capital account is account number 465.  To complete the start a new year process, make journal entries to close any capital contribution or withdrawal amounts to the capital account.

Starting a new year will automatically start a new period. If you started entering transactions for the first period of the year and forgot to start a new year, select Go Back to a Prior Period and then start a new year.  Your new year's transactions will be waiting for you.

If you are starting a new year after going back to a previous year, and you have data from the current year to incorporate in the new year, starting a new year will take longer.


Previous Year
Go Back to the Prior Year

Sometimes it is necessary to go back to the previous year to make corrections.  You can go back to the previous year, at any time.

To continue with the current year, just select Start a New Year again.  Your current transactions will be restored.


Change Period Breaks

This selection will be rarely used, but can be very handy, if needed.  An entire year's transactions can be reviewed and period breaks can be changed.  Selections are:

1 	Combine With Next Period - The current period can be combined with the next period to form a single accounting period.  The total number of accounting periods in the year will be reduced by one.

2 	Combine With Prior Period - The current period can be combined with the prior period to form a single accounting period.  The total number of accounting periods in the year will be reduced by one.

3 	Start a New Period - A new period will be created starting with the transaction in the gray box.

4 	Auto Reset Period Breaks - This selection will set a period break wherever the transaction net equals zero and next transaction is in a different month.  The balances are also recalculated.

NOTE:  This is a very powerful function, and used indiscriminately can cause trouble.  Fortunately, any damage created by the misuse of Change Period Breaks can be corrected by the proper use of Change Period Breaks.


Backup Data

Eventually, all hard disks fail.  Use this selection to periodically save the data to a floppy disk.

You can't backup to a full or unformatted disk.  Make sure the backup disk has been formatted, and has enough room for the data files.

Press Return to save to the A: drive, or enter a new drive and path.

Backup makes exact copies of the data files MWGL.COA, MWGL.TRN and MWGL.REC and the configuration file MWGL.CFG.  These files can be used if your main hard disk fails.  Backup Data can also be used to transfer the data from one computer to another.

You can also use this selection to copy the data to another part of your hard disk.

Restoring Data

Restoring data is simply backing up in reverse.  For example, to restore data from drive A: to the \MWACCT directory on drive C:

·	Start MWGL.

·	Select File / Change Data Path and change to A:  Check to see that your data is OK by scrolling through the chart of accounts and transactions.

·	Select File / Backup, enter the path: C:\MWACCT and click OK


Index

A

Account Summary

Add New Client

B

Backing Up

Backup Data

Balance Sheet

Bank account number

Bank Reconciliation

C

Calculator

Change Data Path

Change Period Breaks

Chart of Accounts Coding

Chart of Accounts printed with balances

Chart of Accounts Report

Chart of Accounts

Check Length

Configuration

Contents

Converting Files

Converting PC-PR Files

D

Data Directory

Data Files

Data Path

Directory

Dot Matrix Printer

Double Entry Accounting

F

File Menu

Font Size

Fonts

Footer

G

General Ledger

Getting Started

Go Back to a Prior Period

Go Back to Previous Year

H

Header

I

Income Statement

Index

Inventory

M

Multiple Businesses

N

Name on financial statements

New Year

O

Order Form

P

Path

PC-PR Data Files

Periods to Print

Pop Up Calculator

Previous Year

Print Reports

Print Speed and Quality

Print to a File

Print to Screen

Print zero balance accounts on statements

Printer Fonts

Printer Problems

Printer Setup

Printing

Processing Cycle

Program Configuration

Program Description

R

Read DOS AP Data

Recurring Entries

Report Date

Reports

Restoring Data

S

Save Data

Screen Printing

Sprocket Feed Printer

Start a New Period

Start a New Year

Start Printing

Statement footers

Statement headings

T

Transaction Description with descriptions

Transaction Listing

Transactions

Trial Balance


Add New Client

To add a new client or business, choose Add a New Client from the File menu.  Enter the client name and a new directory will be created under the program directory for the new client.  There is no limit to the number of clients as long as each client has a distinct client name.


Calculator

MWGL has a built in five function pop-up calculator that works like a standard pocket calculator (if there is such a thing).  Press the <F10> key and a small box will appear on the screen.  Enter a number and use the <+> and  <-> keys to add and subtract.  To multiply or divide, use the <*> or </> keys and then the <Enter> or <=>.  If the calculator is called from a dollar value entry field, the calculated amount will be plugged into the entry field, when you exit the calculator.  Exit the calculator by pressing <Esc> or closing the calculator form.


Chart of Accounts Coding

If you use the standard chart of accounts or a modified version of the standard chart of accounts, it is not necessary to be familiar with chart of account coding. Just delete the unwanted chart of accounts items. This information is provided for those who want to use their own chart of accounts, or produce special reports.

Account Type

Account Type is a number from 1 to 9 which determines the type of account as follows:

              1.  ASSETS
              2.  LIABILITIES & EQUITY
              3.  INCOME (OR SALES)
              4.  COST OF SALES
              5.  GROSS PROFIT
              6.  OPERATING EXPENSES
              7.  OTHER INCOME
              8.  OTHER EXPENSES
              9.  NET PROFIT

     The GROSS PROFIT (#5) and PROFIT OR LOSS (#9) are generally
used only once in each chart of accounts, for totaling purposes.  The COST OF SALES (#4), GROSS PROFIT (#5), OTHER INCOME (#7) and OTHER EXPENSES (#8) can be omitted, if your applications don't require those categories.

When printing the income statement, the sign for the balances of accounts with odd numbered account codes is reversed.  So, income amounts (#3) which normally have a credit balance and are carried as minus numbers in the general ledger are printed on the income statement as positive numbers.

Total Level

The Total Level determines the totaling level for an account on the income statement and balance sheet.  The total level is used to determine what totals and subtotals appear on reports.  Each higher total level totals all previous lower account numbers.  The best way to understand how the totaling level works is to experiment.  Change the number and reprint the report to see how it looks.  Chart of account coding can be changed at any time without causing problems.

Total Level:

0   The balance and description will print only on the general
     ledger report.  When printing the balance sheet or income
     statement, the balance (if any) is totaled and printed into
     the next higher number.  ie. The total for a series of 0
     coded accounts prints into the next account numbered 1 or
     higher.

1    Used for most accounts.  On the balance sheet the account
      balance is printed in the first column.

2    Prints total of all previous 0 and 1 accounts.  Prints in the
      middle column of the balance sheet.

3    Prints total of all previous 0, 1, and 2 accounts.  Prints in
      the right hand column of the balance sheet.

4    Used for subtotal accounts such as TOTAL ASSETS, OPERATING
      PROFIT etc.

5-9     For complex income statements, total levels can go up to 9.

Title Type

Title accounts are used to print headings, totals and any other necessary descriptions on the income statement and balance sheet.  You cannot post transactions to a title account.  A title account is any account with a title type greater than zero (0).  The title type is also used to control paging, spacing and underlining.  Any number higher than zero will be preceded by a blank line.
You can print an extra blank line on the income statement or balance sheet by entering a title account with a blank description.

Title Account:

0    Not a title account.

1    Regular title account.

2    Title account underlined by a single line (--------------------)

3    Title account underlined by a double line (===========)

4    Start a new page before printing this account.

5    Balance sheet profit and loss.  Only one account in the chart of accounts
      should have a title account of 5.  This account will be calculated as assets
      minus liabilities and equity.  If the books are in balance, that should be
      equal to the profit or loss on the income statement.  The balance sheet
      profit and loss account should be placed after any other balance sheet
       non-title accounts


Converting Files
Converting PC-GL Files

The program MWCONV.EXE is available to all registered users and will convert PC-GL data files to MWGL format.  You must have PC-GL General Ledger transactions dating back to the beginning of the current accounting year to successfully convert PC-GL data to MWGL data.

Run the program by double clicking on the conversion icon or by double clicking on MWCONV.EXE from the file manager.

The conversion program has single screen with two boxes labeled From: and To:.  Select the location of the existing PC-GL files in the From: box and set the To: box to the directory and disk where you want your MWGL data files to be created, and click OK.  A status line tells if any convertible files are found and indicates the progress of the conversion.


Double Entry Accounting

Double entry accounting requires the total of all debit <+> entries to be the same as the total of all credit <-> entries.  It does not mean there must be a credit for every debit, only that all of the entries must add up to zero.

Each accounting period consists of a series of balanced entries with equal pluses and minuses.

All of the checks written during a month are posted to the various expense accounts as debit <+> amounts.  Then the total of all of those checks is posted to the CASH IN BANK account as a single credit <-> amount.  All income amounts are entered as credit <-> amounts to various income accounts and a corresponding debit <+> entry is made to the Cash in Bank account or to Accounts Receivable.  The net of all the transactions posted is therefore zero, making a balanced series of entries.  The PC-GL program helps you when posting transactions, by displaying the balance of all transactions posted at the upper right of the screen.  When all of the transactions for the accounting period have been posted, the balance displayed should be zero.

If you are unfamiliar with double entry accounting, it is beyond the scope of this manual to completely cover the subject. However, all is not lost.  The  MWGL system can also be used as a simple single entry system.  Just enter all your expenses and income to the proper account, and run the system normally.   Expenses are entered as positive <+> amounts and (this is important!) income amounts are entered as negative <-> amounts. To enter a negative amount, first enter the number then press the minus <-> sign.


Inventory

If your application doesn't require the beginning and ending inventory to show on the income statement, you can skip this section.  This section discusses a commonly used, but somewhat confusing, technique to properly display beginning and ending inventory on a computerized income statement.

Any transaction with an asterisk <*>  to the right of the amount is posted as a year to date transaction only.  It does not affect the current period balance.  This is moderately useful for making adjustments to the year to date balances, but it's principal value lies in making the beginning and ending inventory work properly on the income statement.

If we assume the inventory at the beginning of April was $25000.00, and the inventory at the end of April was $29000.00; the following series of entries are required:

Description          Ref #        Date         Acct #       Amount
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Inventory            GJN04      04-30-94      151        29000.00
Inventory            GJN04      04-39-94      151        25000.00-
Beginning Inv.     GJN04      04-30-94      610        25000.00
Ending Inv.         GJN04      04-30-94      696        29000.00-
Ending Inv.         GJN04      04-30-94Y    696        25000.00  *
Beginning Inv.     GJN04      04-30-94Y    610        25000.00- *

Notice the last two entries are year-to-date entries, created by pressing the <Y> or <*> key while entering the date or  amount, or pressing the <*> key while entering the account number.  If the beginning and ending inventory accounts start at zero (as would be the case at the beginning of the year), the last two year-to-date entries are omitted.


Read DOS AP Data

The MWCONVERT program available to all registered users has a hidden and otherwise undocumented ability to read the AP_TO_GL.TRN file created by the DOS Accounts Payable program PC-AP.  Press Control and F9 to activate the feature and select a FROM and TO directory.  The current AP_TO_GL.TRN file will be added to the current months MWGL transactions.  The AP_TO_GL.TRN file will not be erased, so, if you are using this feature each month, erase the AP_TO_GL.TRN file manually after reading it over to MWGL.

This feature is provided primarily for accountants and bookkeepers who use MWGL to service clients still using the DOS PC-AP program.


Recurring Entries

Any transaction with a greater than (>) symbol in the Check Number field will be treated as a recurring entry.  Each time an new month is started, recurring entries are automatically created and added to the new month's transactions.  The date on the new transaction will be increased by one month.  Recurring entries can be changed and deleted like any other transaction.


year to date entry

A year to date entry will add or substract to the year to date balance of an account without changing the current balance.  Use year to date entries to make adjustments to prior periods or make inventory adjustments.  A year to date entry is created by pressing the <Y> or <*> key while entering the date or  amount, or pressing the <*> key while entering the account number.