CD ROM Paradise Collection 4/CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso/business/medlin95.zip/MEDLIN.ARC/PC-GL.DOC

Text File | 1995-01-05 | 39KB | 841 lines

                               PC-GL
                           Version 5.0
                   Copyright 1994, Jerry Medlin


PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

     PC-GL is a double entry accounting program which allows a
small to medium size business to rapidly and accurately produce
financial reports and reconcile the bank statement.  The program
runs on a IBM PC or compatible computer with at least one disk
drive, and requires at least 256k memory.

     PC-GL is a Shareware program.  You are encouraged to give
copies to anyone who might use it.  To register as a user, please
send $35 to:

              Jerry Medlin
              Medlin Accounting Shareware
              1461 Sproul Avenue
              Napa, Ca.  94559   U.S.A.

     You may use the order printed with the VIEWDOC program to
register by mail.  U.S. Checks, Mastercard, Visa, Discover and
American Express are accepted.  For phone orders with a charge
card, call [phone].  To order by FAX, send the order form
with charge card information to [phone].

     Your registration fee entitles you to a copy of the latest
version of the program and telephone assistance should you require
it.  The opening screen will include your company name instead of
the shareware registration request and the registration reminders
on printed reports will be eliminated.

     To run the program, simply type PC-GL from the DOS prompt.
Each time you run the program, a menu is displayed:

              Program Configuration
              Enter or Change Chart of Accounts
              Enter or Change Transactions
              Bank Reconciliation
              Print Transaction Listing
              Print General Ledger
              Print Income Statement
              Print Balance Sheet
              Print Account Summary Report
              Print Chart of Accounts Listing
              Change Accounting Period
              End Processing and Save Data

     Use the arrow keys or the mouse to choose, then press
<Enter>.

    PC-GL allows a maximum of 800 items in the chart of accounts
and 10000 transactions per accounting period with 600k of memory.
With 256k of memory, the number of transactions is reduced to
about 500 per accounting period.  The number of additional
transactions you can enter is printed at the bottom of the menu
screen.  This number is limited by either disk space or memory
available, and is subject to an absolute maximum of 10000
transactions.

     When inputting information, the plus <+> key has the same
effect as the return or enter key.  The minus <-> key enters a
negative number.  This makes using the numeric key pad even
easier.


THE PROCESSING CYCLE

     Usually accounting is done on a monthly cycle, but the PC-GL
program allows you to use any length of accounting period.  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 an optional step
and is described later in the manual.

     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.

     The only report that must be printed to the printer each
period is the General Ledger Report.  If the General Ledger Report
has not been printed to the printer (not just the screen), you are
not allowed to end an accounting period and start another.  The
General Ledger Report shows the opening balance for each account,
all of the transactions posted to the account for the accounting
period, followed by the closing balance for each account.  Once
you start a new accounting period, the printed General Ledger
Report is your only audit trail.  Starting a new accounting period
without printing the general ledger would leave no trace of how an
account arrived at its present balance.  Since organizations like
the IRS want to know how you arrived at those numbers on your tax
return, the General Ledger Report is required.  If it hasn't been
printed, you will not be able to start a new accounting period.

     To start a new accounting period, you may answer "Y" to the
question "Do you want to start a new accounting period?" on the
opening screen, or you may select "Change Accounting Period" on
the main menu and select <P> Start a New Period.   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.


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 then 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 PC-GL 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.


SETTING UP THE 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, simply run
the program with the file PC-GL.COA on the data disk drive.

     The chart of accounts can be modified any time during the
processing period.  All chart of accounts setup and modification
is done using the <Enter or Change 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 any
transactions.  All commands are listed at the bottom of the screen
and are selected by a single keystroke.  Upon entering this
section, you may immediately begin adding items to the chart of
accounts or, by pressing the <Escape> key, you may go to the
command mode and insert, delete or change items in the chart of
accounts.

     You will not be allowed to delete an account with a balance
or change balance amounts.  Changing amounts is done by posting
transactions to the account.  This way you have that all important
audit trail.  Upon exiting the chart of accounts section, the
chart of accounts is automatically sorted in account number order.

     The following information is contained in each chart of
accounts:

     1)   ACCOUNT NUMBER - A three digit number between 000 and
     999 which will be used for posting transactions.

     2)   ACCOUNT CODE - A two digit number which determines how,
     and on which reports, the item will be printed.  (See the
     section on COA coding for details.)

     3)   PRIOR YEAR % - 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.

     5)   CURRENT AMOUNT - The balance of all transactions entered
     to this account for the current accounting period.  If an
     asterisk <*> is entered during setup, this chart of accounts
     entry will be treated as a title account on reports.  Title
     accounts are used to provide headings and totals on reports.
     Transactions cannot be posted to a title account.  Press any
     other key during setup to enter a zero beginning balance for
     current and year to date.

     6)   YTD AMOUNT - This is the balance of all transactions
     entered to this account for the current year.  Opening
     account balances cannot be entered when the chart of accounts
     is set up, they must be posted as transactions.

     Remember to look at the bottom of the screen, when in doubt.
Your options are printed there.

     The first item in the chart of accounts should contain the
company name to be printed on all reports.  If you are using the
standard chart of accounts, change the description of the first
account from STANDARD CHART OF ACCOUNTS to the name you want
printed on your financial statements.

     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.


ENTERING TRANSACTIONS

     All checks and journal entries for the accounting period are
entered using the <Enter or Change Transactions> selection of the
menu.  This selection also allows you to examine entries by
scrolling 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.  All commands are listed at the bottom of the screen.

     Each transaction contains the following information:

     1)   DESCRIPTION - Allows up to 21 characters to describe the
     entry.  Pressing <Enter> 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> 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.)

     3)   DATE - Use the up and down arrow keys to change the
     default day, and the left and right arrow keys to move to the
     month or year to make changes, then press <Enter>.  You may
     also enter a specific date by pressing the period key and
     then the number.  Pressing the <Y> key causes a Y to be
     printed to the right of the date and the transaction to be
     posted to the year to date balance only without affecting the
     current balance.

     4)   ACCOUNT NUMBER - Enter a three digit account number.
     With each digit entered, a list of possible matching account
     numbers and descriptions will be displayed at the bottom of
     the screen.  Just pressing <Enter> at the beginning, will
     enter the previous account number.  Pressing <Enter> after
     entering the first digit will enter the first account number
     displayed at the bottom of the screen.  If you attempt to
     enter an account number not in the chart of accounts, the
     computer will beep.

     5)   AMOUNT - Enter the amount calculator style without using
     the  decimal point.  Debit entries are entered as positive
     numbers by pressing the plus <+> or <Enter> key.  Credit
     entries are entered as negative numbers by pressing the minus
     <-> key after the number is entered.

     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.

     You may pop up a calculator at any time by pressing the F10
     key.  To insert the calculated result in for the amount,
     press <Enter>.


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

     When using the <C> Change selection to change a chart of
account item or a transaction, you don't have to reenter each
field.  Press the <Enter> key, to skip to the next field.

     The <T> Total selection for transaction entries 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.

     If you are using PC-AP Accounts Payable program, the <R>
command allows you to read all of the checks written into the PC-
GL program.  Transactions from PC-AP are not posted to PC-GL until
you select <R> Read PC-AP Transactions.

     The asterisk key <*> is used to mark checks that have not
cleared the bank at the end of the month.  Bank reconciliation is
described later in the manual.

PRINTING REPORTS

     To print any of the available reports, select the report from
the main menu.  You may print reports in any order and at any time
during the processing period.  You will be asked to input a report
date to be printed on the report.  Alphabetic and numeric dates
are acceptable. i.e. January 31, 1994.  Pressing <Enter> accepts
the displayed default date.

     You can then choose to print to a printer, to the screen or
to a file.

     If you choose to print to a file, you are prompted for a file
name.  The program prints the report to this file exactly as it
would have been printed to the printer.  These files are regular
ASCII files, and are read by most word processors.  You may
optionally leave off the report headings, when you print to a
file, so that the data can be imported into a spread sheet or data
base.  There will be a slight delay when you choose <S> Print to
Screen, while a temporary file is prepared.  You may then use the
arrow keys to scroll up and down through the report.


ACCOUNT SUMMARY REPORT

     Each time you start a new accounting period, the transactions
for the prior period are saved.  Eventually, up to 12 accounting
periods (months) are saved.  The most recent transactions are in a
file named GL1.TRN, and the oldest transactions are in a file
named GL12.TRN.  The account summary report allows you to print a
summary of transactions for a single account.  You can sort the
transactions by description, date, check number or account number.
You will be asked for an account number and the number of months
to go back.  Inputting zero for the number of months will look at
only the current period.  If you enter ALL for the account number,
you may also print reports for a past period or a series of past
periods.

     For instance, you can print a single General Ledger report
for the whole year, so you can review the year's activity with one
General Ledger Report instead of having to look at 12 individual
reports.

     You may use Program Configuration to change the number of
periods saved.  The allowable range is from 1 to 99 periods.


CHANGE ACCOUNTING PERIOD

     The choices are <P> Start a new period, <Y> Start a new year
or <G> Go back to the previous period.  You may also start a new
period by answering Yes to the question: "Do you want to start a
new accounting period?" on the opening screen.  However, you will
not be able to start a new period if transactions have been
entered or changed since the General Ledger report was last
printed.

     You may use the <G> command and change the previous period
even after you have entered transactions for the current period.
When you are finished with the previous period, print your
reports, select <P> Start a new period, and your current
transactions will be waiting for you.

     To start a new  accounting year, select <Y> to set all profit
and loss account balances back to zero.  The prior year
percentages will also be updated to reflect the year just ended.
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 <G> Go back to the
previous period and then start a new year.  Your new year's
transactions will be waiting for you.


END PROCESSING & SAVE DATA

     When processing is completed, you must exit the program using
this selection.  All data will be automatically saved to the disk.

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 account items. This information is provided for
those who want to use their own chart of accounts, or produce
special reports.

     The first number of the two digit code is a number from 1 to
9 which determines the account type.

              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.

     The second number of the two digit code 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.  i.e. 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    Used for the NET PROFIT account on both the balance sheet and
     income statement.  If the balance sheet does not contain a
     level 5 account, the balance sheet will not balance.

     For complex income statements, you can use total level 6 for
NET PROFIT and level 5 for another sub total.

     The second digit is also used to control paging, spacing and
underlining.  Any number higher than 1 will be preceded by a blank
line.  A 9 in the second digit of a title account causes the
printer to start a new page.  So, if you want to start a new page
at account number 700, give it the two digit code of 69.

     Accounts used only for totaling the balances of previous
accounts or for printing titles on a statement are title accounts.
A title account is created by entering an asterisk in the current
balance column of an account.  You cannot post any transactions to
a title account.  Most accounts with a totaling level higher than
1 are title accounts.

     You can print an extra blank line on the income statement or
balance sheet by entering a title account with a blank
description.

     Underlining on the income statement and balance sheet is
accomplished by entering an account, with a non-numerical
character in the second digit of the two digit code. (Non-
numerical means something other than 0 through 9.)  The character
will be used to print a line under the last number printed on the
income statement or balance sheet.  So, an account code ending
with a dash <-> prints a single underline and an account code
ending with the equal sign <=> prints a double underline.  The
account's only purpose is to print the underline.  The account
should be a title account, and it's description will be ignored.


USING OTHER PROGRAMS FROM JERRY MEDLIN

     There are four other programs available from Jerry Medlin:
     PC-AR - a balance forward Accounts receivable program.
     PC-PR - a Payroll Writing program.
     PC-AP - an Accounts Payable and check writing program.
     PCINV - an Invoice Writing program

     Net payroll checks from PC-PR can be read into the PC-AP
program after each payroll, keeping your bank balance current.
Then all of the checks or invoices entered in PC-AP, including the
net payroll checks, can be read into PC-GL at the end of the
month.

     The Accounts Receivable program is a "stand alone" program.
You must post the totals from the Accounts Receivable program with
a short series of journal entries each month.  This provides
greater control and flexibility to the whole accounting process.

     The details of the journal entries from PC-AR to PC-GL and
the remaining entries from PC-PR to PC-GL depend on your
particular situation, but might look something like this:

                         Check               Account     Check
Description              Number      Date    Number      Amount
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Cash Received on Acct    GJN01    01-31-95    103      22345.67
January Sales            GJN01    01-31-95    511      22345.67-
January Withholding      GJN01    01-31-95    708        375.49
January Fed W/H          GJN01    01-31-95    331        190.00-
January FICA             GJN01    01-31-95    332        146.26-
January SDI W/H          GJN01    01-31-95    333         24.53-
January State W/H        GJN01    01-31-95    334         14.70-

     The first two entries are from the Accounts Receivable
program and the last 5 entries are from the Payroll program.  The
entries would vary depending on cash or accrual basis and, of
course, the amounts and accounts involved.

PRIOR PERIOD CORRECTIONS

     If you find an error in the previous period and you have not
yet started a new accounting period, you can answer "N" to the new
accounting period question at the beginning of the program and
rerun the period.  Even after you have started a new accounting
period, the <G> Go Back to Previous Period from the Change
Accounting Period selection can be used to go back to the previous
period.  It undoes all of the things start a new accounting period
does.  You can only go back one period and you cannot go back to a
period in the previous year unless you used this version of PC-GL
to start the new year.

     Other than the previous period, you cannot change prior
transactions with PC-GL.  If the error is from an earlier period,
you must make the correction to the current period.  You can enter
the correction without affecting current period balances by
pressing the <Y> key during a date entry, telling the program to
enter the transaction only in the year to date column, and not as
a current transactions.

HANDLING BEGINNING AND ENDING INVENTORY

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

     Any transaction with a Y to the right of the date 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 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> key while in date entry mode.  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.

BANK RECONCILIATION

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

     Outstanding checks are marked from the Enter or Change
Transactions screen.  Press the asterisk <*> key to mark or unmark
a check as outstanding.  If a check has been split among several
different accounts and therefore takes several transaction lines,
marking anywhere in the check marks the whole check.  You may also
mark deposits that have not yet shown up on the bank statement if
your deposits have been entered individually with unique check
numbers.  If you make a mistake press the <*> key again to unmark
a check.

     Outstanding checks will be printed with an * in the
Transaction Listing report, but have no effect on the Income
Statement, Balance Sheet, General Ledger or Account Summary
Reports.

     Now choose Bank Reconciliation from the menu, and enter the
ending balance on the bank statement under "Balance Per Bank
Statement".

     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 must be entered as a
minus <-> amount.  Normally, if a check doesn't clear the bank in
a few months, it never will and should be voided.

2)  If you entered payroll as a total into PC-GL instead of
posting all of the individual checks through PC-AP, outstanding
checks from the Payroll program must be entered as a minus <->
amount.

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 account 103.
If you are using another account number for the bank account, 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 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 your transactions
using Enter or Change Transactions.  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 (i.e. journal entries) and
transactions to the bank account may be ignored.

     Once your statement is in balance, you may print it by
pressing <P>.  The list of outstanding checks is also included in
the printed report and may be viewed at any time by pressing <V>.

     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.

PROGRAM CONFIGURATION

Program configuration allows you to change certain features of PC-
GL.  Use the up and down arrows to move the highlight and then
press <C> to change an item.  The following information may then
be changed:

     Display Colors - If you have a color adapter and monitor, you
     can change the colors for screen borders, program prompts,
     data, and background.  Use the arrow keys to change the
     colors and see the effect immediately.

     Laser or sheet feeder printer? - You can change the way PC-GL
     starts a new page.  Usually, PC-GL starts a new page by
     counting lines until the page total equals 66 lines.  If you
     enter a "Y" for the laser printer question, PC-GL starts a
     new page by issuing a form feed command to your printer.

     Zero balances on statements? - If you don't want accounts
     with zero balances to print on the income statement or
     balance sheet, change this to a "N".

     Months of data to save - The program normally saves the past
     12 months of transactions so that they can be reviewed with
     the Account Summary selection.  You can change this time
     period to any number from 1 to 99.  A smaller number requires
     less disk space, and speeds the new period processing by a
     few seconds.

     Path for PC-GL data files - Enter a drive and path
     designation for PC-GL data.  If you want the program to read
     data from the B drive, enter B:.  When you change the data
     path, data is first saved to the existing path and then read
     from the new path.

     Printer Number (1 or 2) - For printing to LPT1 or LPT2.

     Bank account number - Then bank reconciliation routine will
     use this bank account number.

     Left margin on reports - If you use an Epson compatible
     printer or a Hewlett Packard laser printer, you may add a
     left margin to your reports.  The necessary codes to change
     to a slightly smaller printing and add a small left margin
     will automatically be sent each time you print a report.
     Choose <E> for an Epson compatible printer or <H> for a HP
     compatible printer or <0> for None.

     COA listing printed with balances - the Chart of Accounts
     listing will normally print in a two column format without
     balances.  If you change this to a Y, you will get balances
     with you COA listing in a single column format - in effect, a
     trial balance.

     Transaction Listing printed with detail - Changes the
     Transaction Listing report from a two column report without
     descriptions to a single column report with descriptions.

     Income statement headings - You can change the default
     headings printed on the income statement report.  You will
     probably need to start with some blank spaces to line up the
     heading correctly.  Sometimes trial and error is the best
     way.

     Balance sheet headings -  You can also change the balance
     sheet headings.

     Income statement and balance sheet 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.

     When you have finished making your changes, press <Escape> to
return to the menu.


DATA FILES

     Data files are created automatically by PC-GL.  The Medlin
Menu Program can copy these files to another disk for backup
purposes.

PC-GL.COA      Chart of account listing with balances.
PC-GL.TRN      Current period transactions.
PC-GL.CFG      Data created by Program Configuration.
PRIOR.TRN      Used if you go back to a previous period.
PRIOR.COA      Created when you start a new year so you can go
back.
GL1.TRN, GL2.TRN, GL3.TRN etc. contain the previous period
transactions.  GL1.TRN is the most recent.


HELPFUL HINTS

     You may pop up a five function calculator at any time by
pressing the <F10> key.  Use the <+> and <-> keys to add and
subtract, and the <*> and </> keys followed by the <=> key to
multiply and divide.  Use the <%> key instead of the <=> key to
get the result as a percent.

     Opening balances are entered as transactions, using the Enter
or Change Transactions selection.  If you enter the opening
balances as year to date by pressing Y during date entry, the
opening balances do not affect the current period totals.

     It is helpful to remember that PC-GL uses data loaded into
random access memory.  New data is not saved to the disk until you
end processing, or select the <Q> Quick Save option from the Enter
or Change Transactions section of the program.

     If you do not get the question "Do you want to start a new
accounting period?" when starting PC-GL, it is because you didn't
print the General Ledger report to the printer.  Changing even a
single transaction convinces PC-GL you have not printed the
General Ledger report, and prevents you from starting a new
period.

     The first 12 times you start a new accounting period, more
disk space is required for historical files.  If you have a large
business and you are using floppy disks for data storage, you
could run out of disk space.  You can change the number of periods
saved using Program Configuration.

     You can use the Account Summary Report each January to help
in summarizing payments for 1099 forms.  The 1099 is the form the
government wants every year which reports payments to individuals
of over $600.  Our PC-AP program can also produce 1099's.

     The "Zero Balances" selection in the chart of account command
mode sets ALL chart of account balances to zero and deletes any
transactions entered for the period.  There are only two reasons
to ever use this command:

1)  When you first start using PC-GL you might want to practice a
few times before you really get started.  Use "Zero Balances" to
get a fresh start.  If you have run a number of test months, and
wish to delete all of the Account Summary data: exit to the disk
operating system and type:  ERASE GL*.TRN.

2)  If you want to use an existing chart of accounts setup on a
new application, you could zero the existing balances after
copying the chart of accounts file PC-GL.COA to the disk for the
new business.

     This version of PC-GL is completely compatible with all other
versions of PC-GL except for the method of saving and recalling
old transaction files.  If you have been using a version number
lower than 3.0 (version 2.9 or lower), you need to convert the
historical data if you want to use it with this program.  Contact
us for instructions on how to convert the old data.

     PC-GL is written in Turbo Pascal.  The source code is
available for $95.