Gold Medal Software 2

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Gold Medal Software 2 / Gold Medal Software Volume 2 (Gold Medal) (1994).iso / accounts / proft208.arj / PROFIT1.EXE / MANUAL.TXT < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-07-18 | 87KB | 2,009 lines

ProfitABILITY Version 2.0 (Evaluation) USER GUIDE and REFERENCE Shareware Marketing PLC 0297 24088 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Title 1 Client/Supplier Menu 2 Quotations/Estimates Menu 2.1 Quotation or Estimate 2.2 Creating a Quote 2.3 View/Edit Quotation 2.4 Accepting a Quotation 2.5 Cancelling a Quotation Item 2.6 Quotation Text - Stored Paragraphs 3 Jobs Menu 3.1 Create a Job Record 3.2 Timesheets 3.3 Additional Expenses 3.4 Complete Chargeouts 3.5 View/Edit Job Details 3.6 Job Reports 3.6.1 Job Record 3.6.2 Job Summary 3.6.3 Jobs not Priced 3.6.4 Jobs not Invoiced 3.6.5 Timesheets Report 3.6.6 Jobs by Customer 3.6.7 View Job Record 3.7 Job Cost Codes 4 Purchase Orders Menu 4.1 Create a Purchase Order 4.2 View Purchase Order 4.3 Cancel Purchase Order Items 4.4 Purchase Order Receipts 5 Purchase Invoice Menu 5.1 Entering a Purchase Invoice or Credit 5.2 Paying a Purchase Invoice 5.3 Allocating Purchase Credits 6 Purchase Reports 7 Sales Invoices Menu 7.1 Create Sales Invoice/Credit 7.2 Invoicing from the Job Record 7.3 Producing Statements 7.4 Allocating Receipts - Receiving Payment 7.5 Allocating Credits 8 Sales Revenue Reports 9 Personal Expenses Menu 9.1 Doing your Expenses 9.2 Adding/Editing an Expense Code 9.3 Entering an Expense Claim 9.4 Print Expense Claim 9.5 Paying an Expense Claim 10 Accounts Menu 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Failsafe Accounts 10.3 Double Entry 10.4 Accounts Codes and Structure 10.4.1 Basic Structure 10.4.2 Reserved Codes 10.4.3 Key Accounts Codes 10.4.4 Accounts Code Types and Status 10.5 Accounts Codes 10.6 Sundry Postings 10.7 Bank Clearances 10.8 Standing Orders Menu 10.9 Opening Balances 10.10 Period End - closing the Accounts Period 10.11 VAT Codes 11 Accounts Reports Menu 11.1 Accounts Entries 11.2 Transactions 11.3 Bank & Cash Reconciliation 11.4 Balance Sheet 11.5 View Accounts Entries (on screen) 11.6 VAT Return 12 Configuring ProfitABILITY 12.1 Document Layout Parameters 12.2 Document Numbering 12.3 Accounts Information 12.3.1 Period Number 12.3.2 Vat Registration 12.3.3 Multiple VAT Rates 12.3.4 VAT Cash Accounting 12.4 Colour or Monochrome Monitors 12.5 Choosing or Adding a Printer 12.6 Saving the new Configuration 13 ProfitABILITY Utilities 13.1 The DataPrompt 13.2 The Clock 13.3 The Calendar 13.4 The Calculator Introduction ProfitABILITY was designed to meet the needs of today's service businesses, people that sell a skill, a service or product. The need to accurately account for all activities and costs whilst providing these services is all important, as only by doing so can the work be properly invoiced for, and costs and therefore the profit margins be controlled. At Shareware PLC, we felt that the traditional offerings of accounts packages and word-processors, while capable in their own right, did not offer the busy manager the tools he or she really needed, when they were needed. The emphasis on an accounting solution to the day-to-day administration problems of a business was inadequate, and rather like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted! In talking to many businesses - we ourselves have many years experience in business - we found that that there were a great number of basic similarities, despite the diversity of services. A price is agreed for the job, by quotation or estimate, any materials or outside services necessary for the job are purchased, time and expenses are recorded, and on completion or at appropriate stages the job is invoiced for, and in due course payment received. In designing ProfitABILITY, we deliberately concentrated on streamlining the 'sharp end' of business, and in a way that would be familiar to any businessman. We felt that it was time for a business package that worked the way you do, rather than forcing you to adopt a new method of working. In providing a system to help you do business, the logical extension was to provide the accounts as well, but with a difference. As the vast majority of transactions in a business are sales and purchases, why not automate the accounting for these? ProfitABILITY achieves exactly that - invisible double-entry accounting for your business, with full reporting at any time. This does not eliminate the need to have an accountant - it allows accountants to focus on the skills that only they have, such as dealing with your tax affairs, etc. Employing them as 'bean counters' is wasteful, and this has been eliminated. We think that within a short time of using ProfitABILITY, you will experience the confidence in your ability to manage the business that you have been looking for. Installation We recommend that you install ProfitABILITY in two directories on your system - one to experiment with until you are confident, after which it may then be deleted, and the other a 'live' copy, containing real data only. If you are not sure how something works, try it out in the experimental directory first. Remember that anything that should affect the Accounts will, as soon as you have entered the data required. Backing up your Data This simple task is ignored by approximately 80 percent of companies in the U.K. and yet can eliminate many hours of tedious data re-entry. We will cover this right at the start. You have entrusted your entire business records to a simple machine. Machines go wrong, a fact. While we cannot prevent machine failure, we can take simple steps to greatly reduce the recovery time. Backing up should take place on a daily basis, at the very least weekly. Of course if your volume of business transactions is very high then daily is more appropriate. Conventions A word about the way in which the menus behave, and some conventions in ProfitABILITY.. All the menus (boxes containing choices or options) are lightbar menus - that is, they display the range of choices available in a box, the default choice (usually Exit) being highlighted in a different colour or shade. Selecting the required option is simply a matter of moving the lightbar to the required line, using the arrow keys on your keyboard, and then pressing <return>. The menus are circular - moving down from the last item will scroll to the first item, and vice versa. You may also make a selection by typing the first letter of the desired option, e.g. [J]obs. This will go immediately to the option, pressing <return> is not needed. When data is requested by the system, such as Account Number, Date, Job Number etc, leaving the field blank will usually return you to the preceding option or menu, unless the data required is mandatory. The same is true if the <Esc> key is pressed. Computers prefer numbers to text - Jobs, Quotes, Purchase Orders etc, are all referred to by their number. People prefer the reverse - 'Who did I raise that Purchase Order on?' Whenever you are asked for these sort of numbers, pressing function key <F1> will display all the relevant items as a lightbar menu (see above). If none of the displayed items is required, pressing <Esc> will return to the awaiting field. Note that the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys may be used to page through large amounts of data quickly. When a date is requested, pressing <F1> will display a calendar, the date may be selected and 'pasted' into the field by pressing <enter>. Account numbers are treated slightly differently, <F1> displaying the accounts on file as before, but entering part of the account number triggers a search of all account numbers beginning with the string entered e.g, entering 'DES' will find DES001, DESCRI, entering 'D' will find DES001, DUNBAR, and DEVON. All free-text entry in ProfitABILITY is terminated by pressing Alt-S (hold down the Alt key and press S). This saves the text and moves to the next field. All management reports and documents (Quotes, Orders, Invoices and Statements) may be printed to the screen as well as the printer, and are true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). You can also browse through them in the same manner as a word-processor. This powerful feature allows instant retrieval of information without waiting for a printer - useful for the travelling businessman with a portable. The Main Menu The main menu appears as shown, with the drop-down Master menu selected as the default. The top row displays the available choices, with drop-down menus appearing below as appropriate. This is the menu from which most of the ProfitABILITY functions are available. Getting Started ProfitABILITY can be tailored to match your specific business requirements extremely closely. To do this, there is some initial setting-up to do - don't worry, it's quite straightforward. Essentially there are four stages, the last one may be skipped until you are more familiar with the product. Stage One - Job Cost Codes Job Cost Codes allow you to identify and monitor the various categories of work and expenditure for the jobs that you do. Associated with each Code is an optional hourly rate. There are 98 codes available, each with a description supplied by you. Read Section 3.7 on Job Cost Codes first, before setting them up. From the Jobs menu select Job Cost Codes. Add and View/Edit screens look identical, while Print produces a neatly formatted list of all your Job Cost Codes. Stage Two - Adding Customer & Supplier Details This must obviously be done before you can record details of any transaction between you and your Suppliers or Customers. See Section 1 for a full description of this function. Stage Three - Configuring ProfitABILITY This option is available directly from the main menu - Configure. This is where you merge your existing Accounts details into ProfitABILITY, setup your documents to suit your Company letterheaded paper, choose the type of monitor, and setup your printer. This function is detailed in Section 12. Stage Four - Setting Up the Accounts Codes This function should be fully understood before any codes are added or changed, as it affects the content and layout of your Accounts reporting. Ideally you should work with your Accountant or book-keeper while doing this. It is always a good idea to write down the structure of the Accounts Codes before entering them into ProfitABILITY. Actually you have already created some Accounts Codes by entering your Job Cost Codes - see Section 10.4 on Accounts Codes. In addition to this, if you are already in business, you should enter your Opening Balances - see Section 10.9. This records the monies transacted to date for each relevant Accounts Code. REFERENCE SECTION Section 1 - Client/Supplier Menu Options from this menu are as shown, and with the exception of Print, all produce the same screen. Note that in ProfitABILITY there is no separate file for Suppliers and Clients, the same file being used for both. This obviously reduces duplication and space. It also reflects the real situation in many service businesses, where reciprocal trading often takes place. The account number (6 characters) can be a mix of letters and numbers. We have found that using the first three letters of the company name works well, as it's easy to remember. When creating a new account the number must be at least four characters long. When looking up an account number, there are several methods of finding the right one. You can supply the first few letters of the account number, resulting in a display of all numbers starting with your prefix, or you can simply press <F1>, resulting in all accounts shown. In either case select the desired one by highlighting it and pressing <return>, or press <Esc> if you don't want any of them. The account details that must be supplied are the name and the account type - all the others are optional. The Terms field refers to the number of days for them to pay you, or their credit terms. This affects any invoices that you send out to them. Once the details have been entered, you may elect to add some commentary on the account, in the box below. This can be as long as you like, and is saved by pressing Alt-S. If you don't want any commentary, press <Esc> to quit. When viewing or editing existing account details, a menu appears to the right of your screen. If Balance is selected, a window will open containing the current balance for this account, for both Sales and Purchases, and including Open Credits and Cash. This is a very quick way to check these details, for example during a telephone call. If you attempt to delete an account record where the balance is not zero, ProfitABILITY will disallow this and warn you. Printing an alphabetically organised directory of your Clients, Suppliers or both is simple - just select the desired directory. Section 2 - Quotations/Estimates Menu 2.1 Quotation or Estimate Some service businesses estimate rather than quote for work - the difference being that a quote price is agreed beforehand whereas the estimated price may differ from the actual. ProfitABILITY is able to handle both, this is done through the Configuration page - see Section 12. 2.2 Creating a Quote The screen is displayed as shown and the Job number is requested. There may be no Job number at present, in which case the Quote title is asked for. Note that you are able to create as many quotes as you like for an existing job. Remember that pressing <F1> will display all the open jobs on file, and you may select one from them. (Open Jobs are those without a completion date.) If you select an existing job, the details will be displayed and you are asked to confirm them. If there is no job, the details are asked for - account number (remember <F1>), contact, etc. Once these are completed the main body of the quote can be added - the description of what you are quoting for, the quantities involved (if any), and the price. The quote items are free-text, that is, they may be as long as you wish, and text is entered in the same manner as a word-processor, with word-wrapping occurring at the end of the line. Firstly you are asked for the Job Cost Code (CC). This should reflect the type of work that you are quoting for in this item, and will eventually appear on the Job Record if the item is accepted. Once again <F1> will display the Job Cost Codes. If you want to enter text only at this point (with no quantity and price information), just enter a cost code of zero. You will not be asked to enter quantity or price for this item. At this point you can paste in an entire paragraph of text if you wish - these paragraphs can be stored on file and used wherever frequently used text is employed, such as Terms and Conditions. To type in your own free text, enter a paragraph number of 0 (zero). Once the item text is complete, press <Alt-S> to save it, and you are asked for the quantity. If there is no quantity press <return> and enter the price. If you supplied a quantity, this will be the price EACH, or the unit price. As soon as the first quote item is completed, the quote number is displayed at the top of the form, and the quote total so far is shown at the foot of the form. The process continues until you decide that the quote is complete. Then enter the quotation date, and the number of days that it will remain valid for. The screen clears and the Print option appears. You can choose to print out the quotation now or later - it has been stored on file. If appropriate the quote may be totalled. 2.3 View/Edit Quotation The quote may be amended with this option. The quote is displayed and you can amend the account number and the contact. The quote items may then be amended if required, and any necessary additions or deletions made. Note that if the quote extends beyond one page, page markers will be displayed as you scroll past them. Any changes, insertions or deletions will be made to the item that the cursor is adjacent to. Note that these refer to the entire quote item, rather than a single line. As text is added or removed the corresponding quantity and price will move with the item as required. Additions are always made at the end of the existing quotation. As before, pressing Alt-S will save the changes. The quantity and price may also be changed if desired. 2.4 Accepting a Quotation The quote is displayed and you can accept an item by moving the cursor next to the item text and pressing (A)ccept. You are asked to supply an order number for each item, but this can be left blank. By accepting a quote item, it is automatically placed an the appropriate Job Record. For this reason, you cannot accept any quoted item until a Job has either been created for it, or an existing Job is used. All work done should be recorded. Note that when you accept a quote item, all entries on the Job Record with the same Job Cost Code will be marked as accepted quote items. If you create a Job Record as a result of accepting a quote, the Job Record details are completed for you by the system (actually taken from the quote), and you are then allowed to mark the individual quote items as accepted. Those quote items which have not been accepted will appear in the Open Quotes section of the Job Record, accepted items will appear in the Accepted Quotes section. 2.5 Cancelling a Quotation Item This is similar to Accepting an item, simply move the cursor to the item text and press (C)ancel. Note that this does not delete the item from the quote, it simply does not allow that item to be accepted. 2.6 Quotation Text - Stored Paragraphs Up to one thousand paragraphs may be stored for retrieval later, and each paragraph can contain as much text as you wish. There are occasions where the quotation text is repeated for many quotes, the only change being dates and amounts, such as a Maintenance Contract, or legal clauses. To add a paragraph, select Add from the menu, and you will be asked for the paragraph title. Then just type in the text as you want it to appear in the body of a quotation or estimate. Press Alt-S when you're done. If View/Edit is selected, a window opens as shown, displaying all the existing paragraphs by number and title. To choose one highlight it in the usual way, and the view/edit window will appear. Clear paragraph clears out all the text in the chosen paragraph, and leaves it ready for editing later. Section 3 - Jobs Menu 3.1 Create a Job Record As we have seen earlier, a Job Record can be created automatically as a result of accepting a quote. You can however create one at any time, for instance when a quote was not appropriate. Job Records can be created simply to record and monitor certain types of activity that will never actually be invoiced for, such as meetings or time spent producing quotations. The key thing is to record all time spent and work done, whatever the reason. This is the only way to accurately gauge the costs in a service business. The only mandatory information needed here is the account number and the job title. All other fields are optional. Note that the value refers to the estimated invoice value, and the date refers to the estimated completion date. The Job title is a brief description, that appears on the subsequent invoice. The free-text description below is for internal reference only, and can be used for in-house details of the work required. 3.2 Timesheets This is simply a computerised version of a basic timesheet, with all entries automatically being placed on the Job Record. A table of hourly rates is provided to simplify the process. Note that this is intended to be used for daily entries, a maximum of 24 hours can be booked for any one day, for any one person. The table of rates appears as shown, and you may add to it, alter it, or simply select the person as required. The timesheet entry screen then appears, with the selected hourly rate pasted in already. As each entry is made, this rate is used as the default, but you may overtype it if needed - the same being true for the date. You must enter the Job number, date, the hours booked and the Job Cost Code. The other information regarding costs and chargeouts is optional, and can be completed later. The M/U field is actually a percentage markup of the cost entered. Remember that you can use <F1> to display the open jobs on file, Cost Codes, and to display a calendar when entering a date. If the Job Cost Code entered is one that has already been quoted for, you will not be permitted to enter chargeout details - the entry will be flagged as 'Quoted'. (Assuming that you have configured ProfitABILITY for quotes rather than estimates.) 3.3 Additional Expenses This is similar to Timesheets, requiring entry of the Job number, Cost, and the Job Cost Code - the remaining chargeout data being optional. Note that if you do not enter a description of the expense, a default description will be supplied. Additional Expenses are typically used to record sundry expenses incurred during the Job, for which a Purchase Order was not raised. An overseas trip requiring air tickets is one example, another is that of courier charges. As with Timesheets, if the Job Cost Code entered is one that has already been quoted for, you will not be permitted to enter chargeout details - the entry will be flagged as 'Quoted'. 3.4 Complete Chargeouts This option is one method (there are several) of updating the chargeout price for each item of work or expenditure for a Job. Simply supply the Job number, and every item for that job without a corresponding chargeout will be displayed in turn, and you can elect to leave the chargeout blank, or supply either a percentage markup of the cost or your own figure. The chargeout value is the value presented for invoicing later on. 3.5 View/Edit Job Details This option is a convenient method of displaying the Job details to date, and can also be used to edit both the basic details, such as the contact, value, title, description etc, and the job costs and charges. Note that this is also used to close a Job when it is completed - simply supply the date that it was closed, and it will no longer appear on the open jobs list. When editing the costs and chargeouts, if the item selected has a Job Cost Code that was quoted for, you are not permitted to change the chargeout price. The actual costs incurred for a job may not be known until after it has been invoiced for. The example of courier charges used earlier applies here, the courier company invoicing you several weeks later. The costs however, should still be entered into the Job Record, as this is the only way of reflecting the real costs and resulting profit margins for the job. 3.6 Job Reports 3.6.1 Job Record The Job Record is probably the most important report in ProfitABILITY. Full details of every event to date are shown, along with hours worked, by whom, the costs involved, purchases made, and the associated charges to be made. Essentially the report is divided into three sections - Open Quotes, Accepted Quotes, and Other Entries. The complete history of work done and expenditure made is shown in the Other Entries section. Dates, people involved, the hours booked etc, are organised by Job Cost Code and totals for each code are shown. The three columns on the right-hand side show any markups, charges, and any associated invoices to date. If a Purchase Order was raised for the Job, the P.O. number will be shown with the account number that it was raised on. Once the Purchase Invoice is received and entered, another corresponding entry will show on the Job Record to this effect. Similarly when the invoice is paid this is also shown as a contra-entry i.e; the amount of the purchase invoice is entered again, but as a negative amount. At the foot of the report the total costs and chargeouts are shown together with the overall percentage margin for the job so far. 3.6.2 Job Summary This report is identical to the Job Record, with the exception that the individual details for each cost code are omitted, only the totals are shown. This provides a convenient snapshot of the progress to date. 3.6.3 Jobs not Priced This report lists all job items that do not have a chargeout entered against them yet. 3.6.4 Jobs not Invoiced This report lists all job items that have not been invoiced to date, and can prove extremely useful in situations where there are complex and lengthy jobs, and revenue can all too easily be lost through forgotten details. Additionally it can provide the basis for a Work In Progress (WIP) report. 3.6.5 Timesheets This is a weekly analysis of all work done, the hours and the people involved, with daily and weekly totals provided. 3.6.6 Jobs by Customer This lists all the open jobs organised by customer account number. Dates, hours worked, costs and charges are shown. 3.6.7 View Job Costs This shows summary details of all items under the 'Other Items' section of the Job Record. It is a screen report only, and the items can be paged through using the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys. 3.7 Job Cost Codes Job Cost Codes allow you to identify and monitor the various categories of work and expenditure for the jobs that you do. Associated with each Code is an optional hourly rate. There are 98 codes available, each with a description supplied by you. Job Cost Codes are linked to the Accounts Codes, and therefore should be considered along with these when setting up your Job Cost Codes. Basically the link is straightforward - if you create Job Cost Code number 1, two corresponding Accounts Codes will automatically be created as well - 301 and 401. Accounts Codes in the 300 range are for recording sales or revenue, and Codes in the 400 range are for recording direct costs. The codes linked to the Job Cost Code facilitate the automatic double-entry Accounts postings. See Section 10.4 on Accounts Codes. As you create your Job Cost Codes, it is a good idea to separate them into blocks of similar type, leaving a number gap between the end of one block and the start of the next. This facilitates the introduction of Totals and Sub-totals in the Accounts Codes, as in the example below. JOB COST CODES ACCOUNTS CODES ------------------------>>-------------------------- Code Description | Code Description | 1 Design | 301 Design 2 Artwork | 302 Artwork 3 Mockup | 303 Mockup | 304 TOTAL STUDIO - sub-total 5 Materials | --- 6 Film | 399 TOTAL SALES - total 7 Etc | 401 Design 8 --------- | 402 Artwork | 403 Mockup | 404 TOTAL STUDIO - sub-total | --- | 499 TOTAL DIRECT COSTS - total ------------------------>>------------------------- Note that if you attempt to add a Job Cost Code which would overwrite an existing Accounts total, you will be warned of this. If you want to keep things simple in terms of quoting, purchasing and billing - then keep your codes to a minimum. If however you want to be more analytical about your business, perhaps because it is growing or diversifying, you have the choice of doing so. It may well be that in the past you have not analysed the business to this degree, because of the difficulty of doing so manually. Now that this task is automated, it is worth spending a little time setting up your Job Cost Codes - the result is well worth the effort. Section 4 - Purchase Orders Menu 4.1 Create a Purchase Order Purchase Orders are created in much the same way as Quotations, with free-text entries, and they can be raised for internal use only, or for a Job. If you are purchasing some office furniture for example, you obviously would not place this purchase on a Job Record. The Supplier account asked for must be recorded as a Supplier or Both - see Section 1, Client/Supplier menu. The left-hand column refers to the Purchase Order item number, and is incremented for each new item. If you wish to enter text only, enter an item number of zero. Once the text description is complete (press Alt-S), you may supply a quantity if appropriate, and a purchase price. The last column refers to the Job Cost Code, and you will only be asked to provide this if the purchase is for a Job. In this case, if the Job Cost Code entered was not originally quoted for, you will also be asked to supply a Price, Markup percentage, or Neither, once the Purchase Order is complete. This is referring to the chargeout to be placed on the Job Record. Price means invent your own unrelated to the actual cost, Markup is a percentage of the cost, and Neither means leave the chargeout blank for now. Once the Purchase Order is completed, you are invited to print it. This can be done at any time as the Order has been placed on file, and incidentally will now appear on the Purchase Order Backlog report until the items have been received in full. 4.2 View Purchase Order This means exactly that - view the selected Purchase Order on screen. If the Order is longer than a page it will be shown one page at a time. 4.3 Cancel Purchase Order Items The Purchase Order is shown on screen, one item at a time, and you may cancel each one as desired. This will also remove the item in question from the Purchase Order Backlog report. 4.4 Purchase Order Receipts This is the means of telling the system when you have received a Purchase Order, either in part or in full. Each open item is displayed and you can mark it as received, along with the actual quantity received, if it was not received in full. Once again this will update the Purchase Order Backlog. Section 5 - Purchase Invoice Menu 5.1 Entering a Purchase Invoice or Credit Once the invoice has been received the system has to be informed, so that it reflects the fact that you owe money to your Supplier. Note that there does not have to be a Purchase Order in order to enter the Purchase Invoice. Often purchases are made verbally by telephone, without any accompanying order. If a Purchase Order does exist however, the details will be filled in for you once you supply the Purchase Order number. Remember that pressing <F1> will display Purchase Orders on file. You have to enter the invoice number next, and a check is made to see whether this invoice has already been entered. The invoice date and date received are entered, and the Nett amount, VAT being calculated automatically. You can elect to supply an Internal Reference and Comment if you wish. The next thing that happens depends upon whether the Purchase Order was made for a Job or for internal use. The Nett amount has to be allocated to either a Job Cost Code, or to an Accounts Code. Note that the amount can be allocated across several codes if you wish. Care should be exercised when entering or paying Purchase Invoices, as you are affecting the content of your Accounts. The account balances for you and your Supplier will also be updated with the latest information. 5.2 Paying a Purchase Invoice This is quite straightforward, simply supply the account number and all open invoices will be shown on screen, actually all the invoices that you have entered as described previously. Enter your cheque number, the amount, date paid, and then the invoice that you are paying off. You can allocate your cheque to several invoices if required. 5.3 Allocating Purchase Credits This is identical to paying Purchase Invoices - all open invoices for the selected account will be shown, followed by details of each open credit note at the foot of the screen. If you choose to allocate a credit, you are asked for the invoice to allocate it to, again there may be several. Section 6 - Purchase Reports Purchases in Period Payables at Period End Paid in Period Purchase Order Backlog The titles of these reports are self-explanatory. Section 7 - Sales Invoices Menu 7.1 Create Sales Invoice/Credit There are two methods of raising an Invoice in ProfitABILITY. The first is to raise one manually, described here, and is more often used to invoice for items not appearing on a Job Record, and to raise Sales Credit Notes. The second is that of automated Job Invoicing, a major feature of ProfitABILITY. Multiple VAT rates are supported with both methods of invoicing - up to nine rates may be used on the same invoice. These rates are set up from the Accounts menu - see Section 10.11. The usual free-text entry method is employed for invoices, with optional quantities. After entering the item price, you are asked for a VAT code (in the V field). A window will appear displaying the VAT codes availabe. Once the Invoice is complete, an Accounts Code must be supplied in order to post it - press <F1> for a list. 7.2 Invoice Jobs This is the commonest method of producing invoices, with the advantage that no billable items can be accidentally left un- invoiced for. The invoice form displayed is the same as for manual invoicing, but it will be completed by ProfitABILITY, under your control. It is a good idea to have a copy of the Job Record with you when you invoice for a Job, serving as a quick reminder of the detailed content of each billable item. The Invoice account number may differ from the Job account, so you have the option to change it. There are two distinct stages to Job Invoicing. The first runs through all the quoted items on the Job Record, and you can choose to invoice for them or not, as the case may be - stage invoicing is one example of this. The second stage deals in a similar manner with all unquoted items, with the difference that you can alter the chargeout prices. In each case the items are grouped together by their Job Cost Code, and this provides the basic invoice item description - you can of course edit this to suit, and with as much text as needed. Once the invoice is complete, and you have supplied the invoice date (which may be backdated), the relevant files are immediately updated, and you can choose to print it now or later, with the option of a Delivery Note. The printed invoice merits a little inspection - there are numerous references to the original quotes, job numbers, titles, original and subsequent order numbers, etc. This can actually help your Customer pay you, and can help you deal with 'difficult' accounts who always question every item. The invoice produced leaves very little to question, they owe you the money! The accounts have been done already, merely by producing the invoice, and the account balances have been updated. You are in a position to produce a statement at a moments notice. 7.3 Producing Statements This has been highly automated, and is simply a matter of supplying the range of account numbers to produce statements for - the default being all. Each account will then be processed automatically and a statement will be printed out. 7.4 Allocating Receipts - Receiving Payment Before we cover this option, the way that payments are handled by ProfitABILITY should be made clear. In the Accounts Codes there are two Key Codes, Payments Received and Bank Account #1. It is not always safe to assume that because payment has been received, it has been banked automatically. For this reason there are two methods of setting up ProfitABILITY to handle payment. The first is to accumulate payments into the Payments Received code, and make a Sundry Posting to Bank Account #1 when the cash is banked. See Section 10.6 regarding Sundry Postings. The second and more simple method is to make the assumption that payments received have been banked, and allow ProfitABILITY to post the amount of the payment directly to Bank Account #1. This method is the default setup on your ProfitABILITY disk. Either method may be employed - simply choose your preferred one when setting up the Key Accounts Codes. Note that if the first method is employed, you will not see any open entries on the bank account when using the Bank Clearances option. The only way that the cheques will move from Payments Received to Bank Account #1 is by performing a Sundry Posting to move the cash. Allocating Receipts is like paying a Purchase Invoice - all open invoices against the chosen account number are shown, and you simply enter the number of the cheque received, the amount, date paid, and then allocate it against the required invoice(s). 7.5 Allocating Credits This is exactly the same as Allocating Receipts, except that any unallocated credits are shown for the account, and you can allocate them against the outstanding invoice(s). Section 8 - Sales Revenue Reports Sales for Period Receivables at Period End Received in Period The titles of these reports are self-explanatory. The Receivables at Period End report is sometimes referred to as the Aged Debtors report. Section 9 - Personal Expenses Menu 9.1 Doing your Expenses Nearly everyone in business has at some time had to deal with a wallet or envelope full of petrol receipts or hotel bills. They are invariably out of date sequence, but probably the biggest headache is calculating the correct VAT on the claim form. The story doesn't end at the claim, as someone has to check the details and make the reimbursement. The VAT has to be calculated again, as there are many instances where the amount of VAT that may be actually claimed for is different. And the Accounts must show that the claim has been paid. This procedure has been greatly simplified, and only requires initial setting up of your Expense Codes and VAT rates. 9.2 Adding/Editing an Expense Code Enter the Expense Code number, using <F1> if a list is needed. Then type in the description, such as Petrol, followed by the Accounts Code that this expense will be posted to. A suitable Accounts Code should be set up - Petrol, Oil & Maintenance, for example. Next enter the amount of VAT that may be claimed back from the VAT authorities. Note that this is not the amount that is personally claimed by you. Scale charges for company cars may apply here, for example. 9.3 Entering an Expense Claim The Claim form appears as shown, enter who the claim is for, then each receipt or bill is entered. The Expense Code is asked for, <F1> will of course display them for you, and the corresponding description is pasted into the field for you. You can now add to this if you wish, your car registration for example. Next enter the date of the expense, again using <F1> to display the calendar if required, and then the total amount of the expense. The Tax is then automatically calculated for you, with both Tax and Nett pasted in (you may overtype the Tax if needed). Lastly you may want to associate the expense with a particular Job, note that this is a 'memo' field only, and does not place the expense detail on a Job Record. In fact the whole Expense Claim does not become a formally recorded event until is is agreed and paid. Once you have filed your Expense Claim, you may want to add to it later before you submit it for payment. The next time you enter a claim for your name, you will be informed that an unpaid claim exists for you, and you can add to it if desired. You can also view Unpaid Claims using the menu option provided. 9.4 Print Expense Claim This produces a claim form identical to the screen form, with a unique claim number, and provision for signing and authorising signatures. All the expenses are chronologically organised and totalled. 9.5 Paying an Expense Claim The relevant claim is shown on screen, and the question is asked - 'do you want to pay and post this claim?'. If you do the method of payment is asked for - cheque or cash, a cheque number is asked for as appropriate. That's it, the job is done and the Accounts have also been updated to record the event. Section 10 - Accounts Menu 10.1 Introduction Before we cover the many options contained in this menu, the methods of accounting employed by ProfitABILITY will be fully explained. The objective is to make you comfortable with the principles of Double-Entry, and the structure of the Nominal Ledger (where all the Accounts are posted to). We will try to avoid jargon wherever possible, and explain any jargon that we have to use. Ninety percent of the information in the Accounts is placed there automatically by ProfitABILITY, with little or no help from you. The remainder is made up largely of events which cannot be anticipated by the system, such as Standing Orders, cheques clearing, etc. There are two kinds of information held on file in the system pertaining to money - one is simply being 'talked about' and has no direct influence on the Accounts, the other directly affects the Accounts. Examples of 'talked about' money are Quotations or Estimates. Nobody owes you anything, you are simply talking about it. Another is a Purchase Order - in principle nothing is owed until you receive the goods, and get a Purchase Invoice. The same applies to Job Records. Money information that is 'real', and always directly affects the Accounts exists in Purchase Invoices and Credits, and Sales Invoices and Credits. 10.2 Failsafe Accounts ProfitABILITY has a powerful built-in feature that protects your business Accounts from damage or corruption, in the event of power failure or hardware failure. Let's take an example of this - you are in the middle of invoicing for a Job, and you have reached the stage where you have supplied an invoice date. At this point the disk is being written to, as the various files are updated. But halfway through this the power fails! There is a remote possibility that the transaction has not finished updating the Accounts, and you have a situation where the books do not balance. This can spell near disaster for a number of proprietory accounts packages, requiring at the very least that you restore your data from the last time that you made a backup. Not so with ProfitABILITY! The next time you run ProfitABILITY, a message will appear to the effect that there is an Incomplete Sales Posting, and that it is recovering. If a printer is attached to your machine a report will be printed, identifying exactly where the problem occurred, the amount involved, and so on. And the books have been balanced for you. All that remains for you to do is to use either the report generated, or view Accounts Postings on screen, and you will see that the amount of the imbalance for the offending transaction has been posted to a special Code - Sundry Invalid Postings. You simply perform a Sundry Posting to move this amount to the correct Code for the transaction. 10.3 Double Entry Double Entry simply means that for every record of money going out of the business, there must be an equal amount recorded explaining why it is going out. The same is true for monies coming into the business. Take the example below: + (Debit) | - (Credit) ---------------------------------- 1. Purchase Invoice | 117.50 (records the money | due OUT) | | 2. VAT 17.50 | 3. Packaging Material 100.00 | | (these record WHY) | ---------------------------------- TOTALS 117.50 | 117.50 ---------------------------------- The totals for every transaction recorded in this way should always balance (Debit equals Credit). This is the reason that double entry came about - to ensure that the books balance. 10.4 Accounts Codes and Structure (the Nominal Ledger) 10.4.1 Basic Structure In order to be able to differentiate between types of transaction, and to properly analyse the Accounts, there has to be a clearly defined set of 'pigeon holes' to post the information to. These are referred to as the Accounts Codes. The Accounts Codes in ProfitABILITY are divided up into five principle sections: Assets Codes 100 to 199 Liabilities Codes 200 to 296 Sales Codes 300 to 399 Direct Costs Codes 400 to 499 Overheads Codes 500 to 997 10.4.2 Reserved Codes Some Codes are deliberately left out, as they are Reserved Codes, and cannot be changed or deleted. They are as follows: 199 Total Assets 289 Total Liabilities 297 Profit (To Date) 298 Profit (Year Start) 299 Total Profit 399 Total Income 499 Total Income Costs 998 Sundry Invalid Postings 999 Net Profit for the Year These Codes cannot be changed, except for their descriptions. 10.4.3 Key Accounts Codes In addition to the above Codes there are five Key Accounts Codes. These can be tailored by you, but they must exist and be set up properly before using ProfitABILITY. The disk set you have received contains a fully working Accounts Code structure, including these Key Codes. Bank Account #1 This Code is for your Bank Current Account. All cheque payments, Direct Debits and Standing Orders are made from this, and all deposits are made to it. It is a Current Asset and must be in that range of Codes. Petty Cash #1 This Code is for your Petty Cash records. It is a Current Asset. Accounts Receivable This Code receives data from all Sales Invoices and Credits, and maintains the record of all monies owed to you by your Customers. It is a Current Asset and must be in that defined range of Codes. Payments Received This Code can be set up so that all payments made to you go to this code, the default setup places them directly into Bank Account #1. See note below. This code is a Current Asset. Accounts Payable This Code is for all Purchase Invoices and Credits received from your Suppliers. It is a Current Liability. VAT Control Account This Code is for all VAT records. It is a Current Liability. Payments Received - Direct to Bank or Indirect to Payments Received? It is not always safe to assume that because payment has been received, it has been banked automatically. For this reason there are two methods of setting up ProfitABILITY to handle payment. The first is to accumulate payments into the Payments Received code, and make a Sundry Posting to Bank Account #1 when the cash is banked. See Section 10.6 regarding Sundry Postings. The second and more simple method is to make the assumption that payments received have been banked, and allow ProfitABILITY to post the amount of the payment directly to Bank Account #1. This method is the default setup on your ProfitABILITY disk. Either method may be employed - simply choose your preferred one when setting up the Key Accounts Codes. Note that if the first method is employed, you will not see any open entries on the bank account when using the Bank Clearances option. The only way that the cheques will move from Payments Received to Bank Account #1 is by performing a Sundry Posting to move the cash. 10.4.4 Accounts Code Types and Status To control the format of the reports, how the data is totalled up and how it is maintained, there is a set of attributes associated with each Accounts Code. The Code must have a Type and in certain cases a Status associated with it. These are described below: H (Heading) This type of Code does not contain data - it is simply used as a title. I (Item) Items contain data posted to the Accounts, and must have a Status - see below. T (Total) Total Codes total postings made to the Item Codes that preceed it - see below. The Status of a Code controls the frequency at which an Item Code has its redundant records cleared out, which happens during Period End Processing - see Section 10.10. All Item Codes must have a corresponding Status Code. Status levels are described below: M (Monthly - at the end of every month) Y (Yearly - at the end of every year) P (Permanent - never cleared) Total Codes each have a level associated with them. There are nine levels - the higher the number the higher the level. Below is a diagram which explains the use of Total levels. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Code Description | Item | Total level 1 | Total level 2 | Total level 3 | | | | 301 Design | 25.00| | | 302 Artwork | 15.00| | | 303 Mockup | 15.00| | | -------------------| | | | 304 TOTAL GRAPHIC | | 55.00 | | -------------------| | | | 320 Location | 50.00| | | 321 Backdrops | 75.00| | | 322 Lighting | 10.00| | | 323 Film | 15.00| | | -------------------| | | | 324 TOTAL CAMERA | | 150.00 | | -------------------| | | | 325 TOTAL STUDIO | | | 205.00 | | | | | 350 Research | 25.00| | | 351 Consultancy | 25.00| | | 352 Promotions | 60.00| | | -------------------| | | | 353 TOTAL ADVERT: | | 110.00 | | -------------------| | | | 355 TOTAL SERVICES| | | | 315.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.5 Accounts Codes Now that you have decided on the structure of your Accounts Codes - see Section 10.4, you can enter them as required. In both Add and View/Edit you can press <F1> to see the existing structure. You supply a description for the Code, and a Type. If the Type is an Item you will be asked for a Status. For Totals you are asked for a level between 1 and 9. The Print option produces a formatted list of all your Accounts Codes as entered. 10.6 Sundry Postings From time to time it will be necessary to move amounts of money from one Code to another manually. Sundry Postings does just that, and as such directly affects the Accounts - use with care! The screen shows a box - the upper half being for one side of the posting, and the lower half for the other. The amount is entered and you enter whether it is a Debit or Credit (the default is Debit). As we saw in Section 10.3, this explains why the money is being moved. A description is entered (the reason), and the date (today's is the default). Next the Code to Debit or Credit is entered, pressing <F1> if necessary. An optional Reference may be also entered. Next the other side of the posting is made - an equal amount is allocated to another Code (or Codes). This is the destination or Credit 'pigeon hole' for the amount being debited. If the amount entered is less than the debited amount, the process continues until both sides balance - you keep allocating to more Accounts Codes. 10.7 Bank Clearances This is the method by which you tell the system that cheques paid in to the bank have cleared. Note that in Section 7.4, we said that there were two methods of setting up the way payments are handled by ProfitABILITY. The second method eliminates the need to use Bank Clearances, and assumes that they are banked. All uncleared cheques are shown one at a time, and if the cheque has cleared you simply enter the clearance date. 10.8 Standing Orders Menu This option allows for the setting up of Standing Orders, and has an automated posting feature, making the necessary Accounts postings for all existing Standing Orders in the period. To set up one, choose Create. The number will be provided for you, enter the description of the Standing Order. Next enter the date that the payments commence (the Start Date), the number of payments to make, and the frequency of payments (Monthly or Quarterly). Next the details of both the Debit and Credit side of the transaction are entered - the Accounts Code (press <F1> if a list is needed), and the amount to be debited or credited. The transaction can be as complex as you like, with as many entries as needed. 10.9 Opening Balances When using ProfitABILITY for the first time, you may need to start off with your account balances to date, and continue adding to them from there. This option provides a simple method of entering an Opening Balance for each selected Accounts Code - debit and credit. 10.10 Period End - closing the Accounts Period There are twelve Accounts Periods per year in ProfitABILITY. While it is not absolutely necessary to close the period every month, it is desirable, especially where the volume of transactions is high, as this can save disk space by removing data from the closed Period. Your business accounts are also easier to analyse. Period End simply means closing the books for that period. Before this is done, you should always ensure that you have printed out a complete copy of the Accounts reports, and that you have archived your data to floppy disks. These should be labelled with the appropriate period number and date, and stored safely together. During processing the transactions that are being deleted will be printed out, so ensure that your printer is ready and loaded with paper. The reports that you should print out first must include the Transactions Report, Balance Sheet, Accounts Entries, and both Bank and Cash Reconciliations. You are prompted to print the reports and archive your data before proceeding with Period End. Once you elect to proceed, all relevant transactions will be deleted, and the Accounts Period number will be advanced by one. 10.11 VAT Codes As we mentioned earler, you can have up to nine separate VAT rates on a single invoice. This option facilitates the setting up of those rates. Of course if you are not VAT registered this does not apply. During both Add and Edit, you are asked for the VAT Code number, the percentage that applies, and a description, such as Standard. During subsequent sales invoicing, these rates will be shown. Section 11 - Accounts Reports Menu For many of these reports, the data is not confined to the current Period - any range of dates may be selected, the VAT return being one example. They are presented in a highly readable form, and may be used by your accountant. 11.1 Accounts Entries This report is date-driven, and produces details of all your postings to the Accounts, both debit and credit. This report is also produced if an accounts imbalance if found - see Section 10.2. 11.2 Transactions This report is produced for a selected range of Accounts Codes, the default being all. In addition to summary details of each transaction, opening and closing balances, and totals for each Code are shown. It can be used to provide an insight into your separate business activities because of this. 11.3 Bank & Cash Reconciliation A Bank Reconciliation report is used to reconcile the difference between what the bank statement says you have, and what you think you should have. The Opening Balance is shown followed by summary details of all cheques paid in for the Period. This is followed by the Closing Balance. Almost certainly your closing balance will not agree with the closing balance on the bank statement. Why? - because there will be cheques that have not yet cleared. This report is far more helpful than most in this respect, because it then goes on to add back the uncleared cheques, and results in the total that should agree with your bank statement. Details of each uncleared cheque are shown, so the reason for the discrepancy is obvious. The Cash Reconciliation is basically your petty cash report. The opening and closing balances are shown, with details of how you arrived at the difference. 11.4 Balance Sheet The Balance Sheet is often used as a spot health check on a business. It is divided up into three components - Assets (the economic resources of the business), Liabilities (what the business owes), and Shareholder's Funds or Net Assets. These are details of any residual claim by the owners on the business Assets. They are residual because creditors have prior legal claim on Assets should the business cease trading. The relationship between these three components is as follows: Assets = Liabilities + Shareholder's Funds or Resources of the Business = Claims on the resources or Assets = Sources of Assets The format of the Balance Sheet is determined to a great extent by you, during setting up your Accounts Codes - see Section 10.4. This is because the report lists the Heading and Total Codes, as set up by you - both debit and credit. The report goes on to produce a Profit and Loss report for the Period. This report can be used to evaluate the performance of the business over a period of time, as it shows the flow of the business resources over that period. Revenue and Expenses are shown, and finally added up to produce the Net Profit figure. These three components are related as follows: Total Revenue for the Period = Total Expenses for the Period = Net Profit for the Period 11.5 View Accounts Entries (on screen) This is identical to the Accounts Entries report (see above), but it is produced on screen only - useful when you want to check the details of a few transactions only. The range of dates (the period of interest) is asked for, and you can then page through the details one by one, pressing <Esc> when you are done. 11.6 VAT Return Many small businesses find this a headache, as it involves analysing every transaction for the period, many of which may be complex, and sorting out the correct amount of VAT for both sales and purchases. This report will produce that detailed analysis for you, and goes on to produce a sheet identical to the VAT return form (Form VAT100 at the time of writing). To complete your VAT return simply copy the information contained in the five boxes onto the real form, and post it. You are also asked if you want to close the VAT period after printing the report. It is possible that your VAT accounting period is not the same as your business accounting period, and this allows for that possibility. As with Period End processing, the relevant VAT records for that period are then deleted, so you should make sure that you have a complete set of reports first. Section 12 - Configuring ProfitABILITY This option is accessed from the main menu, and is used primarily to setup ProfitABILITY for the first time. The screen is divided into four blocks, each dealing with different types of information. At the foot of the screen there is a menu - to alter the existing setup choose Redo. The Document Layout box will be highlighted, and you may enter the six parameters requested. Note that if you want to skip a box to the next one, press <Esc>. The Document Layout parameters are as follows: 12.1 Document Layout Parameters These refer to the layout of both your external documents (those sent to your Clients or Suppliers), and your internal reports. Examples of Documents are Quotes, Purchase Orders, and Invoices. First Line This is the line at which document printing commences, and is adjusted to suit your letterheaded paper. Typically there are 66 lines per page, but the letterhead may occupy many of these. Last Line This is the line at which document printing ends, and can be adjusted to allow for any footers on your letterhead. Both First Line and Last Line determine the overall length of a document page, and where documents exceed this length, they are automatically paginated. Document Margin This is again set for your letterhead, try an initial value of 4. Report Margin This sets the margin for all internal reports, such as Balance Sheets. Print Letterhead Some small businesses do not have any letterheaded stationery - this option allows the creation of a simple letterhead, which will be printed out on all Documents. Enter 'Y' if you need this option, and a window opens for you to type in the letterhead details. Letterhead Justification This allows the letterhead created by you to be positioned at the left, centre or right of your documents. (Enter L,C,or R). 12.2 Document Numbering This allows your existing business documents to be merged into the new system - entering the number of your last invoice will result in subsequent invoices being sequenced from this number. You can also elect to have Quotations or Estimates produced. This not only affects the relevant menus and documents, but also disallows the subsequent changing of QUOTED for charges. 12.3 Accounts Information 12.3.1 Period Number The parameters contained here should typically be setup ONCE ONLY, and should not be altered without a valid reason for doing so. They drive the Accounts Period, and aspects of VAT accounting. As we mentioned in Section 10.10 there are twelve possible Accounts Periods. As each period is closed (Period End), the Current Period number is incremented. If you are not formally accounting for your business at present, you can set the Current Period number to 1. Next set the date that the first Period commenced. This should not be altered again, and will be affected only by Period End processing. Of course this requires that your system has a real-time clock, a necessity to run ProfitABILITY. 12.3.2 Vat Registration If you are VAT registered, enter your registration number here - this also enables the various VAT options within ProfitABILITY. 12.3.3 Multiple VAT Rates If you deal with multiple rates, common in the Building Trade for example, say 'Y' to this option, and a table of the available rates will be presented every time you are asked for VAT content. Note that Exempt is not the same as Zero Rated. 12.3.4 VAT Cash Accounting This method of accounting for VAT is helpful for businesses where cash flow could be a problem. Under the normal method, you owe the VAT on sales as soon as you raise the invoice, and you can claim VAT as soon as you receive a purchase invoice. This can leave gaps in cash flow which can be undesirable in a small business. By arrangement with the VAT authorities you can elect to go onto VAT Cash Accounting. Under this method, you owe the VAT on sales only when you have received payment, and you claim VAT on purchases when you make payment. This encourages early payment, and reduces the cash flow gap. At the time of writing the ceiling for Cash Accounting is 300,000 pounds turnover per annum. This all sounds fine until you arrive at the time when you are notified by the authorities that you have to come off Cash Accounting, and go onto the normal method. You will be given a date after which all transactions are subject to the normal method. But you have a large amount of open sales invoices, some are subject to multiple VAT rates, others may be part paid, and so on. These are still subject to Cash Accounting, even if payment is received after the changeover date. The administration of this situation is enough to put off a large number of eligible businesses. But we have the answer! If you decide to go onto Cash Accounting, simply say 'Y' in the field provided and supply the starting date that the authorities have given you. This is simple enough, but the real magic comes when you changeover to normal VAT accounting. Simply say 'N' and if you have been on Cash Accounting, you will be asked for the End Date. That's it - all your VAT accounting will be handled properly, even if you receive payment for transactions where the old rule applies, including multiple VAT rates. We think that this feature is justification alone for buying ProfitABILITY, as it can significantly ease cash flow. 12.4 System Colour - a lighter note If you have a colour monitor and card on your system, you can set up ProfitABILITY in colour - all menus, highlights, prompts etc will then appear in their respective colours, enhancing the screen appearance considerably. Note that if you configure for a monochrome system all menus will be boxed for clarity. 12.5 Choosing or Adding a Printer Once you have setup the parameters decribed above, or when you change your printer, you can choose this option from the Cofiguration menu. A window appears on screen, containing a database or table of printers available. Note that this is a horizontally scrolling window - data may be viewed by moving the left and right arrow keys as well as the up and down arrows. Scroll down until you reach your printer type (or type that your printer emulates), and then simply scroll right until you see the 'Selected' field. Choose this printer type by pressing <enter> and type '1' over the '0' in that field. Note that if you are changing your printer type you should disable the old one by typing '0' in it's 'Selected' field. If you do not see the type you need you can add it. Simply scroll down to the bottom until you see the word 'New' appear. Then press <enter> and type in the name of your printer. Next move to each field in turn using the right arrow key, and type in the character sequence needed to set the print mode into Expanded, Elite, Pica and Compressed. For this you will probably need to consult your printer manual - they all contain tables of these 'control codes'. Note that where the printer manual refers to 'Escape' or %27, you actually type in CHR(27)+"control_string", where [control_string] is the sequence of characters following 'Escape', delimited by double quotes. This can be confusing to someone unfamiliar with printers and their jargon - if this still leaves you baffled, talk to your printer dealer, or call the Shareware PLC Hotline and we will attempt to help you with your selection. 12.6 Saving the new Configuration Select the Save option from the Configuration menu, and the screen will revert to the Main menu, with any changes in the colours taking immediate effect. Section 13 - ProfitABILITY Utilities Several helpful utilities have been built-in to ProfitABILITY. They are obtained by pressing your function keys (F1 to F10). The idea is that during entry of data, you may need to know what date it was last Thursday, the VAT in a complex sum, etc. Pressing the relevant function key will display the data/function that you need and upon pressing <Esc>, you are returned to the place where you left off. In most cases any data that you selected can be 'pasted' into the awaiting field for you. These utilities are available from the Main menu of ProfitABILITY, as well as by pressing the function keys. They are described below: 13.1 The DataPrompt - function key <F1> This is probably the most used of all the utilities. Whenever the system requests data such as Purchase Order No, Quote No, Invoice No, Account No, Jobs on file etc, pressing function key <F1> will display the available data on file, and you may select from it as desired, pasting the information into the awaiting data field. As a general guide, if you don't know the exact details that you are being asked for, pressing <F1> will almost certainly help. In addition to prompting for data, <F1> will also display the Calendar if pressed during entry of a date field. Press <Esc> to quit the DataPrompt. 13.2 The Clock - function key <F2> This displays today's date together with a digital clock including seconds display. Press <Esc> to quit the Clock. 13.3 The Calendar - function key <F4> This useful option will display a calendar of the current month, with today's date highlighted. The days and months can be navigated through with the arrow keys, and the <PgUp/PgDn> keys. If you were entering a date field prior to pressing <F1>, pressing <enter> will paste the highlighted date into the field. Press <Esc> to quit the Calendar. 13.4 The Calculator - function key <F5> A calculator is displayed with several functions - pressing 'H' will show a help window. There are two VAT keys available, press 'V' to show the VAT OF a sum, and press 'I' to show the VAT IN a sum. If you were entering a numeric or cash field prior to pressing <F5>, the displayed result can be pasted into the field by pressing 'E'. Press <Esc> to quit the calculator.