The 640 MEG Shareware Studio 2/The 640 Meg Shareware Studio CD-ROM Volume II (Data Express)(1993).ISO/person/chkrec23.zip/README.DOC

Text File | 1992-07-23 | 29KB | 729 lines

CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Index

  ShareWare written by Professional Data Mangagement, Inc.
    PDMI, Atlanta, GA. Copyright 1984, 1992.

  Questions? Concerns? Special Needs?
  --  Contact us by phone, mail, or BBS and we can help you!
  Our sponsoring BBS is:

    PC-Exchange  [phone]
    Atlanta, GA.

  Many thanks to Jim Simmons who runs the board!

  Introduction.......................................1

  Backups...........................................12

  Entering
    Accounts.........................................2
    Check/Deposits/Service Charges/Interest..........3
      Changing or Deleting Transaction...............5
      Items Effecting Taxes..........................5
      Suggestions for Transaction Numbers............3
      Suggestions for Payee Names....................4
      Voided Checks..................................5

  Files
    Errors, How to Fix..............................10
    Record Limits on Unregistered Copy..............10
    Saving History...................................7
      Where was history written?.....................8
    Shipped in .ZIP..................................1

  Help
    Function Keys: Press [F1] for Function Key Meanings
    While running program: Press [F1] key on any screen
    How to reach us.................................11

  Printing
    132 Column Mode..................................2
    Current Register.................................5
    Check History....................................9
      Reloading History.............................10
      Tax Effecting Transactions Only................9

  Reconciliation
    How To...........................................6
    It Won't Balance!! (Tips)........................7
    Saving History...................................7
      Where was history written?.....................8

  Setting Up
    To run on system.................................2
      CONFIG.SYS Entries.............................2
      Must Run from Current Directory................2
    Accounts.........................................2

  Our Disclaimers and Requests......................12
  Closing Credits...................................13



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page  1

  ShareWare written by Professional Data Mangagement, Inc. (PDMI)
    1984, 1992.

What is CheckRec?
=================

  CheckRec is a check book reconciliation program that is simple and
  straight forward to use. It tracks your check book. We don't keep
  track of interest on your stocks and bonds, your bills, or your budget.
  We track your checks, just like your check book does.

  As a result, CheckRec is simpler to use and set up than other check
  reconciliation programs. We offer professional, well thought out reports
  that you would be proud to hand to any commercial accountant, banker,
  or auditor.

  The user interface is seamless and neat. Comprehensive help text is
  always available by pressing [F1].

  The program takes a no-nonsense attitude to help you reconcile your
  finances each month, and give you current, up-to-date balances and
  transactions of your accounts. It stands ready to walk you through
  your tasks even if you are a computer novice.

Who is PDMI?
============

  PDMI is a custom computer programming shop that has been in business in
  Atlanta for 15 years. We have catered to the construction industry,
  primarily large general contractors for that time. We write professional
  programs on the IBM mid-range platforms (System/36). We have been writing
  programs on the IBM PC for over 8 years.

  During those years, we have written a highly comprehensive library of
  subroutines (all in assembler), and combined it with highly optimizing,
  machine-efficent compilers to bring you the fastest, most professional
  program we possibly can. You just can't find this dedication to excellence
  in a program written by someone who writes in lotus, dbase, or basic
  merely for fun.

  You will find CheckRec to be professional, lighting-fast, well thought out,
  and very easy to use.

Files Shipped With CheckRec R02M30
==================================

  You should find the following files in CHKREC23.ZIP:

    CHECKREC.EXE - CheckRec machine code program
    CHECKREC.FMT - CheckRec display screen format file
    ACCTDS.DTA   - Account Description data file
    ACCTDS.IX0   - Account Description index file
    CHECKS.DTA   - Check Transaction data file
    CHECKS.IX0   - Check Transaction index file
    README.DOC   - Program Documentation



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page  2

Setting Up CheckRec R02M30
==========================

  Examine your CONFIG.SYS file. If you see:

    FILES=20    (or more)
    BUFFERS=16  (or more)

  you have nothing else to do.

  If you don't, add those lines to your CONFIG.SYS file and re-boot the
  machine.

  Place CheckRec with all it's files into any directory you want. When you
  want to run CheckRec, change to that directory (DOS CD command), and
  type "CHECKREC".

  End of Install.

Printing in 132 Column Mode
===========================

  The default printing mode is compressed print (15 CPI). If you have a 132
  column printer and want to print in this mode, start CheckRec as:

    CheckRec /PRINT132

Setting Up Accounts
===================

  Once you have installed CheckRec on your machine, you will have to enter
  all accounts you want to track. CheckRec can track any balanced account
  such as a credit card, checking, or your stock transactions. CheckRec
  was intended to be used as a check book program, so you will have to
  live with "CHECK REGISTER" appearing on your credit card reconciliation
  if you want to track a credit card.

  To enter your accounts, get your last bank statement (reconciled or not).
  Actually, you may use a statement that goes back as far as you want to
  enter and reconcile checks for.

  Select option #4 (Update Accounts) from the main menu. Enter any two
  character account number you want to use. It can be your initials,
  or "CK" for checking, or what ever you want. Since the computer will
  use this "account number" to track activity in the account, this cannot
  be changed later.

  The computer will indicate the record was not found, and ask if you want
  to add it. Respond with a "Y", and press enter.

  A highlighted bar will appear under the screen column headings. You may
  fill in any information you want.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page  3

Setting Up Accounts, Continued
==============================

  The account description will be printed on your check register, so it
  should say something meaningful to you. (ie: My Checking, My Savings)

  The bank account number is optional. We don't do anything with it but
  display it for your purposes.

  The reconciled balance should be the ending balance on your statement.
  This becomes your balance forward.

  The last date reconciled is the last date you reconciled your checkbook.
  You may either fill it in, or leave it blank. It is informational only.

  Press enter through the rest of the screen, and you will be asked for
  another account. If you want to add another account, you can do it now
  or at any other time you want.

  When you are finished adding accounts, press [Esc] to return to the
  main menu.

Entering Checks & Deposits
==========================

  Now that you have entered at least one account, you can begin to use
  CheckRec for the purpose you got it for. Take any checks you want to
  enter and:

    Select option #2 (Update Checks & Deposits).

  The check transaction entry screen will appear. There may also be some
  checks listed, or if you have an empty transaction file, nothing will
  appear.

  Type the check number you want to enter, change, or delete.

  Although you can use any transaction numbers for your checks and deposits,
  I find this numbering method to be convienent:

         Type         How Entered
    ---------------   ------------------------------------------------
    Checks            The real check number written (ie: 101)
    Deposits          Dmmddyy where mmddyy is the deposit date (ie: D072192)
    Service Charges   Smmddyy where mmddyy is the statement date (ie: S072192)
    Withdrawals       Wmmddyy where mmddyy is the withdrawal date (ie: W072192)
    Interest          Immddyy where mmddyy is the statement date (ie: I072192)

  Those are my personal tastes. You can use them, or use any method you like.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page  4

Entering Checks & Deposits, Continued
=====================================

  Once you have entered the transaction number, press enter. If you are adding
  a new transaction, the computer will respond with "Record Not Found. Add It?"

  Enter a "Y" if you are adding a transaction, or if you have mis-typed a
  number, enter "N", and you will be given another opportunity to retype it.

  For the "Record Type" column, enter a "C" if you are entering a check,
  withdrawal, service charge, or anything that subtracts from your balance.
  Enter a "D" if it is a deposit, interest, or anything that adds to your
  balance. If you leave it blank, it will be taken as a check.

  The cursor will skip over the check number you have already entered.

  Enter the date of the check or deposit. This will default to the system
  date if you are adding a transaction. If your system date is not right,
  you can change it by typing "DATE" at the DOS command line.

  Enter a description of the transaction. This is who you wrote the check
  to. Try to be consistent with the name of the payee. Later you can
  sort your checks by payee name, and they will be grouped together.
  If the bank loses your car payment for a given month, you can find

             03/01/92   768   "TRUST BANK"    145.39
             04/01/92   792   "TRUST BANK"    145.39
             05/01/92   817   "TRUST BANK"    145.39

  much faster than:

             04/01/92   792   "April Car Note"    145.39
                ... < other checks > ...
             03/01/92   768   "Car Note"          145.39
                ... < other checks > ...
             05/01/92   817   "TRUST BANK"        145.39

  This again, is not a restriction of the program, but merely a consideration
  for your later convienence.

  We have run across check book programs where checks had to be entered
  as a negative number, so:

  Enter the amount of the check. You do not have to sign the number. Since
  you have already told us whether it is a check or deposit, we can take
  care of addition and subtraction ourselves.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page  5

Entering Checks & Deposits, Continued
=====================================

  The last two columns are labelled "R" and "T". The "R" column is for
  reconciled items. Place an "R" in the column if the transaction is to
  be marked as reconciled. An example would be entering the service
  charges on your statement, or all the cash withdrawals from the ATM
  you forgot to enter.

  The "T" column is a taxable interest item. We mean you are interested
  about it at tax time, not necessarily that it has anything to do with
  tax-deductible interest.

  When you print your year ending check register, you can select to print
  only checks with tax deductible items. All items you marked with a "T"
  will be printed.

  We don't distinguish between a void and non-void check. We enter voids
  as simply a check payable to *VOID and a 0.00 amount. If you don't have
  to account for void checks, and don't care about them, you do not have
  to even worry about them. It is not necessary for you to enter them.

  To delete a check, select the check to be deleted, and press [F6] when
  the check is highlighted. The check will disappear.

  To change information on a check, select the check to be changed and
  simply type the corrected information over the old.

  All the function keys the program uses can be found in the on-line help
  text by pressing [F1], so I won't repeat them here.

  When you are done entering your checks, press [Esc] to return to the menu.


Printing your Check Register
============================

  Select option #5 (Print Current Check Register) from the main menu.

  If you have not yet selected an account to work with, you will be
  asked for the account to print.

  Your check register will print. If you forgot to turn your printer on,
  DOS will send you an ugly message ending with "Abort, Retry, Ignore".
  No problem, turn the printer on, make sure it has paper and is ready,
  and pick retry.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page  6

Reconciling your Checkbook
==========================

  Your bank finally got around to sending your statement to you. Now it is
  time to reconcile the accounts. Simple task now.

  Select option #2 (Update Checks & Deposits).
  Enter any service charges, interest, or items you forgot to enter before.
  When done, press [Esc] to return to the menu.

  Hopefully, the bulk of the month's transactions was already entered.
  You can use either option #2 (Update Checks & Deposits) or option #3
  (Reconcile Checkbook) to mark items as reconciled. Option #3 is more
  convienent because you don't have to type all the check numbers to
  reconcile them. The only drawback is the reconciler cannot add any
  transactions (ie: interest, service charges, forgotten items).

  Select option #3: (Reconcile Checkbook). The highlighted bar appears
  on your checks. Use the arrow and page up/page down keys to move through
  the list of transactions. Type a "R" for any transactions on your statement,
  and type a space for any that you accidentally marked as reconciled.

  When you are finished, press [Esc] to return to the menu.

  Print a current check register. Your register will have 4 things of interest
  to you under the "Reconciled Amounts" column.

    Last Reconcile      - Should match the statement Starting Balance
    Total Deposits      - Should match the statement credits + interest
    Total Checks        - Should match the statement debits + service charges
    Reconciled Balance  - Should match the statement Ending Balance



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page  7

Reconciling your Checkbook, Continued
=====================================

  If it does not balance, look for:

    1: Your Goof
    2: Bank's Goof

  Some helpful hints:

    Last Reconcile does not match starting balance:
      The problem is in last month's statement, someone played with your
      account balance forward, or you need to have a serious talk with your
      banker.

    Total Deposits does not match statement credits:
      You forgot to enter a deposit or interest, or mis-typed an amount,
      entered a deposit as a check, reconciled something not on your
      statement, or the bank lost your paycheck.

    Total Checks does not match statement debits:
      You forgot to enter a check or (more likely) an ATM withdrawal,
      service charge, mis-typed an amount, entered a check as a deposit,
      reconciled something not on your statement, or the bank mispaid a
      check. (That has happened to me before, to my credit by a nickel!).

  When the problem is found and fixed, you are ready for the next step:

Save Reconciled History
=======================

  Option #7 (Save Reconciled History) allows you to rid your screen and
  your files of all the checks that have cleared the bank, and balanced.

  This allows you to keep a permanent copy of the check without having
  to look at it or have it get in the way every time you want to add
  another or print your check register.

  Just because the check does not appear any more does not mean it is lost
  and gone forever. A report option will include your history checks so
  should you be so blessed as to get a social call from your local IRS
  auditor, you won't look foolish.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page  8

Save Reconciled History, Continued
==================================

  We recommend (but you don't have to do) that you save your check history
  to a diskette. This is so someone doesn't come along and "help" you
  clean up your disk drive and loose all your past checks. There is nothing
  special about the check history file, and you can keep it on your fixed
  disk for speed and back it up to as many diskettes as you like.

  Since it is an important financial record, we strongly recommend you have
  more than one copy of it regardless of what you saved it on.

  If you want to save it on diskette, you will need a DOS formatted diskette
  handy for when you save the history.

  Select option #7 (Save Reconciled History).

  The program will ask you for the DOS drive to save the history to.
  The default is "A", but you can enter any valid DOS drive you like.
  To save it to your fixed disk, enter "C" (or "D" or whatever drive
  is your fixed disk).

  Only the transactions marked as reconciled will be written to the file
  "CHKHSTRY.DTA" in the root directory. All transactions that did not get
  reconciled will stay where they are. Therefore, you don't have to "empty"
  the transactions each month in order to reconcile your checks. (We have
  seen this too, and we didn't think too much of it, either).

  The account balance forward is set to the reconciled balance, and the
  last reconciled date is stored for your information in the account
  description record.

  After the checks have been saved to your history file, a new check
  register will print showing all the items still outstanding in your
  account.

  On that note, you are ready to begin the happy cycle over again for
  the next month.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page  9

Print Year Ending Check Register
================================

  This does not really have to be done at the end of the year. You can call
  this report any time you want it. Our accountant makes us do it at the
  end of each year, so that's the name we gave it.

  Select Option #6: (Print Year Ending Check Register)

  This report prints all the checks you have ever written and entered into
  CheckRec. Remember the saved check history? This is where it comes back
  to be printed.

  When you ask for this report, you have to tell which account you want
  it printed for. Enter the two character account number you want to print.

  All the rest is optional, but you can specify:

    The first check date to be printed. Leave blank to print from the earliest.
    The ending check date to be printed. Leave blank to print through the
    current check register.
    The first check number to be printed. (Blank is first, again)
    The last check number to be printed. (Same story about blanks)

    You can include or exclude the saved history file. (We don't know why you
    would want to exclude it, but the option is there).

    If you want to print checks that are of interest to you at tax time,
    you can include ONLY checks marked as tax deductible.

    You also get to pick how you want your checks sorted. Options are:

      Check Number
      Date
      Payee Name

    If you have to deal with accountants or the IRS they will probably want
    to see it in check number sequence so they can see if you fudged any
    numbers.

    If you change your mind about printing the report, now is the time to
    press [Esc]. If you still want to print it, find your history diskette
    and press enter.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page 10

Print Year Ending Check Register, Continued
===========================================

   If you included your history file, the next screen will ask you for
   the Name of the Check History File. The default is "A:\CHKHSTRY.DTA".
   If you saved the history to your fixed disk, change the "A:\" to "C:\",
   and the disk history file will be read.

   If you renamed your history file, enter whatever you renamed it to.

   If it's on diskette, insert the diskette and press enter.

   You will get a message that the program is reading the history. When
   it is finished reading the file, you will get the same prompt back.

   If you have many history files you want included, enter the name of
   the next one. (We keep our checks split apart by year, and wind up with
   CHECKS83.DTA, CHECKS84.DTA, etc. to re-merge).

   When you are done reading all the diskette history files you want to
   include, press [Esc] and the report will print.

Reorganize Files
================

   This option is used the least, but is a big life-saver. Should you have
   a power failure and the indexes to your transaction file get lost, this
   will fix it.

   The first indication will be a funny looking message like:

     << Press Any Key >> Error In: Checking.FOpen()
       CHECKS.DTA -- File May Be Corrupted: REORGANIZE THIS FILE

   This simply means the program that last wrote something to the file did
   not have a chance to close it, and the index is messed up.

   Not to worry. Pick Option #8, (Reorganize Files), press [F8], and the
   problem will be taken care of for you.

   You can also call this option any time you feel like cleaning up your
   file and index space, although any deleted entries are automatically
   reused anyway.

UNREGISTERED COPIES ONLY
========================

  The unregistered copy has a limit of 25 records in the transaction file!
  If you get a message saying you have too many records, this is what the
  problem is! The registered copies have no record limits, except of course,
  your free disk space. The history file can be any size in either copy.

  -- We NEVER make you lose your data.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page 11

Where Is My?
============

  Bill Payment Reminder?
  Credit Card Calculator?
  Loan Amoritizer?
  Investment Projector?
  Recurrent Payment Entries?
  Invoice Disbursements?
  Home Budget System?

  Since we said we would do your checking that we would do it well, these
  aren't here. We figure you can keep track of these items without having
  to clutter up the task at hand.

  We left recurrent payments (payments that are the same each month) out
  because most people only have 2 anyway (mortgage/rent and car notes).

  The reminder to pay your bills comes from your creditors if you should
  manage to forget about them.

  However,
    If you like CheckRec, and decide you might want some help with any of
    these, we would like to hear from you.

    Please drop us a line on PC-Exchange [phone] or share your
    comments with us at:

      PDMI
      5300 Memorial Drive Suite 112
      Stone Mountain, GA. 30083

    Our voice phone is [phone], Fax [phone]

    We like to hear both good and bad stuff about our programs. We enhance
    the good and fix the bad. If you like or don't like CheckRec, please
    let us know.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page 12

Our Requests and Disclaimers
============================

  ShareWare works on an honesty policy. Please remember we put countless
  hours on many late nights and week ends so you won't have to. We had
  to write things in this program that you can't even see. After all,
  would the program work without a file system or could you use it if we had
  to print the check amounts as an 8 byte hexadecimal number? You would know
  it if these things weren't there.

  Our other request

  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember these are part of your financial records.
  You wouldn't want to see them get irretrievably lost, so keep a recent
  backup of them handy. CheckRec is a well-written and reliable program,
  but it cannot recover bad hard disks, formatting the history diskette,
  or getting klutzy with a DOS delete command.

  The backup can simply be copying your files to a diskette with the DOS
  COPY command. However you do it, don't get yourself stuck without a backup.

  Our last request

  We request (kindly!) that if you like this program, please pass a copy to
  a friend, or post us on someone's BBS. We think this is one of the more
  professional looking and easy to use check book programs we have come
  across in a while.

  Please pass only clean copies (unmodified) onto others. Please don't omit
  any files from the copies, as other people may need them, or put your own
  preferences in this file.

  If you think we have met our goals of creating a professional, easy, and
  fast program to make your life easier, won't you please select option
  number 9 (Print Registration Sheet) and let us know we helped you?

  If you don't like the program, please drop us a line and let us know what
  we missed.


  Our Disclaimers

  We claim CheckRec R02M30 is good for nothing. If you find otherwise, we
  are pleased.

  We are not responsible for any thing you manage to gain, lose, or mess
  up with CheckRec. If you drill your account into the red, we are not
  at fault. If you gain a million, we won't come back asking for it.

  If you manage to be blessed with the tax man, and a history file that
  refuses to load, we are not responsible for the mess.
  If you registered with us, you can give us a call, and we can usually get
  the mess straighted out, but we still are not responsible for it.



CheckRec R02M30: Check Book Reconciliation Program                   Page 13

Author's Closing Credits
========================

  What We Use:

    All editing was quickly done using Brief by Underware. Yes, I couldn't
    believe the name either.

    Our nifty development library is courtesy ourselves, written almost
    exclusively in MicroSoft's Macro Assembler V5.10.

    To get all the weird bugs out, we still love our king of debuggers,
    Periscope based in Atlanta.

    Our fantastic compiler is Logitech Modula-2/86 V4.0 released by MultiScope
    of California. (They also make fantastic source debuggers, but I've been
    using Periscope longer). Liking the speed of assembler, this comes real
    close, even closer than most "C" compilers. No Joke.

    This was written on a System/23 DataMaster (before the first IBM PC) by
    Mike Leonard in 1981, moved to an IBM PC in dBase II, moved to
    Turbo Pascal, then to Modula-2 when we changed languages without any
    regret in 1987, and finally revised in 1992 to take advantage of all
    the latest and best tricks in our library.

    We have used it internally for our own record keeping since 1981.

  Thanks To:

    Jim Simmons of PC-Exchange for his great efforts in helping us to produce
    our shareware material, and sponsoring us on his BBS. His number is
    [phone] in Atlanta, GA.

    Frank Massie, who had to stay late many nights in 1991 looking for all the
    mysterious problems in the record scrolling routines.

  Special Thanks To:

    Our customers, for the last 15 years, and our current ones.
    To the employees of PDMI, and believe me we are the ultimate of the odd
    couples.

    To you, for considering this program.

  Personal Thanks To:

    Linda Leonard - For putting up with my crazy ideas for over 8 years.
      (and actually going along with some of them!)

    Mike Leonard - Who answered my computer questions by tossing me a book
      and telling me to go figure. As a result, I learned over 6 languages
      and 3 operating systems, and became an extremely proficent programmer.

-- Joe Hopkins
   Senior Programmmer, PDMI