Business Assistant

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

/ Business Assistant / Business Assistant.iso / acctg / fc3000 / fc3.doc next >

Wrap

Text File | 1988-02-26 | 63.8 KB | 1,404 lines

##### #### tm # # # #### ## # ## # # ######## Financial Consultant Personal and small business Checkbook & general ledger program Copyright 1988 by Jon Kolstad All rights reserved Shareware VERSION FC3000 Jon Kolstad 560 Norton Lane Arnold MD 21012 (301) 757-1740 Compuserve 73547,2522 GEnie J.KOLSTAD Copyright 1988 by Jon Kolstad All rights reserved No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form without express written permission from the author, Jon Kolstad. DISCLAIMER This software is provided to you on an "as is" basis and the author makes no claim about it's suitability for yours or any other purposes. In no event will the author be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or con- sequential damages or for any claim by any other party, even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Table of Contents Overview 1 Quick Starting FC3 1 Special Keys 1 Function Keys 2 F1 2 F2 2 F3 2 F4 2 F5 2 F6 2 F7 2 F8 2 F9 2 F10 3 Other Keys 3 Tutorial 3 Account Statistics Window 4 Function Key Menu 4 Setting Colors Etc. 4 Setting Drive/Path 4 Settin Help Drive/Path 5 Setting other printers 5 Sound on/off 5 Calculator decimal 5 Setting Colors 5 Setting Account name/balance 7 Defining Categories 7 Entering transactions 8 Item Entry 8 checks 8 deposits 8 machine 9 service 9 assign 9 The date 9 Description 9 Amount 9 Expense ID 9 Cleared the bank 10 Deleting an entry 10 Correcting an entry 10 ID categories 11 Sorting categories 11 Reconciliation 12 Reporting 12 Conclusion 14 Index 15-18 Shareware The main idea behind shareware is a method of distributing soft- ware in a way the you get to try it before you buy it. The program doesn't belong to you, you are only licensed to try it. If you want to keep using it, you should pay for it. What you get is high quality software at a reasonable price. The concept of shareware was pioneered by several people back in the early 80's notably Jim Button author of PC-FILE III. He did an incredibly complete and useful program, then choose shareware as a means to distribute it. For those of you who have ever completed a program to its final finished state, you well know about the time, effort, creativity, money, frustration, disappointment, discouragement, then finally shear bliss upon final completion. I'm not talking about the rest of you who have written a nice display screen, then, showing it to your family and friends you tell them what it's going to do, I mean a program that is finished and does all of those things, complete with on line help, error checking (for when the user presses or inputs the wrong thing) and some form of documentation complete with index, installation, and running instructions. If you even think that you understand how much work goes into a complete software package, consider the shareware that you are finding useful right now, then consider if you would be willing to complete such a project, and what you would consider fair compensation for your time & effort. I was recently informed that to place a one page black & white advertisement in one particular computer magazine, was in the neighborhood of six thousand dollars ($6,000.00). Try putting that into your spreadsheet and see how many disks you have to sell just to pay for the ad let alone printing a book, (that's after you write it of course) buying the blank disks & copying them, labels, postage, etc. etc. etc. Now look at the bottom line of your spreadsheet and see how much you get to keep for yourself. Now, has your success been good enough to advertise next month? If you've read this far you probably have a pretty good feel for some of the reasons that shareware is a nice alternative for distribution of our software. It's true that you don't get a book wrapped with a beautiful graphic design of scantily clad bodies soaring through the universe with fists outstretched but, you do get high quality software that does it's job well. There have been numerous attempts, by shareware authors, to encourage you to part with some of your hard earned money, and on the following page you'll find mine. With the few checks I receive, there is usually a note or short letter from the donor telling me how they are using my program and sometimes a suggestion to make it better. In most cases, I enjoy the letter as much as the check. The letter certainly lasts longer, and I keep them all. Here's the pitch: Financial Consultant Registration options. A. Send a letter & $40 for small business registration. B. Send a letter & $25 for home user registration. C. Send a letter & Contribution. D. Send a Contribution. E. Send a letter. F. Send nothing a continue to feel guilty. I enjoy writing software and that, in itself, is fulfilling. My bonus comes when others let me know that they like my programs, find them practical and easy to use. I used to try to bribe you by tactics like withholding documentation, offering to send more free software, free books etc. etc. but, the fact is, you already have in your possession approximately 1000 hours of my work. In all fairness, you should either pass it along or pay for it. Please send a check or money order (sorry no credit cards) to: Jon Kolstad 560 Norton Lane Arnold MD 21012 (301) 757-1740 P.S. Should you decide to send the twenty-five or forty dollars, I will send you an Invoice for your records and, if your letter's good, maybe a surprise. (See, I still can't resist trying the bribe.) -JK- Financial Consultant Overview For those who are familiar with Fred's Checkbook! you will remember that a professional bookkeeper suggested that the easiest accounting system, is one that funnels all funds through your checking account. When preparing my own tax returns in the past, that system seemed even more logical because canceled checks were by far the most useful, centralized source of expense information that was available. In designing an easy to use home or small business accounting program, I really wanted to come up with a program that would have the "look and feel" of an existing manual system, hence FC3, a program that most people seem to be comfortable with. It keeps track of your expenses, income and account balance. Has a very easy to use statement reconciliation method and prints nicely formatted reports either in detail or summary, for any specified time period and sends the report to your printer, screen or disk. These reports are designed to be given to your tax accountant, or CPA in a format that suits them. The Family Concept Expenses and income usually are part of larger sets or groups that are related in some way. In FC3 a family is one of these sets and you can have as many of them as you have expense/income definitions. They basically generate sub-totals in reports and help you to organize your data. Quick Starting FC3 For the program to work, all you need on your disk is FC3.EXE and then type FC3 and the return key. The program will load and inform you of missing files that can be instantly created and you are on your way. The only file that can't be created by FC3.EXE is the help file called FC3HELP.DTA, so if you think that on line help would be nice make sure you have that file on the disk too. At this point you can begin making entries, definitions, naming your account, printing reports and generally enjoying all of the features of FC3. Special Keys There are three keys to remember, that can be of great comfort to you. They are the Esc key, function key F10 and function key F1. In general, pressing F10 means that you are finished making changes to whatever you are doing and are satisfied with the results. The Esc key Un-does whatever you are doing and puts the data back Page 1 the way it was before you changed it. (You might like to think of it as the Ooops! key.) Function key F1 is the HELP key. Use it for more information about the feature of the program that your are currently using. It only gives you help related to what you are doing but, other options may also be available so if you want the calendar to pop up press F5 even though the help screen may not say it's available. As a rule, if a particular function isn't available, pressing it's key won't do anything. Function Keys F1 - is always help. (if FC3HELP.DTA is on your disk) If you want to keep this help file on another drive or path, you can set the help drive & path under Colors etc. (F7) If no help screen pops up then the only help available is given on the bottom line of your screen. F2 -Causes the program to look through your entries and find only the ones that don't have a check mark to the right. It then takes those entries and sorts them by check number, Deposits, Machine, and Service and sub-sorts those groups by date. During this process it computes your previous ending balance then allows you to make new check marks and the balance is adjusted accordingly. F3 -Pops up a tape style four function calculator window and toggles the Num Lock so that you can use the key pad for numbers. The calculator uses the decimal and even though you may have the decimal display set to only two numbers, the accuracy is 5 digits past the decimal. Set the calc decimal under Colors etc. (F7) F4 -Pops up the report window where you can set the reporting dates, detail or totals and where to send output. (printer, screen or disk file) F5 -Pops up the current months calendar then you can use the PgUp or PgDn keys to change them. F6 -Causes the expense category ID's and definitions window to be displayed. from here you can insert, delete, sort or edit categories. F7 -Colors Etc. is the place where you can set up the colors that you like, data drive & paths, calc decimal, sound on or off, and either printer 1, 2, or 3. F8 -This is where you can change the name of you account and also adjust your account balance. The balance shown here is the one at the entry you were at when you pressed F8. F9 -This is the sorting key. If you are at your entry screen then they will be sorted by date and then sub-sorted by type of entry. (Ascending sort by check number then alphabetically.) If you are in your definitions then you will have a choice of sorts by Page 2 family (sub-sorted by definition) ID or definitions. (Again, an alphabetical ascending sort.) F10-Finished.. This key has two different uses. If you are in the part of the program where you can scroll through them then pressing F10 will close all of your files and end the program. (Returning you to the operating system.) Any other time, pressing F10 will update whatever you are doing and move back a level in the program. Multiple Keys In many parts of the program, such as making corrections or additions, several keys may have the same action. Most people are used to using different key patterns because of the software that they are accustomed to. So if you are used to using Tab key to move from field to field then go ahead and use it. If you are an old WordStar die hard (like me) you can use ^X or ^E. Of course using the most obvious keys such as the return key or arrows would be a good way to achieve the same results. Even though the prompt on the last line gives you some help in making a choice, many of the choices can be made by pressing the letter key of the desired selection. (e.g. D for Details or S for Screen) Tutorial If you have read this far then I presume that either you are afraid to start or that you have already explored many of the features and want to fill in any gaps you may have overlooked. The easiest way to get started is to have the following files on your default drive: (or in your default directory) FC3 .EXE FC3HELP .DTA FC3EXPEN.DTA FC3ACCTS.DTA FC3USERS.DTA FC3ENTRY.DTA For this tutorial let us assume that you are using a 360k floppy disk in drive A: and that all of these files are on that disk. Now at the A> prompt type FC3 and press the RETURN/ENTER key (That's the one with the bent arrow and here after will be referred to as the RETURN key.) The program will load, support files will be loaded, the FC logo will be displayed and "press SPACE bar to continue". It doesn't really need to be the space bar but, "press any key" isn't exactly an accurate statement either and the space bar definitely does the job. If you are really in a hurry and won't miss the logo, try pressing a key sooner. The opening screen will show one large window with two small windows under it. The big window is where your entries will be Page 3 displayed etc. and the small window on the left shows the function key actions. The small window on the right is an action window that displays more information about the entry you are at and some other interesting information. Account Statistics Window (lower right box) The top line of this window shows the name of the account you are working with. I usually like to use the bank name and account number here which can be changed by pressing F8. The center line shows the expense/income ID code, family and definition. This changes as you scroll through your entries. The right balance box shows the ending balance of this account and the left balance box shows what the balance was at (and including) the entry you are pointing to with the cursor. This also changes as you scroll through your entries. As you make additional entries or corrections, the Account Statistic window will reflect the changes. Function Key Menu (lower left box) This window reminds you of the functions available by pressing the appropriate function key. As long as the cursor is up pointing to one of your entries, all of these keys work. Some of them won't work when you are at the last line and the program is waiting for you to add a new entry. F7 - Colors Etc. The first thing to do is to get the screen colors set up to your liking. If you don't have a color monitor, you may want to change these because they change the display characteristics even on a monochrome monitor. You can make reverse video, high intensity, low intensity & on some displays, underline. If you don't like sound you can shut it off here. You can change the calculator display and which printer to use here also. Use the up and down arrow keys to move between the different selections. The bottom line of the screen will display help. Data Drive & Path If you are not familiar with DOS, it would probably be a good idea to leave this line blank. DOS is very particular about what you type in here and not very forgiving so be careful. ***************************************************************** If you make a mistake here and save it by pressing F10, you may have to delete the file FC3USERS.DTA from your disk and start again. (No data will be lost but, the program can't find it.) ***************************************************************** Page 4 Until you are familiar with paths etc. leave this line blank! Help Drive & Path Same as above, however if you are comfortable with DOS this feature is handy in that, you will only need one copy of the help file on your disk. Printer Number By pressing the 1, 2, or 3 number key at the top of your keyboard the printer selection will change. If you have more than one printer connected you can select which one that FC3 will send output to, usually #1, when you do reports. If you select a non- existent printer, you will get an error message that the printer is not ready, when you try to send reports to that printer. Sound You can either have the sound on or off. Press the space bar to change. Having the sound on really doesn't make very much noise, only enough to get you attention. Calculator Decimal The calculator display will round off to the desired number of places. The default is two but, if you want to change it, press one of the number keys at the top of the keyboard 0,1,2,3,4 or 5. Even though the display is rounded off, the actual accuracy is 11 significant digits, and is limited only by Borland's Turbo Pascal compiler version 4.0 real number format. Changing the screen colors If you have a color monitor, there is no doubt that choosing your favorite display colors, seems to make this program run better. Use the up and down arrow keys to move between the lines, and follow the advice given at the bottom of the screen. (That's the best help available here.) The space bar will rotate through the standard IBM background colors in the following order: BLACK, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, RED, MAGENTA, BROWN, WHITE The + and - keys change the color of the characters for a particular window. When you press these keys you will be able to see the colors change in the sample line. The colors of text that are available are as follows: WHITE, GRAY, LIGHT_BLUE, LIGHT_GREEN, LIGHT_CYAN, LIGHT_RED, LIGHT_MAGENTA, YELLOW, BRIGHT_WHITE, BLACK, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, Page 5 RED, MAGENTA and BROWN. If you choose cyan and light cyan for the help window colors, you won't be able to read the balances in the Account Statistic box. The thing to consider here is that no one else can either. When you are satisfied with all of your choices, press F10 and they will be immediately activated and also saved to disk. If you press the Esc key, the old defaults are retrieved from disk and nothing will be changed. Practice session To get an overview of what this program is all about, you can follow along with this tutorial, then delete the sample data when finished. Another choice would be to use your actual data instead of the samples then you won't have to re-enter it later. I spent a lot of time and effort making this program bullet proof so that you can use it with confidence. This means that you don't need to worry about making a mistake or pressing the wrong key. The worst thing that can happen is for the power to go off in the middle of writing your sorted data to disk. Although this is only a matter of seconds, it is a very good reason to KEEP CURRENT BACK UP FILES OF YOUR DATA. Then you won't have to worry about anything. Enough for the "fear of God" let's go on... By typing FC3 from the default prompt (e.g. A> ) and pressing the RETURN key the program will load and display the opening screen. If you're in a hurry, you can press the space bar while the program is loading and skip the opening screen. Assuming this is your first time using the program, you will be presented with a large empty box over two small boxes. This opening screen isn't very informative because there is no data for the program to work with yet. The HELP key: By pressing function key F1 you get help. The help screen that is displayed, is the one that most likely relates to the options available to you at whatever point in the program you are at. Right now, with no data, the help is related to getting you started with entering data. When you have finished reading this help screen "Press SPACE bar to continue". A handy key to remember is the Esc key. It will take you back a step at a time to the main entry screen. Remember however, that if you were making changes to actual data the Esc key will cancel those changes and restore the old data. (Handy right after you say "Ooops" or some other expletive.) At this point, all of the function keys work except for F2 & F9 because there is nothing for them to do. In fact they will never work when the cursor is on a blank line that contains no data. Page 6 F8 - Accounts Since at this time there is only one account available at a time, "Account" would be the proper prompt to use but, like all great programmers, I have visions of all of the wonderful things that FC4 will do some day. Anyway, from here you can change the account name and the current balance. For the name you can type over the one showing or use the editing features described later in this manual. To change the amount, use the number keys at the top of your keyboard. The decimal and commas will automatically be placed in the display. If you make a mistake, press either the backspace or the Del key. These will delete the digit under the cursor and move everything else over to the right. You will notice that when you enter the digits, they are sort of stuffed in from the right side and the other digits are moved over to the left. You can even enter a negative number but, the minus key must be the first key pressed then if you delete the numbers back to zero, you must press the minus key again to start over to be able to enter a negative number. When the name and balance are correct press F10 to activate the changes. Esc will regret the changes and restore the originals. F6 - Categories From here you will define your income/expense categories. By pressing the help key, you can see from the display in the upper right hand corner of the screen, an example of how you might use them. To add a new category, press the Ins key. This will create a new line and activate the edit mode so that you can immediately type in an ID code, family (if you want to use this feature) and definition. The ID code should be unique. Although the program will allow you to use duplicates, it will only recognize the first one encountered in the current sort order. Why the "Ins" key to add entries? Because when you get 200 definitions on file, you won't want to go to the end to add a new one. Usually, in fact, you will be adding a related definition somewhere else and it's nice to be able to view that area while editing. By pressing F9 you can have the computer sort your entries by Definition, ID or Family. (in ascending alphabetical order) You can use the number key or the first letter (D,I,F) to choose the order. When you have finished adding definitions, press F10 to record them to the disk. CAUTION: if you press the Esc key to exit, your Page 7 work will remain in memory but NOT SAVED to disk. So be careful about using the Esc key to exit this section, something may be missing the next time you use the program. If you accidentally use the Esc key, press F6 again, sort the definitions, then press F10. The reason for this is because when you first press F6, the program waits to see if you change anything before it writes to the disk again. Recording new transactions Check Deposit Machine Service Assign These are the five types of transactions that you can make and they are similar to the types used by banks and S&Ls. They are Checks, Automatic teller transactions, Bank services and Deposits. This program allows for one additional type called "Assign" which is any transaction that doesn't have anything to do with the bank but, needs to be recorded in your general ledger, for expense/income tracking purposes. The Item area The first column in the entry window is called the item area and the information found there by the program is used to determine how the remaining information on the line is to be treated by the program in regards to reports, bank reconciliation and current balances. If the program finds a number there, the entry is assumed to be a check and when you enter the amount, that amount will be subtracted from your account balance. If the first letter in the item box is a "D" then the amount will be added to the balance. If the first letter is an "S" or an "M", then the the entry is treated as an expense an the amount will be subtracted from the account balance. If the first letter is an "A" or any other character, the amount is ignored regarding the account balance and is only significant in the reporting section, where it will treated as an expense. Checks To record a check in your ledger, you can use the automatic feature of pressing either the RETURN key or the "c" key. The number that pops up, in the item area, is the next check number in sequence. If you want to change that number press the Left_Arrow key or Up_Arrow key which will move the cursor over to the item area and allow you to enter or change the existing number displayed there. Deposits By pressing the "D" key the word Deposit is displayed in the item area and the amount entered will be added to your account Page 8 balance. If you accidentally enter a deposit as something else, then go back and change it to a deposit, the program is smart enough to realize what happened and make the correct balance changes. Machine or Service These words are typed into the item area when you press the "M" or the "S" key and are treated as expenses. The amount entered under these classifications is subtracted from the account balance and sorted into their own groups but, otherwise are identical. Assign (or whatever) The assign feature is used to enter items into your ledger that you want to keep track of but, don't have anything to do with the bank. By using "A" you merely attach an amount to an expense/income definition. This type of item doesn't change the account balance and is automatically cleared so that it won't show up when you are reconciling your bank statement. The Assigned values are only used by the reporting section. The Date The date is in the format of Month-Day-Year. You can use the arrow keys to move across the area, type in the correct date then press the RETURN key to move on to the description. The Description This is where you enter the payee of the check or any other information that will remind you of what the entry was for. If you leave this area blank (i.e. just press RETURN key) then when you enter the ID code later, the Description will be automatically typed in for you. The Amount The amount area only lets you enter numbers and if it is the first character, the minus sign. I suggest that you don't use negative numbers yet, until you see how the reports are generated. The amount is filled in from right to left somewhat like pushing the numbers in from the right. The decimal and commas will automatically be added where necessary. If you make a mistake, you can press either the back_space key or the Del key. the number under the cursor will be deleted upon each key press until the amount becomes zero. When you have the correct amount showing, press the RETURN key to move to the ID area. The ID This is where you will enter the unique code that defines a specific category from your expense/income definitions. If you Page 9 need to see those definitions now, press F6. The program will allow you to enter anything that you want to here however if it can't find a definition, question marks will be displayed in the definitions line of the account statistics window. You can either add a new category now or wait until later. The program will catch up with you eventually. Cleared Y/N ? The best thing to do here is press the RETURN key because the program has a pretty good idea as to what really belongs here. Y or N is only used if for some reason the item has accidentally been cleared in another section and not corrected there. In the case of bank related items, no mark will be placed here when you press the RETURN key. If the entry has nothing to do with the bank or it has been cleared automatically when you reconcile your account, there will be a check mark displayed there. Pressing the RETURN key here also causes the entry to be stored to the disk and lets you move on to other parts of the program. If you use Y or N then the cursor jumps to item area but, does not leave the edit mode. You must then use F10 to store the entry. (or Esc to abort it.) How to delete an entry The way that this program takes care of deletions is by first having you mark the entry, then when you press F9 to sort the file, the record will removed for good. It's easy to mark an item for deletion, you move the cursor to the entry and press the Del key. The mark used by the program is the asterisk "*" and it looks for that mark in the first character position of the item area. You will also notice that when an entry is marked for deletion, the balances are also adjusted accordingly. While an entry is marked, the program ignores it as though it didn't exist. To Un-Delete an entry just press the Del key again and the mark will be removed and the balances restored. Once you have pressed F9 to sort the records all of the marked entries are gone forever. Editing an entry You can move freely up and down through your entries by using the up and down arrow keys. When you get to the one that you want to change, use the right_arrow key to move over into the record. Once in the edit mode, you can move around in the record by using any of the arrow keys, the tab key, and the RETURN key. The program uses the type over method of editing meaning that if you type a letter key, the character at the cursor position will be replaced by the new one typed. To insert a space or spaces at the cursor position, use the Ins key. The back space key erases the Page 10 character preceding the cursor and moves the rest of the line over. The Del key erases the character under the cursor and moves the rest of the line over. The Home key moves the cursor to the beginning of the area and the End key moves the cursor to the end. To edit the amount, press the backspace or the Del key until you have erased the error, then using the number keys at the top of the keyboard, type in the corrections. When you are finished editing the entry, press F10 to save and make the changes permanent. If you say Ooops and wish you hadn't made any changes, press the Esc key and the original will be restored. ID Categories By pressing F6 the expense/income window will pop up and display the first page of definitions. (assuming you have that many) You can define up to 250 separate categories and to add a new one just press the Ins key. A new line will be added and you will be automatically in the edit mode for definitions. The bottom line of the display screen will give you some help however, if you need some ideas, key definitions etc. you can press F1 (help key) for further information. The ID is any one to five character unique identifying code that will be the code that you will type in to define what group a particular entry is a member of. The Family is an optional major grouping code that is usually only necessary if you have alot of definitions. Examples of these are shown on the definitions help screen. The Definition of the ID code is, of course, the explanation of what the ID means. One important thing to remember is that if you want the program to automatically type in payee descriptions this is where you would type in that name. For example if every month you send a check to the "Local Electric Company", then you would use the ID code of LEC when you are making entries and if the description area is blank, the program will type in the definition of LEC namely "Local Electric Company" for you. When you are finished entering ID's and definitions (by using the Ins key) press F10 to save them to disk. Don't use the Esc key because your work will not be written to disk. Should you want to Delete a definition and ID just move to that line and press the Del key. You will then be asked to verify the deletion by pressing Y. Again be sure to exit by using F10. Sorting categories While viewing your expense/income definitions, you can press F9 to sort them. A small sort window will appear and you can then Page 11 press the appropriate key for the order that you want. The keys that work here are 1,2,3,I,F,or D. There are three sorts orders. The ID and Definition sort are in alphabetically ascending order. The family sorts first by family group then again within each family ascending alphabetically. Balancing (account reconciliation) By pressing F2 while viewing your entries, you will cause the program to look up all of the entries that don't have a check mark next to them on the right hand side of the screen. After retrieving all of those entries, the program sorts them into groups consisting of Checks, Deposits, Machines and Services. Then within these groups, entries are sorted by date. The cursor will be positioned at the oldest outstanding check. The left_balance in the account statistics box will have a number the should be the beginning balance of you bank statement. Or to put it another way, the ending balance from your last statement. The bottom of your screen informs you to press the RETURN key if the item at the cursor is shown on your statement, and press the SPACE bar if it isn't. You will notice that the left_balance changes as you press the RETURN key and that the program places a check mark next to the entry. You can scroll up and down through your entries using the space bar and return key to correctly mark items and when you are satisfied that you have marked each item shown on your statement, look at the left_balance box and that number should be the ending balance shown on your statement. If the balance is incorrect, you may have forgotten to enter something like a bank service charge, interest on checking, or if you're like me you may have forgotten to enter one of those money machine withdrawals. If the error is in one of the entries on the screen, all you have to do is go up to the item and press the right arrow key to move in and correct it. If you have forgotten to make entries, press Esc (so that the check marks won't be saved) add the new items, then press F2 to begin the balancing again. If you know for sure what the problem is you could press F10 to save the check marks. This will save you from having to go through all of the un- marked items again. Don't forget that you have a calculator by pressing F3 to help you figure out what may be missing and by how much. Reports Finally we come to the fun part of computing. Making sense out of the entries and letting the computer do the work. By pressing F4, Page 12 the screen will clear and a small report window will be displayed. don't let the size fool you this is a very powerful reporting system. The bottom line of the screen will help you remember what to do to change to the different report models. You can have the program report transactions from any given date to another. Remember that the entries made on the dates you enter will be included in the reports. Reporting dates The first time that you enter the reporting section, during a session, the dates shown will be the starting date of January 1st of the current year and ending at todays date. The reason for this is so that you can see what your Year To Date totals are by merely pressing F10 to begin. You won't have to fumble around entering the correct dates. You can basically enter any dates that you want just as long as the starting date is before the ending date. The program will even accept that error but of course will only print zeros. The Dates will even cross year boundaries, so if you have a different fiscal year the reports will be accurate. By using the arrow keys you can move up and down the lines to make the changes that you desire. You can report in Totals or by Details. You can send the report to the screen for viewing or to the printer, or to a disk file that can be edited by nearly any word-processing program. The reports are printed by pages and also numbered. The title of each page shows the account name, the reporting method and dates, and the page number. The margins are pre-set and are designed to fit nicely on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper. If you send the report to the disk, an additional line appears with a file name for you to edit. The file name supports other disks and path names. If however, you enter a non-existent drive or path name, or an invalid file name, the report won't be written to the disk. There will be no other ill effects. If all is well, the bottom line of the screen will inform you that the program is writing to a disk file. You will be warned if you are about to write over an existing file and you can decide what you want to do from there. The reports are printed using the entries as they are stored on the disk. Usually in date order. They are also generated by groups relating to the order that you have sorted the expense definitions. The default sort is by family and this sort is performed automatically when you enter the reporting section. If you want to change that order, press F9 then F9 then select the order, and press F10. The reports will be printed in the new order until you either change the order or leave the report Page 13 section and return later. To leave the reporting section press the Esc key. If you don't leave the program, then return to the reporting section later, the reporting section remains just as you left it. (Except for the category sort order which will be by family, because that is the best order for reporting totals. Actually, it's the only order that makes any sense for reporting totals.) Conclusion That pretty well covers the features and uses of FC3. If you have any comments, suggestions, questions, or would like to point out other uses you have found for the program you can write to me and let me know. Many of the "nice" features of this program have come from users of previous versions so don't be afraid to speak up. I try to answer all of my mail, so feel free.. Jon Kolstad 560 Norton Lane Arnold MD 21012 (301) 757-1740 Page 14 Abort, 10 BROWN, 5, 6 Accept, 13 Business, 1 Accidentally, 8, 9, 10 Account, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, Calculator, 2, 4, 5, 12 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 Calendar, 2 Accounting, 1 Cancel, 6 Accounts, 7 Case, 10 Accuracy, 2, 5 Categories, 2, 7, 11 Accurate, 3, 13 Category, 2, 7, 10, 14 Accustomed, 3 CAUTION, 7 Action, 3, 4 Changes, 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, Activate, 7 11, 12, 13 Activated, 6 Character, 8, 9, 10, 11 Actual, 5, 6 Characters, 5 Actually, 14 Charge, 12 Add, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12 Check, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, Additions, 3 12 Adjust, 2 Checkbook, 1 Advice, 5 Checks, 1, 8, 12 Alphabetical, 3, 7 Choices, 3, 6 Alphabetically, 2, 12 Classifications, 9 Amount, 7, 8, 9, 11 Cleared, 9, 10 Area, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Code, 4, 7, 9, 11 Arrow, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, Colors, 2, 4, 5, 6 12, 13 Column, 8 Ascending, 2, 3, 7, 12 Commas, 7, 9 Assign, 8, 9 Comments, 14 Assigned, 9 Compiler, 5 Assume, 3 Computer, 7, 13 Assumed, 8 Computes, 2 Assuming, 6, 11 Computing, 12 Asterisk, 10 Concept, 1 Attach, 9 Conclusion, 14 Automatic, 8 Consultant, 1 Automatically, 7, 9, 10, Continue, 3, 6 11, 13 Copy, 5 Corrections, 3, 4, 11 Background, 5 CPA, 1 Backspace, 7, 11 Cursor, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, Balance, 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 9, 12 CYAN, 5, 6 Balances, 6, 8, 10 Balancing, 12 Data, 1, 2, 4, 6 Bank, 4, 8, 9, 10, 12 Date, 2, 9, 12, 13 Begin, 1, 12, 13 Dates, 2, 13 BLACK, 5 Day, 7 Blank, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11 Decimal, 2, 5, 7, 9 BLUE, 5 Default, 3, 5, 6, 13 Bookkeeper, 1 Define, 7, 11 Borland's, 5 Defines, 9 Bottom, 2, 4, 5, 11, 12, Definitely, 3 13 Definition, 3, 4, 7, 9, Boundaries, 13 10, 11, 12 Box, 4, 6, 8, 12 Definitions, 1, 2, 3, 7, Boxes, 6 8, 10, 11, 13 Page 15 Del, 7, 9, 10, 11 Financial, 1 Delete, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, Finished, 1, 3, 6, 7, 11 11 Fiscal, 13 Deleted, 9 Floppy, 3 Deletion, 10, 11 Forget, 12 Deletions, 10 Forgiving, 4 Deposit, 8, 9 Forgotten, 12 Deposits, 2, 8, 12 Format, 1, 5, 9 Description, 9, 11 Formatted, 1 Designed, 1, 13 Fumble, 13 Detail, 1, 2 Fun, 12 Details, 3, 13 Function, 1, 2, 4, 6 Different, 3, 4, 13 Funds, 1 Digits, 2, 5, 7 Directory, 3 Gaps, 3 Disk, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, General, 1, 8 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 Gone, 10 Display, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, Good, 3, 4, 6, 10 11 GRAY, 5 DOS, 4, 5 Great, 1, 7 Drive, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13 GREEN, 5 DTA, 1, 2, 3, 4 Group, 11, 12 Duplicates, 7 Groups, 1, 2, 9, 12, 13 Edit, 2, 7, 10, 11, 13 Hand, 7, 12 Effects, 13 Handy, 5, 6 Empty, 6 Help, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Ending, 2, 4, 12, 13 7, 11, 12, 13 Enjoying, 1 Home, 1, 11 Entering, 6, 11, 13 Entries, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, IBM, 5 10, 11, 12, 13, 13 ID, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12 Erased, 11 Identical, 9 Erases, 11 Identifying, 11 Error, 5, 11, 12, 13 ID's, 2, 11 Esc, 1, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, Ignored, 8 12, 14 Ignores, 10 Example, 7, 11 Important, 11 EXE, 1, 3 Income, 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, Exit, 7, 8, 11 10, 11 Expense, 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, Incorrect, 12 9, 10, 11, 13 Inform, 1, 13 Expenses, 1, 9 Information, 1, 2, 4, 8, Expletive, 6 9, 11 Informative, 6 Family, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, Informs, 12 12, 13, 14 Ins, 7, 11, 11 Fear, 6 Insert, 2, 10 Feature, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 Intensity, 4 Features, 1, 3, 7, 14 Interest, 12 Field, 3 Invalid, 13 Figure, 12 Item, 8, 9, 10, 12 File, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 13 January, 13 Files, 1, 3, 6 Job, 3 Page 16 Jon, 14 Never, 6 Jumps, 10 Nice, 1, 7, 14 Nicely, 1, 13 Keep, 2, 6, 9 Noise, 5 Keyboard, 5, 7, 11 Non-existent, 5, 13 Kolstad, 14 Notice, 7, 10, 12 Num, 2 Last, 3, 4, 12 Numbers, 2, 7, 9 Leave, 4, 5, 9, 10, 14 Ledger, 8, 9 Old, 3, 6 Left, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14 Ooops, 2, 6, 11 Letter, 3, 7, 8, 10 Opening, 3, 6 Level, 3 Operating, 3 LIGHT, 5, 6 Optional, 11 Limited, 5 Options, 2, 6 Load, 1, 3, 6 Order, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14 Local, 11 Organize, 1 Lock, 2 Original, 11 Logical, 1 Originals, 7 Logo, 3 Output, 2, 5 Look, 1, 2, 12 Overlooked, 3 Lost, 4 Overview, 1, 6 Machine, 2, 8, 9, 12 Page, 11, 13 MAGENTA, 5, 6 Pages, 13 Mail, 14 Paper, 13 Manual, 1, 7 Pascal, 5 Margins, 13 Path, 2, 4, 5, 13 Mark, 2, 10, 12 Paths, 2, 5 Marked, 10, 12 Patterns, 3 Marks, 2, 10, 12 Payee, 9, 11 Member, 11 Period, 1 Memory, 8 Permanent, 11 Menu, 4 PgDn, 2 Message, 5 PgUp, 2 Method, 1, 10, 13 Places, 5, 12 Middle, 6 Point, 1, 6, 14 Minus, 7, 9 Pop, 2, 11 Missing, 1, 8, 12 Position, 10, 11 Mistake, 4, 6, 7, 9 Positioned, 12 Mode, 7, 10, 11 Power, 6 Models, 13 Practice, 6 Money, 12 Preparing, 1 Monitor, 4, 5 Pre-set, 13 Monochrome, 4 Print, 13 Month, 11 Printed, 13 Months, 2 Printer, 1, 2, 4, 5, 13 Month-Day-Year, 9 Printing, 1 Move, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, Prints, 1 10, 11, 12, 13 Problem, 12 Multiple, 3 Prompt, 3, 6, 7 Proof, 6 Name, 2, 4, 7, 11, 13 Proper, 7 Nearly, 13 Purposes, 8 Negative, 7, 9 Page 17 Read, 3, 6 Starting, 1, 13 Ready, 5 Statement, 1, 3, 9, 12 Recognize, 7 Statistic, 4, 6 Reconcile, 10 Statistics, 4, 10, 12 Reconciliation, 1, 8, 12 Stuffed, 7 Reconciling, 9 Subtracted, 8, 9 Record, 7, 8, 10 Sub-sorted, 2, 3 Records, 10 Sub-sorts, 2 RED, 5, 6 Sub-totals, 1 Regret, 7 Summary, 1 Related, 1, 2, 6, 7, 10 Support, 3 Relating, 13 System, 1, 3, 13 Remember, 1, 6, 11, 13 Replaced, 10 Tab, 3, 10 Reports, 1, 5, 8, 9, 12, Tax, 1 13 Text, 5 Restore, 6, 7 Time, 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13 Restored, 10, 11 Title, 13 Results, 1, 3 Totals, 2, 13, 14 Retrieved, 6 Track, 1, 9 Retrieving, 12 Tracking, 8 Return, 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, Transactions, 8, 13 10, 12, 14 Turbo, 5 Returning, 3 Tutorial, 3, 6 Reverse, 4 Re-enter, 6 Underline, 4 Right, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, Unique, 7, 9, 11 12 Un-Delete, 10 Rotate, 5 Un-does, 1 Rounded, 5 Update, 3 Sample, 5, 6 Values, 9 Satisfied, 1, 6, 12 Verify, 11 Save, 4, 11, 12 Video, 4 Saved, 6, 8, 12 View, 7 Screen, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Viewing, 11, 12, 13 7, 11, 12, 13 Scroll, 3, 4, 12 Warned, 13 Select, 5, 13 WHITE, 5 Selection, 3, 5 Window, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, Selections, 4 10, 11, 12, 13 Send, 2, 5, 11, 13 Withdrawals, 12 Separate, 11 Word-processing, 13 Sequence, 8 Worst, 6 Service, 2, 8, 9, 12 Services, 8, 12 Year, 13 Sign, 9 YELLOW, 5 Significant, 5, 8 Sort, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 12, Zero, 7, 9 13, 14 Zeros, 13 Sorting, 2, 11 Sound, 2, 4, 5 SPACE, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12 Start, 3, 4, 7 Page 18