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CHARTER SOFTWARE'S PC - GENERAL LEDGER - Version 1.4a (Copyright 1984 - 1989 Gerald V. Fricke) USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE This program is being distributed as SHAREWARE. The concept is an individual or a company using a program and finding it of value will compensate the author by voluntarily sending him a nominal fee. You are encouraged to copy this program and give it to others who may have a use for it. The only restriction is you do not change any of the code and you do not charge anything for the programs. If you are using this program and find it has value, your payment of a registration fee of $50.00 (plus $3.00 postage and handling) would be appreciated. Upon receipt of the registration fee, you will be become a registered owner of PC - GENERAL LEDGER. You will receive copies of the latest programs and manual and be entitled to telephone support and notices of all upgrades to new versions as they become available. The registered name will appear on the initial screen and at the top of various reports. NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RUN VERSION 1.4a USING DATA FILES CREATED BY VERSIONS 1.3, 1.3a, OR 1.4 OR ANY OTHER PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE PROGRAM OR YOU WILL LOSE YOUR EXISTING DATA. REFER TO THE FOLLOWING APPENDICES FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO CONVERT YOUR EXISTING DATA TO VERSION 1.4a. If you not sure of your current version number, start your existing program and note the version number that appears in the banner above the main menu. APPENDIX A - Convert 1.4a data from a previous copy of 1.4a to your registered copy of 1.4a. APPENDIX B - Convert 1.4 to 1.4a APPENDIX C - Convert 1.3 or 1.3a to 1.4a NOTE: Data created by versions earlier than 1.3 cannot be converted to version 1.4a. You will have to start 1.4a from scratch and enter your starting balances from a print out of a trial balance created from your old version. CHARTER SOFTWARE P.O. Box 70 Monticello, IL 61856 217-762-7143 303-279-2060 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS PC - General Ledger will run on the IBM-PC, XT, AT, PS/2 Series, and the PC-Jr. It will also run on most IBM Compatibles such as Compaq, Tandy 1000, 1200, 3000, Leading Edge, Zenith, and most IBM clones. Any version of PC-DOS or MS-DOS will work. A minimum of 128K memory is required. The programs will work on a single floppy, double floppy, or hard disk system. Either an 80 column or 132 column printer is required. IF YOU ARE A REGISTERED OWNER, YOU CAN GET REGISTERED COPIES FOR RELATED COMPANIES BY SENDING A CHECK FOR $10.00 FOR EACH COMPANY ALONG WITH THE NAME AND ADDRESS FOR EACH. PLEASE ADD $3.00 POSTAGE AND HANDLING FOR THE TOTAL ORDER. AN ACCOUNTANT'S OR MULTI-COMPANY VERSION OF THE PROGRAM (VERSION 2.4) IS AVAILABLE WHICH ALLOWS FOR MULTIPLE CLIENTS/COMPANIES. THE COST IS $100.00 PLUS $3.00 SHIPPING & HANDLING ($53.00 IF YOU ARE ALREADY A REGISTERED OWNER OF ANOTHER VERSION OF THE PROGRAM.) WARRANTY CHARTER SOFTWARE WARRANTS THAT DISKS PURCHASED FROM CHARTER SOFTWARE ARE NOT DEFECTIVE, THAT THE MANUAL ON THE DISK IS SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETE, AND THAT THE PROGRAM PERFORMS ESSENTIALLY AS INDICATED IN THE MANUAL. CHARTER SOFTWARE EXCLUDES ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OTHER THAN THE PROGRAM'S USE AS A SIMPLE BOOKKEEPING SYSTEM. IN NO EVENT WILL CHARTER SOFTWARE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THE PROGRAM. CHARTER SOFTWARE LIMITS ANY REMEDY TO REPLACEMENT OF THE DISK OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE. CHARTER SOFTWARE P.O. Box 70 Monticello, IL 61856 217-762-7143 303-279-2060 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Version 1.4a) GETTING STARTED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 HARD DISK SYSTEM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 DOUBLE FLOPPY SYSTEM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 SINGLE FLOPPY SYSTEM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 CUSTOMIZING THE PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 BACKUPS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 USING THE PROGRAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 SAMPLE ENTRY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 GENERAL COMMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 ACCOUNT NUMBERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 DATA ENTRY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 DISK SPACE USAGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 CUSTOMIZING THE CHART OF ACCOUNTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 SETTING UP BANK ACCOUNTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 OPENING ENTRIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 SUMMARY OF MONTHLY ROUTINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 GENERAL LEDGER - OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 STARTING THE GENERAL LEDGER PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . 21 MAKING ENTRIES - GENERAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 HEADER INFORMATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND AMOUNTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 VIEWING, EDITING, AND DELETING ENTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 WRITING AND PRINTING CHECKS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 CASH RECEIPTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 JOURNAL ENTRIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 CHANGE BANK ACCOUNT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 GENERAL LEDGER POSTING SCREENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 USING POSTING SCREENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 PRINTING AND UPDATING ENTRIES IN TRANSACTION FILE. . . . . . . 30 GENERAL LEDGER DETAILS AND TRIAL BALANCE PRINT-OUT . . . . . . 31 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 MONTH OR YEAR END CLOSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 CHART OF ACCOUNTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 ADD NEW ACCOUNT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 DELETE ACCOUNT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 CHANGE ACCOUNT NAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 PRINT CHART OF ACCOUNTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 VENDOR MAINTENANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 UTILITY PROGRAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 CHANGE BANK ACCOUNTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 CHANGE FROM DOUBLE FLOPPY SYSTEM TO HARD DISK . . . . . . 38 CHANGE FROM A HARD DISK TO A DOUBLE FLOPPY SYSTEM . . . . 39 CHANGE TO A SINGLE FLOPPY FROM HARD DISK. . . . . . . . . 39 CHANGE DEPARTMENT INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 CLEAR ALL BALANCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 CREATING A DIF FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 ERASE YEAR TO DATE DETAIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 ERRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 CHECKING THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 RECOVERY FROM POWER OR DISK PROBLEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 BACKUP PROCEDURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 FLOPPY DISK BACKUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 HARD DISK BACKUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 RESTORING DATA TO YOUR HARD DISK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 CONVERTING DATA CREATED BY ANOTHER VERSION 1.4a . . . APPENDIX A CONVERTING DATA CREATED BY VERSION 1.4 . . . . . . . . APPENDIX B CONVERTING DATA CREATED BY VERSION 1.3 AND 1.3A. . . . APPENDIX C DOUBLE ENTRY BOOKKEEPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . APPENDIX D OPENING BALANCES FOR SINGLE BANK ACCOUNT . . . . . . . APPENDIX E 1 GETTING STARTED NOTE: IF YOU RECEIVED YOUR DISK DIRECTLY FROM CHARTER SOFTWARE, IT HAS A WRITE PROTECT TAB ON IT. DO NOT REMOVE IT. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RUN THE MASTER DISK. USE IT ONLY TO MAKE WORKING COPIES OF THE PROGRAM OR TO COPY TO YOUR HARD DISK. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RUN THESE PROGRAMS WITH DATA CREATED BY VERSION 1.4 OR OTHER EARLIER VERSIONS. IF YOU HAVE DATA CREATED BY VERSION 1.3, 1.3a OR 1.4, SEE APPENDICES A, B, OR C. In order to get the system up and running, follow the step by step instructions. Please read each step carefully so you will know exactly what to do. The steps are very easy to follow and you should not have any problems if you follow them exactly. The whole procedure to set up either a floppy disk or hard disk system should take less than 10 minutes. HARD DISK SYSTEM 1. Set up a separate sub directory if you want. However, this step is not necessary for the operation of the programs. 2. At the DOS prompt, ( usually C> ), put the master disk in drive A and type: COPY A:*.EXE 3. After the files are copied, refer to page 3. DOUBLE FLOPPY SYSTEM (5-1/4" or 3-1/2") 1. Format two disks. Label them PROGRAMS (A) and DATA (B). 2. If you want the A disk to be a bootable disk, make sure you use DOS to put a system on it. 3. Get to the A> prompt using a DOS disk. 4. Put the PROGRAMS (A) in the A drive. 5. Put the master disk in the B drive. 6. Type: COPY B:*.EXE and press ENTER. 7. After the files are copied to the A disk, remove the master disk from the B drive and put it in a safe place. 8. The second disk DATA (B) you formatted will be used during the initialization procedure. Now refer to page 3. 2 SINGLE FLOPPY SYSTEM (5-1/4" or 3-1/2") PC - GENERAL LEDGER will run on a single floppy system. However, you will be limited in the number of entries you can enter. 1. Format a blank disk. Do not put a system on it, since that will be an additional limitation on the number of entries. 2. Get to the A> prompt using a DOS disk. 3. Put the formatted disk in the A drive. 4. Type COPY B:*.EXE 5. Follow the instructions on switching your working disk (destination) with the master disk (source). 6. Put the master disk in a safe place and refer to page 3. 3 CUSTOMIZING THE PROGRAM The following will set up the programs to run on your particular hardware and customize them for the type of business you have. The procedure is very simple and all you need to do is to follow the instructions on the screen. A couple of comments, first: - Press the `ENTER' or `RETURN' key after you make any menu selection or type information in response to an entry - ALWAYS LOOK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN. IT ALMOST ALWAYS WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO NEXT. - If you type something wrong, you will hear a tone and a message at the bottom of the screen will tell you what the problem is. - The message `ENTER TO CONTINUE' means to press the `ENTER'or `RETURN' key. - When you are instructed to use `ESC', this refers to the ESCAPE key, which has the letters Esc on it. - WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED WITH THE PROGRAM, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU EXIT THE PROGRAM IN THE NORMAL MANNER (SELECTING OPTION 8 - END OF SESSION FROM THE MAIN MENU). IF YOU TURN OFF THE COMPUTER OR REMOVE DISKS BEFORE DOING THIS, YOU MAY LOSE ALL OF YOUR FINANCIAL INFORMATION. When you exit the program on a floppy disk system, and your `A' disk is not a system disk, you will see a message to `Insert a disk with Command.Com' on it. When you see this message, put a copy of a DOS disk in drive A and press any key. This will bring back the A> prompt. DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS 1. If you are using a floppy system, put your PROGRAMS (A) disk in drive A and your DATA (B) disk in drive B. If you are using a hard disk and have set up sub directory, make sure you are in that sub directory. 2. Type GLMENU and press ENTER 3. The first screen you will see looks like this: 4 No data files found. Make a selection below. 1 = Initialize files (Hard Disk System) 2 = Initialize files (Floppy Disk System) 3 = Return to DOS to check disks or hardware. Make a Selection _ NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT GET THE ABOVE SCREEN, THEN YOU MUST HAVE EXISTING DATA FILES. IF YOU WANT TO START FROM SCRATCH, SIMPLY USE THE DOS ERASE COMMAND AND ERASE ALL GL*.FIL FILES FROM YOUR A AND B DISKS OR FROM YOUR HARD DISK. THEN TRY STEP 2 AGAIN. If you want to run the programs on the hard disk, select option 1. The screen will then display a message asking you to type `OK' if you have copied the programs from the master to the hard disk. Press the ESC key if you have not copied the programs from the master to the hard disk. If you want to run the programs on your floppy disk drives, select option 2 from the above menu. The screen will display a message stating that if you want to run on double floppy drives to have a blank formatted disk ready. If you are going to run on a single floppy type `OK'. If you are going to run on double floppy drives, and you have a blank disk ready, type `OK', otherwise, press the ESC key. 4. After you type `OK' for either the hard or floppy system, the following menu will appear on the screen: MONITOR SELECTION: 1 = Monochrome Monitor 2 = Color Monitor DRIVE SELECTION: Programs on FLOPPY A Drive: 3 = Data on A drive 4 = Data on B drive Programs on HARD Drive: 5 = Data on Hard drive 6 = Data on A drive 7 = ALL DONE Enter SELECTION _ Select the appropriate monitor choice and press ENTER. If you have a color monitor, you will have the option of selecting the colors that are used to highlight certain areas of the screen. After selecting your monitor, the 5 selection will be indicated on the above screen. If you wish to run on a single floppy, select option 3 (Data on A drive) and press ENTER. If you want to run on double floppy, select option 4 (Data on B drive) and press ENTER. The program will ask you to type `OK' if you have a blank disk ready. Then it will ask you to type `OK' after you have put the disk in the B drive. You will then make a choice as to the size of disk that you have (5-1/4" or 3-1/2") and the capacity of your disks (1.4 Meg, 1.2 Meg, 720K, or 360K) Select Option 5 if you want to run programs and data both on the hard disk. If you select this option, the following message will print at the bottom of the screen: ENTER HARD DRIVE LETTER DESIGNATION (C IN MOST CASES) Enter the appropriate drive letter and press ENTER. Option 6 should be selected if you want to run the programs on the hard disk and data on a floppy. Follow the prompts to desiginate your hard disk drive and the size and capacity of your floppy disk drive. After you have made both the monitor and drive selections, select option 7 and press ENTER. 5. At this point, a message stating that data files have been established will appear. Press ENTER and the following will appear on the screen: Address: City State Zip: Fiscal Year: 0 Sound (H)igh or (L)ow: H Credit Entries: 1 (1 = Auto 2 = Manual) Date Format: 1 (1 = US 2 = Europe) Password Protection: 1 (1 = Off 2 = On) 6 6. Type in your address, city, state, and zip on the first two lines. 7. For the fiscal year line, type in the number for the month your fiscal year ends. December is 12, September is 9, etc. 8. Next, you have the choice of a high or low tone for the sound you hear when the program wants to get your attention. The program alternates between these two tones until you select either H for high or L for low. 9. Standard accounting practice requires that credit entries be entered with a minus sign. All accounts in the 2000 through 4999 series are normally credit balance accounts. If you select option 1, the program will automatically change amounts entered for those accounts to credit amounts. If you choose the manual option, you will have to enter a minus sign for credits to those accounts. IF YOU ARE NOT AN ACCOUNTANT, WE SUGGEST YOU USE THE AUTOMATIC OPTION. See Appendix D for additional information on accounting conventions and how this program works with them. 10. Some countries use a different date format than the United States. Option 1 will format December 31, 1988 as 12-31-88 while option 2 will format it as 31-12-88. 11. You can have password protection if you want to limit access to your accounting records. You can use any 5 letter word as the password. DO NOT SET UP A PASSWORD UNLESS YOU NEED IT. ONCE YOU SET UP A PASSWORD, YOU WILL NEED TO TYPE IT EACH TIME YOU ENTER THE PROGRAM AND YOU MUST KNOW THE PASSWORD TO EITHER CHANGE OR DELETE IT. After you have completed all the items on the screen, the following message will print at the bottom of the screen: TYPE `A' TO ACCEPT `ENTER TO MAKE CHANGES' Make any changes or corrections that are necessary, then type A and press the ENTER key. The next screen displays two possible formats for the Statement of Income. The format on the left (FORMAT 1) is normally used by retail, wholesale, or manufacturing businesses. The one on the right (FORMAT 2) is usually used by service and professional businesses and for personal books. 7 Select whichever format is best suited for you. After making this selection, the program will take you back to DOS. BACKUPS People, computers, and power failures can cause loss of important information. While hardware and software failures are rare, they do happen. The biggest potential for problems is power fluctuations. If there is a thunderstorm in the area, turn off the computer after exiting the program in the normal manner. Because things can happen that are outside of your control, it is important to backup your files on a regular basis. You should maintain two backups. Make one at the end of each day (or more often, if desired). Make another at month end after you have completed the month end close. That way, if anything happens to your working disks and your daily backup, the worst that can happen is you will have to re-do only one month's work. The point in time when you make your daily backup is important. If something does go wrong, you will need to be able to remember where your work left off. See page 46 for details on how to back up your system. See page 48 for details on how to restore your files after any problems have occurred. 8 USING THE PROGRAM WHILE IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO READ THE ENTIRE MANUAL TO USE THE PROGRAM, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT YOU READ THE FOLLOWING TO GET A GOOD UNDERSTANDING ON HOW ENTRIES ARE MADE. The program is a traditional accountant's double entry bookkeeping system. However, we've made it easy to for a non-accountant to use it. To get an understanding of how debits and credits work in a double entry bookkeeping system, see Appendix D. SAMPLE ENTRY In order to understand how the system works, particularly if you are not familiar with bookkeeping, we suggest you follow the steps below to see how entries are made. Once you understand how entries are put into the system, the rest of the program is almost automatic. 1. At the DOS prompt, type GLMENU and press ENTER. 2. You will see the following at the top of the screen: Type posting DATE (MMDDYY) (ENTER if OK) 3. The `system' date will be displayed. Press ENTER to use that date or type a different date using six digits without any spaces, dashes, or slashes. For instance, January 8, 1989 is entered as 010889. The program will format it to 01-08-89 and bring up the Main Menu. The Main Menu looks like this: 1 = ADD Entries or WRITE CHECKS 2 = CHART of Accounts or VENDOR Maintenance 3 = Print ENTRIES and UPDATE General Ledger 4 = Print GENERAL LEDGER or TRIAL BALANCE 5 = Print FINANCIAL Statements 6 = Month or Year End CLOSE 7 = UTILITY Programs 8 = END of Session 4. Select option 1 - (POST Entries) 9 5. The next menu is: ADD, EDIT, OR VIEW ENTRIES: 1 = CASH Receipts 2 = CHECK STUBS 3 = JOURNAL Entries . . . etc. 6. Assume you are entering information from your check stubs. The first check is for your monthly rent as follows: Number 1221 Payee ABC Rental Agency Date Jan 23, 1989 Amount $425.50 Since you want to enter a CHECK STUB, select option 2 from the menu. 7. The next screen lets you select whether you want to add a new entry, edit an old one, or just view what is on file. Select A to Add New Entries. The program will ask you if you want to use the vendor file for the description field. Type N for No. (See further information on using the vendor file for the description field on page 22.) 8. The next screen looks like this: CHECK STUBS Last Chk: 0 Adding New Entry Check No. 1____ Description _______________ Date _______ Line Account Account Title Amount __________ Bank Balance $ 0.00 ntry Balance 0.00 TYPE CHECK NUMBER `ESC' WHEN DONE 9. Type the check number - 1221 - in the Check No field and press ENTER. 10 10. Type the payee - ABC Rental Agency - in the Description field and press ENTER 11. The date from the initial screen in shown in the date field. Since that is not the date of this check, type 01-23-89 and press ENTER. 12. The following message will now be at the bottom of the screen: `A' TO ACCEPT HEADER `T' TRY AGAIN `P' FOR POSTING SCREEN 13. Type A to accept what you have done so far. 14. The program knows you are working on your check stubs, so it puts the checking account number and account name on line 1. 15. The cursor is waiting for you to type in the amount of the check. Type 425.50 and press ENTER. Again,the program knows you are posting check stubs, so it automatically shows the amount as a minus, thereby reducing your bank balance accordingly. 16. The program is now waiting for you to complete the other side of the double entry. 17. Type in the account number for the Rent Expense - 6010 -. The program puts the title of the account on the screen. 18. You can now type B at the Amount field and the program will automatically balance the entry by charging the rent expense for 425.50. 19. When the Entry Balance amount is zero, the following message will be at the bottom of the screen: TYPE `A' TO ACCEPT AMOUNTS (`ENTER' TO MAKE CHANGES) YOU CANNOT COMPLETE AN ENTRY UNLESS THE `ENTRY BALANCE' AMOUNT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN IS ZERO. THIS HAPPENS WHEN ALL OF THE DEBITS (POSITIVE AMOUNTS) AND ALL OF THE CREDITS (MINUS AMOUNTS) OFFSET TO ZERO. 20. Type A to accept the entry. 21. The screen then clears and sets up for next entry. 22. To get back to the menu, press the ESC key when the cursor is at the Check No. field. 11 This completes the sample entry. All entries are made in this manner. The screens for Cash Receipts and Journal Entries are identical and work the same way except for the header information. GENERAL COMMENTS Charter Software's programs are easy to use and we have done our best to see you can't get into trouble. However, we can't detect typing errors such as `10.00' when you mean `100.00' or `espense' when you mean `expense'. The programs do provide two important safeguards: 1. All entries must balance. You will not be able to post an entry that does not. 2. There is a complete audit trail. Amounts cannot be posted to the General Ledger until the details have been printed on the printer. WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED WITH THE PROGRAM, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT YOU EXIT THE PROGRAM IN THE NORMAL MANNER (SELECTING OPTION 8 - END OF SESSION FROM THE MAIN MENU). IF YOU TURN OFF THE COMPUTER OR REMOVE DISKS BEFORE DOING THIS, YOU MAY LOSE ALL OF YOUR FINANCIAL INFORMATION. ACCOUNT NUMBERS Account numbers have a four digit format. The account numbers are set up by the type of account: 1000 - 1499 Current Asset 1500 - 1799 Fixed Asset 1800 - 1999 Other Asset 2000 - 2699 Current Liability 2700 - 2999 Long Term Liability 3000 - 3999 Equity 4000 - 4999 Revenue 5000 - 9999 Expense If you set up departments, your revenue and expense accounts will have two digits to the right of the decimal point to indicate the department. These two digits (department number) can be used for printing separate Statements of Income or for consolidating amounts for several accounts under one account. (See further discussion on page 40.) 12 DATA ENTRY When the program is waiting for you to type something, there is a row of `dashes' or a line for you to type on. The number of dashes or the length of the line indicates the maximum amount of characters for that entry. If you want to change what you have typed, you can use the arrow keys to move back and forth through in order to make corrections. New characters can be inserted using the `Ins' key and characters deleted by using the `Del' key. In addition to using the backspace key to make corrections, you can also use the left and right arrow keys to move the cursor as well as the `Del' and `Ins' keys to delete and insert characters. On the keyboard, there is a key called `Num Lock' above the numeric keypad. Pressing this key will change the status of the numeric keypad. It will operate either as an adding machine keyboard or as arrow keys. Pressing `Num Lock' switches the functions back and forth. When typing amounts, you do not have to put in the decimal point if it is a round dollar amount. For instance, if you type 10 for 10 dollars, the program will automatically format and display it as 10.00. Entering 9.5 will result in 9.50. This can save a lot of keystrokes. Do not put in commas when typing numbers. The program, however, will automatically put them in. If you are entering a negative number, you can put the minus sign either before or after the number. IF YOU HAVE SELECTED THE `AUTOMATIC' CREDIT FEATURE, ANY AMOUNTS ENTERED FOR ACCOUNTS 2000 THROUGH 4999 WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE CHANGED TO A NEGATIVE OR CREDIT AMOUNT. IF YOU WANT TO `DEBIT' AN ACCOUNT IN THIS RANGE, USE THE MINUS SIGN AND THE PROGRAM WILL CHANGE THE AMOUNT TO A POSITIVE OR DEBIT AMOUNT. The program will accept individual entries up to 9,999,999.99 and print values up to 99,999,999.99. NOTE: THE PROGRAM DOES NOT USE THE POSTING DATE YOU ENTER TO SEPARATE TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN MONTHS. THEREFORE, DO NOT MAKE ENTRIES IN A NEW MONTH UNTIL YOU HAVE MADE ALL POSTINGS TO THE OLD MONTH AND COMPLETED A MONTH END CLOSE. Messages about what to do or type next are almost always on the bottom line of the screen. The program will `beep' if it wants to get your attention because you have typed something wrong, or about to do something that requires confirmation before proceeding. Again, there will be a message at the bottom of the screen. 13 If in doubt as to what to do next, always look at the bottom of the screen. There is always an `escape route' if you make a mistake. Pressing ENTER or the ESC key will normally take you back to a point where you can recover and start again. Before any significant item gets entered or changed, you will get a chance to change your mind. DISK SPACE USAGE NOTE: THE PERCENTAGE SHOWN ON THE BOTTOM OF THE MAIN MENU FOR FLOPPY SYSTEMS WILL NOT BE ACCURATE IF YOU HAVE PROGRAMS OR FILES NOT RELATED TO PC - GENERAL LEDGER ON THE A OR B DISKS. Our programs and files all start with `GL' except for BASRUN.EXE. If you are working with a double floppy disk system, the bottom of the screen at the Main Menu will show the approximate amount of disk space used on the DATA disk in the B drive. See page 42 for information if the percentage exceeds 90%. For a single floppy system, the percentage reflects space left on that disk. On a hard disk, the number shown reflects the number of mega- bytes that the programs and data currently are using. 14 CUSTOMIZING THE CHART OF ACCOUNTS The first thing to do is to customize the chart of accounts to your operations. The system already has 15 accounts built in. In order to load your accounts and delete those you do not need, you need to use the following instructions. The key thing to remember is that if you make a mistake, it can easily be corrected. NOTE: If you plan on setting up departments in order to have departmental income statements, read the section on Departments on page 40. 1. At the DOS prompt, type GLMENU and press ENTER. 2. You will see the following at the top of the screen: Type posting DATE (MMDDYY) (ENTER if OK) 3. Press ENTER to accept the date shown or type a different date using six digits without any spaces, dashes, or slashes. For instance, January 8, 1989 is entered as 010889. The program will format it to 01-08-89, and then the Main Menu will appear. The Main Menu looks like this: 1 = POST Entries or WRITE CHECKS 2 = CHART of Accounts or VENDOR Maintenance 3 = Print ENTRIES 4 = Print GENERAL LEDGER or TRIAL BALANCE 5 = Print FINANCIAL Statements 6 = Month or Year End CLOSE 7 = UTILITY Programs 8 = END of Session 4. Select option 2 (CHART of Accounts or VENDOR Maintenance). 5. The top section of the next menu looks like this: CHART OF ACCOUNTS: 1 = Add NEW Account 2 = DELETE Account 3 = CHANGE Account Name 4 = PRINT Chart of Accounts 6. Select option 4 (PRINT Chart of Accounts) and press ENTER. The program will ask you to type `S' for screen or `P' for printer. Type P to indicate you want a printout of the chart of accounts. The program will print a message at the bottom of the screen stating you should turn on the printer and press ENTER when ready. When you press ENTER, the chart of accounts that we built in will print out. Use this chart 15 to determine those accounts you need to add and those you need to delete. 7. Select option 1 (Add NEW Account) from the Chart of Accounts menu. The screen for adding accounts looks like this: Account Number ____ Description ___________________ 1000 - 1499 Current Asset 1500 - 1799 Fixed Asset 1800 - 1999 Other Asset 2000 - 2699 Current Liability 2700 - 2999 Long Term Liability 3000 - 3999 Equity 4000 - 4999 Revenue 5000 - 9999 Expense TYPE ACCOUNT NUMBER (`ESC' TO EXIT) 8. Type in the number of the first account you want to add. The program will check to make sure the number has not already been used and then highlight the appropriate category on the lower part of the screen. 9. Type in the Description for the account. The following message will be at the bottom of the screen: TYPE `A' TO ACCEPT `T' TO TRY AGAIN 10. If you need to change something, type T and press ENTER to re-do the entry. When you have the correct information on the screen, type A and continue adding other new accounts. When you are finished adding accounts, press the ESC key at the Account Number field and the program will return to the Chart of Accounts Menu. 11. From that menu, select option 2 (DELETE Account). The screen looks like this: Account Number ...... Description ................. Type in the first account number you want to delete. The program checks whether it is a valid number and puts the description on the screen. The bottom of the screen shows this message: TYPE `D' TO DELETE `N' FOR NO DELETE 12. Check the account description. If it is the one to be deleted, type D and press ENTER. If you have made a mistake in typing the account number, type N. Continue in this manner until you have deleted all the accounts that you 16 don't need. When you are done, press the ESC key instead of an account number to return to the Chart of Accounts menu. 13. If you want to change the description of any accounts, choose option 3 (CHANGE Account Name) from the Menu and make whatever changes are necessary. 14. If desired, you can now print the revised Chart of Accounts (option 4) to check your work and to have as a reference. Otherwise, select option 8 (Return to MAIN MENU). You have now completed customizing the chart of accounts for your operations. The important thing to remember is you can make changes to the chart at any time. (Note: you will not be able to delete an account that has a balance.) SETTING UP BANK ACCOUNTS The program has account number 1010 set up as the bank account to be used to enter cash receipts and check stubs. However, the program will allow you to set up 5 bank accounts in case you have more than one checkbook. The program will keep track of the balance in each account and display it in the lower left hand corner of the entry screens. To designate your bank accounts, select option 7 (Utility Programs) from the Main Menu. Then select option 2 (Change BANK Accounts). Enter in the account numbers for your various checking, savings, and money management accounts. After you have completed this, press the ESC key to return to the Utility Program Menu and then option 9 to return to the Main Menu. 17 OPENING ENTRIES This section will show you how to make your opening entries and bring the program in balance with your existing books. See Appendix E, if you want to set up a single entry to enter your check book balance only. Otherwise, if you have other accounts with beginning balances, follow the instructions below. 1. Before making your opening entry, it is important to make sure that all the accounts have zero balances. Select option 7 (UTILITY Programs) from the Main Menu. Then select option 5 (CLEAR All Balances) from the Utility Menu. The program will ask you to type CLEAR to erase any balances on file. After you have finished this step, return to the Main Menu. 2. Select option 1 (POST Entries or WRITE CHECKS) from the Main Menu. 3. You will enter the year to date balance for each account using the Add JOURNAL Entries function. 4. Select option 3 (JOURNAL Entries) from the next menu. Type A to Add new entries. 5. At the Journal Number field, type 1. At the Description field, type OPENING ENTRY. At the Date field, enter the date for the month end trial balance you are entering. Accept the Header by pressing A. 6. The cursor will appear on line 1 of the entry. For the first 14 lines, enter account numbers and the appropriate amounts. 7. If you have more than 14 accounts, type the RETAINED EARNINGS account number (3999) at line 15. 8. For the amount column, type a B and ENTER to balance the entry. 9. Do not make an entry for the RETAINED EARNINGS account when you come to it on the trial balance. 10. After you enter line 15 and the entry balances, type A to accept the entry. The program will then bring up another entry screen. Continue entering your accounts from your trial balance in the same manner always using account 3999 on the last line to balance the entry. 11. After you have completed entering all balances from your trial balance using journal entries, press the ESC key at the Journal Number field and choose option 6 (Print ENTRIES). 18 12. Select option 3 (Print JOURNAL Entries) from the menu. Type P to print the entries on the printer. The program will print the following message on the screen: Type `U' to UPDATE general ledger and delete these entries from the transaction file. (`ESC' to exit) Press the ESC key. Review the print out for accuracy. If you have made any mistakes, go to option 1 (Post ENTRIES) from the Main Menu and then option 3 (Post JOURNAL Entries). Type E to edit your entries on file. Type in the journal entry number and make corrections to the lines that were incorrect. 13. After you are satisfied your entries are correct, print the JOURNAL Entries again on the printer. This time when it displays the message `Type `U' to UPDATE...', type U. The program automatically updates the general ledger for the entries. 14. Select option 5 (Print SHORT FORM Trial Balance) from the menu. Double-check your figures to those from the trial balance you were entering from. Make any correcting entries that are necessary. Then select option 4 (Print GENERAL LEDGER Details), type A to print all accounts, and M for Month to Date. 15. Select option 8 (Return to Main Menu). The program will display the following message: Type `OK' to complete month end close Type OK and press ENTER. From the next screen type 1 for month end close and then type the word MONTH when requested. 19 SUMMARY OF MONTHLY ROUTINE The best way to visualize how these programs work is to remember that instead of writing entries in ledgers or on columnar pads, you will be posting the amounts on the screen. The major difference is you do not have to add the columns, balance the pages, or post the totals to the General Ledger. The program takes care of that automatically. The timing of your daily, weekly, and monthly postings is up to you. You will probably find you can make entries to the programs using pretty much the same schedule you are now. NOTE: THE PROGRAM DOES NOT USE THE POSTING DATE YOU ENTER TO SEPARATE TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN MONTHS. THEREFORE, DO NOT MAKE ENTRIES IN A NEW MONTH UNTIL YOU HAVE MADE ALL POSTINGS TO THE OLD MONTH AND COMPLETED A MONTH END CLOSE. - Cash receipts can be posted at any time. - Checks are posted as you print them or by entering the information from the check stubs. - Journal entries are used for depreciation, corrections, payroll summaries, etc. - Entries which use the same accounts over and over again are best handled using the Posting Screens set up. See page 28. - Entries made with the program are held in a transaction file until you want to update the General Ledger. There is a maximum limit of 500 entries in the transaction file for each type of transaction. Therefore, if you have more than 500 checks (or cash receipts or journal entries) to enter for one period, you need to update before you reach the 500 limit. Entries in the transaction file can be printed, viewed, or edited, then updated to the General Ledger. - The General Ledger can be updated at any time. However, you will probably only want do it at month end. - Once all entries have been posted to the General Ledger, the trial balance and financial statements can be printed. - After you have printed all the related reports, we recommend you make a backup and then perform a month end close. At the end of the year, you will do your last month's close and then do a year end close. 20 GENERAL LEDGER - OVERVIEW The General Ledger system consists of several segments: ADD ENTRIES OR WRITE CHECKS This is the main part of the General Ledger program. You can make entries into the cash receipts journal or the general journal. You can either print checks on the printer or post check stubs to the check register. Mistakes can be corrected by editing or deleting entries. CHART OF ACCOUNTS OR VENDOR MAINTENANCE This part of the program allows you to add, change, or delete the chart of accounts or vendors' names and addresses you have on file for check printing. It also allows you to set up posting screens for recurring entries. PRINT ENTRIES AND UPDATE GENERAL LEDGER This part of the program enables you to print the entries you have made. After printing the entries, the trial balance and General Ledger can be updated. (Note: the entries MUST be printed on the printer in order to update the general ledger.) PRINT GENERAL LEDGER AND TRIAL BALANCE This will print entries that have been made to each account. The program maintains two detailed ledgers. One is for the month to date and the other for the year to date. The year to date general ledger prints monthly totals based upon entry dates. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS This enables you to print the Balance Sheet and Statement of Income with month and year to date totals. In addition, you can print departmental Statements of Income if you have departments set up. MONTH AND YEAR END CLOSE This lets you close the books at month and year end in order to start the next accounting period. 21 UTILITY PROGRAMS Allows you to set up for more than one bank account. There is also the option to change colors (if you have a color monitor) or change hardware configuration (such as adding a hard disk). You can also change department information and income statement format, create a DIF file to translate into your spreadsheet software, clear all balances, and erase year to date detail. STARTING THE GENERAL LEDGER PROGRAM In order to start the program, type GLMENU at the DOS prompt. The first thing you have to do is accept the date or type the date that you want to use. Enter all dates as 6 digits such as 010489. The program will automatically format it to read 01-04-89. NOTE: THE PROGRAM DOES NOT USE THE POSTING DATE YOU ENTER TO SEPARATE TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN MONTHS. THEREFORE, DO NOT MAKE ENTRIES IN A NEW MONTH UNTIL YOU HAVE MADE ALL POSTINGS TO THE OLD MONTH AND COMPLETED A MONTH END CLOSE. After you have entered the date, the Main Menu will appear: 1 = ADD Entries or WRITE CHECKS 2 = CHART of Accounts or VENDOR Maintenance 3 = Print ENTRIES and UPDATE General Ledger 4 = Print GENERAL LEDGER or TRIAL BALANCE 5 = Print FINANCIAL Statements 6 = Month or Year End CLOSE 7 = UTILITY Programs 8 = END of Session MAKING ENTRIES - GENERAL The procedure for entering transactions is essentially the same whether you are doing cash receipts, posting check stubs or journal entries. There are only minor differences in the screen layout and how data is entered. Each entry is a two step process. First you type in the header information such as the check number, date, payee/description, etc. The second part is entering account numbers and amounts. If you make a mistake there is a simple procedure to correct or change an entry so you do not have to start over. 22 You can have up to 15 lines in a single entry. Near the bottom right hand corner of the screen is the Entry Balance figure. The program updates this amount after every line is entered and shows how much the entry is out of balance at that point. Until you are familiar with the program, the key to making entries is to keep an eye on the message line at the bottom of the screen. It will prompt you as to what is expected next. If you select option 1 from the Main Menu you will see the menu for the posting entries. You can choose to enter cash receipts, check stubs, journal entries, or enter checks to be printed. ADD, EDIT OR VIEW ENTRIES: 1 = CASH Receipts 2 = CHECK STUBS 3 = JOURNAL Entries 4 = Enter CHECKS for Printing The next section deals with entering CHECK STUBS. However, cash receipts and journal entries are entered in much the same way. After you select option 1, 2, or 3, the program shows: `A' to Add New Entries `E' to Edit existing `V' to View Note: If you have more than one bank account designated, the program will show you the bank account numbers, bank names, and the current balance in each account. One of the accounts is highlighted, indicating that it is the current or active bank account and any entries made will affect that account. Type A to add new check stubs. If you have vendors on file, the program will ask you if you want to use those vendor names for the description line. If you would like to use the vendor names you have on file, type Y for yes. This option comes in handy if you like to speed up entering checks because you will be able to enter a few letters of a vendor name and the program will automatically put the entire vendor name on the description line. See page 36 for information on vendor files. 23 HEADER INFORMATION The screen layout for entering checks stubs looks like this: POST CHECK STUBS Last Check: 121 Check No 122.. Description ......................... Date ..... Line Acct Account Title Amount ----------- Cash Balance: Entry Balance 0.00 TYPE CHECK NUMBER `ESC' WHEN DONE The program shows your present cash balance for the current bank account in the lower left hand corner of the screen. It is automatically updated every time you make an entry to that account. For reference purposes, the last check number you entered is in the upper right hand corner of the screen and the next number in sequence is shown next to the Check No field. You can type in a different check number or press ENTER and the number shown will be used. For the Description, you have two choices. If you chose to use the vendor file for the description, you can type in a few letters of the vendor name. The program will search the vendor file for vendor names that contain those letters. When the correct vendor is shown, press the ENTER key. If you did not choose to use the vendor file, you may type in the payee name and other explanatory comments at the description line. After pressing ENTER at the date field or typing a new date, you will see the following message at the bottom of the screen: `A' TO ACCEPT `T' TO TRY AGAIN OR `P' FOR POSTING SCREEN If you are satisfied with the Header information, type A. Otherwise type T and you can start entering the header information again. (See page 28 for explanation of POSTING SCREENS) 24 ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND AMOUNTS Once you have accepted the header, it is time to enter account numbers and amounts. The entry can be up to 15 lines. The program puts the current bank account number and its description on line 1, then waits for you to make an entry in the Amount column. (Remember, you do not have to enter the decimal point if it is a whole dollar amount). Type in the amount as a debit. Since the program knows you are posting check stubs, it automatically changes it to a credit amount, displays it, and updates the Entry Balance amount. Then line by line, finish the accounting distribution. First type either the account number or up to four letters of the account name. If you enter the account number, the program will automatically display the account description. If you type RENT the program will search for the first account having `RENT' in the description and display the account number and account description. If you are looking for `RENT EXPENSE' and the first account with `RENT' is `RENTAL INCOME', the program will display that one first. However, pressing ENTER again will find the next account with `RENT' in it. You can continue to press ENTER until you find the right account or reach the end of the account number file. If you type in an account number and that account is not on file, the program will ask you whether you want to add that number to the file. The following message will appear at the bottom of the screen: NUMBER NOT ON FILE. TYPE `A' TO ADD `T' TO TRY AGAIN If you want to add that number to the chart of accounts, type A and you will see the same screen that is used to set up new accounts in the Chart of Accounts section of the program. All you need to do is type in the description of the account and you will be taken back to where you were in the entry. The new account has been added to the chart of accounts and will be displayed on the line on which you were working. Once you have the proper account, the next step is to enter the amount. If it is a simple two line entry, typing B will automatically display the offsetting amount to balance the entry. Otherwise, you will have to type in the amount. When you get to the amount column on the last line of your entry, type B to balance the entry to zero; this will automatically put the amount that offsets the Entry balance in the amount column. 25 IF YOU HAVE SELECTED THE `AUTOMATIC' CREDIT FEATURE, ANY AMOUNTS ENTERED FOR ACCOUNTS 2000 THROUGH 4999 WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE CHANGED TO A NEGATIVE OR CREDIT AMOUNT. IF YOU WANT TO `DEBIT' AN ACCOUNT IN THIS RANGE, USE THE MINUS SIGN AND THE PROGRAM WILL CHANGE THE AMOUNT TO A POSITIVE OR DEBIT AMOUNT. As you enter amounts, the Entry Balance amount will be updated. When that amount is zero, the entry is in balance and the following message is at the bottom of the screen: TYPE `A' TO ACCEPT (`ENTER' TO MAKE CHANGES) If you type A, the entry is added to the transaction file, the data is cleared from the screen, and you are ready for the next entry. (At that point, if you are done posting check stubs, pressing ESC at the Check Number field to return to the menu.) If you need to make changes to the entry you were working on and pressed ENTER instead of A, then you have the opportunity to change any of the lines in the entry or to add additional lines. This saves having to re-do the entire entry. The program will ask you for the line number to be changed. That line will be erased and you then enter a new account number and amount. You can continue in this manner until you have the changes made and the entry balances. Type A to accept to move to the next entry. VIEWING, EDITING, AND DELETING ENTRIES After an entry is made, it is stored in a transaction file until you print them and update the General Ledger. While entries are in the transaction file, they can be edited, deleted, or viewed. You can have up to 500 transactions in the transaction file for each type of entry at one time. If you know you are reaching the 500 maximum for cash receipts, check stubs, or journal entries, you must print the entries and update the general ledger before continuing. When you choose the option to view entries, the program first sorts them into reference number order (or check number order in the case of checks) and puts the first entry on the screen. At the bottom of the screen is the following message: `ENTER'=NEXT ENTRY P=PREVIOUS E=EDIT D=DELETE X=EXIT Pressing ENTER displays the next entry. P displays the previous entry. If you are at the last entry and press ENTER, the first entry is displayed. Likewise, if you are at the first entry, and press P for previous, the last entry is displayed. Pressing E allows you to edit the screen that is displayed. You 26 can change the header information and/or any accounts or amounts. Selecting D will allow you to delete the entry currently displayed. WRITING AND PRINTING CHECKS If you wish to use the program to print checks, they can be ordered from Colwell Systems, 201 Kenyon Road, Champaign, IL 61820. Toll free telephone is 800-248-7000. (800-233-7777 in Illinois). The check is form 9045 (Source Code 340) and should be ordered without pre-numbering as the program will number the checks. Using the check printing option enables you to print checks on the computer instead of writing them by hand and then making an entry for the check stubs. You can mix check stub entries and actual check printing without causing any problems. The program maintains a file of up to 200 names and addresses to make it easier to print checks. For instance, if you have ABC Contracting Company in the file, you can bring up their name and address by typing ABC. If you also have a company called ABC Sanitation Services, all you have to do is type N (for next) and the program will find the next match to `ABC'. If the name you type is not on file, you will be given the opportunity to add it to the file automatically, for use the next time. You also have the option of just typing in the name and address and not adding it to the file. The program puts a picture of a blank check on the screen and all you have to do is fill in the blanks. By pressing ENTER at the date, the last date you used will be entered. Pressing ENTER at the check number will automatically insert the next check number. The balance of the current bank account is shown on the left, above the check outline. After entering the payee, amount, and address, you can get a message printed on the check stub by typing something on the `For' line. After completing the check form and typing A to accept, the screen will change so you can enter the various accounts and amounts in order to complete the accounting entry. This segment is the same whether you are entering check stubs or actually entering checks to be printed. The program saves all of the check information so that they are 27 all printed at one time. It saves the check form in a print file and the accounting portion in the check stub transaction file. If you decide you made a mistake entering a check before you print it, you can delete it through the View function of CHECK STUBS. Then you can reenter the check from scratch. You print checks by selecting `Print CHECKS' under the PRINT PROGRAMS menu. You can print a test check to make sure that the check forms are lined up properly prior to printing the actual checks. After the checks are printed the check print file is cleared. In order to update the general ledger for checks printed, you will need to print and post check stubs. See discussion on page 30. CASH RECEIPTS The program assumes you have already made a deposit and are entering an accounting summary of that deposit. The header information is slightly different from the cash disbursements entries: Refer ...... Description ................. Date ..... The Reference and Description fields can contain whatever information you want to describe the transaction. Pressing ENTER at either field will leave blanks in the print-outs and General Ledger for those fields. You can type the date or press ENTER to use the date shown. The current bank account is automatically displayed on line 1. Enter accounts and amounts in the same way as described in the section on entering Check Stubs. JOURNAL ENTRIES Again, the procedure is essentially the same as cash receipts or checks written with minor changes in the header. Also, no account number or description is automatically displayed on the first line. Enter accounts and amounts in the same way as described in the section on entering Check Stubs. 28 CHANGE BANK ACCOUNT If you have designated more than one General Ledger account as a bank account, Option 9 from the Add Entries Menu lets you identify another bank account as the `current' bank account. After you make the change, the bank balance shown on the screen will be for the new account and you will be able to enter cash receipts, check stubs, or checks for printing to the new account automatically. GENERAL LEDGER POSTING SCREENS You have the ability to design up to 30 posting screens to make it easier to post entries that use the same accounts each time. (Some people call these types of entries recurring entries.) For instance, payroll checks have certain accounts that are always used, such as the checking account number, FICA deductions, withholding deductions, etc. You can set up a posting screen so that the accounts are automatically put on the screen when you finish the header and all you have to do is enter the amounts. For entries that are the same each month such as depreciation, you can also set up the amounts ahead of time. Once you have set up a posting screen, the program keeps track of it for easy recall and use no matter whether you are posting check stubs, journal entries, or cash receipts to the General Ledger. In order to set up posting screens, choose option 2 from the Main Menu and then option 6 from the Chart of Accounts and Vendor Maintenance Menu. The Posting Screen Menu is as follows: 1 = Set up NEW Posting Screen 2 = DELETE Posting Screen 3 = CHANGE Posting Screen 4 = DISPLAY Individual Screen 5 = Return to previous MENU After selecting option 1, you will first identify the number to be used (any number 1 through 30) and then type the description of the screen. The description should identify the purpose of the screen, such as `Monthly Sales Summary' or `Payroll check'. After that, you identify the account numbers and the amount (if any) to be debited or credited to each account. If the amounts change from entry to entry, enter a zero in the amount column. 29 If the amounts for an entry are the same each month, such as in a depreciation entry, you can put in dollar amounts. If there are amounts involved, you must balance the posting screen before the program will save it on disk. Note: If you are going to set up a posting screen that will be used with the check printing option, you must put the checking account number on the first line of the entry. Option 2 allows you to delete screens you no longer need. Option 3 will allow to make changes in screens you have previously set up. Option 4 will display a screen, showing all of the account numbers, account names, and posting amounts for that screen. USING POSTING SCREENS In order to use one of the posting screens, you type P when you see the following message at the bottom of the screen after typing in the header information: `A' TO ACCEPT `T' TO TRY AGAIN `P' FOR POSTING SCREEN If you type P, the program will display the titles of the posting screen. You then select the posting screen number and press ENTER, the account numbers and amounts (if any) will be displayed. All you have to do is go down the right hand column and enter the appropriate amounts for each account. If the posting screen has amounts pre-defined, you can change these amounts for that particular entry and it will not affect the posting screen that is saved on disk. 30 PRINTING AND UPDATING ENTRIES IN TRANSACTION FILE As you make each entry during the course of the month, it is added to the transaction file until you print the entries and update the General Ledger. You can view, correct, edit, or delete entries prior to updating. When you are ready to update the General Ledger, select option 3 (PRINT Entries) from the Main Menu. The following menu will come on the screen: PRINT ENTRIES AND UPDATE GENERAL LEDGER: 1 = CASH Receipts 2 = CHECKS Written 3 = JOURNAL Entries Select 1, 2, or 3, whichever is appropriate. The program will ask you if you want to print on the screen or printer. If you select S for screen, the entries will be displayed one at a time. In order to update the General Ledger, select P for printer. If you are printing cash receipts or checks written, and you have used more than one bank account, you must choose which account you want to print entries for. YOU MUST MAKE SURE You PRINT ENTRIES FOR ALL BANK ACCOUNTS, OTHERWISE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO A MONTH END CLOSE. After a print-out is finished (if you selected P for printer), the following message is at the top of the screen: Type `U' to UPDATE General Ledger and delete these entries from the transaction file. (`ESC' to exit). If you type U, the printed entries will be posted to the General Ledger. A message will print at the bottom of the page indicating that the entries have been posted in detail to the General Ledger. The entries are then removed from the transaction file. You will not get the update option if you display the entries on the screen. You have to decide whether to update the General Ledger at the end of any transaction print-out. CONSIDERATIONS 1. Financial Statements - The General Ledger, Statement of Income, and Balance Sheet will only be updated when the transactions are printed and the `U' option used. 31 2. Printed Reports - Updating the General Ledger several times during the month will mean having your check register, for instance, on several pieces of paper rather than on one print-out. Updating only at month end makes each print-out a `complete' one. (Keep in mind the 500 entry limit for each type of entry.) 3. Disk Usage - Updating the General Ledger may free up disk space. Note: If you are continuously having a problem with disk space (in excess of 80% usage), the best alternative is to erase the year to date detail in the General Ledger. See page 42 for more details on how to do that. GENERAL LEDGER DETAILS AND TRIAL BALANCE PRINT-OUT You have four options with respect to the General Ledger: 1. Print a complete General Ledger 2. Print a group of accounts. 3. Display or print a single account. 4. Print a Short Form trial balance. You can print any of the above by selecting the Print GENERAL LEDGER or TRIAL BALANCE from the Main Menu. (Other menus cross reference these options and use can use them also.) If you select option 4 (Print GENERAL LEDGER Details) from the Print Menu, the screen displays the following: Print (S)ingle (G)roup (A)ll Accounts If you select G for group, the program will ask for the beginning and ending account numbers to be printed. After you make your selection, the program will ask you if you want month to date or year to date. If you select month to date, the printout will list all entries since your last month end close. If you select year to date, the program will print all entries since your last year end close and will print monthly totals based upon the dates of the entries. NOTE: if there are entries in the transaction file, they are printed with an asterisk before and after the date. The program prints the number of the account, its name, the beginning balance, all entries posted to that account during the month (or year to date), and the ending balance. For profit and loss accounts, the year to date ending balance is shown also. The print-out can be stopped at any time by pressing ESC. 32 The final line on the Complete General Ledger print-out shows a proof amount. It should show `zero'. However, the BASIC language that was used in writing this program will not always do its math properly. Any errors that occur are normally less than a penny. If the General Ledger and/or financial statements are off by a penny or two, it was not caused by your entries. The out of balance amount will be automically adjusted at the next month end close. You can also print a Short Form trial balance. This lists the account name, account number, month to date balance, and year to date balance. No detailed entries are shown. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS You can print the Balance Sheet or Statement of Income at any time. However, they will not include any entries that are still in the transaction file. If you are set up for DEPARTMENTAL ACCOUNTING, you have several choices when printing the Statement of Income. The menu selection is shown below: COMPLETE STATEMENT OF INCOME 1 = All accounts DETAILED 2 = All accounts CONSOLIDATED DEPARTMENTAL STATEMENTS 3 = G & A (10) 4 = Sales (20) 5 = Parts (30) 6 = Service (40) Note: The department names and numbers be different depending on your operations. See page 39 for discussion on how departments work and how to set departments up. Option 1 (Detailed) will print all of the accounts in the Statement of Income section of the chart of accounts. For instance, if you have account 6800 (Telephone) set up for three departments, all three will print. Option 2 (Consolidated) will print all Statement of Income accounts, but will consolidate the amounts for each income and expense account. For instance, the TELEPHONE expense will be totalled for all departments and the amount shown on one line. (Note: The account description printed will be the first one within that group of accounts). 33 In each of the first two options the final Income or Loss amount will be the same and represents the month and year to date total corporate profit or loss. If you choose one of the options for departmental statements, the program will print income and expense items for the individual department only, and show the income or loss for that department. Remember, departments numbered other than those you have set up in the Utility program (see page 40) cannot be printed. If you need to print a department not shown, go to the Utility program and substitute the department you want to print for another department. There is no option for printing Departmental Balance Sheets. Again, you can stop any print-out at any time by pressing ESC. MONTH OR YEAR END CLOSE Option 6 (Month or Year End CLOSE) from the Main Menu allows you to do a month or year end close. When all transactions for the month have been updated to the General Ledger, and you have made all print-outs you want, you are ready to close the General Ledger for the month. You will not be able to close out if any there are in entries in the transaction file. The month end close changes all of the monthly Statement of Income accounts to zero and updates all of the year to date totals. It also adds the month to date General Ledger detail to the year to date detail. The year end close is the same except that it also zeros out the Statement of Income year to date amounts, erases the year to date General Ledger detail, and automatically updates the Retained Earnings account with the annual profit. 34 CHART OF ACCOUNTS The chart of accounts numbering system has been pre-set as shown below. You are limited to 500 different account numbers. You can allocate them between the various categories such as assets, liabilities, income, etc. however you wish. The original disk has 15 sample accounts on it. You should delete any of those accounts you do not want. It will reduce the number of pages in the General Ledger, since all accounts are printed, whether they have activity or not. The chart of accounts maintenance menu looks like this: CHART OF ACCOUNTS: 1 = Add NEW Account 2 = DELETE Account 3 = CHANGE Account Name 4 = PRINT Chart of Accounts OTHER: 5 = VENDOR Maintenance 6 = POSTING Screens Note: Vendor Maintenance is covered on page 36. Posting Screens are on page 28. ADD NEW ACCOUNT The screen for adding new accounts is shown below: Account Number ........ Description ............... 1000 - 1499 Current Asset 1500 - 1899 Fixed Asset 1900 - 1999 Other Asset 2000 - 2699 Current Liability 2700 - 2999 Long Term Liability 3000 - 3999 Equity 4000 - 4999 Revenue 5000 - 5999 Cost of Sales 6000 - 6999 Expenses 7000 - 9999 Other Income/Expense Note: Accounts 5000 through 9999 will be in different categories depending on which Statement of Income Format you are using. When you enter a new account number, the program checks whether or not the number has already been used. If not, the type of account is highlighted at the bottom of the screen and you can then type in the name of the new account. 35 The following message will appear at the bottom of the screen: TYPE `A' TO ACCEPT `T' TO TRY AGAIN. If you haven't made any errors, type A and the account will be added to the chart of accounts. Typing a T will allow you to start over. When you are finished adding accounts, pressing ENTER at the account number field will take you back to the menu. Note: You can also add new accounts as you make entries. If you type in the number of an account that is not on file, you will get the opportunity to add the account at that time. The screen you will see and the procedure is the same as when you are adding an account in the Chart of Accounts section of the program. DELETE ACCOUNT This option enables you get rid of an account you are no longer using. In order to safeguard the system, you can only delete an account when: - The month and year to date balances for that account are zero. and - There are no entries in the transaction register for that account. and - There are no posting screens using that account. When you type in the account number the program checks all of the above. If all the conditions are met, the program then displays the account name and asks you to confirm you want to make the deletion. Type D to delete the account or N for no delete. CHANGE ACCOUNT NAME This option lets you change the name of the account in order to better describe it or to correct spelling errors. PRINT CHART OF ACCOUNTS You can display the current chart of accounts on the screen or print them on the printer for easy reference. The print shows the account number, description and type of account (asset, liability, etc.) 36 VENDOR MAINTENANCE The program provides a simple and easy way to maintain up to 200 names and addresses of people you write checks to on a regular basis. You can use the vendor file in two different ways: (1) to make it easier to add the payee to the description line when entering check stubs and (2) to put the vendor name and address on checks you enter to print through the program. Choose option 2 from the Main Menu. This will take you to the Chart of Accounts and Vendor Maintenance menu. Choose option 5 from that menu and you will see the following: 1 = Add NEW Vendor 2 = CHANGE Vendor Data 3 = DELETE Vendor 4 = Print Vendor LISTING No vendor numbers are needed or used. All selections are done by typing a few letters of the company name. If there are several vendors having similar letter combinations, simply typing a `N' for next will find the next match. For instance, typing CO will find the following names: COLORADO MAGAZINE ABC COMPANY INTERCONTINENTAL MOTORS If you are adding a new name you will have to type in the name, street address, and city, state, and zip. Four lines are provided. Note: If you plan to use the vendor file for adding check stubs and not for printing checks, there is no need to add the street address, city, state, or zip because these will not be used in entering check stubs; only the vendor name will be used. The screen to add new names looks like this: Vendor Name: ..................... Vendor Address: ..................... Vendor Address: ..................... Vendor City & State: ..................... After filling in the blanks, you will be given an opportunity to make any corrections. The name is then added to the file. The screens to Change Data and Delete Vendors are identical. You 37 locate the vendor you want by typing a few letters of the name and then either make changes or delete the name from the file. Deleting names makes space for additional names, up to 200 total at any one time. You can also add names to the file while you are writing checks. See page 26. Option 4 will give you an alphabetic listing (either on the screen or printer) of all vendors on file. UTILITY PROGRAMS Select option 7 (Utility Programs) for the Main Menu. The menu for the Utility Programs is shown below: 1 = Change BASE Information 2 = Change BANK Accounts 3 = Change HARDWARE Configuration 4 = Change DEPARTMENT Information 5 = CLEAR All Balances 6 = Create DIF File 7 = Select INCOME STATEMENT Format 8 = ERASE Year to Date Detail When you first started up your system, you made selections for options 1 and 7 above. This part of the program allows you to make changes in those selections whenever it is appropriate to do so. See page 5for details on how to make changes. CHANGE BANK ACCOUNTS Choose option 2 from the above menu to designate which account numbers are bank accounts. The program allows you to designate up to five different accounts as bank accounts for ease in making entries when you have more than one bank account. Designate those checking, savings, or money management accounts for which you plan to make cash receipts and cash disbursements entries. Whenever you post a cash receipt or cash disbursement, the program will display all bank accounts and will show which account is current. The account that is current will show up on the first line of the entry. To change the account that is current, you can select option 9 from the Post Entry Menu. 38 CHANGE HARDWARE CONFIGURATION NOTE: WE RECOMMEND YOU DO NOT RUN THESE PROGRAMS USING RAM DISKS. Option 3 from the Utility Programs Menu allows you to tell the programs you have changed monitors or to change the colors displayed if you are using a color monitor. After the system is operating you can also change from a floppy drive system to a hard drive system if you add a hard drive at a later date. You can also change from a hard disk to a floppy system. NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU MAKE AN EXTRA SET OF BACKUPS BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO MAKE ANY DISK DRIVE CHANGES. CHANGE FROM DOUBLE FLOPPY SYSTEM TO HARD DISK 1. Set up a sub directory on your hard disk if desired. 2. At the DOS prompt in the subdirectory, with PROGRAMS (A) in the A drive and DATA (B) in the B drive, type: COPY A:*.* The files on the A disk will be copied to the hard disk. After you get back to the prompt, type: COPY B:*.* The files on the B disk will be copied to the hard disk. Leave the disks in their drive for step 3. (Note: See below if you no longer have a B drive) 3. Type GLMENU and immediately select option 7 from the Main Menu to get to the Utility Programs Menu. 4. Select option 3 from the Utility Programs Menu and then option 5 from the next menu. If you no longer have a B drive, copy your B disk to the hard drive from drive A. Exit our program, and put you DOS master disk in the A drive. Type A:ASSIGN B=C and press ENTER. YOU SHOULD NOT SEE ANY MESSAGE. Then proceed with step 3 above. 39 CHANGE FROM A HARD DISK TO A DOUBLE FLOPPY SYSTEM 1. At the prompt in the directory where you are running the programs, put a blank formatted disk labelled PROGRAMS (A) in the A drive and type: COPY GL*.EXE A: COPY BASRUN.EXE A: 2. After it finishes copying, put a blank formatted disk labelled DATA (B) in the B drive and type: COPY GL*.FIL B: ERASE B:GLDRIVE.FIL Leave these disks in their drives for step 3. 3. Get to the A> prompt and type GLMENU and immediately select option 7 from the Main Menu to get to the Utility Programs Menu. 4. Select option 3 from the Utility Programs Menu and then option 4 from the next menu. CHANGE TO A SINGLE FLOPPY FROM HARD DISK 1. At the prompt in the directory where you are running the programs, put a blank formatted disk labelled PROGRAMS/DATA in the A drive and type: COPY GL*.* A: COPY BASRUN.EXE A: ERASE A:GLDRIVE.FIL Leave the disk in the drive for step 2. 2. Get to the A> prompt and type GLMENU and immediately select option 7 from the Main Menu to get to the Utility Programs Menu. 3. Select option 3 from the Utility Programs Menu and then option 3 from the next menu. 40 CHANGE DEPARTMENT INFORMATION The department feature in PC - GENERAL LEDGER can be used in two different ways: 1. You can set up departments to record income and/or expenses related to profit or expense centers in order to be able to print a separate Statement of Income for each. For example, assume you have three apartment buildings or three construction projects. You can set up department 10 for the first one, department 20 for the second, and department 30 for the third. You would then set up accounts in the chart of accounts accordingly. 4000.10 would be receipts for the first, 4000.20 for the second, etc. Expense accounts would be set up in a similar fashion. With this arrangement in place, making the appropriate income and expense entries will let you print a statement of income for any one of the three apartment units or construction projects. The other alternative is to set up departments based on cost centers. For instance, you may want to set up a sales department, engineering department, and shipping department in order to accumulate costs associated with those functions. 2. The second use of department numbers is to accumulate similar income or expenses items. For instance, assume that you want to print a single line on the Statement of Income for utilities which includes gas, water, and electricity. You would set up account 6050.00 as Utilities, account 6050.10 for gas, 6050.20 for water, and 6050.30 for electricity. No expense entries are made to the 6050.00 account as this account is used for printing purposes only. When you print a Statement of Income (Detailed), you will get the gas, water, and electricity accounts printed separately. If you select the Consolidated Statement of Income, you will get all the total value of all three combined under the heading of Utilities. Option 4 of the Utility Programs Menu allows you to designate departments for printing income statements. Through this option you can add new departments or change the name of existing departments. 41 You can create accounts in the chart of accounts using up to 90 different department numbers (10 through 99). However, only eight are shown in the Utility Program and on the Statement of Income print menu at any one time. Account numbers that use departments are entered as `####.##' such as 4000.10 or 5060.70, etc. with the last two digits indicating the department number. You cannot use department numbers with Balance Sheet accounts (1000 through 3999). Use the following procedure to print departmental statements if you have more than eight departments. After you have updated all your entries for the month, go to option 4 of the Utilities program and designate eight of your departments for printing purposes. Then go to the Print Financial Statement option of the program and select Print Statement of Income. Print those eight departments that were designated. After printing, return to the Utility Program and designate eight other departments for printing. Return to Print Financial Statement and print the Statement of Income for those departments. Follow this process until you have designated and printed all your departments. CLEAR ALL BALANCES Option 5 allows you to clear all of your balances without affecting the chart of accounts or names in the vendor file. This option lets you `play' with the system by setting up your regular chart of accounts, make practice entries, and then erase all entries when you are ready to start entering real data. CREATING A DIF FILE Several spreadsheets, including Lotus 1-2-3 have the ability to read `DIF' files and bring that data into their work area. DIF stands for Data Interchange Format. You can create DIF files by choosing option 6 from the UTILITY Programs Menu. You can transfer all or some of the following information: Account Number Account Name Month Balance Year to Date Balance The information when read by the spreadsheet will be in column 42 form. For instance, you could transfer the account number and year to date balance for all accounts to two side by side columns in the spreadsheet. The program will ask you to identify the information you want to transfer. You can select any or all of the above four items and in any columnar order. You can also select which accounts you want to transfer: FILE NAME CREATED All accounts PCGENALL.DIF Balance Sheet only PCGENBAL.DIF Income Statement only PCGENINC.DIF The files created by the program will be on the A disk for floppy system or in the current directory of a hard disk. You will then need to use the DOS COPY command to transfer them to your spreadsheet work disk. Consult your spreadsheet manual on how to convert a DIF file to one your spreadsheet can read. ERASE YEAR TO DATE DETAIL This option is offered in order to free up space on your floppy disks if you are at 80%+ usage and still have more than one month to go before year end. Important: Be sure to print the year to date General Ledger detail before you erase it. (The complete General Ledger print out is Option 4 on the Transaction File and General Ledger Menu.) Erasing the year to date detail does not affect any balances. It simply means you will no longer be able to display or print all entries that have been made to the various accounts. 43 ERRORS IMPORTANT: AFTER RECEIVING AN ERROR MESSAGE, IT IS ESSENTIAL You CHECK THE INFORMATION ON YOUR DISKS. SEE PAGE 45. HOWEVER, READ THE FOLLOWING FIRST. There are two types of errors. The first is a DOS or System error and was not caused by the programs. It normally occurs because you have a defective disk or the floppy disk is not in the drive properly. If it does occur, you will probably see it while `Programs Changing. Please Wait' is on the screen or while you are making backups. The error will read something like the following: Data error reading (or writing) drive A (or B or C) Not ready error reading (or writing drive A (or B or C) Abort, Retry, Ignore? If you see either of the above errors, try opening the drive door, taking out the disk, replacing it, closing the door and typing R. The second type of error occurs because of something happening during the running of one of the programs. It could be an actual programming error, but most likely it is caused by printer or disk drive problems. If you run into this type of error, the screen will clear and you will get a message something like the following: (The error number and line number will probably be different.) PROGRAM ERROR NUMBER 71 IN LINE 15010 CHECK YOUR MANUAL FOR POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS BEFORE CONTINUING MAKE A NOTE OF THE ABOVE Do not make any backups until you have checked the integrity of your files. See your manual. Making backups may write bad data over good. If you have any questions about error messages, please call. See the next page for some of error numbers you may be able to do something about. 44 Some of the errors that may be listed in the error message are shown below: Error 24 There is a problem with the printer. It is either not turned on or the cable is not connected properly. Error 25 Same as above. Error 27 Printer is out of paper. Error 52 The wrong disk is probably in the B drive. Error 61 There is no more room on the disk. You need to clear some files from the disk, such as the year to date detail in the General Ledger. YOU MAY HAVE FILES ON THE A OR B DISK THAT ARE NOT RELATED TO PC - GENERAL LEDGER. ALL OUR FILES BEGIN WITH `GL' EXCEPT FOR BASRUN.EXE WHICH SHOULD BE ON THE A DISK. If your percentage disk space usage is not above 90%, this error could mean the same as Error 71 or 72. Error 70 There is a write protect tab on a disk. Error 71 The floppy disk is not inserted properly or the disk drive door is open. TRY OPENING THE DRIVE DOORS, TAKING OUT THE DISKS, PUTTING THEM BACK IN, AND CLOSING THE DRIVE DOORS. Error 72 There is something physically wrong with one of the floppy disks. Go immediately to your backups and prepare new working disks. Destroy the old working disks. If you have a hard disk, and get this message you may have to re-format your hard disk. When you re-format your hard disk you loose all data on the disk. That is why backups are so important. If you get an error number than those above, please call us immediately. We need to know what part of the program you were in and circumstances under which the error occurred. 45 CHECKING THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR FILES You can check out the integrity of the information in your files by printing various reports and doing the following steps: 1. Select option 3 (Print Entries) from the Main Menu. 2. Print the transaction registers on the printer to see if they reflect the most recent entries you have made. 3. Print the month to date General Ledger. It should show Zero Proof at the end. If it is off a penny or two, ignore that. See page 32. 4. Look at the General Ledger. Review the accounts that were most recently updated (the last time you typed `U' to update after printing a transaction register) to make sure that the entries printed within an account relate to that account. 5. Go to the Financial Statements Menu. 6. Print the Statement of Income and Balance Sheet. Make sure that the year to date profit on the Statement of Income agrees with the year to date profit on the Balance Sheet. If all of the above checks out, your books are probably in balance and you can continue. IF IN DOUBT, USE YOUR BACKUP DISKS TO RESTORE THE BACKUP INFORMATION TO YOUR WORKING FLOPPY DISKS OR HARD DISK. THEN RE-DO WHATEVER WORK YOU HAVE DONE SINCE THE BACKUP DISKS WERE MADE. 46 RECOVERY FROM POWER OR DISK PROBLEMS DO NOT, AT ANY TIME, ATTEMPT TO OPERATE OFF OF YOUR BACKUP DISKS. THEY ARE ONLY USED TO CREATE NEW WORKING DISKS OR TO RESTORE YOUR HARD DISK INFORMATION. If power outage or fluctuation occurs while the computer is at the DOS prompt, there has probably been no damage done. However, there is always the possibility of problems. If you have any question about the integrity of your data, refer to the section of manual called CHECKING THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR FILES. (See page 45.) If you have a power problem while in the middle of the program, the computer will probably come back to the DOS prompt when the power comes back. At that point, do not attempt to continue with the programs. Go immediately to your back up disks and copy them onto your working disk. If you have a floppy disk system, reverse the backup procedure, putting your backup disks in drive A and your working disks in drive B. If you have a hard disk system, see page 48. Before making entries on the `new' disks, check their integrity. See page 45. Then, re-do whatever work occurred between the time you last backed up and the time of the power problem. BACKUP PROCEDURES DO NOT MAKE BACKUPS OF YOUR FILES IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED AN ERROR MESSAGE OR IF YOU HAVE HAD POWER PROBLEMS. YOU MAY DESTROY YOUR BACKUP INFORMATION. WHEN IN DOUBT AS TO THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR INFORMATION, FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON PAGE 45. People, computers, and power failures can cause loss of important information. While hardware and software failures are rare, they do happen. The biggest potential for problems is power fluctuations. If there is a thunderstorm in the area, turn off the computer after exiting the program in the normal manner. Because things can happen that are outside of your control, it is important to backup your files on a regular basis. You should maintain two backups. One is made at the end of each day (or more often, if desired). Make another backup at month end after you have completed the month end close. That way, if anything happens to your working disks and your daily backup, the 47 worst that can happen is you will have to re-do only one month's work. The point in time when you make your daily backup is important. If something does go wrong, you will need to be able to remember where your work left off. FLOPPY DISK BACKUP Complete instructions for copying disks is included in the operating manuals for your computer. The easiest way to backup your disks is as follows: 1. Make sure you have marked your disks as to the drive they are used in as well as whether they are your working disks, daily backups, or monthly backups. 2. At the A> prompt, put your DOS disk in the A drive. 3. Type DISKCOPY A: B: 4. The program will ask you to confirm that the source disk PROGRAMS (A) is in drive A and the destination disk (backup disk-A) is in drive B. 5. When you are sure you have the right disks in the right drives, press any key. 6. The program will automatically copy the information on the disk in drive A to the disk in drive B. The disk in drive B becomes an exact duplicate of the one in drive A. 7. Follow the same procedure for your B disk, placing the DATA (B) in drive A and the backup disk-B in drive B. The procedure is the same for your monthly backup. You can make that backup either before or after you have completed the month end close each month. 48 HARD DISK BACKUP To backup your hard disk, you need to have the DOS backup programs BACKUP.COM and RESTORE.COM on your hard disk. You will also need formatted blank floppy disks labelled GL BACKUP 1, GL BACKUP 2, GL BACKUP 3. The number of disks will depend on how many entries you have made and the capacity of your floppy disks. Initially you should be able to backup on one disk. The following assumes your General Ledger is in the Root Directory of your hard disk. At the DOS C> prompt, type: BACKUP C:GL*.* A: and press ENTER Use your numbered GL BACKUP disks. The program will prompt you to insert and change disks as necessary. If you have the program in a sub directory, the command is the same except you must insert the name of the sub directory in the backup command, such as: BACKUP C:\ACCT\GL*.* A: and press ENTER if the name of your sub directory is ACCT. RESTORING DATA TO YOUR HARD DISK The standard DOS restoration program is used to take information from your floppy backup disks and put it onto the hard disk. At the DOS C> prompt, type: RESTORE A: C:/S and press ENTER The program will prompt you to insert your backup disks one at a time. APPENDIX A CONVERTING DATA CREATED BY ANOTHER COPY OF VERSION 1.4a First and most important: DO NOT REMOVE THE WRITE PROTECT TAB FROM THE DISK THAT YOU RECEIVED FROM US. IT IS THERE SO THE DISK CANNOT BE WRITTEN ON IN CASE IT IS EVER NECESSARY TO START OVER FROM SCRATCH. If you have just received your registered disk and have created data with another copy of version 1.4a, do the following: HARD DISK SYSTEM 1. If you have our programs in a sub directory on your hard disk, change to that sub directory. 2. Put your new Master Disk you received from us in the A drive. 3. Type COPY A:*.EXE and press ENTER 4. You will see the names of files as they are copied. 5. Type GLMENU and your name and registration number should appear on the opening screen. DOUBLE FLOPPY SYSTEM 1. At the A> prompt, put your PROGRAM (A) disk in the A drive. 2. Put your new Master Disk you received from us in the B drive. 3. Type COPY B:*.EXE and press ENTER 4. You will see the names of files as they are copied. 5. Put your DATA (B) disk in the B drive. 6. Type GLMENU and your name and registration number should appear on the opening screen. APPENDIX A (cont) SINGLE FLOPPY SYSTEM 1. At the A> prompt, put your PROGRAM/DATA (A) disk in the floppy drive. 2. Type COPY B:*.EXE and press ENTER 3. Follow the prompts and switch your existing disk (destination disk) with the new disk (source disk) as instructed. 4. When the copying is complete, put your PROGRAM/DATA (A) in the floppy drive. 5. Type GLMENU and your name and registration number should appear on the opening screen. APPENDIX B CONVERTING DATA CREATED BY VERSION 1.4 First and most important: DO NOT REMOVE THE WRITE PROTECT TAB FROM THE DISK THAT YOU RECEIVED FROM US. IT IS THERE SO THE DISK CANNOT BE WRITTEN ON IN CASE IT IS EVER NECESSARY TO START OVER FROM SCRATCH. MAKE COMPLETE BACKUPS OF ALL EXISTING PROGRAMS AND FILES BEFORE STARTING THE CONVERSION PROCEDURE IN CASE ANYTHING GOES WRONG, AND YOU HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE OLD SYSTEM. See the next page for some of the improvements included in 1.4a HARD DISK SYSTEM 1. Put the Version 1.4a disk in your floppy drive. 2. At the C> prompt (be sure you are in the subdirectory where the programs currently reside), type COPY A:*.EXE and press ENTER. You will see the names of the programs as they are copied to your hard disk. 3. Type GL14TO4A and press ENTER. The program will ask you to identify the drive configuration you have. After that, you should see the message CONVERSION SUCCESSFUL. DOUBLE FLOPPY SYSTEM 1. Put your PROGRAMS (A) disk in the A drive. 2. Put the Version 1.4a disk in the B drive. 3. At the A> prompt, type COPY B:*.EXE and press ENTER. You should see the names of the files being copied from B to A. 4. Replace the Version 1.4a disk with your DATA (B) disk. 5. Type GL14TO4A and press ENTER. The program will ask you to identify the drive configuration you have. After that, you should see the message CONVERSION SUCCESSFUL. APPENDIX B (cont) SINGLE FLOPPY SYSTEM 1. At the A> prompt, put your PROGRAM/DATA (A) disk in the floppy drive. 2. Type COPY B:*.EXE and press ENTER 3. Follow the prompts and switch your existing disk (destination disk) with the new disk (source disk) as instructed. 4. When the copying is complete, put your PROGRAM/DATA (A) in the floppy drive. 5. Type GL14TO4A and press ENTER. The program will ask you to identify the drive configuration you have. After that, you should see the message CONVERSION SUCCESSFUL. CHANGES FROM VERSION 1.4 TO 1.4a Note: Some of the features in version 1.4a appear in recent copies of version 1.4. - Ability to use the vendor file for ease of putting the payee in the description field of check stubs. - Subtotals by month in the year to date General Ledger. - Entries in the transaction register show in the General Ledger when viewing a single account. - Ability to edit existing posting screens instead of deleting the screen and starting over. - Support for 3-1/2" disks. - Ability to automatically balance an entry at any time by typing a B in the amount column. - If you have a double floppy system, you only need to backup the B disk. Data is no longer stored on the A disk. APPENDIX C CONVERTING DATA CREATED BY VERSION 1.3 AND 1.3A First and most important: DO NOT REMOVE THE WRITE PROTECT TAB FROM THE DISK THAT YOU RECEIVED FROM US. IT IS THERE SO THE DISK CANNOT BE WRITTEN ON IN CASE IT IS EVER NECESSARY TO START OVER FROM SCRATCH. Files created by Version 1.3 and 1.3a have different file structures than 1.4a. Therefore, IF YOU THE RUN THE NEW PROGRAMS USING DATA CREATED BY 1.3 OR 1.3a, YOU WILL LOSE ALL OF YOUR EXISTING DATA UNLESS YOU RUN THE CONVERSION PROGAM FIRST. MAKE COMPLETE BACKUPS OF ALL EXISTING PROGRAMS AND FILES BEFORE STARTING THE CONVERSION PROCEDURE IN CASE ANYTHING GOES WRONG, AND YOU HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE OLD SYSTEM. You do not have to complete a month end close but YOU MUST UPDATE THE GENERAL LEDGER FOR ALL OPEN TRANSACTION FILES BEFORE ATTEMPTING CONVERSION. See the next page of this appendix for the improvements of version 1.4a over previous versions. HARD DISK SYSTEM 1. Put the Version 1.4a disk in your floppy drive. 2. At the C> prompt (be sure you are in the subdirectory where the programs currently reside), type COPY A:*.EXE and press ENTER. You will see the names of the programs as they are copied to your hard disk. 3. Type GL13TO4A and press ENTER. The program will ask you to identify the drive configuration you have. After that, you should see the message CONVERSION SUCCESSFUL. DOUBLE FLOPPY SYSTEM 1. Put your PROGRAMS (A) disk in the A drive. 2. Put the Version 1.4a disk in the B drive. 3. At the A> prompt, type COPY B:*.EXE and press ENTER. You should see the names of the files being copied from B to A. 4. Replace the Version 1.4a disk with your DATA (B) disk. APPENDIX C (cont) 5. Type GL13TO4A and press ENTER. The program will ask you to identify the drive configuration you have. After that, you should see the message CONVERSION SUCCESSFUL. SINGLE FLOPPY SYSTEM 1. At the A> prompt, put your PROGRAM/DATA (A) disk in the floppy drive. 2. Type COPY B:*.EXE and press ENTER 3. Follow the prompts and switch your existing disk (destination disk) with the new disk (source disk) as instructed. 4. When the copying is complete, put your PROGRAM/DATA (A) in the floppy drive. 5. Type GL13TO4A and press ENTER. The program will ask you to identify the drive configuration you have. After that, you should see the message CONVERSION SUCCESSFUL. MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VERSION 1.4a AND 1.3 - Ability to edit, change, delete, and correct entries prior to updating. - Maintain up to five bank accounts. - Departmental accounting - Choice of colors if you have a color monitor. - Support for 3-1/2" disks. - Choice of two Income Statement formats. - Optional password protection and international date format. - Up to 200 vendor names and addresses with four lines instead of three. - Enhanced recurring entries, now called Posting Screens. - For additional features, see the comments at the end of Appendix B. APPENDIX D DOUBLE ENTRY BOOKKEEPING This program is based on the traditional double entry bookkeeping system used by accountants. However, you do not have to be an accountant to use this program. Below are a few simple rules you need to know. 1. All entries must balance. That is, the debits (positive amounts) and credits (negative or minus amounts) must offset each other. 2. There can be more than two lines to an entry. The following is an example: 1010 Checking Account 345.32- 5010 Shipping supplies 233.21 5020 Office expense 112.11 Another example: 1010 Checking Account 100.00 4000 Rental Income 100.00- 3. The second example can be confusing to non-accountants, since an income account has a minus or negative amount. This illustrates one of the basic rules of accounting: IF YOU WANT TO INCREASE A REVENUE, LIABILITY, OR CAPITAL ACCOUNT YOU HAVE TO `CREDIT' THE ACCOUNT WITH A NEGATIVE AMOUNT. If you want to decrease any accounts in these categories, you must `DEBIT' the account with a POSITIVE amount. 4. In the Utility Programs, you have the option of having the program automatically make entries to the above accounts as credit amounts. For instance, if you enter 120.00 to account 4010, the program will change it to 120.00-. This will effectively increase the value in that account. Similarly, if you enter 120.00- to account 4010, the program will change it to 120.00 and reduce the value in that account. If you choose the manual option for entering entries, you will have to type the minus sign to get credit entries for accounts 2000 through 4999. APPENDIX E OPENING BALANCES FOR SINGLE BANK ACCOUNT 1. Before making your opening entry, it is important to make sure that all the accounts have zero balances. Select option 7 (UTILITY Programs) from the Main Menu. Then select option 5 (CLEAR All Balances) from the Utility Menu. The program will ask you to type CLEAR to erase any balances on file. After you have finished this step, return to the Main Menu. 2. Select option 1 (POST Entries) from the Main Menu. 3. Select option 1 (CASH RECEIPTS Entries) from the next menu. Type A to Add new entries. 4. At the Reference field, type 1. At the Description field, type OPENING ENTRY. At the Date field, press ENTER to select the date shown or type a different date. Accept the Header by pressing A. 5. The number you have designated as your bank account will appear on the first line along with account description. 6. In the amount column, type the amount that is in your checking account. 7. On the second line, type the RETAINED EARNINGS account number (3999). 8. For the amount column, type a B and ENTER to balance the entry. 9. Type A to accept the entry. The program will then bring up another entry screen. Press the ESC key at the Reference field and choose option 6 (Print ENTRIES). 10. Select option 1 (Print CASH RECEIPTS Entries) from the menu. Type P to print the entry on the printer. The program will print the entry and show the following message on the screen: Type `U' to UPDATE general ledger and delete these entries from the transaction file. (`ESC' to exit) Type U and press ENTER. The program automatically updates the general ledger for the entry. 11. Go to page 19 INDEX change account name 35 account numbers 11, 24, 34 add new account 14, 34 add, edit or view entries 22 automatic credit function 6 backup 7, 46, 47 balance sheet 32 bank accounts 16, 37 cash receipts 27, 30 change bank account 28 change bank accounts 16 change department information 40 change from floppy system to hard disk 38 change from hard disk to double floppy system 39 Change hardware configuration 21, 38 change to a single floppy from hard disk 39 chart of accounts 14, 20, 34 add new account 34 change account name 35 delete account 35 print chart of accounts 35 check stubs 22 clear all balances 41 color monitor 4, 38 corrections 12 customizing 3, 14 data entry 12 delete account 35 departments 11, 32, 40 DIF file 41 disk problems 46 disk space 31 disk space usage 13 editing 25 entries - general 19-21 erase year to date detail 42 errors 43, 44 financial statements 20, 30, 32 floppy disk backup 47 general introduction 11, 20 general ledger posting screens 28 hard disk backup 48 header information 23 journal entries 27 Lotus 1-2-3 41 month end close 33 opening entries 17 password 5 post entries 20, 21 posting screens 28 power failure or problems 46 print chart of accounts 35 print general ledger 31 printing and updating entries 30 printing checks 26 proof 32 restoring data 48 sample entry 8 short form trial balance 31 Statement of Income 6, 32 summary of monthly routine 19 trial balance print-out 31 updating general ledger 30 utility programs 21, 37 vendor maintenance 36 viewing 25 writing and printing checks 26 year end close 33