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EXCHEQUER EXAMPLES This file provides a number of step-by-step examples for performing some of Exchequer's most basic operations. In all of these examples, we assume that you are starting from the Register Screen and that you are using the SAMPLE files provided with Exchequer. (Exchequer will automatically load these files upon startup until you change the program default values). If the Register Screen is not displayed, press ESC repeatedly until you hear a beep, then press F6 to move to this screen. 1. PRINTING A CHECK There are actually two ways to print checks with Exchequer. You can print checks one at a time or you can print a batch of checks all at once. a) PRINTING A SINGLE CHECK To print a single check to Pacific Bell for $35.00, follow these step-by-step instructions: 1) Press F5 to go to the Check Screen. 2) Press Ctrl-U to clear all of the markers in the far left column and tell Exchequer that you want to print a single check. 3) Press the down arrow key repeatedly until "Pacific Bell..." is highlighted. Press <Space> to tag this check, then press F10. 4) If a "Insert PAPER in printer" message appears, press F10. 5) Type "35.00" to enter the amount in the highlighted data field, then press F10. The check will be printed, all of the information will be stored in the register, and the check form on the screen will be cleared. In addition, Exchequer will automatically advance the check number. 6) Press ESC to return to the Checks Screen. b) PRINTING A BATCH OF CHECKS To print a batch of checks all at once, follow these step-by-step instructions: 1) Press F5 to go to the Check Screen. 2) Select the checks you want to print by using the arrow keys to highlight a specific check, then press the space bar to "tag" it. Pressing the space bar repeatedly "toggles" the marker in the far left column on and off. If this indicator is shown, the check is selected and will be printed. If the marker is not shown, the check is not selected and will not be printed. 1 3) When you are satisfied with your selections, press F10 for print. A data entry screen which looks very similar to a regular check will appear on your screen. This check will display the information for the first check which you "tagged" for printing in step 2. 4) If the amount on the check selected is $0.00, you will hear a beep and a message will appear on the command line to enter the amount of the check. 5) You can now enter or correct any of the information shown on the check prior to printing it. Use the Up, Down, Tab, Shift- Tab, Ctrl-Left, Ctrl-Right keys or Return to move around to the different fields in the check. (See Sections C.6 for how to enter data). 6) When all of the information is correct, press F10 to print the check. The check will be printed, all of the information will be stored in the register, and the check form will show the information for the next check in the batch. In addition, Exchequer will automatically advance the check number. If you decide that you don't want to print a specific check, press F7 to skip that check when it appears on the screen. It will not be entered in the register. Exchequer will display the information for the next check to be printed. You can cancel printing the remaining checks in this batch at any time by pressing ESC. 7) When all of the checks you selected have been printed, Exchequer will display an empty check form so you can enter and print additional checks. Press ESC to return to the Checks Screen. When you return to the Checks Screen, notice that the batch markers have been cleared for all checks which you printed. 2. FINDING A TRANSACTION IN THE CHECK REGISTER Exchequer provides an easy way to find a specific transaction in the check register. We'll give two examples. In the first, we'll find a check with the check number "1130". In the second, we'll find the last check we wrote to "Pacific Bell". To find the check numbered 1130: 1) Press Ctrl-Home to go to the top of the register. 2) Press Ctrl-F. A Find box will appear in place of the highlight bar in the register. 2 3) Press Ctrl-Left (or Shift-Tab) twice to move to the check number field. 4) Type "1130" and press the Down Arrow to search down from the current position in the register. Exchequer will find the check and display that section of the register. To find the last check written to Pacific Bell: 1) Press Ctrl-End to go to the bottom of the register. 2) Press Ctrl-F to display the Find box. 3) Type "Pacific Bell" and press the Up Arrow to search up from the current position. Exchequer will find the last check written to Pacific Bell and display that section of the register. 4. ADDING A TRANSACTION TO THE REGISTER Although Exchequer automatically stores all checks which you print from the Memorized Checks screen, you may want to enter other transactions such as checks written on your regular checkbook, ATM deposits, etc. To add a transaction to the register, do the following: 1) Press F9 for Add. The Register screen will be replaced by a blank data entry screen which looks very similar to a regular check. 2) Enter the information about the transaction in the appropriate data fields. Use the Up and Down arrows, Tab, Shift-Tab, Ctrl-Left, Ctrl-Right or Return to move around to the different check fields. (See Sections C.6 on entering data). 3) When all of the information is correct, press F9 to Save the transaction. All of the information will be stored in the register and the check form will be cleared. 4) If you wish to add more transactions, return to step 2. If not, press ESC to return to the Register Screen. 5. MEMORIZING A CHECK One of the major advantages of using Exchequer to pay your bills is that you can memorize all of the data for checks which you write routinely. To memorize a check (or withdrawal or deposit), do the following: 1) Press F5 to go to the Memorized Checks screen. 2) Press F9 to Add a Memorized Check. A data entry screen will appear. 3 3) You can now enter the payee's name, address, the amount of the check (if you know it), and the category to which you want to assign this check. Use the Up and Down arrow, Tab, Shift-Tab, Ctrl-Left, Ctrl-Right or Return to move around to the different fields in the check. (See Section C.6 on entering data). You can leave any of this information blank and fill it in later when you actually print the check. 4) When all of the information is correct, press F9 to save the check. The check will be memorized and the check form will be cleared so you can memorize another check. 5) Press ESC to return to the Checks Screen. 6. ADDING A BUDGET/EXPENSE CATEGORY Follow these steps to add a budget/expense category to the list of categories: 1) Press F4 to move to the Categories Screen. 2) Press F9 to Add a category. A blank line will appear at the bottom of the list. 3) Enter the category number from 1 to 99 (e.g. "91") and press Return. 4) Enter the category description (e.g. "Entertainment") and press Return. 5) Choose a category type by pressing <Space>, then press Return. 6) Enter a budget amount (e.g. $225) and press Return. 7) Enter a budget period (e.g. Month) by pressing <Space> until the period you want is displayed, then press Return. 5) When all of the data is correct, press F9 to Save this category. If you want to add more categories, return to Step 3. If not, press ESC to return to the Categories Screen. 7. BALANCING YOUR CHECKBOOK (To try this example, you either need to create your own account and use your own bank statement or just make up data as you move through the example.) Exchequer greatly simplifies the task of balancing your checkbook. To use Exchequer's Balance Checkbook function, do the following (steps 2 and 3 should be familiar from balancing your checkbook manually): 4 1) Review your conventional checkbook to make sure you have entered all transactions into Exchequer's register. (See Section C.6.b). 2) Review your bank statement to identify any other deposits or withdrawals which should be entered into Exchequer's register. Enter all of these transactions into Exchequer. 3) Using your bank statement, mark all transactions in Exchequer's register which have cleared the bank. To do this, use the arrow keys (and PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, Ctrl-Home, Ctrl-End) to highlight the transaction, then press the space bar. A checkmark will appear in the "?" column. Pressing the space bar repeatedly will "toggle" the cleared indicator on and off. The marker indicates that this transaction has been cleared by the bank. 4) When you have accurately marked all cleared transactions, press F3 to display the Accounts Options menu. 5) Press Return to select "Balance/Reconcile Account". 6) Enter the ending balance listed on your bank statement and press Return. 7) Exchequer will calculate and show you the following data: * Number of uncleared checks * Dollar amount of uncleared checks * Number of uncleared deposits * Dollar amount of uncleared deposits * Check Register Balance * Adjusted Check Register Balance * Difference If the difference is equal to zero, your checking account is balanced. Press ESC to return to the Register Screen (and pat yourself on the back!) If the difference is not equal to zero, your account does not balance. Look for errors as you normally do when your account does not balance. 8) Press ESC to return to the Register Screen. 5 8. PRINTING THE CHECK REGISTER To print out the entire check register file, do the following: 1) Verify that the paper is inserted properly into the printer. 2) Press F10 to display the Report Options Menu. 3) Press either F10 or Return. 4) If an "Insert PAPER into printer" message appears, press F10 to proceed with printing. (This message only appears if you have printed some checks first). 5) Move to the top of the Register by pressing Ctrl-Home, then press Return to select it as the start of the report range. 6) Move to the bottom of the Register by pressing Ctrl-End, then press Return to select it as the end of the report range. 7) Press F10 or Return to print the Report. 8) When the report is finished, press ESC to return to the Register Screen. 9. PRINTING THE LIST OF MEMORIZED TRANSACTIONS The Memorized Checks screen does not display all of the information which is stored for each memorized check. Although you can see this information by pressing F8 (Modify) from the Checks Screen, you may also want a complete printout of this data. To obtain such a list, do the following: 1) Insert paper into your printer. 2) Press F10 to display the Report Options menu. 3) Press the down arrow repeatedly until the "List of Memorized Checks" option is highlighted, then press F10. 4) If an "Insert PAPER into printer" message appears, press F10 to proceed with printing. (This message only appears if you have printed some checks first). 5) Press F10 or Return to print the Report. 6) When finished, press ESC to return to the Register Screen. 10. PRINTING THE LIST OF CATEGORIES Perform the following steps to print a complete list of the budget/expense categories you are currently using. 1) Insert paper into your printer. 6 2) Press F10 to display the Report Options menu. 3) Press the down arrow until the "List of Categories" option is highlighted, then press F10. 4) If an "Insert PAPER into printer" message appears, press F10 to proceed with printing. (This message only appears if you have printed some checks first). 5) Press F10 or Return to print the Report. 6) When the report is finished, press ESC to return to the Register Screen. 11. OPENING A NEW ACCOUNT Although a sample account is included with the Exchequer distribution diskette, you will undoubtedly want to open a new account. Let's assume you will name this account "MYCHECKS" and will create new files for both categories and memorized checks. Let's also assume you will continue to use the "MOORE" check layout data file. 1) Press F3 to display the Account Options menu. 2) Press the Down Arrow repeatedly until the "Open New Account" option is highlighted and press Return. A data entry box will appear in the middle of your screen. 3) Enter the name of the account (i.e. "MYCHECKS") and press Return. 4) Enter the account number (i.e. 132345-32345) and press Return. 5) Enter a description of the account (i.e. "MYCHECKS") and press Return. 6) Enter the name of the file which will contain the list of categories for this account (i.e. "MYCHECKS") and press Return. 7) Enter the name of the file which will contain the list of memorized checks for this account (i.e. "MYCHECKS") and press Return. 8) Enter the name of the file which will contain the check layout data (i.e. "MOORE"). 9) If you want, you can modify the remaining values at this time. 10) Press F9 to open the account. Exchequer will first save the current account files, then create the new account files and switch to the new account. 7 12. SWITCHING ACCOUNTS In many cases, you will maintain more than one account with Exchequer. To switch accounts: 1) Press F3 to display the Account Options menu. 2) Press the down arrow until the "Load Existing Account" option is highlighted and press Return. 3) Enter the name of the drive/directory containing the new account (e.g. "C:\CHECKS") and press Return. This directory must already exist. 4) Enter the name of the account you want to load (e.g. "MYCHECKS") and press Return. 5) Press F9 to switch to the new account. Exchequer will save all of the current data files before switching to the new account. 8