Monster Media 1996 #14

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┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Instinctive Systems │ │ BookKeeper Version 1.3a │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ User Manual │ │ │ │ │ │ Last Update 5th Feb 1996 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Copyright Instinctive Systems Ltd 1990-1996 │ │ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Developed By: Instinctive Systems Ltd 5 Springfield Terrace Valley Road Hayfield, Stockport Cheshire SK12 5LT Tel or Fax +44(0)1663 741894 Email 100103.3722@compuserve.com List Of Contents ──────────────── The Shareware Concept Disclaimer Introduction System Requirements Using Instinctive Systems Software Installation BookKeeper Principles BookKeeper In Detail Registration Support Other Instinctive Systems Products And Services The Shareware Concept ───────────────────── Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details - some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee - if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. Disclaimer ────────── Users of BookKeeper must accept this disclaimer of warranty: BookKeeper is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of Instinctive Systems BookKeeper.' BookKeeper is a 'shareware program' and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of 'user-supported' software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using BookKeeper and continue to use BookKeeper after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment detailed in the 'Registrations' section of this manual to Instinctive Systems Ltd. The registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Commercial users of BookKeeper must register and pay for their copies of BookKeeper within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Instinctive Systems Ltd. Anyone distributing BookKeeper for any kind of remuneration must first Instinctive Systems Ltd for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering BookKeeper immediately (However Instinctive Systems Ltd must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of BookKeeper). You are encouraged to pass a copy of BookKeeper along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. Introduction ──────────── The BookKeeper is a simple computerised BookKeeping system. It has been designed with the small to medium sized business in mind. One of it's key features is that it uses terminology that all users can quickly understand without having to have any professional experience of BookKeeping and accounting and without being forced to think in an unnatural way. It provides the following facilities - comprehensive income/expenditure transaction recording - flexible income/expenditure reporting - Tax return reporting - multiple bank account and petty cash recording facilities - customer database, invoicing and estimate functions All these facilities are provided by means of an easy to use menu system with extensive use of data pick lists for easy selection. A context sensitive help system ensures that whenever you are not sure about anything, you can simply press the F1 help key and a help screen will appear explaining clearly what is required at that particular point and what you should do next. We have gone to great lengths when designing the BookKeeper to ensure that the unnecessary complexities, all too often found in competing products, are left out allowing the user more control of his information with the power to hold the information that he specifically needs in a form that he can relate to and hence be in a better position to control his business. The BookKeeper is not intended to be an accounting system. It is considered that many of the details found in accounting packages involve additional unnecessary complications that should really be left to a qualified accountant. The BookKeeper will, however, be able to present your books to your accountant in a way that he can easily understand and will save him time and hence save you money. System Requirements ─────────────────── Hardware ──────── This software requires the following system setup in order to function correctly - IBM compatible PC - 8086 processor or above - Hard disk drive - 720kb or above floppy disk drive preferred - IBM/EPSON or HP Laserjet compatible printer Operating System ──────────────── This software will only support DRDOS or MSDOS 3.3 and above. Users of older operating systems should contact their software supplier in order to upgrade their DOS version. CONFIG.SYS ────────── All personal computers should have a CONFIG.SYS file which is usually stored in C:\ directory. Check this file that it has a files and buffers command in it that are set to at least the values below (see your DOS manual for an explanation of the CONFIG.SYS file, the files and buffers commands and details of how to change the values if they are incorrect). FILES=50 BUFFERS=8 After making changes to your CONFIG.SYS you should reboot (switch your computer off and then on again) before the changes will take effect. AUTOEXEC.BAT ──────────── All personal computers should also have an AUTOEXEC.BAT file which is stored in C:\ directory. You will need to include the following line in this file. SET CLIPPER=F:45 Expanded Memory ──────────────- This product does not require expanded memory, however if your system has expanded memory available, the program will automatically use it and this should lead to an increase in speed (see you DOS manual for an explanation of expanded memory and how to configure it, however if you are new to computers or do not fully understand expanded memory, ignore this section since it may have effects on other software that you are running). If this program conflicts with other software running in expanded memory, you can prevent its use by adding the following command to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file in C:\ SET CLIPPER E=0 As with the CONFIG.SYS file, you should reboot your computer before changes to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file will take effect. Serial Printing ──────────────- If you will be printing via a serial printer port then please ensure that you enter a suitable MODE command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to ensure that your printer communicates with your computer properly. This command will usually be of the following form but may vary from system to system MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P Please check your DOS manual for more information about serial printing. This information will not apply to most users since computers with a single printer connected will generally use the parallel port for printing. Using Instinctive Systems Software ────────────────────────────────── This software is designed to be powerful, yet easy to use. A number of features have been developed to allow you to record and access all your company's information with the minimum of effort. Some of these features are described below. They include: i) Easy to use menus. ii) Automatic 'Pick Lists'. iii) Abbreviations. iv) Special function keys. v) 'Intelligent Help' system. Easy to use Menus ───────────────── Whenever the system gives you a choice of what activity to perform, a menu appears on the screen. The menu lists the options available to you. You can tell the program which option you want in one of two ways: i) Pressing the cursor keys [UP,DOWN,LEFT and RIGHT arrows] will move the menu bar through the available options. When the bar is on the option you require, press ENTER. OR ii) Press the key which corresponds to the first letter of the option you require. There are generally two forms of menu. The first menu lists the options available vertically. By using the UP and DOWN cursor keys followed by the enter key, you can select the option that you require. This will reveal a further submenu or simply perform the option that you requested. The second form of menu uses a horizontal list of options which are often very similar no matter which facility of the program you are using. Typical options include 'FIND,AMEND,INSERT,DELETE,LIST'. This menu allows you to navigate through your information files a record at a time, always displaying the current record above the menu bar. When you first use this type of menu you will discover that there is no 'current record' yet and you must therefore 'FIND' or 'INSERT' one before you proceed to 'AMEND' or 'DELETE' it for example. The 'LIST' option allows you to list a specified range of records either to the screen, printer or disk file. Occasionally a 'PRINT' option will appear which allows you to print the current record only (with the option of sending to screen or file first to check!). Automatic Pick Lists ──────────────────── If you are presented with a question to which there could be any number of responses, simply press the enter key whilst the field is blank and you will be prompted with a pop up pick list showing all the values that are currently known to the system. Use the cursor keys and press ENTER or F10 to select the one you require. If the required value does not appear (after using PGUP and PGDN to view the whole list) in many instances you can press the INS key to insert a new value (check status bar). Similarly, if you are not sure what your exact response should be but you know it should begin with the letter 'A' for example, simply enter the letter 'A' and all the known responses beginning with this letter will appear in a pick list. Abbreviations ───────────── It is often possible to enter an abbreviation to find a particular record rather than keying in the whole reference. For example to find a customer called 'Joe Soap Ltd' with a reference of 'Joe S', you might simply enter 'Jo'. A picklist will then appear and the selection bar will be automatically positioned at the first customer reference beginning with the letters 'Jo'. Special Function Keys ───────────────────── Certain keys will have a special meaning within BookKeeper. The following keys will be displayed on the status bar near the foot of the screen when available. ESC-Abandon Press the ESC key to abandon the current screen process. Note that this may lose data changes if the changes have not been saved by pressing the F10-Done key. F10-Done The F10 key is used to confirm that you have completed any changes that you may have been doing and wish to save the current record. F10-Select Alternatively the F10 key may be used to select a record from a picklist instead of using the enter key. INS-Insert The insert key can often be used to indicate that you wish to insert a new record DEL-Delete The delete key can often be used to delete a record is not required. F1-Help Call the intelligent help system In addition, the following keys are available within most scrolling list areas having selected the 'List' option or when being presented by a picklist during data input. Due to the number of key actions available, details are not listed on the status bar, however, you will find that these keystrokes are common to most good software packages available today and will soon become second nature. HOME Go to left most field currently displayed on screen END Go to right most field currently displayed on screen CTRL-HOME Go to left most field available (may be off screen) CTRL-END Go to right most field available (may be off screen) PGUP Scroll up through list one page only PGDN Scroll down through list one page only CTRL-PGUP Go to top of list CTRL-PGDN Go to bottom of list Intelligent Help System ─────────────────────── The intelligent help system can be accessed at any point by pressing the F1-Help key. If you were entering data at the point when you pressed F1 then the help system should automatically show a screen which provides further details about the data item you are currently entering. If you were at one of the system menu screens when you pressed the F1 key then you will be presented with detailed information about the function of that screen. Once the relevant help screen appears, you can use the 'special keys' listed above to move through the help text. If the help screen which appears does not provide the exact information which you require, then you can use the following keys to obtain further help information. F8-Over The F8-Over key can be used to obtain an 'Overview' of the current help area. This facility in effect takes you one level higher in the help system. By continually pressing the F8-Over key, help messages will continue to become less detailed until you eventually end up at the main help index menu. F9-Indx The F9-Indx key can be used to access the main help index. From the index menu screen you will be able you will be able to select specific areas of the help system directly When you have finished using the Help system you should press the ESC key to return to the point immediately before you pressed the F1-Help key. Installation ──────────── In order to install a new copy of BookKeeper 1.3, you must copy the contents of the disk(s) you have received to a new directory on your hard disk and then run the INSTALL.BAT file from the new directory. The following DOS commands will usually be sufficient for this purpose. MD C:\BOOK13 - create a new directory on your hard disk COPY A:\*.* C:\BOOK13 - copy all files from floppy to new directory CD \BOOK13 - make the new directory the current directory INSTALL - run the install program Many 'defaults' will have been set up for you to make installation and evaluation as simple as possible. You should read the opening screens which point you in the direction of various sections of the 'Housekeeping' menu which can later be used to finetune your installation to cater for your specific requirements. Some of these requirements include setting your preferred date display format, setting up your printer preferences, customised item and group records, your company details etc. BookKeeper Principles ────────────────────- Before you start to use BookKeeper it is essential to learn the principles behind it so that you can make best use of its facilities. BookKeeper records bookkeeping information using as few key strokes as possible. It then organises the data to provide a number of reports to help with your company's bookkeeping. These reports can then be accessed quickly and easily to provide immediate information about the state of the company's finances. In order to achieve this, data is entered into the BookKeeper in a hierarchic fashion. The system uses three levels in the hierarchy - GROUPS - ITEMS - BOOK ENTRIES Information is recorded at each level which should be common to all entries connected to that level so that the information does not need to be recorded for every transaction entered; the transaction simply needs to be linked to a relevant group and item from which it can inherit properties. Groups ────── Groups are the highest level data items in the BookKeeper data hierarchy. Groups are used, as the name suggests, to group related data items. Groups allow you to organise your transactions into different categories. This makes it easier to interpret your reports and understand how well particular areas of your business are functioning. Items belonging to a particular group must either be income or expenditure items. Items ───── Items are the next level in the hierarchy. An item record must be set up in BookKeeper for each type of transaction that is to be recorded. Each item must be associated with a particular group. Items have an indicator to say which tax code applies to that particular transaction type. They also provide information to indicate which accounts transactions of this type are usually conducted through and provide the necessary information required to break down the transaction for tax reporting purposes. Book Item Entries ───────────────── Book item entries are the lowest level of the BookKeeper hierarchy, These are the day to day receipt details that are entered into the system. Each Book Item Entry is associated with an item type so that all the details in the item type and associated group records do not have to be retyped for each entry. Each entry includes details such as the date, amount, account type etc. Examples are found below: Groups Items Book Entries ────── ───── ──────────── ┌─────────────── 180.00 10/08/90 Current Account ┌─ Rent ─┴─────────────── 180.00 10/09/90 Current Account │ Accomodation ├─ Business Poll Tax ──── 1000.00 15/08/90 Current Account │ └─ Maintenance ┬───────── 50.00 01/08/90 Current Account └───────── 50.00 01/09/90 Current Account ┌─── Train Fares ────────── 65.00 13/08/90 Petty Cash │ Travelling ├─── Petrol ┬────────────── 20.00 04/08/90 Petty Cash Expenses │ ├────────────── 15.00 20/08/90 Current Account │ └────────────── 25.00 30/08/90 Petty Cash │ └─── Car Servicing ──────── 100.00 15/09/90 Current Account Suggested Names ─────────────── To help you to get started we would like to suggest a few names for your groups and items. Remember that BookKeeper is flexible so you can always change these names later and add names of your own, however do remember that if you have entered Book Item Entries that belong to a particular item type then you will be prevented from deleting the item type unless you delete all book item entries of that type. In a similar way, you will not be able to delete a group which has item records connected to it. SALES PURCHASES PRODUCT A SALES PRODUCT A PURCHASES PRODUCT B SALES PRODUCT B PURCHASES PRODUCT C SALES PRODUCT C PURCHASES OTHER INCOME OFFICE EQUIPMENT COSTS BANK INTEREST TELEPHONE/FAX PURCHASE OWNER INVESTMENT FURNITURE REFUNDS HEATING EQUIPMENT SALARY AND WAGES VEHICLE COSTS DIRECTORS SALARY SALES VEHICLES FOREMAN WAGES HAULAGE VEHICLES STAFF WAGES COURTESY VEHICLES OFFICE ADMIN EXPENSES FINANCIAL COSTS RENT AUDIT FEES BUSINESS POLL TAX LEGAL FEES WATER RATES BANK CHARGES ELECTRICITY BAD DEBT WRITE OFF INSURANCE CLEANING REPAIRS We suggest that you experiment with BookKeeper for a while but before you are ready to start using the product properly, you should carefully sit down and write out the list of groups and items that you are likely to require in your own particular business (we suggest that you also consult your accountant during this process to help make life easier for both of you!). You should then reinstall BookKeeper using the installation disk, overwriting any testing data that you may have created. You should then use the housekeeping facilities to set up your group and item structure before proceeding to enter any Book Item Entry transactions. Special Names ───────────── The user generally has complete control over the naming of items and groups within the BookKeeper however the following item and group types and names have been reserved for special purposes within the system Items ───── TRI - Account Transfer (In) The 'Account Transfer' section automatically generates TRI book item entries to indicate a transfer into a specific account. These entries are protected by the system and should only be accessed through 'Account Transfers' TRE - Account Transfer (Out) For each TRI entry generated as above an equal and opposite TRE transaction will be generated to indicate which account the amount is being transferred from. Groups ────── SAL - Sales All sales type items should be posted to the group SAL. Any item type found with a group SAL will generate an invoice number prompt on the Book Item Entries screen. Income type transactions may belong to other groups however no invoice link will be permitted. SPI - Special (In) The SPI group is reserved to include all income item types that have a special meaning to the system. In release 1.3 the only item in this group should be TRI SPE - Special (Out) The SPI group is reserved to include all expenditure item types that have a special meaning to the system. In release 1.3 the only item in this group should be TRE These group and item records should not be deleted or amended or they may cause the system to malfunction. BookKeeper In Detail ──────────────────── Starting BookKeeper The BookKeeper Main Menu Book Item Entries Account Transfers Order Processing Customer Details Reports Housekeeping Starting BookKeeper ─────────────────── To start BookKeeper first change to the drive and directory where you installed your BookKeeper software i.e. X: where x: is the drive name where programs are stored CD \PROGDIR progdir: is the program directory name In most cases this will be C: CD \BOOK13 Now simply enter the following to start the package BOOKKEEP You will see the package startup screen and then if you have not yet registered the package, you will be presented with a series of registration screens, otherwise you will be presented with the main menu screen. (For a further explanation of the registration screens please see the 'Registration' section of this document.) BookKeeper Main Menu ──────────────────── This is the main menu for BookKeeper, (except for registration screens) and should be the first thing to appear when you run BookKeeper. Options available from the main menu are as follows: Book Item Entries - Use this option to enter all your company's income and expenditure details. Transfers - Use this section to record details of transfers between accounts Customers - The customers section is used to maintain a list of customer name and address details for use with the order processing section Order Processing - The order processing section is used to generate estimates and invoices for customers previously set up in the customer section Reports - Use the reports section to print a range of reports about the transactions you have recorded in BookKeeper Housekeeping - The housekeeping section is used to modify you system setup for example to insert new group and item types, amend printer details and screen colours, change your company details and so on. Book Item Entries ───────────────── The Book Item Entries section is the real heart of the BookKeeper system. It is the area where you enter all the data about money going into and coming out of your business on a day to day basis where you are dealing with very large numbers of transactions, or on a weekly or even monthly basis for smaller numbers. It is intended that you accumulate a box of 'unregistered receipts'. These 'unregistered receipts' will include such items as invoices in, invoices out, till receipts, petty cash vouchers and so on. When you are ready to put the details about these transactions onto the computer using BookKeeper, you simply take each 'receipt' at a time, enter the details listed below quickly and easily, write the reference number displayed by BookKeeper on the back of the receipt, and file the receipt in a 'registered receipts' box or envelope. Depending on the volume of information being entered, you may wish to use one large envelope per month and store a year's worth of envelopes in a box for example. Once filed, you should not really require the receipts again for your own use because all the necessary information will be stored on the computer, however you should ensure that they are filed safely and in an orderly manner because they will still be required later by your accountant and inland revenue inspector. Transactions types are abbreviated using an Item Type to reduce the amount of typing required when entering details and also to provide a means of classification for reporting purposes later. For example, to record the purchase of petrol, an Item Type of 'PET' could be used. You can view and amend Item Types from the ITEMS option in HOUSEKEEPING. For every transaction you enter into BookKeeper, the following information should be entered: Account type - The account against which the transaction should be actioned Account ref - Usually a free format reference such as a cheque number for example, but must be a valid invoice number for transactions belonging to the SAL group Date - The date of the transaction (use the 'Housekeeping' 'Date Format' option to toggle between USA and UK date display formats) Amount - Transaction value including tax if applicable. Tax Rate - The tax rate defaults to the current tax rate. You may alter this if the tax rate on the date of transaction was different. Great care has been taken to ensure that you enter all the necessary details about your income and expenditure items, however, as with any bookkeeping system, BookKeeper is only as good as the information you give it. Your records will not be complete if you forget to enter transactions, lose receipts or enter details incorrectly. It is therefore of great importance to list out all transactions entered and to check the details against your receipts and your bank statements to ensure that all details are present and correct. You should not only write references generated by BookKeeper on your receipts but also on bank statements and Petty Cash book for cross referencing purposes and to ensure that no transactions are missed. Account Transfers ───────────────── The account transfers section is used to simplify the process of recording transfers between your bank accounts and petty cash account(s). In previous versions of BookKeeper, it was necessary to use 'Book Item Entries' to enter both an income transaction and an equal and opposite expenditure transaction to simulate an account transfer. Now, by registering a single 'Account Transfer' transaction, BookKeeper will automatically generate two book item entries, one being an income and the other an expenditure entry, against the accounts involved. The Account Transfers section is most often used to transfer amounts backwards and forwards between current and deposit bank accounts and to top up petty cash accounts as they start to get low (replacing the old 'PCT' Petty Cash Transfer transaction used in earlier versions of BookKeeper. It is essential that you record 'all' account transfers if you are going to use the 'Accounts' reports to check various account entries against bank statements. Details required on the account transfers screen include the accounts being transferred from and to, the date of the transfer which we suggest you try to make the same as the date appearing on your bank statements for ease of checking, and the amount involved. When you press the F10-Done key to save the transfer details, the references of the two book item entry transactions automatically generated will appear. Similarly, the transfer reference will appear in the 'account reference' area on the new book item entries when they are examined from the book item entries screen. Customer Details ──────────────── This part of BookKeeper is used to record and access details of all your customers. Although useful as a simple customer address and telephone querying system, the main use of this section is to enter customer address details to be included on estimates and invoices produced in the order processing section later. Each customer is identified by a unique customer reference code, or REF. The REF code allows you to access customer details quickly and easily in other parts of the system without having to enter full customer names. For example, you may set up a customer REF of 'ISL', to indicate a customer called 'Instinctive Systems Ltd'. For each customer, the following information should be recorded: Ref - A unique reference code to identify the customer. Company - The full company name. Address - The full company delivery address. Contact - The name(s) of your main contact(s) at the company. Tel - The telephone number, including the extension number of your main contact at the company. Fax - The facsimile number of the company. Invoice - Address to send invoices to Address The Customer Invoice Details screen records customer details for use when invoicing customers. The address details, for example, are used by the Invoice Print screen to determine where the invoice is to be sent to. When the invoice screen appears, the customer address details entered previously are inserted automatically into the invoice address area allowing you to simply press F10 if all details should be the same or to make any amendments necessary. For each customer there is also a customer notes area. Unlike most of the other information stored about customers, this area has no fixed format. Any kind of notes can be entered here that specifically relate to a particular customer such as 'Valued customer - special discount arrangements', 'Invoice quartely', you could even enter a list of your contacts at the company in question and their personal details if you wish. A virtually unlimited number of lines can be entered. The cursor keys can be used to move up and down as well as left and right through the notes and the PGUP and PGDN keys can be used to scroll up and down a page at a time. Order Processing ──────────────── This part of the system allows you to create estimates and invoices to send to your customers. Since the structure and use of an estimate and an invoice is very similar within the order processing section, the following text will simply refer to 'invoices' but will equally apply to estimates. The first invoice screen is used to specify details such as the date of the invoice, the customer's purchase order number and the customer for whom the invoice is being produced. When you enter the Reference for the intended customer, BookKeeper automatically fills in the full customer name, main contact name, and customer invoice address. If you have entered a tax number in your housekeeping 'Company Details' screen, then the system will assume that you are tax registered and will insert the current tax rate in the tax rate field. This rate will automatically be applied to all taxable items on the invoice. Invoice comments can also be entered on this screen and will appear on the final printed invoice. For example, a comment could read: 'Consultancy work carried out during May 1995' or 'Work relating to PREP95 Project' or 'Jones & Co wish all our customers a happy and prosperous new year' A second screen is used to enter each detail line for the invoice. The Invoice Detail screen is used to record the individual items that you are invoicing your customer for. For each item being invoiced, you can enter: Quantity - The quantity or amount you are invoicing for. Description - The product or service being charged. Unit Price - For the product or service. Tax Code - The tax code applicable to the order line. The system will only apply tax to 'S'(standard) type items For each item, BookKeeper will automatically multiply Quantity by Unit Price and display the resulting Cost. BookKeeper will also calculate the tax applicable on each detail line. During data entry, the cursor keys can be used to access the 'Net', 'Tax' and 'Gross' values for each invoice line which are usually off screen at that the right hand side. The 'DEL' key is available to delete unwanted invoice lines and the F4 key is available to set up the fixed delivery charge for the invoice. When all detail lines have been entered for an invoice, press F10-Done. BookKeeper will total all the detailed Costs to give a Total invoice Cost and Total Tax. The invoice can then be printed using the 'PRINT' menu item. We suggest that you print 2 copies of the invoice, one for your customer and one for your own records. The 'LIST' option can be used to view invoices on the system along with their issued and paid dates. When a customer pays an invoice you should use the usual 'Book Item Entries' menu option to receipt the option. By selecting an item which belongs to the group 'SALES' you will be presented with a list of outstanding invoices to choose from in order to update the invoice payment date. BookKeeper Reports ────────────────── Reports Main Menu Income and Expenditure Reports Summary Report UK Vat Tax Report Account Report Reports Menu ──────────── This section of BookKeeper allows you to view your company's financial history using a range of reports. For most reports, you select the time period you wish to report on. For certain reports you can choose to report on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. Income - Shows a history of all transactions that constitute an income to your company's accounts, in date order. Expenditure - Shows a history of all expenses incurred by your company, with a total expenditure for the requested time period. Summary - Totals all transactions, sorted by direction (INCOME or EXPENDITURE), and transaction type. Tax Returns - Produces your company's tax return statement. The report shows all items required for entry on tax Form VAT100. Accounts - Produces account statements for each account in use in a format similar to you bank statements Income And Expenditure Reports ────────────────────────────── The principal of income and expenditure reports is exactly the same except for the fact that the Income report is limited to only list transactions that indicate payments coming into the business, and the expenditure report is limited to transactions indicating payments going out. After selecting one of these two options you will be asked for a date range which includes all the transactions you wish to see. These dates are inclusive and naturally the 'to' date must be after the 'from' date. Then you will be asked how you would like the report grouped. You can select by Week, Month or Year. Transactions will be subtotalled within the method of grouping specified, and the transactions for the entire period will be totalled at the end of the report if you select 'Period Total' at the next prompt. As with all reports, you can view this report on the screen, print it or send it to a disk file for subsequent viewing or editing using your wordprocessor or text editor. Summary Report ────────────── The summary report is used to total all the amounts for each item type in your system over a specified period. A report is produced which displays each group in your system followed by each item belonging to that group. For each item you will see a breakdown of the total net and total tax amounts for that item. Total amounts are also produced for each group. All expenditure groups and items are listed followed by all income groups and items. A final screen gives total expenditure and total income figures for the period. This report should prove very useful in analysing how money is being spent and income generated in specific areas of your business and allow you to monitor actual figures against budget figures. Tax Return Report ───────────────── The tax return report will only be applicable to users who are tax registered (consult your local 'Customs And Excise' office for further information about tax registration). As with all other reports, having selected this option you will be asked for a date range for which you wish to report on. This will generally be a 3 month period and will be from the first day of the first month to the last day of the third. You currently have to complete four tax returns per year which are due within a month of the close of each reporting period. The report lists the amounts that have to be entered on the current VAT100 form. Please note the special rules printed on the back of the VAT100 form detailing which transaction types should be included in these totals and which should be left out and ensure that you have kept to these rules when you created your group and item records. Account Report ────────────── The account report provides a listing of all transactions into or out of a specific account over a given date range. The listing is in a convenient format for checking against your bank statements. If the report is viewed on screen then the cursor keys can be used to access the 'balance' field displayed off screen to the right. You should check the accounts listing against your bank statements each month to check for entry errors and omisions. You can also use the reports to project your account balances before your bank statements arrive. Housekeeping ──────────── Housekeeping Main Menu Group Types Item Types Account Types Printer Details User Manual Screen Colours Company Details Test Print Tax Rate Changes Date Format Reindex Housekeeping ──────────── This section helps you to keep your BookKeeper system in good order. It allows you to define transaction Group and Item types. It also allows you to access and maintain existing BookKeeper transactions. Available options here include: Group Types - Define group types for book item entries Item Types - Define item types for book item entries Account Types - Define accounts to be monitored by the system Printer Setup - Set up details about your printer User Manual - Print the user manual for this product Screen Colours - Change the default screen colours being used Company Details - Set up details about your company Test Print Area - Produce a test print to assist with printer setup Tax Rate Change - Define any changes to the current tax rate Reindex - Rebuild BookKeeper file indexes Group Types ─────────── Use the group type function of housekeeping to set up and amend group record definitions. Details stored about groups currently include group ref - unique group identifier group name - group description inc/exp - identifier to indicate whether the group consists of income and expenditure items The facility should be the first function of BookKeeper used by the new user once he has decided on his intended system structure as described in the 'BookKeeper General Principles' section of this manual. Use of the menu system in this area should be quite simple but it is described in more detail in the 'Using Instinctive Systems Software' section. Item Types ────────── Use the item types function of housekeeping to set up and amend item record definitions. Details stored about items currently include item ref - unique item identifier item name - item description group ref - the reference of the group to which the item type belongs tax code - the tax code relating to all transactions of this type (S-standard, Z-zero rated, E-exempt) goods/services - use this 'yes/no' indicator to seperate goods and services from other transactions for tax reporting purposes. Non-tax registered users can ignore this entry. EC state - use this 'yes/no' indicator to identify items which are purchased from or supplied to other EC member states for tax reporting purposes. Non-tax registered users may ignore this field. This facility should be the second facility used after 'Group Types' for new users setting up their new system after familiarisation. See 'BookKeeper General Principals' and 'Using Instinctive Systems Software' for more information. Account Types ────────────── The account types screen is used to set up a list of accounts that can be monitored by the system. BookKeeper comes with 'Current', 'Deposit' and 'Petty Cash' accounts already set up. Once an account type has been set up then any transaction recorded in the 'Book Item Entry' screen can be recorded against that account. In addition to the default accounts already set up in BookKeeper, you could also set up accounts for each of your company credit cards, additional bank accounts held as well as personalised petty cash accounts for individual employees. Printer Setup ───────────── Use this option to configure the type of printer that you are using and specify print effects that you wish to use such as 'letter quality' and 'condensed' printing, printer margins etc. Press 'F1' at each prompt for more detailed explanations of these options or see the Glossary section at the end of this manual. You may set up multiple printer configurations, for example you may have one configuration for rough working on plain paper, and another for use on your own stationery. You may also have more than one printer connected to your PC. Before every print function, you will be prompted with a list of the printers which have been set up in this section so that your print can be output correctly. For best results, adjust your printer to print in a 10 point typeface to fill the width an A4 paper when printing reports. Alternately, if you wish to file reports in a ringbinder for example, then set your printer to a 12 point typeface so that you can have a 10 to 12 character left margin on the reports. If you are not sure how many lines per page can be printed on your printer, try a value of 59 initially, then use the Housekeeping, Printer Test facility to establish a more accurate value. User Manual ─────────── Select the 'User Manual' option to print out the BookKeeper user manual. The manual will be approximately 50 pages long depending on your printer setup. Use the test print option before printing the manual to ensure that you have got your printer set up correctly. We suggest that you print the manual on plain A4 size paper with a printer font size of 12 CPI and with a 5 to 10 character left margin for best results. Screen Colours ────────────── The screen colours facility allows you to adjust the colours that you see in various parts of the screen using this software. The first question you will be asked is whether or not you are using a colour monitor. Generally you will answer 'yes' if you are and 'no' if you are not, however, certain 'black and white' screens are capable of several shades of grey. You may find that if you are using one of these screens (typically VGA mono), you will get quite a pleasant effect if you select 'yes' to the colour monitor option. If you select 'yes', then the following screen will show an example screen layout in the lower half of the screen and a screen section headings menu in the top half. Use the cursor keys to change to the screen section required and press enter. Now select 'foreground' or 'background' to change the foreground or background areas of this screen section. The effect will be shown in the example screen below. Continue to change the foreground and background settings until the desired colours are found then select the 'done' option. Repeat this process for each screen section that you wish to change then finally select 'done' from the screen headings menu to exit this facility. Company Details ─────────────── Use this section to amend details about your company that were set up for you during the installation process. The company details screen has been designed with a view to providing BookKeeping facilities for multiple companies, however only one company is supported with the current version of BookKeeper. Once registered, the company name and user name should not be amended since the registration codeword is based on these two details. Up to six lines of address are permitted for your company. The est and inv fields can be used to record the first estimate and invoice numbers that you wish the system to automatically generate. It is important that these details are entered before any estimates or invoices are created. Tax registered companies should enter their tax number in the Tax No field and limited companies should enter their registered number in the Reg No field. Test Print Area ─────────────── We have included this facility to make it easier to configure your printer margins in the printer setup utility. This option will send a print to all possible printable positions on your printer along with row and column numbers. You can then quickly calculate which values you wish to use for top and left margins and page size. The test print will only print 80 columns across the page and all BookKeeper reports are designed to print within this area. Ensure that your printer is switched to the font which you most often use before running the test print. Run the test print several times carefully adjusting your printer configuration until it eventually prints in the centre of the page or slightly to the right to allow for hole punching. Tax Rate Changes ──────────────── Use the tax rate changes screen to register any changes to the current tax rate. The screen will allow you to enter the new rate, the date the new rate was valid from and the old rate. BookKeeper uses this information so that it can automatically pick up the correct tax rate on the Book Item Entries and Order Processing screens, however, it is only used as a default to save typing when setting up new entries and can easily be over written if the incorrect rate is generated for any reason. In order to display the current tax details you should press the enter key to find your company record. You can then use the amend function to make any changes necessary. Date Format ─────────── Use the date format option to toggle the date display format throughout the system from USA - MM/DD/YY to UK - DD/MM/YY. Use the cursor keys to select the required option and simply press the ENTER key. The software is initially configured to use USA format. Reindex ─────── Most good computer systems store information using at least two files, a data file and an index file. The reason for this is to allow fast access to large data files. The index file is a simple cut down version of the main data file that 'points' to where specific data records can be found rather than reading the entire file from start to finish. This means that each time a new record is stored or amended, at least two files must be updated simultaneously. If your system develops a fault, power is lost or you switch off before leaving the program, then the data and index files can get out of step. This can produce some very strange effects the next time that the program is run, records may seem to contain strange values or may have disappeared for example. The reindex function is provided to completely rebuild any index files that may have got out of step or corrupted. You should select this option any time you come across a problem that you can not explain, and always use it after a system lock up or power loss. In certain cases BookKeeper will automatically run the reindex function for you if it thinks that you did not exit the system properly the last time you used it. Registration and Distribution ───────────────────────────── By registering this package with us, you become eligible for the following: - a codeword to remove all 'on evaluation' and 'registration' type messages and screens, unique to your company name and user name - a copy of the latest version of this product - unlimited support for written correspondence - on-line email support - notification of major upgrades for a minimum of 2 versions following the latest registered/upgraded version with discount rates for upgrades - immediate notification of major bugs found with registered version with option of maintenance release at cost of materials - 'fix' releases of product when reporting software problems with money back guarentee if problems not fixed within 3 months of reported date (small shipping/handling charge required only) - opportunity to provide input towards development of future releases of product - opportunity to request customisation of system unique to your organisation Remember - shareware is based on your honesty. If you like this product and you continue to use it after your initial evaluation, then you should register it. If you do not register after the evaluation period you are breaking the license agreement and should discontinue to use the product. To register this product, select the relevant file according to the country in which you live: REGISTUS.TXT - USA, REGISTCA.TXT - Canada or REGISTUK.TXT - UK and other countries. Complete the details in the file using your favourite text editor or print it and complete the details by hand then send a copy of the print (or email the file) to Instinctive Systems. Once your registration has been received, we will send you a codeword. On receipt of your codeword, you should select 'R' on opening BookKeeper screen and enter the codeword into the system to complete the registration process. After Sales Support ─────────────────── Software Support Service ──────────────────────── We offer a free product support service to all registered users of our software as detailed in the Registration section of this document. Our Support Service can help you with any problems encountered whilst using our products as specified in the user guide. The office is not manned on a permanent basis since the shareware software side of the business does not currently warrant this and the development team are often contracted to larger client sites in between shareware development phases for several weeks or more at a time. As a result we prefer to insist that registered users correspond with us by mail /fax/email for which there is generally a 3 to 5 day turnaround, whenever possible and since our current registration fees are extremely competitive, we are reluctant to telephone customers directly and incur costly long distance telephone charges unless absolutely necessary. So far this strategy has benefited both our customers and ourselves, however, if a situation is reached where we can no longer operate this way, we will then of course have to pass on our additional costs to our users by means of higher registration fees and support charges. In order for us to help you as quickly as possible, please ensure that you quote the following details on all correspondance Your name Your company name Your address Your telephone number The product version number Date registered Software Bugs ───────────── This software has been produced and tested with a great deal of care and attention to detail. Every effort has been made to ensure that the product works correctly as specified in the user guide. Rigorous testing has been done to ensure that the product operates to a high standard. However, as with any software product, you may find that problems occur under certain circumstances which we could not test for. In these cases, We will endeavour to fix any errors reported to us in writing. ASP Ombudsman Policy ──────────────────── This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. Product Upgrades ──────────────── All registered users of this product will be informed when upgraded versions of this product become available. It is anticipated that future releases of BookKeeper for DOS will be minor maintenance fix releases only. A major new release of BookKeeper for Windows may be released in the long term. All registered users will be informed if this takes place. Customer Comments ───────────────── Upgrades to this and our other packages are based on feedback from yourselves, our customers. If you feel that there is a feature missing from this package, or that it could be improved upon in any way, then please let us know. Our aim is to make the products you want to use! Other Instinctive Systems Products and Services ─────────────────────────────────────────────── Instinctive Systems is also the developer of Book-It Membership and Activity Booking System for Windows, a club membership system aimed at hobbiest clubs / sports clubs and small holiday and activity companies, contact your local shareware vendor for more information, or download the software from library 16 on the WINSHARE forum on Compuserve (BOOKIT.ZIP). In addition to production of software packages such as BookKeeper, we offer custom database application development and consultancy in using MS Foxpro for Windows and MS Visual Foxpro. Current rates are approximately £900pw + expenses. Please call or write for further details