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LEDGER User's Manual Copyright (C) 1985,1986,1987 Tees & Tees Inc. Version Number 1.64 Program by Donald L. Tees _________________________ Manual by Donald and Heather Tees _________________________________ The computer program LEDGER is copyrighted. ______ Copying without permission is unlawful and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Permission is hereby granted to purchasers of LEDGER to copy the program for backup purposes ______ only. It is understood that the copies will be for use on a single computer and using them on additional computers will be grounds for both prosecution and the revoking of backup privileges. The LEDGER manual is also fully protected by ______ the copyright laws. It may not be reproduced by any means or in any form. Copyright (C), 1987, Tees & Tees Inc. (519) 741-9100 Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Introduction Introduction LEDGER is a completely new and entirely unique approach ______ to computerized bookkeeping. The most commonly used computerized bookkeeping systems single-step you through financial transactions. In contrast, LEDGER presents a set ______ of books on the screen so that you can edit them. As a result, LEDGER resembles the "what you see is what you get" ______ style of word processor far more than it resembles the typical bookkeeping package. For this reason, LEDGER could ______ be described as a "ledger editor": a ledger editor which allows you to bring up a set of books on your computer screen, and then change, insert, delete, or re-arrange the data to your heart's content. LEDGER defines a set of books as a single computer file ______ with two types of elements: account numbers with their names and budgets, and transactions with dates, cross-references, comments, and debits/credits. The computer file can range from a single entry set of books such as a cheque-book to a complete double entry ledger. LEDGER displays and prints the ______ data as a ledger organized by account or as a journal organized by date. At your command, LEDGER can search for specific amounts ______ or transactions, automatically generate reports, or transfer data from one set of books to another. In addition, LEDGER ______ can condense groups of transactions into single balance forward entries, extract specific portions of a set of books into temporary ledgers, and forward them to a different set. A bookkeeping system, on the other hand, is more than a set of ledgers. A bookkeeping system includes procedures for the storing and preserving of original documents. Decisions must be made regarding the level of detail to be recorded and what ledgers are to be used. Procedures for month-end and year-end must be set up and followed. It is only by adding all of these aspects to LEDGER that LEDGER becomes a ______ ______ bookkeeping package. LEDGER is a fast and efficient tool for ______ bookkeeping; it is not a bookkeeper. Having said all this, your first reaction might be that LEDGER is incomplete. It is. However, it is incomplete by ______ design. We decided that LEDGER should do very specific ______ things and leave out other specific things. To illustrate why, consider the following comparison between LEDGER and a ______ word processor. ---1--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Long before word processors, computers were processing words. There were, for example, letter writing systems. One screen allowed you to enter names and addresses. Another screen allowed you to fill in text. A third was used for the salutation and the closing. The computer then printed hundreds of form letters. What was unique about the first word processor was not that the program manipulated text but that it columnated, paginated, edited and printed any text: not just form letters, any text. While the concept of the general purpose ___ word processor seems obvious in retrospect, it took many years before specific text processing systems evolved into word processing. Today's computerized bookkeeping systems resemble the text processors of ten years ago. Each computerized bookkeeping system incorporates the programmer's methods for controlling a set of books. Worse yet, each is designed to keep a particular set of books. What ledgers are to be kept, when data is to be extracted from one and cross-posted to another, what corrections can and cannot be made --- each choice is predecided and predesigned into the system. This predetermination is the weakness. Each type of bookkeeping is treated as a new computer system; each type of ledger is treated as a completely different entity. You may have a cheque writing system, or an invoice writing system, or an inventory system, but all three are quite distinct programs. As a ledger editor, LEDGER is quite different. You may ______ keep as many ledgers as you wish. These may vary from a single general ledger if you have a small business to several functional sets if you are a large company. The rules for setting up and managing the books are determined by you. Any ledger that can be kept with pen and paper can be kept with LEDGER. ______ With LEDGER, you will have an unparalleled degree of ______ versatility and you will not be limited to the transaction types contained in a menu. Furthermore, since the screen looks exactly like a standard "paper and ink" ledger, the experienced bookkeeper will find the system almost instinctive to use. Yet LEDGER also provides great power. ______ The disadvantage is that you must learn the art of bookkeeping. LEDGER will not improve poor bookkeeping ______ practices; it will not stop you from destroying records; it will not organize your books; it will not prevent fraud. In fact, it will allow you to indulge in all these vices at a greater speed and make it look quite official, coming from a computer and all. ---2--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 LEDGER will allow any method of bookkeeping, including ______ _________ poor bookkeeping. While realizing that LEDGER's ability to ______ allow poor bookkeeping is a weakness, we also feel that LEDGER's versatility is its strength. ______ Using this Manual Using this Manual The LEDGER manual has been designed like the LEDGER ______ ______ system for maximum use with minimum effort. The first section is organized as a bookkeeping course which will step you through the simplified set of books included on the distribution disk. By the end of this section, you should have a fundamental understanding of both bookkeeping and LEDGER. In successive chapters, we will expand the ______ sophistication of these books and help you work your way through specialized reporting, year-ends, and other more advanced uses of LEDGER. ______ In addition, there are several appendices. Appendix I is a condensed version of the LEDGER command set. You may ______ wish to remove this appendix and use it as a reference guide. Appendix II deals with setting up diskettes for LEDGER. Appendix III tells you how to implement LEDGER on a ______ ______ hard disk. Appendix IV deals with printers. Don't bother with this section if you have an IBM compatible printer. Further appendices contain specialized information for programmers and a hodgepodge of technical information for the curious. You can ignore these latter appendices if you like. We have used a few conventions in writing this manual to avoid confusion and make the manual as easy as possible to use. First, commands are printed in upper case so that you will know that you must type each letter on your computer screen. Secondly, single key strokes are preceded and succeeded by left and right angle brackets. For instance, we may ask you to type END and you will type an <e>, an <n> and a <d>. But if we ask you to press the End <e> <n> <d> key, the word "end" will be displayed thus, <End>. <End> Your keyboard has two carriage return keys. The first return key is to the right of the QWERTY portion of the ______ keyboard. Some keyboards have very large return keys with the word "Return" prominently displayed. Other keyboards have smaller return keys imprinted with a leftward facing hooked arrow. The second return key is to the right of numeric portion of the keyboard and is usually labeled "Enter". When we ask you to press <CR>, use either of these <CR> two keys. ---3--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Finally, we feel every LEDGER user should realize and ______ understand the importance of record storage, backup of floppy disks and the proper organization of account numbers; we feel we would be remiss in our duties to you, our users, if we did not cover these subjects. As a result, this manual will also discuss the best way for you to handle these particular needs. We urge you to start at Chapter One and work your way through the manual. The manual has been designed to be used in conjunction with LEDGER. If you are an experienced ______ bookkeeper or accountant, the examples may seem trivial. The exercise, however, will ensure that we are talking the same language and that you have a complete understanding of LEDGER's capabilities. ______ So turn on your computer and let's go. ---4--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 1 - Getting Started Lesson 1 - Getting Started The first step in using LEDGER is to create a boot disk ______ or a LEDGER area on your hard disk. If you have a floppy ______ disk system, follow the instructions in Appendix II. If you have a hard disk, follow the instructions in Appendix III. Each of the lessons on LEDGER will assume that you have ______ booted the computer from a LEDGER diskette or have switched ______ to the LEDGER area on your hard disk. ______ When the prompt appears, type the command LEDGER DEMO. LEDGER DEMO It doesn't need to be typed in upper case, but the command must be followed by a <CR>. Your computer will display the <CR> first LEDGER screen: the ledger page. Please note that if ______ you have been fooling around with the demo file before this lesson, you may start with the journal page instead of the ledger page. The word "Ledger" should be at the right on the third line from the bottom. If it isn't, press the <F4> key <F4> (located to the left of your keyboard) to call up the ledger page. Now, let's examine the screen line by line. The Ledger Mode Screen ---5--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╗ ║LEDGER-V1.64 Copyright(C)1986, Tees & Tees Inc. DEMO 86/04/24 19:10║ ║Account 11-001 Bank Account Number 123-45678 ║ ║ Date Ref. C o m m e n t Debit Credit Balance ║ ╠══╤══╤══╦═══════╦═════════════════════════╦════════╤══╦════ ════╤══╦════════╤════╣ ║84│08│31║F#00000║Year end Balance 1983/84 ║ 4808│56║ │ ║ 4808│56db║ ║84│09│02║C#00126║Abc Car Lease ║ │ ║ 329│56║ 4479│00db║ ║84│09│07║C#00136║Draw against profits ║ │ ║ 1400│00║ 3079│00db║ ║84│09│10║F#00001║Deposit ║ 4730│56║ │ ║ 7809│56db║ ║84│09│20║C#00137║Draw against profits ║ │ ║ 1400│00║ 6409│56db║ ║84│10│01║C#00125║Abc Car Lease ║ │ ║ 329│56║ 6080│00db║ ║84│10│01║C#00141║Revenue Canada ║ │ ║ 1102│67║ 4977│33db║ ║84│10│01║C#00142║Province of Ontario ║ │ ║ 50│00║ 4927│33db║ ║84│10│01║F#00001║Deposit ║ 4437│31║ │ ║ 9364│64db║ ║84│10│04║C#00139║Draw against profits ║ │ ║ 1400│00║ 7964│64db║ ║84│10│07║C#00140║Draw against profits ║ │ ║ 1400│00║ 6564│64db║ ║84│10│18║C#00143║Draw against profits ║ │ ║ 1400│00║ 5164│64db║ ║84│10│31║F#00001║Service Charge ║ │ ║ 3│36║ 5161│28db║ ║84│11│01║C#00145║Draw against profits ║ │ ║ 1400│00║ 3761│28db║ ║84│11│14║C#00147║Draw against profits ║ │ ║ 1400│00║ 2361│28db║ ║84│11│14║C#00146║Abc Car Lease ║ │ ║ 377│56║ 1983│72db║ ║84│11│15║F#00001║Deposit ║ 4454│56║ │ ║ 6438│28db║ ╠══╧══╧══╩═══════╩═════════════════════════╩════════╧══╩════ ════╧══╩════════╧════╣ ║──────────────────────────────────────Page:001───────────0. 00-Cr--01%--Ledger───║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╝ At the top left is the word "LEDGER" and a version ---6--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 number which is to a computer program what a model number is to a car or appliance. Next is the copyright message. LEDGER is copyrighted by Tees & Tees Inc. The file name ______ "DEMO" follows. DEMO needs a bit more explaining. To LEDGER, a set of books consists of a disk file. ______ While your bookkeeping system may consist of several ledgers, LEDGER does not differentiate between them. For ______ example, you may have three bank accounts each with its own pass book. To a bookkeeper, each pass book is a small ledger. To LEDGER, each pass book could be a separate disk ______ file. When you typed the command LEDGER DEMO, you told the computer to run the program "LEDGER". You also told LEDGER ______ that the set of books to be edited is a disk file called "DEMO". In the top line, LEDGER is telling you that the file ______ it is currently using is indeed the DEMO file. With the LEDGER package, the amount of data you keep in ______ each file is your decision. You may have your entire set of books in one big file or you may wish to keep receivables in one file, payables in another, and a third file (a general ledger) to consolidate them. At this stage, the key issue is that each set of books is a file, and that the name of the file with which you are working is displayed in the top line. To the right of the file name is the current date and time. If you did not set the time and date when starting your computer, it will be wrong. Don't worry. The date and time are for your convenience only and are not used by LEDGER. ______ The second line of the LEDGER screen is an account ______ number and name. Account numbers are very important to bookkeeping. In essence, each account number is a category. Financial transactions are categorized by assigning them an account number. The categories are arbitrary, although certain types of accounts are conventional and others may be dictated by tax law. For example, there may be two tax rates for two different types of revenue. By setting up two different account numbers and assigning all revenue to one or the other, you can keep track of each type of revenue. The account numbers that you use in your business will depend upon the type of categorization that you want on your financial reports. We will deal with setting up accounts later. For now, the account that you are looking at is a bank account. The LEDGER account number is 11-001, and the LEDGER ______ ______ account name is "Bank Account 123-45678". Just to clarify Bank Account 123-45678 matters, the account number and name are assigned by you to ---7--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 categorize transactions for this bank account. The number "123-45678" is the bank's account number and has nothing to _______ do with your accounting. The third line of the screen is a header for the rest of the page. It simply tells you what is in each column. Now come the financial transactions for the bank account. Each transaction has a date, a reference number, a comment, a debit or credit, and the balance. The reference numbers are entered with the transaction; they serve to help you find any supporting documentation. For example, C#00123 means cheque number one hundred and twenty-three, and you could find the canceled cheque in your files by knowing this number. A reference number of F#00010 may mean that the source document is filed in folder number ten. The comment is for your own information, the debit or credit is the amount, and the balance is a running total of the amount in the bank account. Later, we will get into when to debit an account and when to credit an account. At the bottom of the screen are three more lines. The topmost of the three is the status line. This line will give you error messages, the current page number, the file balance, how much room is left in the file, and the current mode. More on modes momentarily. Currently, there are no errors, you are on page one in ledger mode (note the word "Ledger" at the right) and you have used 1% of the space available in the file. If the percentage is greater than 1, you have a smaller machine than we do. That's too bad because you won't be able to cram as much into each file. Below the status line are two lines of prompts. Prompts tell you what keys to use or what to do next. With this screen, there are seventeen special keys that you can use: they are listed in these two lines. We will return to these keys in a future lesson. For now, press the <F3> key at the left of your <F3> keyboard. The message "sorting" will appear briefly on the status line and the screen will change. Notice the word "Journal" at the left of the status line. You have just changed "modes" from ledger mode to journal mode. Journal mode lists financial transactions as they happen in order of date. Since the transactions are for different accounts, the account number is included on the transaction line. In addition, there is no running balance at the right. Such a balance would be meaningless in a journal where transactions are of all categories. ---8--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 The Journal Mode Screen ---9--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╗ ║LEDGER-V1.64 Copyright(C)1986, Tees & Tees Inc. DEMO 86/04/24 19:10║ ║ Date Account Ref. C o m m e n t Debit Credit ║ ╠══╤══╤══╦════════╦═══════╦═════════════════════════════╦═══ ═════╤══╦═════════╤══╣ ║84│08│31║ 11-001 ║F#00000║ Year end Balance 1983/84 ║ 4808│56║ │ ║ ║84│08│31║ 11-002 ║F#00000║ Year end Balance 1983/84 ║ 3755│62║ │ ║ ║84│08│31║ 12-001 ║F#00000║ Year end Balance 1983/84 ║ 1000│00║ │ ║ ║84│08│31║ 12-002 ║F#00000║ Year end Balance 1983/84 ║ 820│00║ │ ║ ║84│08│31║ 12-003 ║F#00000║ Year end Balance 1983/84 ║ │ ║ 467│48║ ║84│08│31║ 23-001 ║F#00000║ Year end Balance 1983/84 ║ │ ║ 1152│67║ ║84│08│31║ 30-001 ║F#00000║ Year end Balance 1983/84 ║ │ ║ 20│00║ ║84│08│31║ 30-002 ║F#00000║ Year end Balance 1983/84 ║ │ ║ 8744│03║ ║84│09│02║ 11-001 ║C#00126║ Abc Car Lease ║ │ ║ 329│56║ ║84│09│02║ 70-005 ║C#00126║ Abc Car Lease ║ 329│56║ │ ║ ║84│09│07║ 11-001 ║C#00136║ Draw against profits ║ │ ║ 1400│00║ ║84│09│07║ 13-002 ║C#00136║ Draw against profits ║ 1400│00║ │ ║ ║84│09│10║ 11-001 ║F#00001║ Deposit ║ 4730│56║ │ ║ ║84│09│10║ 60-003 ║F#00001║ Documentation for Joe ║ │ ║ 4730│56║ ║84│09│15║ 11-002 ║F#00001║ Deposit ║ 1636│17║ │ ║ ║84│09│15║ 60-002 ║F#00001║ Income from KWICREF ║ │ ║ 1636│17║ ║84│09│20║ 11-001 ║C#00137║ Draw against profits ║ │ ║ 1400│00║ ║84│09│20║ 13-002 ║C#00137║ Draw against profits ║ 1400│00║ │ ║ ╠══╧══╧══╩════════╩═══════╩═════════════════════════════╩═══ ═════╧══╩═════════╧══╣ ║──────────────────────────────────────Page:001───────────0. 00-Cr--01%--Journal──║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╝ If you press <F3> again, a message will appear on the <F3> ---10--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 status line telling you that you cannot switch to journal mode because you are already in journal mode. Press <F4>. <F4> This key will switch you back to ledger mode. Press it again and see what happens. Switch from ledger mode to journal mode several times and try to spot some of the same transactions expressed in both journal and ledger mode. Finally, press <F2>. A prompt line will appear at the <F2> bottom of the screen with the word "Return" highlighted. Press the <G> twice to move the highlight over to "Quit". < > _ Press the <CR> key. The message "Changes will be lost! <CR> Confirm: No/Yes" appears. The "No" is highlighted. Press the <G> to highlight the Yes. Press <CR>, LEDGER will exit to < > <CR> __ ______ DOS and you are back where you started. ---11--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 1 - Summary Lesson 1 - Summary Start LEDGER with the command LEDGER and the name of ______ the set of books with which you are working. There are two different "modes" or ways to display transactions. When data is displayed in ledger mode, each page has only one account on it with the running balance of that account. When data is displayed in journal mode, each transaction is listed in order of date and account numbers are part of the transactions. Account numbers are categories for financial transactions and should be set up according to your business needs. For example, a typical account number will incorporate all transactions for your chequing account. Another account number will incorporate all telephone expense. The <F2> key, labeled "CMD" in the prompt line, allows <F2> you to choose commands. The command QUIT exits from LEDGER. ______ ---12--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ There is no situation so bad that ║ ║ it cannot be fouled up more with ║ ║ a computer. ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════╝ ---13--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 2 - Using the Keyboard Lesson 2 - Using the Keyboard If you look at the numeric keypad to the left of your keyboard, you will notice that most keys have both a number and a second symbol on them. For example, the <7> key has <7> the word "Home" on it. This keypad is supposedly for fast entry of numbers, much the same as for an adding machine. Unfortunately, IBM designed the keypad to fill two separate functions. As a result, the keypad does either function well but both together quite poorly. The <Num Lock> at the top of the keypad is used the <Num Lock> same as <Caps Lock> for upper/lower case letters. If you <Caps Lock> press <Num Lock> once, each key represents a number. <Num Lock> Pressing it again switches the keys back to the secondary functions. In effect, each time <Num Lock> is pressed, the <Num Lock> keypad changes function from numeric to secondary, or vice versa. This change of function can be a first class pain if you want to use both the numbers and the function keys. Alternatively, you can leave <Num Lock> in one position and <Num Lock> use the shift key whenever you need a key of the other type. This is almost as painful. Rather than continuously switching back and forth, we recommend that you leave the keypad in the secondary mode and use the numbers on the top row of the keyboard. LEDGER ______ uses the secondary functions extensively. Then again, it also uses numbers extensively. From now on, we are going to refer to the secondary functions by name: <Home>, <H>, <Home> < > <PgDn>, etc. We will not qualify them with "hold the shift <PgDn> key down and type..." Let's get started with Lesson 2. Begin LEDGER with the DEMO file by typing LEDGER DEMO. ______ The screen will come up with the bank account ledger page. If the screen displays journal mode, switch to ledger mode by pressing <F4>. You should note that LEDGER writes the <F4> ______ mode when it writes the file. When you start editing a file, the screen that is displayed first is the one that was being displayed the last time you exited. At the upper right hand corner of the transactions is the cursor: the flashing square. The cursor marks the spot on the screen where you can enter data. Several special keys on the numeric pad are used for moving the cursor. The , which is the same key as the < > ---14--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 <2>, moves the cursor down one line. If you hold the key <2> down, the cursor will continue moving until it reaches the bottom transaction. In a similar fashion, the <H>, <E> and < > < > <G> keys move the cursor in the indicated directions. Try < > each of these keys, both by pressing the key once, then by holding it down. You will notice as the cursor moves around that it skips certain screen locations (or "fields"). LEDGER places ______ the cursor only where you are allowed to enter data. In addition, LEDGER will not allow you to enter data of an ______ incorrect type into a screen position. To illustrate this restriction, move the cursor to a date and try to type a letter. Doesn't work, does it? Furthermore, if you check the status line you will see its other use: error messages go there. If you wait a moment, LEDGER will erase the error ______ message so that you can blunder along and make more mistakes. LEDGER is particularly adept at showing up your ______ shortcomings; it can change error messages almost but probably not quite as quickly as you can make the errors. Let's look at some more keys. The <Home> key will move <Home> the cursor to the upper left corner of the screen. <Tab> <Tab> moves the cursor to the first character of the next column. <BACKSPACE> moves the cursor back to the first character of <BACKSPACE> the current field or the first character of the previous field. Try each of these keys until you understand what they do. In addition to moving the cursor, there are three keys that let you scan through the file. Press the <PgDn> key. <PgDn> "PgDn" is a contraction of "page down" and tells LEDGER to ______ go to the next page. Here you will see the second page of the ledger: a continuation of your banking transactions. Press <PgUp> to return to Page One. Press <PgUp> again and <PgUp> <PgUp> you will get a message saying that you cannot go back a page since you are already on Page One. The <End> key takes you <End> to the last page of the file. If you press <PgDn> now, you <PgDn> will get another message telling you that you can't continue because you are already on the last page. Now that you know how to page through the ledger, let's look at some other pages. Find Page Three. Here, you will see a second bank account. Notice that we have used a second account number for it. Each bank account has a separate account number because you will want to keep the transactions for each bank account separate. Merging these transactions is not desirable. If you check back, you will see that Pages Two and Three have fewer transactions than Page One. In ledger mode, you always start a new page for a ---15--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 new account so that the running balance at the left is meaningful. By paging through the ledger, you can see exactly how our hypothetical small business is doing. Advance to Page Seven which lists the monies removed from the firm by the owner. During the period, several draws were taken and the left column shows exactly how much was owing on any given date. One payment made out-of-pocket reduced the debt. Pages Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen show how much revenue was generated by the company. The revenue is neatly classified by source so the owner knows which areas are producing revenue. Pages Fourteen, Fifteen, and Sixteen list expenses. Again, they are classified by account number. If you remember Lesson One, we told you that account numbers were very important to bookkeeping, and that the choosing of account numbers was an important decision. Here, you can see the effects of that choice. Each account number results in a ledger page. You could classify all expenses under one number but you would get very little use out of such a classification. For example, if you wanted to monitor heating costs you should have an account number for them; you would then have a ledger page showing a month-by-month summary of heating costs. To end this session, let's go back to the journal. Press <F3>. Use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to explore the <F3> <PgUp> <PgDn> journal. Having seen the ledgers, you're probably wondering what's the use of a journal. After all, a journal contains the same information as a ledger, but the information is not organized in nearly as useful a manner. A journal, however, simplifies data entry. When entering information, you certainly don't want to have to page through the ledger looking for individual account pages. Instead, you enter transactions and the appropriate account number for each transaction to the journal. When you press <F4>, LEDGER <F4> ______ takes those journal entries and sorts them onto the appropriate ledger pages for you. Voila! _____ It may be of interest to know that manual systems are usually run in exactly the same manner. As transactions happen, they are journalized, or entered into a two column journal. The bookkeeper then "posts" each transaction to a ledger sheet. Posting may be done weekly or monthly. With LEDGER, however, there is one major difference. In a manual ______ system, the journal and ledger are two separate books. LEDGER keeps one set of records, then re-sorts them into ______ ---16--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 journal or ledger format. And LEDGER posts whenever you ______ want, not just once a week or once a month. There are a large number of computer bookkeeping systems that also journalize into one file, and then post out of that file into a second file. The result of having two separate files, instead of one file as LEDGER has, is ______ that you double the chances of error. Nevertheless, the two separate files approach is seldom questioned as ledger/journal bookkeeping systems go back to the days of Dickens and beyond. It never seems to have occurred to the designers of computerized bookkeeping systems that Bob Cratchit might have done things differently if he had had his own microcomputer. Now that you know all about the differences between ledger entries and journal entries, exit from LEDGER by ______ pressing the <CMD> key (<F2>) and selecting the Quit option. <CMD> <F2> Lesson 2 - Summary Lesson 2 - Summary The keys on the numeric pad move the cursor around and allow you to page through your books. In ledger mode, all transactions are organized by account number, and you may explore the various categories of revenue, expense, and cash on hand. Journal mode, however, allows fast data entry. Use it to enter transactions as they happen. ---17--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 3 - About Files and Backup Lesson 3 - About Files and Backup A wag once defined a computer as a machine that allows you to make a million mistakes a second: a definition closer to the truth than we would like to admit. Keeping your records on a computer is much different than keeping them on paper. With paper, it takes a fair amount of effort to erase a ledger. With a computer, it takes a moment's inattention. To make matters worse, mechanical failure can render your disk unreadable. The flip side of this is that the computer can duplicate your records quite easily on either diskette or paper. Extra copies may be left with your accountant or simply taken home and put in a safe place. Proper storage of copies can give you a safer system than a manual set of books. Even if your business burns to the ground, a borrowed computer and a copy of your accounts receivable file could keep you going. On the other hand, the loss of your accounts payable file might be of less concern to you. The duplication of computer files is called BACKUP. The BACKUP importance of backup cannot be overstated. It is expected that new computer users will be severely burned at least once before they learn to do backup on a regular basis. No amount of pleading by experienced users will convince the neophyte. Only complete disaster makes an impression. Even if you are convinced of the importance of backup, two or three months of smooth running will foster complacency. But you would be wise to remember that if you relax your guard for even a moment, your computer is lying in wait to get you! In an effort to thwart the evil intentions of your computer, we are going to cover basic backup commands in this lesson. Later, we will discuss procedures and schedules for backup. The computer keeps all information on disk as files. We have already discussed the set of books as a file, but there are other types of files as well. Computer programs are also files. When you type the command LEDGER, you are telling the computer to get a program file called "LEDGER" and execute the instructions in it. When you do backup, it is important to have copies not only of your books but also of your programs. Data is of no use to you if you can't use it. As a starting point, let's look at the files on a disk. Start your computer and type the command DIR <CR>. This <CR> command asks the computer for a disk directory. You should see a five column list appear on your screen. The first two ---18--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 columns are the file name and file extension. The computer uses a two part name for all files. When you type a file name, the name comes first, then a dot, and then the extension. For example, "DEMO.LDG" is a file name. There should be a version of this file on your disk and you should see it in the list in front of you (the disk directory does not show the dot between the file name and extension). The disk directory should also show a file named "LEDGER.EXE" which is the LEDGER program. The convention with file names ______ is to use the first part of the file name as a name and the second part (after the dot) as a file type. For example, most programs will be ".EXE" or ".COM" files and sets of books will always be ".LDG" files. The command LEDGER DEMO uses the files "LEDGER.EXE" and "DEMO.LDG". The other three columns in the directory screen are the size of the file in characters, the date the file was created, and the time the file was created. Now you are going to learn to make copies of disks. Don't panic. It is really very simple and hardly anything ever goes wrong. First, go and get a second floppy diskette. Try to find a formatted one. If you have been using a diskette for something else, it is already formatted and you can save yourself the bother of formatting a disk (using the instructions in your DOS manual). To make your second copy, type COPY, the name of the file to be copied, where it is and where it is to be copied to. For example, the command COPY A:DEMO.LDG B: means copy the file DEMO.LDG which is on drive A onto drive B. To copy the file back again, the command would be COPY B:DEMO.LDG A: which means copy the file DEMO.LDG which is on drive B onto drive A. Try both of these commands. A hard disk is drive C, so if you have a hard disk, practise the copy exercise from C to A, then A to C. Do directory commands on both disks so that you can see that the file has been copied. (You do a DIR on a different disk by including the drive specification in the command, i.e. DIR B:.) To save time, the copy command allows the asterisk (*) to mean all files or all extensions. For example, the command COPY A:*.LDG B: means copy all files on drive A that have the extension ".LDG" onto drive B. Alternatively, the command COPY A:LEDGER.* B: means copy all files on drive A that have the file name LEDGER, regardless of the extension, onto drive B. The safest command is COPY A:*.* B: which means copy all files on drive A to drive B. If you're afraid you might forget to copy some vital bit of information, the *.* command is the best way to ensure that all files are ---19--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 copied. Try each of these commands and assure yourself that you understand them. This is probably a good time to mention the date and time facility of DOS. We said earlier that the date and time at the top of the LEDGER screens are not used by the system. ______ They are not used by LEDGER but they are used by DOS. You ______ will notice when you do directory commands that each file is time and date stamped. Six months from now, you may want to know when these files were created. If you do not enter the date or time when you boot the computer, the directory date and time will be incorrect. It is a good idea to enter both at startup. Better yet, buy a clock board with a battery. These boards are quite inexpensive and provide a valuable adjuvant to managing your computer files. "Time is of the essence" when it comes to backup just as it is in law. The currency of any given diskette is vital. There is some automatic backup that is done for you by LEDGER. So far, you have always left LEDGER by using the ______ ______ command Quit. The Quit command leaves the ledger file Quit Quit unchanged, regardless of the changes you have made in the transactions. The command End, however, writes out the End edited ledger. When you edit the file DEMO.LDG, LEDGER ______ renames the original file DEMO.BAK. Then when you exit with the End command, the new file is written to disk as End DEMO.LDG. But the original file is still on the disk as DEMO.BAK. You can, therefore, "undo" the work you have just done by typing COPY DEMO.BAK DEMO.LDG which copies the original file DEMO.BAK over the new file DEMO.LDG. As an exercise, start LEDGER with the command LEDGER ______ DEMO, then type gibberish over the data on the first screen. Press <F2> and select the End command by using the arrow <F2> keys. Press <CR> and LEDGER will end the session. Now, <CR> ______ restore the file as it was. If you managed to restore the file to its original pristine condition all by yourself, you may collect $200 and pass GO. If you didn't, go to jail. But don't panic, we'll bail you out this once. Re-read the previous two paragraphs, then type the COPY DEMO.BAK DEMO.LDG command. This command copies the file DEMO.BAK over top of DEMO.LDG and restores the original screen. If you aren't too shaken by your experience, enter and leave LEDGER a few times, checking the time in the disk ______ directory. Do this exercise until you are confident that you know not only what is happening but also how to fix catastrophic errors. ---20--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Now you know how to protect yourself from your computer. When one of your neophyte friends tells you his/her tale of woe --- how the computer ate a week's hard slog --- you can look very wise and say, "But why didn't you just restore from backup?". Comments such as this will undoubtedly ensure that your books are in better shape than your friendships. You may have noticed that floppy disks come with little sticky labels. They are not to be used for decoration or given to your children to cut out into pretty little stars. When placed over the notch on the upper right side of your disks, these labels, or write protect tabs, stop your computer from writing over or erasingfiles. The principle is the same as removing the little tabs on treasured cassette tapes. To protect your floppy disks from the machinations of your computer and to provide permanent records, it is a good idea to put these labels on copies of your books quarterly and at year-end. Lesson 3 - Summary Lesson 3 - Summary Backup is the process of making secondary copies of disk files . The copies can be in printed form or on another disk. Regular backup is crucial to proper computer management. LEDGER has some built-in backup procedures, but ______ the copying of disk files on a regular basis will be a guarantee against disastrous loss of data. LEDGER has two methods of exit: the QUIT command and ______ the END command. QUIT leaves the file unchanged, regardless of what was done during the LEDGER run. END renames the ______ original file from "x.LDG" to "x.BAK" so that there is a backup version of the file. LEDGER then writes out the new ______ version of the file under the original name. As a final note, there is a DOS "COPYDISK" facility. This program will make additional copies of entire disks. The "COPY" facility that you have just been using is a program that only copies files. While copying entire disks is a perfectly adequate backup method, the COPYDISK program cannot be used with a hard disk. In addition, there is no selection in the process; you cannot copy one file and leave another because all files will be copied. If you choose to backup this way, you should still understand files and how to copy them so that, in case of problems, you can selectively restore the ledgers you want. ---21--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 4 - Introduction to Reports Lesson 4 - Introduction to Reports LEDGER can produce a multitude of reports which can be ______ varied by typing in modifiers. In addition, the reported data changes significantly with the way the accounts are set up. With a full understanding of the system, you will be able to produce just about any kind of financial report. Unfortunately, before we can demonstrate reports, we have to have a working printer, and every printer seems to work differently. We may, therefore, have to diverge a few times to get your printer set up correctly. If you have a daisy wheel printer or any other kind of printer that requires you to feed paper into it one sheet at a time, read the next several paragraphs before you turn on your printer. If you have a continuous form printer, however, you may go ahead and turn on your computer and printer. Make sure there is paper in the printer and that the printer is at the top of a page. Start LEDGER on the ______ DEMO file. Then type an <ALT 7> by holding down the <Alt> <ALT 7> <Alt> key and pressing the number <7> key. The printer will print <7> the screen that is currently being displayed. In this case, it should be the bank ledger sheet. If the message "Printer not Ready ..." appears, your printer is not ready to print. Fix the problem and try again. Hopefully, your printer will work this time. If it doesn't, despite all your best efforts, start phoning all the computer people you know. Maybe one of them will be able to figure out what you're doing wrong. (Did you plug it in?) If your printer does work, tear off the page just printed and bring it back to the computer. Press <F2>, the CMD key, which allows you to enter <F2> commands. Previously, you have selected QUIT to quit the QUIT other lessons. This time, select the command Printer which Printer allows you to tell LEDGER about your printer. When you type ______ the <CR>, a page will appear on the screen. At the top of <CR> the page are seven lines, each with a <Y> or <N> on the right which stand for "Yes" or "No". By entering <Y> or <N> <Y> <N> in the appropriate places, you can tell LEDGER how to print ______ a page. ---22--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 The Printer Setup Screen ---23--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╗ ║LEDGER-V1.64 Copyright(C)1986, Tees & Tees Inc. DEMO 86/04/24 19:12║ ║ Printer Setup ║ ║ ║ ║ Allow graphic characters (Y/N).....<Y> ║ ║ Top line on screen print (Y/N).....<Y> ║ ║ Status line on screen print (Y/N)..<Y> ║ ║ Formfeed before screen print (Y/N).<Y> ║ ║ Output line feeds (Y/N)............<Y><55> ║ ║ Pause for paper on pages (Y/N).....<N> ║ ║ Print Title page (Y/N).............<Y> ║ ║Initialize Report for: ║ ║ Account Numbers................... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Budgets........................... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Cross-Reference Accounts.......... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Journal........................... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Ledger............................ 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Regular Statement................. 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Two Column Comparative Statement.. 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Three Column Comparative Statement 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Four Column Comparative Statement. 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Condensed Statement............... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Budget Report..................... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║──────────────────────────────────────Page:001───────────0. 00-Cr--01%--Journal──║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╝ Look at the page you just printed. Are there nice lines ---24--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 on it like those on the screen, or do you have funny characters instead of lines and decimal points? If the printout looks good, you're in clover because you have an IBM compatible printer. If your printout is covered in hieroglyphics or you do not want the lines, change the <Y> in the top line to an <N>. This command tells LEDGER that ______ your printer can only print letters and numbers. The second printer setup line determines whether the top screen line will be printed. If you do not want the copyright message to appear, type <N> into the second line <N> parameter to omit it. Similarly, you may tell LEDGER to omit ______ the status line at the bottom of the printout. LEDGER always starts a new page when <ALT 7> is typed. <ALT 7> ______ If you have a daisy wheel printer and put paper in it one sheet at a time, your paper will be ejected when you type <ALT 7> and the page will be typed onto the roller bar. <ALT 7> Change line four to an <N> to prevent such paper ejection. If your output is double spaced (some printers automatically start a new line on <CR>, some don't), change <CR> the "Output line feeds" line to an <N> to prevent double spacing. If you have a printer that requires paper to be put in one page at a time, change the "Pause for paper..." line to <Y>. This command will not affect <ALT 7> page printing but <ALT 7> it will be important for multi-page reports. Finally, if you don't want the current screen printed as a title page to your reports, enter <N> in the "Print <N> title page" line. When you have all the settings the way you want them, press the <End> key and LEDGER will write the settings onto <End> ______ the disk. You won't have to reset your settings each time because LEDGER reads the settings when it starts. ______ Now that that is over, we can get back to the reports. If the first page you printed was a dud, type <ALT 7> again. <ALT 7> <ALT 7> is the simplest report because it always prints <ALT 7> what's on the screen. Press <F8>. A list of report types will appear. <F8> The LEDGER Reports Screen ______ ---25--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╗ ║LEDGER-V1.64 Copyright(C)1986, Tees & Tees Inc. DEMO 86/04/24 19:11║ ║ ║ ║ Ledger Reports Menu ║ ║ ║ ║ > Print Account Numbers ║ ║ > Print Budgets ║ ║ > Print Cross-Reference Accounts ║ ║ > Print the Journal ║ ║ > Print the Ledger ║ ║ > Print a Regular Statement ║ ║ > Print a Two Column Comparative Statement ║ ║ > Print a Three Column Comparative Statement ║ ║ > Print a Four Column Comparative Statement ║ ║ > Print a Condensed Statement ║ ║ > Print the Budget Report ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║──────────────────────────────────────Page:001───────────0. 00-Cr--01%--Journal──║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╝ For simplicity and because you will need a list of the ---26--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 account numbers,choose the first report "Print Account Numbers" and press <CR>. Reports are chosen from the menu by <CR> positioning the cursor. Additional data will appear at the bottom of the screen, but ignore this for now and press <CR> <CR> again. The printer will start printing. First, the printer prints the current screen (i.e., the Reports Menu) as a title page unless you told it not to when you set up the printer parameters. Then, the list of account numbers will be printed. Each line will appear on the screen as it is printed so that you can follow the printout without going to the printer. If you want to stop the printer, press the <Esc> key and the report will be abandoned. When the <Esc> printer is finished, your screen will redisplay the ledger sheet. We want you, however, to also print a regular statement. So press <F8> again and move the cursor to the <F8> "Print a Regular Statement" line. Press <CR> twice. You will <CR> need copies of both the account numbers and the statement for the next paragraph. Both reports are two pages long, so if you have a sheet feed printer, you will have to hang around to feed the printer. But if you have a continuous form printer, this is probably a good time to get a coffee. Line up the printout of the account numbers beside the printout of the Financial Statement. Compare the two. When we talked earlier about accounts, we said that each account was a category for a type of financial transaction. The accounts listing, with the word "Posting" posting on the right, shows the categories available in this set of books. Now look at the Financial Statement. You can see that each posting account takes up a separate line in the statement and has an amount. If you checked the LEDGER screens, the ______ last running total for each account will match the amount on the statement. You will notice, however, that there are extra lines on both the Financial Statement and the accounts listing. On the Financial Statement, certain groups of accounts have sub-totals and each page of the Financial Statement has a title: "Balance Sheet" and "Profit/Loss Report". The extra accounts in the accounts listing correspond to the top-of- page lines and the sub-totals. If you look to the right of the accounts listing, you will see that the extra lines are not posting accounts but top-of-page accounts, start-of- group accounts, or end-of-group accounts. LEDGER allows you to put in these "extra" accounts so ______ that you can format a statement the way you want. They are not really accounts at all: at least, not in the traditional ---27--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 sense. They are really instructions to LEDGER for laying out ______ a report on the page. Top-of-page accounts are not listed as such on the accounts listing printout; but if you press <F5> which <F5> displays the account names and numbers you will see top-of- page accounts listed there. ---28--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 The Accounts Screen ---29--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╗ ║LEDGER-V1.64 Copyright(C)1986, Tees & Tees Inc. DEMO 86/04/24 19:11║ ║Account A c c o u n t N a m e Account Format ║ ║ ║ ║00-000 Balance Sheet D Top of page ║ ║09-999 D Start of group ║ ║ 10-000 Assets D Start of group ║ ║ 11-000 Cash Assets D Start of group ║ ║ 11-001 Bank Account Number 123-45678 D Posting ║ ║ 11-002 Bank Account Number 8765-12345 D Posting ║ ║ 11-003 Petty Cash D Posting ║ ║ 11-999 Cash Assets D End of group ║ ║ 12-000 Fixed Assets D Start of group ║ ║ 12-001 Computer Hardware D Posting ║ ║ 12-002 Office Equipment D Posting ║ ║ 12-003 Accrued Depr. D Posting ║ ║ 12-999 Fixed Assets D End of group ║ ║ 13-000 Misc. Assets D Start of group ║ ║ 13-001 Pre-Paid Expenses D Posting ║ ║ 13-002 Loans to Shareholders D Posting ║ ║ 13-003 Accounts Receivable D Posting ║ ║ 15-999 Misc. Assets D End of group ║ ║ ║ ║──────────────────────────────────────Page:001───────────0. 00-Cr--01%--Accounts─║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╝ LEDGER generates reports by going through the ledgers ______ ---30--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 in order of account. When LEDGER comes across a top-of-page ______ account, it starts a new page and uses the top-of-page account name as the title. Start- and end-of-group accounts are used in pairs. They surround a group of accounts as brackets surround groups of numbers in algebra. These group accounts may be nested: that is, a larger group may surround several smaller groups. You should be able to see an example of start- and end-of-group accounts on the two reports you have. A very basic concept of LEDGER is illustrated by these ______ reports. While we call one type of report a "statement", it is not necessarily a financial statement. The report is really a statement of your ledger sheet balances. Let's say that the DEMO file had been set up with each account number representing a customer. You have debited or credited the account when you invoiced or got paid by the customer. The account balances would then reflect what was owed to you by particular customers. Each account, in effect, would be a customer number and the statement would be a list of outstanding receivables. In accounting terms, a ledger set up this way is called "an accounts receivable ledger" and the report is called "an outstanding receivables report". You could label this report an Outstanding Receivables Report by pressing <F5> and changing the name of <F5> the top-of-page account. The ledger in the DEMO file is set up only as a general purpose accounting ledger (a general ledger), but in future lessons we will look at several types of specialized ledgers. We are going to end this lesson by illustrating a few more general report features. Press <F8> again. Move the <F8> cursor down to the "Print a Regular Statement" line and <CR>. We told you to ignore the data that appears at the <CR> bottom of the screen, but now is the time to explain it. The LEDGER Reports Screen ______ (with data for statement) ---31--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╗ ║LEDGER-V1.64 Copyright(C)1986, Tees & Tees Inc. DEMO 86/04/24 19:12║ ║ ║ ║ Ledger Reports Menu ║ ║ ║ ║ Print Account Numbers ║ ║ Print Budgets ║ ║ Print Cross-Reference Accounts ║ ║ Print the Journal ║ ║ Print the Ledger ║ ║ > Print a Regular Statement ║ ║ Print a Two Column Comparative Statement ║ ║ Print a Three Column Comparative Statement ║ ║ Print a Four Column Comparative Statement ║ ║ Print a Condensed Statement ║ ║ Print the Budget Report ║ ║ ║ ║ From Account <00-000> To Account <99-999> ║ ║ From Date <00/01/01> To Date <99/12/31> ║ ║ Transaction type <*> Destination ? <L> ║ ║ Report Name<C:LEDGER> ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║──────────────────────────────────────Page:001───────────0. 00-Cr--01%--Journal──║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╝ <Tab> down to the location labeled "Destination?". <Tab> ---32--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Replace the <L> with an <S> and press <CR>. You will see <S> <CR> that the report is now typed on your screen rather than on your printer. Reports can be directed to the list device (the printer), to the screen or to a disk file by placing an <L>, <S> or <F> into the destination parameter. <L> <S> <F> If you use the "F" option, the report will be put on your disk as a file, and the file name and disk drive will be specified on the bottom line. But why would anyone put a report on the disk? If you prepare financial reports with a word processor, the LEDGER report can be integrated into ______ your final write up. Try directing a statement to disk. The file name will have the extension ".RPT". If you check your directory, you will see that you have a new file named "LEDGER.RPT". Copy the file LEDGER.RPT to your word processor diskette and you will have your statement ready to include in your financial report. The other report options are very straight forward. You may limit your report to a specific range of accounts or a specific range of dates. For example, try displaying on your screen just the Balance Sheet, omitting the Profit/Loss Report. The Balance Sheet is that part of the statement from account 00-000 to account 50-000. Use the account range to specify these accounts and the destination specifier to direct the report to the screen. In a similar fashion, statements can be prepared for any period of time by using a specific range of dates. Please note that ranges include the end points. For example, 85/01/01 to 85/01/31 includes both January 1st and January 31st. This rule is true throughout LEDGER. ______ The transaction type option allows you to restrict your report to certain types of transactions. For example, with an accounts receivable ledger, you could restrict the report to invoices and leave out the payments by entering an in the "Transaction type" field. Your Outstanding Receivables Report has just turned into a Gross Sales by Customer Report. With that thought, we'll wrap up the lesson. Incidentally, please save the statement that you just produced. You'll need it for the next lesson. ---33--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 4 - Summary Lesson 4 - Summary Reports are controlled by the layout of the accounts;. Each report has quite a different purpose depending on the purpose of the ledger and the format you want to use. Posting accounts are the traditional type of accounts and are used to categorize transactions. Top-of-page accounts are used to split reports into pages and put titles at the top of the pages. Start- and end-of-group accounts are used in pairs to produce sub-totals. You can direct reports to your printer, your screen, or a file and you can also limit reports by specifying certain types of transactions or certain dates. ---34--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 5 - The General Ledger Lesson 5 - The General Ledger Up to this point, we have avoided the major part of accounting: that is, double entry bookkeeping. The concept of double entry is the most difficult aspect of bookkeeping to learn. Yet a through understanding of the concept is fundamental if you are going to keep books and get the maximum use out of LEDGER. If you go through the following ______ section thoroughly, we feel confident that at the end of it you will know enough to muddle along although you might not be able to pass C.A. exams. You will need your statement from the last session. If you've misplaced it, print out another. Before we start, we would like to lay some common misconceptions to rest. The words "assets", "revenues", and "credits" are not synonyms. "Liabilities", "expenses", and "debits" are also not synonyms. Some people, who should know better, often refer to their "debits" when they really mean their "liabilities". Think of the words "debits" and "credits" as being verbs instead of nouns. It is possible to debit a liability, but you can also credit a liability. Now that you are thoroughly confused, let's continue. There are two basic rules to remember in double entry bookkeeping: the first rule is that every transaction must be entered twice, once as a debit (or negative value) and once as a credit (or positive value); the second rule is that Profit is a Credit. If you can remember these two rules, you will rarely go wrong. Repeat them to yourself: much better than counting sheep. Start a new trend in wallpaper and write them out on your office wall a hundred times. Double entry bookkeeping is a method of accounting designed to eliminate error. Since each transaction is always entered twice, once as a debit, once as a credit, the accuracy of each entry can be checked by addition: the total of all credits and the total of all debits should be equal. The first page of the statement from DEMO is a Balance Sheet. You can see that the Balance Sheet is divided into three parts: assets, liabilities and equity. Assets are OWNED by the company, liabilities are OWED by the company OWNED OWED and equity is the NET VALUE of the company. The Fundamental NET VALUE Equation (which is an official accounting term) is that assets minus liabilities must be equal to equity. Another rule. Add the fundamental equation to your office decor under the first two rules. ---35--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 In other words, everything that you own less everything that you owe must be equal to what you are worth. When this equation equals out, the books are said to be balanced and getting to this stage is often referred to as zero balancing. Assets and liabilities are considered to be one side of the Balance Sheet and The Fundamental Equation. Equity is considered to be the other (or opposite) side of the Balance Sheet and The Fundamental Equation. The double entry part of bookkeeping is that each transaction is entered twice. Since equity includes profit and the second entry for each transaction affects profit, the accuracy of the entries can be checked at any time by seeing if the books are in balance. If you add up your revenues and subtract your expenses, the result is, hopefully, profit. This profit figure is added to the equity or net worth of the company. At any time, assets minus liabilities must equal equity which includes the new profit figure. The second part of the DEMO statement is the Profit/Loss Report and lists all revenue and expense. The Profit/Loss Report is an expansion of the "Retained Earnings Year to Date" (or profit) line on the Balance Sheet. Or, to put it another way, the "Retained Earnings Year to Date" line on the Balance Sheet is a condensation of the Profit/Loss Report. Revenue is entered into a revenue account as a credit because you are increasing profit. In double entry bookkeeping every transaction is entered twice, once as a credit and once as a .I.debit;, so that same revenue must be entered into an .I.asset account;.I.accounts:asset; (the revenue is owned by the company) as a debit. Since you normally deposit any revenue into your bank account which is an asset account, you debit your .I.bank account;. We know this doesn't make sense. Why would any normal, sane person add money to his/her bank account and then debit the account? Remember your rules. Every transaction is entered twice, once as a credit and once as a debit. Since revenue is entered into a revenue account as a credit because you are increasing profit, it must be entered again into an asset account as a debit. In another scenario, if the company is owed money but hasn't yet been paid, you enter the potential revenue into a revenue account as a credit because you are increasing profit. But remembering the "enter all transactions twice" rule, you enter the potential revenue into a receivable account (an asset account) as a debit. ---36--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 If you understand what you've just read, you must already be a chartered accountant or we are much better writers than we thought. If you don't understand, re-read that section until you do because we are now proceeding to expenses. Expenses are monies paid by the company. They are entered into an expense account as a debit because expenses decrease profit. Since you normally withdraw any expense from your bank account which is an asset account, and since in double entry bookkeeping every transaction is entered twice, once as a credit and once as a debit, that same expense must be entered into an asset account as a credit. Crediting your bank account when you are withdrawing money seems as nonsensical as debiting your bank account when you are adding money. But remember your rules. Every transaction is entered twice, once as a credit and once as a debit. Since expenses are entered into an expense account as a debit because you are decreasing profit, they must be entered again into an asset account as a credit. If the expense is owed by the company but has not yet been paid, the potential expense is entered into an expense account as a debit because expenses decrease profit. But remembering the "enter all transactions twice" rule, you enter the potential expense into a liabilities account (the expense is owed by the company) as a credit. After entering each transaction twice, once as a credit and once as a debit, add up your credits, then add up your debits. The totals should be the same. Congratulations! You have just balanced your books. Now, subtract the credit total from the debit total. You will get zero. You have zero balanced your books. Checking for zero balance assures you that no data entry or arithmetic errors have occurred. To review the basics, remember that the one side of the Balance Sheet is assets less liabilities. Assets are things you own, liabilities are debts. These two must equal equity which is the other side of the Balance Sheet. Equity is net worth and consists of any original investment plus any profit made. Profit is calculated as revenue less expense which is normally kept track of in a separate ledger. When you attempt a trial balance, you calculate profit then add it to the equity account. The new equity amount must be equal to assets less liabilities. If it is, your books are balanced; if it isn't, your books aren't balanced. Try working out your profit again and remember the second basic rule: Profit is a Credit. If you keep that rule firmly in mind, you can ---37--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 work your way back through your transactions and discover your mistake. If the preceding is clear, continue on. If it isn't, go back to the beginning of this lesson and read it again with the statement beside you and a pencil in hand. Trace each type of transaction and calculate how the figures would change. Now if you are sure you have the basic concepts straight, let's lay out a simple balance sheet and follow some common transactions. The company starts with nothing and the balance sheet looks like this. ╔════════════════════╦═════╤══╗ ║ Assets ║ $0│00║ ║ Liabilities ║ $0│00║ ║ Total ║ $0│00║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╪══╣ ║ Equity ║ $0│00║ ╚════════════════════╩═════╧══╝ The first thing you do is invest money in the firm: a "get started" investment of $500. If the money is an outright gift, the balance sheet would look like this. ╔════════════════════╦════════╦════════╗ ║ Balance Sheet ║ Debit║ Credit║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╤══╬═════╤══╣ ║ Assets (Cash) ║ $500│00║ │ ║ ║ Liabilities ║ $0│00║ │ ║ ║ Total ║ $500│00║ │ ║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╪══╬═════╪══╣ ║ Equity ║ │ ║ $500│00║ ╚════════════════════╩═════╧══╩═════╧══╝ The company has equity, or a net worth, of $500.00. That equity is in the form of cash. Notice that the asset is a debit. This is simply because equity is always a credit and debits/credits must balance. If we deposited the cash into a bank account, it is still an asset and still a debit. A bank deposit, therefore, is a debit to the bank account in your ledger. Now, let's say that the $500.00 was not an outright gift. Instead, you lent the money to the company. The company would now have a liability instead of equity. In other words, the company has $500.00 in cash, but that cash ---38--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 is a $500.00 debt which makes the net worth of the company zero. The balance sheet now looks like this. ╔════════════════════╦════════╦════════╗ ║ Balance Sheet ║ Debit║ Credit║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╤══╬═════╤══╣ ║ Assets (Cash) ║ $500│00║ │ ║ ║ Liabilities ║ │ ║ $500│00║ ║ Total ║ $0│00║ │ ║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╪══╬═════╪══╣ ║ Equity ║ │ ║ $0│00║ ╚════════════════════╩═════╧══╩═════╧══╝ A debt, then, is a credit to a liability account. For example, if you owe money to a supplier, the supplier is a liability account. The money owed is credited to that account. When you pay the supplier, the liability is debited, and because you have to balance a debit with a credit, the cash account is credited. Again, cash payout is a credit to the asset account.; Next, let's say you buy a $400.00 piece of inventory. Just to make things simple, let's say you paid cash for it. Remembering that assets are things you own, how does this affect your balance sheet? Well, very little. It now looks like this. ╔════════════════════╦════════╦════════╗ ║ Balance Sheet ║ Debit║ Credit║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╤══╬═════╤══╣ ║ Assets(Cash) ║ $100│00║ │ ║ ║ Assets(Inventory) ║ $400│00║ │ ║ ║ Liabilities ║ │ ║ $500│00║ ║ Total ║ $0│00║ │ ║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╪══╬═════╪══╣ ║ Equity ║ │ ║ $0│00║ ╚════════════════════╩═════╧══╩═════╧══╝ You still have assets of $500.00 (the amount the company owns), liabilities of $500.00 (the amount the company owes), and a resulting equity of zero. Instead of an asset of $500.00 cash, however, you have $100.00 cash and $400.00 worth of inventory. To get to this stage, we credited the cash account for $400.00 and debited the inventory account for $400.00. As a final step, let's add a revenue and an expense account, then see what happens when you sell your inventory for $600.00. First, you credit the inventory account for ---39--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 $400.00 and debit an expense account. In other words, when you hand the inventory to the customer, you lose your asset which counts as an expense. The balance sheet changes thusly: ╔════════════════════╦════════╦════════╗ ║ Balance Sheet ║ Debit║ Credit║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╤══╬═════╤══╣ ║ Assets(Cash) ║ $100│00║ │ ║ ║ Assets(Inventory) ║ $0│00║ │ ║ ║ Liabilities ║ │ ║ $500│00║ ║ Total ║ $0│00║ │ ║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╪══╬═════╪══╣ ║ Equity ║ │ ║ $0│00║ ╚════════════════════╩═════╧══╩═════╧══╝ In addition to the balance sheet, you now have an additional report of revenue/expense called either a revenue/expense report or a profit/loss report. Currently, it looks like this. ╔════════════════════╦════════╦════════╗ ║ Profit/Loss ║ Debit║ Credit║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╤══╬═════╤══╣ ║ Revenue ║ │ ║ $0│00║ ║ Expense ║ $400│00║ │ ║ ║ Total ║ $400│00║ │ ║ ╚════════════════════╩═════╧══╩═════╧══╝ The books no longer balance, but quickly hold out your hand and collect the $600.00. (Getting your cash takes precedence over balancing the books.) Then enter the revenue and the profit of $200.00. The profit gets added to equity, the cash gets debited to the bank, and your balance sheet now looks like this. ╔════════════════════╦════════╦════════╗ ║ Balance Sheet ║ Debit║ Credit║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╤══╬═════╤══╣ ║ Assets(Cash) ║ $700│00║ │ ║ ║ Liabilities ║ │ ║ $500│00║ ║ Total ║ $200│00║ │ ║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╪══╬═════╪══╣ ║ Equity ║ │ ║ $200│00║ ╚════════════════════╩═════╧══╩═════╧══╝ The profit/loss report looks like this. ---40--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔════════════════════╦════════╦════════╗ ║ Profit/Loss ║ Debit║ Credit║ ╠════════════════════╬═════╤══╬═════╤══╣ ║ Revenue ║ │ ║ $600│00║ ║ Expense ║ $400│00║ │ ║ ║ Total ║ │ ║ $200│00║ ╚════════════════════╩═════╧══╩═════╧══╝ The above examples are a skeleton of all financial reports. The only things that vary are the amounts and the degree of detail. Assets will typically be broken down into cash, accounts receivable, equipment or prepaid expense. In short, assets are anything that a company could own that has value. On the other hand, liabilities can encompass any debt or possible future debt. For example, accounts payable, bank loans, loans from shareholders and taxes due are all liabilities. Equity may be broken down into share value, original investment, and profit. These three parts, assets, liabilities, and equity, make up the balance sheet. In addition to the balance sheet, a profit/loss report will usually be included in a financial statement. This consists of revenue (credits) and expense (debits). When expenses are subtracted from revenue, the difference between the two is transferred to equity. If that difference is a credit, the company has made a profit; if it is a debit, the company has a loss. The following typical transactions may help you sort through debits and credits. If you would like a quick reference to these transactions while using LEDGER, press ______ <F1> twice. Select "Debits/Credits" from the HELP menu which <F1> will appear. ---41--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═════════════════════╤════════╤══════════════════════════╗ ║ Writing a cheque │ DEBIT │ an expense account ║ ║ │ CREDIT │ the bank (an asset) ║ ║ │ or ║ ║ │ DEBIT │ payables (a liability) ║ ║ │ CREDIT │ the bank (an asset) ║ ╠═════════════════════╪════════╪══════════════════════════╣ ║ Invoicing a customer│ DEBIT │ a customer (an asset) ║ ║ │ CREDIT │ a revenue account ║ ╠═════════════════════╪════════╪══════════════════════════╣ ║ Collecting a payment│ CREDIT │ a customer (an asset) ║ ║ │ DEBIT │ the bank (an asset) ║ ╠═════════════════════╪════════╪══════════════════════════╣ ║ Getting an invoice │ DEBIT │ an expense account ║ ║ │ CREDIT │ a supplier (a liability) ║ ╠═════════════════════╪════════╪══════════════════════════╣ ║ Petty cash payments │ DEBIT │ an expense account ║ ║ │ CREDIT │ petty cash (an asset) ║ ╚═════════════════════╧════════╧══════════════════════════╝ Take a look at each of these debit/credit pairs and note the debit/credit spot for each on the DEMO statement. You will notice that several do not change the profit. For example, if you get a payment from a customer, you may CREDIT the customer and DEBIT the bank. In effect, you are exchanging one asset (a receivable) for another (cash). There is no change in profit. When you CREDIT revenue or DEBIT expense accounts, however, the profit does change. How to transfer that profit to equity and how to do each of these transactions on the LEDGER system will be the ______ subject of the next lesson. Even though your DEMO statement must be getting a bit dog-eared by now, save it for the next lesson. As a final note, you will undoubtedly just be getting comfortable with the debit/credit concept when some accountant will confuse you by saying, "But if you are a bank, everything is the opposite. To a banker, the bank account is always a credit." This is not true. Debits and credits are not the opposite for a bank. Bank profits are credits, just as your profits are. Of course, YOUR bank account is one of the bank's liabilities; the bank owes you that money. But any deposits a bank makes with the national bank are debits, just the same as your deposits are with your bank. ---42--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 5 - Summary Lesson 5 - Summary The Fundamental Equation for accounting is that assets minus liabilities equal equity. Assets are things that are owned, including cash. Liabilities are debts. Equity is net worth and includes original investment plus profit. Increases in equity, such as profit, are credited to the equity account. Since each credit must have a corresponding debit, most transactions can be traced back from that basic rule: Profit is a Credit. ---43--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════╗ ║ THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS OF ACCOUNTING ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════╣ ║ 1. Assets, revenues and credits are not synonyms; ║ ║ liabilities, expenses and debits are also not synonyms. ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════╣ ║ 2. Every transaction must be entered twice: once as a credit ║ ║ once as a debit. ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════╣ ║ 3. Profit is a credit. ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════╣ ║ 4. Assets - Liabilities = Equity ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════╣ ║ 5. Assets are owned; liabilities are owed. ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════╣ ║ 6. Assets and liabilities are on one side of the balance ║ ║ sheet; equity is on the other side. ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════╣ ║ 7. If you add up all the credits and if you add up all the ║ ║ debits, the totals must be equal. ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════╝ ---44--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 6 - Posting to a LEDGER File Lesson 6 - Posting to a LEDGER File At last, we are going to put some transactions into the ledger. Boot your LEDGER disk, type the command LEDGER DEMO ______ and get into journal mode. Press the <Ins> (Insert) key <Ins> twice. Two blank entries will appear at the top of the page. Reposition the cursor at the upper left <Home> and type the <Home> date 84/12/01. Enter the account number 70-005, the reference number C#00200 and the comment "Car insurance". <Tab> to the debit column. Type "500" and a dot <.>. At the <Tab> <.> dot, LEDGER will line up the "500". Pressing <.> lines up <.> ______ any numeric field including dates and references. Press <Tab> to get to the start of the next line. If <Tab> you overshoot, use the <E> to get back. Now, press the ditto < > key which is the double quote character <"> over the <"> apostrophe on your keyboard. LEDGER will ditto the date. ______ Type in the account number 11-001, then ditto over to the debit field. <Tab> to the credit field. Enter 500 as a <Tab> credit and use the dot to line it up. Press <Home> to get back to the top line. Holding the <Home> <Alt> key down, press the <4> key on the top line of the <Alt> <4> keyboard. This is <ALT 4> which is labeled "UPDA" in the <ALT 4> prompt line. Now press <F10> labeled "CHK" in the prompt <F10> line. <F10> checks the account number for you and the <F10> corresponding account name appears on the status line. Check the second account by moving the cursor to it and pressing <F10> again. <F10> As you can see, you have debited the car expense account and credited the bank. The transactions you have entered represent writing a check to pay for car insurance. Remember the first rule of double entry bookkeeping: enter every transaction twice, once as a debit, once as a credit. You debited the car expense account because you are decreasing profits. Go to ledger mode. You will not see the bank transaction on Page One as the date was 84/12/01. Remember that transactions are displayed by date and find the transaction by using <PgDn>. Now page through to account 70- <PgDn> 005 which is the car expense account. Return to journal mode and you will see that the transaction has disappeared. Page through to the correct date to find it. Print a new financial statement by pressing <F8> to <F8> display the Reports Menu, positioning the cursor beside the "Print a Regular Statement" line and pressing <CR>. <CR> ---45--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 If you compare your old dog-eared statement with the newly printed one, you will notice two things. The new statement does not balance. It is out by 500 dollars. However, the Profit/Loss Report has also changed by 500 dollars. Because you just had a 500 dollar expense, your profit has decreased and your equity is less. If you recall our debit/credit lesson, you will remember that we said profit must be transferred to the equity account. You would normally transfer only once at the end of the month. Transferring profit to equity is called "a balancing entry". If you transferred the profit now, you would debit the "Retained Earnings Year to Date " account on the Balance Sheet by 500 dollars and credit the "Transferred to Profit Account" on the Profit/Loss Report by the same amount. The "Transferred to Profit Account" is a specialized account called "a balancing account". Why do you need it? Well, we said earlier that revenue and expense accounts are often kept in a different set of books. Profit is calculated and then transferred to the balance sheet. If you look at the original Profit/Loss Report, it balances. Just as the general ledger must balance, each subsidiary ledger must internally balance. Balancing accounts in the subsidiary ledgers take the same role as equity in the general ledger. You balance the subsidiary ledgers and the general ledger at the same time, transferring equity differences from each set of ledgers to the general ledger. To make this a bit clearer, take the new, unbalanced statement and separate the two parts. Lay the Profit/Loss Report beside the Balance Sheet. Now look at each as a separate set of books that must balance. The "Assets less Liabilities" line on the Balance Sheet is out of balance with the "Equity" line by 500 dollars. The "Profit" line on the Profit/Loss Report is out of balance with the "Transferred to Profit Account" line also by 500 dollars. In both cases, the 500 dollars represents the profit (or in this case, loss) since the last time you balanced the books. The fact that both the Balance Sheet and the Profit/Loss Report are out of balance by the same amount means that the books will balance. If the amounts were not the same, you would be out of balance. By making this comparison, you have completed a trial balance. If you look at the status line on your screen, the trial balance is zero which means that the two are equal. Go back to the journal and find the pair of transactions which will be on the last page. Change one transaction to 400 dollars, and type <ALT 4> which forces an <ALT 4> ---46--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 immediate update of the balance at the bottom of the screen. Depending on which transaction you change, the balance on the status line will change to a 100 dollar debit or credit. The file is now out of balance by 100 dollars. Press <F8> to call up the Reports Menu. Space down to <F8> the "Print a Regular Statement" line and press <CR>. When <CR> you compare the new Balance Sheet with the new Profit/Loss Report, you will see that it is now impossible to balance both Statements by transferring profit to equity. They are both out by 100 dollars. If you go into ledger mode, either the bank account or the car expense sub-total is wrong. Correct the error. Ensure both transactions are at 500 dollars. Now, make another pair of transactions representing 800 dollars of income deposited in the bank. Get the appropriate account numbers from the list of accounts numbers you printed in Lesson Four. Remember that income credits profit or revenue and debits assets or liabilities. Press <F8> to call up the Reports Menu again. Space <F8> down to the "Print a Regular Statement" line and press <CR>. <CR> But instead of printing the normal statement, fill in the dates from 84/12/01 to 84/12/31. Specify the destination as the screen instead of the printer by entering the destination <S>. Press <CR>. The statement which appears on <S> <CR> the screen will look very different. As it appears, compare it to what you have done. Each line represents the CHANGE for the month, rather than the account balance. When you get to the "Profit" line on the Profit/Loss Report, how much is it? How does this relate to 800 dollars of revenue and 500 dollars expense? How much will you have to transfer to equity to balance the books? ---47--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 6 - Exercise Lesson 6 - Exercise Rather than a summary of this lesson, we will end with an exercise. Go back to the last lesson and get the list of when to debit an account and when to credit. Make several types of transactions in the journal. Produce a statement for the trial balance and then make the balancing entry. Produce another statement. AN IMPORTANT HINT: Do all ____________________ transactions within one month, i.e. make all transactions happen in a one month period. Don't take a month to do the exercise. ---48--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 7 - The Key Prompts Lesson 7 - The Key Prompts Throughout these lessons, we have been using various alternate keys and function keys. We stated that the prompts at the bottom of the screen indicate which special keys are available. In this section, we are going to explore all the other prompted keys, with the exception of <F2> which is the <F2> extended command key. As there are a number of extended commands, the explanation of how to use them will be left to a later lesson. A few of the special keys are not function keys. The <Esc> (Escape) key at the upper left of the QWERTY portion <Esc> ______ of the keyboard is used to stop unwanted operations. For example, if you press it during a report, the report will be aborted. The <Return> key (<CR> in this manual) at the right <Return> <CR> of the QWERTY keyboard is used to tell LEDGER that you have ______ ______ finished entering data. For example, after entering all your data, you press <CR> to start the printing of a report. <CR> The alternate keys are typed by holding down the <Alt> <Alt> key and typing a number. The manner of use is very similar to holding down the shift key on a typewriter and striking a letter to get a capital. <Alt> keys are used for two <Alt> reasons: the two-key sequence prevents inadvertent errors; and since there are not enough function keys on the keyboard, the <Alt> keys extend the number of available <Alt> functions. The method of deleting transactions in LEDGER is an ______ example of the first use of <Alt> keys. In early versions of <Alt> LEDGER, we used the <Del> (Delete) key to delete <Del> ______ transactions but we found it was far too easy to delete transactions by mistake when we really meant to hit the <PgDn> key. We, therefore, changed the delete function to <PgDn> <ALT 1> and left the <Del> key unused. Now you truly have to <ALT 1> <Del> make a conscious effort to delete transactions. Like the previous lessons, you should read this lesson at your computer. Run LEDGER on the DEMO file then get ready ______ to try some keys. F1 (HELP) F1 (HELP) Press <F1>. You will see the screen fill with text. <F1> This is a Help screen. The HELP facility is available at any time and will show you portions of a "mini-manual". The text will vary, depending on the LEDGER screen showing when you ______ press the key. Press <End> and LEDGER will return to where <End> ______ you were. ---49--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Now press <F5> to show the accounts. Press <F1> again. <F5> <F1> You will see Help information on accounts rather than on the journal or ledger. Press <CR> when you have finished reading <CR> the screen and the second portion of "accounts help" will appear. Each <CR> will give you a new page. If you do not <CR> want the next page, pressing <End> will immediately <End> redisplay the accounts page. As a final note, press <F1> again. When the Help screen <F1> appears, press <F1> one more time. Pressing <F1> while in <F1> <F1> Help gives you the Help index. Use the cursor control keys to choose the topic "Debits/Credits", then press <CR>. The <CR> Debit/Credit Help screen may be of great assistance while posting. Any Help topic is available at any time by using the Help index. Exit from Help by pressing <End>. <End> F2 (CMD) F2 (CMD) The <F2> key allows you to use extended LEDGER <F2> ______ commands. A line of extended commands will appear at the bottom of the screen. You pick one by using the cursor control keys, then type a <CR>. The extended commands will <CR> be dealt with fully in the next chapter. F3 (JOUR) F3 (JOUR) The <F3> key switches LEDGER into journal mode. In <F3> ______ journal mode, transactions are kept in date order, eighteen transactions per screen. You have used this key quite often by now and should be familiar with it. F4 (LEDG) F4 (LEDG) You have also used the <F4> key and should know that it <F4> switches LEDGER into ledger mode. In ledger mode, ______ transactions are kept in account number order. Within each account, they are kept in date order. The transactions are displayed as one page per account number with a running account balance. If more than eighteen transactions are posted to an account, the display continues on the next page. F5 (ACCT) F5 (ACCT) The <F5> key displays the account names and numbers. In <F5> this display, you may add new account numbers, change ---50--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 existing account numbers or change the report format. Press <F5> now, and let's take a look at account numbers. <F5> Up to this point, you have used the accounts that are included in the DEMO ledger. We set these up to get you started. In fact, setting up account numbers is the first stage of opening a set of books for any business. What account numbers you want to use is a topic best left to the end of the LEDGER lessons. For now, let's simply demonstrate ______ how to add or change an account. The cursor control keys may be used in exactly the same manner as with transactions. If you space to a particular spot on the screen, you may then change the data in that spot. Try, for a start, to change the name of the first bank account. Now press the <Ins> key which allows you to insert <Ins> a new account. Change the account number of the new account to 11-055 and the account name to "Stocks and Bonds". Now press the <ALT 5> key to resort the file. You will notice <ALT 5> that the accounts have been rearranged to put the account into the proper place. You must remember when entering accounts that order is important. Any new account will change the appearance of a statement. Where an account appears on the statement is a consequence of the account number. Before we go on, you had better go back and change the name of the bank account to its original name. Now space over to the first character of the account format. It will be a <D> (for debits) or a <C> (for <D> <C> credits). Changing these letters changes the layout of a report. It tells LEDGER whether debits or credits should be ______ bracketed on statements. Since the only statement that you have produced had no brackets, we had better explain their use. A "regular" statement has debits in one column and credits in another so that it is simple to tell which is which. When we get to comparative statements, however, the columns are used for dates. For example, a two column statement may compare January revenues to February revenues. In a statement of this type, the first column will be for January, the second for February. To differentiate between debits and credits, one of the two will have brackets around them. If the corresponding account has a <D> as the format, <D> the statement would show a five dollar debit as (5.00) and a five dollar credit as 5.00. If the account has a <C> as the <C> format, the credit shows as (5.00) and the debit as 5.00. ---51--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 You may use this function any way you please, but there are two different conventions that are common. The first is to always bracket debits. The DEMO ledger is set up this way. The second convention is to bracket exceptions, i.e. debits on the equity side of the balance sheet or credits on the asset/liability side of the balance sheet. Bracketing exceptions has the advantage that profit is not bracketed while loss is, and cash in the bank is not bracketed while an overdraft is. The disadvantage is that it further confuses the Debit/Credit issue for the amateur. If you fall into the amateur class, we would advise always bracketing debits until you are used to bookkeeping. If we are going to get on to the next key, we had best finish up here. You have seen in the reports section how top-of-page accounts and totaling accounts are used. Their purpose is to format reports. To add new top-of-page, totaling or posting accounts, press <F5> to call up the <F5> accounts page then press <Ins>. Enter the new account name <Ins> and type. The new account type will default to "Posting", so enter an <H> (header) for a top-of-page account, an <S> for <H> <S> a start-of-group account or an <E> for an end-of-group <E> account. Only the first letter of the type is needed; LEDGER ______ will fill in the rest of the word. Remember that the order of the accounts is important to the appearance of a statement. Also remember that totaling accounts must be added in pairs. Adding an account that starts a total but has no corresponding end of group will result in very strange looking statements. Conversely, adding an account that ends a total but has no corresponding start of group is also not desirable. F6 (BUDG) F6 (BUDG) The <F6> key switches to the account budgets screen. <F6> While this screen is displayed, you may change the budgets for any account or either of the two cross-reference account numbers. Since we haven't mentioned either account budgets or cross-reference accounts before, press <F6> now and we'll <F6> explain them now. ---52--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 The Budgets Screen ---53--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╗ ║LEDGER-V1.64 Copyright(C)1986, Tees & Tees Inc. DEMO 86/04/24 19:13║ ║Account A c c o u n t N a m e Budget XREF1 XREF2║ ║ ║ ║00-000 Balance Sheet ║ ║09-999 ║ ║ 10-000 Assets ║ ║ 11-000 Cash Assets ║ ║ 11-001 Bank Account Number 123-45678 0.00 11-001 80-001 ║ ║ 11-002 Bank Account Number 8765-12345 0.00 11-002 80-001 ║ ║ 11-003 Petty Cash 0.00 11-003 80-001 ║ ║ 11-999 Cash Assets ║ ║ 12-000 Fixed Assets ║ ║ 12-001 Computer Hardware 0.00 12-001 80-001 ║ ║ 12-002 Office Equipment 0.00 12-002 80-001 ║ ║ 12-003 Accrued Depr. 0.00 12-003 80-001 ║ ║ 12-999 Fixed Assets ║ ║ 13-000 Misc. Assets ║ ║ 13-001 Pre-Paid Expenses 0.00 13-001 80-001 ║ ║ 13-002 Loans to Shareholders 0.00 13-002 80-001 ║ ║ 13-003 Accounts Receivable 0.00 13-003 80-001 ║ ║ 15-999 Misc. Assets ║ ║ ║ ║──────────────────────────────────────Page:001───────────0. 00-Cr--01%--Budgets──║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╝ You will notice that each posting account has three ---54--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 extra columns on this screen. The first of the extra three columns is an amount which is currently set to "0.00". If you enter an amount into this field, LEDGER can prepare a ______ budget report. The Budgets Report totals the current balance for the account then expresses that amount as a percentage of the budget. The Budget Report can optionally use a proportion of the budget to report a single month, for example. How you can do this will be explained in the section on reports. Of course, a budget for the bank account does not make a lot of sense. Normally, budgets are set up only for revenue or expense accounts. The other two columns are for cross-reference accounts which will be fully explained later, but we will give you a short explanation now. We stated earlier that a company might have many ledgers. The general ledger is a specific type but by no means the only type of ledger. When there are several ledgers, they must be consolidated, usually monthly, into the general ledger. The cross-reference account numbers tell LEDGER where data in this particular ledger goes when ______ it is forwarded into another set of ledgers. If this explanation isn't clear, don't worry. You'll understand it better when we use cross-reference account numbers in some examples. F7 (UNDO) F7 (UNDO) LEDGER updates transactions by following several ______ distinct steps. First, LEDGER takes one page of transactions ______ from memory and displays that page on the screen. Secondly, you type in corrections. Finally, LEDGER takes the data from ______ the screen and puts it into memory. If you press <F7>, <F7> LEDGER goes back to the first step and restores the current ______ screen only. The effect is to "undo" any data entries. You should realize, however, that LEDGER will ______ automatically take data from the screen and put it back into memory during certain operations. Pressing <F7> after one of <F7> these special "checkpoint" actions will not change anything. For example, if you type <ALT 4> (the UPDAte key), you are <ALT 4> asking LEDGER to take the screen data, put it into memory ______ and update the trial balance at the bottom of the screen. LEDGER then returns to the first step of transferring ______ transactions from memory to the screen. This sequence of events means that you will not be able to undo any typing done before using the UPDA key sequence. ---55--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Generally speaking, any LEDGER action that results in ______ redisplaying the complete screen is a checkpoint action. This includes changing modes, page up and page down, sorts, and specific requests for an update. As an example, go to journal mode. Now press <Home>, <Home> then to get to the start of the second transaction. Hold < > down the shift and the ditto <"> key. If you hold it down <"> long enough, the cursor will wrap around to the home position and the message "No ditto on top line" will appear. By this point, you have pretty well destroyed the first page of transactions. Press <F7>. You can see that the <F7> changes you made are undone. The <UNDO> key can be very <UNDO> useful, but you must thoroughly understand the ramifications of its use before it can be effective. Try changing a couple of digits in the date and then undo them. Use <PgUp> and <PgUp> <PgDn> to see how far back you can undo. A word of warning - <PgDn> -- don't make changes too enthusiastically or you will get yourself into a mess. F8 (RPT) F8 (RPT) The <F8> key displays the Reports Menu. As we have <F8> explored the basics of this key, there is no need to do so here. We still have another full lesson on reports, so further explanation will be left until then. The <F8> key is <F8> an <UNDO> checkpoint. <UNDO> F9 (FIND) F9 (FIND) The <F9> key allows you to search for specific <F9> transactions. The transaction may be identified by reference, account, date, or amount. If multiple transactions satisfy the search requirements, LEDGER will ______ stop at the first. Successive instances are found with successive searches. Note that the search always starts at the current cursor. If you want to do an exhaustive search, you must start at the beginning of the file, i.e. Page One. Let's try a search to see how it works. Do <PgUp>s <PgUp> until you are on Page One. Press <F9> and four <G>s. This <F9> < > will select the "amount" field in the search menu that appears. Press <CR> and LEDGER will ask for a dollar amount. <CR> _ _______ Type a <5>, a <0> (zero) and a dot <.>. You will notice that <5> <0> <.> the dot works here to line up numbers as well as on the main portion of the screen. Press <CR> to start the search. <CR> LEDGER will go to Page Two and the cursor will be on a ______ $50.00 transaction. Press <F9> and select "amount" again. <F9> ---56--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 You will notice that the $50.00 is still in the search amount field. Press <CR> and LEDGER will find the second <CR> ______ transaction for $50.00 dollars. Try it one more time and see what happens. Page back to Page One and try to find a specific reference, a specific date and a specific account number. You will notice an asterisk <*> as the reference type on the <*> first reference search. LEDGER uses the asterisk for the ______ same purpose as the COPY program; an asterisk is a wild card character. In other words, a search for reference "*#00137" is a search for any type of transaction with a reference number of one hundred and thirty-seven. This search could result in LEDGER finding a reference to cheque number 137, ______ file folder 137, or invoice 137. The <FIND> key is an <UNDO> checkpoint. <FIND> <UNDO> F10 (CHK) F10 (CHK) The <F10> key checks the account name and number for <F10> any transaction. Select a transaction by positioning the cursor and press <F10>. LEDGER will display the account name <F10> ______ and number on the status line. ALT 1 (DEL) ALT 1 (DEL) Deleting transactions from a ledger is considered bad form by most accountants. Some would go even further and label it fraud. Many bookkeeping systems will not even allow deletions. The correct procedure for canceling transactions in these systems is to enter a new one, canceling a credit with a debit or vice versa. It is our humble opinion, however, that the bookkeeper should be the keeper of the books not the computer program. We do not believe a bookkeeper should be ruled by his computer. As a result, LEDGER does allow the ______ deletions of transactions, but with that proviso in mind we will spend an entire chapter at the end of the basic lessons discussing good bookkeeping practices. If, after the above exhortation, you still want to delete a transaction from a file, position the cursor over the transaction, hold down <Alt> and press the <1> key on <Alt> <1> the top line. ---57--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ALT 3 and ALT 8 (GETC and CALC) ALT 3 and ALT 8 (GETC and CALC) One of LEDGER's nicer features is the standard four ______ function calculator built right into the program. If you commonly post from original documents, you can do your arithmetic right on your terminal screen, and then "paste" the answer into the transaction. Hold down the <Alt> key and type an <8>. The <Alt> <8> calculator, which can be used to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, will appear on the screen. In addition to the standard four functions, a percentage function is also available. The <C> key will clear the calculator and the <E> <C> <E> key will clear the current entry. After a calculation has been done, the <ALT 3> key is <ALT 3> used to "paste" the result into a LEDGER transaction. For ______ example, let's figure out 15 percent of $123.45 and transfer the answer to a transaction. Enter 123.45 into the calculator using the dot <.> as the decimal point. Next, <.> press the percent <%> key. Enter 15, then the equal sign <%> <=>. The answer 18.51 will appear on the calculator. Now, <=> press <Esc> and the calculator will disappear. <Esc> Type <ALT 3>. At the bottom of the screen, LEDGER asks <ALT 3> ______ "Calculator to: Debit Credit". Press the <CR> key. The <CR> answer 18.51 is entered into the debit column of the cursor line. Naturally, <G>, and then <CR> to select CREDIT will < > <CR> put the answer into the credit column. Press <F7> to undo <F7> the transaction. ALT 4 (UPDA) ALT 4 (UPDA) Having already explained the <UNDO> key, the effect of <UNDO> <ALT 4> (the UPDAte key sequence) should be readily <ALT 4> apparent. The UPDA key sequence forces an immediate update of transactions from memory. The trial balance is then recalculated and the screen is redisplayed. Obviously, you cannot use the UNDO function after you have asked LEDGER to ______ update data. As an experiment, try the following. <Tab> over to a <Tab> debit or credit field and enter a number at the LEFT side of the field. Do not use the dot to align it. Now type an <ALT <ALT 4>. You will see that the use of a dot to end a numeric 4> field is not required. If you do not use the decimal point, however, you must be careful to enter the digits into the correct columns. ---58--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 You will find that you have to do an <UPDA> key <UPDA> sequence before certain things will work. For example, immediately after changing an account number in journal mode, LEDGER does not realize that the account number has ______ been changed. Only the version on the screen is changed, not the version in memory. If you press the <F10> (CHK) key, <F10> therefore, LEDGER will not find the correct account. The ______ change could still be undone by the <UNDO> key. After you <UNDO> use the UPDA key sequence, LEDGER will find the correct ______ account. But now <F7> cannot undo the change. <F7> ALT 5 (SORT) ALT 5 (SORT) If you have inserted transactions out of order and want to get them in order, <ALT 5> asks LEDGER to resort the <ALT 5> ______ data. The order will depend on whether you have been looking at a journal or a ledger. The page number is set to Page One and the screen is redisplayed. LEDGER, of course, sorts the file automatically when ______ you switch from one mode to the other. The SORT key sequence's main use is to force a sort without changing modes. The SORT key sequence is an <UNDO> checkpoint. <UNDO> ALT 6 (TOTL) ALT 6 (TOTL) <ALT 6> asks LEDGER to recalculate the trial balance <ALT 6> ______ and reset the status line. The TOTL key sequence is an <UNDO> checkpoint. <UNDO> ALT 7 (PRNT) ALT 7 (PRNT) <ALT 7> prints the current screen on the printer. The <ALT 7> <Prt Sc> key on the right of the QWERTY keyboard is <Prt Sc> ______ intercepted by LEDGER and has the same effect as <ALT 7>. <ALT 7> ______ There are some major differences between the usual print screen facility and LEDGER's print screen function. ______ The LEDGER print function allows you to initialize your ______ printer for special fonts, filter out graphic characters for a non-standard printer, and omit the screen copyright message or status line. Appendix IV explains how to set up LEDGER for specialized printer requirements. ______ ---59--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 7 - Summary Lesson 7 - Summary The prompts at the bottom of the screen tell you which specialized keys LEDGER will accept on any given screen. ______ This manual often refers to them by name. For example, "PRNT" is actually the <ALT 7> key. Each of the prompt keys <ALT 7> is interpreted by LEDGER as a command. ______ A Help facility is available to you through the HELP key <F1>. This facility is basically a mini-manual and can <F1> be used while you are running LEDGER to get information. ______ The <F2> key allows you to choose extended commands of <F2> LEDGER. To this point, the only extended commands you have ______ seen are PRINTER, QUIT and END. Others will be explained in _______ ____ ___ due course. The QUIT method of exiting from LEDGER leaves ______ the ledger file unchanged while the END command writes the edited version to disk and leaves the old version as filename.BAK. Finish this lesson by QUITting LEDGER. ______ ---60--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 8 - Using the Work File Lesson 8 - Using the Work File On several occasions during previous lessons, we have discussed the concept of different ledgers. The general ledger, containing balance sheet accounts, has been dealt with at some length. All our exercises to date have used the file "DEMO", an example of a general ledger. However, the general ledger is not the most common ledger. While every company has a general ledger, the most common actual ledger is often not thought of as a ledger at all. Most computerized bookkeeping systems do not even include it in their design. What is it? The common work sheet. If you keep books manually, the most common ledger on your desk will be the work sheet, usually a double column, legal sized pad. In effect, that pad is a small journal. Most entries are done on this pad then posted to a "real" ledger later. LEDGER, however, is not restricted to a given file. ______ LEDGER will edit any journal or ledger. To LEDGER, the work ______ ______ sheet is just another small file. The best way to use LEDGER ______ is in the exact way that you would use paper in a manual system: that is, enter data into a small working journal, and then post to the main ledgers when accurate. The advantage of this is that errors are more easily found in a small file. In addition, the control of a manual system can be duplicated. For example, the floppy disks containing the general ledger can be kept locked in a safe. Daily transactions are entered to a work file and backup copies of the real ledgers are used for looking up data. At month-end, closing entries are made and the real ledgers are obtained from the safe. The cut and paste facilities of LEDGER are then used to ______ transfer the working file transactions to the real ledgers. The ability to edit and work with temporary ledgers is one of LEDGER's most powerful features. Over the next few ______ chapters, many different uses of this concept will be illustrated. For now, however, we'll demonstrate some basic cut and paste facilities. This lesson will be difficult to follow without your computer in front of you. So turn on your computer and let's get to work. Until now, when you have typed the command LEDGER DEMO, LEDGER has gone to the disk and read the file "DEMO.LDG". ______ ---61--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 What would happen if the file did not exist? LEDGER would ______ create it. In other words, you can create a new ledger by simply naming it in the LEDGER command line. Create the file ______ "WORK.LDG" by typing LEDGER WORK <CR> on your computer. <CR> You will see an empty file on the screen. The name on the top line is "WORK" and the only transaction in the file is composed of zeros. Press the <ACCT> key (<F5>). You will <ACCT> <F5> see that there are no account numbers for the file and the total space-used figure on the bottom line is zero percent. You could, at this point, press <Ins> several times and <Ins> start setting up account numbers. Indeed, this is the way you should start a brand new set of books. This time, however, your purpose is to set up a work sheet for the "DEMO" general ledger. Rather than typing in account numbers, you simply get a copy of the accounts already in the DEMO file. (Incidentally, if you are setting up several sets of books, copying accounts from an existing set is far faster than setting up each ledger separately.) Press the CMD <F2> key. All transfers of data from one file <F2> to another are extended commands. Now, select the command GETACCT and type a <CR>. GETACCT <CR> GETACCT is the seventh command on the top line and can be GETACCT _ selected by pressing <G> six times. LEDGER will put a < > ______ further prompt at the bottom of the screen because the Get Accounts command needs some additional information. You must enter the file name and disk drive where the accounts are located. Jump over the drive (it should be correct) by using the <Tab> key, and enter the file name DEMO. The file name <Tab> does not have to be in upper case but there should be no leading blanks. Next, decide which account numbers you want. You could restrict the operation to just balance sheet accounts by typing in a range of numbers. But for your work sheet, you'll want all accounts so leave the default range as it is. Press <CR> to tell LEDGER to go ahead. <CR> ______ LEDGER will read the account numbers out of the DEMO ______ file, sort them, and then display them on the current screen. If you have followed the example on your computer, the current screen is the accounts screen with the account numbers displayed on it. If the account numbers are not displayed, press the ACCT key <F5> to check that you are in <F5> the accounts file. Now press <F3> to return to journal mode. <F3> You will see that you still have no transactions; you only transferred the account numbers, not the transactions. Now that you have a work file, pretend that you have just received your bank statement and want to enter your ---62--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 banking transactions for the month. To start, press <Ins> <Ins> five times to make space for the transactions. The bank account is account number 11-001. If you can't remember whether to debit or credit the bank account, press <F1> <F1> twice and look under Debits/Credits. Now, enter the following cheques. ╔════════╦════════╦═════════════════════╦════════╗ ║ Date ║ Number ║ Made out to ║ Amount║ ╠══╤══╤══╬════════╬═════════════════════╬═════╤══╣ ║85│01│01║ 241 ║ ABC Car Lease ║ $342│75║ ║85│01│04║ 242 ║ Anytown Electric ║ $72│23║ ║85│01│05║ 243 ║ Joseph A. Landlord ║ $625│00║ ║85│01│07║ 244 ║ Paper Clip Supplies ║ $6│87║ ║85│01│15║ 245 ║ Instant Printing ║ $27│98║ ╚══╧══╧══╩════════╩═════════════════════╩═════╧══╝ The bank statement also has a bank charge of $1.25. Press <Ins> again and enter the bank charge the same as a <Ins> cheque but with the reference F#00010. This reference number tells you that that particular bank statement is filed in folder number ten. Put in an appropriate comment, such as "bank charges". Now type <ALT 4> to ask LEDGER to update the file <ALT 4> ______ balance. Your imaginary bank statement has a total withdrawals amount of $1076.08. Is the total at the bottom of your screen the same? If it isn't, correct your data entry errors. Next, enter your deposits. You deposited $450.50 on the 6th and $627.57 on the 14th. Enter these two transactions with the appropriate dates. Use the reference F#00010 so you will know that the bank statement containing those deposits is in folder number ten. Remember to put the deposits on the opposite side of the debit/credit line from the cheques. UPDAte the screen total again. Your bank balance changed by $1.99 during the month. Does this amount agree with the total at the bottom of your screen? If not, correct your errors. Having reached this point, let's do a quick backup. Press the CMD <F2> key, select the command END and press <F2> END <CR>. The work file as it sits is written to disk. Type the <CR> command LEDGER WORK again to return to the journal screen in the work file. If you destroy anything to this stage, you now have a copy on the disk. You may notice that using the ---63--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 command END and re-entering the work file removes any null END (all zeros) transactions that may have been left on the screen from when you entered your data. Move the cursor to the second line and press <Ins>. The <Ins> <Ins> key always puts a blank line above the cursor line. <Ins> Now you have a blank line under the cheque for ABC Car Lease. Using the ditto key, ditto the date. Enter the account number 70-005. This is the car expense account. Ditto the cheque number and the comment. Enter the cheque amount a second time, on the opposite side of the debit/credit line. Remember your rules: each transaction must be entered twice, once as a debit and once as a credit. Using the <Ins> <Ins> key and the above method, make the second entry for each transaction. Each expense has a corresponding expense account. Look up these expense account numbers and enter the appropriate account number for each transaction. The deposits should be allocated to revenue accounts. When you get to the bottom transaction, you will discover that you cannot put a transaction below the final line because <Ins> puts the blank line above the cursor <Ins> line. Don't worry, you can enter the transaction above the line by typing in the data. If you are determined to use the ditto, press <Ins> then type a <9> as the first character in <Ins> <9> the date of the null transaction. Now, type <ALT 5> (the <ALT 5> SORT key sequence). Because the date begins with a "9" instead of the "8" that you have been using, the transaction will be shifted to the bottom of the screen. You can now use the ditto. You will also see that when you used <ALT 5> all the <ALT 5> entries were sorted and updated. If you didn't just use <ALT 5> to move transactions <ALT 5> around, use <ALT 4>, the UPDA key sequence, to update the <ALT 4> total now. Does the file zero balance? It should. If it doesn't, correct any errors. Each transaction should be in the file twice: once as a debit, and once as a credit. Press <Home> to get to the top line. Use the CHK <F10> <Home> <F10> key and the to get LEDGER to look up each account name < > ______ and number for you. Compare each account to the comment and see if each seems a logical account for the transaction. As you become more dextrous, you will see how quickly you can check transactions with accounts. When everything looks proper, use the <F2> END command to write out the new file. <F2> END ---64--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Now you have your banking transactions for the month in a work file called WORK. If you want, you can print a statement for the work file by pressing <F8> and selecting <F8> "Print a Regular Statement" from the Reports Menu. This statement would give you the month's Profit/Loss Report and show you the net change in your bank account for the month. You could also print the screen or print the entire file as a journal, staple your printout to your bank statement, and file both in file folder number ten. This printout would be a very handy report for an eventual audit. What you have just created is called "an audit trail". How you file your hard copies of your books is something we will cover in a complete discussion of good procedure. For now, let's transfer the work file to the general ledger. Type the command LEDGER DEMO. When the DEMO ledger screen appears, press <F2>. Whereas earlier, you transferred <F2> the accounts from DEMO into the work file, now you are going to transfer the transactions from the work file into DEMO. The command this time is GETDATA. Select the command and GETDATA execute it with a <CR>. You will notice that getting data <CR> requires a bit more information; as well as a range of accounts, you can specify a range of dates. However, all you have to specify now is the file name WORK because you want to get all transactions for all dates. Type in the file name WORK <CR>. Again, the appropriate data is read in, the file WORK <CR> is sorted and the screen is updated. Now go to ledger mode and <PgDn> to find the <PgDn> transactions. END the session. This is the first time you END have used END in the DEMO file. You have made a permanent END change to DEMO because you will need the transactions you just entered for the next lesson. As a final step, you should clean up the work file. You could just leave it on disk and use a different name the next time. This procedure, however, would eventually fill up your disk. Besides, you would end up with dozens of little files and you wouldn't be able to remember which was which. A better procedure is to stick to a given name for a given purpose. Perhaps you could always use BANK for bank BANK reconciliations. That way if you are interrupted while entering transaction you just END the session. When you END return, you can easily take up where you left off. A good rule to follow is that empty files are ones that have been transferred to the real ledgers. Work files with data in them are still being worked on. Let's clean up WORK WORK by leaving it ready for the next session. ---65--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Type the command LEDGER WORK. The file still has both transactions and accounts in it. Use the extended command SCRAP: that is, press <F2> and select SCRAP and type <CR>. SCRAP <F2> SCRAP <CR> The file is now empty. END the session. When you use the work file again, it END will be ready for you to enter transactions. Lesson 8 - Summary Lesson 8 - Summary While LEDGER can be amply demonstrated and taught using ______ a general ledger, this is not the best way of using it. Using work files results in much faster data entry and provides much better control of the bookkeeping process. Using the keys effectively can also speed the process. The <Ins> key combined with the ditto key makes data entry <Ins> much faster. The UPDAte key sequence combined with the trial balance at the bottom of the page, and the CHK <F10> key CHK <F10> provide useful tools for checking data entry on the fly. The extended commands GETACCT and GETDATA provide a GETACCT GETDATA method for transferring either account numbers or journal transactions from one file to another. The extended command SCRAP is used to empty a file. SCRAP Finally, while LEDGER does not require it, good work ______ habits should be developed. Establishing procedures for audit trails, leaving work files in good order and filing source documents so that they can be found are an important part of good bookkeeping. ---66--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 `Lesson 9 - More Uses for Work Files `Lesson 9 - More Uses for Work Files If you recall Lesson Six where you first posted to the general ledger, you had to transfer the profit from the Profit/Loss Report to the equity portion of the Balance Sheet at the end of posting. We called this transferring "a balancing entry". The way you found the balancing entry amount was to print a statement and then calculate the profit to be transferred. But there is an easier method. In the last lesson, you dealt with a work file. By transferring data from a general ledger into a work file and then using LEDGER facilities, you can now easily calculate ______ the amount of profit to be transferred. Type the command LEDGER WORK to edit the work file. If ______ you finished the last lesson, the work file should be empty. If it isn't, press <F2>, select the SCRAP command, and type <F2> a <CR> to empty it. <CR> Now, use the command GETALL to get both accounts and transactions from the DEMO file. While you haven't used the GETALL command before, you are familiar with GETDATA and GETACCT. GETALL combines both of these in one command. Do not change the date range or account range; you want to get the entire file. Enter the file name "DEMO" and a <CR>. <CR> You should now have a complete copy of the general ledger in the work file. Make sure that you are in journal mode, and then press <F2> selecting the command TRANSLATE. <F2> Type a <CR>. A prompt showing a range of accounts and <CR> "XREF:1" will appear. Leave the range set to all accounts but change the cross-reference to a "2". After the <2> is <2> entered, press <CR>. You will notice that there are now only <CR> two account numbers, 80-001 and 30-003, in the journal. Don't worry, we will explain in due course. Press <F2> again and use the command COMPRESS. A prompt <F2> asking for a range of accounts and dates will appear. Leave it as it is; just press <CR>. A second prompt showing a date <CR> and a comment field will appear. Enter the date "85/01/31" and the comment "January Profits". Press <CR>. You will see <CR> that there are now two transactions in the file. These are the two transactions required to transfer the profits for January. Use the END command to write the file on disk then go to the DEMO file. Select the command GETDATA and the file name "WORK". Switch into ledger mode and <PgDn> to account <PgDn> number 30-003 "Retained Earnings to Date". Your January ---67--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Profits are listed there. The Balance Sheet and Profit/Loss Report for January is now ready to print. This rather nifty piece of black magic should give you a better idea of LEDGER's capabilities. It also demonstrates ______ quite dramatically the importance of the work file. Let's do the whole thing over again: with explanations. To start, press <F2> and use the command QUIT. Type <F2> LEDGER WORK to call up the work file. When the work file is displayed, press <F2> and use the command SCRAP. This is <F2> straightforward; you have simply emptied the work file. Press <F2> again and use the command GETALL. Type the <F2> file name DEMO in the prompt line and press <CR>. The GETALL <CR> command is a composite of the GETACCT and GETDATA commands: it fetches both accounts and transactions from another file. By using this command on an empty file, you have effectively copied the DEMO file, or general ledger, into the work file. Before the next command, let's do some exploration. Press the <BUDG> (<F6>) key. Take a look at the cross- <BUDG> (<F6>) reference account numbers. You will notice that every Balance Sheet item has the second cross-reference account set to 80-001. If you page down to the Profit/Loss accounts, you will see that each of these has the second cross- reference set to 30-003. We stated earlier that LEDGER could ______ use these numbers to transfer transactions to a second set of books. In this instance, you are transferring them to the same set of books. Let's think about this for a moment. If you have done your posting correctly, all profit/loss transactions added together should be equal to profit for the month. The total would be equal to all of the profit, except for the fact that you have already transferred some profit to equity: all profit up to the beginning of January was transferred in December's balancing transaction. Converting every transaction in the profit/loss section to account number 80- 001, the "Transferred to Profit Account", will give you the amount of profit needed to balance equity. Similarly, the Balance Sheet should be out of balance by this month's profit. If you add up all of these transactions, the total should also equal the balancing entry. This is the amount to be posted to the "Retained Earnings Year to Date" (the equity account), account number 30-003. Let's do it. Switch back to journal mode, press <F2> <F2> and use the command TRANSLATE. Enter the cross-reference <2> <2> ---68--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 which means that the second cross-reference is to be used. From the Budget account that you just looked at, you know that using the second cross-reference will change balance sheet transactions to account number 80-001, and profit/loss transactions to account number 30-003. Press <CR> and you <CR> will see that transactions have been translated into the appropriate account numbers. In fact, you could now select END, transfer this file, and the DEMO ledger would balance. This procedure would give you far too many entries, however. What you really want to post is the total of all 80-001 transaction to account 80- _____ 001 and the total of all 30-003 transactions to account 30- _____ 003. The extended command COMPRESS adds up transactions for each account and converts them to one balance forward entry. You use COMPRESS to do the totaling. Press <F2> and select the command COMPRESS. The prompt <F2> line tells you that you can compress all transactions or just a specific range of dates and accounts. Since you want everything added up, you do not need to limit compression. The entire range of both dates and accounts is fine. So, just press <CR>. <CR> COMPRESS needs to put a date and comment into the new balance forward entries. The default date is the last date of the date range from Step One. However, you want the two balance forward entries to be dated for the correct month, so enter 85/01/31. You will also need to enter a comment, such as "January Profit". Enter these, press <CR> and there <CR> you have it: a work file with the two balancing entries. As an exercise, do this entire process one more time. However, when you do a GETALL this time, restrict the dates to 85/01/01 to 85/01/31. You should get a copy of the work file you posted in the last lesson. Do the rest of the sequence in the same way. The result will be the same because everything prior to January was balanced at the end of December. As a third example of work file usage, consider the case of transactions such as payroll. Each week or two, a large number of transactions are posted. This posting is done on a very regular basis with rather minor changes from week to week. For salaried personnel, the only change is the date. For others, the amounts change as well. The transactions and account numbers, however, are relatively constant. The fastest way to post such transactions is to leave the work file on your diskette. Each week, the work file is ---69--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 adjusted for any changes then posted. In fact, LEDGER has a ______ special extended command just for such work files. The command CDATE will change all the dates in a work file. It is possible to change the entire date or just part of it. This command is best illustrated by example. Use the command SCRAP to empty the work file, then get some data into the work file from the DEMO ledger. Since you restricted the date range in the last exercise, change the range to "00/00/00 to 99/99/99" for the GETDATA command. Press the <F2> key and select the command CDATE. A <F2> prompt will appear, asking "Change date to: <85/01/01> from: <**/**/**>" The "to" date (85/01/01) is the date LEDGER will ______ put on each transaction. It can be changed to any date you please. The "from" date (**/**/**) is a "mask". It specifies which dates are to be changed. If you change any of the asterisks in the mask, only dates matching that character will be changed. For example, if you changed the mask to "8*/**/**", only transactions in the 1980's would be changed. Any date that did not have an "8" as the first character would be unchanged. To illustrate CDATE, change all August transactions to the date 87/01/02. The mask to use is "**/08/**" which means that all August transactions from any year will be changed to January 2, 1987. LEDGER resorts the file and you may have ______ to page through several pages to find the transformed transactions. The permanent work file can greatly speed the bookkeeping chore. A great number of transactions in a business happen on a regular basis. Using a work file as a template makes their entry much faster. As a final example of work file usage, lets's examine a more specialized application. In this case, we are going to use the work file as a temporary ledger constructed for a single report. Let's say that you wanted a complete list of all cheques written this year for an audit or just to review your expenses. To start the process, SCRAP any data in the current work file. Use the GETDATA command to transfer all banking transactions from the DEMO ledger by specifying "from account 11-001 to account 11-003". These accounts are your bank accounts. When the DEMO journal is displayed, use the extended command SELECT which allows you to select a subset of the ---70--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 current file. Transactions not included are deleted from the file. In response to the SELECT prompt, leave the dates to be selected as all dates. Leave the accounts to be selected as all accounts. Change the <*> reference selection (all transactions) to <C> which will select cheques only. Press <C> <CR>. You now have a complete list of cheques for the year. <CR> The total at the bottom of the screen reflects the total value of the cheques. If you want a printout, you can use the <PRNT> key sequence, or choose the "Print the Ledger" <PRNT> line from the Reports Menu. The reference type, in this case a "C", is chosen by you. Any letter is allowed. You can see, however, that careful planning and control of reference types will allow you great flexibility. For example, using exactly this same procedure, you could get a list of all invoices outstanding for more than a specific period by simply SELECTing references. The four column statement facility can total these as 30, 60, 90 and over 120 day receivables. The only requirement is that you must establish the convention of using a particular reference type for unpaid invoices and change the reference type to another when the invoice is paid. Finish this lesson by using the SCRAP command to empty the work file. Press <F2> and select END. <F2> Lesson 9 - Summary Lesson 9 - Summary Work files have more than one use. By use of the extended commands, data can be collected into work files and converted into different forms for posting to other ledgers or simply for reporting purposes. Work files can also be left on diskette for similar uses in the future. ---71--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ They who the gods would destroy, ║ ║ they first computerize. ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════╝ ---72--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 10 - The Extended Commands Lesson 10 - The Extended Commands In the last few lessons, you have been using extended LEDGER commands. Each of these has been partially explained ______ as you've used it, but we have not yet presented a full list of the commands. During this lesson, we will do so. As most extended commands have already been demonstrated, we will not step through examples as we go. The <F2> key will cause LEDGER to display a "mini-menu" <F2> ______ at the bottom of the screen. Commands may be selected from this list by using the arrow keys: that is, a command is selected by highlighting it. The arrow keys move the highlight around. The command is then executed by typing a <CR>. <CR> Several commands require additional information. When this is the case, LEDGER will prompt for it. ______ RETURN RETURN The Return command is considered a null command. LEDGER ______ ______ will resume normal editing. The main reason for a command that does nothing is that it allows you to change your mind. If you press <F2>, and then decide that it was a mistake, <F2> simply press <CR>. LEDGER will redisplay the current page so <CR> ______ you can continue editing. If a command other than Return is ______ highlighted, press <HOME> to select Return, then <CR> to <HOME> <CR> ______ resume editing. END END The End command writes the current data to disk and ___ then exits. The original ledger file is renamed with the extension ".BAK" and left on disk as backup. QUIT QUIT The Quit command asks LEDGER to abort the editing ____ ______ session. The edited file is not written to disk. In other words, the file is left as it was when you started the session. Before Quit is executed, LEDGER will ask for ____ ______ confirmation. You must select Yes, or LEDGER will ignore the ___ ______ Quit command. ____ ---73--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 SELECT SELECT The Select command allows you to retain a subset of the ______ data. The rest is discarded. The chosen subset may be an account range, date range or a specific reference type. Typically, the Select command is used to prepare a work ______ file consisting of selected transactions from a ledger. For example, all balance sheet items might be selected at year- end, then COMPRESSed. The resultant work file would become the balance forward entries for the new year. COMPRESS COMPRESS The Compress transaction adds up groups of transactions ________ and re-posts them as a single balance forward entry. The compression may be restricted to a specific range of dates or a specific set of accounts or both. LEDGER will prompt ______ for the date and comment to be used in the balance forward entries. TRANSLATE TRANSLATE The Translate command causes LEDGER to go through all _________ ______ transactions and convert the account numbers to one of the two cross-reference ccount numbers. The Translating of ________ account numbers is used for two purposes: first, to create closing entries; second, to transfer the equivalent from one ledger to another. For example, all customer numbers in a receivables file may be Translated into the accounts _________ receivable account for the general ledger, and then compressed. The result is posted to the general ledger file. SCRAP SCRAP The Scrap command scraps all data, i.e. the current _____ file will be emptied. Typically, the Scrap command is used _____ to empty a work file so that a new work file can be started with one of the GET commands. GETDATA GETDATA The Getdata command allows transactions from another _______ file to be merged into the file being edited. Transactions taken from the second file may be restricted to a specific range of dates, accounts or reference types. ---74--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 The three commands which get information from other files (Getacct, Getdata and Getall) actually append the new __________________ _______ information to the end of the existing file. The file is then resorted. GETACCT GETACCT The Getacct command allows a set of account numbers to _______ be taken from another ledger file. These account numbers may be restricted to a specific range of accounts. Do note, however, that if the transfer results in duplicate account numbers, the duplicates will be ignored. GETALL GETALL The Getall command is a combined Getdata and Getacct ______ _______ _______ command, i.e. both transactions and accounts are transferred from a second file. FIRST FIRST The First command displays the first page of the file. _____ This command is a faster method of returning to Page One than pressing <PgUp> numerous times. <PgUp> LAST LAST The Last command displays the last page of the file. ____ This command is the equivalent of pressing <End>. In <End> addition, Last is a faster method of reaching the last page ____ than pressing <PgDn> numerous times. <PgDn> CDATE CDATE The Cdate command allows you to change all dates in a _____ file. If a number is typed in one or more of the "from" date positions, only dates matching that number will be changed. The command is used, typically, to revise standard transactions on a monthly basis so that the same work file may be used each month. For example, if all the transactions for payroll are entered into a work file, the same work file can be posted each payday. The only changes may be changes in personnel and the dates. The dates can all be changed at one time with the Cdate command. _____ ---75--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 CACCOUNT CACCOUNT The Caccount command allows you to change all account ________ numbers for transactions in a file. If a number is typed in one or more of the "from" digit positions, only account numbers matching that number will be changed. The Caccount command, unlike Translate, does not depend ________ _________ on XREF account numbers. The command is used, typically, to revise transactions when the account setup is revised. If, for example, you decided to combine two accounts into one, you could use Caccount to change all transactions for one of ________ the accounts to the account number of the second. The first account could then be deleted. CHECK CHECK The Check command causes LEDGER to scan the entire file _____ ______ checking account names and numbers. If a transaction with an unknown account number is found, LEDGER will position the ______ cursor at that transaction. If all transactions have legitimate account numbers, a message to that effect will appear on the status line. This command is very useful as an editing tool when entering data. If a statement does not balance, one of the first steps is to Check transactions. If a transaction is _____ not allocated to any existing account, it is possible that it does not appear in the financial statement. SWITCH SWITCH The Switch command changes all debits in a file to ______ credits and all credits to debits. Switch can be very handy ______ for error correction. For instance, a group of transactions can be Selected into a work file, then Switched. The result ______ ______ is a work file of transactions that will cancel out the originals. PRINTER PRINTER The Printer command allows you to change the printer _______ format. This may be necessary for non-IBM compatible printers. A complete explanation of printer setup is included in Appendix IV. ---76--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 FAST FAST The Fast command speeds up the screen display on colour ____ graphics cards. The extra speed is at the expense of a "snow" effect but may be preferable to some users. With monochrome displays, the Fast command has no effect. ____ SERIAL SERIAL The Serial command causes the serial number of the ______ LEDGER program to be displayed on the status line. ______ Lesson 10 - Summary Lesson 10 - Summary The extended commands are invoked by the use of the <CMD>(<F2>) key. The command is selected with the arrow keys <CMD>(<F2>) then executed with a <CR>. Extended commands are used for <CR> all of the "cut and paste" procedures. With them, you can cross-post from ledger to ledger or from one area of a ledger to another. In addition, a number of utility commands are available to speed the bookkeeping process. ---77--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ He who laughs last probably did backup. ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝ ---78--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 11 - Other Types of Ledgers Lesson 11 - Other Types of Ledgers In Lessons Eight and Nine, we dealt with the work file. Prior to that, we dealt with the general ledger. The types of ledger that can be set up are as varied as business itself. In this lesson, we are going to take a look at several different types of ledgers and show how they relate to the general ledger. In addition, we will step through the process of cross-posting for each: i.e. we will show how LEDGER can be used to consolidate subsidiary ledgers into ______ the general ledger at month-end and year-end. One of the most common ledgers is the payroll ledger. It keeps track of the amounts paid to each employee, the deductions for each employee and the monies owed to government for the deductions. As was mentioned in the previous lesson, a standardized work file, combined with a ledger of this type, can greatly reduce the work load. Type the command LEDGER DEMO3 <CR>. You will see a <CR> standardized work file for a three-man payroll. Press <F8> <F8> to display the Reports Menu. Position the cursor beside the "Print a Regular Statement" line and press <CR>. When the <CR> prompts appear at the bottom of the page, enter <S> in the <S> "Destination?" field. Press <CR> to display payroll <CR> information for each employee on the screen. What you see is, in effect, the cheque stub information. In fact, printing this report on paper would provide a page per employee which could be included with the pay. You would simply have to write the cheques. Press <Esc> to redisplay DEMO3, the payroll ledger. <Esc> Look at both the file and the account number setup by pressing <F5>. You will notice that the accounts have made <F5> extensive use of top-of-page accounts and start/end-of- group accounts. Remember, this is a work file not a "real" ledger. The transactions that you see are for a single payroll. Return to journal mode by pressing <F3>. <F3> The basic procedure for payroll is very simple. First, you use the CDATE command to change the work file to the payroll date. Adjust the gross pay and deductions if they differ from the last payroll, and then print the statement. Using the totals from the statement, write the pay cheques. Adjust the ledger entries for the cheque amounts and enter the cheque number into the transaction. Each pay cheque is put into its envelope with the corresponding ---79--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 statement page so that the employee has a record. When you have finished, the file should balance. If it doesn't, at least one of the cheque transactions is incorrect and must be fixed. When the file balances, press <F2> and END the <F2> work file session. We have also set up a demonstration payroll ledger for you. When you have ended the work file session, post the work file to the demonstration payroll ledger by typing the command LEDGER DEMO2 <CR>. Use the GETDATA command to get <CR> the transactions from the DEMO3 work file. Even if you do not do payroll, it is still important to see how ledgers interrelate. The next step will be to integrate the payroll ledger with the general ledger. So, if you haven't been stepping through this lesson, go back and do a pretend payroll run. There is no need to actually produce the printouts; we just want the revised work file. Post the revised work file to DEMO2, the payroll ledger. While you are in DEMO2, look at the account setup by pressing <F5>. Analyze how the combination of top-of-page <F5> accounts and start/end-of-group accounts produce the statement that you obtained. If you page to the end, you will see the "Payroll Cheque Account", a bank account, on the other side of this ledger. Use <F4> to switch to ledger mode. You will see that <F4> each employee has a series of accounts. The totals recorded here are the ones you will need at year-end to produce tax documents. ** The next step is to integrate the payroll run into the general ledger. END the DEMO2 edit. When the prompt appears, type LEDGER WORK which is your "scratchpad" work file. SCRAP any data in it and GETALL from the DEMO3 file. This, of course, is a copy of the payroll run. Alternatively, you could do a GETALL from the actual ledger (DEMO2) but restrict the dates to the last payroll run. TRANSLATE the file using XREF:1. If you look at the account setup, you will see that each "Gross pay" transaction has been converted to an expense account. The deductions have been translated into liabilities (owed to government or pension fund), and the cheques have been translated to the bank account. The work file can now be COMPRESSed. Use the account range 23-000 to 99-999 so that cheques won't be compressed. Ignore the date range and press <CR>. In answer to the COMPRESS command's second question, <CR> enter the payroll date and the comment "Payroll run YY/MM/DD". ---80--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 The last step is to END the edit on the WORK ledger and transfer the data to the general ledger. Type LEDGER DEMO <CR> and use the GETDATA command to integrate the WORK file <CR> into the general ledger. Make sure that you get only transactions from WORK. Remember, the account numbers in the WORK file are payroll ledger account numbers, not general ledger account numbers. Although you did translate the transactions, the account names and numbers are still set up for a payroll ledger. The correct command is, therefore, GETDATA, not GETALL. After updating the general ledger, take a look at it and produce a statement. You will see the employee expense. Another type of ledger on the LEDGER demonstration disk ______ is DEMO4, an accounts receivable ledger. Type LEDGER DEMO4 <CR>, then look at the account setup by pressing <F5>. On <CR> <F5> one side of the ledger under "Total Receivables" are customer names. Their corresponding account numbers are, in effect, customer numbers. On the other side of the ledger under "Revenue" are revenue accounts for offsetting invoices, and a bank account for offsetting payments. If you go into ledger mode and look at the individual accounts, you will see that a customer's payment record is readily apparent. <PgDn> until you find a customer with a <PgDn> payment entry and look at the reference types. You will notice that we have changed the reference from type "I" for Invoice to type "P" for Paid invoice when the invoice was paid. The ability to change reference types allows you to print reports specifying, for example, type "I" transactions only. The result is an outstanding invoices statement. A multi-column statement with specified dates can result in 30, 60, 90 or over 120 day statements of outstanding invoices. Similarly, a ledger report restricted to type "I" references provides one customer statement per page. The XREF:1 cross-reference account has been set up to allow transfer of the receivables file to the general ledger. As an exercise, post this receivable ledger to the general ledger. The procedure will be similar to the procedure for transferring the payroll ledger. Go back to the paragraph marked with two asterisks and use that procedure as a guide. When you have finished transferring the receivable ledger, END the session. The payroll and receivable sub-ledgers amply illustrate the principal of cross-posting: that is, the drawing of information from one ledger and the posting of that information to a another ledger. The process may include ---81--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 translating account numbers and may involve summarizing many transactions into one cross-entry. Cross-posting is normally done only for data within a specific date range. A year-end is merely a specialized case of what we have already done. At year-end, the books are balanced. There will be several specialized transactions such as moving the Retained Earnings Year to Date account into theRetained Earnings Previous Years account. Retained Earnings, however, are posted like any other transaction. You create a new ledger, copy in the old ledger, and summarize the old transactions into one balance forward entry. The entry becomes the first transaction of the year for each account in the new ledger. It is usual to set each revenue/expense account to zero at the beginning of the year. In manual systems, zeroing revenue/expense accounts is done with a special entry called "the closing entry". With LEDGER, it is easier to just copy ______ balance sheet transactions into the new ledger, omitting all revenue/expense transactions. This omission will cause the revenue/expense accounts to start at zero. Lesson 11 - Summary Lesson 11 - Summary We have now pretty well covered the technical aspects of basic bookkeeping. You have seen how the general ledger works and how subsidiary ledgers are cross-posted to the general ledger. The subsidiary ledgers can be anything from a work sheet for preparing transactions to a complete general ledger for a subsidiary company or division. Additionally, there can be specialized subsidiary ledgers such as payroll ledgers or accounts receivable ledgers. Payroll and accounts receivable ledgers are, in reality, nothing more than portions of the general ledger with expanded detail for specialized information requirements. The variety of such ledgers can be as wide as the information desired. ---82--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Lesson 12 - More on Reports Lesson 12 - More on Reports In Lesson Four, we covered a few of the reports, and several times during the successive lessons we have asked you to print them. However, we have not completely covered all the reports available in the Reports Menu. This lesson will rectify that. When you press <F8>, the Reports Menu appears. You may <F8> choose the desired report by positioning the cursor and pressing <CR>. Further prompts will appear at the bottom of <CR> the screen. They can be changed by filling in the blanks or ignored. When the prompts are filled in to your satisfaction, press <CR>. <CR> One of the fields is labeled "Destination?". If you enter an <L> in that field, the report will be printed on <L> the printer (or list device); an <S> will print the report <S> on the screen; and an <F> will transfer the report to a <F> file. The destination file name on the screen is used only when transferring reports to a file. Writing a report into a disk file allows it to be used as input to a word processing program. All reports have spaces for various ranges of dates and/or accounts. When a range is used, it is always inclusive of the end points, i.e. 01-001 to 50-050 includes accounts 01-001 and 50-050. The three and four column comparative statement reports require a printer that will print more than eighty columns. If your printer cannot print more than eighty columns, you may not be able to use these statements. But if there is a condensed print mode available on your printer, you may still have comparative statements as LEDGER can set ______ the printer into that mode. LEDGER can also set a printer to ______ print any statement in a special font or print quality. Appendix IV details special printer setup procedures. LEDGER supports only the standard parallel printer. If ______ your printer is on a different port, you may direct the report to disk then use your regular printer utilities to print it. Now, let's deal with each report in turn. Account Numbers Account Numbers The Account Number Report lists the account setup for a file. The main purpose of this report is to provide a ---83--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 reference document for use during posting. You may restrict the report to posting account numbers only or to a specific range of accounts. It is a good idea to run this report after any account number revisions. You should keep a copy of your account numbers as a handy reference guide. Another copy should be included as year-end documentation for the company archives. In addition, your accountant should have a copy. Budgets Budgets The Budgets listing is not the same as the Budgets ___ Report which is at the bottom of the Reports Menu. The Budgets listing lists the current budget settings. It may be restricted to posting accounts by filling in a <Y> at the <Y> "Posting only" prompt or it may be restricted to a specific range of account numbers. Cross-Reference Accounts Cross-Reference Accounts This report is a listing of the current account numbers of the ledger with their cross-reference account numbers (XREF1 and XREF2). It may be restricted to posting accounts by filling in a <Y> at the "Posting only" prompt or <Y> restricted to a specific range of account numbers. The Journal The Journal The Journal Report is a listing of current transactions in two column format by date. A range of dates or a range of account numbers may be specified. When a range is used, it is always inclusive of the end points, i.e. 01-001 to 50- 050 includes accounts 01-001 and 50-050. The transaction type may be set to an asterisk (*) which means all types of transactions will be listed; or the transaction type may be specified as a single letter which allows a listing of specific transactions types. For example, if the letter "C", for cheques, is used as the transaction type, a cheque register will be produced. Simply specify transaction type "C" and limit the range of account numbers to the bank accounts. A complete journal printout should be produced at year- end and archived as part of the year-end procedure. The ---84--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 journal is the main document for checking transactions within a specific time period. Any audit will require a journal. In addition to year-end, it is a good idea to produce a journal report at regular intervals and keep it on file for reference. The Ledger The Ledger The Ledger Report is a listing of current transactions in three column format by account number. Each account is printed on a separate page. A range of dates or a range of account numbers may be specified. The transaction type may be set to an asterisk (*) which means all types of transactions will be listed; or the transaction type may be specified as a single letter which allows a listing of specific transaction types. As with the journal, the ledger should be printed at regular intervals and filed as a reference document. At year-end, the ledger should be printed and a copy archived. An auditor or accountant will need the ledger to produce tax returns or to do any year-end work. The Ledger Report is the real work horse of the reports. A single ledger page can be produced by specifying the same start/end-of-group account number. The single ledger page so produced can be anything from a customer statement to a copy of a bank book. A Regular Statement A Regular Statement The "Regular" Statement is a two column (debit/credit) statement. Pagination and sub-totaling is controlled by the top-of-page and start/end-of-group account numbers. The statement may be limited to a specific range of accounts or a specific range of dates. Keep in mind that although a file may balance, the figures within a specific range of dates may not. A balanced debit/credit pair could be entered using different dates. A statement for a date range that includes one but not the other would be out of balance. One other thing could cause a balanced file to produce an out of balance statement. A transaction that has an undefined account number may balance. The statement, however, contains only transactions for actual accounts. If a statement does not balance, use the Check extended command _____ (in <F2>) to search for invalid account numbers. <F2> ---85--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 A Two Column Comparative Statement A Two Column Comparative Statement The Two Column Comparative Statement allows you to prepare a statement comparing two different time periods. Each column corresponds to a particular date range. Within each column, debits and credits are differentiated by brackets. The default is to bracket debits. Bracketed debits can be reversed on an account-by-account basis by setting the "format" column on the account numbers display. Pagination and sub-totaling is controlled by account numbers as in Regular Statements. A Three Column Comparative Statement A Three Column Comparative Statement The Three Column Comparative Statement is exactly the same as the Two Column Comparative Statement except that three time periods are involved. This particular report runs over eighty columns so a wide printer or a condensed print mode is required. A Four Column Comparative Statement A Four Column Comparative Statement We could fill this paragraph in fairly easily; a word processor is a wonderful thing. If we did, however, you would have to read it. A Condensed Statement A Condensed Statement The Condensed Statement is a short statement giving the sub-total accounts only. It is designed to give a "snapshot" statement and is useful during balancing. The Budget Report The Budget Report The Budgets Report gives account balances and budget figures for each account. The balance is also expressed as a percentage of budget for comparison. You may specify a report ratio before starting. This ratio is used to adjust the budget for a particular period. For example, at the end of the first quarter, the ratio 1:4 would cause all budgets to be adjusted to 1/4 before the percentage of budget is calculated. While a budget can be set up for any posting account, the usual convention is to restrict budgeting to revenue and expense accounts. With a revenue account the budget is, in effect, a sales target. Note that totaling accounts will ---86--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 create budgets that are the total of all budgets in the group. If one account in the group should be a credit, and another should be a debit, the total budget may not reflect the figure that you want. This problem may be fixed by setting the debit/credit flag in the account. Lesson 12 - Summary Lesson 12 - Summary The reports in the Reports Menu can be adapted to many purposes. A "statement", for example, may be a financial statement in the usual sense or a statement of receivables by customer. Each report is governed by the account setup for the ledger; what is reported is a result of that setup. At the beginning of this manual, we told you that the first several chapters would be on general bookkeeping as well as how to use LEDGER to keep a set of books. We said we ______ would then go on to how you should proceed with LEDGER and ______ give you some tips on how to set up your own books. The next chapter does this. Before proceeding, you may wish to review what we have taught you so far. We are now finished with the four demonstration ledgers. Feel free to muck about with them to see what happens. ---87--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ All programs expand to exceed available memory. ║ ║ --- Murphy ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ---88--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Chapter 13 - LEDGER and You Chapter 13 - LEDGER and You In the introduction to this manual, we said that LEDGER ______ is a unique and completely new approach to keeping a set of books on a computer. We also said that LEDGER is not a bookkeeping system but, rather, a ledger editor. Now that you are more familiar with the package, you should understand this distinction as the ramifications of the difference between a bookkeeping system and a ledger editor have a profound effect on how LEDGER should be used. ______ LEDGER is a ledger processing package designed to allow ______ you to enter, edit, and manipulate a set of ledgers on a computer. The ledgers can be rearranged as a journal, a ledger or several types of statements. They may be condensed or moved to another set of ledgers. You may choose subsets and print reports. In short, LEDGER does many things ______ that a bookkeeping system does. Throughout the first section of the manual, you have seen many instances of LEDGER's ______ bookkeeping facilities and by now you should have a good understanding of what LEDGER can do. ______ As a ledger editor, however, LEDGER is quite different ______ from a typical bookkeeping package. You may keep as many ledgers as you wish. These may vary from a single general ledger if you have a small business to several functional sets if you are a large company. The rules for setting up and managing the books are determined by you. Any ledger that can be kept with pen and paper can be kept with LEDGER. ______ LEDGER will allow any method of bookkeeping, including ______ _________ poor bookkeeping. With this in mind, let's take a look at the elements of good bookkeeping practice and discuss how LEDGER should be used in a typical business. ______ There are several basics that must be considered in setting up your books. The first, and also the most important, is what kind of information do you want to get from your books? How you want to categorize financial transactions will determine your account numbering. While you are quite welcome to use the demonstration ledgers as a skeleton, this would not be entirely wise. A good accountant's advice is imperative during the setup stage. Classification of revenue, for example, could have profound tax implications. The same is true of expense. While you may have a very good understanding of what you want from your books, that information may not fulfil the requirements of your banker or your tax advisor. So, start with them. After you know what they require, review your own requirements. You, for example, may need a division-by- ---89--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 division profit breakdown or a job-by-job profit breakdown. While such information may not be required by your tax accountant, it may be crucial to you for management decisions. Based on the total requirements, decide which ledgers you want. The type and number of ledgers may be as simple or as complex as you please. But remember the KISS principle and start simply. A system can be made more complex by adding accounts. If you start with too complex a system, you may never get caught up. Instead, start with a good set of books which include the basics and get the routine established. Expand the complexity gradually so that you can evaluate the work involved versus the value of more detailed information. The same approach applies to subsidiary ledgers. You may choose to continue some systems manually and simply transfer balances by hand. As you become more familiar with LEDGER and more organized, greater sophistication can be ______ applied. For example, leasing companies might set up a depreciation ledger where each asset has a separate account. Real estate managers might choose to set up a ledger per building. The key to success is to know what you want and to implement it in easily established stages. The second basic is to remember that mistakes will be made. If you can backtrack easily, they will be easy to find and correct. If you simply have a mass of data and a clutter of support documents, it can be impossible. The principal of being able to backtrack is called, in accounting terms, "providing an audit trail". It is important to remember, however, that the audit trail is not just for the auditor. You will need it to find mistakes or to verify and expand detail. A review of a statement or ledger often triggers questions; the answers often require a review of source documents. Being able to find the documents is crucial to a good system. The transaction reference number is the key to a good audit trail. Using the reference number, you must devise a filing system that keeps source documents organized. Some of your documents will lend themselves quite easily to filing. For example, cheques and invoices are usually numbered. If they are sorted into order and filed in order, the paper work can always be found. It is not the nicely numbered transactions, though, that cause problems. It is the thousand and one miscellaneous expenses and one-of-a-kind transactions that require some forethought. ---90--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Set up a filing method for every type of transaction. The simplest is a collection of numbered 8-1/2" x 11" envelopes or file folders. When a work sheet or receipt is applicable to a transaction, enter a reference number and file the document in the corresponding envelope or folder. If the transaction is unusual or is the result of a subjective decision, write out an explanation and file it as well. Two or three years from now when you undergo an audit, this procedure can save you a lot of aggravation. It is much easier to read your notes than to remember why a decision was made. Another basic bookkeeping principal is "Never destroy anything!". LEDGER provides the ability to compress a ______ thousand transactions into one balance forward entry. That does not mean that you should do it. The correct use for the COMPRESS command, for example, is to create new transactions. If it is being used to erase transactions, COMPRESS is being misused. To illustrate this, let's look at two methods of compressing books for year-end. The wrong way is to simply COMPRESS the year's transactions into one balance forward entry. The result is a ledger ready to start the new year. Of course, an additional result is that a year's worth of records have just been destroyed. The correct method is to print both a journal and a ledger for the finished year. The ledger file is then copied to two new disks. The original plus a copy plus the printouts are put in safe-keeping. The second copy can now be compressed, becoming the opening ledger for the new year. Generally speaking, the rule for compression and cut and paste operations is to use them for creating new transactions. Never use them to destroy detail. If a ledger is too large, consider creating subsidiary ledgers and cross-posting monthly. You can also create a new ledger and bring forward the account balances. In this case, the original ledger should be archived. Earlier, we stated that changing a set of books is considered bad form by most accountants. The idea of a ledger editor that cannot edit a ledger is a contradiction in terms, but again, this does not mean that figures should be revised with impunity. The correct method is to post into a work file, then add the work file to the ledger. While minor fixes within a set of books may be acceptable, there comes a time when they are not. For example, let's say that you make a simple data entry error and inadvertently switch a debit/credit pair. In one case, you discover the error quickly, realizing that something is wrong during the trial ---91--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 balance. In this instance, most accountants would agree that fixing the error is acceptable. In another case, the same error is made, but an incorrect statement is produced and given to your bank manager. A month later, the error is discovered. In this instance, the correct procedure is to put in another transaction, reversing the error. A work sheet documenting what happened should be filed under the reference number. Once any set of books has been closed, all adjustments after that should be by new entries. In some jurisdictions, ledgers used for official purposes become legal documents. Changes after the fact are regarded as shady at best --- illegal at worst. Best to avoid the problem. The best way to handle this is to combine backup and bookkeeping practice. When an "official" statement is produced, copy the ledger to floppy disk and put a write protect tab on it. Archive the copy and log it. All transactions to this point have now been written in stone. A log will give you a record of backup and where the backup is stored. Your log can be as simple as a three ring binder but should be kept up faithfully. Chapter 13 - Summary Chapter 13 - Summary Good bookkeeping procedures are as necessary with LEDGER as with a manual system. When you set up your books, ______ sound accounting practices must be followed. These practices include proper filing of source documents, proper retention of records, and good organization of the books themselves. Use professional help during set up. Most sound accounting practices amount to being able to reconstruct what was done and why. If these two basics are adhered to, most of the rest will follow. ---92--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Chapter 14 - A Note from the Author Chapter 14 - A Note from the Author In closing, I would like to share some personal feelings about LEDGER: its history and where it will be ______ going in the future. Like software often does, LEDGER grew out of our own ______ requirements. We have been in the computer services business for many years. And just as the shoemaker's children have no shoes, we made do with accounting software that did a lot of things our customers wanted but few of the things that we wanted. The lack of simple accounting systems, I have always believed, lies in the history of the computer. Traditionally, the computer has been the prerogative of big business, and big business has different problems than small business. Big business is concerned with the clerical task of preparing thousands of cheques, issuing hundreds of statements, keeping track of dozens of invoices. Massive amounts of work justify massive amounts of software. The traditional accounting package has evolved around dozens of discrete programs each with its highly specialized task. But somewhere along the line, the idea of simple bookkeeping got lost. The goals of LEDGER were several. I wanted fast, simple ______ data entry and correction. I keep my own books, and being an amateur, I make a lot of mistakes. I also wanted total versatility. All of my professional career, I have been faced with businesses changing to meet the requirements of the computer. It was a matter of professional pride to me that MY computer would change to meet the requirements of MY business. There are a large number of specialized requirements for the small businessman. It is too expensive to bring my accountant in for several days to do my year-end. I wanted to hand my accountant a complete copy of my books on a single floppy and be able to get the year-end transactions back the same way without wasting time ferrying various shoe boxes back and forth. Most small businessmen are like me --- we don't have the time to run around. There was one last requirement. I wanted LEDGER to be a ______ foundation module for the thousand and one highly specialized tasks of small business. To understand this requirement, it is necessary to realize that in designing specialized accounting systems 95% of the work lies in designing programs to maintain data and handle exceptions. Since LEDGER already maintains data and handles exceptions, ______ ---93--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 a specialized accounting system can be easily designed around LEDGER's capabilities. ______ For example, a senior computer science student could write a program that amortizes a mortgage into a work file. The interest and principal repayment for each month would have to be written into separate account numbers and that's all that's needed to construct a complete mortgage management system. LEDGER does the rest. Standard commands ______ will extract each month's transactions from the work file and standard posting will handle all exceptions. (A mortgage amortization program has already been included in the distribution disk under MORGAG.BAS.) The same thing is true, although to a much lesser extent, of payroll. Payroll is highly individualized, and it is almost impossible for a small package to fit every business. Converting hours to dollars, however, is a much lesser task than writing a payroll package. A program to generate a work file like the one on the demonstration disk is not a one day student exercise, but on the other hand, it was not a major programming task. The result is a payroll file that can be customized to any business. To help programmers, I have included a technical section in Appendix VII. While it may not interest the average businessman, it should be sufficient for a competent programmer. I should warn you: do not assume that a good programmer knows an iota about bookkeeping. It will probably take longer for you to explain to a programmer what you need than for the program to be written. A final note --- distressful as it may be --- the dual floppy disk machine is dying. Hard disks are becoming so inexpensive that soon the small business computer without one will be the exception. LEDGER-PLUS is only a twinkle in ___________ my eye right now, but I know what I want: a cheque writing facility, a complete new front end to handle backup, directories, file space facilities and DOS commands, and the ability to dump ledger totals directly onto spread sheets... In fact, there are all sorts of things. If you have any ideas, drop me a line. D. L. Tees ---94--- Ledger User's Manual Ledger User's Manual Version 1.64 Appendices Appendix I ----------------------- Command Summary Appendix I ----------------------- Command Summary Appendix II ----------------------- Floppy Disk Setup Appendix II ----------------------- Floppy Disk Setup Appendix III ------------------------- Hard Disk Setup Appendix III ------------------------- Hard Disk Setup Appendix IV ----------------------------- Printer Setup Appendix IV ----------------------------- Printer Setup Appendix V ----------- Suggested Backup Schedule Appendix V ----------- Suggested Backup Schedule Appendix VI ---------- Large Files and other Limits Appendix VI ---------- Large Files and other Limits Appendix VII ---- File Layout and Technical Notes Appendix VII ---- File Layout and Technical Notes ---95--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 ╔═════════════════════════════╗ ║ When the going gets tough ║ ║ the tough get an upgrade. ║ ╚═════════════════════════════╝ ---96--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 Command Summary -- Keys Numeric Keypad Numeric Keypad HOME HOME The <Home> key moves the cursor to the upper left hand corner of the screen. UP ARROW UP ARROW The <H> moves the cursor up one line. < > PGUP PGUP The <PgUp> goes back one page in the current display. <PgUp> In one page displays, such as the Reports Menu, the key will be ignored. If already on Page One, the key will give an error message. LEFT ARROW LEFT ARROW The <E> moves the cursor one character to the left. < > RIGHT ARROW RIGHT ARROW The <G> moves the cursor one character to the right. < > END END The <End> key displays the last page of the file. It is <End> also used to write the printer setup to disk and to exit from the Help facility. DOWN ARROW DOWN ARROW The key moves the cursor down one line. < > ---97--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 PGDN PGDN The <PgDn> key goes to the next page. In one page <PgDn> displays it will be ignored. If already on the last page, the key will give an error message. Function Keys Function Keys F1 (HELP) F1 (HELP) The <HELP> key will give you instructions on the <HELP> screen. To exit from Help, use the <End> key. If you use the <End> <HELP> key while a Help screen is being displayed, a <HELP> complete list of Help topics will be displayed. Use the arrow keys to choose a topic and the <CR> key to display <CR> that topic. F2 (CMD) F2 (CMD) The <CMD> key allows you to use extended LEDGER <CMD> ______ commands. A small menu will appear at the bottom of the screen and a command may be selected by highlighting it with the arrow keys. A <CR> will execute the selected command. <CR> F3 (JOUR) F3 (JOUR) The <JOUR> key switches LEDGER into journal mode. In <JOUR> ______ journal mode, transactions are kept in date order and displayed eighteen transactions per screen. F4 (LEDG) F4 (LEDG) The <LEDG> key switches LEDGER into ledger mode. In <LEDG> ______ ledger mode, transactions are kept in account number order. Within each account, they are kept in date order. The transactions are displayed as one page per account number with a running account balance. If more than eighteen transactions are posted to an account, the display continues on the next page. ---98--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 F5 (ACCT) F5 (ACCT) The <ACCT> key displays the account names and numbers. <ACCT> In this display, you may add new account numbers, change existing account numbers or change the report format. F6 (BUDG) F6 (BUDG) The <BUDG> key displays the account budgets. In this <BUDG> display, you may change the budgets for each account or either of the two cross-reference account numbers. F7 (UNDO) F7 (UNDO) LEDGER updates transactions in several distinct steps. ______ Firstly, transactions are displayed on the screen. Secondly, you type in corrections. Lastly, LEDGER takes the data from ______ the screen and transfers it to memory. If you press the <UNDO> key, LEDGER goes back to the first step, thereby <UNDO> ______ restoring the screen to where you were before you typed the corrections. The effect is to "undo" that typing. It must be remembered, however, that LEDGER will ______ automatically transfer data to memory during certain operations. Pressing <F7> after one of these special <F7> "checkpoint" actions will not change anything. For example, if you type the <UPDA> key, LEDGER transfers the screen data <UPDA> ______ to memory and updates the trial balance at the bottom of the screen. LEDGER then returns to the first step of ______ redisplaying the data on the screen. This sequence of events means that you will not be able to undo any typing done before the update. Generally speaking, any LEDGER action that results in ______ redisplaying the complete screen is a checkpoint action. These checkpoint actions include changing modes, page up and page down, sorts and specific requests for an update. F8 (RPT) F8 (RPT) The <RPT> key displays the Report Menu on the screen. <RPT> To run a report, move the cursor to the desired report and press <CR>. <CR> ---99--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 F9 (FIND) F9 (FIND) The <FIND> key allows you to search for specific <FIND> transactions which may be identified by reference, account, date, or amount. If multiple transactions satisfy the search requirements, LEDGER will stop at the first. Successive ______ instances are found with successive searches. Note that the search always starts at the current cursor. If you want to do an exhaustive search, you must start at the beginning of the file, i.e. Page One. F10 (CHK) F10 (CHK) The <CHK> key checks the account number of the cursor- <CHK> indicated transaction and displays the corresponding account name on the status line. If the account number is not found, a message to that effect will be displayed. Note that this key checks a specific transaction only for there is also a CHECK command. The CHECK command searches the entire file _____ _____ and stops at the first undefined account number. Alternate Keys Alternate Keys The alternate keys are typed by holding down the <Alt> <Alt> key and pressing a number key. The procedure is similar to holding down the shift key in order to type a capital letter. ALT keys are used for two reasons: the two-key sequence prevents inadvertent errors; and use of the ALT keys expands the number of special functions available in LEDGER. ______ ALT 1 (DEL) ALT 1 (DEL) The <ALT 1> key sequence deletes the cursor line <ALT 1> transaction from the ledger. ALT 3 (GETC) ALT 3 (GETC) The <ALT 3> key sequence takes the calculator result <ALT 3> and "pastes" it into a screen display. In the budgets screen, the calculation will be placed into the budget. In the journal or ledger screens, LEDGER will ask you to ______ specify the debit or credit column. ---100--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 ALT 4 (UPDA) ALT 4 (UPDA) The <ALT 4> key sequence takes all data from the screen <ALT 4> and uses it to update the transactions. LEDGER then ______ recalculates the trial balance and redisplays the screen. See the description of the UNDO command (<F7>) for the <F7> ramifications of using <ALT 4>. <ALT 4> ALT 5 (SORT) ALT 5 (SORT) The <ALT 5> key sequence asks LEDGER to resort data. <ALT 5> ______ Data is resorted in the current mode, the page number is set to Page One, and the screen is redisplayed. For further information on the sorting method, see Appendix V. ALT 6 (TOTL) ALT 6 (TOTL) The <ALT 6> key sequence asks LEDGER to recalculate the <ALT 6> ______ trial balance and reset the status line. The <TOTL> key <TOTL> sequence is an UNDO checkpoint. ALT 7 (PRNT) ALT 7 (PRNT) The <ALT 7> key sequence prints the current screen on <ALT 7> the system printer. The DOS <Prt Sc> key is trapped by <Prt Sc> LEDGER and treated as an <Alt 7>. LEDGER print functions <Alt 7> ______ allow you to initialize your printer for special fonts, filter out graphic characters for non-standard printers, and omit the screen copyright message or status line. Appendix V explains how to set up LEDGER for specialized printer ______ requirements. ALT 8 (CALC) ALT 8 (CALC) The <ALT 8> key sequence displays a standard five <ALT 8> function calculator onto the screen. The <Esc> key removes <Esc> the calculator and restores the cursor. ---101--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 DITTO <"> DITTO <"> The ditto key <"> does not display an actual ditto mark <"> in LEDGER. Instead, the ditto key will duplicate the ______ information from the line above the cursor. If the cursor is on the top line or the field above contains invalid information, pressing the ditto key displays an error message. TAB TAB The <Tab> key will tab (jump) the cursor to the first <Tab> character of the next field. BACKSPACE BACKSPACE The <BACKSPACE> key will jump the cursor backwards to <BACKSPACE> the first character of the current field or to the first character of the previous field. DOT <.> DOT <.> The dot (or period, or decimal point) key has a special effect in numeric fields only. In numeric fields, <.> will <.> line up the entered number then tab to the next field. For instance, entering 627 in a six-digit field then pressing the dot ensures that the number will appear as 627 (six hundred and twenty-seven), not 627000 (six hundred and twenty-seven thousand). INS INS The <Ins> key inserts a blank transaction above the <Ins> current cursor line. Extended Commands Extended Commands The <F2> key will cause LEDGER to display a "mini-menu" <F2> ______ at the bottom of the screen. Commands may be selected from this list by using the arrow keys: that is, a command is selected by highlighting it. The arrow keys move the highlight around. The command is then executed by typing a <CR>. <CR> ---102--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 Several commands require additional information. When this is the case, LEDGER will prompt for it. ______ RETURN RETURN The Return command is considered a null command. LEDGER ______ ______ will resume normal editing. END END The End command writes the current data to disk then ___ exits. The original ledger file is renamed with the extension ".BAK" and left on disk as backup. QUIT QUIT The Quit command asks LEDGER to abort the editing ____ ______ session. The edited file is not written to disk. In other words, the file is left as it was when you started the session. Before Quit is executed, LEDGER will ask for ____ ______ confirmation. You must select Yes or LEDGER will ignore the ___ ______ Quit command. ____ SELECT SELECT The Select command allows you to retain a subset of the ______ data. The rest is discarded. The chosen subset may be an account range, date range, or a specific reference type. COMPRESS COMPRESS The Compress transaction adds up groups of transactions ________ and re-posts them as a single balance forward entry. The compression may be restricted to a specific range of dates or a specific set of accounts, or both. LEDGER will prompt ______ for the date and comment to be used in the balance forward entries. TRANSLATE TRANSLATE The Translate command causes LEDGER to go through all _________ ______ transactions and convert the account numbers to one of the two cross-reference account numbers. ---103--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 SCRAP SCRAP The Scrap command scraps all data, i.e. the current _____ file will be emptied. Typically, the Scrap command is used _____ to empty a work file so that a new work file can be started with one of the GET commands. GETDATA GETDATA The Getdata command allows transactions from another _______ file to be merged into the file being edited. Transactions taken from the second file may be restricted to a specific range of dates, accounts, or reference types. GETACCT GETACCT The Getacct command allows a set of account numbers to _______ be taken from another ledger file. These account numbers may be restricted to a specific range of accounts. Do note, however, that if the transfer results in duplicate account numbers the duplicates will be ignored. GETALL GETALL The Getall command is a combined Getdata and Getacct ______ _______ _______ command, i.e., both transactions and accounts are transferred from a second file. FIRST FIRST The First command displays the first page of the file. _____ LAST LAST The Last command displays the last page of the file. ____ This command is the equivalent of pressing <End>. <End> CDATE CDATE The Cdate command allows you to change all dates in a _____ file. If a number is typed in one or more of the "from" date positions, only dates matching that number will be changed. ---104--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix I Version 1.64 CACCOUNT CACCOUNT The Caccount command allows you to change all account ________ numbers for transactions in a file. If a number is typed in one or more of the "from" digit positions, only account numbers matching that number will be changed. CHECK CHECK The Check command causes LEDGER to scan the entire file _____ ______ checking account names and numbers. If a transaction with an unknown account number is found, LEDGER will position the ______ cursor at that transaction. If all transactions have legitimate account numbers, a message to that effect will appear on the status line. SWITCH SWITCH The Switch command changes all debits in a file to ______ credits and all credits to debits. PRINTER PRINTER The Printer command allows you to change the printer _______ format. This may be necessary for non-IBM compatible printers. A complete explanation of printer setup is included in Appendix IV. FAST FAST The Fast command speeds up the screen display on colour ____ graphics cards. The extra speed is at the expense of a "snow" effect but may be preferable to some users. With monochrome displays, the Fast command has no effect. ____ SERIAL SERIAL The Serial command causes the serial number of the ______ LEDGER program to be displayed on the status line. ______ ---105--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix II Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix II Version 1.64 August, 1987 Floppy Disk Setup To set up a LEDGER boot disk, you must first format a ______ system diskette by using the DOS command >FORMAT/S<CR>. <CR> After formatting a diskette, put the LEDGER distribution ______ disk into drive A and the formatted system disk in drive B. Type the command FLOPPY. The FLOPPY command will prompt you along the way. When you are done, you will have a new LEDGER system disk. Put ______ the original away as backup. If you already have a LEDGER system set up, use the ______ command FLOPUPDA instead of FLOPPY. This setup method does much the same thing, but in addition it will add your books to the new floppy disk. FLOPUPDA will prompt you to put your old system disk into drive B at the appropriate time. ---106--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix II Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix II Version 1.64 August, 1987 ╔════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ You mean it's GONE??! ║ ║ -- countless novices ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════╝ ---107--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix III Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix III Version 1.64 August, 1987 Hard Disk Setup To set up LEDGER for hard disk, first boot your system ______ then place the LEDGER distribution disk into drive A. Switch ______ to drive A by typing the A: command, then type the command HARD <CR>. The command HARD will create a hard disk area <CR> called "LEDGER" and copy the appropriate files to it. ______ Return to drive C and type the command CD\LEDGER. This \ command means "Change Directories to LEDGER" and will put you into the LEDGER area. From now on, you do not need the ______ distribution floppy; the CD\LEDGER command is equivalent to \ booting from a LEDGER disk. ______ ---108--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 ╔══════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Yes... ║ ║ -- countless computer people ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════╝ ---109--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 Printer Setup To understand the printer setup, some basic theory is required. Everyone knows that computers work with binary numbers. What is less understood is that computer printers, screens, and other peripheral equipment also work with numbers. In other words, a computer sends a printer a number and the printer does something in response. The trick is to know what number causes what response. Unfortunately, different printers respond in a different manner to the same number. This situation sounds totally chaotic and to a large extent it is. Fortunately, there has been some standardization. Many years ago, a coding system called ASCII was adopted by the computer industry. (ASCII stands _____ for American Standard Code for Information Interchange.) ______________________________________________________ ASCII defines the numbers zero through one hundred and twenty seven as specific codes. For example, the number sixty-five (65) represents the letter "A". When a computer sends the number sixty-five to a printer, the printer should print "A". Similarly, the number ninety-seven (97) will print "a": that is, a lower case "A". ASCII standardization solves most but not all of the problems. If you have a printer and it works with your PC, it is an ASCII printer and most printer functions are standardized. LEDGER simply sends the codes needed. However, ______ ASCII does not have a code for everything that a printer can do. The vertical and horizontal lines on your screen are a good example. ASCII has no definitions for drawing lines. There is also no standard way to make a printer change printing styles or set up for a certain size paper. It is, therefore, necessary to tell LEDGER what codes your printer ______ uses. The extended command PRINTER instructs LEDGER to accept ______ printer instructions. When you press <F2> then use the <F2> command PRINTER, LEDGER puts a printer setup table on your ______ screen. You may change the printer definitions and LEDGER ______ will store them on disk. LEDGER reads the instructions from ______ disk each time it starts. The result is that once set up you need not concern yourself with printer setup again. To review to this point, the PRINTER command will allow you to redefine the instructions that LEDGER issues to your ______ printer. After you make changes, pressing the <End> key will <End> cause the new instructions to be written to disk. From that ---110--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 point on, the new instructions will be used automatically upon startup. The PRINTER command displays the following screen. Let's review each of the possible changes and discuss how it affects the printer. The Printer Setup Screen ---111--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╗ ║LEDGER-V1.64 Copyright(C)1986, Tees & Tees Inc. DEMO 86/04/24 19:12║ ║ Printer Setup ║ ║ ║ ║ Allow graphic characters (Y/N).....<Y> ║ ║ Top line on screen print (Y/N).....<Y> ║ ║ Status line on screen print (Y/N)..<Y> ║ ║ Formfeed before screen print (Y/N).<Y> ║ ║ Output line feeds (Y/N)............<Y><55> ║ ║ Pause for paper on pages (Y/N).....<N> ║ ║ Print Title page (Y/N).............<Y> ║ ║Initialize Report for: ║ ║ Account Numbers................... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Budgets........................... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Cross-Reference Accounts.......... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Journal........................... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Ledger............................ 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Regular Statement................. 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Two Column Comparative Statement.. 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Three Column Comparative Statement 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Four Column Comparative Statement. 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Condensed Statement............... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║ Budget Report..................... 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ║──────────────────────────────────────Page:001───────────0. 00-Cr--01%--Journal──║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════════╝ The top portion of the printer setup table consists of ---112--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 seven Yes/No answers. Each answers a specific question about how you want LEDGER to handle your printer. By positioning ______ the cursor with the arrow keys, then entering a <Y> for <Y> "yes" or an <N> for "no", you can correct most printer <N> problems. Let's deal with each question in turn. Allow graphic characters (Y/N) Allow graphic characters (Y/N) While ASCII does not define line printing characters, a de facto standard for graphics has arisen with the IBM-PC. Many printers will mimic the screen graphics of the PC: these are usually advertised as "IBM compatible" printers. If you have such a printer, the <ALT 7> function will print <ALT 7> the current screen complete with the double line lines at top and bottom and the single line separating dollars from cents. Non-graphics printers, including daisy wheel printers, are unable to reproduce the straight lines. Instead, they will print gibberish. To stop the gibberish, enter an <N> on <N> the "Allow graphic characters" line. LEDGER will then ______ substitute a space for all horizontal lines and put a decimal point between the dollars and cents. The vertical lines in the date will be replaced with slashes, and the vertical lines between other columns will be replaced with spaces. Top line on screen print (Y/N) Top line on screen print (Y/N) When the <ALT 7> key sequence or the keyboard <Prt Sc> <ALT 7> <Prt Sc> key is pressed, LEDGER prints the current screen. The ______ printout will include both the top line (copyright message and date) and the status line (page number, file balance, etc.). It may be desirable to delete both these lines from the printout. The answer to the "Top line on screen print" line determines whether the copyright line will be included in screen printouts. <Y> includes the copyright line; <N> omits <Y> <N> it. Status line on screen print (Y/N) Status line on screen print (Y/N) The answer to the "Status line on screen print" line determines whether the status line will be included in screen printouts. <Y> includes the status line; <N> omits <Y> <N> it. ---113--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 Formfeed before screen print (Y/N) Formfeed before screen print (Y/N) ASCII defines a code (formfeed) that requests a printer to eject the page by going to the top of the next page. The standard method of printing is to send this character at the start of a file, and then at the start of each new page to insure that each page of a report starts at the top of a sheet of paper. There are several problems that can occur when using this method. The first problem is that with microcomputer printers people often line up the paper by hand by turning the roller bar knob. Unfortunately, the printer mechanism cannot detect that the paper was manually lined up. The result is that the printer thinks the top of page is the position of the paper at startup and the pages become misaligned. To prevent this, reset your printer after changing the paper position. If the printer does not have a "set top of form" or reset button, turn it off, and then on again. The second problem with the standard method of printing is that you end up with a blank page at the start of each printout; or rather, you end up with a blank page whenever the printer is already set at the top of a page. Then if you sheet feed by hand the formfeed ejects the paper. These two problems can be corrected by instructing LEDGER to omit the formfeed at the start of each page. ______ Output line feeds (Y/N) Output line feeds (Y/N) The "Output line feeds" line is a response to what is becoming a rather rare problem. ASCII defines two characters for line control: the carriage return code and the line feed code. The carriage return code requests that the printer move the print head to the leftmost column. The line feed code requests that the printer move the paper up one line. These two codes are quite separate. To do the typewriter- style return, the computer must send two different codes to the printer: one code to return the print head and another code to move the print head down one line. Unfortunately, some printers were designed by typewriter companies who decided to ignore the ASCII standard. When the computer sends one of these printers a carriage return, the printer does a carriage return AND a line feed. The result is that standard programs end up with double spaced reports. ---114--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 If you find your reports are double spaced, the carriage return/line feed codes are the most likely culprits. Change the <Y> to an <N> and LEDGER will <Y> <N> ______ compensate for the printer so that your reports will be single spaced. To the right of the "Output line feeds" line is the number 55. This is the default number of lines per page for reports. Fifty-five lines per page works quite well for eleven inch paper but may need to be changed for other paper sizes. Pause for paper on pages (Y/N) Pause for paper on pages (Y/N) The "Pause for paper on pages" response allows for hand fed printers. If you use continuous form paper, leave an <N> <N> on this line. If you put in a <Y>, LEDGER will pause at the <Y> ______ beginning of each page and ask you to put paper in the printer. Once the paper is ready, <CR> continues the report. <CR> LEDGER prints the Reports Menu as a title page for each ______ report. An <N> on this line will inhibit the title page at <N> the start of a report. Initialize Report Initialize Report Your printer may require a set of codes to initialize it. For example, the three column statement cannot fit on an eighty column printer. Most dot matrix printers, however, can be set to condensed print which allows a report to fit on standard 8-1/2" wide paper. The "Initialize Report for" section allows up to ten initialization codes to be used for each report. The codes are entered as decimal numbers. Zeros are not sent to the printer, so leave unused codes set to zero. The codes required by any given printer are normally included in the printer manual. On the next two pages there is a table of standard ASCII codes. The decimal number, as required by LEDGER, is ______ in the leftmost column. The second and third column (Hex, Octal) are the same number expressed in base sixteen and base eight, respectively. These are given because printer manuals often give the setup codes in one of these bases. (Hex and octal are often used because they are easily converted to binary.) ---115--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 In addition to the numeric values, the table includes the key that produces the value and the formal ASCII name for the code. For example, the space bar on the PC produces the code number 32. This is hex "20" and octal "40". The formal ASCII name is "SP". As an example of setup, let's say that your printer manual says that the code "SI" sets the printer to condensed print. To set LEDGER to print the three column statement in ______ condensed print, you would set the initialize statement line like this. ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════╗ ║ Three Column Comparative Statement 15 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═════════════════╝ The number "15" is taken from the ASCII table. ---116--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 ASCII Table ---117--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 TABLE REQUIRES LASER ---118--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 TABLE REQUIRES LASER ---119--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 ASCII Table (cont.) ---120--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 TABLE REQUIRES LASER ---121--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix IV Version 1.64 August, 1987 TABLE REQUIRES LASER ---122--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix V Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix V Version 1.64 August, 1987 Suggested Backup Schedule In the chapter on backup, we were mostly concerned with how to copy files. When to copy them, however, is another matter. But before discussing the "when", we should define a couple of terms. Backup, technically, can refer to any copy of your data. However, there are two separate reasons to make copies. The first reason is for simple error recovery. This type of backup has a limited life-span, i.e. each backup run supersedes the preceding run. Keeping this type of backup forever is not only unnecessary but wasteful of diskettes. The second reason for backup is for archival purposes. For example, at year-end you should make a copy (or two) of your files and then store them forever. These copies would be used for audits, historical checks, or for simple exploration of a bygone era. Archiving is done permanently: usually with a write protect tab on the diskette. With these distinctions in mind, the best backup scheme is what we call a "father, son, grandson" scheme: enough diskettes are formatted to hold three complete copies of the ledgers. The number of backup diskettes will, of course, be a multiple of three. The copies are then made on a revolving basis. You reuse each set every three backups which means that you have, at any given time, the last three "generations" of your books. For this scheme to work well, there are a couple of rules. Rule number one is that you must keep a log. If you don't know what's current, the backup is useless. Rule number two is do the next generation of backup whenever you cannot afford to redo the work. The limit is reached about every ten to fifteen man hours of actual work which may be once a day or once a month. Use your own judgement. Finally, archiving must be done separately from the normal backup. Since archives are historical, permanent records, you again must use some judgement. I would suggest the MINIMUM of the following. Immediately after reading this manual, format at least one or, preferably, two archive copies of the LEDGER ______ distribution disk. Before AND after any major changes in account structure. ---123--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix V Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix V Version 1.64 August, 1987 Before AND after the end of each financial period. For example, at year-end you should have a copy of the previous year's final ledger plus the opening ledger for the new year. Quarterly or bi-yearly copies for safety in case of major problems. ---124--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VI Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VI Version 1.64 August, 1987 Large Files and Other Limits There are some technical limits within LEDGER. The size ______ of a given file and the size of any given number cannot exceed certain values. It should be kept in mind that good procedure may override these technical limitations. For example, very large ledgers should be split into several ledgers for control, in spite of the fact that LEDGER may be ______ capable of handling them. Let's deal with numerical limitations first and then get to the file size limitations. No number used in LEDGER may exceed $49,999,999.99, ______ i.e., any debit or credit must be less then fifty million dollars. In addition, no total or subtotal may exceed the same amount. This limitation has to do with the accuracy of the arithmetic routines within LEDGER and is an absolute ______ limit. In addition, the calculator may not exceed 9,999,999.99. You may have as many files as you want, but there is a limitation on the size of the files since file size is limited by memory. On a 512K machine using DOS 3.1, the file size limitation is about 5200 transactions. This includes both account numbers and journal entries. It should be kept in mind, however, that a ledger this size is also too big to work with easily. We would recommend that when a file approaches 1200 to 1500 transactions it should be split. You can either start a new ledger by transferring the balance forward entries, or reorganize your books so that some entries are kept in subsidiary ledgers. For larger companies, the best method is to keep only one transaction per account per month in your main ledger. Each month, start a new ledger by copying the main books and condensing all entries into one balance forward entry. Post the month's transactions into this ledger. At month-end, archive the month's books. Extract the posted transactions into a work file by using the GETDATA command with a date range. CONDENSE these transactions into one transaction per account, leave the work file by using the END command, then paste the work file into the main books with a GETDATA command. The entire process is then repeated the next month. For those who like to test computers to their limits, the following applies. While LEDGER will handle large files, ______ expect some slow responses. We tested LEDGER on a hard disk ______ file of 400K which is too large to backup onto a floppy, but then we weren't making any effort to be sensible. The file contained over 5000 transactions and was created in reverse ---125--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VI Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VI Version 1.64 August, 1987 order, i.e., it was sorted backwards by date. LEDGER read ______ it, sorted it, and edited it with no problems --- except that the sort took 45 minutes. (We tested on a Cordata-PC which is the same speed as the IBM XT). The sort in LEDGER has been written to work fastest on ______ partially ordered files. In other words, if only one or two items are out of order, LEDGER sorts extremely quickly. Even ______ with 5000 transactions, changing one or two dates then pressing the SORT key sequence will give a response of under two seconds. Changing modes, however, results in a more extensive reordering. With data transactions spread across fifty accounts, going from journal to ledger mode took twenty-five minutes for our 5000 transaction file. As a final note on this subject, the time/transaction relationship is not linear. For the worst case, i.e., a file in reverse order, doubling the number of transactions will increase the response time by four. Files of about 1000 transactions handle quite adequately. Larger files are handled correctly, but response to sorting will be slow. ---126--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Version 1.64 August, 1987 File Layout & Technical Notes Appendix VII is for programmers and systems people. Its purpose is to allow the professional to create LEDGER ______ compatible files from other programs. If you are a layman, you are quite welcome to read on but please accept our apologies for lapsing into computerese. LEDGER data files (i.e.,"x.LDG" files) are ASCII files ______ that can be transmitted over phone lines, printed, or edited with a standard text editor. They contain only printable ASCII, the ASCII carriage return (hex 0D) or the ASCII line feed (hex 0A). While ASCII files simplify creating LEDGER compatible ______ data files, it must be kept in mind that LEDGER expects ______ fully packed, rigorous file layout. In other words, a field that is supposedly numeric must be numeric. Leading blanks are not allowed. LEDGER will accept "00001" as reference ______ one, but will reject " 1". There are up to three record types in a file: account records, transaction records, and a single "status" record. The status record informs LEDGER as to the order of the ______ file. If the status record is not present, LEDGER will sort ______ the file into journal order on startup. Each of the record types must occur as a fixed length record. For example, an account record must be 59 ASCII characters, followed by a CR,LF (hex 0D,0A). The distribution disk contains a BASIC subroutine to put out transaction records; we suggest that you take a look at this routine. It is called "SKELTON.BAS". There is also a program called "MORGAG.BAS" that uses the subroutine. Since the ledger files are standard ASCII, they can also be examined or patched with a text editor. Take a look at DEMO.LDG with your text editor. It has all record types in it. The following charts itemize each field and the edits that LEDGER performs when reading the file. As a final note, ______ all amounts are expressed as 10 digit ASCII numbers. They are right justified, with an implied two decimal places. For example, $1.98 is expressed as "0000000198" ---127--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Version 1.64 August, 1987 File Layout and Technical Notes Account Record Layout Record Size = 64 plus CR,LF ---128--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Version 1.64 August, 1987 ╔═════╦══════════════╦═════════╦═══════════════════════╗ ║Chars║ Name ║ Edit ║ Purpose ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 1 ║ record-type ║ "A" ║ Informs LEDGER that ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ the record is an ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ account record. Must ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ be "A" for account ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ records. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 2-6 ║account-number║ numeric ║ The account number, ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ as entered into ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ LEDGER transactions. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 7-8 ║ account-type ║ numeric ║ An invisible field, ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ used to determine ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ whether the account ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ is top-of-page (00); ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ start-of-group (01-49)║ ║ ║ ║ ║ posting (50); or ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ end-of-group (51-99). ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ Part of the sort key. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║9-38 ║ account-name ║ ASCII ║ The account name. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║39-43║ xref1 ║ numeric ║ The account number ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ for the first cross ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ reference account. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║44-48║ xref2 ║ numeric ║ The account number ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ for the second cross ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ reference account. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 49 ║ Debit-flag ║"D", "C" ║ Determines whether ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ debits or credits ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ are bracketed on ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ financial statements. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║50-54║ future use ║ no edit ║ For future expansion. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║55-64║account-budget║ numeric ║ The budget for the ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ account. ║ ╚═════╩══════════════╩═════════╩═══════════════════════╝ ---129--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Version 1.64 August, 1987 Transaction Record Layout Record Size = 59 plus CR,LF ---130--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Version 1.64 August, 1987 ╔═════╦══════════════╦═════════╦═══════════════════════╗ ║Chars║ Name ║ Edit ║ Purpose ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 1 ║ record-type ║ "J" ║ Informs LEDGER that ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ the record is a ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ journal record. Must ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ be "J" for all ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ transactions. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 2-3 ║ year ║ numeric ║ The year of the ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ transaction. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 4-5 ║ month ║ numeric ║ The month of the ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ transaction. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 6-7 ║ day ║ numeric ║ The day of the ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ transaction. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 8-12║account-number║ numeric ║ The account number of ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ the transaction. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║13-14║ reserved ║ blank ║ Used internally as a ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ tertiary key. This ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ preserves order for ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ similar keys. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 15 ║reference-type║ upper ║ The reference type ║ ║ ║ ║ case ║ for the transaction. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║16-20║ reference ║ numeric ║ The reference number ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ for the transaction. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║21-45║ comment ║ ASCII ║ The comment for the ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ transaction. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 46 ║ flags ║*, space ║ These flags are ║ ║ 47 ║ ║ ║ available for use by ║ ║ 48 ║ ║ ║ subsystems. For ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ example, paid vs. ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ unpaid invoices. For ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ future use. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║ 49 ║ debit-credit ║"+", "-" ║ An ASCII "+" for ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ credits, or a "-" for ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ debits. ║ ╠═════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═══════════════════════╣ ║50-59║ amount ║ numeric ║ The amount of the ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ transaction. ║ ╚═════╩══════════════╩═════════╩═══════════════════════╝ ---131--- Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Ledger User's Manual --- Appendix VII Version 1.64 August, 1987 Sort Record Layout Record Size = 2 plus CR,LF The sort order record has only two forms. The first is "SJ" followed by a carriage return line feed; the second is "SL" followed by a carriage return line feed. If the sort record is present, the file must be sorted. If the sort record is not present, the file may be in any order. Unordered files are put into journal order and mode on startup; ordered files assume the mode indicated by the order. The sort order record may be anywhere in the file. It should be noted that LEDGER must have ordered data. If the ______ sort record is present yet the file is out of order, LEDGER ______ will not function correctly. Such a state could be corrected by ALT 5, the SORT key sequence, but is better avoided. The sort order is as follows. All records are sorted by record type as the primary key, i.e., account records will be at the start of the file. Within the accounts, records are sorted on the account number plus the account type. This field is characters 2 through 8 inclusive. Transactions are ordered differently, depending on mode. If in ledger mode, the secondary key is account number and the tertiary key is date. These are fields 8-12 and 2-7 respectively. In journal mode, the keys are reversed, that is, the secondary key is the date (2-7) and the tertiary key is the account number (8-12). The order of transactions with duplicate keys is maintained through sorts. As a final note, any ASCII data can be placed in the file. All data not conforming to the standard edits will be removed, and a message will be printed during file reads. Why you would want to do this is beyond us, but feel free to scatter comments throughout the file. LEDGER will ______ resynchronize on the first carriage return line feed. ---132--- Ledger User's Manual (Index) Ledger User's Manual (Index) Version 1.64 August, 1987 About Files and Backup 15 Account budgets 42 Account format 41 Account names 40, 45, 64 Account Number Report 71 Account numbers 1, 6, 9, 13, 14, 21, 22, 37, 40, 41, 45, 50, 54, 62, 63, 64, 71, 77 Account numbers, list of 21 INDEX Account range 25, 62, 63, 71, 72, 73 Account Record Layout 111 Account records 110 Account setup 67, 68, 71, 75 Accounts accounts payable 33 accounts receivable 32 asset 28, 29, 31 balance sheet 49, 50 budgets 42 cash 31 combining 64 cross-reference 42, 43, 56, 62, 64, 72 duplicates 63 end-of-group 22, 23, 26, 42, 67, 68, 73 equity 29, 34, 56 expense 29, 31, 33, 52, 74 format 41 group 23 invalid 73 inventory 31 layout 26 liability 29, 31 listing 22 names 40, 45, 64 numbers 37, 40, 41, 50, 54, 62, 63, 64 order of 42 posting 26, 42, 43 range of 25, 53, 55, 57, 62, 63, 71, 72, 73 retained earnings previous years 70 Retained Earnings Year to Date 36, 70 revenue 52, 69, 74 Index 134 Ledger User's Manual (Index) Ledger User's Manual (Index) Version 1.64 August, 1987 setup 64, 67, 68, 71, 75 Balance Sheet 22, 25, 27, start-of-group 22, 23, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 42, 67, 68, 73 36, 37, 55, 56, 57, 62 sub-total 74 accounts 50 top-of-page 22, 23, 26, 42, Balancing account 36 67, 68, 73 Balancing entry 36, 55 totaling 42 Bank account 6, 7, 12, 28, Transferred to Profit 36 29, 30, 34, 41, 51, 53, Accounts receivable 62 58, 69 Accounts receivable ledger Bi-yearly 107 23, 25, 69, 70 Big business 81 Accounts Screen 23 Boot 17 ACCT 40 Boot disk 5, 95 Add or change an account 41 Bracket 41, 74 ALT 1 46 BUDG 42 ALT 3 46 Budgets 42, 72 ALT 4 47 listing 72 ALT 5 47 percentage 74 ALT 6 48 settings 72 ALT 7 48 Budgets Report 43, 72, 74 ALT 8 46 Budgets Screen 43 Alternate keys 39 Angle brackets 3 CACCOUNT 64 Appendices 83 CALC 46 Appendix I 3 Calculator 46 Appendix II 3, 5 Canceling transactions 46 Appendix III 3, 5 Cash account 31 Appendix IV 3, 48, 65 Catastrophic errors 17 Appendix VII 82 Categories 9 Archives 72, 79, 80, 108 CDATE 58, 63 Archiving 106 Changes will be lost 8 Arithmetic 46 CHECK 64 ASCII 99, 110, 113 Checkpoint 44, 45, 47, 48 ASCII Table 104 CHK 35, 45, 52, 54 Asset account 28, 29, 31 Clock board 17 Assets 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, Closing entries 49, 62, 70 32, 33, 34 CMD 9, 40, 50, 51 Asterisk 16, 45, 58, 72, 73 Colour graphics card 65 Audit 53, 58, 73, 79, 106 Combine two accounts 64 Audit trail 53, 54, 78 Commands 3 copy 16 Backup 4, 15, 18, 49, 51, directory 17 61, 80, 95, 108 extended 40, 48, 50, 54, automatic 17, 18 57, 58, 59, 65, 73 Schedule 106 summary 85 Balance 64, 73 Comparative statements 41, Balance forward 62 71 Balance forward entries 1, COMPRESS 55, 57, 62, 79 57, 62, 70, 79, 108 Compression 79 Computer management 18 Condensed print 71, 74 Index 135 Ledger User's Manual (Index) Ledger User's Manual (Index) Version 1.64 August, 1987 Condensed Statement 74 Disk drive 24, 50 Confirm 8 senior computer ÆΩ1Φ1╩-╚-╞-*-Φ/ Disk file 6 Consolidate 43, 67 Ditto key 35, 52, 54 Continuous form 19 Documentation, supporting Control 49, 54, 77 7, 54, 78, 80 Conventions 3, 42 DOS 8, 16, 17, 18, 95 Copies 15, 16, 18 Double entry 1, 27, 28, 29 COPY 16 Double spaced 20 Copy command 16 Drive specification 16 COPYDISK 18 Duplicate account 63 Copyright 5, 20, 48 Duplication 15 Cordata-PC 109 Creating files 50 Empty file 50 Credit 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 End 17, 18, 48, 51, 52, 53, Credits 27, 33, 34, 64 55, 57, 59, 61 Cross-entry 70 End points 25 Cross-posting 65, 67, 70, End-of-group account 22, 79 23, 26, 42, 67, 68, 73 Cross-reference accounts Equity 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 42, 43, 55, 56, 57, 62, 32, 33, 34 64, 68, 69, 72 Equity account 29, 34, 56 Cursor 11, 14 Erasing 18 Customer 23, 31, 33, 62, 69 Error messages 7, 12 Customer number 23 Escape 39 Cut 49 Exceptions 42 Cut and paste 49, 65, 79 Exits 9 Expense 14, 28, 31, 33 Daisy wheel 19, 20 Expense account 29, 31, 33, Data entry 54 52 Date 6, 16, 17 Expense accounts 74 Date range 55, 62, 63, 70, Expenses 13, 27, 29 71, 72, 73, 74, 108 Extended commands 40, 48, Dates 64 50, 54, 57, 58, 59, 61, default 57 65, 73 range of 25, 26, 53, 55, Extension 16 57, 62, 63, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 108 F1 39 Debit 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 F10 45 Debits 27, 33, 34, 64 F2 40 Debits/Credits 51 F3 40 Decimal point 20, 46 F4 40 Default date 57 F5 40 DEL 46 F6 42 Delete 39 F7 44 Deleting transactions 39, F8 44 46 F9 45 Deletions 46 FAST 65 Depreciation ledger 78 Father, son, grandson 106 Destination 24, 25, 37, 71 Fields 12 DIR 15, 16 File 24, 49 Directory 15, 16, 17, 24 File extension 16, 24 Index 136 Ledger User's Manual (Index) Ledger User's Manual (Index) Version 1.64 August, 1987 File Layout 110 Introduction 1 File name 5, 16, 24, 50 Inventory account 31 File size 16 File size limits 108 JOUR 40 Filename.BAK 18 Journal 1, 7, 13, 14, 77 Filename.LDG 18 Journal mode 7, 8, 9, 11, Filename.RPT 24 14, 40 FILES 15 Journal Mode Screen 8 creating 50 Journal page 5 Files, computer 15 Journal Report 72 Files, disk 18 Financial reports 24, 32 Key Prompts 39 Financial Statement 22, 23, Keys 33, 75 <"> 35 FIND 45 <.> 35 FIRST 63 <E> 12, 42, 46 Floppy Disk Setup 95 <G> 12 Floppy disks 16, 18, 49, 82 <H> 12, 42 Formatting 12 disks 16 <ACCT> 50 statements 22 <ALT 1> 39, 46 Four column comparative <ALT 3> 46 statement 71, 74 <ALT 4> 35, 36, 44, 47, Fraud 2, 46 51, 52 Function keys 39 <ALT 5> 41, 47, 52 Fundamental Equation 27, <ALT 6> 48 28, 34 <ALT 7> 19, 20, 21, 48 <ALT 8> 46 General ledger 6, 23, 27, <BACKSPACE> 12 36, 43, 49, 50, 53, 54, <BUDG> 56 55, 56, 62, 68, 69, 70, <C> 41, 46 77 <Caps Lock> 11 GETACCT 50, 54, 55, 56, 63 <CMD> 14 GETALL 55, 56, 57, 63 <CR> 3 GETC 46 <D> 41 GETDATA 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, <Del> 39 62 <End> 12, 21, 39, 63 Getting Started 5 <Esc> 21, 39 Graphic characters 48 <F10> 35, 45, 47, 52, 54 Group accounts 23 <F1> 33, 39, 48 <F2> 8, 9, 14, 19, 40, Hard disk 5, 16, 18, 82, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 108 <F3> 7, 13, 40 Hard Disk Setup 97 <F4> 5, 8, 13, 40 Header 6, 42 <F5> 22, 40, 50 HELP 33, 39, 48 <F6> 42, 56 Help index 40 <F7> 44, 47 Help screen 39 <F8> 21, 44, 53 debit/credit 40 <F9> 45 <Home> 12, 35 IBM XT 109 <Ins> 35, 41, 52, 54 Index 137 Ledger User's Manual (Index) Ledger User's Manual (Index) Version 1.64 August, 1987 <Num Lock> 11 List of accounts 22 <PgDn> 12 Loans 33 <PgUp> 12 Log 80, 106 <PRNT> 59 <Prt Sc> 48 Manual system 13, 49, 70, <Return> 39 78, 80 <S> 42 Mask 58 <Tab> 12 Mode 40 <UNDO> 44, 45, 47, 48 Modes 7, 9, 40 Keyboard 3, 11 Modifiers 19 KISS principle 78 Monochrome display 65 Month-end 49, 67, 108 Labels 18 MORGAG.BAS 82 Large Files 108 Mortgage amortization 82 LAST 63 Layout of accounts 26 Negative value 27 LDG 16 Net change 53 Leading blanks 50 NET VALUE 27 LEDG 40 Net worth 28, 29, 30, 34 Ledger 1, 13, 14, 77 Numeric 35 LEDGER and You 77 Numeric keypad 11, 14 Ledger editor 1, 77, 79 Ledger mode 7, 8, 9, 11, One-of-a-kind transactions 14, 40 78 Ledger Mode Screen 5 Output line feeds 20 Ledger page 5 Outstanding invoices Ledger Report 73 statement 69 LEDGER Reports Screen 21, Outstanding receivables 24 report 23 Ledgers accounts receivable 23, 25, Page 7, 12 69, 70 Paper ejection 20 depreciation 78 Parameters 20, 21, 24 general 23, 27, 36, 43, 49, Paste 46, 49 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 62, Pause for paper 20 68, 69, 70, 77 Payroll 57, 63, 67, 82 payroll 67, 68, 69, 70 Payroll ledger 68, 69, 70 receivable 69 Percentage 7, 46 subsidiary 36, 67, 69, 70, Positive value 27 78, 79, 108 Post 49 temporary 58 Posting 13, 22, 55 types 67 to a LEDGER File 35 Ledgers as legal documents Posting account 22, 26, 42, 80 43 Liabilities 27, 28, 29, 30, Print screen 48 31, 32, 33, 34 Print the Ledger 59 Liabilities account 29, 31 Print title page 21 Limits Printer 19, 20, 24, 48, 65 file size 108 Printer not Ready 19 technical 108 Printer Setup 65, 99 List device 24, 71 Screen 20, 100 Index 138 Ledger User's Manual (Index) Ledger User's Manual (Index) Version 1.64 August, 1987 Printers 3 Retained Earnings to Date Printout 20, 21, 22, 53, 59 account 55 PRNT 48 Retained Earnings Year to Profit 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, Date account 28, 36, 34 56, 70 Profit is a Credit 27, 29, RETURN 61 34 Return key 3 Profit/Loss Report 22, 25, Revenue 13, 14, 28, 31, 32, 28, 32, 33, 36, 37, 53, 33 55, 56 Revenue account 52, 69, 74 Prompts 7, 39, 48 Revenue/expense report 32 Revenues 27 Quarterly 107 Reverse 64 Quit 8, 9, 14, 17, 18, 48, RPT 44 56, 61 Running balance 7, 9, 13, 40 Range of accounts 25, 53, Running total 22 55, 57, 62, 63, 71, 72, 73 Sales target 75 Range of dates 25, 53, 55, SCRAP 54, 55, 56, 58, 59, 57, 62, 63, 70, 71, 72, 62 73, 74, 108 Screen 24, 65 Range of numbers 50 Search 45 Ratio 74 Secondary functions 11 Receivable ledger 69 SELECT 59, 62, 64 Receivables statement 75 SERIAL 65 Record types 110 Serial number 65 Reference number 7, 51, 78, Set of books 1, 15, 41, 50 79, 80 Shift key 11 Reference type 45, 59, 62, Single entry 1 63, 69 Single key strokes 3 Regular Statement 22, 73 Size of a given file 108 Report format 41 Small business 81 Reports 19, 22, 23, 26, 71 Snow 65 financial 24, 32 SORT 47, 52, 109 formatting 41, 42 Sort Record Layout 113 gross sales by customer 25 Sorting 7, 13 limits 25, 26 Source documents 7, 54, 78, outstanding receivables 23, 80 25 Special keys 89 profit/loss 25, 28, 32, 33, Speed 65 36, 37, 53, 55, 56 Start LEDGER 9 revenue/expense 32 Start new books 50 types 21 Start-of-group account 22, Reports Menu 21, 35, 37, 23, 26, 42, 67, 68, 73 44, 53, 59, 67, 71 Startup 17 Resort 41 Statement 22, 25, 41, 64, Response time 109 77 Restore 17, 18 Statements Retained Earnings Previous comparative 41 Years account 70 condensed 74 Index 139 Ledger User's Manual (Index) Ledger User's Manual (Index) Version 1.64 August, 1987 financial 23, 33, 64, 75 Two column comparative four column 71, 74 statement 41, 74 outstanding invoices 69 Types of Ledgers 67 receivables 75 regular 22, 73 Undo 17, 44, 47 snapshot 74 Unknown account 64 three column 71, 74 UPDA 35, 44, 47, 51, 52, 54 two column 41, 74 Using the Keyboard 11 Status line 7, 12, 20, 45, Using this Manual 3 48, 64, 65 Status record 110 Version number 5 Storage 15 Sub-total accounts 74 Wild card 45 Sub-totals 22, 26 Word processing 71 Subset 59, 62, 77 Word processor 24 Subsidiary ledger 36, 67, Work File 49, 50, 51, 52, 70, 78, 79, 108 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, SWITCH 64 62, 63, 64, 67, 79, 108 permanent 58 Tax 6, 33, 77 Work habits 54 Technical limits 108 Work sheet 49, 50 Technical Notes 110 Working journal 49 Template 58 Write protect tab 18, 80, Temporary ledger 58 106 Text editor 110 Three column comparative XREF 55 statement 71, 74 XREF1 72 Time 6, 16, 17 XREF2 72 Time period 25 Title 23 Year-end 62, 67, 68, 70, Title page 21 72, 73, 79, 81, 106, 107 Top screen line 20 Top-of-page account 22, 23, Zero balance 52 26, 42, 67, 68, 73 Zero balancing 28, 29 Total 42 Total, running 22 Totaling accounts 42 TOTL 48 Transaction Record Layout 112 Transaction records 110 Transaction type 25, 26, 72, 73, 79 Transactions 1 Transferred to Profit Account 36, 56 Transfers of data 50 TRANSLATE 55, 57, 62 Trial balance 29, 36, 44, 47, 54, 80 Two column 13 Index 140