Copyright: Copyright ©
Citation: Started April of 2002.  CLB & GRO


A/P Exceptions Report

The A/P Exceptions report lists the details of any problems found during an auto or trial posting of the A/P information to the G/L.

To print an A/P Exceptions report

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+R, P
-or-
Choose A/P Exceptions on the Reports menu

2.	When there are exceptions, the Print A/P Exceptions dialog box appears.

a.	Select a report format from Select Report.

b.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the Company code.

c.	Select a Print Destination option.

d.	Press ALT+O or choose OK when ready to proceed.

3.	When there are no exceptions, a Warning dialog box appears telling you so.  Press ENTER or choose OK to close the box.

The printing procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


A/R Exceptions Report

The A/R Exceptions report lists the details of any problems found during an auto or trial posting of the A/R information to the G/L.

To print an A/R Exceptions report

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+R, R
-or-
Choose A/R Exceptions on the Reports menu

2.	When there were any exceptions, the Print A/R Exceptions dialog box appears.

a.	Select a report format from Select Report.

b.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the Company code.

c.	Select a Print Destination option.

d.	Press ALT+O or choose OK when ready to proceed.

3.	When there are no exceptions, a Warning dialog box appears telling you so.  Press ENTER or choose OK to close the box.

The printing procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Access Group Control

You must be logged in as SUPERVISOR to modify the access group control table.  Press ALT+T, A or choose Access Groups on the Setup menu to display the Setup Access Groups dbox.

There is no need for you to add an item you want to access protect.  The complete list of items that can be controled is displayed on the Setup Access Groups dbox.  The full list is discussed in this topic.

New Access Group options include:

1.	The ability to require the printing of the General Journal immediately after a trial or auto posting.

2.	The ability to limit access to the Chart of Account Listing/Maintenance.

3.	The ability to allow a group of users to enter a single sided manual journal entry

Activities such as opening a prior period are no longer reserved for just SUPERVISOR.

A user's ability to do each of the following list of items can be restricted either by the user's access group assignment or a password for that item.  Each User ID is assigned to an access group when the ID is created.  A user's access group can be modified on the User Maintenance menu.

Each group is unique to itself.  That means that Group 2 does not automatically get access to the same items as Group 0 and Group 1 do, plus their own list.

Most default settings are set up for all groups to have access to the item.  The exception is the Bypass Journal After Posting item.  On that item, all groups are set to cause the General Journal to be printed after any auto/trial posting and/or manual journal entry.

General Ledger Module

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not logon to the General Ledger for Windows.

Note:	When the access to General Ledger Module is false (N) for a certain group, you can ignore assigning that group in any of the other items in the list.

Add G/L Accounts

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not add account numbers to the Chart of Accounts.

Modify G/L Accounts

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not modify any information for account numbers.  Depending on other access item settings, they may be able to view history and trial run information.

Delete G/L Accounts

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not delete any account numbers.  Depending on other access item settings, they may be able to view history and trial information.

Modify G/L Account Budgets

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not modify the budget information for account numbers.  Depending on other access item settings, they may be able to view history and trial information.

Modify G/L Auto Distributions

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not modify the auto distribution information for account numbers.  Depending on other access item settings, they may be able to view history and trial information.

View G/L Accounts

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not open/view the G/L Account number dbox for existing accounts.  Depending on other access item settings, they may be able to add an account number.

View Chart of Accounts Listings

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not print or preview the Chart of Accounts report.

Modify G/L Account Categories

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not modify the account category information.

Post A/R Journal

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not generate auto or trial postings of the A/R information.

Post A/P Journal

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not generate auto or trial postings of the A/P information.

Post Journal Entry

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not enter manual and/or single sided journal entries.

Print General Journal

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not print the General Journal report.  This only restricts the activity on the Reports menu.

Post Single Sided Entry

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not enter single sided journal entries.  Depending on other access item settings they may be able to enter multiple journal entries.

Bypass Journal After Posting - default is N

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group have no choice on printing the General Journal after they auto/trial post A/P and A/R information, or enter a manual journal entry.  The default is N.  Since this is the first report a user looks at to reconcile a posting, it is recommended that the setting remain an N.

Open Prior Period or Year

Setting this item to N for a certain access group means that users assigned to that group can not open a prior period and/or fiscal year on the toolbar.  This does not restrict printing reports for a prior period and/or fiscal year or posting a trial run generated for a prior period and/or fiscal year.

View G/L Account History (Detail)

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not print or preview the G/L Detail report.

View G/L Trial Balance

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not print or preview the Trial Balance report.

View G/L Balance Sheet

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not print or preview the Balance Sheet report.

View G/L Income Statement

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not print or preview the Income Statement report.

Close G/L Periods

Setting this item to N for a certain group means that users assigned to that group can not close a period or the fiscal year.


Add a Chart of Accounts Number

The second step in setting up a chart of accounts (COA) is to create the account numbers.  You can add numbers at any time after initializing the G/L..

To add Chart of Account numbers

Before you start:

1.	Make sure the chart of accounts has been initialized.  Read the G/L Initialization Fiscal Year and Period topic if it has not.

2.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

>	Whenever the menu bar is not dimmed, press CTRL+1.

>	Otherwise, press ALT+F, N, A -or-

>	Choose Add [image] from the toolbar whenever the active dialog box is a G/L Account number box -or-

>	On the File menu, point to New, and then choose G/L Account.

2.	Until the fiscal year and period are defined and your category ranges initialized, a warning dialog box appears stating the "G/L not Initialized."  Press ENTER or choose OK if this happens and see the Initialize the COA How To topic.

3.	The Add a New G/L Account dialog box appears.

a.	Select a category from the list in the Category box.  You can also type the first letter of the category you want until it displays.

b.	Type the new number in the Account Number box and press ALT+O or choose OK.

4.	The G/L Account number dialog box appears.  Type the description and TAB to the Status group.

Note:	You must use the LEFT and RIGHT ARROWS to select the new account number's status.

5.	Enter any Budget numbers and/or Auto distribution percentages for this new account number now:

a.	Press ALT+B or select the Budget tab to create a yearly budget for this account.

b.	Press ALT+D or select the Auto Distribution tab to create auto distributions for this account.

Budget and auto distribution numbers can also be entered later.  See Modify a Chart of Accounts Number.

6.	When finished, press F10 or choose Save [image] on the toolbar.

To exit the G/L Account number dialog box, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.

If you have changed your mind about adding the account number, choose NO if asked if you want to save the addition.


Add a New G/L Account

This dialog box appears whenever New | G/L Account is chosen on the General Ledger File menu.

For more information about an option on the Add a New G/L Account dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Add a New G/L Account dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Category

The Category list box contains the list of categories that were created when the COA was initialized.  You must select the category for the new account number before typing that number.

The category is used as a rule to help prevent entering a new account number into the wrong group by mistake.  Once the category is selected the range of allowable numbers is displayed.

 Account Number

Type the new account number in this box.  It must be a five digit number within the Range displayed.  Include the two digit department number if you are creating a department account.  Once a number is added it can not be modified, only deleted and the correct one added.

Note:	If you create a department account be sure there is already a header account with a 00 department number.  If not, you should create one first and mark it as an inactive account.

 Existing Accounts list

This list includes your current COA and is provided as a reference so that you can be sure you are adding the new account where you want it.


Auto Posting

Activities/operations that are new, or function differently, in the Windows General Ledger include:

You can generate a trial/auto posting that effects a prior period and/or fiscal year.

Posting A/R to G/L no longer requires you to verify the Payment Methods settings.  You may still verify the settings by choosing Payment Setup on the Post A/R to G/L dbox.

Depending on a user's access group setting for the "Bypass Journal After Posting" item, they may be required to print the General Journal (Posting Register) report.  (Always a good idea to print this report as you post.)

The General Journal for a trial posting can be reprinted from the Reports menu.

The most recent exceptions report for an A/P and/or A/R trial or auto posting can be reprinted from the Reports menu.

The details of all auto posting transactions, including trials, can be viewed by displaying the G/L Account number dialog box and selecting the History or Trial tab.  Double clicking on the transaction displays a drill down box containing the information that was/would post to the G/L.

The General Ledger manages the list of trial runs.  Every time you generate a trial or auto posting for A/P or A/R, a list of Available Trial Runs appears on the dialog box.  Any previous trial posting(s) are marked as invalid when a subsequent trial run uses a date range that includes the previous trial's date range.  A trial is also removed from the list if you go ahead and post that trial run, or generate a new auto posting with an encompassing date range.  For example a trial posting of information from the 1st to the 15th would become invalid when a new trial was generated for the 1st to the 31st of the same month.  But, it would remain valid, if the later trial was for the 16th to the 31st.  (This assumes the original trial was never posted, or a new posting generated for that date range.)

You can no longer post more than one trial posting at a time.

You can no longer optionally decide to delete the history of all account transactions (consolidate) when you close a period or the fiscal year.


Automatic Postings Drill Down

The above is an example of how a drill down appears.  They are created on the History and Trials tabs found on the G/L Account Number dialog box.

This one came from the History tab for account number 01000-01, a cash asset account.  Since it is for an Auto A/P Pymnts transaction it shows A/P Check Register type details.  Each type of auto posting has a different set of fields depending on where the posted information originated.  See the specific reconciliation topic for more detail.


Balance Sheet Report

The Balance Sheet report lists total assets, total liabilities and equity.  There are several formats.

To print a Balance Sheet

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+R, B
-or-
Choose Balance Sheet on the Reports menu

2.	The Print Balance Sheet dialog box appears.  Make the appropriate selections on this dialog box:

a.	Select a report format from Select Report.

b.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the Company code.

c.	If the Report period is for a prior fiscal year and/or period select from those lists.

d.	When you select a report format that compares two periods, select a fiscal year and/or period from the Comparison Period lists.

e.	In the Detail Settings group, select a Detailed or Summary report.  When you select a detailed report, clear or select what type of detail you want to suppress and/or show.

f.	Edit the Report Title if necessary.

g.	Select a Print Destination option.

3.	Press ALT+O or choose OK when ready to proceed.

The printing procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Bank Deposit Flag

If the Bank Deposit? column for the payment method is True, the following occurs:

The payment method is considered to be included in the daily bank deposits of customer payments.

The Main Course assumes that any payment made with this method has been deposited in the Accounts Payable Checkbook.  This was done through the Post A/R Cash Receipts or Enter A Deposit option located on the Checkbook menu found on the Accounts Payable menu.

No customer payments made with this method will be posted to the General Ledger through Post A/R to G/L.

Deposits made by the payment methods marked T are posted to the G/L through Post A/P to G/L.  They are posted as Deposits & Adjustments.

The G/L Account column for the payment method can be left blank.

If the Bank Deposit? column for the payment method is False, the following occurs:

The payment method is NOT considered to be included in the daily bank deposits of customer payments.

The system assumes that the payments are NOT deposited in the Accounts Payable Checkbook as cash from A/R.

The payments "pay off" the customer's receivable, but are not considered Cash In Bank by the A/P or G/L.  The G/L Account entered on this dialog box is debited while the Customer A/R or Customer Deposit Liability account is credited.

An account number MUST be entered in the G/L Account column for the payment method.

All customer payments are posted to the G/L through Post A/R to G/L.

An example might be that you do not want to show AMEX payments in the checkbook until you get the statement.  On the Payment Methods Maintenance dialog box you would enter an F in the Bank Deposit? column and the AMEX account number in the G/L Account column.  When you Post A/R to G/L, the AMEX account is debited and the Customer A/R or Customer Deposit Liability account is credited.

The second step must occur when you get the statement.  The NET AMEX amount is entered through the A/P Checkbook menu as a Deposit.  The GROSS amount is distributed to the AMEX account and the AMEX fees (a negative amount) distributed to the AMEX Fees account.  The checkbook account number is debited and the AMEX and AMEX Fees account numbers are credited.  Both of these transactions are posted through Post A/P to G/L as Deposits and Adjustments.


COA Categories
Chart of Accounts Categories

After initializing the fiscal year and period, this is the second step in setting up your chart of accounts.  When you create categories, you create the major titles for your reports like the Balance Sheet and Income Statement.  You are also creating rules to help prevent entering a new account number into the wrong area by mistake.

Accounting practices have allowed certain category types to be sub divided further.  As an example, Liability accounts are often divided into Current and Long Term Liabilities.  In the Main Course, you may further devide some category types to make the financial reports more meaningfull.  There may be three Asset, two Liability, two Equity, two Cost Of Sale and two Expense types.  The Sale, Other Income and Tax category types are limited to just one category description and range.

Set up your category types so that the corresponding accounts fall underneath them.  For instance, Cash In Bank (number 01000) is an account that would fall under one of the Asset categories.  In the sample COA, it would fall under Current Assets (01000 to 05999) and not Long Term Assets (06000 to 09999).

Within each category, you may have as many accounts as there are available numbers in the range that you are creating.  All account numbers must be 5 characters.  As in the sample COA, leading zeros (0) are legal.

You do not need to use all category types, e.g., only two Asset categories have been set up in the sample COA.  But you must set up at least one of each type.

SHOW AN INCOME STATEMENT "OUTLINE"


COA Overview
Chart of Accounts Overview

The chart of accounts (COA) is the heart of your accounting system.  All information accumulates in the accounts you define.  The Setup book and its topics discuss the creation of your COA, and the steps you go through to create one in the Main Course General Ledger.  The COA is required for the Accounts Payable and General Ledger modules.

Note:	If you have been using another accounting package, the following tasks may be very easy.  It is recommended that you read all of the setup topics first, before proceeding.

The easy step is determining the fiscal year and how many periods you want to use.  Next, you define an overall structure by setting up categories.  Finally you decide whether you want to group certain accounts together for reporting purposes.

There are two mechanisims available for you to use to group accounts on the reports.  They both can be used in the same COA.  The first allows you to create groups, or departments, across categories such as sales and expenses.  The second allows grouping within a category and is called level of detail.

The Setup book also identifies the default account numbers required, or at least suggested as necessary, for the use of the General Ledger in the Main Course.  Included are descriptions of the dialog boxes and screens used to set up any defaults.  Your COA, of course, is by no means limited to these accounts.

A sample COA has been included in its own topic.

Note:	It has been learned through the experience of many customers, that wherever there is the possibility for the use of a unique account number, it is probably best to create one, even if that does not seem to make sense and the dollar amount is always expected to be zero.  If for some reason the amount is not zero, and you have chosen to use an already existing account instead, it may be next to impossible to determine where the extra dollars in that account came from.  But, if you created what we call an "unnecessary" number, we can more readily help you determine what happened.  There are examples throughout the rest of this book.


COA Reports Screen
Print Chart of Accounts

This dialog box appears whenever Chart of Accounts is chosen on the General Ledger Reports menu.  Use the Chart of Accounts report when you want a listing of your COA numbers.

For more information about an item on the Print Chart of Accounts dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Print Chart of Accounts dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Select Report

The Select Report list box displays the possible Chart of Accounts report formats.  The standard formats are:

Chart of Accounts format
This is the format to use to print a plain listing of the numbers with the account type, status and description.

Chart of Accounts w/ Balances and Budgets format
This format includes account number, description, current period balance and budget and the year to date balance and budget.  Totals can be printed based on the level of detail selected.

Chart of Accounts with Balances format
Use this format to print only the current and year to date balance amounts.  Subtotals can be printed based on the level of detail selected.

Chart of Accounts with Budgets format
Use this format to print only the current and year to date budget amounts.  Subtotals can be printed based on the level of detail selected.

When a format with balances and/or budgets is chosen, be sure to select the desired fiscal year and period.  These format types can be further refined by the Level of Detail and/or Suppress department accounts options.

Note:	There may be additional report formats to select from.  Each user site can customize any of the standard formats and add them to the list.

 Company (multi-company sites only)

Select the company code for the report.  This field defaults to the code shown on the General Ledger toolbar.  More information here.

 Fiscal Year

Select the fiscal year for the report.  This field defaults to the fiscal year shown on the toolbar.

 Period

Select the period for the report.  This field defaults to the period shown on the toolbar.

 Account Selection group

All Accounts
Selecting All Accounts includes information on all the G/L account numbers.

By Category

Selecting By Category allows you to select a single category, such as Current Assets.  When you select By Category, every account in that category is included in the report.

By Range

Selecting By Range displays from and thru list boxes so that a beginning and ending account number can be selected.  This choice is appropriate when the report is for more than one category such as all the asset accounts, not just current assets.

Single Selection

For some report formats you may want to print information on only one account.  Selecting Single Selection displays a list box so that an account number can be selected.

 Level of Detail

Selecting a level of detail other than 0 (zero) causes subtotals to be printed for account number subgroups such as Office Expenses and Warehouse Expenses in the pop up example.

 Suppress department accounts

Select this option to omit all department accounts from the report.  The department amounts are summed into, and reported on, their header account (-00).

Note:	Some of the report default settings are saved between sessions, so pay close attention in the Print <...> dialog boxes.  As an example, printing this report allows you to select all accounts, by category, by range and single selection.  When you change the option selected at your workstation, it is changed for all users that log on to the General Ledger at your station, using their ID or yours, until someone changes the setting at your station to something different.

Other options such as the choice to print or preview a report are saved only for the same session in the G/L.  So when you choose to generate a second report, you must verify the correct button is chosen.

 Report Title

A default title is displayed based on the fiscal year and period selected.  If necessary, this field may be edited.

 Print Destination group

The Print Destination group is displayed and functions the same on all Print <...> dialog boxes.  Click here or on one of this group's options in the figure above for further help on this group.  Click the Windows Back button on the Print Destination topic to return to this topic.


Chart of Accounts Report

The Chart of Accounts report lists the details of your Chart of Accounts in several formats.

To print a Chart of Accounts report

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+R, C
-or-
Choose Chart of Accounts on the Reports menu

2.	The Print Chart Of Accounts dialog box appears.  Make the appropriate selections on this dialog box:

a.	Select a report format from Select Report.

b.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the Company code.

c.	If the Report period is for a prior fiscal year and/or period select from those lists.

d.	In the Account Selection group, first select how to choose the account numbers you want on the report, then use the list box(es) for the final choice.

e.	Select a Level of Detail number.

f.	Clear or select to Suppress department accounts.

g.	Edit the Report Title if necessary.

h.	Select a Print Destination option.

3.	Press ALT+O or choose OK when ready to proceed.

The printing procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Close a Period

After reconciling the auto postings and making any necessary manual journal entries, it is time to close the period.  If your site is set up as multi-company, read the Close a Period - Multi-company topic.

To close a period

Before you start:

Make certain that you have printed all unprinted General Journals.  You will also want to print the final financial reports; the Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Income Statement.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, C
-or-
Choose G/L Closing on the File menu

2.	The Period End Closing dialog box appears.

a.	Verify the Current period information is correct.

b.	Read the Closing Information in case there is a reason you can't close.

c.	Select a period from the Period to Open list.

d.	Select the date to close from the Closing Date box.

3.	Press ALT+D or choose Do Close when you are ready to close the period.

4.	The Closing dialog box appears announcing that the closing was completed and the Period on the toolbar [image] advances to the period you selected in Step 2c.

5.	Press ALT+O or choose OK to finish the process.

You can TAB to Cancel at any time prior to choosing Do Close to abort the period closing.


Close a Period - Multi-company

After reconciling the auto postings and making any necessary manual journal entries, it is time to close the period.  When more than one of your companies is ready to be closed, they can be closed at the same time, even if the closing opens different periods for each.  If your site is not set up as multi-company, read the Close a Period topic.

To close a period

Before you start:

Make certain that you have printed all unprinted General Journals for each company being closed.  You will also want to print their final financial reports; the Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Income Statement.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, C
-or-
Choose G/L Closing on the File menu

2.	The Period End Closing dialog box appears.  Do the following for each company being closed at this time.  Press ALT+N or choose Next to move forward through your list of company codes to select a Company to close.  Pressing ALT+P or choosing Previous moves backwards through the list.

a.	Verify the Current period information is correct.

b.	Read the Closing Information in case there is a reason you can't close.

c.	Select a period from the Period to Open list.

d.	Select the date to close from the Closing Date box.

e.	Check Close this Company.  If this check box is dimmed, there is a problem with this company's information.  Look for the reason on this dialog box.

3.	When you have selected Close this Company for at least one of your company codes, and the Closing Information indicates no problems for that company, the Do Close button becomes selectable.  Press ALT+D or choose Do Close to close the current period for all company codes selected.

4.	The Closing dialog box appears announcing that the closing was completed and the Period on the toolbar [image] will advance to the period you selected in Step 2c for each company that was closed.

5.	Press ALT+O or choose OK to close the dialog box.

You can TAB to Cancel All at any time prior to choosing Do Close.  This aborts the period closing for each company selected.


Close the Fiscal Year

After reconciling the auto postings and making any necessary manual journal entries in period 12, it is time to close the period and therefore the fiscal year.  If your site is set up as multi-company, read the Close the Fiscal Year - Multi-company topic.

To close the fiscal year

Before you start:

1.	Your current period must be period 12.

2.	Make certain that you have printed all unprinted General Journals.

3.	Be sure to print the financial reports before closing.  At minimum print the Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Income Statement.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, C
-or-
Choose G/L Closing on the File menu

2.	The Year End Closing dialog box appears.

a.	Verify the Current period information is correct.

b.	Read the Closing Information in case there is a reason you can't close.

c.	Select the account number to use from the Retained Earnings list.

d.	Select the date to close from the Closing Date box.

3.	Press ALT+D or choose Do Close to close the current fiscal year.

4.	The Closing box appears announcing that the year end closing was completed and the Fiscal Year and Period on the toolbar [image] advance to period 1 of the next year.

5.	Press ALT+O or choose OK to close the the dialog box.

You can TAB to Cancel at any time prior to choosing Do Close to abort the year end closing.


Close the Fiscal Year - Multi-company

After reconciling the auto postings and making any necessary manual journal entries in period 12, it is time to close the period and therefore the fiscal year.  When more than one of your companies is ready to be closed, their year can be closed at the same time.  If your site is not set up as multi-company, read the Close the Fiscal Year topic.

To close the fiscal year

Before you start:

1.	For each company whose year you want close,.the current period must be period 12.

2.	Make certain that you have printed all unprinted General Journals for each company.

3.	Be sure to print the financial reports before closing the company.  At minimum print the Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Income Statement.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, C
-or-
Choose G/L Closing on the File menu

2.	The Year End Closing dialog box appears.  Do the following for each company being closed at this time.  Press ALT+N or choose Next to move forward through your list of company codes to select a Company to close.  Pressing ALT+P or choosing Previous moves backwards through the list.

a.	Verify the Current period information is correct.

b.	Read the Closing Information in case there is a reason you can't close.

c.	Select the account number to use from the Retained Earnings list.

d.	Select the date to close from the Closing Date box.

e.	Check Close this Company.  If this check box is dimmed, there is a problem with this company's information.  Look for the reason on this dialog box.

3.	When you have selected Close this Company for at least one of your company codes, and the Closing Information indicates no problems for that company, the Do Close button becomes selectable.  Press ALT+D or choose Do Close to close the current fiscal year for all company codes selected.

4.	The Closing box appears, announcing that the year end closing was completed and the Fiscal Year and Period on the toolbar [image] will advance to period 1 of the next year for each company that was closed.

5.	Press ALT+O or choose OK to close the the dialog box.

You can TAB to Cancel All at any time prior to choosing Do Close.  This aborts the year end closing for each company selected.


Company

When your site is setup as multi-company, the Company list box is displayed on the toolbar and in most dialog boxes.

Note:	You must use the mouse to select from this list box when it appears on the toolbar.  Click the drop-down arrow and select from the list that appears.

The code selected on the toolbar serves as the default company code in any dialog box that you open.


Company Code/Consolidated
Company Code/Consolidated (multi-company site only)

Reports which can be run for multiple companies display the Company Code(s) and Consolidated fields shown above.  You may choose one or more companies for the report from the list.  If you choose more than one company and you check the Consolidated box then one report will be generated which either combines balances for accounts with the same number in different companies or lists them one after the other.  If you do not check the Consolidated box then a separate report will be generated for each company.
When choosing companies from the list you must click on each company that you want on the report.  You must also click on an item that is already highlighted to remove it from the report.
When you run a report consolidated the Balance Sheet and Income Statement Reports combine balances across companies, the remaining reports list each company's balance or transactions on the report.


Contents

Auto Posting


Copy G/L Accounts
Copy G/L Accounts  (multi-company sites only)

When you have more than one company created, you can copy a previously initialized COA from a source company to a destination company.  The full COA of the new company can then be fine tuned to fit.

Note:	You should have your full COA for the new company designed before you proceed.

To copy the Chart of Account numbers to a new company

First, be certain that the company code has already been created, and that the fiscal year, period and account categories for the destination company have been initialized.

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+T, C
-or-
Choose Copy G/L Accounts on the Setup menu

2.	The Copy G/L Accounts to New Company dialog box appears.  Select a company code from the Source Company list.

Note:	You must use the one you selected when you initialized the account categories.

3.	Select the new company code from the Destination Company list.

4.	If you have modified the COA category ranges for the new company, you should select a Range of Accounts and repeat this process again, until all valid ranges have been copied from source to destination company.  See Multi-company in the G/L Account Category Setup topic.

5.	Check or uncheck the boxes in the Additional Information to copy group.

6.	Press ALT+O or choose OK to begin.

Repeat this How To: until all the desired ranges have been copied.

You are now ready to fine tune the destination company's COA.  See the Add a Chart of Accounts Number and Modify a Chart of Accounts Number How To topics.

The copy procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Copy G/L Accounts to New Company

This dialog box appears when you choose Copy G/L Accounts on the Setup menu.  Copying G/L account numbers is only valid at sites that are setup as multi-company.

After the G/L Chart of Accounts has been initialized and account numbers entered for the Source Company, you can initialize the G/L fiscal year, period and account categories for a second company.  This becomes the Destination Company.  You can then copy the full list of account numbers from source to destination company.

It is also possible to copy pieces, or ranges, of the source company's COA to the second company.  This is done by repeating the Copy G/L Accounts function until all of the pieces have been copied to the destination company.  See Multi-company in the G/L Account Category Setup topic for an example of why you would need to copy the COA in two or more ranges.

After copying a COA, you can then add any missing account numbers or modify what was copied, directly in the destination company's COA.

For more information about an option on the Copy G/L Accounts to New Company dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to the option on this figure.

Options on the Copy G/L Accounts to New Company dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Source Company

Select a company code from the list.  This is the company that has a defined COA.

 Destination Company

Select a company code from the list.  This is the company you want to set up now.

Note:	If you have not initialized the destination company's fiscal year, period and account categories, you are automatically placed in the G/L Initialization dialog box.

 Range of Accounts - from

Skip this option if you are copying the complete COA from the source company.  Select the beginning account number if you are copying just a portion of the COA.

 Range of Accounts - to

Skip this option if you are copying the complete COA from the source company.  Select the ending account number if you are copying just a portion of the COA.

Additional Information to copy group

Department Accounts
Check the Department Accounts box to copy all of the department account numbers, e.g., 12345-01, to the destination company.

If this box is not checked, the numbers with departments and the same master number are consolidated to one number without a department suffix.  For example, 12345-00, 12345-01 and 12345-10 would be copied to the new COA as 12345.

Budgets
Check the Budgets box to copy the budget amounts for any account numbers with budget dollars assigned in the source account.

Auto-distributions
Check the Auto-distributions box to copy any distribution percents in the source accounts to the new company's COA.

Select OK to make the copy.  Or you can select Cancel at any time to abort the copy operation.


Create/Modify Auto Distributions

You can create and/or modify the auto distribution percentages of an account number at any time.

To create or modify a Chart of Account number's auto distribution %s

When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar [image] first.

1.	From the General Ledger window:

>	Whenever the menu bar is not dimmed, press ALT+1.

>	Otherwise press ALT+F, O, A -or-

>	Choose Find [image] on the toolbar whenever the active dialog box is a G/L Account number box -or-

>	On the File menu, point to Open, and then choose G/L Account.

2.	The Find a G/L Account dialog box appears.  Type the account number you want in the Account Number box or select it from the Existing Accounts list and press ALT+O or choose OK.

Note:	If you are not sure of the number, you can select a category first from the list in the Category box by typing the first letter of the category you want until it displays.  This action scrolls the Existing Accounts list to the beginning of the category selected.

3.	The G/L Account number dialog box appears.  Display the auto distribution section by pressing ALT+D or selecting the.Auto Distribution tab.

a.	To create a distribution, type an account number or select it from the list.  TAB to the Percent field and type the percentage to be distributed to this account number from the number in the title bar.  Repeat until your percentages total to 100%.

b.	To modify an auto distribution, TAB to the first Percent to be changed and type a new amount.  Repeat until your percentages again total to 100%.

4.	When finished, press F10 or choose Save [image] on the toolbar.

To exit the G/L Account number dialog box, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.

If you change your mind, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.  Choose NO if asked if you want to save your changes.


Create/Modify Budgets

You can create and/or modify a budget by modifying each account number that you want to contribute to the budget.  This can be done at any time.

To create or modify a Chart of Account number's budget figures

When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar [image] first.

1.	From the General Ledger window:

>	Whenever the menu bar is not dimmed, press ALT+1.

>	Otherwise press ALT+F, O, A -or-

>	Choose Find [image] on the toolbar whenever the active dialog box is a G/L Account number box -or-

>	On the File menu, point to Open, and then choose G/L Account.

2.	The Find a G/L Account dialog box appears.  Type the account number you want to modify in the Account Number box or select it from the Existing Accounts list and press ALT+O or choose OK.

Note:	If you are not sure of the number, you can select a category first from the list in the Category box by typing the first letter of the category you want until it displays.  This action scrolls the Existing Accounts list to the beginning of the category selected.

3.	The G/L Account number dialog box appears.  Display the budget section by pressing ALT+B or selecting the Budget tab.

4.	TAB to the Budget field for the Period and type the new/revised dollar amount for this account number.  Repeat until all required periods have an amount.

5.	When finished, press F10 or choose Save [image] on the toolbar.

To exit the G/L Account number dialog box, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.

If you change your mind, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.  Choose NO if asked if you want to save your changes.


Date Boxes

See Date Boxes in the Navigating in the Windows G/L topic.


Delete a Chart of Accounts Number

An account number can be deleted only if it has had no activity in the current fiscal year.  If you want users to stop using a number, modify that account number and set its status to inactive.  Deleting a number does not remove it from prior fiscal years.

To delete Chart of Account numbers

When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar [image] first.

1.	From the General Ledger window:

>	Whenever the menu bar is not dimmed, press ALT+1.

>	Otherwise press ALT+F, O, A -or-

>	Choose Find [image] on the toolbar whenever the active dialog box is a G/L Account number box -or-

>	On the File menu, point to Open, and then choose G/L Account.

2.	The Find a G/L Account dialog box appears.  Type the account number you want to delete in the Account Number box or select it from the Existing Accounts list and press ALT+O or choose OK.

Note:	If you are not sure of the number, you can first select the category from the list in the Category box by typing the first letter of the category you want until it displays.  This action scrolls the Existing Accounts list to the beginning of the category selected.

3.	The G/L Account number dialog box appears.  Verify that the account number displayed is the one you want to delete and that it is the active dialog box.

4.	Press ALT+E, D or choose Delete Entry on the Edit menu.  One of the following messages is displayed:

a.	You are asked to "Please Confirm."  Press Y or choose Yes if you want to delete or press N or choose No to cancel.

b.	If there was any activity during the current fiscal year, one of two Error dialog boxes appear, depending on what type of activity occurred.  Press ALT+O or choose OK.

5.	After the account number is deleted, the next account number is displayed in the G/L Account number dialog box.

To exit the G/L Account number dialog box, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.

If you change your mind about deleting the account number, simply press CTRL+F4 or choose the dialog box's Close button.


Enter Manual Double/Multiple Journal Entries

The Post General Journal Entry option is used to make every manual posting to the General Ledger.  There are normally at least two transaction entries for each posting.  See Enter Single Sided Journal Entry when there is only one transaction entry.

To post a double or multiple journal entry

Before you start:

1.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar.

2.	If you are posting to a prior period and/or fiscal year, make those selections on the toolbar.   Otherwise the posting is made to the defaults displayed on the toolbar.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

a.	Do one of the following to create a journal entry.

>	Press CTRL+2

>	Choose Add [image] on the toolbar

>	Press ALT+F, N, J

>	On the File menu, point to New, and then choose Journal Entry

Note:	You can post only one journal entry at a time.

b.	Whenever the active dialog box is a Post General Journal Entries box, any of the following adds a transaction entry for an additional account number.

>	Press CTRL+INSERT

>	Choose Add [image] on the toolbar

>	Press ALT+E, A

>	Choose Add Entry on the Edit menu

2.	The Post General Journal Entries dialog box appears displaying the journal entry's fiscal year and period on the title bar.

a.	In the Transaction Information group, enter the G/L Transaction Date, Reference code and a Description.  It will be easier to find an entry later on if you do not leave anything blank.

Note:	The Date entered does not determine the fiscal year and period the journal entry is posted to.  The entry is made to the fiscal year and period displayed on the title bar of the active dialog box.  Click here to see what could happen if the wrong date is entered.

b.	In the Transaction Posting Accounts group, enter the Account numbers and the Debit or Credit amounts for each, one at a time.  Make sure there was no mistake in selecting the account number by verifying that the Description for the account number is for the one you want.

c.	When the debits equal the credits and you have more transactions to add for this journal entry, press CTRL+INSERT or choose Add Entry on the Edit menu.

3.	If you make a mistake, do one of the following:

>	To delete one of the transaction entries in the Transaction Posting Accounts group, select that line so it is highlighted and press ALT+E, D or choose Delete Entry on the Edit menu.

>	To delete or clear the whole journal entry and start over, press ALT+E, R or choose Clear Transaction on the Edit menu.

>	To cancel everything and exit, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.  Be sure to press ALT+N or choose No on the Warning box if asked if you "Would like to save it now?"

4.	To post or save the journal entry, do one of the following:

>	Press F10

>	Choose Save [image] on the toolbar

>	Choose Save on the File menu

5.	The Post General Journal Entries dialog box remains open and the toolbar [image] is fully functional.  To post additional manual journal entries to the same fiscal year and period, repeat the above, starting at Step 1b of Now begin.

6.	To exit the Post General Journal Entries dialog box, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.

7.	You should always print the General Journal.  It may print automatically, depending on your access group.  Select the Windows printer you want.

You can abort this option at any time by pressing CTRL+F4 or choosing the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.  Be sure to press ALT+N or choose No on the Warning box if asked if you "Would like to save it now?"

Two important definitions are reviewed here:

A Journal Entry is made up of the information from both the Transaction Information and Transaction Posting Accounts groups.

An Entry is any one of the lines or transactions in the Transaction Posting Accounts group.  They are referred to as transaction entries or just transactions.

This information is important because the meaning of Entry on the menus and toolbar is different when the Post General Journal Entries dialog box is displayed and when it is not.


Enter Manual Single Sided Journal Entries

The Post General Journal Entry option is used to make every manual posting to the General Ledger, including single sided journal entries where there is only one transaction entry.

To post a single sided journal entry

Before you start:

1.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar.

2.	If you are posting to a prior period and/or fiscal year, make those selections on the toolbar.   Otherwise the posting is made to the defaults displayed on the toolbar.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

a.	Do one of the following to create a journal entry.

>	Press CTRL+2

>	Choose Add [image] on the toolbar

>	Press ALT+F, N, J

>	On the File menu, point to New, and then choose Journal Entry

Note:	You can post only one journal entry at a time.

b.	Whenever the active dialog box is a Post General Journal Entries box, any of the following adds a transaction entry for an additional account number.

>	Press CTRL+INSERT

>	Choose Add [image] on the toolbar

>	Press ALT+E, A

>	Choose Add Entry on the Edit menu

2.	The Post General Journal Entries dialog box appears displaying the journal entry's fiscal year and period on the title bar.

a.	In the Transaction Information group, enter the G/L Transaction Date, Reference code and a Description.  It will be easier to find an entry later if you do not leave anything blank.

Note:	The Date entered does not determine the fiscal year and period the journal entry is posted to.  The entry is made to the fiscal year and period displayed on the title bar of the active dialog box.  Click here to see what could happen if the wrong date is entered.

b.	In the Transaction Posting Accounts group, enter the Account number and the Debit or Credit amount.  Make sure there was no mistake in selecting the number by verifying that the Description is for the account you want.

c.	When the second transaction entry displays, press ALT+E, D or choose Delete Entry on the Edit menu.

3.	If you make a mistake, do one of the following:

>	To delete the transaction entry in the Transaction Posting Accounts group, select that line so it is highlighted and press ALT+E, D or choose Delete Entry on the Edit menu.

>	To delete or clear the whole journal entry and start over, press ALT+E, R or choose Clear Transaction on the Edit menu.

>	To cancel everything and exit, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.  Be sure to press ALT+N or choose No on the Warning box if asked if you "Would like to save it now?"

4.	To post or save the journal entry, do one of the following:

>	Press F10

>	Choose Save [image] on the toolbar

>	Choose Save on the File menu

You get an Error dialog box asking: "Post out of balance transaction?"  Choose Yes to post the single sided entry or No to abort.

5.	The Post General Journal Entries dialog box remains open and the toolbar [image] is fully functional.  To post additional manual journal entries to the same fiscal year and period, repeat the above, starting at Step 2a.

6.	To exit the Post General Journal Entries dialog box, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.

7.	You should always print the General Journal.  It may print automatically, depending on your access group.  Select the Windows printer you want.

You can abort this option at any time by pressing CTRL+F4 or choosing the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.  Be sure to press ALT+N or choose No on the Warning box if asked if you "Would like to save it now?"

Two important definitions are reviewed here:

A Journal Entry is made up of the information from both the Transaction Information and Transaction Posting Accounts groups.

An Entry is any one of the lines or transactions in the Transaction Posting Accounts group.  They are referred to as transaction entries or just transactions.

This information is important because the meaning of Entry on the menus and toolbar is different when the Post General Journal Entries dialog box is displayed and when it is not.


Example of Posting and Transaction Dates

This is an example of what can go wrong:

The fiscal year is the same as the calendar year.  That is January 1 through December 31.

The Posting Dates entered are From 2002/06/01 To 2002/06/30, June.

The G/L Transaction Date entered is 2002/06/30, also June.

But June has already been closed and the fiscal year and period displayed on the toolbar are 2002 and period 7 (July).

Any information found for 2002/06/01 to 2002/06/30 will be posted into period 7, not period 6 (June).

Any financial reports generated for period 6 will not include the above information.  It will be found in reports for period 7.

Reports generated for a June date range, like the G/L Detail report, will include this information because the G/L Transaction Date was 2002/06/30.  This is misleading.  During reconciliation you must also check any reports for the period posted to.

Making this mistake on a trial posting is ok.  It is one of the reasons we recommend generating a trial run first.  A trial posting can be redone and the original control number ignored.  But an actual posting can not be reversed automatically.  Use the General Journal, printed during the bad posting, to make manual reversing journal entries to uffset the G/L transactions in the wrong period.  In the above example, that would be July.  Then you must open the correct period, June, in the above example, and make manual journal entries there.

Note:	In this example, if the fiscal year and period on the toolbar had been set to the June period before starting, there would be no problem.  The June data would have been posted to period 6.

Once the A/P and/or A/R information has been posted to the G/L, it cannot be "re-posted" or "un-posted" automatically.  This averts the danger of double-posting any information.  For example, if you posted all June transactions to the G/L and then made some additions/corrections in the A/R module using a June date, you could post June's information to the G/L again, but only the UN-posted June information would be posted to the G/L at that time.


Find G/L Transaction

This dialog box appears whenever Journal Entry is chosen on the General Ledger File | Open menu.

Usually you can find what you seek by entering two items.  For example the Date and Reference, or the ID and Reference.

Hint:	First make certain that the fiscal year and period of the original journal entry are displayed on the toolbar.

For more information about an option on the Find G/L Transaction dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Find G/L Transactions dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Transaction ID

The unique ID or code given to the manual journal entry when originally posted.

 Date

The G/L Transaction Date used when originally posted to the G/L.

 Reference

The Reference used for the original manual journal entry.

 Description

The Description used when originally posted to the G/L.


Find a G/L Account

This dialog box appears whenever Open | G/L Account is chosen on the General Ledger File menu.

For more information about an option on the Find a G/L Account dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Find a G/L Account dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Category

The Category list box contains the list of categories that were created when the COA was initialized.  Selecting the category for the account number scrolls the list of Existing Accounts to the beginning number of that category.  Once the category is selected the range of allowable numbers is displayed.

 Account Number

Type the account number you are seeking in this box.  Include the two digit department number if you are seeking a department account.  As you type, the Existing Accounts list scrolls to that position in your COA.

Note:	You can skip selecting the category if you are sure of the account number you want to modify.

 Existing Accounts list

This list includes your current COA and is provided as a reference.  You may also double-click an item in this list to select that account.


Fiscal Year and Period

Select the Fiscal Year and Period on the toolbar when doing any function involving a fiscal year and/or period other than in the current period.

When your site is set up as multi-company, be sure that you select the Company on the toolbar first.

Note:	You must use the mouse to select from these two list boxes.  Click the drop-down arrow and select from the list that appears.

The values selected on the toolbar serve as the default fiscal year and period in any dialog box that you open.


G/L Account Auto Distributions

The Auto Distribution tab is found on the G/L Account number dialog box.  Use the Auto Distribution option to create automatic credit or debit transactions to other accounts based on a percentage of the amount auto posted to the selected account number.

The original account must be distributed 100 percent.  The distribution entries are made the opposite of the account being distributed.

In the above example, 74000, Office Rental, is entered each month as a fixed amount on an A/P invoice.  The automatic distribution made when A/P is auto posted to G/L, expenses 50% to account number 74010, Office Rental-Sales, and 50% to account 74020, Office Rental-Service.  When 74000 is posted as a credit entry, accounts 74010 and 74020 are distributed as debit entries.

 Account Number - Auto Distribution

Select one of the account numbers that you want to receive a distribution each time an amount is posted to the account number in the dialog box's title bar.  Type a number or select from the list.

 Percent

Enter the percentage, e.g., 50.000, of the total amount posted that the associated account number will receive at posting time.  The percentage can be entered as a negative number to force the posting debit or credit to match that of the account being distributed.

 Clear All

Select Clear All to start over, or to remove the auto distribution transactions from all future auto postings.


G/L Account Budgets

The Budgets tab is found on G/L Account number dialog box.  Use this option to enter budget amounts for each period for the selected account number.

 Period

The period number and associated month are displayed.  For non calendar years the months are shown accordingly.

 Budget

A text box for the budget amount for each of the 12 periods.  The budget amount can be modified at any time.

Reports such as the Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Income Statement all have options to compare actual period totals against the budget totals.

 Actual

Echoes the actual period totals for each period.


G/L Account Category Set Up

This dialog box appears whenever G/L Account Categories is chosen on the General Ledger Setup menu.

After initializing the fiscal year and period, this is the second step in setting up your chart of accounts.  Besides creating titles for your Balance Sheet and Income Statement, you are also creating rules to help prevent entering a new account number into the wrong area by mistake.  Accounting practices have allowed certain category types to be sub divided further.  As an example, Liability accounts are often divided into Current and Long Term Liabilities.  There may be three Asset, two Liability, two Equity, two Cost Of Sale and two Expense types.  The Sale, Other Income and Tax Category Types are limited to just one Category Description and range.

Set up your category types so that the corresponding accounts fall underneath them.  For instance, Cash In Bank (number 01000) is an account that would fall under one of the Asset categories.  In the figure above, it would fall under Current Assets.  Within each category, you may have as many accounts as there are available numbers in the range that you are creating.  All account numbers must be 5 characters.  As in the figure above, leading zeros (0) are legal.

You do not need to use all Category Types, e.g., only two Asset categories have been set up in the example.  But you must set up at least one of each Category Type.

Be certain that you allow for growth.  You have 99,999 account numbers to use.  It is next to impossible to change the ranges once you have started using your COA.  Do not overlap any of the account ranges.  The system will alert you if you do.

You should have your full COA designed before you proceed.

Note:	The Category Description may be modified at any time.
You can also revise the Account Number Range, if you have not already used an account number in the revised range.
The Category Type field cannot be changed.

 Multi-company

When a site is setup as multi-company, there is an additional button at the bottom of this dialog box.  It is the Company Copy button.  You can use it to copy the account categories from a previously defined COA.  If you make a mistake and get the wrong company's category list, you can choose Company Copy again to select a different company's code.

You can revise the Account Number Range of a Category Type for the destination company at this time.  This could cause problems if you also plan to copy the source company's account numbers.  If the source company does not have any numbers in the range being revised, you can skip to the end of this topic.  But, if there are numbers in that range, they should not be copied to the destination company.  You can still use the copy G/L accounts function.  But you must copy only the valid ranges.

As an example using the figure above, you want to allow more numbers in the Long Term Liabilities category.  The source company used numbers 25000 to 29999.  Since none of the 30000 series was used, you could select 32999 as the new End At number, and copy the full COA without worry.

But, if you wanted to use numbers in the 24000 to 24999 series for Long Term Liabilities, you could have trouble.  The source company's Current Liabilities is using numbers up to 24999.  Say they used only that number in the 24000 to 24999 range.  If you copied the source companies full COA, with the revised category type setup, you would include the 24999 account number.  But it would continue to think that it was a Long Term Liability.  And, you would not be able to find it to delete it, because you need to define the category first.

In this last example, you would copy the account numbers in two ranges, 00001 to 23999 and 25000 to 99999.  The range of 24000 to 24999 is now part of Long Term Liabilities.

Press ALT+O or choose OK to save the categories or any changes.

TAB to or choose CANCEL, to abort the account category set up/modification process.


G/L Account History Information

The History tab is found on the G/L Account number dialog box.  Use this tab when you want to view the details of transactions auto posted to the selected account number.

You can expand any transaction that was auto posted, to view the detail information from A/P or A/R that made up the posting to this account.  You do this by double-clicking the transaction.  See the Automatic Posting Drill Down topic for an example.


G/L Account Trial Posting Information

The Trials tab is found on the G/L Account number dialog box.  Use this tab when you want to view the General Ledger transactions from any valid trial run for the selected account number.

You can expand any transaction that was auto posted, to view the detail information from A/P or A/R that made up the trial posting to this account.  You do this by double-clicking the transaction.  See the Automatic Posting Drill Down topic for an example.


G/L Account number

This dialog box appears whenever either the New | G/L Account or Open | G/L Account option is chosen on the General Ledger File menu.

When you want to add, modify or delete an account number, you do it on this dialog box.  The Budget and Auto Distribution tabs are applicable during the add and modify functions.  The G/L Account number dialog box is also used to review any history of actual or trial postings using the History and Trials tabs.

For more information about an option on the G/L Account number dialog box, click on the option or tab on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the G/L Account number dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.  But see the special note under the Status group.

 Category

Echoes the category of the account number you are working with.

 Account Number

Echoes the account number.  Also found in the dialog box's title bar.  You can have more than one G/L Account number dialog box open at the same time.

Note:	Verify that you have the account number you want to work with in the top most dialog box before proceeding.

 Period and YTD Balance

Echoes the current period and year to date balances for the account number.

 Description

Displays the description of the account number.  This field can be edited at any time.

 Status group

Active
Indicates that postings and journal entries can be made against this account number.  It also means that A/P and/or A/R transactions can be charged to this account.

Inactive
Indicates that postings, journal entries and transactions can not be made to this account.

All header account numbers, those with a 00 department number, e.g., 12345-00, are automatically created as inactive accounts and the Status group is displayed dimmed.

Note:	To change the status of the account number in this dialog box, you must TAB into the group and use the RIGHT or LEFT ARROW to select a new status and then TAB out of the group..

 The Budget tab

Select the Budget tab to enter budget amounts for each period for this account number.  See the G/L Account Budgets topic for more information.

 The Auto Distribution tab

Select the Auto Distribution tab to create automatic credit or debit transactions to other accounts based on a percentage of the amount auto posted to the account number shown on the title bar.  See the G/L Account Auto Distribution topic for more information.

 The History tab

Select the History tab to view the details of transactions auto posted to the account displayed on the title bar.  See the G/L Account History topic for more information.

 The Trials tab

Select the Trials tab to view the details of trial posting transactions made to the selected account number.  See the G/L Account Trials topic for more information.


G/L Detail Report

The G/L Detail report lists the details of any auto posting or manual journal transactions made in the General Ledger module.

To print a G/L Detail report

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+R, D
-or-
Choose G/L Detail on the Reports menu

2.	The Print General Ledger Detail dialog box appears.  Make the appropriate selections on this dialog box:

a.	Select a report format from Select Report.

b.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the Company code.

c.	If the Fiscal Year for the report is a prior year, select the correct year.

d.	In the Account Selection group, first select how to choose the account numbers you want on the report, then use the list box(es) for the final choice.

e.	In the Reporting Method group, first select the method you want to use on the report, then use the list box(es) for the final choice.

f.	Select a Print Destination option.

3.	Press ALT+O or choose OK when ready to proceed.

The printing procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


G/L Initialization Fiscal Year and Period

The G/L Initialization dialog box appears only once, when you first initialize the Chart of Account Categories.  Once you choose OK, this information can not be changed.

Note:	When your site has been set up as multi-company, you see this box once for each company's COA initialization.  This means the fiscal year can be different for each company code, even if you copy the account number details from an existing company.  See Copying your chart of accounts.

Discussion

There are two possible instances where you will need to initialize your Chart of Accounts.  The first is when you have just started business and selected the Main Course for your accounting system.  You will probably need to confer with a CPA to determine the pros and cons of being on a calendar year basis for your fiscal year.  The second case is where you have been using another system to record your General Ledger transactions.  This includes having used the Main Course for some or all of your other accounting and inventory control needs.

With a new business, your cut off date will be the month and year you started business.  That date may not correspond to the last day of your "previous" fiscal year.

As an example, you want your fiscal year to end on June 30th.  You started business in September of 2002 (period 3).  You have decided to use the year of your 12th period to designate the fiscal year (2003).  The first information you will post in the Main Course is all dated in September of 2002 (period 3 of 2003).  Your startup amounts will be entered as period 3 beginning balances.  (Yes, you will have beginning balances with a new company!)

The information on this dialog box for a new company would be:

Fiscal Year	2003

Period	3

Last Year End	2002/06/30

Last Month End	2002/08/31

If the latter case is true, you have been using another system,you need to set a cut off date for converting to the General Ledger module.  This should be at the end of a recent month.  Once that date is set, you can Initialize the General Ledger.  The setting of a cut off date does not mean that you can not run "parallel" entries for a month or two.

If your fiscal year corresponds to a calendar year, period 12 ends on December 31, the fiscal year and period you set in this dialog box correspond to the calendar year month where you enter your beginning balances.  (The month following your cutoff date.)

If you are not on a calendar year, then your fiscal year ends on a date other than December 31.  The Last Year End might not be the year that just ended.  The Last Month End will also be different from the month of the calendar.  Set your Fiscal Year and Period first and then adjust the dates to agree with the actual calendar dates.

As an example, your fiscal year ends on June 30th.  Your cutoff date and the ending balances from your previous system are as of September 30, 2002 (period 3).  You have been using the year of your 12th period to designate the fiscal year (2003).  The first information you will post in the Main Course is all dated in October of 2002 (period 4 of 2003).  The ending balances from the previous system will be entered manually as period 4 journal entries.

The information on this dialog box for a conversion to the Main Course would be:

Fiscal Year	2003

Period	4

Last Year End	2002/06/30

Last Month End	2002/09/30

Options on the G/L Initialization dialog box

 Fiscal Year

Enter the fiscal year designation for the initialization of the General Ledger module.  This may NOT be the current year.  See the discussion above.

 Period

Enter the period designation for the initialization of the General Ledger module.  This may NOT be the current month.  See the discussion above.

 Last Year End

Select the calendar date of the last fiscal year closing done in your previous system.  If you are starting a new business, use the last day of the last month that would have ended your fiscal year if you had been in business.

 Last Month End

Select the calendar date of the last period closing done in your previous system.  If you are starting a new business, use the last day of the last month before the month where you will enter your beginning balances.


General Differences

Please read the Getting Started topic also.

The system automatically controls when G/L activities can be accessed.
The following three main functions are mutually exclusive:

Period and year end closings
Auto and trial postings
Creating a Journal Entry

If any user is in the G/L, doing any of these three functions, no other user will be able to do any of the other two.  This includes one user auto posting A/R.  A second user can not then auto post A/P.  No one will be able to access any G/L functionality other than COA Maintenance.

A user can logon to the G/L with the same User ID and Password more than once.

In general, you should use TAB/SHIFT+TAB, not ENTER, to move from option to option on a dbox.  In a few rare cases you must use the LEFT or RIGHT ARROW or the mouse.  See the individual topics.

Each user can resize and reposition any window and/or the columns in any listview box.  The settings are automatically saved and effect only that user's station.  When s/he logs on at a different station, those changes are not available and others may be affecting the second station.

An example of a listview box:


General Journal Report

The General Journal report contains a complete history of all auto postings and manual journal transactions.

To print a General Journal report

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+R, J
-or-
Choose General Journal on the Reports menu

2.	The Print General Journal dialog box appears.  Make the appropriate selections on this dialog box:

a.	Select a report format from Select Report.

b.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the Company code.

c.	If the Fiscal Year for the report is a prior year, select the correct year.

d.	In the Reporting Method group, first select the method you want to use on the report, and then use the list box(es) for the final choice.

e.	Edit the Report Title if necessary.

f.	Select a Print Destination option.

3.	Press ALT+O or choose OK when ready to proceed.

The printing procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


General Ledger Reports

See the General Ledger Reports Overview topic.


General Ledger Reports Overview
Reports Overview

This topic contains a list of all the standard reports found in the Main Course General Ledger module.

All of the reports were written using the 3rd party R & R Report Writer software.  One of the purposes for using a report generator such as this is the ease in which reports can be copied and tailored to your specific needs.  The copy can then be added to the Select Report list on the appropriate Print <...> dialog box.  The tailoring of a report can be done by your personnel or by AMI Support personnel.

 A/P Exceptions

Use the A/P Exceptions report to list the details of the most recent exceptions/problems encountered during an auto posting or trial posting of the A/P information to the G/L.

 A/R Exceptions

Use the A/R Exceptions report to list the details of the most recent exceptions/problems encountered during an auto posting or trial posting of the A/R information to the G/L.

 Balance Sheet

Use the Balance Sheet to list total assets, total liabilities and equity.

Besides the standard format here are two additional report formats.  The first allows you to compare the current period balances with those from any period in the current or a previous fiscal year.  The second format includes several financial ratios.

Each format has detailed and summary versions.  On the detailed version you can suppress the department account numbers and/or create a report that includes all numbers, even if their report balance is zero.

 Chart of Accounts

Use the Chart of Accounts report when you want a list of your Chart of Account numbers.

There are additional report formats where you can include balances and/or budgets for each account number.

For a given fiscal year and period, you can select either all accounts, a single account category, a range of account numbers or one single account.  On the formats with balance and/or budget amounts you can choose to include totals based on a level of detail and/or suppress the listing of department accounts.

The basic report includes the account number and description, the account type such as asset or liability and whether the account is active or inactive.  When you select a format with balances and or budgets the report includes period and year to date amounts.  Subtotals are printed when the requested Level of Detail changes.

 General Journal (Posting Register)

Print the General Journal report to list the complete history of all auto postings and manual journal entries, in the order they were made in the General Ledger module.

The report can be created for a range of transaction dates, for an auto posting control number or a range of control numbers.  You can also create a report that lists only the G/L transactions never before printed.

This report includes, for each transaction, the period posted to, transaction ID, control number, date, reference and description.  All account numbers distributed to in the transaction are listed with their description and the debit or credit amount.

Note:	This report should be printed for every auto posting and manual journal entry session, period.  Access Level controls make it possible to guarantee that the report is printed.  Put this report in your period history folder.

 G/L (Account) Detail

Use the G/L Detail report when you want the details of any auto postings and/or manual journal entries that were made in the General Ledger module.

For a given fiscal year, you can select either all accounts, a single account category, a range of account numbers or one single account.  You can also choose to include all detail or restrict the output to a range of periods or a range of transaction dates.

The report includes, for each account number, the transaction date, period posted to, auto posting control number, the reference and description of the transaction, a debit or credit amount and the account balance after the transaction was made.

 Income Statements

Use the Income Statement for a summary of your sales, costs, expenses, taxes, gross and net income for any period.

This report totals up sales and subtracts the total cost of sales from this figure.  This is your total income.  From your total income figure, the system subtracts total expenses and arrives at a gross income figure.  Taxes are subtracted from gross income to arrive at net income for the period.

You may generate an Income Statement for any period of the current or past fiscal years.  You may also generate an Income Statement for a specific G/L department.

 Trial Balance

Use the Trial Balance to list each account and its running total as of the date the report is generated.

The Trial Balance checks to make sure the debits and credits balance.  Generate the Trial Balance report when you are finished postings for the period and are satisfied the postings are correct.  You can also generate this report for a prior fiscal year and/or period, suppress G/L department accounts and choose to include account numbers with a zero balance.

The report includes, for each account number, the account status, description and debit or credit balance.  Accounts with a zero balance are not included unless you select that option on the Print Trial Balance dialog box.

Note:	If your debits and credits do not balance, refer to the General Journal (Posting Register) print out(s) generated at the time of posting and/or create a G/L Detail report for the accounts that look suspicious.


General Notes


Generate Auto Posting for A/P
Generate Auto Posting for A/P - no Trial Run

Once all of the A/P transactions for the period have been entered through the A/P menu you are ready to post them to the G/L.  You can choose to post the A/P information for a date range that is less than or greater than the dates of the G/L period.

This topic assumes you choose not to post from a trial run.

A control number is created.  The control number is used to reconcile your actual auto posting to the G/L.  The details of the posting should always be printed on a General Journal report.

To generate an auto posting for A/P without a trial run

Before you start:

1.	We recommend you Generate a Trial Auto Posting for A/P first.  Record the control number and reconcile the posting of the A/P information.

2.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar.

3.	If you are posting to a prior period and/or fiscal year, make those selections on the toolbar.    Otherwise the posting is made to the defaults displayed on the toolbar.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, P
-or-
Choose Post A/P to G/L on the File menu

2.	The Post A/P to G/L dialog box appears.  Clear both Trial Run and Post Trial Run.

3.	Verify and/or change the following:

a.	That there are account numbers for each of the Posting Accounts, and that they are the correct accounts.  When you make a change that you want to be permanent, be sure to press ALT+S or choose Save Defaults.

b.	The Posting Dates.  Normally they are the beginning and ending dates of the period being posted and the last day of that period.

Note:	The Posting Dates do not determine the fiscal year and period the A/P information is posted to.  The auto posting is made to the fiscal year and period displayed on the toolbar when you chose Post A/P to the G/L on the File menu.  Click here to see what could happen if the dates are entered wrong.

4.	Press ALT+P or choose Post to start the auto posting.  Choose Yes to confirm, No to cancel.  Note what types of transactions were posted and choose OK when advised the process completed.

Note:	When any inconsistencies in the A/P information are found, you are asked if you want to print an A/P Exceptions report.  Print the exceptions report.

5.	You should always print the General Journal.  It may print automatically, depending on your access group.  Select the Windows printer you want.

The auto posting can be aborted at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Generate Auto Posting for A/P - from Trial Run

You can use a trial run's control number to generate an actual auto posting.  Once a trial run has been reconciled to your satisfaction, the A/P information should be posted to the G/L.  When you post from a trial run, you can select new account numbers to post to and/or a different G/L transaction date.

Note:	If your reconciliation added to your A/P information or revised it, you should generate a new trial run, or start a fresh auto posting.

To generate an auto posting for A/P from a trial run

When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar [image] first.

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, P
-or-
Choose Post A/P to G/L on the File menu

2.	The Post A/P to G/L dialog box appears.  Select Post Trial Run and the control number from the list of Available Trial Runs.  If necessary, clear Trial Run first.

3.	Depending on the results of your reconciliation, verify or change any of the following:

a)	The account numbers for each of the Posting Accounts.  If you make a change that you want to be permanent, be sure to press ALT+S or choose Save Defaults.

b)	The G/L Transaction Date.  The beginning and ending dates, and the fiscal year and period to be posted to, were set when you generated the trial run.

4.	Press ALT+P or choose Post to start generating the auto posting.  Choose Yes to confirm, No to cancel.  Note what types of transactions posted and choose OK when advised the process completed.

Note:	When any inconsistencies in the A/P information are found, you are asked if you want to print an A/P Exceptions report.  Print the exceptions report.

5.	You should always print the General Journal.  It may print automatically, depending on your access group.  Select the Windows printer you want.

The auto posting can be aborted at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Generate Auto Posting for A/R
Generate Auto Posting for A/R - no Trial Run

Once all of the A/R transactions for the period have been entered through the A/R menu you are ready to post them to the G/L..  You can choose to post the A/R information for a date range that is less than or greater than the dates of the G/L period.

This topic assumes you choose not to post from a trial run.

A control number is created.  The control number is used to reconcile your actual auto posting to the G/L.  The details of the posting should always be printed on a General Journal report.

To generate an auto posting for A/R without a trial run

Before you start:

1.	You must run the Inventory Costing Calculation with a cutoff date that includes the date range for this posting.  Do this after all other A/R information is entered.

2.	We recommend you Generate a Trial Auto Posting for A/R first.  Record the control number and reconcile the posting to the A/R information.

3.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar.

4.	If you are posting to a prior period and/or fiscal year, make those selections on the toolbar.    Otherwise the posting is made to the defaults displayed on the toolbar.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, R
-or-
Choose Post A/R to G/L on the File menu

2.	The Post A/R to G/L dialog box appears.  Clear both Trial Run and Post Trial Run.

3.	Verify and/or change any of the following:

a.	Check or clear the Post which data boxes depending on what information you want to post.

b.	The Posting Dates.  Normally they are the beginning and ending dates of the period being posted and the last day of that period.

Note:	The Posting Dates do not determine the fiscal year and period the A/R information is posted to.  The auto posting is made to the fiscal year and period displayed on the toolbar when you chose Post A/R to the G/L on the File menu.  Click here to see what could happen if the dates are entered wrong.

c.	That there are account numbers for each of the Posting Accounts, and that they are the correct accounts.  When you make a change that you want to be permanent, be sure to press ALT+S or choose Save Defaults.

d.	The bank deposit flag and account number settings for your payment methods.  Press ALT+Y or choose Payment Setup.

4.	Press ALT+P or choose Post to start generating the auto posting.  Choose Yes to confirm, No to cancel.  Note what types of transactions were posted and choose OK when advised the process completed.

Note:	When any inconsistencies in the A/R information are found, you are asked if you want to print an A/R Exceptions report.  Print the exceptions report.

5.	You should always print the General Journal.  It may print automatically, depending on your access group.  Select the Windows printer you want.

The auto posting can be aborted at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Generate Auto Posting for A/R - from Trial Run

You can use a trial run's control number to generate an actual posting.  Once the trial run has been reconciled to your satisfaction, the A/R information should be posted to the G/L.  When you post from a trial run, you can select new account numbers to post to, change the bank deposit flags and/or select a different G/L transaction date.

Mote:	 If your reconciliation added to your A/R information or revised it, you should generate a new trial run, or start a fresh auto posting.

To generate an auto posting for A/R from a trial run

When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar [image] first.

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, R
-or-
Choose Post A/R to G/L on the File menu

2.	The Post A/R to G/L dialog box appears.  Select Post Trial Run and the control number from the list of Available Trial Runs.  If necessary, clear Trial Run first.

3.	Depending on the results of your reconciliation, verify or change any of the following:

a)	Check or clear the Post which data check boxes.

b)	The G/L Transaction Date.  All of the beginning and ending dates, and the fiscal year and period posted to, were set when you generated the trial run.

c)	The account numbers for each of the Posting Accounts.  If you make a change that you want to be permanent, be sure to press ALT+S or choose Save Defaults.

d)	Your payment methods and their bank deposit flag settings.  Press ALT+Y or choose Payment Setup.

4.	Press ALT+P or choose Post to start generating the auto posting.  Choose Yes to confirm, No to cancel.  Note the types of transactions that posted and choose OK when advised the process completed.

Note:	When any inconsistencies in the A/R information are found, you are asked if you want to print an A/R Exceptions report.  Print the exceptions report.

5.	You should always print the General Journal.  It may print automatically, depending on your access group.  Select the Windows printer you want.

The auto posting can be aborted at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Generate Trial Auto Posting for A/P

Once all of the A/P transactions for the period have been entered through the A/P menu, you are ready to auto post a trial run.  A trial run is a preview of how the A/P information would be posted to the G/L.  You can choose to post the A/P information for a date range that is less than or greater than the dates of the G/L period.

A control number is created.  The control number is used to reconcile your trial posting to the G/L and later to complete the actual posting.  The details of the trial run should always be printed on a General Journal report.

To generate a trial auto posting for A/P

Before you start:

1.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar.

2.	If your trial run is for a prior period and/or fiscal year, make those selections on the toolbar.    Otherwise the trial posting is made to the defaults displayed on the toolbar.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, P
-or-
Choose Post A/P to G/L on the File menu

2.	The Post A/P to G/L dialog box appears.  Select Trial Run.  If necessary, clear Post Trial Run first.

3.	If you have selected a prior period, there is a Warning about posting to a prior period.  Press ALT+Y or choose Yes to confirm, or press ALT+N or choose No to cancel.  The title bar echoes what was selected in Step 2 of Before you start.

4.	Verify and/or change the following:

a.	That Trial Run is checked.

b.	That there are account numbers for each of the Posting Accounts, and that they are the correct accounts.  When you make a change that you want to be permanent, be sure to press ALT+S or choose Save Defaults.

c.	The Posting Dates.  Normally they are the beginning and ending dates of the period being posted to and the last day of that period.

Note:	The Posting Dates do not determine the fiscal year and period the A/P information is posted to.  The trial posting is made to the fiscal year and period displayed on the toolbar when you chose Post A/P to G/L on the File menu.  Click here to see what could happen if the dates are entered wrong.

5.	Press ALT+P or choose Post to start generating the trial run.  Choose Yes to confirm, No to cancel.  Note what types of transactions were posted and choose OK when advised the process completed.

Note:	When any inconsistencies in the A/P information are found, you are asked if you want to print an A/P Exceptions report.  Print the exceptions report.

6.	You should always print the General Journal.  It may print automatically, depending on your access group.  Select the Windows printer you want.

7.	Record the control number and reconcile the trial posting of the A/P information.

The trial generation can be aborted at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Generate Trial Auto Posting for A/R

Once all of the A/R transactions for the period have been entered through the A/R menu, you are ready to auto post a trial run.  A trial run is a preview of how the A/R information would be posted to the G/L.  You can choose to post the A/R information for a date range that is less than or greater than the dates of the G/L period.

A control number is created.  The control number is used to reconcile your trial posting to the G/L and later to complete the actual posting.  The details of the trial run should always be printed on a General Journal report.

To generate a trial auto posting for A/R

Before you start:

1.	You must run the Inventory Costing Calculation with a cutoff date that includes the date range for this posting.  Do this after all other A/R information is entered.

2.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar.

3.	If your trial run is for a prior period and/or fiscal year, make those selections on the toolbar.    Otherwise the trial posting is made to the defaults displayed on the toolbar.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+F, R
-or-
Choose Post A/R to G/L on the File menu

2.	The Post A/R to G/L dialog box appears.  Select Trial Run.  If necessary, clear Post Trial Run first.

3.	If you have selected a prior period, there is a Warning about posting to a prior period.  Press ALT+Y or choose Yes to confirm, or press ALT+N or choose No to cancel.  The title bar echoes what was selected in Step 3 of Before you start.

4.	Verify and/or change any of the following:

a.	That Trial Run is checked.

b.	The Post which data boxes are checked to post the desired A/R information.

c.	The Posting Dates.  Normally they are the beginning and ending dates of the period being posted to and the last day of that period.

Note:	The Posting Dates do not determine the fiscal year and period the A/R information is posted to.  The trial posting is made to the fiscal year and period displayed on the toolbar when you chose Post A/R to the G/L on the File menu.  Click here to see what could happen if the dates are entered wrong.

d.	That there are account numbers for each of the Posting Accounts, and that they are the correct accounts.  When you make a change that you want to be permanent, be sure to press ALT+S or choose Save Defaults.

e.	The bank deposit flag and account number settings for your payment methods.  Press ALT+Y or choose Payment Setup.

5.	Press ALT+P or choose Post to start generating the trial run.  Choose Yes to confirm, No to cancel.  Note what types of transactions posted and choose OK when advised the process completed.

Note:	When any inconsistencies in the A/R information are found, you are asked if you want to print an A/R Exceptions report.  Print the exceptions report.

6.	You should always print the General Journal.  It may print automatically, depending on your access group.  Select the Windows printer you want.

7.	Record the control number and reconcile the trial posting of the A/R information.

The trial generation can be aborted at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Getting Started

If you do not already have a desktop shortcut set up to run the Windows General Ledger, set one up now.  The command line is the drive and path to your AMI directory and the executable file MCWGL.EXE, e.g., F:\APPS\AMI\MCWGL.EXE.  Use a title like Main Course G/L.

While you are doing this you could also set up a desktop shortcut to this Help file.  Use MCWGL.HLP in the instructions above.

One of the first things you notice when starting the General Ledger for Windows is the mask that shows in the Password section of the Logon dialog box.  It is always be there, so do not try to delete it.  It is only a mask to hide what you type for your password.

The next lesson to learn is to stop using the ENTER key to move from option to option in a dbox.  Use TAB and SHIFT+TAB instead.  In a few rare cases you must use the LEFT or RIGHT arrow or the mouse.  We hope to be able to remove these restrictions in a future version of the software.

There is a difference between a window and a dialog box.  For the sake of this help file, the General Ledger is considered a window and everything within it a dialog box.  When certain types of dialog boxes are active, you can not access the menus or toolbar buttons on the General Ledger window.  The two exceptions are the G/L Account number and Post General Journal Entries dialog boxes.

If you resize the window or any of its dialog boxes, and leave them changed when you exit the General Ledger, they remain the changed size.  This functionality is specific to the workstation and not the user ID.

The help file windows do not stay resized, but return to their standard size each time.  The How To: help window has a Close All button for exiting this help file.

Note:	These windows are sized and placed so that portions of all 3 windows, the main General Ledger window, if open, the How To: help window and the General Ledger Module help window, are all visible on your monitor at the same time.  Hopefully, this will mean that you won't need to use the Contents button very often to go back and forth between a how to topic and its reference topics.

It is strongly suggested that you read all topics in the book titled "Differences from DOS version" and at least scan the Navigating in the Windows G/L topic.


Income Statement
Income Statement Report

The Income Statement report summarizes your sales, cost of goods, expenses and taxes and lists your net income and income after taxes.  There are several report formats.

To print an Income Statement report

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+R, I
-or-
Choose Income Statement on the Reports menu

2.	The Print Income Statement dialog box appears.  Make the appropriate selections on this dialog box:

a.	Select a report format from Select Report.

b.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the Company code.

c.	If the Report period is for a prior fiscal year and/or a different range of periods, select from those lists.

d.	Clear or select a Department Statement type of report.  Also type a department number to report on if you select this box.

e.	In the Detail Settings group, select a Detailed or Summary report.  When you select a detailed report, clear or select what type of detail you want to suppress and/or show.

f.	Edit the Report Title if necessary.

g.	Select a Print Destination option.

3.	Press ALT+O or choose OK when ready to proceed.

The printing procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Initialize the COA

The first step in setting up a chart of accounts (COA) is to initialize the fiscal year, period and account categories.

Note:	You should have your full COA designed before you proceed.

When your site is set up as multi-company, and after the COA for at least one company has been created, you can copy a COA from company to company.  See the Initialize the COA by Copying and Copy G/L Accounts topics.

To initialize the Chart of Accounts

Before you start:

1.	Please read the G/L Initialization Fiscal Year and Period topic before proceding.

2.	When your site is set up as multi-company, be certain that the company code has already been created.

3.	Select the code for which you are initializing a COA on the toolbar [image].

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+T, G
-or-
Choose G/L Account Categories on the Setup menu

2.	Until the fiscal year and period are defined, a warning dialog box appears stating the "G/L not Initialized."  Press ENTER or choose OK to close this box.

3.	The G/L Initialization dialog box appears.  Enter the Fiscal Year and Period for the first postings that will be done of your Main Course information.  If you are starting a new company, the Last Year End and Last Month End dates are theoretical.  If you are converting, they are the dates from your old system.

Note:	Once you choose OK, you cannot change your mind.

Press ALT+O or choose OK.

4.	The GL Account Category Setup dialog box appears.  Enter the Category Description and Account Number Range values for all Category Types being defined.

5.	Press ALT+O or choose OK to save the account category information.

You are now ready to add your account numbers.  See the Add a Chart of Accounts Number topic, and the Copy G/L Accounts topic when your site is set up as multi-company.

The initialization procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Initialize the COA by Copying
Initialize the COA by Copying  (multi-company only)

If you have created more than one company, you can copy a previously initialized COA from the source company to another company, the destination company.  When you copy the chart of accounts to a destination company code, you must first initialize the fiscal year, period and account categories for that company.  Once copied, the COA of the destination company can then be fine tuned to fit.

Note:	You should have your full COA for the destination company designed before you proceed.

To initialize the Chart of Accounts for a destination company

Before you start:

1.	Please read the G/L Initialization Fiscal Year and Period topic before proceding.

2.	Be certain the destination company code has been created and the source company's COA exists.

3.	Select the code for which you are initializing a COA on the toolbar [image].

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+T, G
-or-
Choose G/L Account Categories on the Setup menu

2.	Until the fiscal year and period are defined, a warning dialog box appears stating the "G/L not Initialized for <...>."  Press ENTER or choose OK to close this box.

3.	The G/L Initialization dialog box appears.  Enter the Fiscal Year, Period, Last Year End and Last Month End dates for the first postings that will be done of your Main Course information from the destination company.  The Fiscal Year and Period can be different from those set in the source company.

Note:	Once you choose OK, you cannot change your mind.

Press ALT+O or choose OK.

4.	A blank GL Account Category Setup dialog box appears.  Choose Company Copy, located at the bottom of the dialog box.

5.	The Copy Categories dialog box appears.  Select the source company's code from the Company to copy from list and press ALT+O or choose OK.

6.	The GL Account Category Setup dialog box fills in with the source company's category setup information.  If you have selected the wrong source company, you can choose Company Copy again.  If necessary, add to or modify the Category Description and/or Account Number Range values for any of the Category Types.

Note:	Change the number range of a category only if you are sure there will be no account numbers in the removed range in the COA of the destination company.  If some do exist, be sure to omit them from the list of account numbers of the destination company.  That means if you copy G/L accounts, you must do the copy by ranges.  Using ranges means you can exclude the account numbers in the revised category range from the destination company's COA.

7.	Press ALT+O or choose OK to save the account category information.

You are now ready to copy and/or add the account numbers for the destination company.  See the Copy G/L Accounts and Add a Chart of Accounts Number topics.

The initialization procedures can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Introduction

The Windows General Ledger (G/L) module has several exciting features that greatly enhance this module.  Among them are:

A Balance Sheet that includes several financial ratios like the Quick and A/R Turnover ratios.

Standard G/L reports can be copied and customized to your specifications by your personnel* or by AMI, and run from the same dialog box as the standard report.

Users can auto post Accounts Receivable (A/R) and Accounts Payable (A/P) transactions to a previously closed period and/or fiscal year.

The Chart of Accounts (COA) maintenance is done in a single dialog box.  Users can view budgets, auto-distributions, account history and trial transactions all from the same screen.

Users have the ability to "drill down" to view the details of all auto postings.  This is done from the G/L COA dialog box under the History tab.  Trial auto posting data can also be viewed this way.

As the next step, we recommend reading the Getting Started topic.  Also, you should read all topics in the book titled "Differences from DOS version" and at least scan the Navigating in the Windows G/L topic.

*  Using the third party R & R Report Writer software from LiveWare Publishing.


Journal Entry

Activities/operations that are new, or function differently, in the Windows General Ledger include:

A single sided journal entry is made on the Post General Journal Entries dialog box.  This type of manual journal entry is controled by an access group setting.

The General Journal no longer prints as you make individual journal entries.  All information is printed when you finish your manual entries.

A Journal Entry is made up of at least one Entry, often referred to as a transaction entry or transaction entries.


Journal Entry Transaction Information

Each General Ledger transaction contains the same type of information, whether the transaction was generated by an auto posting or a manual journal entry.  The definitions are valid for trial postings also, even though nothing is actually posted to the G/L.  This information is displayed on many of the G/L reports.

The following information is kept:

 Account Number

The G/L account number involved in the posting/entry.

 Fiscal Year

The fiscal year used for the posting/entry.

 Period

The period used for the posting/entry.

 Date

The G/L transaction date used for the posting/entry.  This date does not determine the period that the posting/entry updates.

 Reference ID

The reference ID is used to "tie" the postings/entries together.  Therefore, on manual journal entries, an effort should be made to use a unique ID.  This could be as simple as numbering the manual entries, like June 1 and June 2.

Automatic postings have "AUTO A/P" or "AUTO A/R" as the reference ID.

 Description

The description used for the posting/entry.  A description should be entered by the user for all manual journal entries.

The description for an auto posting transaction always includes the date range entered in the Posting Dates group of the posting dbox, and a code for what A/P or A/R information was included in the transaction.  See the reconciliation topics for information on these codes.

 Transaction Amount

The posting/entry amount that was debited or credited on the transaction.

 Transaction ID

The unique ID or number given to the posting/entry transactions when originally posted.  The ID is unique within the fiscal year and period, and is generated automatically.

 Posting Control Number

Each trial/auto posting is given a control number.  All A/P and/or A/R information that contributed to the G/L transaction is also "marked" with this number.  The control number is entered when generating reports that are used during the reconciliation process.

The number is unique and is generated automatically.  A control number can become invalid when it is created for a trial run that is never used to generate an actual posting to the G/L.

Note:	This means that a report could be empty when generated for some control numbers.


Modify Account Categories

The category type's descriptions can be modified at any time.  Until you have entered account numbers and posted to the G//L, you can also modify the ranges.

Note:	If you want to modify the ranges after you have started posting, reread the GL Account Category Setup topic.

To modify the Chart of Account Categories

When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar [image] first.

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+T, G
-or-
Choose G/L Account Categories on the Setup menu

2.	The GL Account Category Setup dialog box appears.  Modify the Category Description and/or Account Number Range for the Category Types being changed.

3.	Press ALT+O or choose OK to save and exit.

The modification procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Modify a Chart of Accounts Number

You can modify the description, status, budget numbers and/or auto distribution percents of an account number at any time.  If you created a wrong number, you must delete that number and start over.

To modify Chart of Account numbers

When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar [image] first.

1.	From the General Ledger window:

>	Whenever the menu bar is not dimmed, press ALT+1.

>	Otherwise press ALT+F, O, A -or-

>	Choose Find [image] on the toolbar whenever the active dialog box is a G/L Account number box -or-

>	On the File menu, point to Open, and then choose G/L Account.

2.	The Find a G/L Account dialog box appears.  Type the account number you want to modify in the Account Number box, or select it from the Existing Accounts list.  Press ALT+O or choose OK.

Note:	If you are not sure of the number, you can first select the category from the list in the Category box by typing the first letter of the category you want until it displays.  This action scrolls the Existing Accounts list to the beginning of the category selected.

3.	The G/L Account number dialog box appears.  Modify any of the following:

a.	The description.

b.	The status.

Note:	You must TAB into the Status group and use the LEFT and Right ARROWS to select a new status.

c.	Press ALT+B or select the Budget tab to modify any budget numbers.

d.	Press ALT+D or select the Auto Distribution tab to modify any auto distribution percentages.

4.	When finished, press F10 or choose Save [image] on the toolbar.

To exit the G/L Account number dialog box, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.

If you change your mind about modifying the account number's information, choose NO if asked if you want to save your changes.


Month End

General Notes

·	All items below pertain to any Main Course transactions that are within the date range of the G/L period being posted.

·	All transactions in the Main Course and Service Manager are date sensitive.  There is no End of Month (EOM) activity that keeps transactions from being back dated.

·	The General Ledger period and year end closings are the only functions that actually do any "closing".  But, this closing does not cause any restrictions on entering dates prior to the new current period.  This means that you can back date (or pre date) deliberately, or by mistake, at any time, including after a period is closed.
As an example you may receive an A/P invoice for the prior month.  If that G/L period is still open, you can use the actual date of the invoice.

·	There is no system reason to rush to get a period posted and closed.  You can wait a week or more to be sure all information has been received and entered for the month, by back dating the transaction, before using the checklist below.  (The only exception is item 1.)

·	Once the period is closed you have two choices:

1.	Use the correct date and later post this information, and any other out of period information, to its prior (closed) period.

2.	Enter the information with a transaction date that is in the current period and adjust any due dates accordingly.

Note:	If a wrong date is used on any Main Course information, it must be corrected before posting to the G/L.

·	Any reports can be printed at EOM, but the key ones must also be printed again at the time of trial/auto posting.

·	No manual journal entry done in the G/L module will effect any other Main Course module.  As an example, making a manual journal entry to your Cash account number in the G/L does not effect the checkbook balance in the A/P module.

1.	End of Last Day of Month

The following two reports must be done at the end of the last day of the month.  The only exception is if you postpone doing any new month transactions until you are caught up to the EOM in invoicing and PO receiving, and you are back dating those transactions to the previous month.  Then you would run the reports before entering any new month transactions.

·	Invoiced But Not Shipped Report (Order Entry Reports menu).  Always at least preview it to the screen.  This report warns you when you might have sales dollars in one month and COGS dollars in another month.

·	Inventory Status Report (Inventory Control menu)

2.	Accounts Receivable (A/R)

·	Order Entry/Service Manager Invoices printed

·	Order Entry/Service Manager Credit Memos printed

·	Customer Deposits/Prepays recorded

·	Receipts recorded & Deposits applied

·	Credits (write offs) recorded

·	Receipts posted to the A/P Checkbook

·	Statements processed (if service/finance charges will be calculated that belong in the period)

3.	Purchasing

·	All Receiving completed

·	Any costs revised on the receivings (and any A/P invoices modified for those receivings already posted to the A/P)

·	Receivings posted to A/P

·	If using the PODO Cross Reference Costing Method, complete any PODO Xref adjustments

4.	Inventory

·	Inventory adjustments entered, say for write downs

·	RMA activity completed

·	Complete any physical count

·	Verify new product department assignments have the correct G/L account numbers

·	Verify new product codes have proper department code (normally non hardware/software codes only)

5.	Accounts Payable (A/P)

·	Vendor and other Invoices entered and modified if required

·	Invoices modified for any receivings already posted to the A/P that later had any costs revised in the Purchasing module on those receivings

·	Vendor and other credit memos entered and modified if required

·	Credits (write offs) recorded

·	Invoice payments made and checks printed

·	A/R receipts posted to the checkbook

·	Other deposits and adjustments made in checkbook

·	Checks voided (current period only) or checkbook adjustment made when transaction already posted to the G/L

6.	Other Pre Auto Posting

Do these steps in the following order, after all of the above are completed.

·	Index Entire System (unless done in previous 7 days)

·	Reset Inventory Balances (unless done for a recent physical count)

·	Make a backup copy of your Main Course information

·	Run your Inventory Costing (e.g., FIFO, Average or PODO Xref)

7.	You are now ready to auto post the A/R and A/P to the G/L.

Note:	Make sure you are in the proper fiscal year and period.

We recommend that you do a trial posting first.  Be sure to do the auto posting once you have reconciled the trial posting.

Always print the General Journal (Posting Register) as you post, either by trial, auto or manual postings.  Look at it for any obvious problems such as a typo when entering the account number on an A/P invoice and/or using a wrong posting date range.

8.	After Auto Posting - Reports to use for Reconciliation

ALL reports must be run within minutes after you trial/auto post.  Even if you already printed them at month end, print them again.  For two reasons:

1.	Someone may have back dated an entry after you printed the report at actual EOM

2.	At EOM there was no G/L posting and therefore no control number to reconcile to

Run the reports and press Y at the prompt for "Reconciling the G/L".  Select to use a range of control numbers.  The report totals should exactly match the numbers posted to the G/L.

Using a range of dates shows you what did and did not post to the G/L in that date range.  You might want to run the report(s) both ways to resolve any problems.

Note:	If you choose to reconcile using a report printed by date range and the any of the posting dates you used for your auto postings were incorrect, for whatever reason, the results might be misleading.  This is also true if any previous posting was generated using the wrong posting dates.  Click here for an example of what could go wrong.

The Reports are:

·	Sales Journal with Costs (Reports menu)

·	Receipts Journal (Reports menu)

·	A/P Register by Date (A/P Reports menu)

·	A/P Expenses by G/L (A/P Reports menu)

·	Check Register with at least the summary by G/L Accounts (A/P Checkbook menu)

In addition there are 3 R & R Reports:

·	Inventory Adjustments

·	A/P Credits by G/L Account #

·	A/P Inventory vs PO Receipts

This help file includes several topics on the actual reconciliation of your postings to the G/L.  They are found in the Reference book.


Navgating in the Windows G/L
Navigating in the Windows G/L

We have attempted to design our screens and dialog boxes to allow you to keep your fingers on the keyboard and not to have to reach for your mouse all the time.

The Navigating topic includes discussions on the following:

1.	Keyboard Conventions

2.	Shortcut Keystrokes - General

3.	The Keyboard and Listviews

4.	Date Boxes

 Keyboard Conventions

In the Help file, all keys on the computer's keyboard are shown in upper case.  For example "Press ENTER" refers to the Enter key.

Key combinations and key sequences appear in the following format:

KEY1+KEY2	A plus sign (+) between key names means you must press the keys at the same time.  For example, "Press CTRL+C" means that you press CTRL and hold it down while you press C.

KEY1, KEY2	A comma (,) between names means you must press keys in sequence.  For example, "Press ALT, F10" means that you press the ALT key and release it, and then press the F10 key and release it.

KEY1+KEY2, KEY3	This is a combination of the two formats.  For example, "Press ALT+F, N" means that you press ALT and hold it down while you press F, then release them both, and then press the N key and release it.

 Shortcut Keystrokes

We have created shortcut keystrokes (hot-key combinations) to implement most menu and toolbar button selections.

There are two menu structures that are used in the General Ledger window.  The first occurs when no dialog boxes are open.  In this state, it is obvious that the menus and toolbar buttons provide you with options for your first step.

The second structure occurs when one or more dialog boxes are open.  The meaning of the shortcuts in this state may be different from the no box(es) open state.

The shortcut key combinations are listed below.  They are also visible on the live menus and in the toolbar button's tip text.  Hint, move the mouse cursor to the button.  There is always a drop down menu selection, and sometimes a toolbar button, that accomplishes the same task as a shortcut keystroke.

Note:	When there are dialog boxes open, you must remember that all menu selections, toolbar buttons and shortcut keys work on the top most box only.  If they are side by side, it is the box with its title bar highlighted.

Most dialog boxes take complete control of the General Ledger window, and allow only the menu options and toolbar buttons that function with that dialog box.  The two exceptions are the G/L Account number and Post General Journal Entries (transactions) dialog boxes.

We have tried not to redefine the meaning of any MS Windows Keyboard Shortcuts.  When there is an applicable situation, the Windows definition is used.  This is probably a good time to review these pre defined key combinations in your Windows Help document.  Select Index and type Keyboard shortcuts.  An example might be that you want to use/see a non highlighted dbox.  Press ALT+W to display the Windows menu.  The names of all the dialog boxes that are open are displayed with an associated number.  Typing the number makes that box the active dialog box.

Note:	There is no way to use the keyboard to enter into the Fiscal Year and/or Period boxes on the toolbar.

The list below summarizes all of the non Windows shortcut keys used in the General Ledger window.

 With no dialog boxes open:

Function	Keystroke	Function Key (To match McFig conventions)

File menu's New option:

G/L Acct	CTRL+1

Journal Entry	CTRL+2, CTRL+INSERT	F9

File menu's Open option:

G/L Acct	ALT+1

Journal Entry	ALT+2, F4	F4

 Once one or more dialog boxes are open:

Function	Keystroke	Function Key (To match McFig conventions)

File menu's New option:

G/L Acct	CTRL+1

Journal Transaction Entry	CTRL+2

File menu's Open option:

G/L Acct	ALT+1

Journal Transaction Entry	ALT+2

 The following apply to the active dialog box only.  The one whose title bar is highlighted:

Function	Keystroke	Function Key (To match McFig conventions)

File menu:

Save	F10	F10

Edit menu:

Add Transaction Entry	CTRL+INSERT	F9

Clear Journal Entry	no shortcut

Delete Transaction Entry	CTRL+DELETE

Note:	The above shortcut is not displayed anywhere.  It was added to facilitate deleting lines in the Post General Journal Entry dialog box.

Search menu:

Find	F4	F4

User Choices	CTRL+F4

Show User Info	CTRL+U

First	CTRL+HOME	F5

Back 100	ALT+SHIFT+PAGE UP

Back 10	ALT+PAGE UP

Previous	CTRL+PAGE UP	F6

Next	CTRL+PAGE DOWN	F7

Forward 10	ALT+PAGE DOWN

Forward 100	ALT+SHIFT+PAGE DOWN

Last	CTRL+END	F8

 In the active dialog box when the cursor is in a sub area called a Listview:

A Listview is a chart of your information that appears in a dialog box such as the list of Existing Accounts shown below, or in a drill down box.

Positioning Key	Function

PAGE UP	Up one full screen

PAGE DOWN	Down one full screen

HOME	Goes to the first column

END	Goes to the last column

TAB	Advances to the next column or the first column of the next row if you are already on the last column.

SHIFT+TAB	Moves back a column or up a row and to the last column if on the first.

Arrow keys	Move up or down a row or left or right a column.

 Date Boxes

The above box appears whenever a date is required on a dialog box.

Note:	The style used for the date in all dialog boxes and on some reports defaults to the Windows Regional Settings for the Short Date Style, found on the workstations Control Panel.

Caution: Entering a date could be drastically different from one workstation to another, unless they are all set to the same Short Date Style.

To enter a date using the keyboard

1.	TAB to the date box.

2.	Do one of the following:

Type over the default date using the exact same style as displayed, Including the separator.  The above example would be 2002/05/08.

Use the LEFT and RIGHT ARROWs to move to the field within the date that you want to change and use the UP and DOWN ARROWs to select the value.

In the date box, press ALT+DOWN ARROW to display a calendar of the current month.  Within the month:

> Press the ARROW keys to change days.
> Press HOME to move to the first day of the month.
> Press END to go to the last day of the month.
> Press PAGE UP to move back exactly one month.
> Press PAGE DOWN to move forward exactly one month.

When the desired day is highlighted, press ENTER.

3.	TAB to the next option.

To enter a date using the mouse

1.	Click the drop down arrow in the date box.  The above calendar dialog box appears.

2.	Click the left or right pointing arrows to change months.

3.	Click on the desired date to select that date and close the calendar.

4.	Click on the next option.


New Terminology

The posting date is the G/L transaction date.

The Posting Register is the General Journal report.

A hot-key is a shortcut key.

Access levels are called access groups.

A Journal Entry is made up of at least one Entry, often referred to as a transaction entry or entries.


Overview of Posting A/P to the G/L
Overview of Posting the A/P to the G/L

Posting your accounting transactions is done periodically.  Most users post to the G/L once a period, or month, about 10 days after the end of the month.  This gives you time to receive and enter all transactions for the month.  For example, vendor invoices and bank charges.  It is legal to back date these entries, so do not suspend entering other transactions as they occur.

You can post for a date range other than the starting date through the ending date of the current G/L period.  A lesser range means there is less information to reconcile.  There is a down side to doing this.  Among them are voiding checks written during a date range that has already been posted to the G/L.  This is also true about deleting and/or modifiying an unpaid A/P invoice.  And, you must run your inventory costing and other end of period procedures prior to generating any posting.

You must always generate at least a trial run for a range greater than the period, before actually closing the period.  You do this to verify that there were no transactions entered with an erroneous out of period date since the last period closing.

When all the Accounts Payable information has been entered, it is time to post A/P to the G/L.  See the Month End topic for a suggested check list of things to do before actually posting to the G/L.  Then see one of the How To topics on Generating Auto Posting for A/P for a step by step procedure.

The first decision to make, once the Post A/P to G/L dbox is displayed, is whether to generate a trial run first.  We recommend generating the trial run first.  When there are trial runs available, you can select a valid control number, one that you have reconciled, and post those A/P transactions.

Each time you post, you should verify that the Posting Accounts are correct and then set the Posting Dates.  Both of these groups are covered in detail in the Post Accounts Payable to General Ledger topic.

When you choose the Post button, the generation of the posting transactions to the G/L begins.  The following actions happen as each option appears on the A/P Journal Posting Progress information box:

For each option, the A/P transactions found to be within the date range, are used to create the G/L transaction for each applicable account.

Each A/P transaction is marked with the posting's control number.  When you generate an actual posting, the transactions are also marked as posted to the G/L.

The G/L transactions are added to the information for the fiscal year and period, and the period to date and year to date amounts are adjusted for each appicable account.

If there are any inconsistancies in the A/P information, you are asked to print an A/P Exceptions report.  Only the transactions that caused the exception are not posted.  If there are no exceptions, the General Journal is printed and you are ready to reconcile.

The amounts posted to any applicable account number are immediately viewable on that account number's G/L Account number dbox.  Use the Trials tab for a trial run and the History tab for actual postings.  You can see the detail for a transaction from any trial or auto posting by double clicking the transaction on either of these tabs.

The reconciliation of the postings to the G/L are covered in the Reference book of this Help file.


Overview of Posting the A/R to the G/L

Posting your accounting transactions is done periodically.  Most users post to the G/L once a period, or month, about 10 days after the end of the month.  This gives you time to enter all transactions for the month.  For example, product not yet invoiced and credit memos not printed, physical counts and other inventory adjustments.  It is legal to back date these entries, so do not suspend entering other transactions as they occur.

You can post for a date range other than the starting date through the ending date of the current G/L period.  A lesser range means there is less information to reconcile.  There is a down side to doing this.  Among them are ???  And, you must run your inventory costing and other end of period procedures prior to generating any posting.

You must always generate at least a trial run for a range greater than the period, before actually closing the period.  You do this to verify that there were no transactions entered with an erroneous out of period date since the last period closing.

When all the Accounts Receivable information has been entered, it is time to post A/R to the G/L.  See the Month End topic for a suggested check list of things to do before actually posting to the G/L.  Then see one of the How To topics on Generating Auto Posting for A/R for a step by step procedure.

The first decision to make, once the Post A/R to G/L dbox is displayed, is whether to generate a trial run first.  We recommend generating the trial run first.  When there are trial runs available, you can select a valid control number, one that you have reconciled, and post those A/R transactions.

Each time you post, you should verify that the Posting Accounts are correct, the payment methods are correct on the Payment Setup dbox and then set the Posting Dates.  All of these options are covered in detail in the Post Accounts Receivable to General Ledger topic.

When you choose the Post button, the generation of the posting transactions to the G/L begins.  The following actions happen as each option appears on the A/R Journal Posting Progress information box:

For each option, the A/R transactions found to be within the date range, are used to create the G/L transaction for each applicable account.

Each A/R transaction is marked with the posting's control number.  When you generate an actual posting, the transactions are also marked as posted to the G/L.

The G/L transactions are added to the information for the fiscal year and period, and the period to date and year to date amounts are adjusted for each appicable account.

If there are any inconsistancies in the A/R information, you are asked to print an A/R Exceptions report.  Only the transactions that caused the exception are not posted.  If there are no exceptions, the General Journal is printed and you are ready to reconcile.

The amounts posted to any applicable account number are immediately viewable on that account number's G/L Account number dbox.  Use the Trials tab for a trial run and the History tab for actual postings.  You can see the detail for a transaction from any trial or auto posting by double clicking the transaction on either of these tabs.

The reconciliation of the postings to the G/L are covered in the Reference book of this Help file.


Period End Closing

This dialog box appears whenever G/L Closing is chosen on the General Ledger File menu.

When all of the auto postings have been generated and you are satisfied with your Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Income Statement reports for the period, you are ready to close the current period.  When you close a period, all current period balances for each account are set to zero.

Note:	You do not need to wait to close a period until the CPA, or whoever, has finalized the numbers.  Any fine tuning is handled by entering manual transactions to a previous fiscal year and/or period.

Closing the 12th period closes the fiscal year.

Options on the Period End Closing dialog box

 Closing Information group

Check the feedback in this group whenever you are ready to close.  The comment in the above figure is the one that normally appears.

If there is a problem that could keep you from closing, the Do Close button is dimmed and a reason is given in this group.  One example is "There are unprinted General Journal entries.  You must print the report before the closing can be done."

 Period to Open

Select the Period to Open.  You have up to twelve (12) periods in a fiscal year.  This allows you to close out every month, quarterly or by half year.

As an example, quarterly is accomplished by closing periods one, two, three and 12.  When you close period three, you would select 12 as the period to open for your last quarter.  This is necessary because you must be in period 12 to close the fiscal year.

 Closing Date

Select the transaction date for the period you are closing, not the date that you do the closing.  It is normally the last day of the period being closed.

 Do Close

Select Do Close when you are ready to proceed.  This makes the Period to Open you selected above the default, current period and sets the current period balances to zero.

Note:	If there is a problem that could keep you from closing, the button is dimmed and the reason is given in the Closing Information group, explained above.

 Cancel

Select Cancel when you do not want to close.  The Period End Closing dialog box disappears without closing the current period.


Period End Closing - Multi-company

This dialog box appears whenever G/L Closing is chosen on the General Ledger File menu and you are a multi-company site.

When all of the auto postings have been generated and you are satisfied with your Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Income Statement reports for the period, you are ready to close the current period.  When you close a period, all current period balances for each account are set to zero.

Note:	You do not need to wait to close a period until the CPA, or whoever, has finalized the numbers.  Any fine tuning is handled by entering manual transactions to a previous fiscal year and/or period.

Closing the 12th period closes the fiscal year.

Discussion on closing periods in multi-company mode

When you are ready to close just one company's G/L, be certain that that company's code is displayed as the Company at the top of this dialog box.  Also be sure the Close this Company box is checked.  Then verify the current period and fiscal year.  Proceed with setting the other options as explained below.

If the company code does not match the one you are ready to close, choose Next or Previous as many times as is necessary until the proper code is shown as the Company.  Be sure to check the Close this Company box, and verify the current period and fiscal year.  Proceed with setting the other options as explained below.

If you are ready to close the period for more than one company's G/L, you can do those closings at the same time on this dialog box.  Do this by choosing Next or Previous as many times as is necessary until one of the codes is shown as the Company.  Check the Close this Company box, verify the current period and fiscal year and set the options as explained below.

Choose Next or Previous until the code for the next company is displayed and repeat the above.

Note:	In all cases above, you must make certain the Close this Company box is cleared for all companies you do not wish to close at this time.  All other options for that code can then be ignored.

When you have verified that all options are set correctly for each company's code, choose Do Close.

Options on the Period End Closing dialog box

 Company, Current period and year

The company code on the toolbar, or the one you have selected, and its current period and fiscal year are echoed on the dialog box.  This information changes as you choose Next or Previous.

 Closing Information group

Check the feedback in this group for each company that you are ready to close.  The comment in the above figure is the one that normally appears.

If there is a problem that could keep you from closing the selected company, the Do Close button and Close this Company check box are dimmed and a reason is given in this group.  One example is "There are unprinted General Journal entries.  You must print the report before the closing can be done."

 Period to Open

Select the Period to Open for the company whose code is displayed.  Remember, each company could be in a deferent period and fiscal year.

You have up to twelve (12) periods in a fiscal year.  This allows you to close out every month, quarterly or by half year.  As an example, quarterly is accomplished by closing periods one, two, three and 12.  You must be in period 12 to close the fiscal year.

 Closing Date

Select the transaction date for the period and company you are closing, not the date that you do the closing.  It is normally the last day of that period.

 Close this Company

Check this box only if you are closing the period for this company, at this time.

Make certain this box is cleared for all companies you do not wish to close now.

 Previous

Select Previous to scroll back through your list of company codes.

 Next

Select Next to scroll forward through your list of company codes.

 Do Close

Select Do Close when you are ready to proceed.  This makes the Period to Open you selected above the default, current period and sets the current period balances to zero.  When you have selected Close this Company for more than one company, each company is closed using the Period to Open set for that company.

Note:	If there is a problem that could keep you from closing, the button is dimmed and the reason is given in the Closing Information group, explained above.  The problem may be with a company other than the one currently displayed.

 Cancel All

Choose Cancel All when you do not want to close.  The Period End Closing dialog box disappears without closing the current period for any company code you might have selected.


Post Accounts Payable to General Ledger

This dialog box appears whenever Post A/P to G/L is chosen on the General Ledger File menu.  It is used whenever you want to automatically post A/P information to the G/L.  This is the only screen/dialog box in the Main Course where you can auto post A/P to the G/L.

The automatic or trial posting is made to the posting accounts shown, based on the range of dates.  It is up to you to validate or revise the range of dates on this dialog box before generating a posting.

Note:	IMPORTANT All postings, regardless of date, are posted to the fiscal year and period referenced on the toolbar.

For more information about an item on the Post A/P to G/L dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Post Accounts Payable to General Ledger dialog box

 Trial Run

Selecting Trial Run allows you to see a preview of what would post to the G/L.  The trial run is NOT posted to the G/L.

A trial run details what entries from A/P would be made to the G/L, if the trial run were accepted and then posted to the G/L.  Generating a trial run creates a unique control number.  This number is used when printing the reports that are used to reconcile the trial posting.  If the trial posting reconciles, the control number can then be used to generate an actual auto posting.

 Post Trial Run

Selecting Post Trial Run allows you to choose the control number of a previously generated trial posting from the Available Trial Runs list.

Note:	The only items that can be changed when you post a trial run are the default Posting Accounts.

 Available Trial Runs

Select an Available Trial Run from the list of valid control numbers from previous trial postings.  You must accept the highlighted trial, or select another, if the Post Trial Run box is checked.  You can post only one trial run at a time.

If you found the the range of dates, transaction date, fiscal year and/or period were incorrect on a trial run, you must start over and generate a new trial run.

A trial run becomes invalid when an actual posting to the G/L, or a later trial run, uses the same date range.  A trial run that finds no information to post is automatically invalid.

 Posting Accounts group

Select the G/L accounts to be used in the trial run or automatic posting.  Additional accounts to which transactions are posted are set as defaults on other setup screens in the Main Course or selected when the A/P transaction is entered.  See also checkbook maintenance, vendor maintenance, recurring payments and setting PO posting defaults.

Accounts Payable COA
Select the account number for accounts payable.  The system accepts only one A/P account.  Liability.

You cannot post to more than one A/P account during an automatic posting.  The A/P account will be credited for A/P invoices and debited for payments, credits and discounts taken.

Credits
Select the account number for accounts payable credits.  This account number is used for any transactions entered through the Record Credits option of the Accounts Payable menu.  This account is NOT updated when a credit memo is entered through the Enter New Invoice option of the Accounts Payable menu.  Liability.

It is not necessary to set up a G/L account for A/P credits in the Chart Of Accounts.  If you do not wish to break out A/P credits in the G/L, simply enter the A/P account in this field.  BUT, if a credit is entered by mistake, using the A/P account number will hide that mistake.

Discounts Taken
Select the account number for accounts payable discounts taken.  This account number is used for any discounts taken during invoice payment.  This account is credited while the A/P account is debited.  Liability.

It is not necessary to set up a G/L account for A/P discounts.  If you do not wish to break out A/P discounts in the G/L, simply enter the A/P account in this field.  BUT, if a discount is taken by mistake, using the A/P account number will hide that mistake.

Cash Transfer (multi-company sites only)
Select the account number used for any cash transfers between company codes.  This account is used when an A/P invoice for one company is paid from a checkbook assigned to a second company.

As an example you might have an invoice for Company A that is paid from a checkbook for Company B.  Company A's A/P account number is debited while the cash transfer account number define here is credited.  When Company B's A/P information is posted to its G/L the Company B checkbook's account number is credited and the cash transfer account defined on that company's Post AP to G/L dialog box is debited.

 Posting Dates group

The Posting Dates (inclusive) determine what A/P information will be posted at this time.  Only those transactions dated within the displayed range are posted.  The date range can be for more OR less than a period.  On a trial run, these transactions are not actually posted.

The system does NOT post any transactions that have already been posted to the General Ledger.  This allows the same date range to be posted more than once, without "double posting" any transactions.  It is always possible that a user might have to back date a transaction after a trial or automatic posting was generated.  Or, once a problem is found during your reconciling of the posting is corrected, that correction also needs to be posted.

Remember that the dates in this group do NOT determine the G/L fiscal year and period into which the A/P information is posted.  Those are displayed on the toolbar.  Click here for an example of what could go wrong.

Note:	If you want to generate a trial or automatic posting to a prior period, you must first select that prior Period (and Fiscal Year) on the toolbar, before you choose Post A/P to G/L on the File menu.

From
Select the beginning date for your trial or automatic posting.

To
Select the ending date for your trial or automatic posting.

G/L Transaction Date
Select the G/L Transaction Date, normally the last day of the date range being posted.  The G/L Transaction Date is referenced on the G/L Detail and General Journal reports.

The date range can be for more OR less than a period.  In that case, use the To date, or a date in the period you are posting to.  For example, after reconciling the current period, say June 2002, you decide to post any "mistakes" dated earlier in the 2002 fiscal year.  Since all periods have been reconciled, you decide to post any transactions found to the June period.  The date range would be 01/01/2002 to 05/31/2002 and the transaction date would be 06/30/2002.  If you used 05/31/2002, the last date of the range you are posting, as the transaction date and posted the information to June, you would not find these transactions when you entered the June date range when printing any reports.

Again, the date entered here does NOT determine the G/L fiscal year and period into which the A/P information is posted.

 Save Defaults

Choosing Save Defaults saves any change you made to the Posting Accounts.  If none were made, you need not choose this button.

 Post

Choosing Post begins the actual trial or automatic posting of the A/P information.  Make sure you have verified that all of the above options are correct, especially the toolbar [image] settings and the Posting Dates and whether to post a new or existing trial run.

The following information box appears.

Each line indicates the type of A/P transactions that have been processed.  When the line appears, the contributing transactions have been marked with the control number.

The "Computing invoice posting amounts" option includes all A/P invoices and credit memos with a transaction date that is in the date range.  The General Journal report shows a Transaction Description of the Posting Date range and the abreviation Invcs.  You can create a "sub-ledger" of the transactions by generating the A/P Register by Date report using the control number.

The "Computing payment/discount posting" option includes all payments of and discounts taken on A/P invoices and credit memos paid in the date range.  The General Journal report shows a Transaction Description of the Posting Date range and the abreviation Pymnts.  You can create a "sub-ledger" of the transactions by generating the A/P Register by Date report using the control number.

The "Computing credits posting" option includes any A/P credits entered through the Invoice Credit Entry option in the A/P module and dated within the date range of the posting.  (These are not credit memos.)   The General Journal report shows a Transaction Description of the Posting Date range and the abreviation Credts.  You can create a "sub-ledger" of the transactions by generating the A/P Register by Date report using the control number.

The "Computing deposit and adjustment posting" option includes deposits and adjustments entered through the Checkbook option in the A/P module, including those done through the Post A/R Cash Receipts option, and includes all checkbooks.  The General Journal report shows a Transaction Description of the Posting Date range and the abreviation Chkbk.  You can create a "sub-ledger" of the transactions by generating the Checkbook Register report using the control number for the posting.

When any inconsistencies in the A/P information are found, you are asked if you want to print an A/P Exceptions report.  You should print the report, correct the problem and then post again.  Only the information that caused the exception was not posted.  Contact AMI Support if you do not understand what caused the report.  You can reprint the latest exceptions report from the Reports menu.

You are informed when the trial or actual posting is complete.  Choose OK.  The General Journal report is then printed, depending on the user's Access Group assignment.  You should always print this report and review it for obvious mistakes such as a posting being distributed to a wrong account number because of a typo at entry time.  Also verify that all dates are as expected and the period posted to is correct.  The report becomes a part of your reconciliation file for this period.

If an actual posting was made to the G/L, it cannot be canceled.  If you wish to back out any of the information that has been posted, you must make manual journal entries.  If a trial run was generated, no postings were made to the G/L.

Posting the A/P information to the G/L does not purge or delete that information.  The records for the information that was posted to the G/L are flagged as such, and therefore can never be re-posted.

 Cancel

Choosing Cancel closes the Post A/P to G/L dialog box without generating a trial run or posting any information to the General Ledger.


Post Accounts Receivable to General Ledger

This dialog box appears whenever Post A/R to G/L is chosen on the General Ledger File menu.  It is used whenever you want to automatically post A/R information to the G/L.  This is the only screen/dialog box in the Main Course where you can auto post A/R to the G/L.

The automatic or trial posting is made to the posting accounts shown, based on the range of dates.  It is up to you to validate or revise the range of dates on this dialog box before generating a posting.

Note:	IMPORTANT All postings, regardless of date, are posted to the fiscal year and period referenced on the toolbar.

For more information about an item on the Post A/R to G/L dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Post Accounts Receivable to General Ledger dialog box

 Trial Run

Selecting Trial Run allows you to see a preview of what would post to the G/L.  The trial run is not posted to the G/L.

A trial run details what entries from A/R would be made to the G/L, if the trial run were accepted and then posted to the G/L.  Generating a trial run creates a unique control number.  This number is used when printing the reports that are used to reconcile the trial posting.  If the trial posting reconciles, the control number can then be used to generate an actual auto posting.

 Post Trial Run

Selecting Post Trial Run allows you to select the control number of a previously generated trial posting from the Available Trial Runs list.

Note:	The only items that can be changed when you post a trial run are the default Posting Accounts and/or the Payment Setup default accounts.

 Available Trial Runs

Select an Available Trial Run from the list of valid control numbers from previous trial postings.  You must accept the highlighted trial, or select another, if the Post Trial Run box is checked.  You can post only one trial run at a time.

If you found that the range of dates, transaction date, fiscal year and/or period, or data options selected were incorrect on a trial run, you must start over and generate a new trial run.

A trial run becomes invalid when an actual posting to the G/L, or a later trial run, uses the same date range and posting options.  For example, your first trial was for the month of June and only Sales was checked in the Post which data area.  A later trial run or actual posting (not from a trial) for the month of June with all boxes checked in the Post which data area would cause the first trial to become invalid.  A trial run that finds no information to post is automatically invalid.

 Post which data options

You may choose to post Sales and Credit Memos, Cost of Goods and/or Customer Payments and A/R Credits information.

Sales
Selecting the Sales check box posts the A/R sales information to the G/L.  The accounts affected by this posting include the accounts listed below along with accounts defined and set on the Product Department Assignment menu.

The sales figures are shown on the Sales Journal report when it is generated for G/L reconciliation using the control number from this posting.  The report includes columns with totals for each product department defined.  Each column should represent a different G/L account number.  If defined properly in the Product Department Assignments menu, each department is posted to its own G/L sales account, returns account and cost of goods account.

The total sales on the Sales Journal report is the amount that the Accounts Receivable account will be debited in the G/L.  The total of the Sales Tax column is the amount that the Sales Tax Liability account will be credited.  The total of the Shipping column is the amount that the Shipping Charges account will be credited.

Payment/Credit
Selecting the Payment/Credit check box posts the A/R payments and credits information to the G/L.  The accounts affected by this posting are listed below.

Payments made by customers are posted from A/R only if you have marked the Payment Method's Bank Deposit? column as False on the Payment Methods Maintenance dialog box.  See Payment Setup below.  If the flag is 'F'alse, the system looks for all payments made in the range of dates selected in the Posting Dates group and checks to see if they have been posted to through the A/P menu to the Checkbook already.  If not, they will be posted to the G/L with this posting.  The posting credits A/R and debits the account entered on the Payment Methods Maintenance dialog box.

If the Bank Deposit? column is True for a payment method, the payment is posted from the A/P Checkbook transaction.  This means that besides Recording Receipts in A/R to pay off the customer's invoice, you must move the payments to the A/P Checkbook through the Post A/R Cash Receipts option on the Checkbook menu.

Credits refer to A/R debts that were written off using the Record Credits option on the Accounts Receivable menu.  It does NOT refer to credits given for returned merchandise,i.e., Credit Memos.  The A/R account is credited while the account entered at the Record Credits option is debited.

Cost of Goods
Selecting the Cost of Goods check box posts the A/R cost of goods information to the G/L for all inventory type product codes.  The accounts affected by this posting are listed below.

The system has the ability to cost invoices for INVENTORY product codes as they are printed.  Normally the product's Standard Cost (current market cost) or Average Cost is used.  However, the system also has the ability to "re-cost" invoices at other costs, for instance FIFO or Average, at a later date.  This means that an invoice can be printed with a standard cost, but be re-costed for the G/L at the end of the month, with a cost closer to, or the same as, it's purchase cost, and therefore a more realistic cost for the G/L financials.  Therefore, it is extremely important to run the Inventory Costing Calculation and Report on the Inventory menu BEFORE posting any of the A/R cost of goods to the G/L.  Run the costing for a cutoff date equal to the G/L posting's ending date, or later.

Note:	If the cost of goods is posted to the G/L BEFORE a Costing Calculation is generated, the cost of goods amount will reflect the Standard or Average cost of the items at the time of invoicing, and not the inventory or purchased cost.

There are three other IMPORTANT facts about posting cost of goods.  First, product codes that are set as non-inventory in the product master, do not effect the cost of goods posting, period.

Secondly, Invoiced But Not Shipped product (IBNS) does not effect COGS until the date of the later invoice that actually ships them is printed.  An IBNS invoice is one where the customer is charged for product, but the product is not shipped.  The original invoice effects the sales account.  The later invoice effects the COGS.  The invoice dates for these two invoices could be in two different periods.

Note:	For this reason, it is very important that you print the Invoiced But Not Shipped Orders report on the ACTUAL end of month date, independent of when you post to the G/L.  This report is found on the Order Entry | Order Reports menu.

And lastly, K-to-Keep product codes do not normally effect COGS.  See the Setting Product Department COA Defaults topic.

When cost of goods are posted, the Cost Of Goods account associated with the various sales departments are increased (debited) while the Inventory account entered on the above auto posting dialog box is decreased (credited).

 Posting Dates group

The Posting Dates (inclusive) determine what A/R information will be posted at this time.  Only those transactions of the type selected in the Post which data area and dated within the displayed range are posted  The date range can be for more OR less than a period..  On a trial run, these transactions are not actually posted.

The system does NOT post any transactions that have already been posted to the General Ledger.  This allows the same date range to be posted more than once, without "double posting" any transactions.  It is always possible that a user might have to back date a transaction after a trial or automatic posting was generated.  Or, once a problem found during your reconciling of the posting is corrected, that correction also needs to be posted.

Remember that the dates in this group do NOT determine the G/L fiscal year and period into which the A/R information is posted.  Those are displayed on the toolbar.  Click here for an example of what could go wrong.

Note:	If you want to generate a trial or automatic posting to a prior period, you must first select that prior Period (and Fiscal Year) on the toolbar, before you select Post A/R to G/L on the File menu.

From
Select the beginning date for your trial or automatic posting.

To
Select the ending date for your trial or automatic posting.

G/L Transaction Date
Select the G/L Transaction Date, normally the last day of the date range being posted.  The G/L Transaction Date is used when generating, and referenced on, the G/L Detail and General Journal reports.

The date range can be for more OR less than a period.  In that case, use the To date, or a date in the period you are posting to.  For example, after reconciling the current period, say June 2002, you decide to post any "mistakes" dated earlier in the 2002 fiscal year.  Since all periods have been reconciled, you decide to post any transactions found to the June period.  The date range would be 01/01/2002 to 05/31/2002 and the transaction date would be 06/30/2002.  If you used 05/31/2002, the last date of the range you are posting, as the transaction date and posted the information to June, you would not find these transactions when you entered the June date range when printing any reports.

Again, the date entered here does NOT determine the G/L fiscal year and period into which the A/P information is posted.

 Posting Accounts group

Select the G/L accounts to be used in the trial run or automatic posting.  Additional accounts to which transactions are posted are set as defaults on other setup screens in the Main Course or selected when the A/R transaction is entered.  See also Product Department Assignment and Payment Setup on this dialog box.

Accounts Receivable COA
Select the account number for accounts receivable.  The system accepts only one A/R account.  You cannot post to more than one A/R account in the automatic posting.  Asset.

Finance Charges COA
Select the account number for finance charges.  A/R transactions are created when statements are printed for customers that have the system calculate a service charge.  Other Income.

Service Contracts COA (from OE)
Select the account number for service contracts.  When you enter a Service % on a DO and the invoice shows a Service Contract line item.  Sales.

If you do not use the Service Contracts feature when creating a DO you might consider this an "unnecessary" account number.  Select a unique number anyway, so that when the posted balance is not zero you know why.  This way the mistake will not effect any other Sales account number.  If you have set up a product department assignment for Service Contracts, use a different account number for this Service Contracts.  Call it Service Contracts Order Entry.

Sales Tax Liability COA
Select the account number for sales taxes invoiced.  Liability.

Default Returns
Select the account number for products that were returned on credit memos.  Sales.

If you have created Department Assignments, this is an "unnecessary" account number whose balance you expect to be zero each period.  If the amount is not zero, you have had a return of a product code that was created with a nonexistent department number.

Inventory
Select the account number for inventory.  This entry overrides any account numbers set on the Department Assignments screen.  Asset.

Inventory Adj. (+)
Select the account number for adjustments into inventory.  Asset.

Allows you to better reconcile any manual adjustments into inventory.  The other side of the G/L posting is your inventory account.  The posting also includes adjustments in done by the RMA module or at a physical count update.  Should NOT be your Inventory or a COGS account number.

Inventory Adj. (-)
Select the account number for adjustments out of inventory.  Asset.

Allows you to better reconcile any manual adjustments out of inventory.  The other side of the G/L posting is your inventory account.  The posting also includes adjustments out done by the RMA module or at a physical count update.  Should NOT be your Inventory or a COGS account number.

Inventory Transfers (multi-company only)
Select the account number for transfers between companies.  Asset.

As an example ???

Sales (Not in dept.)
Select the account number for products that were invoiced.  Sales.

If you have created Department Assignments, this is an "unnecessary" account number whose balance you expect to be zero each period.  If the amount is not zero, you have sold a product code that was created with a nonexistent product department number.

Shipping Charges
Select the account number for freight out charges invoiced.  Includes restocking fees entered on Credit Memos.  Sales.

Discounts Given
Select the account number for sales allowances or discounts.  When you enter a Discount (% or fixed amount) on a DO and the invoice shows an Allowance line item.  Sales.

If you do not use the discount feature when creating a DO you might consider this an "unnecessary" account number.  Select a unique number anyway so that when the posted balance is not zero you know why.  That way it has not effected another Sales account.

Default Payments
Select the account number for a payments account.  This is an obsolete field and may not actually be on your dialog box.

Deposit Liability
Select the account number for customer prepays/deposits.  Liability.

Cost of Goods Sold (default)
Select the account number for the cost of goods for inventory products invoiced.  COGS.

If you have created Department Assignments, this is an "unnecessary" account number whose balance you expect to be zero each period.  If the amount is not zero, you have sold a product code that was created with a nonexistent department number.

 Payment Setup

This option should be checked each time you generate a trial or auto posting of the A/R to the G/L to verify that the Bank Deposit? flag was not changed on another menu in the Main Course.

The Payment Methods Maintenance dialog box lists all payment methods.  The displayed methods are the only ways that a payment/deposit/prepay can be made on a customer's account.

The information that is important to the auto posting of A/R is the Bank Deposit? column and G/L Account associated with each payment method.  The Bank Deposit? flag is normally a Y.  Click here to see why.

Choose OK to save any changes and/or close the dialog box.

 Save Defaults

Choosing Save Defaults saves any change you made to the Posting Accounts.  If none were made, you need not choose this button.

 Post

Choosing Post begins the actual trial or automatic posting of the A/R information.  Make sure you have verified that all of the above options are correct, especially the toolbar [image] settings and the Posting Dates and whether to post a new or existing trial run.

The following information box appears:

This is an example that would appear if all three Post which data boxes were checked.  Each line indicates the type of A/R transactions that have been processed.  When the line appears, the contributing transactions have been marked with the control number.

When any inconsistencies in the A/R information are found, you are asked if you want to print an A/R Exceptions report.  You should print the report, correct the problem and then post again.  Only the information that caused the exception was not posted.  Contact AMI Support if you do not understand what caused the report.  You can reprint the latest exceptions report from the Reports menu.

You are informed when the trial or actual posting is complete.  Choose OK.  The General Journal report is then printed, depending on the user's Access Group assignment.  You should always print this report and review it for obvious mistakes such as when a posting is distributed to a wrong account number because of a typo at entry time.  Also verify that all dates are as expected and the period posted to is correct.  The report becomes a part of your reconciliation file for this period.

If an actual posting was made to the G/L, it cannot be canceled.  If you wish to back out any of the information that has been posted, you must make manual journal entries.  If a trial run was generated, no postings were made to the G/L.

Posting the A/R information to the G/L does not purge or delete that information.  The records for the information that was posted to the G/L are flagged as such, and therefore can never be re-posted.

 Cancel

Choosing Cancel closes the Post A/R to G/L dialog box without generating a trial run or posting any information to the General Ledger.


Post General Journal Entries

This dialog box appears whenever Journal Entry is chosen on the General Ledger File | New menu.

A similar dialog box appears when Journal Entry is chosen on the General Ledger File | Open menu and you find a previous entry.  You can not make any adjustments on such a dialog box.  It is primarily for reference purposes.  You can use the Copy [image] and Reverse [image] toolbar buttons to create a new Journal Entry which is an exact copy or the reversal of the displayed Journal Entry.  Both options allow you to choose the fiscal year and period for the new Journal Entry.

For more information about an option on the Post General Journal Entries dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

The Post General Journal Entries option is used to make every manual posting to the General Ledger.  Some examples of manual postings would be depreciation or amortization postings at end of month.

Two important definitions are reviewed here:

A Journal Entry is made up of the information from both the Transaction Information and Transaction Posting Accounts groups.

An Entry is any one of the lines or transactions in the Transaction Posting Accounts group.  They are referred to as transaction entries or just transactions.

This information is important because the meaning of Entry on the menus and toolbar is different when the Post General Journal Entries dialog box is displayed and when it is not.

The user's access group determines if the General Journal report is printed or not.  If this report is not printed at the time the journal entries are made, a General Journal can be printed (or reprinted) at any time from the Reports menu by choosing General Journal.

Each time the Debit Total equals the Credit Total, the Post General Journal Entries dialog box assumes you have completed entering your transactions.  When this is not true and you have more transaction entries to make, press CTRL+INSERT or choose Add Entry on the Edit menu.

Until you save your journal entry, you can use the navigation keys or mouse to select transactions you want to change.  This includes deleting any item in the Transaction Posting Accounts group and revising Transaction Information.

If you make a mistake, do one of the following:

>	To delete one of the transactions in the Transaction Posting Accounts group, select that line so it is highlighted and press ALT+E, D or select Delete Entry on the Edit menu.

>	To delete or clear the whole journal entry and start over, press ALT+E, R or choose Clear Transaction on the Edit menu.

>	To cancel everything, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.  Be sure to press ALT+N or choose No on the Warning box when asked if you "Would like to save it now?"

To save your journal entry, press F10 or choose Save [image] on the toolbar.  At this point all the transactions are posted to the G/L as entered.  The Post General Journal Entries dialog box remains in the General Ledger window ready for another journal entry.

Once they have been saved, you cannot unpost them.  You must create a new journal entry and make reversing transactions.

To close the dialog box, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.

Options on the Post General Journal Entries dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

Remember, if you opened an existing journal entry you can not make any adjustments on this dialog box.  It is for reference only.

 Transaction Information group

Later, you may want to search for an existing journal entry.  To do so, you  search by the information originally entered in this group.  As an example by Date and ID or Date and Reference.  To make any search easier, plan ahead and use unique references and descriptions.

Hint:	Write the ID on the paper you are working from.

ID
A unique ID or code is created by the system to differentiate this manual journal entry.  The code is unique only to the fiscal year and period being posted to.  The ID appears on the General Journal and G/L Detail reports.

Date
Select the G/L Transaction Date, normally the last day of the period being posted to.  The G/L Transaction Date is referenced on the G/L Detail and General Journal reports.

The date entered here does not determine the fiscal year and period to which the journal entry transactions are posted.  If you want to post to a fiscal year and/or period that is not the one on the title bar,  abort out of this dialog box, select the correct fiscal year and period, and start over.

Reference
Enter a unique Reference code to differentiate this journal entry.  This code appears on the General Journal and G/L Detail reports.  The word AUTO is part of several system created Journal Entries and should not be used for manual Journal Entries.

Description
Enter a unique Description for this entry.  This Description appears on the General Journal and G/L Detail reports.

Auto Reverse
Check this box if you want this Journal Entry to be automatically reversed by the system when you close the current period.  This will only be available if you are posting Journal Entries into the current period.
This option is useful when you need to allow for something "in transit" and you will have to reverse the entry in the next period when it has arrived.  E.g. if you have received inventory near the end of the month but you haven't yet received an invoice from the vendor.  In this case you would have to allow for the fact that your inventory reflects the stock but your "inventory" G/L account does not since there is no invoice in Accounts Payable yet.
Entries created by the system to reverse an entry marked Auto Reverse will have a reference field of AUTORVRS and the same description as the original entry.

 Transaction Posting Accounts group

Account
Select a transaction Account number to be affected by the journal entry.  There must be at least two account numbers entered in this group per journal entry.  (See below for single sided entries.)  There is no limit on the number of transactions needed for one journal entry.

Hint:	When you know the account number, just start typing it in this field and TAB to the Debit or Credit field.  To display the full chart of accounts, type a number.  The field turns into a Windows drop-down combo box.  When the arrow displays, you can press ALT+DOWN ARROW to get your full list.  As you type another number, or BACKSPACE, the list scrolls to that part of your COA.  Finish typing the full number, or select it with the mouse.

Description - Posting Accounts group
The Description for the account number.  This description comes from the Chart Of Accounts and cannot be modified on this dialog box.

Debit Amount
Enter the dollar amount to be debited to the G/L account.  It is not necessary to enter a "+" sign to signify a Debit Amount, although they are allowed.  An account cannot have a debit entry and a credit entry on the same line.  Skip if the account is not being debited.

Credit Amount
Enter the dollar amount to be credited to the G/L account.  It is not necessary to enter a "-" sign to signify a Credit Amount, although they are allowed.  An account cannot have a credit entry and a debit entry on the same line.  Skip if the account is not being credited.

YTD Balance
YTD Balance is the year to date balance of the account number for the end of the period and fiscal year you are posting to.  This balance includes the currently entered credit or debit amount entered.

When viewing a previously posted journal entry the balances are the current balance for the account number, for the period and fiscal year being viewed.

 Debit Total

The Debit Total is the running total of all entries in the Debit Amount column of the dialog box.

 Credit Total

The Credit Total is the running total of all entries in the Credit Amount column of the dialog box.

Note:	Debits must equal credits.  The Post General Journal Entries dialog box does not allow an unbalanced entry to be made unless the user's access group allows single sided journal entries to be made.


Print A/P Exceptions Report

This dialog box appears whenever A/P Exceptions is chosen on the General Ledger Reports menu.  Use the A/P Exceptions report to list the details of any exceptions/problems encountered during an auto posting or trial posting.

Posting exceptions are only valid for the last auto or trial posting you generated.  You get a Warning dialog box when there is nothing to report on.

 Select Report

Select the report format.

Note:	There may be additional report formats to select from.  Each user site can customize any of the standard formats and add them to the list.

 Company (multi-company sites only)

You cannot select the company code on this report dialog box.  The company code used is the one shown on the General Ledger toolbar.

 Print Destination group

The Print Destination group is displayed and functions the same on all Print <...> dialog boxes.  Click here or on one of this group's options on the figure above for further help on this group.  Click the Windows Back button on the Print Destination topic to return to this topic.


Print A/R Exceptions Report

This dialog box appears whenever A/R Exceptions is chosen on the General Ledger Reports menu.  Use the A/R Exceptions report to list the details of any exceptions/problems encountered during an auto posting or trial posting.

Posting exceptions are only valid for the last auto or trial posting you generated.  You get a Warning dialog box when there is nothing to report on.

 Select Report

Select the report format.

Note:	There may be additional report formats to select from.  Each user site can customize any of the standard formats and add them to the list.

 Company (multi-company sites only)

You cannot select the company code on this report dialog box.  The company code used is the one shown on the General Ledger toolbar.

 Print Destination group

The Print Destination group is displayed and functions the same on all Print Report dialog boxes.  Click here or on one of this group's options on the figure above for further help on this group.  Click the Windows Back button on the Print Destination topic to return to this topic.


Print Balance Sheet

This dialog box appears whenever Balance Sheet is chosen on the General Ledger Reports menu.  Use the Balance Sheet report to list total assets, total liabilities and equity.

For more information about an option on the Print Balance Sheet dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Print Balance Sheet dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Select Report

The Select Report list box displays the Balance Sheet report formats.  The standard formats are:

Balance Sheet
Select this report format to generate the standard Balance Sheet

Balance Sheet with Comparison
Select this report format to create a Balance Sheet that compares one period's balances to those of a second period.

Balance Sheet with Financial Ratios
Select this report format to create a Balance Sheet that includes a preset number of financial ratios.

Note:	There may be additional report formats to select from.  Each user site can customize any of the standard formats and add them to the list.

 Company Code/Consolidated (multi-company sites only)

Select the company code for the report.  This field defaults to the code shown on the General Ledger toolbar.  More information here.

 Report Period: Fiscal Year

Select the fiscal year for the report.  This field defaults to the fiscal year shown on the toolbar.

 Report Period: Period

Select the period for the report.  This field defaults to the period shown on the toolbar.

 Comparison Period: Fiscal Year

You must select a Comparison Fiscal Year to compare to when creating a comparison report.

 Comparison Period: Period

You must select a Comparison Period to compare to when creating a comparison report.

 Detail Settings group

Detailed Report
Selecting Detailed creates a report with an item for each account number.  You can then also select to include accounts with zero balances.  If the Department Statement check box is clear, you can also select to exclude the department accounts from the report.

Summary Report
Selecting Summary creates a report that reflects your Category headings.

Suppress department accounts
Selecting Suppress department accounts limits the report to non departmental (and header) account numbers.  The department amounts are summed into and reported on their header account (-00)

This option is only available when you have selected a detailed report that is not for a selected department.

Show accounts with zero balance
Selecting Show accounts with zero balances creates a report that includes all of your account numbers, regardless of the report balance.

This option is only available when you have selected a detailed report.

Note:	Some of the report default settings are saved between sessions, so pay close attention in the Print <...> dialog boxes.  As an example, printing this report allows you to select a Detailed or Summary Department Balance Sheet.  When you change the option selected at your workstation, it is changed for all users that log on to the General Ledger at your station, using their ID or yours, until someone changes the setting at your station to something different.

Other options such as the choice to print or preview a report are saved only for the same session in the G/L.  So when you choose to generate a second report, you must verify the correct button is selected.

 Report Title

A default title is displayed based on the selections made in this dialog box.  If necessary, this field may be edited.

 Print Destination group

The Print Destination group is displayed and functions the same on all Print <...> dialog boxes.  Click here or on one of this group's options in the figure above for further help on this group.  Click the Windows Back button on the Print Destination topic to return to this topic.


Print Destination
Print Destination Group

The Print Destination group provides the opportunity to select the destination for the report being created.

Printer
Selecting Printer and then OK displays the standard Windows Print Setup dialog box.  Any printer that has been installed on your computer may now be selected.  Choosing OK on the Print Setup dialog box creates the report and sends it to the selected printer.

Choose Cancel on the Print Setup dialog box to return to the Print <...> dialog box.

Preview
Selecting Preview and then OK begins the creation of the report.  The results are displayed to the computer screen.  Once displayed, several new options are available.

Preview - Scroll Bars
Use the scroll bars to move around in the displayed report.  To move the text left and right, use the scroll bar at the bottom of the screen.  To move the text up and down, use the bar at the right.

Preview - Magnifying Glass pointer
The pointer in the report display area is always a magnifying glass.  Click the mouse button to zoom alternately to one of the three magnifications of the report.

Preview Toolbar buttons

Listed below are the functions of the toolbar buttons, as depicted above, left to right.  There are no shortcut keys for these buttons.

Preview - Print Report
Choosing this button prints the whole report without having to recreate it.

Caution: This choice uses the default Windows printer.  There is no opportunity to select a different printer, modify the default printer's options or cancel the printing.

Preview - Print Current Page
A wonderful option.  In a large report you can select specific pages to print.  Use the scroll buttons in the toolbar to locate the page to print and then choose this button.  For instance on a long report with totals at the end, choosing the Last Page scroll button displays the page with the totals.  Choosing Print Current Page then prints the totals page.

Caution: This choice uses the default Windows printer.  There is no opportunity to select a different printer, modify the default printer's options or cancel the printing.

Preview - Zoom In
Use this button to increase the magnification of the text in the report window.  There are only three levels of zoom.

Preview - Zoom Out
Use this button to decrease the magnification of the text in the report window and show more information.

Preview - First Page
When the text displayed is of any page other than the first page, choosing this button returns the display to the first page of the report.

Preview - Previous Page
When the text displayed is of any page other than the first page, choosing this button moves back to the previous page.

Preview - Next Page
When the text displayed is of any page other than the last page, choosing this button moves forward to the next page of the report.

Preview - Last Page
When the text displayed is of any page other than the last page, choosing this button skips forward to display the last page.

Preview - Pause
This button is used to pause the creation of a report.

Close Preview Window
When finished previewing and/or printing selected pages of the report, choose this button to close the preview window or press ALT+F4.

Export
Choosing Export and then OK displays another Report Destination dialog box.

You must select Export again here then press OK.  You will then have to choose the type of export on the following dialog box.

Choose the Export Type and then press the Edit button.  You will then have to enter a file name for the exported data.  This can include a path and drive letter as well.  The extension should be left off as each type uses a default extension.  In addition you may have to select further options depending on the type you choose.

ActiveX Viewer File
This export type is not available in the Main Course products.

Excel Chart, Excel PivotTable
These Export Types are not very well suited for the data available in the General Ledger Reports.  An Excel Chart is a graph of two columns of data from a report.  It requires that you choose a field for the X-axis and for the Y-axis and then charts the data.  Excel will be started to display the result.  An Excel Pivot Table allows you to apply statistical functions to a series of detail data.  It is probably best used on data which represents various numbers at different intervals.  It requires that you select one or more columns from your report to be column headings on the Pivot Table, one or more columns from your report to be row headings on the Pivot Table, the values to apply the functions to and the type of function to apply to each value.

HTML, Rich Text Format, Text
These Export Types create files suitable to be viewed by your Internet browser, MS Word, and Notepad respectively.  You can also past the contents into an e-mail and the e-mail will preserve most of the formatting of the printed report.  You only have to select a file name for these types of exports.  There is also a checkbox to have the file automatically displayed by your browser for the HTML type.

Result Set (.dbf)
This Export Type creates an Xbase format file which can be read by Microsoft's Excel or Access programs.  This is probably the best type to use because it includes every field on the printed report regardless of the band on which it appears.  You only have to select a file name for this Export Type.

Text Data File, Word Merge File, Worksheet, Xbase
These Export Types all require you to select a band to export from those on the printed report.  A band on the report is just a section such as group headers, totals, or the detail lines (records).  Since some reports are complicated and consist of several bands these export types are not always useful.  For simple reports however these Export Types are adequate.  Usually the best choice is the Record band since this will generally have the most detailed information.  For the Income Statement and Balance Sheet reports the best choice is 4GH - GroupAcct for the detailed report and 3GH - GroupCatDt for a summary report.  Band names will vary between reports except that Title, Summary and Record will always be choices.  For the Text Data File and Word Merge File types you must also select how fields in the file are separated.


Print General Journal

This dialog box appears whenever General Journal is chosen on the General Ledger Reports menu.  Use the General Journal report to list the complete history of all auto postings and manual journal entries, in the order they were made.

For more information about an option on the Print General Journal dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Print General Journal dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Select Report

Select the report format.

Note:	There may be additional report formats to select from.  Each user site can customize any of the standard formats and add them to the list.

 Company (multi-company sites only)

Select the company code for the report.  This field defaults to the code shown on the General Ledger toolbar.  This report can only be run for one company at a time.

 Fiscal Year

Select the fiscal year for the report.  This field defaults to the fiscal year shown on the toolbar.

 Reporting Method group

All Unprinted

Selecting All Unprinted causes the rest of the options to become unavailable.  The report is always printed and cannot be previewed.  Choosing OK displays the standard Windows Print Setup dialog box.

This method for printing the General Journal (or Posting Register) is only available when the report was not printed at the time you generated an auto or trial posting to the G/L.

By Date Range

Selecting By Date Range displays from and thru date boxes so that a beginning and ending transaction date can be selected.  The report includes only those transactions that were posted with a transaction date in this range and to the fiscal year selected.

For example, a transaction dated 12/31/01 but posted to fiscal year 2002 won't be included on a report for fiscal year 2001, regardless of the date range selected here.

By Control # Range

Selecting By Control # Range displays from and thru boxes so that a beginning and ending control number can be chosen.  Use this option to limit the report to a specific auto posting or range of auto postings by the posting's control number.  You can also report on control numbers from trial postings.  Enter the numbers directly in the above boxes when you know them.

If you do not know the number, choose Select Control # to display a list of previously generated control numbers from both A/P and A/R.

The Show Only Valid check box refers to postings that had information posted to the G/L, or a trial posting that was not replaced by another later posting/trial posting with the same or an overlapping date range.

Note that a Type of P refers to A/P information and a Type of R to A/R information.  Trial Date refers to the calendar date when the information was posted.  Trial or actual postings.

When you want a report for just one control number, select it in the list and choose Set Both.  Or double-click the desired item in the list.  You are returned to the Print General Journal dialog box.

Otherwise select the starting (lower) number and choose Set Start and select the ending (higher) number and choose Set End.  You are returned to the Print General Journal dialog box.  The order in which you select Start at and End at does not matter.  But one of each must be selected to return to the previous dialog box.

When you select a range of control numbers, be sure it includes only trial runs or only actual auto postings.  If there is a mix, an Error dialog box appears warning you that "Only one at a time can be included in the report."  Choose OK and then select your control numbers again.

 Report Title

A default title is displayed based on the information selected.  If necessary, this field may be edited.

Note:	Some of the report default settings are saved between sessions, so pay close attention in the Print <...> dialog boxes.  As an example, printing this report allows you to select by date or control number range.  When you change the option selected at your workstation, it is changed for all users that log on to the General Ledger at your station, using their ID or yours, until someone changes the setting at your station to something different.

Other options such as the choice to print or preview a report are saved only for the same session in the G/L.  So when you choose to generate a second report, you must verify the correct button is chosen.

 Print Destination group

The Print Destination group is displayed and functions the same on all Print <...> dialog boxes.  Click here or on one of this group's options in the figure above for further help on this group.  Click the Windows Back button on the Print Destination topic to return to this topic.


Print General Ledger Detail

This dialog box appears whenever G/L Detail is chosen on the General Ledger Reports menu.  Use the G/L (Account) Detail report when you want the details of any auto postings and/or manual journal entries.

For more information about an option on the Print General Ledger Detail dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Print General Ledger Detail dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Select Report

Select the report format.

Note:	There may be additional report formats to select from.  Each user site can customize any of the standard formats and add them to the list.

 Company (multi-company sites only)

Select the company code for the report.  This field defaults to the code shown on the General Ledger toolbar.  More information here.

 Fiscal Year

Select the fiscal year for the report.  This field defaults to the fiscal year shown on the toolbar.

 Account Selection group

All Accounts
Selecting All Accounts includes information on all of the G/L account numbers.

By Category

Selecting By Category allows you to enter a single category, such as Current Assets.  When you select By Category, every account in that category is included in the report.

By Range

Selecting By Range displays from and thru list boxes so that a beginning and ending account number can be selected.  This choice is appropriate when the report is for more than one category such as all the asset accounts, not just current assets.

Single Selection

For some report formats you may want to print information on only one account.  Selecting Single Selection displays a list box so that an account number can be selected.

 Reporting Method group

All Detail
Selecting All Detail creates a report of all G/L transactions in the fiscal year selected on this dialog box, not the toolbar.  The report includes only the accounts chosen in the Account Selection group as described earlier.

By Period Range

Selecting By Period Range displays from and thru boxes so that a beginning and ending period can be selected.  The report includes only those transactions that were posted to a period in this range.  This option allows you to generate a report of all G/L transactions for the accounts chosen above, regardless of the transaction date.

This is helpful when postings for a period are made with a calendar date that is normally in another period.  For example, if you auto post June's information (period 6) to period 6, but use a transaction date of July 1 (period 7), the posting still appears under period 6.  However, if a report is generated later, simply by date, and July 1 is not included in the date range, the example posting would not be listed on the report.

By Date Range

Selecting By Date Range displays from and thru date boxes so that a beginning and ending transaction date can be selected.  The report includes only those transactions that were posted with a transaction date in this range and were posted to the fiscal year selected in this dialog box.  This option allows you to generate a report of all G/L transactions for the accounts chosen above, regardless of the transaction period.

In the example above you would find the period 6 posting when you used a July 1 thru July 31 date range.

Note:	Some of the report default settings are saved between sessions, so pay close attention in the Print <...> dialog boxes.  As an example, printing this report allows you to select all accounts, by category, by range and single selection.  When you change the option selected at your workstation, it is changed for all users that log on to the General Ledger at your station, using their ID or yours, until someone changes the setting at your station to something different.

Other options such as the choice to print or preview a report are saved only for the same session in the G/L.  So when you choose to generate a second report, you must verify the correct button is chosen.

 Print Destination group

The Print Destination group is displayed and functions the same on all Print <...> dialog boxes.  Click here or on one of this group's options in the figure above for further help on this group.  Click the Windows Back button on the Print Destination topic to return to this topic.


Print Income Statement
Print Income Statement..

This dialog box appears whenever Income Statement is chosen on the General Ledger Reports menu.  Use the Income Statement report for a summary of your sales, costs expenses, taxes, gross and net income for any period.

For more information about an option on the Print Income Statement dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Print Income Statement dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Select Report

The Select Report list box displays the Income Statement formats.  The standard formats are:

Budget Income Statement
Use this format to print only the budget amounts.

Income Statement
Use this format for the plain vanilla statement

Income Statement with Budgets
Use this format to compare the actual to what was budgeted.

Income Statement with Current Period
This format compares the current period to the year to date amounts.

Income Statement with Percent Sales
Use this format to see each item and its percent of sales.

Income Statement with Period and Percent
This format combines the two formats with a percent of sales figure for both the current period and the year to date.

Note:	There may be additional report formats to select from.  Each user site can customize any of the standard formats and add them to the list.

 Company (multi-company sites only)

Select the company code for the report.  This field defaults to the code shown on the General Ledger toolbar.  More information here.

 Fiscal Year

Select the Fiscal Year for the report.

 Start and End Period

Select a Start Period and End Period for a report on a range of periods.

 Department Statement and Department

Selecting the Department Statement check box allows you to enter a Department number.  Doing so limits the report to only account numbers with that department number, for example 02.

 Detail Settings group

Detailed Report
Selecting Detailed creates a report with an item for each account number.  You can then select to include accounts with zero balances.  If the Department Statement check box is clear, you can also choose to exclude the department accounts from the report.

Summary Report
Selecting Summary creates a report that reflects your Category headings.

Suppress department accounts
Selecting Suppress department accounts limits the report to non departmental (and header) account numbers.  The amounts for the departmental account numbers are summed into their header account number (-00).

This option is only available when you have selected a detailed report that is not for a selected department.

Show accounts with zero balance
Selecting Show accounts with zero balances creates a report that includes all of your account numbers, regardless of the report balance.

This option is only available when you have selected a detailed report.

Note:	Some of the report default settings are saved between sessions, so pay close attention in the Print <...> dialog boxes.  As an example, printing this report allows you to select a Detailed or Summary Department Statement.  When you change the option selected at your workstation, it is changed for all users that log on to the General Ledger at your station, using their ID or yours, until someone changes the setting at your your station to something different.

Other options such as the choice to print or preview a report are saved only for the same session in the G/L.  So when you choose to generate a second report, you must verify the correct button is chosen.

 Report Title

A default title is displayed based on the selections made in this dialog box.  If necessary, this field may be edited.

 Print Destination group

The Print Destination group is displayed and functions the same on all Print <...> dialog boxes.  Click here or on one of this group's options in the figure above for further help on this group.  Click the Windows Back button on the Print Destination topic to return to this topic.


Print Reports Overview

There are many reports that you can generate in the General Ledger.  The list of report types is summarized in the Reports Overview topic.

Some of the types have more than one format.  For example the Chart of Accounts report can be generated by itself, or with balances, budgets or both.  Each report type has its own How To topic which lists the basic steps you follow to generate that type of report.  Each type of report is also discussed in the Reference book, under Reports.

Since a third party report creation package was used, additional report formats (not types) can be created and easily added to the Select Report list for that report type.

Note:	Any custom report format created by a user or by AMI Support is not covered in this Help file.

Once you have selected the report type from the Reports menu and the format from the Select Report list on the resulting dbox, you will have several other options to select before you are asked to select a Print Destination option.  All reports can be printed to any printer defined on your Windows workstation.

The second destination option is to Preview the results to your screen.  Once previewed, a report can be scrolled through to find any detail you are interested in.  You can then select to print only that page of the report, or the entire report.

The last destination option is to Export the information to a specific type of file such as RTF or a spreadsheet.  In general, you will always get a good facsimile of the report when you select the RTF file type.  A spreadsheet or dBase file type will probably not give you what you want.  Most of the lines on many of the report are summations of other lines on the report, so the line type varies.  The best suggestion for exporting to a spreadsheed or dBase file type is to contact AMI Support via e-mail with the report type, format and options selected.

Once the Print Destination has been selected, your report can be generated.


Print Trial Balance

This dialog box appears whenever Trial Balance is chosen on the General Ledger Reports menu.  Use the Trial Balance report to list each account and its running total as of the date the report is generated.

For more information about an option on the Print Trial Balance dialog box, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Options on the Print Trial Balance dialog box

Tip:	The keyboard may be used to enter information in any of the boxes on this dialog box.  Use the TAB key to enter the box and type the desired value.

 Select Report

Select the report format.

Note:	There may be additional report formats to select from.  Each user site can customize any of the standard formats and add them to the list.

 Company (multi-company sites only)

Select the company code for the report.  This field defaults to the code shown on the General Ledger toolbar.  More information here.

 Fiscal Year

Select the fiscal year for the report.  This field defaults to the fiscal year shown on the toolbar.

 Period

Select the period for the report.  This field defaults to the period shown on the toolbar.

 Suppress department accounts

Select this option to omit all department accounts from the report.  The department amounts are summed into, and reported on, their header account (-00).

 Show accounts with zero balance

Select this option to include all account numbers, even if their report debit and credit balances are zero (0).

 Report Title

A default title is displayed based on the fiscal year and period selected.  If necessary, this field may be edited.

 Print Destination group

The Print Destination group is displayed and functions the same on all Print <...> dialog boxes.  Click here or on one of this group's options in the figure above for further help on this group.  Click the Windows Back button on the Print Destination topic to return to this topic.


Reconcile a Posting of the A/P

Note:	It is very important that any reports to be used in reconciling be generated immediately after the posting is made to the G/L.

1.	Especially important is the General Journal report.  The following is also true for a trial run.

Check the General Journal for obvious errors such as where a posting was distributed to a wrong account number.  Also verify that all dates are as expected and the period posted to is correct.

On a trial run, if any of the above are wrong, there is no reason to continue reconciling the trial run.  Correct these obvious mistakes and generate a new trial run.

The accounts for A/P, Credits To A/P and Discounts To A/P were selected on the Post A/P to G/L dialog box.

The account debited for Checkbook (bank) postings was selected when you created the checkbook.  (Through the Checkbook List Maintenance option on the Checkbook menu in the Accounts Payable menu.)  The account(s) credited was selected when you entered the transaction(s) on either the Enter Deposit, Enter Adjustment or Post A/R Cash Receipts options on the Checkbook menu.

The accounts debited in the A/P invoice/credit memo posting were selected at the time they were entered and/or modified.

The automatic A/P postings create their own Transaction Description, Reference and Date.  The Transaction Description is always the Range of Dates selected on the Post A/P to G/L dialog box, followed by what information was posted.

For example, the Transaction Description for a June A/P posting would be the following:

06/01/02-06/30/02 Invcs	A/P invoices entered in June

06/01/02-06/30/02 Pymnts	Payments made on A/P invoices in June (includes applied credit memos)

06/01/02-06/30/02 Crdts 	Credits made on A/P invoices in June

06/01/02-06/30/02 Dscnts	Discounts taken on A/P invoices in June

06/01/02-06/30/02 Chkbk 	Deposits & Adjustments made to the checkbook(s) in June

Immediately following the Transaction Description, is the Reference field.  The Reference field for auto A/P postings is always AUTO A/P.  The Date field is the G/L Transaction Date you selected on the Post A/P to G/L dialog box when you generated the auto/trial posting.

2.	If the General Journal reconciles properly, generate the following reports immediately.  Print them from the Reports menu on the Accounts Payable menu and choose Y to the "Are you running this report to reconcile the G/L" prompt.  Generate each report based on the control number from the posting being reconciled.  This number is found on the General Journal that was printed at posting time.

a)	A/P Register by Date

b)	A/P Expenses by G/L Account

c)	Check Register

d)	The R&R Report titled A/P Inventory vs PO Receipts

The numbers should match exactly what was posted for that control number.

3.	Review the above mentioned reports and check for any errors, ie, wrong dates.  If no corrections are necessary, immediately generate an auto posting from this trial run.  If corrections were made, post another trial run, reconcile that trial and then post the new trial run to the G/L.

4.	If there were problems, the reports for reconciliation will be a subset of the full report for the date range that was posted.  To see what did not post, run the above reports a second time to Reconcile the G/L, but use the date range of the posting you are trying to reconcile, not the control number. The A/P transactions that were not posted will indicate not posted.

5.	When an actual posting has been reconciled, you are ready to print your financials.  (The financials can not be printed for trial postings.)

Notes:

A.	If you place a purchase order for non-inventory product codes, be aware that when you post the receivings of those products to A/P, you may be expensing the invoice to inventory.  If you do not modify the A/P invoice to show the correct account number, you may have problems reconciling the inventory account.  Unlike codes marked as inventory, the non-inventory codes do not effect cost of goods sold.  The net result is that your inventory G/L account could increase and increase some more.


Reconcile a Posting of the A/R

Note:	It is very important that any reports to be used in reconciling be generated immediately after the posting is made to the G/L.

1.	Generate the following reports immediately after generating the trial run or an actual posting.  Print them from the Reports and Accounts Receivable menus.  Generate each report based on the control number from the posting being reconciled.  You should also have the General Journal report that was printed at posting time.

a)	Sales Journal with Costs (Reports menu)

b)	Receipts Journal (Reports menu)

c)	Credit Memo Log (A/R | Credit Memo menu)

d)	Charge Report (A/R | Reports menu)

2.	Especially important is the General Journal.  Check it for obvious errors such as where a posting was distributed to a wrong account number.

3.	Review the above mentioned reports and check for any errors, ie, wrong dates.  If no corrections are necessary, immediately follow this HowTo, and auto post from that trial run.  If corrections were made, post another trial run, verify that Trial and then post the new trial run to the G/L.

DOS - ALT+F2 file

01/07/03                                                                           Your Business Name                                                                          Page:  1

08:45:12                                                    Sales Journal From 04/01/02 To 04/30/02 - For G/L Reconcilliation

Date       Inv. # G/L Ctrl # HARDWARE    TRAINING    HARDWARE    SRV PARTS   SRV LABOR   SRV CONTR   SOFTWARE       Shipping         Tax       Other    Srv Chrg    Discount       Total

-------- -------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------

04/29/02    50189        147        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00

         C 150029        147 (     19.00)       0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00 (      1.14)       0.00        0.00        0.00 (     20.14)

                             ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------

Day Totals  :                (     19.00)       0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00 (      1.14)       0.00        0.00        0.00 (     20.14)

        COGS:                (      9.69)       0.00      139.38        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00      129.69

        IBNS:                       0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00

      NonInv:                       0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00

Day Cst Tot :                (      9.69)       0.00      139.38        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00      129.69

04/30/02    50188        147        0.00        0.00     8795.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00     8795.00

            50190        147        0.00        0.00     2950.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00      169.92        0.00        0.00 (    118.00)    3001.92

            50191        147       57.00        0.00     5936.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00      365.82      104.06        0.00        0.00     6462.88

                             ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------

Day Totals  :                      57.00        0.00    17681.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00      535.74      104.06        0.00 (    118.00)   18259.80

        COGS:                      29.07        0.00     4735.01        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00     4764.08

        IBNS:                       0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00

      NonInv:                       0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00       51.10        0.00        0.00       51.10

Day Cst Tot :                      29.07        0.00     4735.01        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00       51.10        0.00        0.00     4815.18

                             ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------

Grand Totals:                      38.00        0.00    17681.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00      534.60      104.06        0.00 (    118.00)   18239.66

        COGS:                      19.38        0.00     4874.39        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00     4893.77

        IBNS:                       0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00

      NonInv:                       0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00       51.10        0.00        0.00       51.10

Grnd Cst Tot:                      19.38        0.00     4874.39        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00       51.10        0.00        0.00     4944.87

Paint Shop Pro - Captured as object then cut from the full screen picture.

R_GenJrnl2 bigger scale, but not full page

R_GenJrnl3 - smaller  (Paint Shop Pro capture.)

RTF but there are no TABs, so would be a lot of work to re-format it!!!

2003/01/07                  Your Business Name                      Page  1

10:02:24          General Journal - Control # 147 to 147

PerTrs IDControl #Date Reference  Transaction Description

       Account Account Description                Debit AmountCredit Amount

 4    1    147 2002/04/30AUTO A/R 04/01/02-04/30/02 Invcs

       02000-  ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE                           18,259.80

       23300-  SALES TAX PAYABLE                                     535.74

       40100-  SALES-MISCELLANEOUS                                   104.06

       40102-  SALES-HARDWARE                                     17,738.00

       40300-  SALES ALLOWANCES                             118.00

               Transaction Totals                    18,377.80    18,377.80

 4    2    147 2002/04/30AUTO A/R 04/01/02-04/30/02 Crdts

       22000-  CUSTOMER DEPOSIT LIABIL                                20.14

       23300-  SALES TAX PAYABLE                             1.14

       40202-  SALES RETURN HARDWARE                         19.00

               Transaction Totals                        20.14        20.14

 4    3    147 2002/04/30AUTO A/R 04/01/02-04/30/02 Pymnts

       02000-  ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE                                 1,150.00

       22000-  CUSTOMER DEPOSIT LIABIL                       1,150.00

 4    4    147 2002/04/30AUTO A/R 04/01/02-04/30/02 COGS

       03400-  INVENTORY                                           4,893.77

       60402-  COGS-HARDWARE                                 4,893.77

               Grand Totals                          24,441.71    24,441.71

SPECIAL REPORTS??? R&R Inventory Adjustments.  (A/R or A/P ???)


Report Differences

Activities/operations that are new, or function differently, in the Windows General Ledger include:

There are several new report formats.  For example, a new Balance Sheet report with financial ratios.

Some reports have new/changed generation options.  As an example, the Income Statement can be generated for a range of periods.

Some of the report default settings are saved between sessions, so pay close attention in the Print < ... > dialog boxes.  As an example, printing the Chart of Accounts allows you to select all accounts, by category, by range and single selection.  When you change those at your workstation they are changed for all user IDs that log on at your station until someone changes them to something different.  Other options, such as the choice to print or preview a report, are saved only for the same session in the General Ledger.

All reports have an export mode.  The format of the export you want to generate has a great deal to do with the selections you make when doing the export.  The best thing to do is contact the support staff and tell them what report you want to export, the button options you are selecting, etc., and they will respond with a set of instructions.

All reports have been refined, taking advantage of the Windows drivers.


Review Manual Journal Entries

There are two ways to look up a previously posted manual journal entry.  The first is to view it on the Post General Journal Entries dialog box, described below.  The second is to print a General Journal report.  The following procedure also displays auto posted transactions.

To review a manual journal entry

Before you start:

1.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the company code on the toolbar.

2.	Make certain that the desired fiscal year and period for the search are set on the toolbar.  Otherwise the search is made in the current period.

Now begin:

1.	From the General Ledger window, do one of the following:

>	Press ALT+2

>	Press ALT+F, O, J

>	On the File menu, point to Open, and then choose Journal Entry

2.	The Find G/L Transaction dialog box appears.  Enter your search criteria and press ALT+O or choose OK.

Hint:	Usually you can find what you seek by entering two items.  For example the Date and Reference, or the Transaction ID and Reference.

3.	The Post General Journal Entries dialog box appears.  Review the information.  You cannot modify any of the information on this dialog box.  If there is a mistake, you must make a reversing entry.  See Enter Manual Double/Multiple Journal Entries.

4.	While the Post General Journal Entries dialog box is displayed, you can search or scroll to review other entries in the same period.

Note:	To search and/or scroll in a different fiscal year and/or period, you must close this dbox and start again with Before you start: Step 1.

a.	To continue your search:

>	Press F4

>	Choose Find [image] on the toolbar

>	Press ALT+S, F

>	Choose Find Entry on the Search menu

b.	To scroll through the displayed period's transactions:

>	Use one of the scroll buttons [image] on the toolbar

>	Use any of the scroll options on the Search menu, noting also the related shortcut keystrokes

5.	To exit the Post General Journal Entries dialog box, press CTRL+F4 or choose the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.

You can abort your search at any time by pressing CTRL+F4 or choosing the Close button on the dialog box's upper right corner.


Sample Chart of Accounts

The following is only a suggestion.  Your CPA should be responsible for what you set up.  But be sure s/he includes the numbers we recommend in this sample.

The bolded account descriptions represent account numbers that are used as defaults in the Main Course.  It is strongly suggested you include these accounts, within your own numbering scheme.  The associated Set default at item links you to the appropriate topic for more information and to learn where to set up the default number.  Be sure to create the account number first before attempting to set a default.

We do not recommend using a COGS Account number for both COGS and Inventory/Purchases.  The Main Course, if used properly, reconciles the COGS and Inventory accounts.

Account #	Type	Status	Description	Set default at

Current Assets

01000	A	A	CASH-CHKNG-HUD	A/P Checkbook

Payment Methods

01001	A	A	CASH-MISCELANEOUS	Post A/R to G/L

Default Payments

01100	A	A	CASH-SVNGS-CMA

01200	A	A	CASH-SVNGS-HUD

01300	A	A	VISA M/C

01400	A	A	AMEX	Payment Methods

01900	A	A	CASH-PETTY

02000	A	A	ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE	Post A/R to G/L

02100	A	A	ALLOW.DOUBTFUL ACCOUNTS	A/R Credits

03400	A	A	INVENTORY	Post A/R to G/L

PO Posting

Line Item Total

03401	A	A	INVENTORY-TRAINING

03402	A	A	INVENTORY-HARDWARE	Prod Dept Assign

PO's

03403	A	A	INVENTORY-SOFTWARE

03407	A	A	INVENTORY-SRV PARTS

03408	A	A	INVENTORY-SRV LABOR

03410	A	A	INVENTORY-SUPPLIES

03413	A	A	INVENTORY-SRV CONTRACTS

03420	A	A	INVENTORY ADJ PLUS	Post A/R to G/L

03430	A	A	INVENTORY ADJ MINUS	Post A/R to G/L

03440	A	A	INVENTORY TRANSFER	Post A/R to G/L

05000	A	A	NOTES RECEIVABLE

Long Term Asset

06100	A	A	EQUIPMENT

06110	A	A	ACCUM.DEP EQUIPMENT

06200	A	A	OFFICE FURNITURE

06210	A	A	ACCUM.DEP/OFFICE FURNITUR

Current Liability

21000	L	A	ACCOUNTS PAYABLE	Post A/P to G/L

21100	L	A	A/P CREDITS	Post A/P to G/L

21200	L	A	A/P DISCOUNTS TAKEN	Post A/P to G/L

22000	L	A	CUSTOMER DEPOSIT LIABIL	Post A/R to G/L

23100	L	A	LOANS PAYABLE

23200	L	A	LEASE OBLIGATIONS

23300	L	A	SALES TAX PAYABLE	Post A/R to G/L

24200	L	A	INCOME TAXES PAYABLE

24300	L	A	OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

Sales Revenue

40100	S	A	SALES-MISCELLANEOUS	Post A/R to G/L

Sales (Not in dept.)

40101	S	A	SALES-TRAINING

40102	S	A	SALES-HARDWARE	Prod Dept Assign

40103	S	A	SALES-SOFTWARE

40107	S	A	SALES-SRV PARTS

40108	S	A	SALES-SRV LABOR

40110	S	A	SALES-SUPPLIES

40111	S	A	SALES-SRV CONTRACTS OE	Post A/R to G/L

Service Contracts

40113	S	A	SALES-SRV CONTRACTS

40120	S	A	SALES-FREIGHT	Post A/R to G/L

Shipping Charges

40130	S	A	EXPENSES COLLECTED

40200	S	A	SALES RETURN MISCELLANEOU	Post A/R to G/L

Default Returns

40201	S	A	SALES RETURN TRAINING

40202	S	A	SALES RETURN HARDWARE	Prod Dept Assign

40203	S	A	SALES RETURN SOFTWARE

40207	S	A	SALES RETURN SRV PARTS

40208	S	A	SALES RETURN SRV LABOR

40210	S	A	SALES RETURN SUPPLIES

40213	S	A	SALES RETURN SRV CONTRACT

40220	S	A	SALES RETURN FREIGHT

40300	S	A	SALES ALLOWANCES	Post A/R to G/L

Discounts Given

Other Income

51000	O	A	MISCELLANEOUS INCOME

51100	O	A	SPIFF INCOME

51200	O	A	FINANCE CHARGES	Post A/R to G/L

52000	O	A	INT INCOME-HUD CHK

52100	O	A	INT INCOME-ML  CMA

52110	O	A	INT INCOME-ML CMA CHKG

52200	O	A	INT INCOME-HUD CDS

Cost of Sale

60400	C	A	COGS-MISCELLANEOUS	Post A/R to G/L

60401	C	A	COGS-TRAINING

60402	C	A	COGS-HARDWARE	Prod Dept Assign

60403	C	A	COGS-SOFTWARE

60407	C	A	COGS-SRV PARTS

60408	C	A	COGS-SRV LABOR

60410	C	A	COGS-SUPPLIES

60413	C	A	COGS-SRV CONTRACTS

61100	C	A	FREIGHT-IN ALL	PO Posting

Shipping Cost

Operating Expense

70100	X	A	PAYROLL TAX - STATE

70200	X	A	FED. UNEMPLOYMENT (FUTA)

70300	X	A	PAYROLL TAX - FED

70400	X	A	UNEMPLOYMENT TAX

70500	X	A	CASTROPHIC AND ILLNESS

70600	X	A	DISABILITY FUND

70700	X	A	SALES TAX PAID	PO Posting

Tax Amount

70800	X	A	TAX PENALTIES

71100	X	A	S/EXP-COMMISSIONS

71200	X	A	S/EXP-FREIGHT OUT

71300	X	A	S/EXP-POSTAL

71400	X	A	S/EXP-MRKTING/ADVTISE

72100	X	A	EXP-SALARIES

72110	X	A	EXP-CONSULTANTS

72200	X	A	EXP-OFFICE SUPPLIES

72300	X	A	EXP-TELEPHONE

72350	X	A	EXP-WIRELESS

72400	X	A	EXP-UTILITIES

72500	X	A	EXP-TRAVEL

72600	X	A	EXP-CLIENT ENTERTAINMENT

72700	X	A	EXP-POSTAL

72800	X	A	EXP-BEEPER/ANS.SERV

72900	X	A	EXP-PRINTING/PHOTOCOPY

73000	X	A	EXP-CHECKING FEES/PENALTY

73100	X	A	EXP-HEALTH/DENTAL INS.

73200	X	A	EXP-SUBSCRIPTIONS

73300	X	A	EXP-SOFTWARE

73350	X	A	EXP-HARDWARE

73400	X	A	EXP-(DEP.)EQUIPMENT

73500	X	A	EXP-(DEP.)OFFICE FURNITUR

73600	X	A	EXP-REPAIRS (EQUIP/FURN)

73700	X	A	EXP-LEGAL & ACCOUNTING

73800	X	A	EXP-MISCELLANEOUS

73810	X	A	EXP-OFFICE CLEANING

73900	X	A	EXP-CHARITABLE CONTRIB.

74000	X	A	EXP-OFFICE RENTAL

74100	X	A	EXP-SECURITY SYSTEM

Capital Expense

75100	X	A	EXP-INTEREST ON LOANS

Owner's Equity

82000	E	A	RETAINED EARNINGS	Year End Close

Taxes (Corporate)

94000	T	A	INCOME TAX - STATE

95000	T	A	INCOME TAX - FED


Setting A/P COA Defaults

The default account numbers used during the posting of Accounts Payable to the General Ledger are defined and set on the Post A/P to G/L dialog box.


Setting A/R COA Defaults

The default account numbers used during the posting of Accounts Receivable to the General Ledger are defined and set on the Post A/R to G/L dialog box.


Setting Checkbook COA Defaults

The screen for setting up an A/P Checkbook is found on the Accounts Payable menu.  Select Accounts Payable | Checkbook menu | Checkbook List Maintenance.

On this screen you can add a new Checkbook or modify an existing one.  The G/L Account # should be in an Asset Category.


Setting Payment Methods COA Defaults

The above dialog box appears when you choose Payment Setup on the Post Accounts Receivable to General Ledger dialog box.  On this dialog box you can only modify the existing information by using the TAB and/or ARROW keys.

A full function screen is found on the System Maintenance menu.  Select System Maintenance | System Setup | Reference Tables | Payment Methods Maintenance.  The account numbers are used when auto posting to the G/L.  For more information see the Bank Deposit Flag topic.

If you consider a credit card payment the same as cash or a check, the account number could be Cash In Bank.  But you are allowed to set them up as their own account.

There are two other methods:

RA	Use the Customer Deposit Liability/Pre Pay number.

OTHER	The system requires this payment method.  You can use it for occasional payments of the same type that would use the account number you enter on this screen.


Setting Product Department COA Defaults

This screen is displayed whenever you select the Inventory menu | Product List menu | Product Department Assignment menu from the Main Course Main menu.

For more information about an option on the Product Department Assignment screen, click on the option on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

Discussion of Product Department Assignments

First a word about product departments.  Everything in the Main Course is based on a product code: sales, credit memos, purchase receipts and inventory transaction, etc.  In order to allow a transaction to effect a different part of your G/L, for example, service labor, each product code in your product master has a field for a department number.  All codes that you want to effect the service labor accounts in the G/L must be given the same department number.

The Department Assignment screen is the cross reference table used to connect the product master's department number to the G/L account numbers.  Each product department can have a Sales Account, Sales Returns Account, COGS Account and PO Account in the G/L.

You are limited to 18 or 19 different departments.  They do not need to be consecutive and can range from 0, the default, to 99.  A department number 0 (zero) should be set up and reserved for the majority of the products you buy and sell daily.  It could have a name like Hardware/Software.

There is a special functionality that allows you to map a range of k-to-keep product codes to a product department number, and therefore to G/L account numbers.  (This functionality must be turned on.  Contact AMI Support.)  Here is an example.  You use a k-to-keep code for all service parts.  If you always use a prefix of SRVP you can enter the From code as SRVP and the To code as SRVPZZZZZZZZZZZ (a total of 15 characters) and assign the range to a product department number.

When you create a department assignment, you add a column on the Sales Journal.  The dollars in that column reflect the sales and costs for products with that department that were invoiced or credited in the date range of the report.  When you add a department, or change the department code in the product master on products you have sold, your Sales Journal is immediately effected.  This means that the dollars in any column effected by the change may be different from those in a Sales Journal printed before you made the changes.  The grand totals are the same.

The figure below is an example of how some of our users have set up their system.  Note that all of the account numbers are unique, except for Departments 0 and 2.  This uniqueness is an example of where the use of an "unnecessary" account number is most helpful.  Like service labor.  Your service labor product codes are probably non inventory codes.  Therefore they do not effect COGS when invoiced.  But consider this scenario.  You use the account number for Hardware COGS as the COGS account when you define the Service Labor Department.  Everything goes fine until a new (or very rushed old) employee enters a new Service Labor product code and forgets to make it a non inventory code.  When you sell the new product code, there will be a cost of goods, period.  Now you sold a lot of it, so after posting to the G/L your Hardware COGS account is way to high.  What went wrong you will ask the AMI Support Team?

If, instead, you create the "unnecessary" Service Labor COGS account number and enter it in the department assignment cross reference, you will have a dollar amount in that account.  Since it is supposed to be zero, you know exactly where to look.

The above example is also the reason to set up miscellaneous, unused account numbers for Sales, Sales Returns, COGS and PO's (Inventory).  The same employee mentioned above may have entered a nonexistent department number.  The defaults screen for posting A/R to G/L allows you to enter "not in a department" account numbers.  When these accounts end up with a dollar amount after posting, you know the reason.  A product code was entered with a nonexistent department code.

The process of setting up product department assignments is a five part process.  They must be done in this order.

1.	Decide on the groupings for your product codes and give each a name and department number.  Remember, the default department number for a new product code is 0, so set that department up first.

2.	Create the four G/L account numbers for each of these department groups.  Also, create the four accounts for miscellaneous, for the reason mentioned above.

3.	The miscellaneous numbers, excluding the one for inventory, are set on the Post A/R to G/L dialog box.

4.	Use the other account numbers when you create the department numbers.  Select the Inventory menu | Product List menu | Product Department Assignment menu.

5.	Modify each and every product code that should have a department number and enter the appropriate number.

See the Sample Chart of Accounts topic.

Options on the Product Department Assignment screen

 From Product Code

Blank unless you are mapping k-to-keep product codes.  Enter the beginning product code for the range of k-to-keep products that will effect this department.  If you are using a prefix for all codes, enter the prefix only.  In the example above, you would enter SRVP.

 To Product Code

Blank unless you are mapping mapping k-to-keep product codes.  Enter the ending product code for the range of k-to-keep products that will effect this department.  If you are using a prefix for all codes, enter the prefix and enough Z characters to fill in 15 total characters.  In the example above, you would enter SRVPZZZZZZZZZZZ.

 Profit Center

Enter the code for the profit center to be used with this product assignment.

 Department #

Enter the Department Number that you are creating.  When product codes that are to effect this department are in your product master, you must also enter this number on that code's master record.

 Department Name

Enter the name you want to use for this department.

 Sales Jrnl Report Head

What you enter here is used as the column title on the Sales Journal.  Use leading blanks so that the report is aligned correctly.  As an example there are 3 blanks in front of TRAINING for department number one in the figure above.  There is space for 11 characters.

 G/L Accounts - Sales

Enter the G/L sales account number that you want to effect when a product with this department is invoiced.  This should normally be a unique account number.

 G/L Accounts - Returns

Enter the G/L returns account number that you want to effect when you print a credit memo for a product with this department.  This should normally be a unique account number.

 G/L Accounts - COGS

Enter the G/L cost of goods sold account number that you want to effect when a product with this department is invoiced or credited.  This should normally be a unique account number.  See the discussion above for non-inventory and k-to-keep product codes.

 G/L Accounts - PO's

Enter the G/L inventory account number that you want to effect when a product with this department is invoiced or credited.  This should normally be a unique account number.  See the discussion above for non-inventory and k-to-keep product codes.


Setting Purchase Order COA Defaults

The defaults needed for posting PO receipts to A/P are set on the System Maintenance menu.  Select System Maintenance | System Setup | Set Purchase Order Posting Accounts.  These account numbers are used as defaults when you post Purchase Order Receipts directly to A/P from the PO menu and the system cannot find an account to expense to.  The meanings are:

Line Item Total	The Inventory account

Shipping Cost	The Freight In account

Tax Amount	The Tax Paid account


Setting Recurring Payments COA Defaults

The screen for setting up an A/P Recurring Payment is found on the Accounts Payable menu.  Select Accounts Payable | Recurring Payments menu | Enter (or Modify) Payment.

On this screen you can add a new Recurring Payment or modify an existing one.


Setting Vendor COA Defaults

The screen for setting up an A/P Vendor is found on the Accounts Payable menu.  Select Accounts Payable | Vendor Information menu | Enter (or Modify) Vendor Information.

On these screens you can add a new Vendor or modify an existing one.  The G/L Account # should be in an Expense or Inventory Category.


Toolbar Buttons

This is the standard set of toolbar buttons that appear on the Main Course General Ledger window when one or more dialog boxes are displayed.  From left to right their functions are Add, Save, Print, Find, First Entry, Previous Entry, Next Entry and Last Entry.  The functions are described below.  Their shortcut keystrokes are also listed.  The shortcuts allow you to avoid reaching for your mouse.

Note:	The toolbar buttons operate on the currently active dialog box.  This is normally the one on top and/or with the highlighted title bar.

For the sake of clarity in the discussion below, original dialog box indicates the type of box that was active at the time a toolbar button, or its shortcut keystrokes were chosen.

For more information about the toolbar buttons, click the button on the above figure.  Use the Windows Back button to return to this figure.

 Add a new Entry (Ctrl+Ins)

Choosing the Add button displays a new dialog box allowing you to add an item similar to those shown in the original dialog box.

As an example, if you were in a G/L Account number dialog box and chose Add, the Add a New G/L Account dialog box would appear.

 Save this entry (F10)

Choosing the Save button saves your additions and/or modifications made in the active dialog box.  The button appears dimmed until you have actually made some change(s).  You may have to press TAB to move out of the field you change to enable this button.

As an example, if you were in a G/L Account number dialog box and added a budget amount to one or more periods, you would chose Save to save those changes.

 Print the current entry

Choosing the Print button displays the appropriate Print <...> dialog box so that you can print/preview what is displayed in the original dialog box.  In most cases many of the options in the Print <...> dialog box are preselected for you.

Using the same G/L Account number example, choosing Print displays the Print General Ledger Detail dialog box with the Single Selection option set and the account number from the original dialog box entered in the account number selection box.

 Find Entry (F4)

Choosing the Find button displays a new dialog box that allows you to search for another account number or transaction, depending on the type of the original dialog box.

As an example, if you were in a G/L Account number dialog box and chose Find, the Find a G/L Account dialog box would appear.

 First Entry (Ctrl+Home)

When the account/journal entry displayed is any item other than the first item, choosing this button returns the display to the first account/journal entry.

 Previous Entry (Ctrl+Page Up)

When the account/journal entry displayed is any item other than the first item, choosing this button moves back to the previous account/journal entry.

 Next Entry (Ctrl+Page Down)

When the account/journal entry displayed is any item other than the last item, choosing this button moves forward to the next account/journal entry.

 Last Entry (Crtl+End)

When the account/journal entry displayed is any item other than the last item, choosing this button skips forward to display the last account/journal entry.


Trial Balance Report

The Trial Balance report contains a complete history of all auto postings and manual journal transactions.

To print a General Journal report

1.	From the General Ledger window:

Press ALT+R, T
-or-
Choose Trial Balance on the Reports menu

2.	The Print Trial Balance dialog box appears.  Make the appropriate selections on this dialog box:

a.	Select a report format from Select Report.

b.	When your site is set up as multi-company, select the Company code.

c.	If the Report Period is for a prior fiscal year and/or period, select from those lists.

d.	Clear or select to Suppress department accounts.

e.	Clear of select to Show accounts with zero balance.

f.	Edit the Report Title if necessary.

g.	Select a Print Destination option.

3.	Press ALT+O or choose OK when ready to proceed.

The printing procedure can be canceled at any time by using the TAB key to choose Cancel.


Year End Closing

This dialog box appears whenever the current period is 12 and G/L Closing is chosen on the General Ledger File menu.

Note:	You must be in period 12 to close the fiscal year.  The period and year displayed on the toolbar have no meaning with this function.

When all of the auto postings have been generated and you are satisfied with your Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Income Statement reports for period 12, you are ready to close the fiscal year.  Doing so opens the next fiscal year and makes period 1 the current period.  As an example, closing period 12 of fiscal year 2001 opens period 1 of fiscal year 2002.

When you close a year, all income accounts (sales, other income, cost of goods, expenses and taxes) are set to zero for the fiscal year being opened.  The year to date balances of the asset, liability and equity accounts are carried over to the new year as beginning balances in period 1.  Your retained earnings (profit or loss from the income statement) are calculated and carried over to the new fiscal year.  You set up the asset, liability and equity groupings, etc., when you created your COA categories.  See the G/L Account Category Setup topic.

Note:	As in closing a period, you do not need to wait until the CPA, or whoever, has finalized the numbers.  Any fine tuning can be handled by entering manual transactions to a previous fiscal year and/or period.

Options on the Year End Closing dialog box

 Closing Information group

Check the feedback in this group whenever you are ready to close.  The comment in the above figure is the one that normally appears.

If there is a problem that could keep you from closing, the Do Close button is dimmed and a reason is given in this group.  One example is "There are unprinted General Journal entries.  You must print the report before the closing can be done."

 Retained Earnings

Select the account number for retained earnings.

 Closing Date

Select the transaction date for the year you are closing, not the date that you do the closing.

It is normally the last day of your 12th period, the ending date of your fiscal year.  If your fiscal year is based on the calendar year it is yyyy/12/31, with yyyy being the fiscal year that you are closing.

 Do Close

Choose Do Close when you are ready to proceed.  This opens period 1 of the next fiscal year and completes the calculations mentioned above .

Note:	If there is a problem that could keep you from closing, the button is dimmed and the reason is given in the Closing Information group, explained above.

 Cancel

Choose Cancel when you do not want to close.  The Year End Closing dialog box disappears without closing the fiscal year.


Year End Closing - Multi-company

This dialog box appears whenever you are a multi-company site, the current period is 12 and G/L Closing is chosen on the General Ledger File menu.

Note:	You must be in period 12 to close the fiscal year.  The company code, period and year displayed on the toolbar have no meaning with this function.

When all of the auto postings have been generated and you are satisfied with your Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Income Statement reports for period 12, you are ready to close the fiscal year.  Doing so opens the next fiscal year and makes period 1 the current period.  As an example, closing period 12 of fiscal year 2002 opens period 1 of fiscal year 2003.

When you close a year, all non-asset and non-liability accounts are set to zero for the fiscal year being opened.  The year to date balances of the asset, liability and equity accounts are carried over to the new year as beginning balances.  Your retained earnings (assets minus liabilities) are calculated and are also carried over to the new fiscal year.  You set up the asset, liability and equity groupings, etc., when you created your COA categories.  See the G/L Account Category Setup topic.

Note:	As in closing a period, you do not need to wait until the CPA, or whoever, has finalized the numbers.  Any fine tuning can be handled by entering manual transactions to a previous fiscal year and/or period.

Discussion on year end closings in multi-company mode

When you are ready to close the year for just one company's G/L, be certain that that company's code is displayed as the Company at the top of this dialog box.  Also be sure the Close this Company box is checked.  Then verify the current period and fiscal year.  Proceed with setting the other options as explained below.

If the company code does not match the one you are ready to close, choose Next or Previous as many times as is necessary until the proper code is shown as the Company.  Be sure to check the Close this Company box, and verify the current period and fiscal year.  Proceed with setting the other options as explained below.

If you are ready to close the year for more than one company's G/L, you can do those closings at the same time on this dialog box.  Do this by choosing Next or Previous as many times as is necessary until one of the codes is shown as the Company.  Check the Close this Company box, verify the current period and fiscal year and set the options as explained below.  You are not able to select a company if that company is not in period 12.

Choose Next or Previous until the code for the next company is displayed and repeat the above.

Note:	In all cases above, you must make certain the Close this Company box is cleared for all companies you do not wish to close at this time.  All other options for that code can then be ignored.

When you have verified that all options are set correctly for each company's code, choose Do Close.

Options on the Year End Closing dialog box

 Company, Current period and year

The company code on the toolbar, or the one you have selected, and its current period and fiscal year are echoed on the dialog box.  This information changes as you choose Next or Previous.

 Closing Information group

Check the feedback in this group for each company that you are ready to close.  The comment in the above figure is the one that normally appears.

If there is a problem that could keep you from closing the selected company, the Do Close button and Close this Company check box are dimmed and a reason is given in this group.  One example is "There are unprinted General Journal entries.  You must print the report before the closing can be done."

 Retained Earnings

Select the account number for retained earnings for this company.

 Closing Date

Select the transaction date for the year and company you are closing, not the date that you do the closing.

It is normally the last day of your 12th period, the ending date of the fiscal year for this company.  If the fiscal year is based on the calendar year it is yyyy/12/31, with yyyy being the fiscal year that you are closing.

 Close this Company

Check this box only if you are closing the year for this company, at this time.

Make certain this box is cleared for all companies you do not wish to close now.

 Previous

Select Previous to scroll back through your list of company codes.

 Next

Select Next to scroll forward through your list of company codes.

 Do Close

Choose Do Close when you are ready to proceed.  This opens period 1 of the next fiscal year and completes the calculations mentioned above for each company selected.  When you have selected Close this Company for more than one company, each company is closed and period 1 of that company's next fiscal year is opened.

Note:	If there is a problem that could keep you from closing, the button is dimmed and the reason is given in the Closing Information group, explained above.  The problem may be with a company other that the one currently displayed.

 Cancel All

Choose Cancel when you do not want to close.  The Year End Closing dialog box disappears without closing the fiscal year for any company.


a/p exceptions 3
A/P Exceptions

Use this report to list the details of any exceptions/problems encountered during an auto posting or trial posting of the A/P information to the G/L.


a/p journal entries2
A/P Journal Entries

The Post A/P to G/L option is used to automatically post the following Accounts Payable information:

Invoices and credit memos

Payments made on A/P invoices

Credits written off

Discounts taken on A/P invoices

Bank deposits and adjustments


a/r exceptions2
A/R Exceptions

Use this report to list the details of any exceptions/problems encountered during an auto posting or trial posting of the A/R information to the G/L.


a/r journal entries2
A/R Journal Entries

The Post A/R to G/L option is used to automatically post the following Accounts Receivable (A/R) information.  There are three groups that can be posted individually or at the same time.

The Sales data:

Invoices and credit memos (sales)

Accounts Receivable

Finance charges

Shipping charges

Discounts given

Sales tax liability

The Payment/Credit data:

Customer payments

Credits against A/R

The Cost of Goods data:

Cost of goods sold

Inventory


account category names2
Account Category

The name given to a group of account numbers.  These group titles are used on your Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Chart of Accounts reports.  The categories are also used as rules to help prevent entering a new account number into the wrong group.


account chart of accounts2
Account/Chart of Account

An account is any device for accumulating additions and subtractions relating to a single asset, liability, owner's equity item, including revenues and expenses.  A chart of accounts is a list of names and numbers representing these accounts, systematically organized.


AMI Support

American Micro Innovations, Inc.

(858) 272-5875 - Pacific Coast Time

support@amisoft.com


auto distribution2
Auto Distribution

Use the Auto Distribution option to automatically credit or debit others accounts based on a percentage of the original entry.


balance sheet2
Balance Sheet

Use this report to list total assets, total liabilities and equity.  There are two additional standard report formats.  The first allows you to compare the current period balances with those from any period in the current or a previous fiscal year.  The second format includes several financial ratios.  There are detailed and summary versions.  On the detailed version you can suppress the department account numbers and/or create a report that includes all numbers, even if their report balance is zero.


chart of accounts2
Chart of Accounts

Use this report when you want a list of your Chart of Account numbers.  There are three additional standard report formats where you can include balances and/or budgets for each account.  For a given fiscal year and period, you can select either all accounts, a single account category, a range of account numbers or one single account.  On the formats with balance and/or budget amounts you can choose to include totals based on a level of detail and/or suppress the listing of department accounts.

The basic report includes the account number and description, the account type such as asset or liability and whether the account is active or inactive.  When you select a format with balances and or budgets the report includes period and year to date amounts.  Subtotals are printed when the requested Level of Detail changes.


control number2
Control Number

A control number is assigned every time you create a trial posting of either the A/R or the A/P information.  A control number is also assigned when you choose to auto post without selecting a control number from a previous trial posting.  The control number refers to the range of dates you were posting and whether the information was from A/P or A/R.  It also includes the fiscal year and period.  A control number becomes invalid when there is a new auto or trial posting of the same information with the same or overlapping date range.  Manual transactions do not have control numbers.


Copy Categories


Edit Menu


error delete coa2
Error - Delete COA

Warns of an account balance in at least one period.

Warns of at least one transaction in current fiscal year.


File Menu


fiscal year2
Fiscal Year

The contiguous 12 months that make up an accounting year.  Does not have to coincide with a calendar year.


g/l detail2
G/L Detail

Use this report when you want the details of any auto postings and/or manual journal transactions that were made in the General Ledger module.  For a given fiscal year, you can select either all accounts, a single account category, a range of account numbers or one single account.  You can also choose to include all detail or restrict the output to a range of periods or a range of transaction dates.

The report includes, for each account number, the transaction date, period posted to, auto posting control number, the reference and description of the transaction, a debit or credit amount and the account balance after the transaction was made.


g/l transaction date2
G/L Transaction Date

This is the date used to record the transaction, not the date when you actually do the posting or the current date.  The transaction date is referenced by the General Ledger Detail and General Journal reports when you select By Date Range.  When you auto post, this date is normally the last day of the range of dates you are auto posting.  For example when the full month is being auto posted it would be the last day of that month.  Manual journal entries are also normally dated using the last day of the period, but can be any date in that period.


general journal2
General Journal (Posting Register)

Use this report to list the complete history of all auto postings and manual journal transactions, in the order they were made in the General Ledger module.  The report can be created for a range of transaction dates or for an auto posting control number or a range of control numbers.  You can also create a report that lists only transactions never before printed.  The report includes, for each transaction, the period posted to, transaction ID, control number, date, reference and description.  All account numbers included in the transaction are listed with their description and the debit or credit amount.


income statements2
Income Statements

Use the Income Statement report for a summary of your sales, costs expenses, taxes, gross and net income for any period.  This report totals up sales and subtracts the total cost of sales from this figure.  This is your total income.  From your total income figure, the system subtracts total expenses and arrive at a gross income figure.  Taxes are subtracted from gross income to arrive at net income for the period.  You may generate an Income Statement for any period of the current or last year.  You may also generate an Income Statement for a specific department.


inventory costing calculation2
Inventory Costing Calculation

When a Sales Configuration (Quote) or Delivery Order (DO) is created, the system allows you to setup one of four types of costing; Standard, Average, Commission or Excise (Puerto Rico only).  In addition, you can choose to keep the cost entered at creation time or update to this cost at the time of invoicing.  These costing methods are not accurate enough for company G/L financials.  The system allows you to re-cost invoices, credit memos and inventory adjustments out to one of six methods; Last In First Out (LIFO), First In First Out (FIFO), Average, Standard, Serial Number or based on the PO to DO Cross reference.  Your inventory must be re-costed prior to auto posting to the G/L.


level of detail2
Level of Detail

The Level of Detail is a second way of grouping your account numbers.  (The first being a department number.)  Using this detail can create subtotals on some reports.

The desired level of detail is specified as 0,1,2,3,4, or 5 for the number of digits in the account code which are to be used for sub-totals.  Specifying a 2 as the desired level of detail, you would receive a subtotal each time the second digit from the left in the account number changed.

Using the example below, the system lists the following and gives a total for Office Expenses and Warehouse Expenses.  This is because a level of detail of two (2) totals the accounts every time the second digit from the left changes. (i.e. 71 to 72)

  71000 is Office Expenses

  71100 is Supplies Expense

  71110 is  Paper Goods Expense

  71120 is  Writing Goods Expense

  71130 is  Ink and Toner Expense

  72000 is Warehouse Expenses

  72100 is Supplies Expense

  72110 is  Paper Goods Expenses

  72120 is  Writing Goods Expense

  72130 is  Ink and Toner Expense


period2
Period

A division of the fiscal year, normally a month.  The Main Course is limited to a maximum of 12 periods.  The numbers for the periods do not need to coincide to the calendar months, nor does the period have to be a month long.


search menu2
Search Menu


Test Popup

This is a test popup that was built as a new topic first w/ copy to keyword unchecked.  Then the hot spot was created and pointed to this topic.  The Window type is popup1.

This is how it must be done to keep popups from showing in the Help file's Index tab.

You CAN NOT reverse the damage!


trial balance2
Trial Balance

Use this report to list each account and its running total as of the date it is generated.  The Trial Balance checks to make sure the debits and credits balance.  Generate the Trial Balance report when you are finished postings for the period and are satisfied the postings are correct.  You can also generate this report for a prior fiscal year and/or period, suppress department accounts and choose to include account numbers with a zero balance.  The report includes, for each account number, the account status, description and debit or credit balance.  Accounts with a zero balance are not included unless you select that option on the Print Trial Balance dialog box.


trial run2
Trial Run

A trial run details what entries, from A/P or A/R, would be made to the G/L, if the trial run were accepted and then posted to the G/L.  The trial run creates a control number.  This number is used when printing the reports that are used to reconcile the trial posting.  If the trial postings reconcile, the number can be used to generate an actual posting.  The trial run is not posted to the G/L.