The General Ledger accounts must be set up before processing can begin. When shipped, The Accountant has a standard Chart of Accounts installed. This can be modified, or replaced, to meet your specific needs.
When the General Ledger Editor option is selected on the menu system, the full chart of accounts will be displayed in the lower part of the window in a browse box. Specific work can be accomplished on each item by highlighting the account in the browse menu. You will then be able to edit the information displayed on the upper portion of the window. Be sure to select the Save button to save your work.
Not all of the fields, however, can be modified. Some display data that is processed, and derived, by the system, and should not be changed. The following information must be considered when adding, or editing, accounts.
General Ledger Controls
Add You may select the Add button to create a new account in the General Ledger. A blank record will be added. Simply enter the data in the appropriate fields, and select the Save key to save it to the main file.
Save Save any changes you made to the highlighted account
Delete To delete an account, simply highlight the entry and select the Delete key. It is very important that you use care in this option, and never delete an account that has data present for the current year.
Re-Sum Recalculate the totals for the highlighted GL account
Post Post transactions to an individual date, perhaps to correct any errors the system has found
Analysis Evaluate the status of all accounts and activities to be sure everything is balanced properly
Update Update the totals for all accounts
Defaults Set the default GL account numbers for various areas of the system
Close Perform a monthly closing of the GL. Run this after the Analysis shows everything is in balance. You may close a month as frequently as you wish. It is not necessary to wait for all transactions to be posted to the month.
Reports These are all the financial reports associated with the Ledger, and especially the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss summary
General Ledtger Data
The Account Number
Each account must have a unique number, which should be 5 characters long. These numbers are assigned by the accounting professional responsible for establishing the G/L system. The system will list all information in numerical order in accordance with the assigned accounts. Following the number is a field for a single character. This is the department code. The code should be the same as that assigned to departments in the setup program. Please check that chapter of the manual for a discussion on that subject. Departments are not required to operate the general ledger.
*** SPECIAL NOTE *** If departments are added to the system, the computer will not add them into the totals, but will track their individual totals, and permit reports to be run by department. This is triggered automatically if the department function is turned on, and accounts appear that have a department code. Be sure to leave the department field blank if you are not using this feature.
The system will order the accounts in alpha-numerical sequence, and all reports will be listed accordingly.
Based on basic accounting principles, the numbers are assigned to the five sections as follows:
10000 -19999 Assets
20000 - 29999 Liabilities
30000 - 39999 Equity
40000 - 49999 Income
50000 - 69999 Expenses
Within the range for each section, when setting the general ledger, you will assign titles, debit and credit accounts, subtotals, and section totals.
Department
You can create departments and have an account for each one. Full details are discussed in Using departments
The Account Title
You may use any name, or title, for each account. The name should be significant to the accounting professional, and specific to its purpose. Typical titles will include Accounts Payable, Savings, Parts Expense, etc.
Status
The status of each account number is assigned by the system operator in accordance with the following codes:
• H - Heading for five sections only
• T - Title line, usually for a sub-section or category
• B - Reset the subtotal calculator to 0.00 at this point
• S - Subtotal at this point in the listing
• G - Print a grand total at this point
• D - Debit account
• C - Credit account
Only the Debit and Credit accounts will have totals maintained. All other account (or line) numbers will signal a specific process. When the system is told to print a subtotal, it will also reset that calculator to 0.00. When told to print a grand total, it will also reset the subtotal and grand total calculators to 0.00. If a subtotal is to be obtained for a group of accounts in the middle of a long list, place a Begin subtotal marker prior to the first included account. This is accomplished by using a number just before that of the first account.
Beginning Balance
The beginning balance reflects the opening value for this account at the start of the fiscal year. Values will be posted for many accounts on the balance sheet, but will usually be 0.00 for profit and loss items.
Budget
Many accounts may be measured against a projected budget set by the system operator. The comparisons are on a monthly basis. The operator enters the dollar amount in the budget field, and the system calculates the percentage of the budget the current total represents. While useful, this information is optional. Budget amounts may be particularly useful with income and expenditure accounts.
Past Year
The total for each month, plus beginning and ending balances, for the past year are displayed. These were set when the previous year was closed. If this is the first year using this system, the amounts are set at 0.00.
Totals
Totals for the current activity, budgeted amount, and past year are displayed at the bottom of the screen. These amounts are calculated by the system whenever a period is closed, and cannot be modified.
Steps To Setting Up The G/L
There are two methods for setting up the General Ledger.
1) The extended procedure.
• The first step is to take five sheets of paper, and label the top of each with a section name (Assets,
• Liabilities, Equity, Income, Expense).
• List all of the accounts to be maintained within each section. Be sure to include all of the Executive's defaults.
• Group all of the accounts in a meaningful order, and be sure that like accounts are included.
• The five section titles are Headings.
• Within the ledger there may also be Titles for the different sections that may arbitrarily be included. Be sure to list all of the headings and titles in their proper location.
• After entering the headings, titles, and accounts, enter the Grand Total line, using the same name as the heading.
• Draw brackets to group items which are to be subtotaled.
• At the beginning of the bracket draw an arrow to indicate the subtotal calculator is to be reset.
• At the end of the bracket, enter a title for the subtotal.
• Label all of the entries, using H for headings, T for titles, B for the markers at the beginning of a Subtotal group, S for the subtotal lines, and G for the Grand Total.
• Finally, start at the heading by entering the first number in the section (ie. Assets = 10000). Then go to the Grand Total, and enter the last number in the section (ie. Assets = 19999).
• Look at major sections. Space them at intervals of 1000.
• Space the individual accounts at intervals of 100. Then you can have room to enter additional accounts at a later time.
Once this process is completed, use the Edit option to add all of the accounts.
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2) The second, or abbreviated method is to modify the default General Ledger that is shipped with The Auto Shop Writer 2004. It may be installed from your CD. Print out the Chart of Accounts, and pencil in any additional accounts you wish to add. Then cross off any entries you would like to combine or delete. Finally, use the editor to make the changes.