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-
- The Check Register is more convenient than General Journal, if all you want to
- do is record your checks and deposits. Check Register does not print checks,
- it simply records them. General Journal and Check Register records are
- basically the same. This will be obvious.
-
- Checks
- ------
- All Check entries will be CREDITED to a GL account number which you specify
- before you begin. Normally, this account number is an Asset account (or
- subaccount) in your Chart of Accounts. You have probably already named this
- account "Cash" or "Checking Account", or the like. In this module, it is
- called the Check Register account.
-
- The -STUB- portion of your Check Register screen records the accounts which
- will be DEBITED. Normally, these are Expense accounts.
-
-
- Deposits
- --------
- There is also a Deposit Slip, which is conjured up by entering "DEP" instead
- of a check number. You STOP the deposit slip routine by Entering a zero
- amount the next time the amount field comes up. (Yes, I know, that's two
- keystrokes instead of one!)
-
- On the Deposit Slip, the accounts you enter will all be CREDITED, and the SUM
- of the amounts you enter will be DEBITED to the Check Register account you
- named on startup.
-
-
-
-
- There are a few things you should be aware of:
-
- 1) The Check No. field will accept non-numeric entry, especially "DEP",
- which calls up the Deposit Slip routine. Any other alphanumeric
- non-number, including "SC", "ATM", "OTHER" (up to six letters), and
- patterns like "100A" or "BC99", will be treated like a check.
-
- DEP enters the word "** Deposit **" in your Journal. SC enters the
- words "** Service Charge **" in your Journal. Anything else is
- entered as is, but converted to UPPER case. (You don't have to
- use the quotation marks.)
-
-
- 2) The MEMORANDUM field on your screen is variable length. It will be
- longer if your PAYEE field is shorter. (The length of your check
- number field also has a small effect on the memo field's length).
-
-
- 3) MINUS SIGNS WILL BE IGNORED. You cannot debit your checking account
- by trying to make a check amount negative. Use "DEP" and enter your
- deposits on the Deposit Slip.
-
-
- 4) Entering a VOID check with a zero amount is allowed. The Journal
- will not accept one-sided zero balance "transactions", so this is
- not only the obvious way, it's the ONLY way to do it.
-
- You use this method when you must RECORD THE CHECK NUMBER without also
- entering a phony "transaction" for some check that was never issued.
- You should enter the VOID comment yourself, it isn't automatically
- added.
-
- If you wish to VOID a check (or transaction) that has ALREADY BEEN
- ENTERED in the Journal, you will have to post a reversing entry using
- the General Journal data entry screen. Be careful! Are there other
- transactions which will be affected if you void THIS one? The procedure
- may require an accountant and cannot be automated.
-
-
- 5) You cannot enter the backslash character on the Check Register screen.
- If you do, the character is converted to a forward slash. This is
- because the backslash divides the Item description into subfields.
- Use General Journal to enter your transaction, if this restriction
- is occasionally (if ever!) inconvenient.
-
-
- 6) If you are recording checks for more than one checking account, you
- should do them in separate batches -- all one, then all the other --
- i.e., Esc from Check Register and come in again from the Main Menu.
-
- CAUTION: There is NO WAY to keep you from making this mistake,
- although the Check Register does ask you to confirm a check number
- which is apparently out of sequence. If you begin a new sequence,
- you're on your own.
-
- *** WARNING *** If you GO BACK in the number sequence for some reason,
- your next check number may not be accurate, and there
- is no message. Pay attention to what you're doing!
-
- If you are entering checks for two accounts indiscriminately,
- some of your checks will certainly be posted to the wrong account.
-
- The check number will be AUTO-INCREMENTED for the next check you
- enter -- unless the last "check number" was a non-number like "SC"
- or "OTHER". This number is only kept for one account, and you should
- not regard its value as anything more than a convenience.
-
-
-
-
-
- Adding Machine Feature
- ----------------------
- Notice that the Check Register and Deposit Slip routines do NOT complain if
- you enter duplicate accounts on the stub or deposit. However, the entries for
- a single account are all merged together before they are presented to your
- Journal to maintain the integrity of the Ledger.
-
- This is a convenience which is not possible in the General Journal (where the
- merged total might be zero!). In Check Register you can let the computer do
- the adding up -- however, there is no adding machine tape to show the bank.
- Maybe in version 2.0!
-
-
-