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TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! TM ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE USER'S MANUAL Version 1.0 Hooper International, Inc. P.O. Box 50200 Colorado Springs, CO 80949 Registration Number: ___________ Copyright (C) 1986-1990 by Hooper International, Inc. All rights reserved. TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! COPYRIGHT NOTICE TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS is not a public domain program. It is Copyright (C) 1986-1990 by Hooper International, Inc. No part of this manual may be reproduced or translated, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Hooper International, Inc. Copyright (C) 1986-1990 Hooper International, Inc. WARRANTY INFORMATION Hooper International, Inc. licenses this software and manual "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied; including, but not limited to, the particular purpose. Hooper International, Inc. does not warrant that the TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS software will meet your requirements, or that the operation of TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS will be uninterrupted or error free. In no event will Hooper International, Inc. be liable for incidental, consequential, indirect or other damages including any lost profits or lost savings, arising from the use of, or inability to use, these programs; even if Hooper International, Inc. has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party. Please keep in mind, we do not accept returns or give refunds on registered copies. We will, for a period of up to 90 days from initial shipping date, replace defective disks for a minimal shipping and handling charge of $5.00. Defective disks must be returned prepaid and insured by sender. In this way, we are assured of complete customer satisfaction. As you can see, we value your business. Information in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Hooper International, Inc. This product could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein. These changes may be incorporated in new additions of this publication. Page 2 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! TABLE OF CONTENTS COPYRIGHT NOTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 WARRANTY INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1a - The Accounts Receivable Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1b - General Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 SECTION TWO - CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2a - What are Customer Accounts?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2b - Customer Accounts Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2c - Customer Accounts Data Fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2d - Getting Familiar with Customer Accounts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2e - Adding/Modifying/Deleting Customers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2f - Entering Your Customer Accounts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2g - Setting Beginning Balances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 SECTION THREE - TRANSACTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3a - Transaction Data Fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3b - Entering Simple Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3c - Entering Multiple-Part Transactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3d - Changing/Deleting Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3e - Create Recurring Transactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3f - Modify/Delete Recurring Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3g - Activate Recurring Transactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3h - Points to Remember . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 SECTION FOUR - REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 4a - Explanation of Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 4b - General Instructions for Generating Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . 29 4c - Receivable Journal Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 4d - Recurring Transactions Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 4e - Schedule of Receivables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 4f - Receivables Aging Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 4g - Customer Account History Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4h - Customer Statements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4i - Customer Invoices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 4j - Credit Limit Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 4k - Customer Listing Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 4l - Address Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 4m - Non-Posted Transaction Journal Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 4n - G/L Distribution Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 SECTION FIVE - UTILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 5a - Sort Transactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 5b - Changing Customer Numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 5c - Calculating Finance Charges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 5d - Generate Global Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 5e - Import A/R Transaction File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 5f - Export A/R Transaction File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 5g - A/R Configuration Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Page 3 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! SECTION SIX - HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 LIST OF FIGURES. . . . . . . . . . . NOT AVAILABLE ON DISK DOCUMENTATION FILE APPENDIX A - SAMPLE REPORTS. . . . . NOT AVAILABLE ON DISK DOCUMENTATION FILE APPENDIX B - DISK FILENAMES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Page 4 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTION 1a - The Accounts Receivable Module The TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS Accounts Receivable module is an efficient, powerful, easy-to-use menu-driven program which will keep track of all of your customer receivables. Suitable for small/medium-sized businesses, it allows you to set up customer accounts, as well as customer billing, by using balance- forward accounting. "If you do not get paid you can not pay your bills!" The program's amazingly-enhanced versatility and wide range of accounts- receivable abilities include alpha-numeric account numbers, default income account by customer, 10 character reference and invoice fields, automatic sales tax calculation, as well as sales tax percentages by customer. It will also track past due accounts with option for automatic finance charge calculations. In addition to printing statements on blank paper or on your own pre-printed forms, this extremely helpful and easy-to-use module allows multiple distribution of funds, transaction import, export and merge, and it will handle recurring transactions by month, semi-monthly, biweekly and weekly. A powerful management tool, this Accounts Receivable module has the ability to delete posted transactions, offers active/inactive customer flags, a global change account for all transactions and global additions of the same transaction to all of your active customers. Although this system is uniquely set up for ease of operation by the novice, a working knowledge of how an Accounts Receivable system operates is helpful. If you are new to accounts-receivable bookkeeping, you might want to consult with your accountant or obtain a book on accounts-receivable bookkeeping. As with all HOOPER financial software, the TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS Accounts Receivable module will help you to handle, improve and understand your cash flow, giving you the bottom line; what a well-run business is all about! 1b - General Information Below is a simple list of steps to follow when using the Accounts Receivable module for the first time. These steps are for those who have already read the Getting Started User's Manual and are now ready to set up their own "live" data files. It is assumed that you have already installed TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS on your hard-disk drive and have started the program. If this is not the case, refer to the Getting Started User's Manual before reading any further. These brief steps are intended to provide step-by-step guidance for getting started on your own. They are not intended to replace reading either the Getting Started User's Manual or this manual. Detailed instructions are covered in the sections referenced. 1. First, we suggest you go to the Main Configuration Menu to customize the system configuration to meet your particular hardware and printing needs. Although not absolutely necessary, doing this now may prevent printing problems later. Refer to Section Five - "Utility Menu", in the Getting Started User's Manual, for detailed instructions. Page 5 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 2. From the TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS Main Menu screen, select the "A/R" menu item. The following screen appears: Figure 1-1 Accounts Receivable Main Menu NOTE: Please refer to the Getting Started User's Manual, Section 3b - "Selecting the Disk Drive, Path and Data File", for how to select your disk drive, path and data filename. 3. Figure 1-1 is the Accounts Receivable Main Menu screen. From here you select the different areas of the Accounts Receivable module to work in. 4. First, select "A/R Utility Menu" from the Accounts Receivable Main Menu in order to set up your Accounts Receivable configuration. If you are setting up your own data filename for the first time, you must first set up the A/R configuration. Refer to Section 5i - "A/R Configuration Settings" for detailed instructions. 5. You will also need to set up two additional accounts in the General Ledger chart of accounts. The first one must be an A/R Asset Account (type A) and the second one needs to be a Finance Charge Account (type I). Those two accounts are required in order to use the A/R module. 6. You should now select "Update Customer Accounts" from the Accounts Receivable main menu, since you must have accounts active before you can enter any transactions or print reports. Refer to Section Two - "Customer Accounts" for detailed instructions. 7. Next, select "Transactions Menu" from the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, in order to start entering your receivable data. Refer to Section Three - "Transactions" for detailed instructions. 8. After you have entered some transactions, you can now print an Accounts Receivables Journal report, to see what you have entered. You can print any other report as required. Refer to Section Four - "Reports" for detailed instructions. These above basic steps are merely intended to show you the order of events in setting up your new receivable books. Page 6 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! SECTION TWO - CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS Your Customer accounts are the very foundation of your Accounts Receivable. In the Accounts Receivable module you can create up to 2000 customer accounts (depending your available RAM memory). 2a - What are Customer Accounts? Your customer accounts are used to keep track of all of your accounts receivable balances, by customer. Each customer must be given an individual account number for identification purposes. This six-digit alpha- numeric customer account number is then used whenever you are entering transactions for that particular customer. 2b - Customer Accounts Organization Your customer account numbers, and their order within the Accounts Receivable module, are totally up to you. We do suggest that you set up Cash Customer Accounts with a special account number, if you ever plan to keep track of cash sales with your Accounts Receivable. Set up all of your cash customers with a starting "C" (i.e C12345) account number. This will enable you to print an invoice for any cash sales which you may have. Another possible consideration for identifying various customer categories is to group your customers into special account-number ranges. For example, put all of your out-of-state customers into six-digit, alpha-numeric accounts numbering from 100000 to 300000. This will be useful when printing reports and customer labels, which ask for an account range to print. Different types of businesses may also be grouped in specific account number ranges. It is important to remember to always leave enough room within your selected range for new accounts to be added at a later time. If you need to reorganize your customer accounts at a later time, refer to Section 5b- "Changing Customer Numbers". Another option for organizing your customer account numbers is to use the first six digits of the customer's company name, as their account number. This allows you to find and enter that customers account number without searching for his account number in the account number listing window. 2c - Customer Accounts Data Fields Each account represents a specific customer. Along with this account number, you can also record other information about each customer. When setting up a new customer account, the following information will be needed for each customer: CUSTOMER: (Required) This can be up to a six-character, alpha-numeric "number" used to identify each customer. This number is created by you and may be any combination of letters and numbers. For example, ABCXYZ if alphabetic, 100000 if numeric, or ABC123 if alpha-numeric. The customer number is also used as a sort order option on some reports. ACTIVE: (Required) A yes/no (Y/N) option allowing you to tag the customer as either active (Y) or inactive (N). If you have labeled a customer as inactive, you will be unable to enter ANY transactions for this customer. Page 7 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! ATTENTION: (Optional) This is the first address line for statements, invoices and address labels. Here you usually enter the accounts payable contact-person's name for this company/customer. COMPANY: (Required) This is used to enter your customer's company name. If the customer is not a company, enter the customer's name here (i.e. Miller, John). ADDRESS: (Optional) Enter your customer's street address or box number. This address line will print on the invoices, statements and address labels. CITY: (Optional) Enter your customer's city. STATE: (Optional) Enter your customer's two or three character state or province code. ZIPCODE: (Optional) Enter your customer's zip or postal code. This is also used as a sort order option for your address labels. This field may be used for any other purpose as well. PHONE: (Optional) Enter your customer's phone number, up to 12 characters (e.g: 800-245-7789). This field may be used for other information, if needed. COUNTRY: (Optional) This line is used for your foreign customers' country name. SHIP TO ADDRESS: (Optional) Here you can enter a three-line shipping address, which is used only for the invoices when shipping your company's products. To make a complete address, Accounts Receivable automatically adds the above company name, making the shipping address four lines long. Use this field only ifthe shipping address is different from the mailing address, otherwise leave this field blank. COMMENTS: (Optional) Up to 30 characters of pertinent information may be entered here, allowing instant recall of facts about your customer. DEFAULT G/L ACCOUNT: (Required - set to 0 if not used) A time saver, this Default General Ledger Income Account number is automatically used for this customer when you are entering a type "I" transaction. By setting it up here, it will automatically be the default credit distribution account (where the money comes from). This account number can be over- ridden at any time. Refer to Section 3b - "Entering Simple Transactions" for instructions on its use. SALES TAX PERCENT: (Optional) A time saver, this sales tax percentage is another valuable option which can automatically calculate the sales tax for this customer when entering transactions. Simply enter the customer's tax percentage. For example, 5.5% would be entered as 5.5 without the percent sign. Any percentage from 0 to 50% can be entered. If left blank, the program will default to "0.000". Page 8 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! DUE DAYS: (Required - set to 0 if not used) Enter the number of days until the purchase/invoice for this customer is due. This number will become the default time period for the payment due. For example, if you enter 30 in this field, all purchase/invoice transactions will auto- matically be given a 30 day due date. You can override this figure at any time when entering transactions. You can use any number from 0 to 256. DISCOUNT DAYS: (Required - set to 0 if not used) Enter the number of days within which your customer is allowed to take a discount for prompt payments. This can be any number between 0 to 99. For example, if you allow your customer a 2% discount if the bill is paid within 10 days, you would enter a 10 in this field. DISCOUNT PCT: (Optional) Enter the discount percentage offered if your customer pays within the number of allowed DISCOUNT DAYS, above. Valid percentage numbers are 0 to 50. In the example in DISCOUNT DAYS, above, you would enter a "2" in this field. If left blank, the program will default to "0.000". CREDIT LIMIT: (Optional) Your customer's credit limit will be available at a glance when you are entering transactions. This limit is for reports only and will not affect the entering of transactions, but can give you a quick overview of the limit. Enter your customer's credit limit (valid numbers are 0 to 999999.99). If left blank, the program will default to "0.00". INTEREST PERCENTAGE: (Optional) Enter the ANNUAL interest rate which you will charge if this customer becomes past due on invoices. Valid numbers are 0 to 50. Once you have entered a percentage, you can then auto- matically calculate the interest within each billing period, which is recorded as a finance charge. If left blank, the program will default to "0.000". BEGINNING BALANCE: (Optional) Enter your customer's beginning balance. For new customers, this balance is zero. For pre-existing customers, enter the account balance as of the day you are recording them into this module. The total beginning balance for all your customers must equal the balance of your General Ledger Accounts Receivable account. Never use a negative beginning balance unless you owe money to a customer. Refer to Section 2g - "Setting Beginning Balances" for more detail. If left blank, the program will default to "0.00". 2d - Getting Familiar with Customer Accounts In order to familiarize yourself with the way the customer accounts are organized, and before creating your own customer accounts, follow the steps below by using the "SAMPLE" accounts: 1. After you have started TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS, select the filename "SAMPLE". Refer to your Getting Started User's Manual, section 3b - "Selecting the Disk Drive, Path and Data File" for details on selecting the filename. Page 9 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 2. From the TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS Main Menu, select "A/R". Refer to the Getting Started User's Manual, section 2b - "Using the Menu System and Input Fields" for details on use of the menu system. 3. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Update Customer Accounts". The following screen appears: Figure 2-1 Customer Listing Notice how this typical Customer Account is organized. The window will display eighteen account numbers at a time. To see more accounts, use the cursor arrow keys, or the mouse, to scroll through the listing. To select a customer account to be modified, press the <Enter> key when the cursor is on that account or, if you know the beginning number or letter of that account, simply type it in. The first account number in that range will appear at the bottom of the window, with the cursor automatically on that account. For example, entering "H" will take you to the first account number starting with "H", or entering "4" will take you to the accounts starting with "4". If you know the account number, simply enter the number and the cursor will position itself on that specific account. Before setting up your own Customer Accounts, you may want to create a practice account by entering data into the "SAMPLE" data files. Simply follow the steps in section 2e - "Adding/Modifying/Deleting Customers", below, for practice. 2e - Adding/Modifying/Deleting Customers This section will describe how to add, modify, and/or delete customers from Accounts Receivable. The "SAMPLE" file is used in all of the following examples. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Update Customer Accounts". Figure 2-1 (above) will appear. At the bottom of screen notice five available functions: <F1>Help <F3>Add <F4>Mod <F5>Del <Esc>Exit When working on your Customer Accounts, select <F3> to add an account, <F4> to modify an account or <F5> to delete an account. Following are detailed instructions for each of these functions. NOTE: You may, at any time, call up the context sensitive help system by pressing the <F1> key. ADDING AN ACCOUNT: Press the <F3> key. Figure 2-2, below, will appear. If there are no existing customer accounts, the "ADD CUSTOMER" window will automatically appear. Figure 2-2 Add Customer NOTE: After entering information in a field, press the <Enter> key to move to the next field. To leave a field blank, press the <Enter> key. To back-up to a previous field, press the <Backspace> key or the <Shift-Tab> key. Page 10 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 1. CUSTOMER: Enter here your six-digit, alpha-numeric customer number or name which you have selected for this customer, then press <Enter>. This can also be used for a sort option on reports. 2. ACTIVE: Enter a "Y" (yes) or "N" (no) for this customer's account activity. This allows you to tag this customer as either active or inactive. When you first set up your customer accounts, mark them all active. It is important to understand that, if you have marked a customer account as inactive, you will be unable to enter ANY transactions for his account. You may, at any time, change the status of this customer. Press <Enter> when complete. 3. ATTENTION: Enter here the "attention name", if any, for this customer. It is usually entered as the ACCOUNTS PAYABLE contact-person for this customer/account. Press <Enter> when complete. 4. COMPANY: Enter the name of your customer's company here. If the Receivable Account is not a company, enter your customer's name here. Press <Enter> when complete. 5. ADDRESS: Enter the street address or the postal box number for your customer here. Press <Enter> when complete. 6. CITY: Enter your customer's city name here. Press <Enter> when complete. 7. STATE: Here you can enter your customer's state or province code. You can enter a code up to 3-digits long (e.g: "CO" for Colorado or ACT for Australian Capital Territory). Press <Enter> when complete. 8. ZIPCODE: Enter your customer's complete zip or postal code here. This is also used for sort order on mailing labels. Press <Enter> when complete. 9. PHONE: Here you can enter your customer's telephone number, using up to 12 characters (e.g: 800-245-7789). You may use this field for other information, if needed. Press <Enter> when complete. 10.COUNTRY: Enter your foreign customers' country codes here. Press <Enter> when complete. 11.SHIP TO ADDRESS: Here you can enter up to three lines of your customer's shipping address. Only use this field if your customer's shipping address is different from their mailing address. The company name, above, will be added to this address on reports (statements), making the shipping address up to four lines. Press <Enter> when complete. 12.COMMENTS: Here you can enter up to 30 characters of pertinent information relating to your customer's account. This information will print on selected reports only. Press <Enter> when complete. 13.DEFAULT G/L ACCOUNT: Enter a default G/L Income account number for this customer here. This account number will automatically become the default credit account number when you enter type "I" transactions for Page 11 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! this customer. If you choose not to use this feature, enter "0". Press <Enter> when complete. NOTE: If you have "Auto Pop-up" (in the system configuration settings) set to "Y", then your General Ledger Chart of Accounts will automatically appear, allowing you to select an income account or create a new one. If "Auto Pop-up" is set to "N", simply press the <F2> key and your Chart of Accounts will appear. Refer to your Getting Started User's Manual, section 4d - "Setting the System Configuration", for more details on this feature. 14.SALES TAX PERCENT: Enter a sales tax percentage for this customer here. Valid numbers are 0 to 50% (e.g: 5.5%). This optional feature is a real time saver, which will automatically calculate the sales tax for this customer when entering type "I" transactions. 15.DUE DAYS: Enter the days, from "0" to "256", in which your customer's invoices/bills come due (e.g: "30"). 16.DISCOUNT DAYS: Enter the days, from "0" to "99", within which a customer is entitled to take a discount when paying an invoice/bill (e.g: 10). This information will also print on the statement. 17.DISCOUNT PCT: Enter the percentage of allowed discount here. You can permit your customer to take a discount, from "0" to "50", if the invoice/bill is paid within the above specified discount days (e.g: 2% discount for payment within 10 days). This information will print on the statement. 18.CREDIT LIMIT: Enter your customer's credit limit, from "0" to "999999" dollars. 19.INTEREST PERCENTAGE: Enter the ANNUAL interest rate which you will charge this customer, from "0" to "50" percent. 20.BEGINNING BALANCE: Enter "0" for new customers. For pre-existing customers, enter the account balance as of the day you are entering this customer account into this module. Press <Enter> when complete. Once you have completed the last input field, your new customer is auto- matically added to the customer listing window; which appears whenever you add, modify or delete customers. Your cursor will then return to the top of the input screen for you to continue adding new customers. All input fields default to your last entered customer, saving you time when entering information that is similar. MODIFYING A CUSTOMER ACCOUNT: From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Update Customer Accounts", then press the <F4> key. The following figure will appear: Figure 2-3 Modifying An Account Page 12 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! Notice that the cursor is automatically on the "Active" field, but may be moved to the field you wish to modify, by pressing the <Enter> key. If you want to blank out a field, move to that field and press the <Spacebar>. In order to change the customer number, however, you will need to add a new account first and then change the existing transactions to this account, see section 5b - "Changing Customer Numbers". Then, you may delete the old customer account number as described below. In order to change any other data, simply move your cursor or mouse to the field to be changed, type the new data over the old and then press <Enter>. Press <F10> and your new changes will be saved. If you decide not to make any changes, simply press the <Esc> key and your original data will be unchanged. DELETING AN ACCOUNT: From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Update Customer Accounts". To delete a customer account, the account must have a zero beginning balance and have no transactions entered against it. If transactions exist, you must first delete them before you can delete the customer account. To delete an account, move the cursor to the appropriate customer in the customer accounts window, using the arrow keys or mouse. Next, press the <F5> key. When you answer "Y" to the "Are you sure" prompt, the account is deleted. 2f - Entering Your Customer Accounts When you actually create your own customer accounts, it is important that you have an organized plan of account numbers. For example, you use the first six characters of the customers name as the account number. A more complex example would be if you want to "generate" transactions for groups (or ranges) of customer numbers. In this case, you will probably use either numbers or a combination of numbers and letters for the account number. In any case, some forethought now can save hours of time and frustration later when you need to change customer account numbers. Refer to section 2b - "Customer Accounts Organization" for details. NOTE: Whenever you are finished entering data into a field, press the <Enter> key to move the next input field. To move to the previous input field, press the <Backspace> key or <Up> arrow key. To add a customer, follow the steps below: 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Update Customer Accounts". The following window will appear: Figure 2-4 Add Account 2. Since you are creating a new customer accounts list, only a blank window will appear, asking for your first customer's information. Enter your customer information as outlined below. For more detailed instructions, refer to section 2e - "Adding/Modifying/Deleting Customers". Page 13 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 3. Enter your customer account number at the "Customer:" prompt. 4. At the "Active:" prompt, enter "Y" to make this new customer active. 5. At the next 6 prompts, enter your customer's mailing address. 6. At the "Phone:" prompt, enter your customer's telephone number. This field can be used for other information as well. 7. At the "Country:" prompt, if this customer is from a different country, enter that country name here. 8. The next 3 lines are an optional "Ship To" address. Enter this data, if needed. 9. The next prompt asks for the "Default G/L Account:" number. Enter the customer's default income account number here. To omit, enter zero (0). 10. At the "Sales Tax Percent:" prompt, enter the tax percentage you are charging this customer, so the program will automatically calculate the sales tax from your type "I" transactions. Enter zero (0) to skip. 11. Enter the "Due Days:" for this customer. 12. Enter the "Discount Days:", if any. 13. Enter the "Discount Pct:", if any. 14. To set a credit limit for this customer, enter the amount at the "Credit Limit:" prompt. 15. To charge the customer finance charges on past due amounts, enter the annual interest rate at the "Interest Pct:" prompt. 16. If this customer has a beginning balance, and you will not be entering it as a transaction, enter the beginning balance amount in the "Beginning Bal:" field. 17. Once you have answered the last prompt, press the <F10> function key to save your new input. You will then be returned to the top of the input screen to enter your next customer. Your first active customer is now added and will appear in the Customer Accounts window on the left side of the screen. To add additional accounts, see section 2e - "Adding/Modifying/Deleting Customers", above. To return to the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, press <Esc>. NOTE: Any time during your input, you may go to the previous input field by pressing the <Backspace> key or <Up> arrow key, to make any needed changes. You can also, at any time, press the <Esc> key to leave what you are currently working on, without your information being saved. To save your input when complete, press the <F10> function key. Page 14 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 2g - Setting Beginning Balances When setting up your Accounts Receivable customer beginning balances, you must be sure that you are in balance with your General Ledger. This is a vitally important procedure to remember when setting up your books. CHECK THE FOLLOWING: 1. All customer accounts should be set up with a zero beginning balance. 2. The General Ledger Accounts Receivable account should have a zero beginning balance. 3. No Accounts Receivable transactions should be posted to your General Ledger Accounts Receivable account. You may skip the following procedure ONLY IF all of the above three conditions are satisfied. IF ANY OF THE ABOVE THREE CONDITIONS ARE NOT SATISFIED, then you MUST follow the procedures listed below in order to ensure that your Accounts Receivable customer beginning balances are in balance with your General Ledger Accounts Receivable Account balance. The following first step is vitally important. 1. Enter all of your customers' beginning balances when setting up your customer accounts. Always use a positive number. When entering these beginning balances, be sure you know the applicable date of the beginning balance for each customer. Otherwise, you may enter an invoice for that customer that is dated prior to the beginning balance date. This would create an error in the customer's current balance. *** DO NOT ENTER ANY TRANSACTIONS YET *** 2. Print a Schedule of Receivables report (see section 4b - "General Instructions for Generating Reports") and confirm that your total receivables are correct. 3. Another option for entering beginning balances would be to enter them as a simple transaction for each customer. Refer to section 3b - "Entering Simple Transactions" for details. 4. In the General Ledger module, check that your Accounts Receivable account has a zero balance. If it does not, you must first delete the balance. We strongly suggest you print a Balance Sheet report for that time period and confirm that your Accounts Receivable account has a 0 (zero) balance. 5. Once you have confirmed that your balances are correct in both modules (i.e zero in the General Ledger module and current in the Accounts Receivable module), you should post your Accounts Receivable module transactions to the General Ledger module, so that both modules are in balance. From this point on, the General Ledger Accounts Receivable account will be updated by the Accounts Receivable module, whenever you post your entered bills or payments. When you are working in the General Ledger module, make sure you Page 15 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! do not enter any transactions that include the Accounts Receivable account. This account is exclusively for the Accounts Receivable module. In summary, the current balance in the General Ledger Accounts Receivable account should be the total amount owed to you by all of your customers. This amount should then be equal to the total beginning balances for all of your customers' accounts. If these two numbers are not equal, please check for these possibilities: 1. You have receivables, other than customer receivables, in your General Ledger Accounts Receivable account balance. This is solved by setting up two General Ledger Accounts Receivable accounts: one for your Accounts Receivable customer balances and one for other receivables. 2. You do not have all your customer accounts, and their beginning balances, entered in the Accounts Receivable module. 3. The beginning balances or current balances in the Accounts Receivable module are incorrect. Page 16 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! SECTION THREE - TRANSACTIONS A transaction is any event which will change your customer's account balance. Examples of transactions are a purchase by a customer on credit (type I), a payment on his account (type P), a merchandise return - credit to account (type C), a finance charge (type F), an additional charge to his account - debit to his account (type D) or just a description line (type M). More simply, anything involving a change in a customer's account balance is a transaction. Thus, anything your customer purchases with cash (i.e. no credit terms) is NOT an accounts receivable transaction and should NOT be entered into this module. Accounts Receivable has no limitation as to the amount of transactions you can enter. There is, however, one exception to cash transactions. If a customer who has an account with you purchases something with cash, that purchase may be entered into accounts-receivable, in order to show all purchases for this specific customer. In this case, you would enter two transactions: one for the purchase (type I) and the other for the immediate payment (type P). When entering transactions into TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS, you have two options: 1. "Input Transactions": Entering live transactions (i.e. transactions which affect a customers balance). 2. "Creating Recurring Transactions": Creating repetitive transactions that occur weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly. These transactions will not affect a customer's balance until they are activated. Transactions are described in detail in the following paragraph. Each transaction involves entering customer information as well as General Ledger account distribution information. Another time saving feature is that the Accounts Receivable module will automatically total your distributions and also create the appropriate off-setting General Ledger debit or credit amounts to your Accounts Receivable account, without you having to enter the Accounts Receivable account or track its balances. This off-setting total amount is the amount which is added (subtracted) from the customer's balance. Each of the transaction input fields has a default of the last data entered into that field. When entering repetitive data, this default will save you keystrokes. The next few sections will describe the different kinds of transactions, their data fields and how to enter the transactions. 3a - Transaction Data Fields This section provides a detailed description of each of the data fields you will work with while entering transactions. Immediately following the data field title will be the words "Required" or "Optional", indicating whether that field must be filled in or not. CUSTOMER: (Required) This is a valid six-digit, alpha-numeric customer number which was previously set up in Section Two - "Customer Accounts". Each time you enter a transaction for a specific customer, simply enter your customer number and the account number will appear next to the company name, or press the <F2> key for a pop-up customer account Page 17 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! listing. If you enter a customer account number that does not exist, the Accounts Receivable program will automatically prompt you with "Invalid Customer, Add Account?". Here you have the option to add a new customer on the fly. Refer to section 2e - "Adding/Modifying/Deleting Customers" for more detail. TRAN TYPE: (Required) Enter here the one character type code for this transaction. Valid types are as follows: I = Invoice (a customer purchase) P = Payment on account C = Credit to account (reduction of customer balance) D = Debit to account (increase of customer balance) F = Finance charge M = Memo transaction (description only) NOTE: Generally, you will be using type "I" (invoice) transactions, when you make a sale to a customer. A type "P" (payment) transaction is used when you have received payment for the invoice/bill. Whenever you enter a type "M" (memo) transaction for an invoice, make sure it is not the first transaction for that particular invoice number, otherwise your due will be the due date of the memo transaction. See section 3h - "Points to Remember", for more information. ITEM DATE: (Required) Enter the date of this transaction (when did the customer make the purchase, payment, etc.). NOTE: The default date mask is set to mm-dd-yy. To change this format, refer to the Getting Started User's Manual, section 4d - "Setting the System Configuration", "Date Mask". DUE DATE: (Required) This is the date the payment is due for this transaction. This field only applies to type I (invoice) transactions and can be overridden. The number you entered in the "Due Days:" field when creating your customer accounts is used with the "Item Date:", above, to calculate this date. The calculated date will default to this field and can be changed by simply entering a new date. DISC %: (Optional) This is the percentage of discount your customer may take if payment is sent by the discount date, below. The default is the number you entered when creating this customer's account, but may be overridden or blanked out by pressing the <Spacebar>. DISC DATE: (Required) This is the date by which your customer must send payment and be able to take a discount of the total invoice. The number you entered in the "Discount Days:" field when creating this customer's account is used with the "Item Date:", above, to calculate this date. The calculated date will default to this field and can be changed by simply entering a new date. INVOICE: (Optional) Enter the invoice number for this transaction here. You can have the program automatically increment the invoice number for you by simply pressing the <+> key, then the <Enter> key. Page 18 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! This feature will increment from the last entered invoice number. This field is very important, as the Accounts Receivable module uses the invoice numbers for grouping transactions for invoice printing, aging and payment history information. When entering payments, it is important that the same original invoice number be used, otherwise the payment will not be tied to the correct invoice. REFERENCE: (Optional) Enter a reference number for this transaction here (e.g: your account number with this vendor). TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION: (Optional) This is the overall description for this entire transaction. Only this description will show on your customer statements and invoices. DISTRIBUTION: This field is your way of telling the program if/when you are done entering transaction distributions (parts). When first entering a transaction, pressing the <Enter> key will change the "<Enter>" part of the "DISTRIBUTION:_<Enter>" prompt to "<F10>Done" and move the cursor to the first distribution line (Pt 1). Whenever the cursor returns to this field, you have the option of pressing <Enter> to continue entering parts to this transaction or pressing <F10> to tell the program you are done entering this transaction. This field will be covered in more detail in the next two sections and will quickly become easy to understand and use. DEPT: (Optional) The department code is a user-modifiable four-digit alpha-numeric code, used to mark transactions (or parts of a transaction) as belonging to a specific group of transactions. For example, you have two departments ("A" and "B") in your business and you want to keep their transactions separate from one another. By entering "A" in this field for all of department A transactions or "B" for all department B trans- actions, you will mark the transactions accordingly. Later, you will be able to generate reports that include only department A transactions, department B transactions or both departments' transactions. DESCRIPTION: (Optional) Here you can enter a description for each part of the transaction. The default will be the "Transaction Description", above. You have the options of leaving it as is by pressing <Enter>, changing it by simply entering a different description and pressing <Enter> or blanking it out by pressing first the <Spacebar> and then <Enter>. This description will not show on your customer invoices or statements. It is used as the description of the current General Ledger distribution and will appear on all reports that have a debit and credit listed. ACCT: (Required) Enter your General Ledger account number here. This is always an income account number for type "I" transactions (credit side) and usually a cash or checking account number for type "P" transactions (debit side). This account will be either debited or credited depending into which field (debit or credit) an amount is entered. If "Auto Pop-up" in your System Configuration is set to "N", press the <F2> key to receive a listing of your General Ledger Chart of Accounts. Also, you can quickly add a new General Ledger account by entering a new account number and pressing <Enter>. Page 19 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! DEBIT: (Required) Enter your debit amount here. (This amount is going to the account entered in the "ACCT" field above.) CREDIT: (Required) Enter your credit amount here. (This amount is coming from the account entered in the "Acct" field above.) SALES TAX: (Optional) Here you can enter the sales tax amount (if any) for your transaction. If you entered a figure in the "Sales Tax Percent:" field when creating your customer's account, the sales tax amount will be automatically calculated for you. This amount may be changed by simply entering a new amount or blanked out by pressing the <Spacebar>. TRANSACTION TOTAL: This is the total amount to be either added to or subtracted from the customer's balance. It is not an input field. It is a computer calculated field of all the distributions entered above. For type "I" and "D" transactions, this amount will be debited to your Accounts Receivable account identified in the Accounts Receivable configuration. For type "C" and "P" transactions, this amount will be credited to the Accounts Receivable account. 3b - Entering Simple Transactions Each transaction involves the debiting of one account and the crediting of another account. If you are new to double-entry bookkeeping, you may wish to review Section Seven - "Basic Accounting Principles" in the Getting Started User's Manual. If you prefer, you may refer to the transactions in the "SAMPLE" files, and use them for reference. As you enter each of your transactions, TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS will check to ensure they are in balance (i.e. Debit amounts = Credit amounts). If your accounts in Accounts Receivable have been set up in balance, TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS will always keep them in balance. To enter a simple transaction, follow these steps: 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Transactions Menu". The following screen will appear: Figure 3-1 Accounts Receivable Transactions Menu 2. From the Accounts Receivable Transactions Menu, select "Input Transactions". The following screen will appear: Figure 3-2 Add Transaction The transaction below will simulate the purchase of software on credit terms. NOTE: Press <Esc> to abort the entry of any transaction at any time. 3. CUSTOMER: Enter the customer number for this transaction by entering the appropriate customer number. For example, if the customer number is "ABC OF", simply enter "ABC OF" immediately after the prompt. If you are unsure about the customer account number, press the <F2> key for a pop-up Page 20 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! customer listing, then press <Enter> when the correct customer number has been selected. If the customer number does not exist, the system will notify you and ask if you would like to add that customer. At that prompt, if you would like to add a new customer, press <Y> and follow the instructions in section 2e - "Adding/Modifying/Deleting Customers". If you answer "N", you will be returned to the Accounts Receivable Main Menu. 4. TRAN TYPE: Enter the type code of this transaction here, (I, P, C, D, M) as described in section 3a - "Transaction Data Fields". This example is a type "I" transaction. 5. ITEM DATE: Enter the transaction date here (e.g: 05-31-90). 6. DUE DATE: The system assumes zero due days for all transactions except type "I". If the transaction code is not type "I", this field will be skipped; otherwise, enter the due date here (e.g: 06-14-90). The default due date is calculated based on the data you entered when creating this customer's account. 7. DISC %: If your customer is allowed a discount for prompt payment of this transaction, enter the percentage here (e.g: 2.0 for 2.0%). The default percentage will be the discount percentage entered in the customer's account. For no discount, enter zero. 8. DISC DATE: Enter the discount date for this transaction here (e.g: 06-05- 90). The default will be the number of days entered in the "Discount Days:" field of the customer's account added to the "Item Date:", above. Press <Enter> to accept the default. The program will auto- matically enter a zero for all transactions other than type "I". 9. INVOICE: Enter your customer's invoice number (i.e. 901001). This should be a unique number. For automatic invoice number incrementing, first press the <+> key, then <Enter>. Your invoice number will be auto- matically incremented from the last used invoice number. This will work with numeric invoice numbers only, having no hyphens, letters or spaces. 10.REFERENCE: Enter your customer's reference number here (e.g: T0010). You can enter up to 10 characters. 11.TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION: Enter a description (up to 30 characters in length) for the entire transaction here. 12.DISTRIBUTION: Press <Enter> to begin the distribution of this transaction to your General Ledger accounts. 13.DEPT: If you are using department codes, enter a code for this transaction here (e.g: R&D, for research and development), otherwise press <Enter> to move to the next field. 14.DESCRIPTION: Enter the description for this part of this transaction distribution here. The system will default to the "Transaction Description" entered above. To change it, simply begin typing (e.g: Software). You can enter up to 10 characters. Page 21 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 15.ACCT: Select a General Ledger account number for this part of the distribution. For type "I" transactions, this will always be an income account. For type "P" transactions, this will usually be a cash or checking account number. (In this example, we used account 4010, an income account.) NOTE: In the following "DEBIT:" and "CREDIT:" fields, be sure you enter only one amount, in either the debit or credit amount field. The Accounts Receivable module will automatically generate the appropriate off setting account balance. 16.DEBIT: If not a type "I" transaction, enter the debit amount here, pressing <Enter> when done. To skip this field, press <Enter>. All type "I" transactions will automatically skip over this field. 17.CREDIT: Enter the credit amount here, pressing <Enter> when done. In this example, "49.95" was entered. NOTE: When you press the <Enter> key, after entering the amount in either of the above two fields, you will automatically exit the Distribution area and be at the Sales Tax field. If you have more than one distribution (debit or credit), see section 3c - "Entering Multiple-Part Transactions". 18.SALES TAX: Enter the tax amount, if any, here (e.g: 2.75 in this example). For type "I" transactions, this amount will be automatically calculated for you, based on the percentage you entered when creating the customer's account. Press <Enter> to accept the amount. 19.TRANSACTION TOTAL: This amount is automatically calculated based on the type of transaction and the total sum of your distribution amounts. 20.At the "Inputs Correct(Y/N):" prompt, do either of the following: A. Press "Y" (yes) if the transaction is correct. You have now finished entering your transaction and it is saved to the disk. The cursor will return to the customer number input field, ready for the next transaction. The defaults in the fields of the next transaction will be the same data that you entered in your last transaction, thus saving you key strokes. B. Press "N" (no) if the transaction is incorrect. You will then be allowed to make necessary changes. Press <F10> when done. Technically, the Accounts Receivable module automatically created the other half of your double-entry accounting transaction by using the data you entered in the Accounts Receivable configuration, thus completing your double-entry accounting transaction. To see the effect of this, print a Transaction Journal report (refer to section 4b - "General Instructions for Generating Reports") and analyze the debits and credits. At any time, you can quit entering transactions and return to the menu prompt by pressing <Esc>. To receive help anywhere in the program, simply press the <F1> key. Page 22 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 3c - Entering Multiple-Part Transactions Most transactions will have only one debit and one credit. However, there are some instances when there are several credits and/or debits in a single transaction. TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS lets you make multiple credit and/or debit entries, allowing up to 24 transaction distribution parts on the credit and debit side for each transaction. Multiple-part transactions are entered just like any other transaction, except there is more than one distribution. Follow the example outlined below to enter a multiple debit/credit distribution transaction. Using the example in 3b, above, we will add the purchase of a computer to the software purchase. The software costs $49.95, the computer costs $1000.00 and the sales tax will be $57.75; making the total purchase $1107.70. This multiple-part transaction would be entered as follows: 1. Follow steps 1 - 17 in section 3b - "Entering Simple Transactions", above. Your screen should appear as Figure 3-3, below. Figure 3-3 Multiple-part Transaction 2. You will now be at the sales tax input field. Press the <Up> arrow key (this will move the cursor to the "Distribution:" prompt), then press <Enter>. After pressing <Enter> you will be on the next available (blank) distribution line (in this case, Pt 2). 3. Follow steps 13 - 17 in section 3b - "Entering Simple Transactions", above, entering the information for the computer on the second line. 4. After entering the credit amount of $1000.00, you will be automatically placed on the third line of distribution input. If you had more debits or credits to enter, you would do so now. You are now finished with this example. Leave the distribution input fields by pressing <F10>. The cursor will re-position to the sales tax field. 5. Follow steps 18 - 20 in section 3b - "Entering Simple Transactions", above, to complete your transaction. It is recommended that you enter a few practice multiple-part transactions, using the "SAMPLE" data file, in order to familiarize yourself with this powerful type of transaction entry. 3d - Changing/Deleting Transactions If you discover that a transaction was entered incorrectly or should not have been entered at all, TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS allows you to correct or delete that incorrect entry. Follow the steps below to modify or delete a previously entered transaction: 1. From the Accounts Receivable Transactions Menu, select "Change/Delete Transactions". The following screen will appear: Figure 3-4 Transaction Search Parameters Page 23 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 2. TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS is prompting you for transaction search parameters. Enter any appropriate search data here (e.g. description). It is not necessary to enter data in every field. You can simply enter one description of the transaction and TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS will search for any transactions with this description (e.g: Computer). Once you have entered your search data, press <F10> to start the search. NOTE: Leaving all fields blank will search/find all transactions in the order in which they are currently sorted. If you remember the invoice number, enter it in the "Invoice" field and press the <F10> key to initiate the search. To search by date, enter the date of the transaction to display all transactions with that date. A "Search Match" screen will then appear, displaying the transaction. The bottom of this window will display: Modify/Delete/Search/Reverse/Begin/End/+/-/Quit: 3. Select one of the following: M = Modify transaction shown. D = Delete transaction shown. S = Find (search) next transaction which matches search. R = Find (reverse) prior transaction which matches search. B = Go to (beginning) first transaction in file. E = Go to (end) last transaction in file. + = Go to next consecutive transaction. - = Go to prior consecutive transaction. Q = Quit transaction search. 4. As long as you continue to answer the above prompt with "S" (default), TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS will search for all transactions containing the values you have specified. "R" does the same thing as "S", except it searches in reverse order. 5. To MODIFY a transaction, press "M" (Modify) to get into the modify mode. Enter the correct information in the appropriate field(s) or press <Enter> to leave a field unchanged. Use the <Backspace> or "Shift-Tab" keys to go to a previous field. Pressing <Esc> will ignore any changes and take you back to a new parameter search. Your new entries will be saved only after you press the <F10> key. 6. To DELETE a transaction, press "D" (Delete) and answer the "Transaction has 2 parts, Delete OK?[N]:" prompt with "Y". The transaction is now deleted. Press <Esc> to go to a new parameter search. Press <Esc> again to return to the Accounts Receivable Transaction Menu. Page 24 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! NOTE: If you are deleting a multiple part transaction, the delete prompt in step 6, above, will display how many parts are in that transaction. Most transactions will have only 1 or 2 parts. 3e - Create Recurring Transactions Recurring transactions are designed for those who have consistent entries (e.g: invoices, bills or dues) on a weekly (W), biweekly (B), semi-monthly (S) or monthly (M) basis and do not want to enter the corresponding transaction each time. These transactions are not immediately active and, therefore, will not affect the customer's balance until they are "Activated". Refer to section 3g - "Activate Recurring Transactions" for instructions on that procedure. To enter a recurring transaction, follow the steps below: 1. From the Accounts Receivable Transaction Menu, select "Create Recurring Transactions". The following screen will appear: Figure 3-5 Add Recurring Transaction 2. At the "Customer:" prompt, enter your customer number. If you do not remember it, simply press the <F2> key and your customer account listing will appear. Press <Enter> to continue. 3. At the "Frequency(W,B,S,M):" prompt, enter one of four options: W - weekly, B - biweekly, S - semi-monthly or M - monthly. The default is "M" (monthly). Enter your selection, or press <Enter> to accept the default, to continue to the next input field. 4. At the "Tran Type:" prompt, you would normally use only type "I" for Invoice transaction, since the purpose of recurring transactions is to eliminate the need to reenter the same transaction (e.g: invoices for dues or bills) each time it is needed. However, you can use any of the other type codes as well. 5. The date fields can be any date, since they are usually changed when the transaction is activated. 6. The invoice number should be left blank. It can be filled in when the transaction is activated. 7. Complete the remaining transaction entries as described in section 3b - "Entering Simple Transactions". 8. When the transaction is complete, press <F10> to save the transaction. Then press <Esc> to return to the Accounts Receivable Transaction Menu. You have now created a recurring entry; however, it will not be usable until it is activated. See section 3g - "Activate Recurring Transactions". Page 25 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 3f - Modify/Delete Recurring Transactions If you have entered a recurring transaction incorrectly, need to make a change to the data, or no longer wish to keep it; you may change or delete that entry at any time. To change or delete a recurring entry, follow these steps: 1. From the Accounts Receivable Transaction Menu, select "Modify/Delete Recurring Trans". 2. Follow steps 2 - 6 in section 3d - "Changing/Deleting Transactions" to modify or delete your recurring transactions. 3. There is one additional input field in the search parameters. At the "Frequency (W,B,S,M):" prompt, enter one of the following: W - weekly, B - biweekly, S - semi-monthly or M - monthly. This allows you to search by one of the above frequencies. Leaving this field blank allows a search of all frequencies. 4. After your changes or deletions, press the <F10> key to save your new recurring transaction. Answer "Y" (yes) at the "Inputs Correct/N:" prompt. You will then be returned to the top of the input screen to continue with your next recurring transaction. Pressing <Esc> will abort your current activity, without saving it, and return you to the previous menu. 3g - Activate Recurring Transactions Once you have entered a recurring transaction, it does not become a live transaction until it is activated. When activated, the system will generate a live transaction based on the information entered in section 3e - "Create Recurring Transactions". The following steps explain how to activate a recurring transaction. 1. From the Accounts Receivable Transaction Menu, select "Activate Recurring Transactions". The following screen will appear: Figure 3-6 Select Activate Frequency 2. Enter the frequency of the recurring transactions you would like to activate. 3. The screen will then display, one at a time, every recurring transactions with that frequency. In the small "Activate Recurring" window, the following prompt appears: Activate/Next/Quit: 4. When you find the entry you wish to activate, press "A" (activate). The screen will then display the transaction, allowing you to enter additional data or make changes, as described in section 3d - "Changing/Deleting Transactions". When the transaction data is correct, press <F10>. At the "Inputs Correct(Y/N):" prompt, press "Y" and your transaction will be saved and added as a live transaction. Page 26 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! If there are more recurring transactions with the same frequency, they will be displayed, one at a time. To skip the activation of any particular entry, press "N" (Next) and the next recurring transaction, with the same frequency, will be displayed. 3h - Points to Remember 1. When entering transactions into this module, you are basically entering transactions with debits and credits, just like you do when entering transactions into the General Ledger module. All of the debits and credits you enter here will, eventually, be posted to the General Ledger, just as if you had entered them into the General Ledger yourself. Posting these transactions to the General Ledger is performed while in the General Ledger module. See section 6d - "Post Other Modules to the G/L" in the General Ledger and Accounts Reconciliation User's Manual. The only difference between entering transactions in the General Ledger and in the Accounts Receivable module is that this module will keep detailed information on each customer, including paying habits and current and past balances. NOTE: Any transactions entered into this module should NOT be entered in to the General Ledger. They will be placed there when you post. 2. Receivable aging is tracked by the combination of customer number and invoice number. It is very important that each sale be given a unique invoice number and that all customer payments are coded with the original purchase invoice number. If these methods are not used, the system will operate without error; however, your aging and invoices will not reflect payments tied to a specific invoice, but rather the date of the payment. 3. There are five different types of transactions. A brief description of each, as well as typical debits and credits, follows: GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTS DESCRIPTION TYPE DEBIT ACCOUNT CREDIT ACCOUNT Customer Purchase I Accts Receivable Sales Income (System selected) (Accrued income) Customer Payment P Cash/Checking Accts Receivable (Deposit) (System selected) Misc Debit to Account D Accts Receivable Any Account (A check from a customer is (System selected) (Checking) returned, credit your checking account.) Misc Credit to Account C Any Account Accts Receivable (A customer returned an item, (Sales returns) (System selected) you would debit your sales returns.) Finance Charge F Accts Receivable Finance Chg Income Memo Transaction M N/A N/A (Transaction to enter an extra description.) Page 27 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! SECTION FOUR - REPORTS The Accounts Receivable Reports Menu allows you to generate a full range of financial reports from your receivables database. Reports can be generated to show financial information for a day, month, quarter or year. This section will explain how reports can be created to help you get optimum results from your TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS program. 4a - Explanation of Reports Each of the twelve reports available from the Accounts Receivable module can be sent to your monitor's screen for immediate viewing, to your printer for hard copy, to a disk drive for later retrieval or can be imported into a database program for customization. Various parameters can be specified to give you the specific report you want. Some reports can be generated in a cumulative format for the dates specified and one report can be generated in either a trended or month-by-month format. Each of the available reports are described below. All reports can be printed at any time and as many times as necessary. Samples of these reports are shown in Appendix A and can be printed while using the "SAMPLE" account. Receivable Journal - This report lists all of the transactions which took place during a specific date range. You can select any one or all of the different types of transactions. Recurring Transactions - This report lists all of your recurring trans- actions. You can select any one or all of the different recurring frequencies. Schedule of Receivables - This report lists all unpaid customer balances within a specified date range. This report can be generated in either a cumulative or trended format. Receivables Aging - This report shows all customer balances with current, 1-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days and 91+ days past due balances, as of a specific date. Customer Account History - This report shows all the past transaction activity (history) for one account or a range of customer accounts within a specified date range. This report can be generated to include one or more than one customer account per page. Customer Statements - This report provides a monthly customer statement that is usually sent to your customers. It can be printed on pre-printed forms (Deluxe form #091377) or blank paper. Customer Invoices - This "report" provides a listing showing one or a specified range of invoice numbered transactions for one or a specified range of customers. Like statements, it can be printed on blank paper or pre-printed forms. There are two styles of pre-printed forms available. See section 5i - "A/R Configuration Settings" and Appendix A for styles and samples. The Deluxe form numbers are #091300 (new style) and #091398 (old style). Page 28 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! Credit Limit Report - This report lists each customer, their open balance, their credit limit and available credit as of a specified date. Customer Listing - This report lists all of the information in each customer account for all your customers. It can be printed in customer name, customer number or zip code order. Address Labels - This "report" provides mailing labels for one or a specified group of customers. The labels can be printed in customer name, customer number or zip code order and you can specify the number of lines per label. Non-Posted Transaction Journal - This report lists all of the transactions which have not yet been posted to the General Ledger module. G/L Distribution Report - This report lists all the receivable transactions that have been posted to the General Ledger module within a specified date range. The report provides account numbers, account names, debit and credit amounts and a total for the debits and credits, in account number order. 4b - General Instructions for Generating Reports To generate any report, do the following: 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". The following screen appears: Figure 4-1 Accounts Receivable Reports Menu 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select the report you want to generate (e.g: Receivable Journal). This example will print the Receivable Journal report. Other reports are covered later in this section. 4c - Receivable Journal Report Figure 4-2 Receivable Journal Input Screen 1. As stated earlier, you can send any of the reports to your monitor's screen (S), to a printer (P), or to a disk drive (D) where the report will be stored as a disk file with its own filename. NOTE: If you try to send a report to a printer and do not have a printer, you will receive an error message. The first prompt on all of the report input screens is the destination prompt. It appears as follows: Screen,Printer,Disk(S,P,D): Entering an "S" for screen or a "P" for printer will send the report to the screen or printer, respectively. If you enter a "D" for disk, the system will prompt you for a disk filename. You can enter any name you wish, following the DOS naming conventions. The report will Page 29 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! then be saved on the default disk drive with the filename you entered, followed by a filename extension of ".RPT". If you enter a filename that already exists, the system will ask if you want to delete the old file. Answering "Y" will replace the existing report with the new report. Answering "N" will append (add on) the new report to the already existing report. The disk file is created in ASCII format, thereby allowing it to be imported into a word processor, spreadsheet or database for customized reports. At the "Screen,Printer,Disk(S,P,D):" prompt, enter the letter for the destination of your report. (For this example, enter the letter "S".) 2. For some reports, you will need to specify a date range. The date- prompt format will be the format specified in the System Configuration Settings. Refer to section 4d - "Setting the System Configuration" in the Getting Started User's Manual. The date prompt appears as follows: Starting Date: 05-01-90 Ending Date: 05-31-90 These dates determine the starting and ending date for the report and are included in the heading of the report. The date range can be as short as one day. NOTE: The ending date can never be more than one year after the starting date (e.g: starting date as 05-01-90 and ending date as 04-30-91). 3. The last prompt, "Type of Transactions:" allows you to select the transaction types you would like included in this report. Valid types are A, I, D, C, F and M. These types are the same as those used when entering transactions, with the exception of "A". Entering "A" will select all types of transactions. After entering the type of transaction, the report will be sent to the screen. The following discusses the other report selection input screens. Any prompts already discussed will not be covered in detail. 4d - Recurring Transactions Report 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Recurring Transactions". The following screen appears: Figure 4-3 Recurring Transactions Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination for your report. Page 30 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! B. At the recurring frequency prompt, select the frequency type for this report using one of the following codes: A = All frequencies M = Monthly S = Semi-monthly B = Bi-weekly W = Weekly The report will be generated. 4e - Schedule of Receivables 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Schedule of Receivables". The following screen appears: Figure 4-4 Schedule of Receivables Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Enter the date range (as discussed above) for this report. C. At the "Trended Report:" prompt, enter either: "N" (the default) to get a cumulative (one column) report OR "Y" to get a trended (a multiple month, spreadsheet type) report. See Appendix A for samples of both styles of reports. 4f - Receivables Aging Report 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Receivable Aging". The following screen appears: Figure 4-5 Receivables Aging Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Enter the report date at the "As of Date:" prompt. This date usually is the current date. Transactions which have a future date will not be shown on this report. Note: The Receivable Aging report is determined by the due date of the transactions. Payments are either applied to specific invoices (if marked as such by user) or by using the payment date if no matching invoice number is found. Page 31 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 4g - Customer Account History Report 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Customer Account History". The following screen appears: Figure 4-6 Customer Account History Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Next, enter the date range (as discussed above) for this report. C. At the "Accounts on separate pages:" prompt, enter either: "N" (the default) if you want to save paper and put as many customers on a page as room permits OR "Y" if you want each customer to print on a separate page. D. Lastly, select a customer account number range for this report. Enter both the starting and ending customer number. The Customer Account History report for all customers within this range will then be generated. 4h - Customer Statements 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Customer Statements". The following screen appears: Figure 4-7 Customer Statements Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Next, enter the date range (as discussed above) for this report. C. Lastly, select your customer account number range for this report. Enter both your starting and ending customer numbers. Separate statements for each customer within this range will be printed. D. If you have your Accounts Receivable configuration settings set for pre-printed forms (see section 5i - "A/R Configuration Settings") you will be prompted: Print Statement Lineup[N]: Answer "Y" as many times as needed to line up the forms in your printer. Answer "N" when you are ready to print the statements. Page 32 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 4i - Customer Invoices 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Customer Invoices". The following screen appears: Figure 4-8 Customer Invoices Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Next, select the invoice number range. Enter both the starting and ending invoice number. C. Lastly, select a customer account number range for this report. Enter both your starting and ending customer numbers. Invoices for all customers within this range will be generated. D. If you have your Accounts Receivable configuration settings set for pre-printed forms (see section 5i - "A/R Configuration Settings") you will be prompted: Print Invoice Lineup[N]: Answer "Y" as many times as needed to line up the forms in your printer. Answer "N" when you are ready to print the invoices. 4j - Credit Limit Report 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Credit Limit Report". The following screen appears: Figure 4-9 Credit Limit Report Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Next, enter the report date at the "As of Date:" prompt. This date is usually the current date. Transactions which have a future date will not be shown on this report. The report will be generated. 4k - Customer Listing Report 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Customer Listing". The following screen appears: Figure 4-10 Customer Listing Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Next, enter the sort order for this report. Options are "A" (Account Number order), "N" (Name order) or "Z" (Zip code order). The report will be generated. Page 33 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 4l - Address Labels 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Address Labels". The following screen appears: Figure 4-11 Address Labels Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Then, enter the sort order for this report. Options are "A" (Account Number order), "N" (Name order) or "Z" (Zip code order). C. Next, enter the number of printer lines for label spacing. Small 15/16" tall labels allow for 6 lines per label. To calculate, measure from the top of one label to the top of the next label. Then divide that spacing by the number of lines per inch your printer is set to print. The result is how many lines per label you can print. D. Last, select your customer account number range for this report. Enter both your starting and ending customer numbers. Labels for all customers within this range will be generated. 4m - Non-Posted Transaction Journal Report 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "Non-Posted Transaction Journal". The following screen appears: Figure 4-12 Non-Posted Transaction Journal Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Next, enter the type of transactions you would like included in this report (per explanation above). The report will be generated. 4n - G/L Distribution Report 1. From the Accounts Receivable Main Menu, select "Reports Menu". 2. From the Accounts Receivable Reports Menu, select "G/L Distribution Report". The following screen appears: Figure 4-13 G/L Distribution Report Input Screen A. At the destination prompt, select the destination of the report. B. Next, enter the date range (as discussed above) for this report. The report will be generated. In conclusion, if you are unfamiliar with any of these reports, try printing reports using the "SAMPLE" accounts, as well as referencing Appendix A for samples of these reports. Doing so will give you an idea of how the reports look and how they might be used. Page 34 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! SECTION FIVE - UTILITIES The Accounts Receivable Utility Menu contains nine important menu items, each of which are covered in detail below. To access the Accounts Receivable Utility Menu, select "A/R Utility Menu" from the Accounts Receivable Main Menu. The following menu will appear: Figure 5-1 Accounts Receivable Utility Menu 5a - Sort Transactions TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS stores your transactions and checks in the order in which they are entered. This Sort Transactions function allows the user to choose the manner in which transactions are sorted. You can sort as often or as little as you want, as the sort order does not affect the operation of TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS. If you have deleted transactions, sorting your data file can free disk space that was previously occupied by the now-deleted trans- actions. When printing some reports, the sort transactions is automatically performed. To sort your transactions, do the following: 1. From the Accounts Receivable Utilities Menu, select "Sort Transactions". The following menu appears: Figure 5-2 Sort Transactions 2. From the "Select Sort Order" menu, select one of the four sort options, as shown above. Your transactions will then be sorted automatically. If you have more transactions than the memory can hold, the default disk drive will be used to store a temporary file while sorting transactions. It is important to remember that the default disk drive must have adequate free disk space. If there is not, the sort will be aborted and the transaction file will remain unchanged. If you have deleted some transactions since the last sort, you will be prompted with: Free disk space used by deleted transactions[N]: If you answer this prompt with "Y", the deleted transactions will be physically removed from the transaction file and disk space will be recovered. Your answer to this prompt will not affect your reports or customer balances. It is only provided for users who need to recover disk space used by deleted transactions. 5b - Changing Customer Numbers This powerful utility allows you to change the customer account number for every existing transaction for a specific customer. It can be thought of as a "global replace" feature. For example, if you want to change the customer number "HOOP" to "HOOPER"; you would first create the new customer account (HOOPER) and then run this utility to change all the transactions that have customer number "HOOP" to the new account "HOOPER". Page 35 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! NOTE: Since this is an advanced feature, we do not recommend its use by those new to TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS. It is very important to make a complete backup copy of your data files prior to running this utility. Should something go wrong (e.g: power failure), it will be easier to recover if you have an original copy of the data files. Please refer to section 4g - "Backing Up Data Files" in the Getting Started User's Manual. To change a customer number, do the following: 1. From the Accounts Receivable Utility Menu, select "Change Customer # for Trans". The following screen appears: Figure 5-3 Change Customer Numbers 2. At the "Old Customer:" prompt, enter the customer number you wish to change or delete, then press <Enter>. 3. At the "New Customer:" prompt, enter the new customer number and press <Enter>. Make sure you have already created your new customer account. Once all transactions are transferred from your old customer to your new customer, the cursor will return to the Accounts Receivable Utility Menu. NOTE: At either of the above two prompts, you can press <F2> for a pop-up customer number list. 5c - Calculating Finance Charges This function is a real time saver for those who charge customers a finance charge on past due account balances. The system will calculate each customer's open balance due as of the date selected. By using this balance, the system will automatically generate a finance charge transaction for all "past due customers". This finance charge will appear on the customer statement as a type "F" transaction. You may review all generated finance charges by printing a Receivable Journal for the same month. Select type "F" transactions to show only the finance charge transactions. You can change or delete any finance charge by following the steps in section 3d - "Changing/Deleting Transactions". To find and change these finance charge transactions, simply enter the date of the finance charges and enter "F" for transaction type. All finance charge transactions will then be displayed, one at a time, for your perusal. You may generate finance charges at any time and as many times as you want to. In order to prevent charging your customers duplicate or incorrect finance charges, we strongly recommend that you only run this procedure once a month, usually on the last day of the month, after all transactions and payments for that month have been entered. This will ensure that your customer balances are up to date as of the end of the month. To generate finance charges, select "Calculate Finance Charges" from the Accounts Receivable Utility Menu. The following screen will then appear: Figure 5-4 Finance Charges Page 36 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! Enter your finance charge date here. This date will be used both to determine past due accounts (balances due before this date) and as the transaction date of the finance charges. After entering this date, the system will calculate accounts and generate the finance charges. Customers who are being assessed finance charges will be shown on the screen along with the amount past due and the finance charge amount. 5d - Generate Global Transactions The Generate Global Transactions utility is another very powerful and timesaving feature. This function is used to generate identical transactions for more than one customer at the same time, without the need to enter each one individually. This feature will only work on "Active" customers. To generate this type of transaction, select "Generate Global Transactions" from the Accounts Receivable Utility Menu. The following screen will appear: Figure 5-5 Global Transactions 1. At the "Global Tran Date:" prompt, enter the date for the transactions. 2. Next, enter the "Description:" for these transactions. 3. At the "Income Account:" prompt, select the General Ledger income account to be credited. There are no options for debiting accounts in global transactions, as the type of account defaults to the transaction type "I" for invoices. 4. Enter the amount of the transaction at the "Amount:" prompt. 5. Lastly, enter your "Customer Starting:" and "Ending:" account numbers to establish the range for these transactions. TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS will generate your transactions. The due date, discount date and discount percent will default to each customer's account configuration settings. 5e - Import A/R Transaction File This import function is a very advanced feature used primarily by expert users. It allows you to import ASCII text files into your Accounts Receivable transaction file. To do this, you must first create an ASCII text file to import. This file must contain fixed-length records, with one record per line. The filename may be any name; however, the filename extension must be ".TXT". The record layout for the ASCII import file is as follows: Page 37 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! Field Name Start Length Mask Date 1 8 User defined in configuration Customer # 9 6 Text/Number Tran Type 15 1 I, P, F, D, C, M Due Date 16 8 User defined in configuration Discount % 24 6 ##.### Disc Date 30 8 User defined in configuration Invoice # 38 10 Text Reference # 48 10 Text Department 58 4 Text Description 62 30 Text G/L Account 92 6 1-999999 Debit/Credit Type 98 1 D, C Amount 99 11 ########.## Posted Flag 110 1 Y, N On a technical note, each part of the transaction should be a separate record. The sum of debit type and credit type records must match within 23 records. The system looks for "debits=credits" to determine the end of one transaction and the beginning of the next. If this event does not happen within 23 records, errors in the imported transactions will result. To import an ASCII text file into Accounts Receivables, do the following: 1. Copy into your TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS data file directory the ASCII text file to be imported. 2. From the Accounts Receivable Utility Menu, select "Import A/R Transaction file". 3. At the "Import File Name:" prompt, enter the name of the ASCII text file to be imported, then press <Enter>. Notice the filename extension of ".TXT" is already included. When the import is complete, you will be returned to the Accounts Receivable Utility Menu. 5f - Export A/R Transaction File This export function is a very advanced feature used primarily by expert users. It allows you to export ASCII text files from your Accounts Receivable transaction file. Page 38 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! The record layout for the exported ASCII file is as follows: Field Name Start Length Mask Date 1 8 User defined in configuration Customer # 9 6 Text/Number Tran Type 15 1 I, P, F, D, C, M Due Date 16 8 User defined in configuration Discount % 24 6 ##.### Disc Date 30 8 User defined in configuration Invoice # 38 10 Text Reference # 48 10 Text Department 58 4 Text Description 62 30 Text G/L Account 92 6 1-999999 Debit/Credit Type 98 1 D, C Amount 99 11 ########.## Posted Flag 110 1 Y, N On a technical note, each part of the transaction will be a separate record. To export your transaction file, do the following: 1. From the Accounts Receivable Utility Menu, select "Export A/R Transaction file". 2. At the "Export File Name:" prompt, enter the name of the ASCII text file to be exported, then press <Enter>. Notice the filename extension of ".TXT" is already included. 3. Next, enter the date range of the transactions to be exported. Enter "Starting Date:" and "Ending Date:" and all transactions within this date range will be exported. When the export is complete, you will be returned to the Utility Menu. 5g - A/R Configuration Settings The configuration settings allow you to configure this module to your specific company's forms to be used and to the specific General Ledger account numbers. This configuration is very important to your transactions, statements, invoices and interface account numbers. To set up your configuration, select "A/R Configuration Settings" from the Accounts Receivable Utilities Menu. The following window will appear: Figure 5-6 Configuration Settings 1. Enter your company name and address at the "Company:" and "Address:" prompts. (Optional) 2. At the "Accounts Receivable Account:" prompt, enter your General Ledger Accounts Receivable asset account number. (Required) Page 40 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! 3. At the "Finance Charge Account:" prompt, enter your General Ledger Finance Charge income account number. Enter zero (0) to skip. (Optional) 4. At the "G/L Sales Tax Account:" prompt, enter your General Ledger Sales Tax liability account number. Enter zero (0) to skip. (Optional) 5. Next, if you are using pre-printed statements and invoices, enter "Y" at the "Pre-printed Statement/Inv:" prompt. If not, enter "N". (Optional) 6. The next six fields allow you to customize where your printer will start printing the statements and invoices. These settings affect both pre- printed statements and invoices. If you are unsure of these settings, use the defaults as shown above. Changing these numbers will only affect the alignment of your forms and are mainly for single sheet laserjet printers. (Optional) 7. The next prompt allows you to select which "Forms Printer Port:" to use for both invoices and statements. This is a multiple choice field. To change the port selection, press the space bar or click the left button on your mouse. When your choice is shown, press <Enter>. (Required) 8. The "Invoice Type(1,2):" prompt allows you to choose which type of pre-printed invoice you are using. The options are "1" or "2". (Optional) The form numbers for each option are as follows: 1 = Deluxe invoice #091300 (compatible with Invoicing module) 2 = Deluxe invoice #091398 See the Deluxe insert for more information on either style of invoice. To order either invoices or statements, call Deluxe at 1-800-328-0304 and mention product code "TO9212". Canadian users call 1-800-826-3714. 9. Lastly, at the "Message Line 1:" and "Message Line 2:" prompts, enter any message you would like printed on the bottom of all of your customer invoices and statements. (Optional) When completed, press <F10> to save your new data and return to the Accounts Receivable Utilities Menu. Page 41 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! SECTION SIX - HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS Keep a current back up copy of your data disk each time you update your data. This will safeguard against loss of data due to a power failure or other problem. Use the Shift-Print Screen keys to make a hard copy of your current screen display. To pause the printer while printing reports, press any key. If you are using pre-printed statements or invoices, be sure that your printer is set to 10 characters per inch and 6 lines per inch, with normal margins. Deviation from this will result in the inability to line up your pre-printed forms. On HP LaserJet printers, set your configuration to 60 lines per page. Be sure the same page length or form length figure is set into both your printer and the configuration setting (e.g: 60 lines per page). Payments and the Reconciliation module: When entering payment transactions into the Accounts Receivable module, you should select a "Cash" account for your debit distribution, instead of a "Checking" account. Then, when you make a bank deposit, enter a transaction in the General Ledger module, debiting checking and crediting cash for the amount of your bank deposit. When setting up your customer accounts, make sure you leave enough space between the individual numbers so you can add new customers at a later time. If you are a membership organization, we recommend that you group your members in various customer account numbers, depending on how much and how often they pay their dues. This way, you can use the "Generate Global Transactions" feature more efficiently (e.g: all members that pay $30.00 a month should have a starting number of "3"). Page 42 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS! APPENDIX B - DISK FILENAMES TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS Accounts Receivable Program Disk Filename Description AR.EXE Accounts Receivable Program file AR.OVR Accounts Receivable Overlay file AR.HLP Accounts Receivable Help file Page 43