EZLedger Quick Startup With the EXPENSE.EXE, SALES.EXE, CONFIG.EXE, and both the EXPENSE.CFG and SALES.CFG files in the same directory or on the same floppy disk; run the CONFIG program to setup the configuration of accounts for both programs. You probably need to change the account names somewhat to reflect the way you have your business structured, my business is studio photography oriented so that is what the sample configuration files provided with this package reflect. Be sure to heed the warnings the CONFIG.EXE module gives as you consider changing "reserved" account names. The menu selections should be self explanatory, if in doubt try the function and you will see what it does. When changing the color setup bear in mind that you must type in a color number at the prompt, hitting will input a value of zero and the color will be black so if you press for both the text color and background color you will get black on black and not be able to read the screen. Starting the Expense Ledger You can begin a new file at any time, but in a business situation the data will be of most benefit to you at tax time if a complete accounting period is entered and available, so I recommend that you go back to Jan 1 of the current year and enter your business checkbook transactions from that point on. Depending on how many business check and deposit transactions you do in a year the capacity of the Expense ledger may allow a whole year's data or could require you to run it on a quarterly basis. If you write 400 business checks annually, do daily deposits, and limit the use of the sales/collections account to a consolidated weekly or even monthly entry there should be room for a full years data within the 900 transaction capacity of the program. Otherwise you will need to maintain a quarterly (3 months) data file. To start off, after the accounts are "configured" with the CONFIG.EXE module type EXPENSE at the DOS prompt, input the system date at that prompt, and from the main menu select the "A> Entry" command. Input the date as 01-01 (Jan 1) and at the Item prompt enter the "#" symbol which will assign 1 as the Item number. For "name" type in "Balance Forward" and at the "account" prompt enter the "$" character. (Account code flagged "$" will add into checkbook balance but will not sum into a tabulation of "D" for deposits. Use "D" for subsequent deposits since the "$" is intended for initial balance forward entries only.) At the "subacct" prompt just press at this time, and at the "amount" prompt enter the dollar amount of the balance forward as of Jan 1st to two decimal places unless that balance forward is in whole dollars. If you don't know what the Jan 1 checking account balance was either make the best educated guess you can or create this entry but with a zero dollar amount at this time anyway. You have to balance your checkbook to bank statements at some time and can then edit the computer initial balance forward to an adjusted figure that will cause the recalculated checkbook balance to agree with your next reconciled bank statement. Now you can begin entering checks and deposits from your check stubs. The first check number will have to be entered manually at the item number prompt, from there entering "n" will assign the next check number in sequence. If skipping a "voided" check, enter the next valid number manually and the "n" function will pick up the sequence for the next check number. If you happen to be starting this process out with a brand new bank account use the "#" deposit transaction item number sequence until you recieve your preprinted checks. In this program it's not wise to have both check number and deposit transaction number sequences start with 1. Each item number has to be unique for the "D> Change" data function to work. Most new bank accounts begin the check number sequence with #101 as I remember. As you finish each month enter your monthly sales/reciepts figure using account code "C". (You do have a monthly sales/reciepts report, don't you? If not, the SALES leger version will get you started collecting that data in a form that is rapidly summarized on a monthly basis.) Remember to make periodic saves (about every 10 entries and before each save do a file summary - "E> Summaries" command on the main menu and enter zero for the month) to insure against significant work loss in case of power failure. And at the end of the entry session be sure to save the data, the program will warn you ONCE ONLY if you attempt the exit the program without saving new data or data changes. When you have the first whole month's data entered try out the various LIST and SUMMARIES options and you will begin to see just how useful this package can be to you. During each subsequent data entry session remember to load in the current data file before adding entries, otherwise the first save using the data filename will overwrite all your previous work. CAUTION: BEFORE doing the end of accounting period procedure in the next paragraph BACKUP DATA FILES TO ANOTHER DISK OR DIRECTORY!!! At the end of an annual (or quarterly) accounting period rename the MAINACCT.BUS to something else (I use CHECKS88.BUS, CHECKS89.BUS, CHECKS90.BUS or QTR1-90.BUS, QTR2-90.BUS etc) that can be accessed using the SPECIAL filename option on the load/save menus. Then you can start a new MAINACCT (or ALTACCT) file by making a balance forward entry as before and proceeding from that point. Starting the SALES Ledger What kind of a start you get here depends on what information is available from your previous method of keeping sales records. If you have sales tickets or a sales log that has the date, name, sales department, and amount collected it will be pretty simple. You can, of course, start in with any date. But as with the Expense Ledger and Checkbook module the data will be of most value to you if it represents full "accounting periods". Most will probably run the Sales ledger on either a quarterly or monthly basis rather than trying to use a data file for a full annual period. The summarized sales data will be of most use to you if available for the same accounting period as your sales tax report. For me this was always quarterly so I copied the data file over to a floppy for storage and later reference and began a new file for each quarter. Assuming you have configured the Sales accounts with the CONFIG.EXE module in the same manner as with the Expense Ledger accounts, take a list of your accounts recievable or balances due you on unpaid accounts where clients owe you a balance. Start the SALES program and begin entering transactions in much the same manner as with the Expense Ledger module. The first entries will be all the balance due ones and if these are a carryover from a previous year, handle the dates in the following manner. In the MM-DD format enter the month as 00 regardless of what month the recievable was generated in. For what would normally be the two digits for "day" enter two digits of the month so that an entry for July 21st of the previous year would be 00-07. (The reason for doing this is that the "F> Sort by date" command will consider a 07-21 date to be July 21st in the current year and will sort it into that position when invoked. To prevent confusion you will always want recievables from a previous year to remain at the beginning of the current file.) Use account code "N" for all recievables. Account "N" will not sum into any of the sales reports and so will not "inflate" your sales figures. When all of the recievables from the previous year are entered begin entering the current years sales transactions coding each with its proper account code. Any that reflect a balance due will need two entries, one for the money collected and one for the balance due coded to account "N". Do not use the "subacct" code for collections but you may use this field to hold the proper sales dept account code for a recievable entry that is coded "N". As a client comes in to pay a balance due, use the name search to find the recievable entry on them (you need the item number to edit the entry), then select "D> Change" command to access and edit the recievable entry. If the balance is paid in full re-enter the data but use the current date, correct account code, and the amount. If a partial payment is made, re-enter the data using current date, account code "N" (there is still a recievable amount due) and enter the sales dept code in subacct, and the new balance due. Then make a new sales/collection entry to reflect the payment just made and the next full file summary will recalculate the recievables amount showing at the main menu. When you have a full month's data entered, do a quick file summary (The "E> Summaries" command with zero for the month) to update the recievables, save the file, and play around with the various ways to search for and list data to become familiar with the information now available to you. Your monthly sales report? Printout the monthly summary and you have it ready to slip into your monthly sales report file folder. This figure can then be entered in the Expense Ledger using account code "C" there so that it is available for that program to figure your profit/loss. CAUTION: BEFORE doing the procedures described below BACK UP ALL DATA FILES TO ANOTHER DISK OR DIRECTORY!!! If you run the Sales ledger on a monthly basis because that is your sales tax accounting period (or you have over 300 sales/recievables transactions monthly) then you need to close out the current month file and begin a new one. First be sure you have a good final save on your working data files after doing a full file summary, then copy them to renamed MAINACCT.INC (and ALTACCT.INC) files...Something like JAN90.INC and ALTJAN90.INC to insure retaining the data intact for later audit or reference. (I recommend copying them over to separate floppies for storage.) Follow this by reloading the first one to be closed and use the "T> Xfer recievables to new file" command. This scans the file for recievable (account code "N") transactions, renumbers the item number field value (do not save the old file after this), and writes the new info to a file called TRANSFER.INC. If the file used to generate the TRANSFER.INC was MAINACCT.INC then the MAINACCT.INC needs to be deleted (you did save it to a renamed storage file on another disk, didn't you?) and the TRANSFER.INC renamed to MAINACCT.INC. If you use the ALTACCT.INC data file for a second business location or venture follow the same procedure with that one. The new file now has the recievable entries already in place and if the file just closed was the end of year (Dec 31) you will need to edit the recievables and change the date to a 00-MM format. Those using the Sales ledger on a quarterly basis will need to do the above transfer procedures at the end of each quarter. The monthly summaries will be of value for the monthly sales report. Final note: Good luck and BACKUP data files frequently. The greatest potential for losing data files will be from getting in a hurry with the end of accounting period "close old file" and "begin new file" procedures. Be careful the old file you've been working on is not overwritten with the new file before you've copied the old one to another disk. Proper and wise backup practice will allow you to recover from this kind of disaster a lot easier.