100 APPENDIX C SOME COMMENTS ON DISK CAPACITIES Daily Option 1 will use your hard disk or floppy disk (depending on the version of CPA-LEDGER that you have - see Appendix B) to record your accounting entries. The entries will be: . Posted to the general ledger, . Added to a data base for monthly income statements, and . Added to a TRANSACTION FILE. The main purpose of this appendix is to ask you to think about disk capacities BEFORE you start using CPA-LEDGER, especially if you plan for your data files to be on floppy disk. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS - if your data disk becomes full during the year, there is plenty of frustration (and possibly a ruined set of accounting records) ahead for you. See Appendix B for a more detailed discussion. If you use floppy disk for your data files and if you think there is a REMOTE chance that the disk may become full before year's end, we HIGHLY recommend that you use the CPA-LEDGER version that is for hard disk only. Please, carefully think about your disk capacities BEFORE you start using CPA-LEDGER, PLEASE. These are the three major general ledger files. (Several other files will be on the disk, but their space requirements are minimal.) In the discussion that follows, we used a floppy disk for comparison purposes - a floppy that was double-sided, double-density and that when completely erased had 362,496 bytes available. We will assume that your general ledger and the data base for monthly income statements will require no more than 60,000 bytes. (The general ledger and the monthly data base in your "Practice Disk" requires less than 60000 bytes.) To test capacities, we used the floppy disk with 362,496 bytes available. How many transactions may be added to a transaction file without exceeding the 362,496 byte limitation? The disk space that will be required for your transaction file is directly related to the (1) the quantity of transactions that you process and (2) HOW you use DAILY Option 1. Following is an explanation: . At the beginning of EACH complete set of debits and credits, Option 1 adds a 39 character "header" to the transaction file. This header contains information such as the date, the transaction reference, and your explanation of the general ledger entry. The "header" is added each time that you enter a 101 "Q" (for Quit - see Chapter 6) while you are posting the general ledger. So, the more times that you enter a "Q", the more "headers" that will be added and the more disk space that will be required. . For each credit to a bank checking account, Option 1 adds a check number and the payee's name to the transaction data. So, the more checks you write, the more disk space that will be required. To conserve space: . Consolidate your general ledger entries. That is, include several debits and credits in a single entry. Avoid "debit", "credit", "Q" for Quit, "debit", "credit, "Q" for Quit, etc. Instead, consolidate - like this, "debit", "debit", "credit", "credit", "Q" for Quit. . If feasible, consolidate your checks. That is, instead of writing two checks to the same vendor on the same day, write one check for the entire amount, if that suits your record-keeping requirements. To show you the effect this has, we conducted a small experiment in writing records to the transaction file. Here is what we did: . Using a copy of a completely erased disk (362,496 bytes), we posted two transactions, over and over again, until the disk was full. One of the transactions included a credit to a bank account and the other transaction did not. We recorded the two transactions in this fashion - "debit", "credit", "Q" for Quit, "debit", "credit", and "Q" for Quit. . 2,648 transactions were written before the disk was full. . 5,296 debits and credits were recorded. . 1,324 checks were included in the credits. . We repeated the above experiment, EXCEPT the sequence of posting was "debit", "debit", "credit", "credit", and "Q" for Quit. . 3,324 transactions were written before the disk was full. . 6,648 debits and credits were recorded. . 1,662 checks were included in the credits. 102 We also tried another mix of transactions, this time expressed on a monthly basis. We assumed the following mix of monthly transactions for a twelve month period, and used 300,000 bytes as available to the transaction file. . 75 separate entries. (That is, the "Q" for Quit was used 75 times.) . Daily sales 24 times, each with one debit and one credit. . 180 transactions with checks, each with one debit and one credit. . 50 additional transactions, each with one debit and one credit. The computer program told us that, for a year: . 6,096 debits and credits would have been posted and that 289,129 of the 300,000 bytes available would have been used. . 2,160 checks would have been included in the credits. This should give you some general idea on disk capacity. HOWEVER, DO NOT USE THE ABOVE EXAMPLES AS HARD AND FAST RULES. The examples are intended for illustration only. It is impossible for us to predict if and when you will fill your transaction file. As pointed out, that depends on your volume of transactions and on how you enter them. This means that you should study your transactions very carefully and be very sure that all of them, for the entire year, can be easily included on the disk used for your transaction files. Do NOT take any chances. If you have any doubts, do not use CPA-LEDGER. We recommend that you DO NOT use CPA-LEDGER with only one floppy drive, with CPA-LEDGER and your general ledger files on the same floppy disk.