96-1 CHAPTER 15 DAILY MENU - OPTION 10 A NOTE ON PAGE NUMBERING. Information in this chapter replaces Chapter 15 in the old version of the User's Manual. Because the previous Chapter 15 was on one page, a revision is necessary in the page numbering scheme. The procedure followed is to use page numbers 96-1, 96-2, 96-3 ... This eliminates the necessity for you to reprint Appendices D and E, which are quite long. If these two appendices are in your old documentation, attach them to this User's Manual, without changing the page numbers. The page numbering scheme may be cumbersome, but it will save you extensive printing. WHAT OPTION 10 IS USED FOR. Option 10 is used to save time. It does the same thing as Option 1, except faster. Stated simply, Option 10 is used to automatically post entire transactions or parts of them. That statement cries for an explanation. This might help, zeroing in on "post entire transactions" and "parts of them". . Post entire transactions. . Option 10 allows you to enter (and save) standard transactions that do not change from month to month - except, perhaps the related bank check numbers and payees shown on the checks. In a nutshell, here is how this feature works. . You enter (and CPA-LEDGER saves) your standard trans- actions. . At a later time, you use Option 10 again and tell CPA-LEDGER to post the general ledger with the transactions that you saved previously. If, while the transactions are being posted, CPA-LEDGER detects a credit to a bank account, the system asks you to enter the check number and check payee. . To give you maximum flexibility, CPA-LEDGER allows you to reject or accept any transaction, before it is saved and then again at execution time - immediately before posting. (Assume, for example, that a saved transaction is used for several months before it is no longer needed. Assume also that you forget to update the saved transaction file. As Option 10 starts execution, you 96-2 suddenly remember - an unneeded transaction is being processed. No problem. You can reject the unneeded transaction, at execution time - thus giving YOU the control, NOT the computer.) . That's all there is to it. Simple, as it should be. And to make it even simpler, if you have ever used Option 1, you already know how to use Option 10. (Well, almost.) That's because Option 10 input follows the same procedure (and screens) as Option 1. The only thing new is a few more "menus". They are explained in the remainder of this chapter. . Post parts of them. . Do you frequently post a long list of debits to expenses, with one credit to your bank account? Remember how that`s done? You must sum the long list of debits, look up the bank account and credit it. "Post parts of them" means that CPA-LEDGER sums your debits, looks up your bank account and credits it, automatically. But this feature is not limited to expenses. You can do the same thing for sales, with the resulting debit to the bank account. Here is how this feature works. . CPA-LEDGER asks if you wish to post (1) operating expenses or (2) sales. After that, if you have more than one bank account in your general ledger, the system displays each bank account (one at a time) and asks you to select one of them. If you have only one bank account, there is no need to ask you to identify it - CPA-LEDGER already knows all about it, its account number, its title and its balance. . Following that, CPA-LEDGER asks you to enter your part of the transaction (all except the bank account). When you enter a "Q" (for Quit - using the same format as Option 1), CPA-LEDGER (1) sums your debits and credits, (2) determines if the balancing entry to the bank account is a debit or credit, (2) displays its part of the entry and (3) continues processing in the exact same sequence as Option 1 (asking for the check payee - if required, asking for the purpose of the transaction, displays the entire entry for your approval or disapproval, etc., until you are asked if you want to post another transaction to the general ledger. Then, the process repeats - unless you tell the system that there are no more transactions. When there are no more transactions, you are asked what is to be done next - save transactions for future posting or switch, say, 96-3 from posting operating expenses to posting sales. . If you have used Option 1, you have probably noticed that Option 1 does ALMOST the same thing if you enter a "?" when the system asks for "D" or "C" for an entry's debit or credit. ALMOST, but not quite. Here is the difference. Option 10 restricts your entries to either operating expenses or sales (as selected by you) and does not require that you enter the account number for the final and balancing amount. Option 1 does require that you enter the final account number but does not limit you to any specific categories of accounts. Which feature suits your fancy? Option 1 or Option 10? Take your pick. OPTION 10 SEQUENCE OF EXECUTION. Option 10 starts by displaying this information and question on your screen: BEFORE YOU PROCEED, REMEMBER THAT THIS PROGRAM IS TO BE USED TO EITHER: 1. SAVE TRANSACTIONS FOR AUTOMATIC POSTING, UPON YOUR DEMAND, OR, 2. AUTOMATICALLY POST TRANSACTIONS IN 1, ABOVE. OR, 3. AUTOMATICALLY POST A BANK ACCOUNT EACH TIME YOU POST ONE OR MORE EXPENSE ACCOUNTS OR ONE OR MORE SALES/REVENUE ACCOUNTS. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE? ENTER `Y' FOR YES OR `N' FOR NO. _ Entering an `N' returns you to the DAILY menu. Press `Y' and the following appears: 96-4 BELOW, YOU ARE ASKED TO ENTER THE TRANSACTION DATE (ONE DATE) FOR ALL TRANSACTIONS THAT YOU POST TO YOUR GENERAL LEDGER. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU ENTER THE PROPER DATE BECAUSE THE DATE THAT YOU ENTER IS USED TO UPDATE A DATA BASE THAT ACCUMULATES TRANSACTIONS ACCORDING TO THE DATE THAT THEY OCCURRED. IF YOU ENTER AN INCORRECT DATE, AND YOU POST TRANSACTIONS, YOUR DATA BASE WILL BE UPDATED FOR THE IMPROPER PERIOD AND YOUR MONTHLY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS WILL BE INCORRECT. THE TRANSACTION DATE COULD BE THE POSTING DATE, OR SOME OTHER DATE IF YOUR LOCAL CIRCUMSTANCES SO DICTATE. IN ENTERING THE DATE, USE FORMAT MMDDYY - 6/30/88 = 063088. ENTER YOUR TRANSACTION DATE HERE. ______ Make sure that you use the proper transaction date, as stated in the message. After entering the date, processing continues with this menu: SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS: 1. SAVING TRANSACTIONS FOR AUTOMATIC POSTING, UPON YOUR DEMAND, OR, 2. AUTOMATICALLY POST TRANSACTIONS IN 1, ABOVE. OR, 3. AUTOMATICALLY POST A BANK ACCOUNT EACH TIME YOU POST ONE OR MORE EXPENSE ACCOUNTS OR ONE OR MORE SALES/REVENUE ACCOUNTS. 4. STOP ALL PROCESSING AND RETURN TO THE DAILY MENU. ENTER 1, 2, 3 OR 4. _ Processing from this point depends upon your input - 1, 2, 3 or 4. Each is discussed, in turn, in the remainder of this chapter. For reference purposes, let's refer to the above menu as the STARTING MENU. Please remember that name. It will be used frequently in the remainder of this chapter. Now, for each option in the Starting Menu. SAVE TRANSACTIONS FOR AUTOMATIC POSTING, LATER, UPON YOUR DEMAND. After entering "1", the following appears: 96-5 PLEASE CONFIRM. YOU WISH TO SAVE TRANSACTIONS FOR AUTOMATIC POSTING. WARNING! ANY TRANSACTIONS PREVIOUSLY SAVED USING THIS OPTION WILL BE COMPLETELY ERASED & YOU MUST REENTER THOSE YOU WISH TO KEEP FROM THE BEGINNING. CONFIRM BELOW WHETHER OR NOT YOU WISH TO CONTINUE WITH THIS OPTION. ENTER `Y' FOR YES OR `N' FOR NO. _ If you enter `N', the Starting Menu reappears. Entering `Y' causes the previously saved transactions to be erased. If they contain any transactions you wish to keep, it will be necessary to reenter them. Of course, if you wish to discard all saved transaction, you should NOT reenter any of the one previously saved - enter your new ones only. A `Y' causes the following to appear: WARNING! ANY TRANSACTIONS PREVIOUSLY SAVED USING THIS OPTION WILL BE COMPLETELY ERASED & YOU MUST REENTER THOSE YOU WISH TO KEEP FROM THE BEGINNING. DO YOU HAVE READY A LIST OF ALL TRANSACTIONS THAT YOU WISH TO ENTER? ENTER `Y' FOR YES OR `N' FOR NO. _ Please use a prepared LIST of your transactions and do not rely on your memory. It is very easy to make a mistake. Remember, you are saving transactions to be posted - automatically. True, you will be given a chance to reject each transaction - both upon original input and at execution time. But, why take chances? Be VERY careful with your automatic input, please. Again, an `N' return you to the Starting Menu. `Y' causes this familiar input screen: (Remember it? It is almost exactly the same as the one used in Option 1.) 96-6 EACH DEBIT OR CREDIT ENTRY REQUIRES INPUT IN THE COLUMNS BELOW. 1. `POSTING REFERENCE' COLUMN IS FOR FUTURE REFERENCE TO SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION. EXAMPLES ARE SALES INVOICE NUMBER AND PURCHASE INVOICE NUMBER. 2. ENTER `S' (FOR SAME) TO USE THE PREVIOUS POSTING REFERENCE. 3. PRESS RETURN KEY AFTER YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR INPUT IN A COLUMN. 4. ENTER `Q' (FOR QUIT) FOR ACCOUNT NUMBER WHEN THE JOURNAL ENTRY IS COMPLETE. 5. YOUR COMPUTER'S CAPS-LOCK KEY MUST BE `ON'. ********************************************************************* ACCOUNT D=DEBIT DOLLAR POSTING NUMBER C=CREDIT AMOUNT REFERENCE The only significant change from Option 1 is that the DATE column does not appear. Think about it. At this point, a date is not needed. The transactions will not posted until a later time. Then, and only then, do you need a transaction date. Like Option 1, use a `Q' to quit - see instruction 4 in the screen, above. After you enter `Q', the processing is exactly the same as Option 1. Rather than repeat a detailed explanation here, please refer to the chapter that describes that option. Each transaction that you accept is saved on disk and is printed on your printer. The printed transaction has a message explaining that it was not posted to the general ledger. After you accept or reject the transaction (see the chapter on Option 1 processing) and all related processing is completed - including saving and printing the transaction is you so elect, the following question is asked: DO YOU DESIRE TO ENTER ADDITIONAL JOURNAL ENTRIES? ENTER `Y' FOR YES OR `N' FOR NO. A `Y' causes the processing described above to repeat. `N' causes the Starting Menu to reappear. Now, let's proceed to the next option in the Starting Menu. AUTOMATIC POSTING OF TRANSACTIONS IN 1, ABOVE. After entering "2" in the Starting Menu, the following appears: 96-7 PLEASE CONFIRM. YOU WISH TO AUTOMATICALLY POST TRANSACTIONS THAT YOU PREVIOUSLY SAVED FOR POSTING AT THIS TIME. ENTER `Y' FOR YES OR `N' FOR NO. _ `N' returns you to the Starting Menu. `Y' causes this message to appear: TRANSACTIONS THAT YOU PREVIOUSLY SAVED WILL BE DISPLAYED, ONE AT A TIME, ON THE SCREEN FOR YOU APPROVAL. ACCEPT OR REJECT EACH TRANSACTION, FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS THAT WILL APPEAR. ALSO, IF YOUR TRANSACTIONS INCLUDE CREDIT(S) TO A BANK ACCOUNT, YOU WILL BE ASKED TO ENTER THE CHECK NUMBER(S) AND PAYEE(S). PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE. After you press a key, processing continues by displaying the debits and credits of each transactions, one at a time, for your approval or disapproval. This processing is the same as Option 1, with one exception. The exception pertains to entering (1) check numbers, (2) check payees. Following is an example of CPA-LEDGER asking for a check number. PLEASE SEE MESSAGE BELOW. ACCOUNT DOLLAR POSTING CHECK DATA NUMBER AMOUNT REFERENCE NUMBER 092587 3 CITY BANK 421.87 DCD #876 ______ CHECK NUMBER AND PAYEE NEEDED. ENTER CHECK NUMBER FIRST, ABOVE. THE PURPOSE OF THE TRANSACTION IS: MONTHLY PAYMENT ON NOTE. After you enter the check number, the message "CHECK NUMBER AND PAYEE NEEDED. ENTER CHECK NUMBER FIRST, ABOVE." disappears and the following message and request for input appears on the same line: NOW, ENTER THE PAYEE. ______________________________ The last line on the screen (THE PURPOSE OF THE TRANSACTION IS : MONTHLY PAYMENT ON NOTE.) is to assist you in keeping track of journal entries as CPA-LEDGER processes them. 96-8 We thought and thought about having you enter the payee upon saving the transaction and not allowing you to make a change. However, that was too close to being rigid. Why not give YOU the option of changing the payee, and thus, giving YOU more flexibility. Good or bad, that what we decided. For example, what if the bank sells its note and you are to make payments to someone else? It could happen. Processing from this point is exactly the same as Option 1. After you accept or reject each transaction, the system displays the next journal entry that you saved. This process repeats until all saved journal entries are processed, at which time the Starting Menu reappears. ---->There is a process that CPA-LEDGER follows that you should know about. When CPA-LEDGER posts your general ledger, it posts the transactions to TWO data bases, (1) the master data base used to prepare cumulative financial statements and (2) a data base use for accumulating information for monthly income statements. If the data base for monthly financial statements become unusable, the following message will appear: PROCESSING ERROR. MONTHLY DATA BASE RECORD NOT FOUND. DISCONTINUE YOUR USE OF CPA-LEDGER UNTIL YOU HAVE CONTACTED JIM FOSTER AT (703)569-2254. PROCESSING WILL CONTINUE TO UPDATE THE MASTER DATA BASE FOR THIS TRANSACTION. WHEN YOU ARE ASKED, TELL CPA-LEDGER THAT YOU DO NOT WISH TO POST ANY ADDITIONAL TRANSACTIONS. THEN, CALL (OR WRITE IF YOU PREFER) JIM FOSTER AND GIVE HIM THIS MESSAGE: A message for Jim appears here. PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE. As the message states, you should discontinue using CPA-LEDGER and contact Jim Foster. (You should rarely, if ever, see the message - it will appear only if CPA-LEDGER notices that notices that the data base is not usable. The message is listed in this manual so that you will know what to do - contact Jim Foster. In the meantime, be sure that you keep frequent backups of your data files (those with an extension of .FIL). Now, let's turn to Option 3 of the Starting Menu, which if for: AUTOMATIC POSTING A BANK ACCOUNT EACH TIME YOU POST ONE OR MORE OPERATING EXPENSE ACCOUNTS OR ONE OR MORE SALES/REVENUE ACCOUNTS. After entering "3" you will see this: 96-9 PLEASE CONFIRM. YOU WISH TO POST EXPENSES OR SALES/REVENUE WITH AUTOMATIC POSTING OF THE BANK ACCOUNT. THIS MEANS THAT YOU NEVER ENTER THE F-I-N-A-L DEBIT OR CREDIT FOR THE BANK - CPA-LEDGER DOES THAT FOR YOU. FOR EXAMPLE, ASSUME THAT YOU PAY FIVE OPERATING EXPENSE INVOICES WITH ONE CHECK. YOU ENTER THE FIVE OPERATING EXPENSE ACCOUNT NUMBERS, DEBITING EACH WITH A DOLLAR AMOUNT. THEN YOU ENTER ONE `Q' (WHEN CPA-LEDGER ASKS FOR THE SIXTH ACCOUNT NUMBER) TO SIGNAL THAT YOUR INPUT IS COMPLETE. CPA-LEDGER WILL RECOGNIZE YOU SIGNAL (THE `Q'), WILL SUM YOUR FIVE ENTRIES AND WILL CREDIT THE BANK ACCOUNT WITH THAT SUM, AFTER THE ENTRY IS DISPLAYED FOR YOUR APPROVAL. YOU MAY ENTER AS MANY SEPARATE TRANSACTIONS AS YOU WISH. THE NEXT MENU WILL ASK IF YOU WISH TO USE OPERATING EXPENSES OR SALES/REVENUE. YOUR SALES/REVENUE ACCOUNT NUMBERS ARE IN THE RANGE w TO x. YOUR OPERATING EXPENSE ACCOUNT NUMBERS ARE IN THE RANGE y TO z. DEPENDING ON THE OPTION YOU SELECT (EXPENSES OR SALES/REVENUE), YOUR ENTRIES WILL BE CONFINED TO THE APPROPRIATE RANGE OF ACCOUNT NUMBERS. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE WITH THIS OPTION? CONFIRM BELOW. ENTER `Y' FOR YES OR `N' FOR NO. _ (Before continuing, find these words is the paragraph above that begins with "THE NEXT MENU ..." - "ARE IN THE RANGE w TO x. ..." CPA-LEDGER prints an account number for the "w", "x", "y" and "z". "w" and "y" are beginning account numbers and "x" and "z" are ending account numbers.) If you select "N", the Starting Menu reappears. "Y" causes this screen: DO YOU WISH TO POST: 1. OPERATING EXPENSES, OR 2. SALES/REVENUE? OR, DO YOU WISH TO 3. QUIT, BECAUSE YOU CAME HERE BY MISTAKE. SALES/REVENUE IS RESTRICTED TO THE PRIMARY INCOME ACCOUNTS AS SHOWN ON YOUR INCOME STATEMENT (SHOWN BEFORE COST OF SALES AND OPERATING EXPENSES.) ENTER 1, 2 OR 3. _ 96-10 A "3" causes the Starting Menu to display. If your general ledger has more than one bank account, each bank account (with titles) appears on the screen (one at a time). You are asked to select one of the bank accounts to be debited or credited, with the debit or credit being determined by the journal entries you are about to enter. If only one bank account is in your general ledger, this query is unnecessary - CPA-LEDGER already knows all that is necessary to debit or credit that account. Once the bank account is know, the standard Option 1 input screen (with two modifications - see instructions 1 and 4 in the screen below) appears for you. It looks like this, WITH ASSUMED INPUT: EACH DEBIT OR CREDIT ENTRY REQUIRES INPUT IN THE COLUMNS BELOW. 1. `DATE' IS TODAY'S DATE - THE DATE THAT YOU JUST ENTERED. (Jim's note - not part of this screen: This is the first of the two changes. Today's date is the first input requested by Option 10.) 2. `POSTING REFERENCE' COLUMN IS FOR FUTURE REFERENCE TO SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION. EXAMPLES ARE SALES INVOICE NUMBER AND PURCHASE INVOICE NUMBER. 3. ENTER `S' (FOR SAME) TO USE THE PREVIOUS POSTING REFERENCE. 4. PRESS THE RETURN KEY AFTER YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR INPUT IN A COLUMN. (Jim's note - not part of this screen: This is the second of the two changes. Old versions of Option 1 have the same instruction as you see for number 4 above. The new Option 1 version tells you to enter "?" for debit/credit to automatically complete a journal entry.) 5. ENTER `Q' (FOR QUIT) FOR ACCOUNT NUMBER WHEN THE JOURNAL ENTRY IS COMPLETE. 6. YOUR COMPUTER'S CAPS-LOCK KEY MUST BE `ON'. ********************************************************************** ACCOUNT D=DEBIT DOLLAR POSTING CHECK DATE NUMBER C=CREDIT AMOUNT REFERENCE NUMBER 092587 161 D 112.98 DCD #857 165 D 387.95 173 D 44.60 188 D 229.74 Q BANK ACCOUNT 3 C 775.27 ______ Now, let's analyze. Look at the four debits, the posting reference and the "Q". That is what you enter. CPA-LEDGER enters the information BELOW the "Q", except for the check number. (On the actual screen, the "Q" disappears and "BANK ACCOUNT 3 C 775.27" appears immediately below "188 D 229.74".) 96-11 Look under the CHECK NUMBER column. Notice that CPA-LEDGER is asking for a check number. After you enter that number, the system continues with two additional queries, as in normal Option 1 processing. The two queries ask for (1) a payee for the check and (2) for an explanation for the transaction. Now, look under the DATE column. CPA-LEDGER supplies the date, automatically. That date is the same one that you enter when Option 10 first begins to process. After you enter the check number and the transaction's explanation, normal Option 1 processing resumes - displaying the entry for your approval or disapproval. Once that process is complete, you are asked if you wish to enter more transactions. If your answer is "N" for NO, the Starting Menu reappears. If you answer "Y" for YES, the input menu reappears and the posting process continues. In case you have not already guessed the answer, here is what to do if you are posting operating expenses and wish to switch to posting sales/revenue. When you are asked, tell CPA-LEDGER that there are no more transactions to post. The Starting Menu will appear. Select number "3" again, and specify that sales/revenue accounts are to be processed this time. Then CPA-LEDGER debits your bank account. (In case you are wondering, CPA-LEDGER always determines the NET balancing amount - whether your are posting operating expenses or sales/revenue. For example, if your NET posting to the sales/revenue accounts is a DEBIT, the bank account will be CREDITED. If your NET posting to operating expenses is a CREDIT, the bank account will be DEBITED.) This brings us to the last option of the Starting Menu. STOP ALL PROCESSING AND RETURN TO THE DAILY MENU. The caption tells all. If you enter "4" while in the Starting Menu, all Option 10 processing will stop and the DAILY MENU will appear - after this summary is printed for you: NUMBER OF ENTRIES POSTED = w VALUE OF ALL DEBITS POSTED = x VALUE OF ALL CREDITS POSTED = y DIFFERENCE - DEBITS LESS CREDITS POSTED = z Of course, CPA-LEDGER prints values for w, x, y and z. 96-12 PRACTICE. Use the DAILY menu to print an unadjusted trial balance. (This trial balance will be used to compare the results of Option 10 processing.) Now, use Option 10 of the DAILY menu. When the Starting Menu appears (after you enter the date), select Option 2. Two transactions have been placed on the file that holds saved transactions. These transactions will be posted to the general ledger. Follow instructions that will appear on the screen and tell CPA-LEDGER that you DO wish to post the transactions to the general ledger. After posting, return to the DAILY menu and print another unadjusted trial balance. Look at the printout of the transactions and see results of the posting for yourself, as evidenced by balances on the second trial balance. Select Option 10 again. This time select Option 1 of the Starting Menu, following instructions that will appear on the screen. Enter any transactions that you wish, and save them. Then, from the Starting Menu, select Option 2. Post the transactions to the general ledger. When the Starting Menu reappears, select Option 3. (Your general ledger has two bank accounts. Select either when Option 1 asks you to select one of them.) When the appropriate (see example on page 96-9) menu appears, select OPERATING EXPENSES. On the input screen appears, debit four (any four) operating expense accounts for any amounts you wish. After the fourth entry, when you are asked for the next account number, enter `Q'. You will see that your bank account will be credited, automatically. Enter the remainder of the transaction (check payee and purpose of transaction). Follow instructions on the screen and tell CPA-LEDGER to post the general ledger.