96-13 CHAPTER 16 SETUP OPTION 4 WHAT OPTION 4 IS USED FOR. Use Option 4 to start a new general ledger from the general ledger used during the past year. You should remember this about SETUP Options 1, 2, 3, and 4: . Use SETUP menu Options 1, 2, and 3 anytime you want to start a completely new general ledger. Options 1, 2, and 3 allow you to enter your old accounts, to add new accounts and to provide for the maximum number of "inactive accounts" that may be needed at a later time. . Use SETUP Option 4 if you want to "close" last year's general ledger and to carry it over for use during the current year. Remember this - Option 4 DOES NOT add any new "inactive accounts". It uses the previous year account titles exactly as they appeared during the previous year. . If you use Option 4, it is very important that you back-up the previous year's general ledger BEFORE you use Option 4!!!!! This is because Option 4 COMPLETELY destroys the previous year's general ledger while constructing the one for the current year. WHAT OPTION 4 ASKS FOR. Option 4 asks you to answer a few questions. The questions pertain to whether or not you have backed-up last year's general ledger and whether or not you are SURE you wish to use Option 4. See the section that follows. 96-14 OPTION 4 SEQUENCE OF EXECUTION. Option 4 starts with this message and question: THIS OPTION OF THE SETUP MENU SHOULD BE USED O-N-L-Y WHEN ALL OF THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS EXIST: 1. YOU PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED A GENERAL LEDGER USING OPTIONS 1, 2 & 3 OF THE SETUP MENU. THAT IS, A GENERAL LEDGER ALREADY EXISTS FOR CPA-LEDGER. 2. YOUR ARE READY TO START A NEW GENERAL LEDGER FOR A NEW YEAR A-N-D YOU WISH TO USE THE SAME ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND TITLES THAT YOU USED LAST YEAR. 3. IMMEDIATELY BEFORE COMING TO THIS OPTION OF THE SETUP MENU, YOU USED THE DAILY MENU TO PREPARE (A) A BALANCE SHEET AND INCOME STATEMENT AND (B) A POST-CLOSING TRIAL BALANCE. 4. YOU H-A-V-E MADE A BACKUP OF ALL OF THE GENERAL LEDGER FILES FOR LAST YEAR. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS!!!!!! IF YOU CONTINUE WITH THIS PROGRAM, CPA-LEDGER W-I-L-L COMPLETELY ERASE LAST YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER FILES AND THEY WILL BE LOST F-O-R-E-V-E-R. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS COMPLETELY COPY YOUR GENERAL LEDGER FILES B-E-F-O-R-E YOU USE THIS PROGRAM. IF YOU DO N-O-T WISH TO CONTINUE, ANSWER `N', WITHOUT THE QUOTES, TO THE QUESTION THAT FOLLOWS. `N' WILL CAUSE CPA-LEDGER TO DISCONTINUE PROCESSING YOUR NEW GENERAL LEDGER AND YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO COMPLY WITH 1, 2, 3 AND 4 ABOVE. THAT IS, IF YOU ANSWER `N', NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO LAST YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER. DO YOU WISH CPA-LEDGER TO USE LAST YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER TO START A NEW GENERAL LEDGER FOR THIS YEAR? (N=NO, Y=YES) _ 96-15 If you answer `N' to the above question, the SETUP menu reappears. If you answer `Y', the following appears: LAST CHANCE!! ARE YOU A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E-L-Y C-E-R-T-A-I-N YOU HAVE A BACK-UP OF ALL OF LAST YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER FILES? THE FILES THAT SHOULD BE BACKED-UP ARE THOSE WITH AN EXTENSION OF `.FIL'. REFER TO YOUR DOS MANUAL FOR THE PROPER BACK-UP PROCEDURE. PLEASE DO NOT GUESS. BE CERTAIN!!!! IF YOU ANSWER `N' (WITHOUT THE QUOTES) TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION, CPA-LEDGER WILL NOT DESTROY LAST YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER FILES AND YOU WILL BE RETURNED TO THE SETUP MENU. IF YOU ANSWER `Y' (WITHOUT THE QUOTES) CPA-LEDGER WILL USE LAST YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER TO START A NEW GENERAL LEDGER FOR THIS YEAR. THEN, ALL OF LAST YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER FILES WILL BE COMPLETELY ERASED. ALSO, REMEMBER THIS - IS YOU ANSWER `Y' TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION, CPA-LEDGER WILL USE THE EXACT SAME ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND ACCOUNT TITLES THAT YOU USED LAST YEAR. THIS MEANS THAT ALL ACTIVE ACCOUNTS FROM LAST YEAR WILL BE ACTIVE FOR THIS YEAR. ALL ACCOUNTS THAT REMAINED INACTIVE AT THE END OF LAST YEAR WILL BE INACTIVE AT THE START OF THIS YEAR. EXTRA INACTIVE ACCOUNTS ARE NOT ADDED TO THE GENERAL LEDGER. IF YOU NEED ROOM FOR ADDING ADDITIONAL ACCOUNTS AND LAST YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER DOES NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT INACTIVE ACCOUNTS FOR YOUR NEEDS (INACTIVE ONES TO BE MADE ACTIVE), ANSWER `N' TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION AND USE OPTIONS 1, 2 AND 3 OF THE SETUP MENU. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO PROVIDE FOR ADDITIONAL INACTIVE ACCOUNTS. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO START A NEW GENERAL LEDGER? (N=NO, Y=YES) _ If you answer `N' to the question above, the SETUP menu reappears. If you answer `Y', processing continues. CPA-LEDGER checks to determine if you prepared an income statement and a balance sheet immediately before executing Option 4 of the SETUP menu. If CPA-LEDGER find that you did not use the DAILY menu to prepare and income statement and a balance sheet, the following arrears: YOU HAVE EITHER (1) NOT YET USED OPTION 3 OF THE DAILY MENU TO PREPARE AN INCOME STATEMENT AND A BALANCE SHEET OR (2) YOU USED DAILY OPTION 1 SINCE YOU LAST USED OPTION 3. YOU MUST USE DAILY MENU OPTION 3 BEFORE CPA-LEDGER WILL START YOUR GENERAL LEDGER FOR THE CURRENT YEAR. PRESS ANY KEY AND YOU WILL BE RETURNED TO THE DAILY MENU. After you press a key, the SETUP menu reappears. If CPA-LEDGER finds that you DID comply with the income statement and balance sheet requirements, the message above does not appear. Instead, CPA-LEDGER continues to the next step - it checks to be sure that a general 96-16 ledger exists for creating the current year general ledger. If not, the following appears: GENERAL LEDGER DATA FILES NOT FOUND. PRESS ANY KEY AND YOU WILL BE RETURNED TO THE SETUP MENU. After you press a key, the SETUP menu reappears. Assuming that a general ledger does exist, the system proceeds to create a general ledger for the current year. After the process is complete, the following message appears: YOUR NEW GENERAL LEDGER HAS BEEN STARTED. FOR DOCUMENTATION PURPOSES, A TRIAL BALANCE WILL BE PRINTED. THE TRIAL BALANCE WILL SHOW ALL ACTIVE ACCOUNTS AND THEIR RELATED BALANCES. SAVE THE TRIAL BALANCE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR PRINTER IS ON AND IS READY TO PRINT. ALSO MAKE SURE THAT THE PAPER IS AT TOP-OF-PAGE. YOUR PRINTER WILL BE AT TOP-OF-PAGE WHEN THE PRINTER WILL PRINT ON THE VERY FIRST LINE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE. PRESS ANY KEY WHEN YOU ARE READY TO CONTINUE. After you press a key, a new trial balance is printed. Before the new trial balance is printed, however, you are asked to enter "today's date". At the top of the trial balance, this message is printed: THIS TRIAL BALANCE SHOWS BEGINNING ACCOUNTS AND BALANCES. PRINTED OUTPUT. The printed output comes from Option 2 of the DAILY menu - PRINT AN UNADJUSTED TRIAL BALANCE. Refer to Chapter 7 of this manual for sample output. Practice. Before you practice, here is a WARNING!!!! Be very sure that you back-up any general ledger files that you use with Option 4 BEFORE you use Option 4. Go to the DAILY menu and select Option 3 (for preparing an income statement and a balance sheet). The go to the SETUP menu and select Option 4. Answer all questions `Y'. After processing is completed, compare account titles and amounts on the trial balance with account titles and amounts on the balance sheet. You should find NO differences. Note from Jim: I sure hope you backed-up the general ledger before you used Option 4! If you didn't, then I hope you will never need your previous year's general ledger again. If you do need it again and you didn't back-up, sorry, it's gone, FOREVER. I did my best to warn you.