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Information about “CHECKMATE-GL”
Do you own a small business, or are you thinking of starting one -- only
to be frightened by the thought of all the financial howmework you know
it entails? If you want to keep track of your expenses and
manage your finances wisely, you need an accountant -- or
CHECKMATE-GL.
CHECKMATE-GL is a powerful multiple-entry general ledger package that
operates on the principles of classical accounting. CHECKMATE-GL has
turned the complicated world of accounting into a user-friendly task,
and even has an introduction to the basic principles of accounting for
anyone unfamiliar with them.
CHECKMATE-GL was designed to integrate with CHECKMATE, but does operate
independently. The two programs have a unique interface, letting
CHECKMATE become, in effect, a cash disbursements journal for
CHECKMATE-GL. What is special about this is you can operate your day-
to-day finances with CHECKMATE, and not worry about accounting or
expensing your checks except at specific times. In this way you can
separate your day-to-day finances from more critical accounting data.
Home users will discover that you need only run CHECKMATE-GL once a week
or so to quickly update your records. For businesses, personnel can
work with CHECKMATE while you or your accounting professional can work
exclusively with CHECKMATE-GL.
CHECKMATE-GL can support up to 256 accounts simultaneously, and has
powerful search-and-filter routines for all databases and reports.
CHECKMATE-GL also has a user-friendly pull-down and pop-up menu system
with on-line help. Included in this menu system is a pop-up chart of
accounts for quick reference, and a pop-up accountant's calculator with
rolling tape. The system allows for 50 predefined journal transactions
that you can be call up at a keystroke. CHECKMATE-GL also has unique
"quick-look" reports and flexible predefined reports with output
control.
FILES785.TXT
Disk No 785
Program Title: CHECKMATE-GL version 1.70A
PC-SIG version 1.1
Do you own a small business, or are thinking of starting one in the near
future, and the thought of all that financial hassle scares you to
death? If you want to track your expenses without having to become an
accountant, CHECKMATE-GL will turn your computer into your accountant
with ease.
CHECKMATE-GL is a powerful multiple-entry general ledger package that
operates on the principles of classical accounting. CHECKMATE-GL has
turned the complicated world of accounting into a user-friendly
environment, even providing an introduction to the basic principles of
accounting for those unfamiliar with it.
CHECKMATE-GL has been designed to integrate with CHECKMATE (see disk
#784). The two programs have a unique interface, allowing CHECKMATE to
become, in effect, a cash disbursements journal for CHECKMATE-GL. What
is special is that you can operate your day-to-day finances with
CHECKMATE, and not worry about accounting or expensing your checks
except at specific times. This way you can isolate your day-to-day work
from the more critical accounting data.
Home users will discover that you need only run CHECKMATE-GL once a week
or so to quickly update your records. For businesses, personnel can
work with CHECKMATE while you or your accounting professional can work
exclusively with CHECKMATE-GL.
CHECKMATE-GL can support up to 256 accounts simultaneously, and has
powerful search-and-filter routines for all databases and reports.
CHECKMATE-GL also has a user-friendly pull-down and pop-up menu system
with on-line help. Included in this menu system is a pop-up chart of
accounts for quick reference, and a pop-up accountant's calculator with
rolling tape. The system allows for fifty predefined journal
transactions that can be called up at a keystroke. CHECKMATE-GL also
has unique "Quick-Look" reports and flexible predefined reports with
output control.
Usage: Financial.
System Requirements: Two floppy drives or a hard dirve.
How to Start: Type CMGL (press enter).
Suggested Registration: $39.95
File Descriptions:
CMGL 000 Overlay file
CMGL COM Main program
CMGL HLP Online help file
CMGL OVL Overlay file
CMGLINST COM Installation program
MANUAL ARC Archived documentation
ORDER DOC Order form
READ ME How to get started
PKXARC COM Unarchiving program
PC-SIG
1030D E Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale Ca. 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1987,88 PC-SIG Inc.
GO.TXT
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ <<<< Disk #785 CHECKMATE-GL >>>> ║
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ║
║ To display information for the CheckMate-GL program, type: ║
║ TYPE READ.ME (press enter) ║
║ ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
CMGL.DOC
CheckMate-GL (tm) -- Introductory User's Guide
Version 1.70A
Released July 28, 1988
Copyright 1987, 88 by Custom Technologies
All Rights Reserved
1-800-541-6234 (Orders Only)
(719) 282-0402 (Support)
Warranty and License Agreement
CheckMate-GL (tm) is a trademark of Custom Technologies.
- Warranty
CheckMate-GL, and this manual, are provided AS IS without any warranty,
expressed or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a
particular purpose. CUSTOM TECHNOLOGIES SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND
ALL WARRANTIES. IN NO EVENT SHALL CUSTOM TECHNOLOGIES BE LIABLE FOR
ANY LOSS OF PROFIT OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGE, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES
RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT.
- License
The CheckMate-GL software is the property of Custom Technologies. You
are granted a limited license to use this software for evaluation
purposes. If you wish to continue using CheckMate-GL after evaluation,
you must register your copy. CheckMate-GL may not be used on a
continuous basis in any location (home, business, school, or
governmental agency) without registering. If you wish to use
CheckMate-GL in multiple locations concurrently, you should register
one copy for each location.
You are free to make as many copies as you wish and may distribute
CheckMate-GL freely (in its original form, including documentation).
Recipients of copies you make are granted a limited license to use
CheckMate-GL on a trial and evaluation basis. If the recipient wishes
to use CheckMate-GL on a continuous basis, he should register his copy.
You may not sell or ask any consideration for this product. SIGs and
BBSs may ask a nominal fee to cover their copying and distribution
costs. OEMs wishing to bundle CheckMate-GL with other products should
contact Custom Technologies for details.
This manual may be reproduced and distributed only in conjunction with
CheckMate-GL, and may not be used for any other purpose without the
expressed written consent of Custom Technologies.
Table of Contents
Introduction
0.1 Greetings.................................................I-1
0.2 The CheckMate Concept.....................................I-1
0.3 Features..................................................I-1
0.4 Shareware Support.........................................I-2
0.5 Other Products............................................I-2
Chapter 1: Installing CheckMate-GL
1.1 Hardware Requirements.....................................1-1
1.2 Disk Operating System.....................................1-1
1.3 File Paths................................................1-1
1.4 Printer Installation......................................1-1
Chapter 2: Things You Need to Know
2.1 The Bottom Line...........................................2-1
2.2 The Pull-Down Menu System.................................2-1
2.3 The Help System...........................................2-1
2.4 Pop-up Chart of Accounts..................................2-1
2.5 Pop-up Calculator.........................................2-2
2.6 Date Formats..............................................2-2
2.7 Editing within CheckMate-GL...............................2-2
2.8 Searching and Filtering the Database......................2-3
2.9 Printing Reports..........................................2-3
2.10 Backing Up Your Data......................................2-4
2.11 Quick-Look Reports........................................2-4
Chapter 3: Getting Started
3.1 Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts.........................3-1
3.2 General Setup.............................................3-4
3.3 Company Information.......................................3-4
3.4 Generating Custom Reports.................................3-4
3.5 CheckMate Interface.......................................3-5
3.6 Setting Up Your Standard Transactions.....................3-6
Chapter 4: Daily Activity
4.1 Entering Daily Journal Transactions.......................4-1
4.2 Expensing Checks and other CheckMate Transactions.........4-2
4.3 Editing Journal Transactions..............................4-3
Chapter 5: End-of-Month Routines
5.1 Generating Pre-Post Reports...............................5-1
5.2 Posting Journal Transactions to the General Ledger........5-1
5.3 Generating After-Post Reports.............................5-2
Chapter 6: End-of-Year Routines
6.1 Generating End-of-Year Reports............................6-1
6.2 Closing Revenue and Expense Accounts and
Transferring Balances.....................................6-1
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer....................................A-1
Appendix B: Sample Chart of Accounts................................B-1
Appendix C: Defining and Modifying Custom Reports...................C-1
Appendix D: Technical Description...................................D-1
Introduction
0.1 Greetings
Welcome to CheckMate-GL, our full-powered, multiple entry general
ledger package designed to integrate with CheckMate (tm), our popular
personal financial system.
CheckMate-GL is packed with features and was created to be the
friendliest and easiest to use accounting system on the market...
period. The business user knows that proper accounting is a must for
survival and success. The home user who simply wants to track his
budget and expenses will find that true accounting is not beyond his
reach after all!
CheckMate-GL operates on the principles of classical accounting.
We have made no compromises nor have we developed a "bastard" and non-
standard system of budgets and categories. We realize that "debits",
"credits", "double entries" and the like are subjects that are
unfamiliar to most non-accountant users. What we have done with
CheckMate-GL is implement these concepts into a slick, user-friendly
environment. If you are not interested in tracking your expenses and
revenues completely, then CheckMate-GL is overkill for you, and you
should stick to using CheckMate alone. If you manage a business, or if
you are a personal user with a desire for total control over your
financial status, CheckMate-GL will help you harness all the power of
true accounting. If you are unfamiliar with accounting principles,
look at appendix A (a short primer to help you get started).
0.2 The CheckMate Concept
CheckMate-GL and CheckMate are each stand-alone programs. We
recommend that you use them together, however. The two programs have a
unique interface. CheckMate becomes, in effect, a cash disbursments
journal for CheckMate-GL. What is special is that you can operate your
day to day finances with CheckMate, and not worry about accounting or
expensing your checks except at specific times (once a week, for
instance). We surveyed local small businesses and home users, and
determined that this is a natural and comfortable way to operate. We
call this "idea" the "CheckMate Concept."
Another advantage to this concept is that you can isolate your day
to day work and personnel from the more critical accounting data. Only
yourself, or your accounting professional need have access to
CheckMate-GL, while your secretary or clerks interact only with
CheckMate. Home users will discover that you need only run CheckMate-
GL once a week or so and can quickly update your records. You won't
have to worry about continually struggling with accounting every time
you want to write a check!
0.3 Features
- Uses intuitive pull-down and pop-up menu system
- Fully implemented "classical" general ledger system for
both home and business use
- Integrates with CheckMate (tm) Personal Financial Software
- Supports up to 256 accounts simultaneously
- Powerful search and filter routines available for all
Introduction I-1
databases and reports
- Unique "Quick-Look" reports (including pre-posting)
- Flexible pre-defined reports with output flow control
- Unique and powerful "custom" report command language for
the power user with automatic generation for the novice
- Fully editable journal entries allowing pen and ink
corrections (no reverse entries!) prior to posting
- Allows 50 predefined journal transactions that can be
called up at a keystroke
- Pop-up chart of accounts for quick reference
- Pop-up accountant's calculator with rolling tape
- Includes extensive, context sensitive on-line help
We suggest that you make good use of the HELP system by pressing
the <F1> key (note that some help screens have multiple pages, use
<PgUp> and <PgDn> to move back and forth through the message).
We hope you enjoy CheckMate-GL!
Tim Bougan
President, Custom Technologies
0.4 Shareware Support
CheckMate-GL, like many other fine "shareware" products, has been
released by its authors to the public for evaluation. We allow and
encourage free copying and distribution of the program (in its un-
altered original form). We are committed to supporting and improving
CheckMate-GL, as well as developing additional products.
Ifyou find CheckMate-GL useful, you should register your copy. The
shareware concept is meant to provide a full working copy to the user
for evaluation, and NOT to give away the author's hard work. If you
choose not to register, then erase or pass your copy on to someone
else. You can register by sending $39.95 (plus $3 shipping and
handling).
For registering you will be placed on our mailing list and will
receive a complete, illustrated User's Guide with a comprehensive
discussion of the use and functions of CheckMate-GL. The manual
includes documentation on writing and customizing report definitions
and has special appendices.
Make checks payable to Custom Technologies. Colorado residents
please add 3% sales tax. Send your registration and all other
correspondence to:
Custom Technologies
PO Box 62118
Colorado Springs, CO 80962-2118
(719) 282-0402
1-800-541-6234 (Orders Only)
MasterCard, VISA, COD Accepted
Introduction I-2
0.5 Other Products
We have also released CheckMate... a powerful financial management
program for home and small business. CheckMate integrates with
CheckMate-GL to become a cash disbursments journal.
CheckMate is designed to help you keep an accurate track of your
personal financial activity... no more will you have to "guess" at your
balance, or labor furiously to make your checkbook match your bank
statement. CheckMate will record and maintain your transactions, with
full editing capabilities at your fingertips. It will sort and print
reports, search for selected items, help you reconcile your statements,
and even print your checks for you. Your balances are automatically
updated and reported, and your records are accurate to the penny...
guaranteed!
-- Features
- Uses intuitive pull-down menu system
- Supports up to eight accounts simultaneously
(total number of accounts is limited only by disk space)
- Supports Checking and Savings accounts
- Up to 32,767 transactions may be active per account
- Prints reports in standard format or in Borland Intl's
Traveling SideKick (tm) format
- Reports and Checks may be printed in PICA, ELITE or
CONDENSED print
- Transactions may be edited or printed and search criteria
may be specified on ANY field in the transaction
- Check printer supports continuous feed AND standard checks
(YOU define the check printing in the Check Set-Up form
and can use your own checks!)
- Allows 100 predefined transactions that can be called up
at a keystroke (such as mortgage payments, utility
bills, etc)
- Provides a financial calculator for quick figures on
loans, regular deposit accounts, and compounding
- Helps you reconcile your accounts when your statements
arrive, and prints a complete report of outstanding
transactions
- Includes extensive, context sensitive on-line help
You can order CheckMate by sending $29.95 plus $3 shipping and
handling.
Introduction I-3
Chapter 1 -- Installing CheckMate-GL
1.1 Hardware Requirements
CheckMate-GL will run on an IBM PC/XT/AT/jr (or compatible) with
at least 256K of memory and 2 DSDD floppy disk drives. It supports all
IBM compatible displays including the EGA.
1.2 Disk Operating System
CheckMate-GL supports (and requires) DOS 2.0 or above. Also,
since CheckMate-GL maintains and manipulates several files
simultaneously, you must make provisions to insure that DOS is properly
configured.
You should have a file called "CONFIG.SYS" on your boot disk.
This file feeds key information and requirements to DOS (see your DOS
Reference Guide). We recommend the following entries in your
CONFIG.SYS file:
FILES=20
BUFFERS=12
If you do not have a CONFIG.SYS file or have not declared an
adequate number of file handles, CheckMate-GL will abort when you try
to run it and give an error message (I/O error 243).
1.3 File Paths
You can specify the files paths for which CheckMate-GL will look
for its overlay and data files with CMGLINST.COM. If you are using a
hard disk, you can put CheckMate-GL's program and overlay files in one
directory and its data files in another. If you include the program
file path in a DOS "PATH", you can run CheckMate-GL from any drive or
directory. If you are using a floppy disk system, you should put you
data files on drive B and your program files on drive A. If you are
using floppies but have a good sized RAM disk, CheckMate-GL's
performance will increase significantly if you copy its program files
to the RAM disk.
Run CMGLINST (make sure that CMGL.COM is in the default directory
first) and set up your paths. CMGLINST will first display the current
default paths and then prompt you to enter new ones. In order to save
disk space, CMGLINST is a simple program and does not include
CheckMate-GL's editing features. Note that entering only a <CR> at the
prompts will cause CMGLINST to clear the file paths (and CheckMate-GL
will use the default directories when run). Before you do run
CheckMate-GL, make sure that the paths you selected are valid (you may
need to create them).
Chapter 1 1-1
1.4 Printer Installation
The "printer Setup" function (under the "Setup" menu) allows you
to designate five printer control strings. It is important to note
that any changes made here are temporary unless you use <F10> to write
the changes to disk. Saving the changes requires the presence of
CMGL.COM on the program file path, and you must not change the name of
the file!
The printer control codes can be found in your printer manual.
You have five available strings that you can enter. The format for
entry is
\<decimal code>\<decimal code>\....
The back-slashes delimit the codes. Below is an example:
\27\85
This string represents an <ESC> 'U'. (That's an escape-capital-
U). This is a popular means of defining printer codes. CheckMate-GL
comes pre-installed for an IBM graphics printer.
The PICA, ELITE, and CONDENSED Pitch strings should configure your
printer to the correct pitch. The Printer Setup and Exit strings are
optional and provided for your convenience.
The Printer Setup and Exit strings are used by CheckMate-GL when
printing any report (both pre-defined and custom). The PICA, ELITE,
and CONDENSED strings can only be used within the custom reports.
Refer to appendix C for a discussion on how to use these strings to
configure your reports to your liking.
Chapter 1 1-2
Chapter 2 -- Things You Need to Know
This section discusses some of the "basics" of CheckMate-GL's
operation.
2.1 The Bottom Line
As you run CheckMate-GL, the bottom line of the screen summerizes
the functions that are available to you. It is always present, and
should speed your use of the program as you become familiar with its
many capabilities. Most of CheckMate-GL's functions are activated by
the PC's function keys. The bottom line identifies the operation of
these keys (and others).
2.2 The Pull-Down Menu System
CheckMate-GL uses the popular "pull-down" menu system as its
primary user interface. After your start CheckMate-GL, you will see a
row of four "choices" for you to choose from. You may select any of
the choices in one of two ways: first, by moving the highlighted bar to
the item of your choice (using the left or right arrow keys) and then
pressing "return" (which we will also refer to as <CR>), or, by
pressing the starting letter of your choosing. Either method will
instantly produce a secondary menu (with a bar that moves up and down
instead of left to right). Select individual functions in the same
manner.
2.3 The Help System
CheckMate-GL includes built in on-line help. Just press <F1> at
any time while running CheckMate-GL for instant help. Some help
screens have multiple pages, so use <PgDn> and <PgUp> to move through
the message. The help screens are contained in the file "CMGL.HLP" and
this file must be present in the program file path at runtime. The
program file path is set with CMGLINST.COM.
2.4 Pop-Up Chart of Accounts
Accounting systems typically work with numbered accounts, and in
most instances, you will need to use an account's NUMBER instead of its
name. This can involve constantly referring to a print-out of your
chart, especially for accounts that you do not use often. CheckMate-GL
addresses this problem by providing a "pop-up" chart of accounts. Just
press <F2> anytime while in CheckMate-GL and your accounts and account
numbers will appear. You can quickly scroll through the chart with the
arrow keys and the <PgDn> and <PgUp> keys. For you WordStar (tm)
users, ^C and ^R will also page up and down through the display. When
you have found the account that you were looking for, press <ESC> to
return to CheckMate-GL.
Chapter 2 - Things You Need to Know 2-1
2.5 Pop-Up Calculator
Strictly for your convenience, we have implemented an accountant's
style calculator inside of CheckMate-GL. Pressing <F3> anytime will
pop the calculator up. The calculator has a rolling tape to help you
keep track of your math, and you can even direct the output to the
printer!
When using the calculator, be careful to notice when the
calculator expects an operation and when it expects a number. The data
entry field will be reverse video when the calculator is expecting a
number. Otherwise, an intermediate result is displayed and any numbers
entered will be rejected. In any case, pressing 'C' (for clear) will
zero the total and set the calculator up to accept a number.
If you want to use the printer, make sure that it is ready before
you press 'P'. If it is not, DOS will report a critical error.
2.6 Date Formats
One of the most annoying aspects of many programs is rigid data
entry, especially DATES. We built a "free-format" date entry into
CheckMate-GL. Whenever CheckMate-GL calls for a date to be entered,
you can key it in almost any fashion you choose. Dates like 7-12-84,
3/5/86, 12 Sept 82, and so forth are all valid. So long as you include
some delimiter between the month, the day, and the year CheckMate-GL
should figure out what you mean. A delimiter can be a space, a dash, a
slash, or virtually any non-number or non-letter. You can even leave
all or part of the date out, and CheckMate-GL will use defaults (the
DOS date).
2.7 Editing within CheckMate-GL
All data entry fields within CheckMate-GL are fully "editable."
The following control-key combinations are defined within CheckMate-GL:
Control Key Alternate Key Function
----------- ------------- -----------------------
Control-D right-arrow move one character right
Control-S left-arrow move one character left
Control-F move one word right
Control-A move one word left
Control-E up-arrow move up one field
Control-X down-arrow move down one field
Control-G DEL delete character at cursor
Control-T delete word right
Control-K delete field right
Control-Y delete entire field
Control-H BACKSPACE delete character left
INS toggle INSERT/OVERWRITE
Chapter 2 - Things You Need to Know 2-2
Notice that the control sequences closely resemble those of
MicroPro's WordStar (tm). We chose these combinations because of
WordStar's popularity. For your convenience we have also imple-mented
the PC's standard editing keys as alternatives.
2.8 Searching and Filtering the Databases
Throughout CheckMate-GL, you will have the ability to examine and
edit the various databases. In every instance, you will have a
powerful search function available to help you quickly locate items of
interest. Simply press <F5> while editing any of the files and a
"search window" will appear. From this window you can specify
information that will be used as a "pattern" to match against the
available data. Once you have set the criteria, you can then "filter"
the data so that only the item or items that you are interested in will
be accessible. If you use CheckMate, this will be a familiar feature.
It is so useful that we have incorporated it wherever possible inside
of CheckMate-GL.
After you have entered the criteria that you want to match, you
have two options. Pressing <F5> will force an EXACT match. That means
that "text" strings must match the actual records exactly. (Upper or
lower case is NOT important). If you desire a more powerful and
flexible search, press <F6> instead. In this case, the text string
need not be complete but can match if it appears ANYWHERE in the field.
For instance, the word "bat" will match only the word "bat" if you
press <F5>, but will match "bat cave", "battle", or "combatant" if you
choose <F6>.
Any field that you leave blank is a wildcard and matches anything.
You can clear all the fields by pressing <F9>.
Many of the reports also allow you to "filter" your data. You can
use this feature, for instance, to separate specific journals out of
your general journal. Simply specify the account numbers that you are
interested in and let CheckMate-GL do the work!
2.9 Printing Reports
The ability to produce reports is the reason we expend the effort
to maintain an accounting system in the first place. We have put
together a powerful report package and include a lot of options. This
section discusses some features common to the various printable reports
available in CheckMate-GL.
Each report allows you to enter two key pieces of data that will
be printed on the report itself. The first is the report date. This
date is primarily for your reference, but as you will see, it can be
significant on certain "custom" reports. The date can be entered
"free-format" (as discussed above). Just pressing <CR> here will cause
the report to use the default date.
The next piece of information that you can enter is a report
title. Like the date, this title will be printed at the top of every
page in the report. Most reports will already have a "default" title,
but you can modify it directly at print time.
If you press <F4> while in the print report form, a menu will
appear with three choices. This menu will let you select which device
Chapter 2 - Things You Need to Know 2-3
you want to direct your output to. You may send the report to the
screen, the printer, or a disk file. If you choose the screen or the
printer, you may also specify whether you want to "pause" between pages
(to change paper or to view the screen). If you choose a file, you
must enter a valid file name. CheckMate-GL fully supports the DOS 2.0
and above directory structure and you may indicate a path name with the
file name. If the file already exists, CheckMate-GL will overwrite it,
so be careful!
While the report is printing, you can pause output at anytime with
the space bar (<SPACE BAR>). Once paused, you can continue to print by
pressing <CR>. Or, pressing the <SPACE BAR> again will cause a single
line to print. You can abort printing at any time by pressing <ESC>.
NOTE: Many printers have memory buffers, and you may not be able to
pause or abort the printing immediately. The pausing feature will be
particularly useful when printing to the screen.
2.10 Backing Up Your Data
All of the data files in an accounting system are related to the
other files in the system. In some cases, this relationship is
critical. We recommend that when you back up your data files, you back
up ALL of your data files, even your report definitions. That way you
can be assured of consistent backups in case you need to restore your
data from your backup files.
2.11 Quick-Look Reports
CheckMate-GL includes another unique and useful feature... the
ability to take a "quick-look" at the two most critical accounting
reports. Under the "Reports" menu, you will see options for two
"quick" reports, a "quick Balance sheet" and a "quick P/L statement".
Selecting either one of these options will bring up another menu with
four additional options. These choices give you a chance to look at
data from four different points of view.
As you will see later in this manual, your reports are generally
classified as either "pre-post" or "after-post". The pre-post reports
operate only on the journal entries, while the after-post reports
reflect the status of the ledger only. The quick reports, however,
give you the opportunity to "merge" the two. In effect, you can do a
"pre-posting" of your journal entries (without ACTUALLY posting) to get
a clearer idea of your current and up-to-date financial status.
The four options are listed and described below:
1) Current Month: reports on UNPOSTED transactions
for the current month (DOS date) only
2) Specific Month: reports on POSTED transactions only
(for the month you specify)
3) Year to Current Month: reports on the total
balances of accounts up to the current month
(POSTED transactions only)
4) Year to Date: reports on ALL available data, posted
and unposted. This is the most up-to-date report
available
Chapter 2 - Things You Need to Know 2-4
We have included the discussion of these reports in this section
because they are "extras" that are not necessary to maintain your
accounting system. You may find them useful for immediate feedback,
but they are NOT intended to replace the more complete and informative
hard-copy reports!
Chapter 2 - Things You Need to Know 2-5
Chapter 3 -- Getting Started
This chapter discusses the steps you must follow to set up your
accounting system under CheckMate-GL.
3.1 Setting up your Chart of Accounts
3.1.1 Philosophy
Most people are anxious to set a new piece of software to use at
once. With accounting systems, however, it is necessary to generate a
Chart of Accounts before you can input data. You need to resist the
urge to breeze through this step, since a well thought out chart of
accounts is ESSENTIAL to successful accounting. We have provided
sample charts (for both home and small business) to help you get
running as quickly as possible. You can use these samples as guides,
or you may simply modify them to meet your needs. If you are
unfamiliar with what a chart of accounts is, refer to appendix A for a
brief tutorial on accounting principles.
In CheckMate-GL, you may have two different types of accounts.
These are SUMMARY accounts and ENTRY accounts. An ENTRY account is one
in which you may post journal transactions. A SUMMARY account merely
"summerizes" the balances of accounts "underneath" it, and you may NOT
post transactions to such an account. The accounts that you enter will
all be ENTRY accounts. The SUMMARY accounts, numbered '1' through '5',
are created for you.
To correctly identify which accounts must sum to higher accounts,
CheckMate-GL uses a "parent-child" system. While you define your
accounts, you must indicate a "parent" for each one that you create.
The only accounts that will not have parents are the five predefined
accounts (ASSETS, LIABILITIES, OWNER'S EQUITY, REVENUE, and EXPENSES).
These accounts are at the top level, and are the "parents" to all other
accounts. For instance, all of the balances from the accounts under
"ASSETS" will sum together to form the total "ASSETS" balance.
In most cases, an account will be the same Debit/Credit type as
its PARENT. For instance, since ASSETS is a debit account, its
children will most likely be debit accounts as well. (In advanced
accounting, this does not have to be the case. You may, for instance,
have CONTRA accounts. CheckMate-GL supports these types of accounts.
See a good accounting text for details if you wish to use CONTRA
accounts).
CheckMate-GL will order your accounts (in your chart of accounts
and on reports) by number. To have a logical order on your accounts
and reports, you should adhere to the standard numbering sequence.
Note that the numbers are ordered alphabetically and not sequentially.
This means that the number '111' comes BEFORE the number '2', but after
the number '11'. You could number your accounts as such:
Chapter 3: Getting Started 3-1
Number Account Name
------ ---------------------------
1 ASSETS
10000 Bay Bank and Co.
10001 Security Federal
10010 Land
10011 Buildings
2 LIABILITIES
20000 Accounts Payable
20001 etc...
The indentions are meant to illustrate the PARENT/CHILD
relationship between the accounts. For style and information, all
SUMMARY account names are written in all capital letters. You will
find that CheckMate-GL will force you to begin each account number with
the same number as its parent. This means that an all LIABILIBITY
accounts must start with the number '2', for instance. This is
necessary to insure proper grouping on your reports and your chart of
accounts. For a more complete example see the sample chart of accounts
in appendix B.
3.1.2 Generating Your Own Chart of Accounts
With the above information in mind, you should now sit down with
the sample chart (appendix B) and draft your own chart of accounts.
Try and be as complete as possible, but you can easily add or modify
the accounts later. Be careful to note whether each account should be
a debit or a credit account. If you have previous accounting data, you
should have that ready as well (to enter previous years' balances or
budgeting data).
3.1.3 Entering Your Chart of Accounts
From the main menu, select "Files". From the pull-down menu
select "Chart of accts". From the pop-up menu you may select either
"Enter new accounts" or "eDit existing accounts" depending on whether
you are modifying existing accounts or adding new ones.
3.1.4 Entering New Accounts
If you are entering new accounts, the first thing that you must
enter is the account number. Remember to use the numbering scheme
discussed above. If you have forgotten where you are in the sequence,
press <F2> and your current chart of accounts will pop-up. CheckMate-
GL will not let you save any account with a duplicate account number.
Next you must specify the account's PARENT. Only level 1 accounts
do not have parents, and since the level 1 accounts are created
automatically, you MUST specify a valid parent (numbers '1' through
'5'). After entering the parent, you need to specify whether the
account carries a debit or a credit balance. Most of the time the
account will have the same type balance as its parent. CheckMate-GL
will default to the this type, but make sure you have this correct
Chapter 3: Getting Started 3-2
before you save the account!
Next, you may then enter previous years' balances and an optional
budget. No changes will be written into the general ledger until you
press <F10> to save the account. If you have made any critical errors
in the account entry, CheckMate-GL will display an error message and
abort the saving process. You may then correct the errors and re-save.
SPECIAL TIP: Most people set up there accounting system after they have
already started doing business. This is almost certainly the case for
home users. When you entered your accounts, you could directly enter
previous years' balances, but not CURRENT balances! This is necessary
since CheckMate-GL must perserve the integrity of your account
balances. To make these initial enteries, you should use journal
transactions. The method is straight-forward... simply make a single
transaction for each account that reflects its current balance. The
balancing entry should be to an account under OWNER'S EQUITY.
"Capital" or "Initial Capital" is a good name for this balancing
account. When you have made and verified all of the initial entries,
you will need to POST them to the general ledger (see section 5.2). It
is also good practice to run the end-of-month reports here for a record
of your initial inputs. These routines are also discussed in chapter
5.
3.1.5 Editing Existing Accounts
You may edit accounts if you wish to modify one of the sample
charts or if you need to correct mistakes made while entering your own
accounts. All the same rules that applied for entering accounts still
apply for editing them. There are some additional restrictions,
however.
If you have already posted some transactions to an account, then
that account will have a current balance (and so will its parent, and
its parent's parent, etc). There are certain items which you may not
change for any account that has a current balance (since that would
corrupt your books). These items are:
1) the debit/credit type
2) the account's PARENT
You may modify the account's name, number, previous balances, and
budget and any time. (NOTE: you may not modify the PARENT accounts AT
ALL!) For these reasons, it is important that you double check your
chart of accounts before you do any posting. It is especially critical
for you to ensure that the debit/credit type is correct for each
account. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN MODIFYING AN ACCOUNT'S NUMBER, SINCE
UNPOSTED TRANSACTIONS MAKE REFERENCE TO THESE NUMBERS! If you have
open transactions and change an account's number before you post them,
you may lose some of the data! In practice, it is a good idea not to
change account numbers after you have started using the system.
As you edit accounts, you may press <F5> to bring up a search and
filter window. You can use this function to quickly find the accounts
you need to modify. Refer to section 2.8 (Searching and Filtering the
Databases) for information on how to use this very powerful function
Chapter 3: Getting Started 3-3
throughout CheckMate-GL. Also note that pressing <F7> and <F8> will
let you move back and forth through your accounts. You may delete an
account with <F4>. Remember that you must save the changes with <F10>
before any of the changes will become permanent!
3.1.6 Printing Your Chart of Accounts
You can use the "chart of Accounts" function under the "Reports"
menu to print out your chart. As with all reports in CheckMate-GL, you
have several options regarding where you want your report to go and can
control the report output. Refer to 2.9 (Printing Reports) for more
details on printing reports.
The search window is available to filter your output. Press <F5>
to pop it up. When you are ready to print, press <F10>.
3.2 General Setup
Once you have created your chart of accounts, you are ready to
proceed with the configuration of your accounting system. You will do
a good bit of this under the "Setup" menu.
Start with the "General setup". In this module, you will first
enter the account to which you will clear all Revenue and Expense
balances at the end of the accounting year. This account should be
under Owner's Equity and is usually called "Retained Earnings" or
"Profit/Loss". Enter the correct account number (CheckMate-GL will
then display the account name). Remember to press <F10> to save your
selection. You will not be able to run the End-of-Year routines until
you have specified this account.
The next two options are for personal preference. You may
instruct CheckMate-GL to display commas in dollar values (or you may
have the commas omitted). Generally, the commas make the numbers
easier to read. One reason why you may want to turn them off, however,
is that due to limited screen space many of the display fields are
restricted to 12 characters. This is adequate to display values
ranging from -999,999.99 to 9,999,999.99. For most users, this will be
more than adequate. You can get another digit or two of range without
the commas.
The last option lets you decide between displaying negative values
with minus-signs (the way most of us do it) or with parentheses (the
way accountant's prefer). In order to keep the columns in line, you
sacrifice one additional digit of display range while using the
parentheses option.
Remember that none of your selections will be permanent until you
press <F10>!
3.3 Company Information
In the "company Information" module you can enter data to be
printed at the top of reports. You will probably want to enter your
company or personal name on line 1 as that line is also displayed in
the upper right corner of the CheckMate-GL screen (to remind you whose
files you are working with). You may also enter address, phone numbers
and slogans on the additional lines. The information will be
Chapter 3: Getting Started 3-4
automatically centered at the top of the reports. Again, you must
press <F10> to save your entries!
3.4 Generating Custom Reports
The two basic reports produced by an accounting system are the
Balance Sheet and the Profit and Loss Statement. These reports are
specific to a chart of accounts and therefore will vary from user to
user. CheckMate-GL has a very powerful custom report facility that
will let you define and customize up to ten different reports.
Unfortunately, this level of flexibility makes defining the reports
somewhat difficult, even for experienced computer users.
BUT DON'T WORRY! As we did with CheckMate, we are dedicated to
making CheckMate-GL painless and easy to use. Toward this end, we have
implemented a "generate Reports" option in the "Setup" menu.
When you select this option, you will see a menu with three
choices. These choices correspond to the three different reports that
CheckMate-GL will let you generate automatically. They include a
balance sheet and two variations of the profit and loss statement.
Generating the reports is simple. First pick the report that you
want to generate from the menu. Next, you will be prompted for a
number between 0 and 9 (remember that you can have ten different
reports). Then press <F10> and CheckMate-GL will create the report
design for you! Once your reports are created, you can run them from
the "Reports" menu (this is discussed in detail later in this manual).
The reports generated are standard ASCII text files, and you can
modify them (to summerize your data or add features). This is an
advanced step (see appendix C for details).
If you choose a number that is already in use, CheckMate-GL will
prompt you for confirmation of your intentions. This is to prevent you
from inadvertantly over-writing your reports.
IMPORTANT! Your reports are generated around your chart of
accounts. If you modify your chart of accounts, you should re-run this
procedure to ensure that your report definitions are up-to-date!
3.5 CheckMate Interface
The "Checkmate interface" module is where you give CheckMate-GL
pertinent information about your checking and savings accounts. If you
are using CheckMate in coordination with CheckMate-GL, you need to tell
CheckMate-GL where to look for your CheckMate files and into which
accounts to expense your CheckMate transactions.
Start by matching your CheckMate account numbers to account
numbers in your general ledger. CheckMate allows up to 8 different
checking and savings accounts. They are numbered 1 through 8. For
example, if your first CheckMate account is "Bay Bank", you would look
at your chart of accounts and see which general ledger account you have
set up as "Bay Bank". You would enter this number next to the
CheckMate "Account 1." If you can not remember the account numbers,
press <F2> to view your chart of accounts. Repeat this procedure for
all the CheckMate accounts you wish to integrate into CheckMate-GL.
After you have coordinated your CheckMate and CheckMate-GL account
numbers, you need to tell CheckMate-GL about the environment you are
operating in. If you are using a hard-disk (and you keep your data
files on the hard disk) answer YES to the "Hard-Disk System?"
Chapter 3: Getting Started 3-5
question. Then specify the directory in which CheckMate-GL should look
for the CheckMate files. If you are using floppies, then answer NO to
the question and specify the CheckMate Data File Path to be the same
drive as your CheckMate-GL PROGRAM disk. CheckMate-GL will prompt you
to switch disks at the appropriate times. It is important to note that
your CheckMate-GL and your CheckMate data files MUST BE AVAILABLE TO
THE SYSTEM AT THE SAME TIME!
Don't forget to press <F10> to save your entries!
At this point you can run CheckMate-GL on a daily basis and begin
keeping accurate accounting data. You may wish to go directly to the
next chapter, "Daily Activity", and begin using the system. The rest
of this chapter is devoted to discussing the setup and use of "Standard
Transactions" (a unique and powerful time-saving feature of CheckMate-
GL).
3.6 Setting up your Standard Transactions
3.6.1 Philosophy
The most tedious job in accounting is making the day to day
journal transactions that reflect the cash flow of your home or
business. Proper accounting procedures demand that you account for
every penny that comes in or goes out... and that you make double
entries to properly document the flow!
Fortunately, much of the tedium can be relieved when you
recognize the fact that many of the entries that you make during a
month will be similar to those that you made last month. In a manner
similar to CheckMate's "PayTo" menu system, you may record up to 50
"standard" journal transactions that will pop-up at the touch of a key.
Think about this for a minute, and you will begin to see what a
tremendous time and work-saver this feature will be. You will not need
to remember or look up account numbers or names. The number of
keystrokes you make will be substantially reduced. But even better,
you will not have to "re-think" how to distribute the transactions
between your accounts each month. An enormous amount of the effort
involved in maintaining a good set of books has just dropped into the
proverbial "bit-bucket"!
3.6.2 Entering Your Standard Transactions
Selecting "Standard entries" from the "Files" menu will cause a
pop-up menu with three choices to appear. From here, you may enter or
edit the standard transactions, or you may rebuild the standard
transactions file.
Select "Enter standard transactions" to input new entries. The
first field that you are prompted for is the name of the standard
transaction. This name will appear on the pop-up menu (in alphabetical
order). It is important that you make a good descriptive entry here to
help you while you are inputing your journal entries. If you leave
this field blank, you will have a blank line on your menu.
Next you make your actual journal entries. You need only enter
the account numbers, as CheckMate-GL will fill in the names for you.
CheckMate-GL incorporates a substantial amount of error checking at
Chapter 3: Getting Started 3-6
this level to prevent you from making illegal entries.
Once CheckMate-GL has filled in the account name, you may enter a
description and amount. Each line of the transaction may have either a
debit or a credit (but not both). Note that you can leave the
description blank and the amounts zero and enter them later (as you
make your actual journal entries). You may also alter any of the pre-
defined fields during actual entry.
Obviously, these transactions do not have to balance at this time.
You may leave many parts of the transaction unfinished. You should
complete as much as is practical, however, to minimize your work later.
Press <F10> to save your transaction. The <F9> key will clear the
entry. It my also be handy to note that you may press <F6> to bring up
a menu of transactions that you have already defined. You may
incorporate any of these into the one that you are working on!
SPECIAL NOTE: If you are using CheckMate to keep track of your bank
accounts, you will notice that CheckMate-GL will fill in the first line
of the transaction for you (see the "eXpense checks" section in the
next chapter). For this reason, you will want to leave that line out
while defining standard transactions (which will save you even more
work!).
3.6.3 Rebuilding the Standard Transactions file
This feature is included for maintenance. You may repair
corrupted index files or reclaim disk space released by deleted
records.
Chapter 3: Getting Started 3-7
Chapter 4 -- Daily Activity
4.1 Entering Daily Journal Transactions
The secret to keeping abreast of your financial status is to make
frequent and timely entries into your general journal. If you let your
cash flow transactions build up, and do not enter them regularly into
your journal, you will soon have an accounting nightmare on your hands.
Large businesses typically maintain bookkeeping personnel that
will make many journal entries each day. For the small business and
the home user, however, weekly or even monthly entries may be
sufficient. If you use CheckMate to keep track of your bank accounts,
CheckMate-GL provides an exceptional mechanism to help you in your
periodic journal entries (see the "eXpense checks" section below). For
those transactions not covered by your bank accounts, CheckMate-GL sets
a new standard of "user-friendliness" in journal entries and
maintenance.
4.1.1 Entering Journal Transactions
After selecting this function from the "Activity" menu, you will
find yourself in a powerful data entry window. CheckMate-GL
facilitates classical journal entries (allowing multiple entries per
transaction and a separation of debit and credit totals).
The first field you need to enter is the date. We anticipate that
you may be making your entries in "batch", so we initially leave the
date blank. As any date field in CheckMate-GL, you may key it in free
format leaving all or part of the date out. If you make your entries
every day, you can simply press <CR> here and CheckMate-GL will use the
current DOS date.
Now you may make your individual entries. You can move up and
down through the lines with the arrow keys. A <CR> will cause the
cursor to move forward through the fields on each line. You may make
up to ten entries within each transaction.
You must indicate the account number for each account represented
in the transaction. Notice that CheckMate-GL fills in the account name
for you. You may also note that CheckMate-GL performs a great deal of
error checking throughout this module to protect you from inadvertant
or illegal activity.
After supplying the account number, you can input a short
description of the transaction. You should make an effort to use this
space wisely, as your general journal will in many cases be the primary
record of your financial activity. The columns following the
description are for the amount of the entry. CheckMate-GL will let you
set the debit OR the credit, but not both. Remember that the totals of
the debits and the credits for the entire transaction must be equal!
CheckMate-GL will not let you save the transaction until this is the
case. As always, you must press <F10> to save your data.
TIME SAVERS:
The built-in editing features of CheckMate-GL alone make it more
friendly and useable than any other package on the market, and we have
added even more features to help you along. One very powerful feature
Chapter 4: Daily Activity 4-1
is the ability to automatically complete a transaction at the touch of
a key. Pressing <TAB> causes CheckMate-GL to total and modify an entry
so that the entire transaction is in balance. Pressing the <TAB> key
affects only the line that the cursor is on, and it is particularly
useful in entering the last line of the transaction.
CheckMate-GL boasts a revolution in accounting packages with its
"CheckMate-style" pop-up standard transactions. Since most of your
journal entries will periodically repeat, you can record them under the
"Files" menu and save yourself mountains of work. Simply press <F6>
while entering transactions to bring up a menu of pre-defined entries.
You can have up to fifty of them, so use <PgUp> and <PgDn> to scroll
through the available choices. For a discussion on defining these
"standard transactions", see the previous chapter ("Getting Started").
4.2 Expensing Checks and other CheckMate Transactions
If you use CheckMate to keep track of your bank account activity,
then you have already done much of the work necessary in maintaining
accurate books. Select the 'eXpense checks' option to enter this
module.
If you have a floppy disk only system, you will first be prompted
to exchange your CheckMate-GL PROGRAM disk with your CheckMate DATA
disk. At this point, both your CheckMate-GL and your CheckMate data
disks are available to the computer simultaneously. You should also be
aware that since you no longer have your CheckMate-GL program disk
available, you can not use the <F1> key to access the help file.
If you have a hard disk system, or if you keep your CheckMate-GL
and your CheckMate data files on the same disk, you will not be
prompted to switch disks and help will continue to be available. You
make CheckMate-GL aware of your operating environment with the
"Checkmate interface" function located under the "Setup" menu.
Now you are ready to begin processing your bank account
transactions. You will first need to indicate a starting date. There
is no reason why CheckMate-GL should have to search through your entire
CheckMate file searching for transactions to expense. You will save
this search time by indicating a starting date for CheckMate-GL. The
default is the DOS date, so you will probably want to set it back a few
weeks.
Each CheckMate account should have a corresponding account in your
general ledger. The appropriate GL account should appear underneath
the CheckMate account name. You can specify the relationships between
these accounts in the "Setup" menu, or you can enter them manually at
this stage.
CheckMate-GL automatically sets up your first active CheckMate
account to process. If all is well, you should see that account
displayed on the screen. The <F4> key will pop-up a menu of available
CheckMate accounts. When you have selected the account that you want
to process, press <F10>. Make sure that you have a valid and
appropriate GL account specified and have entered an appropriate
starting date!
After you press <F10>, CheckMate-GL will open the CheckMate file
and look for un-expensed transactions. If you get a "No Transactions
Found!" error, it means one of three things:
Chapter 4: Daily Activity 4-2
1) there are no transactions in the file, or
2) all the transactions are already expensed, or
3) you did not properly specify the starting date
Remember that CheckMate-GL will look for transactions entered after the
starting date that you enter.
Assuming that you have successfully entered the transaction entry
form, you will notice that you now have a split screen. The top of the
display shows the CheckMate transaction, and CheckMate-GL has filled in
the first line of the general ledger transaction. You now proceed in
the same manner as you did while entering normal transactions. All of
the editing and time-saving features are still available. You will
not, however, be permitted to modify the top line of the transaction
(the one that CheckMate-GL provides).
Once you save the transaction with <F10>, CheckMate-GL will update
your CheckMate file and mark the CheckMate transaction as expensed.
You can move back and forth through the available transactions with the
<F7> and <F8> keys respectively.
4.3 Editing Journal Transactions
No matter how careful we try to be, we are bound to make mistakes
from time to time. For this reason, and so you can easily examine your
transactions, we have built a powerful search and edit facility into
CheckMate-GL. Select "eDit transactions" from the "Activity" menu to
access this function.
The screen that you will see looks much like the transaction entry
form. CheckMate-GL will automatically position you at the latest
entry. You can browse back and forth through the entries with the <F7>
and <F8> keys. To search for specific entries or to "filter" the data
file, press <F5> to bring up a search window. This feature is
particularly powerful in the transaction edit module. You can specify
search and filter criteria for multiple accounts (and therefore quickly
zoom in on the transactions of interest). Section 2.8 (Searching and
Filtering the Databases) describes in detail how to use the search and
filter functions throughout CheckMate-GL.
You can edit any part of the transaction, but you must adhere to
the same rules you did while entering them. CheckMate-GL will not let
you save illegal transactions. You may change any or all entries, and
the <F6> (standard transaction) menu is available. Your changes will
not be permanent until you press <F10>. You may also delete the
transaction by pressing <F4>. In either case, CheckMate-GL will prompt
you for confirmation before proceeding.
SPECIAL NOTE: You may edit ANY transaction fully, including entries
made while expensing checks. You must take care while editing these
transactions, as changing the debit or credit entries could cause
CheckMate-GL's account balances to disagree with CheckMate's!
Chapter 4: Daily Activity 4-3
Chapter 5 -- End-of-Month Routines
At the end of each month you will generate several reports and
POST your transactions to the general ledger. These are the reports
that make all the hard work of maintaining an accounting system
worthwhile.
The reports CheckMate-GL produces can be divided into two distinct
categories: pre-post and after-post reports. The pre-post reports
operate on the general journal, while the after-post reports summerize
the general ledger balances. It is important that you generate them in
the proper order!
5.1 Generating pre-post reports
The posting process removes transactions from the general journal
and transfers their balances to the ledger. It is crucial, therefore,
that you run the pre-post reports prior to posting, since they will be
UNAVAILABLE afterwards! The two pre-post reports are:
1) Activity Report
2) Transaction Report
Both of these reports are available under the "Reports" menu.
The "activity Report" is equivalent to what many accountants call
a trial balance. We don't call it that since CheckMate-GL will not let
you make journal entries that don't balance (so theoretically your
accounts CAN'T be out of balance). What the report does is summerize
the activity of each account. You can filter the output by bringing up
the search window (the <F5> key) to narrow your report around specific
dates and/or accounts. Section 2.8 (Seraching and Filtering the
Databases) discusses the use and operation of the search and filter
function. You also have a number of options available to you to
control the destination and output flow of your report. As these
options are consistent throughout CheckMate-GL, we have summerized them
in section 2.9 (Printing Reports).
The "Transaction report" produces the same data as the activity
report except that the transactions are displayed just as they were
entered (rather than summerized by account). This report is a
permanent record of your journal activity and should be kept in a safe
place! Like the activity report, you can filter your output with the
search and filter function (see section 2.8) and you have the same
printing options (see section 2.9).
Both of these reports are useful for isolating and correcting
errors in your accounting procedures. In practice, you should print
these out and examine them closely BEFORE you proceed with posting your
transactions. After posting, do not discard these reports. They are
valuable records!
5.2 Posting journal transactions to the general ledger
After you have printed your pre-post reports, you are ready to
take a rather drastic step: POSTING your journal transactions to the
Chapter 5: End-of-Month Routines 5-1
general ledger. This step is irreversible. This is a GOOD time to
make a back up copy of ALL your data files!
Posting involves transferring the account activity from the
journal to the ledger. After this is done, the transaction is deleted.
Before you post, you may edit your journal transcations directly. To
correct an error AFTER posting, you will have to make a reverse entry.
You access this function by selecting "Post transactions" under
the "Activity" menu. You must then enter the month and year that you
want to post. Only the transactions dated in that month will be
posted, so you may have other periods open and active and still post.
For instance, you may have already made journal entries for February
before posting January. This is OK. You may even make entries for
January 1987 before posting January 1986 (but be careful! You must run
the End-Of-Year routines before subsequently posting the 1987
transactions). Once you have selected a month and year, press <F10>.
CheckMate-GL will prompt you TWICE to be sure of your intention.
REMEMBER TO RUN YOUR PRE-POST REPORTS PRIOR TO POSTING!
As your transactions are posted, you can see the number of active
transactions decrease. If CheckMate-GL detects any errors, you will be
prompted and the posting process will abort.
5.3 Generating after-post reports
After you have posted the month's transactions, your general
ledger accounts will contain up-to-date balances. You can now run your
after-post reports (which are your "custom" reports).
Select "Custom reports" from the "Reports" menu and you will see a
menu listing the available reports. (If this menu is blank, proceed to
the "generate Reports" option under "Setup" to create them.) Pick the
report that you want to print, and the report form will appear. You
have several options at this point concerning both the output
destination of the report and the flow of the output. Refer to section
2.9 (Printing Reports) a general discussion. When you are ready to
print the report, press <F10>.
The most common reports that you will print here are your balance
sheet and your profit/loss statements. CheckMate-GL will create these
reports for you (see section 3.4 -- Generating Custom Reports).
CheckMate-GL will generate your balance sheet and TWO versions of your
profit and loss statements. The first is a cumulative total P/L
statement and is labeled YTD (year-to-date). The second one is for a
specific month. You decide which month you want to report on by
specifying the "Report Date" while printing out the report.
Remember that even though CheckMate-GL generates these reports,
you can modify them to fit your specific needs and desires. See
appendix C for a detailed discussion concerning the creation and
modification of custom reports.
Chapter 5: End-of-Month Routines 5-2
Chapter 6 -- End-of-Year Routines
The end of the accounting year is a special event. This is the
time when accounts clear all expense and revenue accounts and generate
cumulative, yearly reports. You may notice that unlike some less-
friendly accounting packages, CheckMate-GL does not force you to start
your accounting year in January. You may start and end in any month
that you wish!
6.1 Generating End-of-Year reports
To close out a year, all revenue and expense accounts must be
zeroed and their balances transferred directly to Owner's Equity.
Additionally, all monthly balances in ALL accounts must be cleared and
current balances copied to last year's balances. Last year's balances
will be moved to year before last's balances, and the year before
last's balances will be discarded. Consequently, you want to run your
end-of-year reports BEFORE you close the year.
Your primary end-of-year reports will be a cumulative profit and
loss statement and a final balance sheet. Use the YTD profit and loss
report and the balance sheet you generated under the "Custom reports"
menu. Be sure to post your final month's transactions before you run
these yearly reports.
6.2 Closing Revenue and Expense Accounts and Transferring Balances
To perform all of these tedious tasks of transferring balances in
one easy step, proceed to "end Year routines" beneath the "Activity"
menu. CAUTION! BE SURE THAT YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE END-OF-MONTH
PROCEDURES FOR YOUR LAST MONTH BEFORE YOU CLOSE OUT THE YEAR! ALSO,
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT TIME TO MAKE A BACK UP COPY OF YOUR DATA! When
you are ready to close the year, press <F10>. As this is a pretty
drastic step, CheckMate-GL will prompt you twice before actually
executing the procedure. If you have not specified a valid account to
transfer the expense and revenue balances to, CheckMate-GL will not let
you close the year. If you get an error message, look at section 3.2
(General Setup).
Congratulations! You have now completed an accounting year, and are
all set up to start a new one!
Chapter 6: End-of-Year Routines 6-1
Appendix A -- An Accounting Primer
This short tutorial is intended to give you a start into the world
of classical accounting. It is by no means exhaustive, but it should
get you going. If you run a small business, this primer will help,
but you should still obtain a complete text or hire an accountant (or
bookkeeper) to help you with some of the more difficult subjects.
Since CheckMate-GL follows standard accounting rules, virtually any
accounting text will be compatible. If you are a casual or home user,
don't be frightened if this primer makes things seem complicated! For
home use, the rules of accounting can be can be greatly relaxed.
What is Accounting?
Accounting is the term we apply to the discipline of maintaining
complete and accurate financial data. Over the years, some well
defined practices and conventions have developed. Adhering to these
conventions will make your accounting data compatible with other
people's data, and consequently it will be easier for others to
understand. This is what we refer to as "classical" accounting.
For business, proper accounting can spell the difference between
success and failure. The fruits of the accounting system are the
reports that you can generate. These reports can help you analyze your
cash flow and make decisions based on past and present performance.
Having these reports available can you give you the competitive edge
that you need to succeed. Also, most banks, as well as the IRS, will
want to see your balance sheet and income statements before doing
business with you!
To start, we must divide your holdings, debt, expenses and income.
We will group these items under 5 categories: ASSETS, LIABILITIES,
EQUITY, REVENUE, and EXPENSES.
What are ASSETS?
Assets are money, land, items, etc that you have in your
possession. Essentially, they are anything that holds any value. You
do not have to own something for it to be an asset. For instance, the
bank may hold the deed to your home while you pay off the note. But
since the use of the home is under your control, it is still an asset
to you. We will see below how we can balance this asset with a
corresponding debt (or liability). Assets can take many forms. If
someone owes you money, for instance, then you have an asset in the
form of a note or an IOU.
What are LIABILITIES?
Liabilities are any debts that you owe. In the example above, we
have an asset (our home). But we also owe money against the home, and
that is a liability. Not all liabilities need be bank loans. In a
business, money that we owe to our employees (in the form of pay) is a
liability. Income tax that we owe the government is also a liabilty,
as is rent due, etc. In short, any time that we owe money or services
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-1
we have a liability.
What is EQUITY?
Equity is the difference between our assets and our liabilities.
The equity in your home, for example, is the difference between the
value of your home (your asset) and the money that you owe (your
liability). Your total net worth, then, is the delta between all of
your assets and the total of your liabilities.
The Accounting Equation
It is the above relationship that forms the principle behind
classical accounting. We can state that relationship as such:
ASSETS - LIABILITIES = EQUITY
If we do a little math, we can rearrange the above equation:
------------------------------------
| ASSETS = LIABILITIES + EQUITY |
------------------------------------
This equation is referred to as the ACCOUNTING EQUATION. Remember
it... it is important!
The principle of this equation is clear. If you increase your
assets, then something else has to change to keep the equation true.
Let's say you buy a car, and hence increase your assets (you now have a
car). To keep the above equation true, you must do one of three
things:
1) Decrease another asset (pay cash or trade for the car)
2) Increase a liability (borrow the money for the car)
3) Increase your equity
The first two options are straight-forward and are easily understood.
The last option is a little more difficult to understand until we
further explore how we can make changes to equity.
What are REVENUE and EXPENSES?
The three categories that we discussed above describe your
financial status in a "static" way. There is no way to either increase
nor decrease your net worth (equity) by merely adding assets or
liabilities. Revenue and expenses provide this avenue.
Revenue is money that you take in, usually in exchange for goods
or services. Revenue has the characteristic of INCREASING your equity.
That is, an asset will increase (such as cash) with NO corresponding
increase in a liability. Not all money that you take in is revenue.
Money that you receive in payment of a debt, for example, increases an
asset (cash) but also decreases another asset (the note you hold). The
net effect is that your equity is unchanged. In the above example, you
could obtain the new car by working for it, or maybe by winning it in a
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-2
contest. In either case, we have increased our equity by the same
amount that we have increased our assets (the price of the car).
Expenses reduce your equity. A good example is your power bill.
You pay the bill with cash, and your assets are reduced. But you did
not reduce a liability, and you did not increase another asset. The
electricity was consumed! Whether or not goods or services are
"consumed" is one good way to tell expenses apart from liabilities.
In the case of a business or a corporation, you can increase or
decrease the company's equity in another fashion. When you sell stock,
you DIRECTLY increase the equity in the company. But it is not YOUR
equity in the company that has increased, but the person who bought the
stock. In fact, a company can have many, many owners. That is why we
will often refer to equity as OWNER'S EQUITY.
But lets' get back to revenue and expenses. There is yet another
relationship that we should document here. This one is more familiar:
--------------------------------------------
| PROFIT (or LOSS) = REVENUE - EXPENSES |
--------------------------------------------
Notice that that if expenses exceed revenue, we have incurred a LOSS.
Let me take a minute to point out that (LOSS) here is in parentheses.
Accountants typically do not like to use negative numbers, but rather
indicate a negative amount by enclosing it in parentheses. In
CheckMate-GL, we give you the option of using either convention.
In either case, the difference between revenue and expenses will
tend to either increase or decrease our equity. Also notice that if
equity changes, then either assets or liabilities must change. Let's
say we incur a loss, and equity decreases. To make the accounting
equation remain true, we must either draw on assets (maybe take cash to
pay the loss) or increase liabilities (perhaps borrow money to make up
for the loss).
Revenue and expenses are actually only extensions of equity. We
give them their own categories since it is useful to treat them
separately while computing profit or loss.
How does it all work in real life?
To try and tie the above principles together, let's hypothesize a
small company, called XYZ Shoes, Inc. We will draw on this example
throughout the remainder of this primer.
What are ACCOUNTS?
Accounts are the accountant's method of separating and detailing
individual items under each of the above categories. You can think of
an account as the dollar value of each item. We will give each account
a descriptive name, as well as an account number.
Accounts are logical entities, and it may be difficult to
physically separate them from one another. This is OK, because we
don't need to... we merely need to track the current value of each
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-3
account.
Things may be starting to seem confusing. An example here is in
order. Consider our ASSETS category. We will use accounts to break
down and detail the assets of the XYZ Shoe company:
ASSETS of XYZ Shoe Company
--------------------------
Cash : $ 450.35
Checking Account: 1,300.25
Building : 78,000.00
Inventory : 4,875.00
Pickup Truck : 6,500.00
Office Furniture : 1,200.00
Office Equipment : 3,200.00
Accounts Receivable : 880.00
Each item that we listed has become an account. The total of all the
listed accounts will be the total assets for XYZ. Now lets' list the
liabilities and equity accounts:
LIABILITIES of XYZ Shoe Company
-------------------------------
Accounts Payable : $ 1,345.00
Salaries Payable : 850.00
Sales Tax Payable : 242.25
Income Tax Payable : 0.00
Mortgage : 65,000.00
EQUITY of XYZ Shoe Company
--------------------------
Initial Capital : $ 28,968.35
Profit/Loss : 0.00
We are assuming (for the purpose of this example) that the above data
was true on Jan 1, 1987. Profit/Loss is zero, since we have incurred
no expenses nor made any revenue in the new year. We will follow the
example and see how the profit builds.
If you total the amounts above, you will see that the accounting
equation is satisfied. But don't bother just yet... we will prove it
in a minute.
Now lets construct our "Chart of Accounts", which is simply a
listing of all our accounts. We will also add our REVENUE and EXPENSE
accounts while we are at it.
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-4
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XYZ Shoes, Inc
PO Box 0000
Anytown, USA
(555) 555-5555
"Our Shoes Smell Good"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 22, 1987
Chart of Accounts page 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acct# DB/CR Account Name
----- ----- -----------------------------------
1 DB ASSETS
10000 DB Cash
10001 DB Checking Account
10002 DB Building
10003 DB Inventory
10004 DB Pickup Truck
10005 DB Office Furniture
10006 DB Office Equipment
10007 DB Accounts Receivable
10008 DB Purchases
2 CR LIABILITIES
20000 CR Accounts Payable
20001 CR Salaries Payable
20002 CR Sales Tax Payable
20003 CR Income Tax Payable
20005 CR Mortgage
3 CR OWNER'S EQUITY
30000 CR Initial Capital
30001 CR Profit/Loss
4 CR REVENUE
40000 CR Sales
40001 CR Misc Income
5 DB EXPENSES
50000 DB Cost of Goods Sold
50001 DB Salary Expense
50002 DB Utilities Expense
50003 DB Interest Expense
50004 DB Misc Expense
We used CheckMate-GL to print the chart. See the account numbers?
The five major categories are numbered '1' through '5', and each
account under them begins with the same number. This is a common and
logical way to number and group your accounts. The 'DB' and 'CR' stand
for 'debit' and 'credit'... we are just about to get around to that...
What are DEBITS and CREDITS?
It makes sense that when you use cash to pay a loan, you decrease
an asset (cash) and decrease a liability (the loan). It is easy to
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-5
visualize, but not so easy to document. Accountants use a system of
'debits' and 'credits' to document the flow of value. Also, remember
that accountants avoid the use of negatives wherever possible.
Every account has a balance. We saw that the sum of the asset
accounts must equal the sum of the liability and equity accounts. We
will say, arbitrarily, that assets have DEBIT balances and both
liabilities and equity have CREDIT balances. Therefore, the total
debit balance equals the total credit balance.
Whoa! You may well be wondering how we decided to assign "types"
to the balances. It is strictly a way of looking at the data. If we
say that assets have debit balances and both liabilities and equity
have credit balances, we have merely transformed the accounting
equation into this form:
----------------------
| DEBITS = CREDITS |
----------------------
Take a minute and let this sink in. The concept is the same...
we have just changed the notation. When you understand the difference
between a debit and a credit, you will be over a major hurdle in
understanding the basic premises of accounting.
Now lets transform this notation into practice. An asset carries
a debit balance. This means that when we wish to INCREASE the asset we
must DEBIT the account. So, if I start with $50 in an account, and I
make a $100 debit, I now have $150 in the account.
Most people unfamiliar with accounting may scratch their head at
this point. Does it seem backwards? After all, when the bank DEBITs
my account, my assets DECREASE, not increase. True, BUT the debit is
from the bank's point of view, not yours! The debit did increase the
bank's assets (at your expense!). For those of you who use
CheckMate... that is why we refer to the transcation types as BANK
DEBITS and BANK CREDITS, so there is no confusion on whose point of
view is prevailing.
Conversely, we will credit a liability or equity account to
increase it. Can you see that when we want to DECREASE a liability
that we will debit it? Let's look at the payment of a loan again. We
have two accounts... one called 'CASH' and one called 'LOAN'. CASH is
an asset (debit) account and LOAN is a liability (credit) account.
When we make payments on a loan, both accounts must decrease (cash is
obviously less, and now we owe less). Let's see it work:
Pay $50.00 cash (credit CASH $50)
Lower loan $50.00 (debit LOAN $50)
See what we have done? We have credited CASH and debited LOAN, and the
sum of the debits ($50.00) equals the sum of the credits ($50.00). It
may still not be crystal clear, but give it a little time. What we
have documented above is a TRANSACTION. The transaction affects the
balances of our accounts. As always, we MUST make sure that the
accounting equation is satisfied. To do this, the transaction must not
disturb the overall balance of the equation. Hence, all debit entries
in a transaction must equal all credit entries in the transaction!
Incidently, here is how CheckMate-GL would document the trans-
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-6
action. Notice that the sum of debits and credits do indeed equal.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mar 22, 1987
Acct# Account Name Description Debit Credit
----- ------------------ ----------------- ------------ ------------
10000 CASH Payment to LOAN 0.00 50.00
20000 LOAN Reduce LOAN 50.00 0.00
------------ ------------
50.00 50.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above transaction is a "double-entry" transaction since we
made two entries (to show how the money flowed from one account to
another). Now you can see why people call true accounting systems
"double-entry" systems. In real life, however, money often flows to
and from many accounts in the same transaction. CheckMate-GL will let
you make up to TEN entries per transaction.
Let's see how this would work. Assume that Mr. Jackson walks into
XYZ's showroom and wants to buy a pair of alligator skin boots with
inlaid gold and ruby trim. The price on the shoes (on sale) is
$999.95. Mr. Jackson has good credit, and decides to pay $200 cash and
make the rest in weekly installments of $50. How would this
transaction be recorded?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mar 22, 1987
Acct# Account Name Description Debit Credit
----- ------------------ ----------------- ------------ ------------
40000 Sales Mr. Jackson 0.00 999.95
20002 Sales Tax Payable 5% sales tax 0.00 50.00
10000 Cash Down Payment 200.00 0.00
10007 Accounts Receivabl On Credit 849.95 0.00
------------ ------------
1,049.95 1,049.95
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a single transaction, we have made four entries. We have increased
(debited) two assets, CASH and ACCOUNTS RECEIVEABLE. We have also
increased (credited) a liability (SALES TAX PAYABLE) and a revenue
(SALES). Mr. Jackson has paid $200 and still owes $849.95 for a total
of $1049.95 (including sales tax).
You should take a moment to see how future transactions will
develop. Every time that Mr. Jackson makes a payment on his boots, we
will debit (increase) CASH and credit (decrease) ACCOUNTS RECEIVEABLE.
Also, when we pay the state our sales tax due, we will credit
(decrease) CASH and debit (decrease) SALES TAX PAYABLE. For you folks
in business... notice how the sales tax never found its way into
either revenue or expenses? It shouldn't, since the collection and
paying of sales tax does not affect our profit or loss!
Speaking of profit and loss... how much profit did we make when we
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-7
sold the boots? Well, the cost of the boots falls into the account
COST OF GOODS SOLD. But rather than calculate profit on every sale,
XYZ uses the End-of-Period Adjustment method. At the end of each
month, XYZ will take an inventory of all shoes in stock. The
difference between the current (closing) inventory and last month's
(opening) inventory is entered into the journal. (We do this by
crediting INVENTORY with last month's value and then debiting it with
the current value). As we make purchases during the month, we enter
them into an account called PURCHASES. At month's end we will transfer
our PURCHASES to INVENTORY while we calculate the COST OF GOODS SOLD.
The difference between the two is COST OF GOODS SOLD for the month. To
illustrate, suppose that XYZ had $3,000 worth of shoes at the end of
February. At the end of March they had $2,750 worth of shoes in stock.
During March, they bought $3,200 worth of new shoes. What is the COST
OF GOODS SOLD during March?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Apr 1, 1987
Acct# Account Name Description Debit Credit
----- ------------------ ----------------- ------------ ------------
10003 Inventory At End of Feb 0.00 3,000.00
10008 Purchases Purchases (Mar) 0.00 3,200.00
10003 Inventory At End of March 2,700.00 0.00
50000 Cost of Goods Sold For March 3,500.00 0.00
------------ ------------
6,200.00 6,200.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) for March was $3,500. I realize that
this is kind of a whirlwind approach to accounting methods. Remember
that this is a simple primer designed to get you started off. There
have been entire volumes written on accounting, and we can't hope to
cover all the subjects here. If you need to do serious business
accounting, we heartily recommend that you get yourself a good book or
an accountant to help you!
Hopefully you now can visualize this subject of debits and credits.
We also hope that you have a grasp on the concepts of profit and loss.
We will now persue that topic in more detail.
Accounting Reports
You saw above how you make daily entries into something we call a
JOURNAL. In CheckMate-GL, we maintain a GENERAL JOURNAL (since we make
all journal entries into a common database). Your chart of accounts,
on the other hand, makes up the GENERAL LEDGER. You will notice that
after you save your journal entries that NOTHING HAPPENS to your
accounts! The balances do not change. And they will not, until you
POST your journal entries to the ledger.
Accountants maintain the journals separate from the ledgers
because it helps them detail activity in a particular period and
because they can make adjusting entries and corrections to the journal
before they post. That's a mouthful. Suffice it to say that
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-8
CheckMate-GL behaves properly and follows these rules. Therefore, you
must eventually POST your journal transactions to your general ledger.
Usually you will post at the end of each month. Before you post,
however, you will make some reports that are based on the journal.
These are your ACTIVITY REPORT and your TRANSACTION REPORT. For you
accountants, the ACTIVITY REPORT is very similar to a trial balance.
In short, the activity report lists all accounts sequentially and the
debit and credit summary of each. If you make end-of-month adjustments
(like the one discussed above for COST OF GOODS SOLD), this report will
help you collect the figures that you need. The other report, your
TRANSACTION REPORT, details all entries for the month and serves as
your permanent record that these entries were made.
Once you have made these reports, you will POST the month's
transactions to the ledger. This involves transferring all debits and
credits for each transaction to the corresponding accounts in the
ledger. This can be tedious and long! Thank goodness the computer
(and CheckMate-GL) will do it for us.
After posting, your ledger is up to date! Now comes the most ben-
eficial aspect of accounting... your accounting reports.
The Balance Sheet
Remember the accounting equation? The way we ensure that we have
followed all the rules is through our BALANCE SHEET. The balance sheet
can be very detailed or very general. CheckMate-GL will generate a
balance sheet report definition that will list ALL of your asset
accounts and show how they balance against ALL of your liability and
equity accounts. This is a very detailed balance sheet. If we
summerized the data (which you can do by customizing your reports), you
could produce a general balance sheet. The balance sheet is a snapshot
of the company's holdings and debt at a given instant. It does not
reflect the passage of any time, but rather shows an entity's current
worth.
An example is worth a thousand words. Below is an example for XYZ
Shoes. Notice that the total of assets does indeed equal the total of
liabilities and equity.
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-9
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XYZ Shoes, Inc
PO Box 0000
Anytown, USA
(555) 555-5555
"Our Shoes Smell Good"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apr 1, 1987
Balance Sheet page 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* ASSETS
Cash 1,685.11
Checking Account 1,642.69
Building 101,987.88
Inventory 9,251.11
Pickup Truck 13,000.00
Office Furniture 4,400.00
Office Equipment 7,550.85
Accounts Receivable 3,114.71
Purchases 3,100.00
--------------
Total Assets 145,732.35
--------------
--------------
* LIABILITIES AND OWNER'S EQUITY
Liabilities
Accounts Payable 1,345.00
Salaries Payable 3,150.00
Sales Tax Payable 487.25
Income Tax Payable 0.00
Mortgage 84,055.80
--------------
Total Liabilities 89,038.05
Owner's Equity
Initial Capital 54,430.43
Profit/Loss 0.00
plus REVENUE 12,808.79
less EXPENSES 10,544.92
--------------
Total Owner's Equity 56,694.30
--------------
Total Liabilities + Equity 145,732.35
--------------
--------------
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-10
The Profit & Loss Report
The Profit and Loss Report, on the other hand, does reflect a
change from earlier period to the present. It is simply the difference
between REVENUE and EXPENSES for a given period. You can create
monthly, quarterly, and yearly reports, and, like the balance sheets
they may be very general or very specific. CheckMate-GL will let you
automatically create very detailed reports for monthly and yearly
reports. An example (for XYZ shoes) is presented below. The data is
all hypothetical.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XYZ Shoes, Inc
PO Box 0000
Anytown, USA
(555) 555-5555
"Our Shoes Smell Good"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 31, 1987
Profit/Loss Statement (Month) page 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* REVENUE
Sales 12,488.79
Misc Income 320.00
--------------
Total Revenue 12,808.79
* EXPENSES
Cost of Goods Sold 8,803.00
Salary Expense 1,200.00
Utilities Expense 125.33
Interest Expense 128.59
Misc Expense 288.00
--------------
Total Expenses 10,544.92
--------------
Total Profit (Loss) 2,263.87
--------------
--------------
These reports are produced at the end of an accounting PERIOD,
usually a month, and are called End-of-Period Reports. CheckMate-GL
assumes an accounting period to be a month, and generates end-of-month
reports. With CheckMate-GL's powerful report customizing features,
however, you can define quarterly or semi-annual reports, or any report
in any format that you choose! See appendix C for more details. You
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-11
will also want to create end-of-year reports, which are essentially
reports created after your last month and BEFORE you do your end-of-
year maintainance (discussed below).
These reports offer a wealth of information. As you produce
reports each month, you can draw additional information by comparing
new reports with old. These reports will also be helpful while filing
taxes (or surviving an audit) and when negotiating with the bank for
loans.
Home users have the opportunity to see trends in their spending
and to quantify their net worth. Few individuals or families REALLY
know where they are financially. CheckMate-GL can help you make your
dollars go farther by showing you where they went in the past!
Where does it all end?
We aren't quite finished yet. There is still one more topic to
cover... ending the accounting year. At some point we want to
consolidate cumulative data and "reset" our books. This is the end-of-
year routine.
First, we want to transfer our current balances to LAST YEAR'S
BALANCE (a figure we keep for history and comparison). We also
transfer LAST YEAR'S BALANCE to the YEAR BEFORE LAST. We do NOT zero
out our current balances. Rather, at the start of any year, our
current balance for each account should equal the last year's balance
for that account. This makes sense, when you think about it, but there
is an exception.
Remember that REVENUE and EXPENSES are actually sub-sets of
EQUITY? We keep them separate during the year so that we can quickly
assess our profit/loss picture. At the end of the year, however, we
want to zero the revenue and expense accounts and start with a clean
slate.
Anytime that we change an account's balance we must make a
corresponding change to another account (remember the accounting
equation!). In order to "zero" our revenue and expenses, then, we must
make balancing entries to some other appropriate account. This
balancing account is usually called "Profit and Loss" or "Retained
Earnings." Since the profit (or loss) for the year is the difference
between revenue and expenses, these names are both appropriate. For
this discussion, lets call the account PROFIT/LOSS. This account, by
the way, is an EQUITY account.
So what do we do? Well, we simply transfer the balance of each
revenue account to PROFIT/LOSS. Since revenue accounts are CREDIT
accounts, we do this by DEBITING each revenue account and CREDITING
PROFIT/LOSS. So debits and credits are equal, and all revenue accounts
now have a current balance of zero.
Now repeat the process with all expense accounts. Our debits and
credits are reversed now, however, since expenses are DEBIT accounts.
Can you see that PROFIT/LOSS now holds the DIFFERENCE between revenues
and expenses?
CheckMate-GL automates the end-of-year routines as well. Now we
are ready for a new year and can track our profit and loss situation
independently of previous years' data!
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-12
Tying It All Together
Let me fininsh this primer with a diagram for creating and main-
taining your accounting system with CheckMate-GL:
-------------------------
| Install CheckMate-GL |
| Chapter 1 |
-------------------------
|
V
-----------------------------
| Create Chart of Accounts |
| Chapter 3 |
-----------------------------
|
V
----------------------------------------
| Additional Setup |
| (Company info, P/L interface, etc) |
| Chapter 3 |
----------------------------------------
|
|<------------------------------------------------------
V ^ ^ ^
------------------------------- | | |
| Daily Journal Transactions | | | End |
| Chapter 4 |-------- | -of- |
------------------------------- End-of-Month | Year |
| =NO | = |
------ | NO |
| End-of-Month=YES | |
V | |
-------------------- ----------------- ------------------ |
| Monthly Pre-Post | | POST | | Monthly After- | |
| Reports |---->| Transactions |---->| Post Reports | |
| Chapter 5 | | Chapter 5 | | Chapter 5 | |
-------------------- ----------------- ------------------ |
| |
End-of-Year=YES | |
------------------------------------------- |
| |
V |
------------------------ ------------------------- |
| End-of-Year Reports |---->| End-of-Year Routines | -------------
| Chapter 6 | | Chapter 6 |
------------------------ -------------------------
Final Thoughts
I certainly hope that this primer has been of some use. It is NOT
meant to be a substitute for formal education, since it is much to
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-13
brief to cover many of the aspects of accounting that you will
encounter as you run your home or business. It should give you a push,
however, and perhaps make talking to your bookkeeper a little easier.
I would like to have put more effort and examples into this
tutorial, including more discussion on using CheckMate-GL in the home
environment. But time and space are lacking. The disk based manual is
already 100K+, and there are many CheckMate users eager for the release
of CheckMate-GL. I CAN promise that we are working on expanded tools,
including a workshop for the home user.
HOME USERS: When you register, you will be placed on our mailing list,
and will be notified when our "Home-User Workshop" is available.
BUSINESS USERS: If the response is positive, we are considering
putting together a workbook that takes a novice bookkeeper through the
basics of accounting for business, with examples and exercises based on
and using CheckMate-GL. This will be a "hands-on" workbook. When you
register, give us feedback on this project (since it is significant).
We will keep you informed by placing you on our mailing list.
EDUCATIONAL USERS: Both packages we mention above would be suitable
for classroom use. We are considering an "Educational Program" that
would make copies of the Home-User Workshop and Business Workbook
available in quantity and at reduced prices for students and
instructors. Mention your interest when you register, and we will keep
you informed of our progress.
Note to UNREGISTERED Users: CheckMate and CheckMate-GL represent our
livelihood. A significant investment in talent and time have been made
and will continue. We are proud to release the products as shareware
for your evaluation, but it would be unfair to us and to our registered
users to provide you with support and enhancements (including the
packages mentioned above). If you use CheckMate and/or CheckMate-GL,
then we expect you to register and support the shareware concept and
our efforts to provide quality software. Both products are priced
significantly below competing commercial products since we have reduced
advertising and distribution costs. This is to your advantage.
Support shareware and register today!
Appendix A: An Accounting Primer A-14
Appendix B -- Sample Chart of Accounts
We have listed two sample charts of accounts for your reference.
The first chart is for a small business, the second one is for a home.
Both charts are for reference only are may not represent all the
accounts that you need for your particular application.
-- Simple Chart of Accounts for a Small Business
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your Business Name Here
Address
Address
Phone Number
Slogan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 31, 1987
Chart of Accounts page 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acct# DB/CR Account Name
----- ----- -----------------------------------
1 DB ASSETS
10001 DB Your Bank
10002 DB Accounts Receivable
10003 DB Inventory
10004 DB Equipment
10005 DB Furniture and Fixtures
10006 DB Property - Land
10007 DB Prepaid Expenses
10008 DB Accumulated Depreciation
2 CR LIABILITIES
20001 CR Accounts Payable
20002 CR Salaries/Benefits Payable
20003 CR Commissions Payable
20004 CR Income Tax Payable
20005 CR Sales Tax Payable
20006 CR Line of Credit
20007 CR Credit Cards
3 CR OWNER'S EQUITY
30001 CR Shareholder's Equity
30002 CR Profit/Loss
4 CR REVENUE
40001 CR Sales
40002 CR Services Sold
40003 CR Misc Income
40004 CR Interest Income
5 DB EXPENSES
50001 DB Cost of Goods Sold
50002 DB Returns and Allowances
50003 DB Power
50004 DB Telephone
50005 DB Water/Sewer
50006 DB Gas
50007 DB Salaries/Benefits
Appendix B: Sample Chart of Accounts B-1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 31, 1987
Chart of Accounts page 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acct# DB/CR Account Name
----- ----- -----------------------------------
50008 DB Travel & Entertainment
50009 DB Depreciation Expense
50010 DB Bank Fees
50011 DB Office Supplies
50012 DB Interest Expense
50013 DB Advertising Expense
50014 DB Postage Expense
50015 DB Insurance Expense
50016 DB Misc Expense
50017 DB Rent Expense
50018 DB Income Tax Expense
Appendix B: Sample Chart of Accounts B-2
-- Simple Chart of Accounts for a Home
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your Name Here
Address
Address
Phone Number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 31, 1987
Chart of Accounts page 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acct# DB/CR Account Name
----- ----- -----------------------------------
1 DB ASSETS
10000 DB Your Bank #1
10002 DB Your Bank #2
10003 DB Home Value
10004 DB Your Car #1
10005 DB Your Car #2
10006 DB Life Ins Policies
10007 DB Bonds
10008 DB Prepaid Expenses
10009 DB Household Goods
2 CR LIABILITIES
20001 CR Income Tax Payable
20002 CR Car Loan #1
20003 CR Car Loan #2
20004 CR MasterCard
20005 CR Visa
20006 CR Home Mortgage
3 CR OWNER'S EQUITY
30001 CR Savings
30002 CR Home Equity
4 CR REVENUE
40001 CR Salary
40002 CR Interest Income
40003 CR Misc Income
5 DB EXPENSES
50001 DB Electricity Expense
50002 DB Phone Expense
50003 DB Water/Sewer Expense
50004 DB Gas Expense
50005 DB Mortgage Interest
50006 DB MasterCard Interest
50007 DB Visa Interest
50008 DB Car Loan #1 Interest
50009 DB Car Loan #2 Interest
50010 DB Federal Income Tax
50011 DB State Income Tax
50012 DB Sales Tax
50013 DB Social Security
50014 DB Food Expense
Appendix B: Sample Chart of Accounts B-3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 31, 1987
Chart of Accounts page 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acct# DB/CR Account Name
----- ----- -----------------------------------
50015 DB Maintenance Expense
50016 DB Entertainment Expense
50017 DB Auto Insurance
50018 DB Home Owner's Insurance
50019 DB Term Life Insurance
50020 DB Misc Expense
Appendix B: Sample Chart of Accounts B-4
Appendix C: Defining and Modifying Custom Reports
This appendix is included in the full, 90+ page, illustrated
CheckMate-GL User's Guide (included when you register).
Appendix C: Defining and Modifying Custom Reports C-1
Appendix D: Technical Description
This appendix is included in the full, 90+ page, illustrated
CheckMate-GL User's Guide (included when you register).
Appendix D: Technical Description D-1
ORDER.DOC
CheckMate Series Order Form
To: Custom Technologies
PO Box 62118
Colorado Springs, CO 80962-2118
Name: _________________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
=======================================================
Where did you hear about (and/or receive a copy of)
CheckMate or CheckMate-GL?
[ ] BBS Name_________________ Ph______________
[ ] SIG Name___________________________________
[ ] CompuServe
[ ] Friend
[ ] Other ________________________________________
=======================================================
Indicate the Product and Quantity to Order:
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------- --- -----
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CheckMate-GL @ $39.95 EA ___ ________
CheckMate/CheckMate-GL Bundle Pack
@ $59.95 (save $10!) ___ ________
Shipping & Handling ($3 ea pc) ___ ________
($10 outside US/Canada)
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TOTAL..................................... ________
======================================================
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(Make Checks Payable to Custom Technologies)
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Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #0785
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