Sage One Userguide
Sage One Userguide
Sage One Userguide
Manual Version
Version 4.1.3 (April 2018)
Table of contents
Chapter 1 – Getting started........................................................................................... 4
Overview ................................................................................................................. 5
Starting Accounting ................................................................................................. 7
• Overview
• Starting Accounting
Overview
Accounting is a simple, easy-to-use system that manages your whole business cycle.
You can:
You can use the above as a sequential guide to help you get up and running as quickly as possible.
You can create customer categories, supplier categories, and item categories, and analyse your sales
and purchases by these categories.
You can print and/or email customer and supplier documents directly to them. You can also email any
report to anyone.
You can print quotes, invoices, credit notes and statements and add your company logo to your
documents.
You can create notes that you attach to customers, suppliers, items and/or accounts and bank and credit
card accounts.
You can specify an action date for each note, and then track overdue notes via the Dashboard. For
example, a customer may promise payment by a date. The note will show on the Dashboard after that
date as requiring action. You can also print a report on overdue notes.
Auto Mapping
The Auto Mapping feature in Accounting allows you to map descriptions for your bank, credit card,
account, supplier, customer and tax transactions.
Quick Views
This unique feature gives you the ability to view customer, supplier, item, bank account and account
information, while you are processing documents and/or transactions.
Bank Feeds
You can set up bank feeds, which allow you to automatically import bank statements into your Accounting
bank or credit card accounts from banks and other financial institutions. This saves you having to
manually import your bank statements yourself.
Each day when you login to your company, any new transactions available in your bank statement will be
automatically refreshed and then made available for review in the Bank Statements screen. You will save
even more time by mapping transactions where Accounting will automatically assign the correct accounts
each time your automated bank statements are refreshed. Managing your bank account could not be
easier!
Budgets
Accounting allows you to create your financial budgets.
Starting Accounting
Below you can see the Log in screen that will open. If you have forgotten your password, click on
Password Reset and work through the screen that opens.
To start using Accounting, you will click on the Sign Up button at the top of the page. Fill in your details on
the next screen that opens. You will need to read the Terms & Conditions, which can be opened via the
link at the bottom of the screen.
Once you have filled in your details and agreed to the Terms & Conditions, click on Sign Up and a
confirmation email will be sent to you. Close the Accounting browser that you have open and wait for the
email to arrive. On the email is a link for you to select to confirm your registration on Accounting, which
will redirect you to the Accounting website. You can then sign in with your email address and password.
If you should forget your password, click on the Forgot Password link and work through the assistant.
Enter the date you will start processing in Accounting in the field available.
Gather the information that you need from your previous accounting system by running reports, such as
the Trial Balance, for account balances as at a day before the date you selected here.
If you do not have the required information to enter your opening balances, you can start working in
Accounting and come back to your opening balances at a later stage by choosing the Opening Balances
option on the Company menu. If you are unsure about these account balances and where to get them
from, ask your Accountant to assist. You can also invite your accountant or bookkeeper to Accounting.
Important information
In Accounting, you cannot process directly to System Accounts. These accounts accumulate
balances as you process in Accounting. Opening Balances for System Accounts will be created in
a separate Opening Balance Account. For example, creating an Opening Balance for the sales
System Account will create a Sales Opening Balance Account.
What's Next
In the next chapter, you will cover working with companies, which covers the administrative functions in
Accounting.
If you only have one company, your company will open on the Dashboard.
Important information
Once you have deleted a company in Accounting, the company cannot be retrieved.
Company Settings
When you create a new company, you do not necessarily have to add the company details at the same
time. However, if you are going to be printing invoices for your customers, it is advisable to add your
details since Accounting uses these details on the documents.
You can edit your company details by clicking on Company Settings (Gear Icon) link at the top of the
page or go to Company…Change Company Settings.
If you do not want to use your registered email address for communication purposes, enter an alternative
email address and check the Use this Email for Communication check box. You also have the option to
always cc a second person by entering the email address in the CC field. Check the Always CC this
Email Address check box, if you want Accounting to always cc the email address entered.
• Company Details
• General Settings
• VAT Settings
• Documents and Statements
• Branding
• User Defined Fields
• Email Signatures
• Multi-Currency
• Company Details
• Additional Company Information
• Customer Zone
• Online Payment Gateways
• Sage Pay
This section allows you to enter your company contact information, postal address, physical address or
other company details.
In this section, you will add your company registration, tax registration details and entity type.
In this section, check the "Enable your Accounting Customer Zone" check box. This will allow your
customers to view invoices and make payments online by clicking a link in their email.
In this section you will set up your Accounting account to accept credit cards so that your customers can
pay you online. You will get paid faster and payments will be automatically reconciled next time you
import your bank statement.
Using Pay Now by Sage Pay, you can get paid faster, by accepting credit card payments online directly
via your Accounting solution.
Select the Accounting Bank Account for your online payments through Sage Pay. You can also enable
Sage Pay for your customer payments and supplier payments. Enter your Service Keys that you have
received from Sage Pay. These service keys will be validated by the system.
• Financial years
• Rounding
• Regional Settings
• Customers and Supplier Settings
• Item Settings
• Outstanding Balances
Here you will select the year that you are working in. The current year will be selected by default for you.
Your financial year will usually be set for you by your local VAT authority or company registrar. Check
with your accountant on the dates for your financial year end.
Lockdown Date – Setting a Lockdown Date means that no transaction can be processed or edited with a
date up to and including this date. Select the check box and enter the date when transactions cannot be
processed.
Rounding Section:
In the Rounding section, you can select a rounding system for your customer invoices. You can select
one of the following:
• Round Up;
• Round Down;
• Normal Rounding; or
• No Rounding.
The value that you set in the Round To Nearest field, is in cents.
In the Regional Settings section, you will select the options that you want to use in your company. You
can set how many decimal places you want to use in your stock quantities and for your prices. You can
also change your currency symbol if need be. This section is also where you can set the way in which
your date displays. The options that you have are displayed in the screen shot below:
You can set Accounting to warn you when item quantities fall below zero. You can also create unlimited
price lists in Accounting.
When you create items in Accounting, you can link to all the price lists that you have set up. You can give
each price list a unique name. For example, you could have a trade price, a retail price and a distributor
price. Accounting also lets you assign a default price list per customer.
You are also able to copy your selling prices from one price list to another by using the Adjust Item Selling
Prices wizard on the Items menu.
To add a new price list, click on the green plus next to a price list. You can delete and add as many price
lists as you want. You cannot however delete the Default Price List which stores your current Item prices.
You also cannot delete a price list that has been linked to a customer or where a price has been assigned
in the Item Masterfile.
Accounting has two methods of treating outstanding balances. Ageing refers to the number of days that a
Customer or a Supplier balance is outstanding. Customer and Supplier ageing can work monthly or
based on the number of days from the date of the invoice. Use the Monthly ageing option if you want the
Balances - Days Outstanding Reports, Statements and Balances - Days Outstanding Graph on the
Dashboard to display unpaid invoices outstanding by calendar month. The Current value will be the total
of all unpaid invoices processed in the current month. The 30 Days value will be the total of all unpaid
invoices processed in the previous month, and so on.
Deselect this option if you want ageing to work on the actual number of days that the balance has been
outstanding since the date of the invoice.
In the VAT Settings section, you will select all the options relating to your company's VAT settings.
There are three VAT systems available in Accounting. If you are registered for VAT with your local VAT
authority, you must select the Invoice Based or Payments Based option. If you are not registered for VAT,
you will select the No VAT option.
Important information
Please note that there are laws governing tax and you must apply to your local tax authority for
information.
You are able to add or remove financial years by clicking on the or buttons on each year. You can
also edit the start year and end year dates by clicking in the date fields, as shown below. Bear in mind
though that the year-end date and the next year start date must be consecutive dates.
VAT
Description
Systems
Use this option for any standard form of VAT. As you process sales, the system
Invoice
accumulates the VAT liability. If there is a requirement, the system offsets the liability
Based
with any VAT you pay on purchases. This is by far the most common option.
In some countries, smaller businesses are able to defer the payment of taxes on sales
until the customer actually pays them. VAT credit or liability only occurs when you
Payment
receive a payment from a customer or make a payment to a supplier. The system holds
Based
the provisional liability / VAT credit until you process a receipt or payment, after which it
transfers the provisional amount to the Tax Payable account.
The system will not ask for VAT codes, nor will it ask for exclusive and inclusive
No VAT amounts. Usually only very small businesses are completely exempt from VAT
processing.
You are able to add or remove VAT types by clicking on the and buttons on each line, and you are
able to edit the VAT percentages of VAT types that are not in use. However, because VAT is regulated,
you should only make changes on the advice of a financial professional.
• Statement Messages
• Document Numbers
• Document Descriptions
• Customer Document Messages
• Supplier Document Messages
• Invoice and Statement Layouts
On this section, you can enter messages that you would like to appear on your monthly statements to
customers. It is not mandatory to enter messages.
You can enter different messages for different aging periods, as shown below:
You can set your document numbering using this section. This function allows you to set your own
numbering structure. You will usually use this to continue your numbering structure from a previous
accounting package or spread sheet. After setting your new numbering structures, the system will
automatically increment the next document numbers when they are processed.
Important information
If you are processing documents in a multi-user environment, the system will automatically
allocate a number to the document when the document is saved. This will eliminate duplicate
document numbers caused by various users processing transactions at the same time. When you
process documents in a multi-user environment the number will display as *NUMBER* until the
document is saved and a number is allocated by the system.
Important information
If you work in a single user environment, the system will also allocate the next document number,
but it will display the number immediately because there is only one user processing
transactions.
The Document Descriptions section allows you to rename the different documents available in
Accounting.
The “Original Name” and “Copy Name” can be edited. The Original Name will be used when
printing/emailing a document for the first time. When a document is re-printed/re-emailed, the Copy Name
will be used.
In the Customer Document Messages tab, you can enter standard messages to appear on each of your
customer documents. It is not mandatory to enter messages. On each document, there is a space to
enter messages for the specific document that you are processing. If you enter a message as you
process a document, that message will appear instead of the message entered in this screen.
You can enter default messages for supplier documents. These messages can be edited on the
documents when you process them.
Select the default, customised or modern report layouts using the drop down menus.
You can import your layout that you have created in the Accounting Custom Layout Designer by clicking
on the Import button.
We have added additional layouts that you can choose from. Click on the Browse additional layouts
section to view the layouts added:
Select the layout that you want to use from the Layout drop down menu.
Branding Tab:
If you want to personalise your documents with your logo, you will set the position for the logo and the
logo itself on this tab. In the Position of Logo field, you can select to place your logo in the top left or top
right of your documents.
You can also choose whether to include your logo on emails and the customer zone.
• Customer
• Supplier
• Item
• Asset
• Documents
You may wish to store additional information about your customers, suppliers and items. To do this, the
system allows you to name 12 additional fields for each of these record types. You name the fields in the
User Defined Fields function.
Once you have set the User Defined Fields here, you can add extra information when editing your
customers, suppliers, items and accounts.
Important information
In this function, you are not entering field values but the names of the fields. User Defined Fields
are unique to the company that you create them in.
You can add additional document user defined fields for the different processing documents. These extra
fields must be added onto your documents using the Accounting Custom Layout Designer.
The Email Signatures Tab allows you to create different email signatures for documents that you will
email out of Accounting.
Click on the Save button to save the document descriptions that you have changed.
Import Data
You can import customer, supplier, item and asset information.
Important information
Select the type of data that you want to import into your Accounting Company. It is very important to
select the correct type of data because if you select the incorrect type you might end up corrupting your
data.
In the CSV File Date Format field, select the way your dates display in your file you are about to import.
Accounting will convert the dates to the date format of your company, once it is imported.
In the CSV Import File field, click on the Browse button to find your file that you want to import. This file
must be in a comma separated (.csv) file format.
If your data file contains column headings, check the My CSV import file contains column headings check
box. If your data file does not contain headings, leave the box unchecked.
You need to tell the system which field on the import file corresponds to which field in Accounting.
The first column displays the names of the fields in the system. The second column displays fields in the
import file.
Choose each field name from the Import File Field Name list. Not all fields have to be imported. To skip
fields during the import, choose Do Not Import.
Click on the Next button and Accounting will import your transactions.
Important information
If you make changes to your import file, it will override the current data in your system.
Export Data
You can export customer, supplier, item and asset information, excluding transactional data. Your data
will be exported to a Comma Separated (.CSV) file, which can be opened in most spread sheet
applications, for example, Microsoft Excel.
Important Information
Administration
There are various administration functions available in Accounting. These functions are not only for a
specific company, but will apply to all of the companies that you create.
Manage Users
In Accounting, there are three types of users: owners, regular users and accountants. If you have created
a company, you are the owner of the company. If you have received an invitation to a company, you are a
regular user. If you are an accountant and have received an invitation to the company, then you are the
company accountant.
The Manage Users screen displays the users that you have added in to the company. You add users to
your company in this screen.
Important information
When a user is added in the Manage Users screen, they will only have access to the company that you
were in when you added them.
You are able to sort your users by clicking on each of the column headings. You can select to sort the
rows in ascending or descending order.
To add a regular user, you will select the Add User button and to add an accountant, you will select the
Add Accountant button.
Any users that you create in one company will be available to be added to your other companies. Users
are added to other companies in the Control User Access screen.
Select the company in the Select the company to manage user access and permissions section and the
Users that have access to “SuperCycle Wholesalers” pane will display the users linked to the company.
All of the users that have been added are displayed in the List of all users you have invited pane.
To add an available user as a user in a company, you will drag the user name from the List of all users
that you have invited box to the Users that have access to “SuperCycle Wholesalers” box.
Some restrictions are automatically placed on users in Accounting. As we have already said, if you have
created a company, you will be the owner in that company. Owners have access to more functions than
users.
But, you can set specific permissions per user, by clicking on the permission link.
Grant users permissions by checking the check boxes next to the options in the Allowed column.
Change Passwords
Security of your data is vital. You need to ensure that unauthorised persons cannot access your data.
You do this by setting a password that you need to enter to open the company.
You will create your password when you first log into Accounting. If you have received an invitation to
Accounting, the system will generate a password for you that will be made up of a string of random
characters.
You may want to change your password at some stage. This is done in the Administration…Change
Passwords screen.
When changing your password, you will enter the current password and then enter and confirm your new
password.
Reset Passwords
If you forgot your password, you have the option to reset your password. On the Home screen, click on
the reset password link.
Enter your email address and click on the Reset Password button. You will then receive an email with a
system-generated password. As soon as you login with the new system generated password, the screen
above will display and you need to enter a new password.
My Profile
In this screen, you will manage your package subscription. Refer to the Help File for more information
regarding the payment and upgrade processes.
Logout
You can exit your company by selecting Logout either from the Administration menu or from the icon on
the toolbar.
By clicking on the Home menu Accounting allows you to quickly In the Customers menu, you can
item, you will see the different view customer, supplier, item, access any function that has to
Dashboards and Workspace. account, and bank account do with customers.
information, while you are
processing documents and/or
transactions.
In the Suppliers menu, you can In the Items menu, you can In the Banking menu, you will
access any function that has to access any function that has to maintain your bank and credit
do with suppliers. do with items. card accounts.
In the Accounts menu, you have In the Accountant’s Area, you In the Reports menu, you can
options that let you enter all your will find reports and functions select a variety of reports to
expense accounts and keep that are usually part of an print. Reports can be emailed
track of them. accounting function. from your company.
You will add and manage your companies via the The Administration menu has options that form
options in the Company menu. part of an administrative function and have an
effect in all of your companies. The owner menu
is shown below.
From many of the screens, you can access menu options. For example, on the Tax Invoices screen, you
can select to Add Customers, Add Items and View Reports.
Processing transactions
Transactions are processed through document screens and grids in Accounting.
You enter data such as numbers and text into the system in standard ways. In this section, we focus on
these data entry elements:
You create various master records, or static records, in the system. Examples of these are customers,
suppliers, items, and their associated categories. Other records are lists of invoices that you sometimes
need to select. We look at how you access these records.
Record selection fields have a drop down arrow. You can click the drop down arrow to open a list of the
available items as shown in the above screen. This works as follows:
• To add a new item, click on the (Add New Item) option to open the applicable maintenance screen.
Complete the screen with the Customer, Supplier, Item, Bank or Account details and click on the
Save button. You will now be able to select the newly created record from the drop down menu.
• You can navigate the list by using the <Up Arrow>, <Down Arrow>, <Page Up>, and <Page Down>
keys. You can also scroll through with the mouse using the scrollbar.
• You can adjust the width and height of the list if the names do not show fully. To do this, drag the
bottom right corner of the list box.
Click on the drop down arrow again to close the list without selecting an item.
You can set the sequence in which Accounting places the day, month and year in the Company Settings,
on the Regional Settings section. You can access this screen in the Manage Companies menu option.
To enter the date, enter the day / month / year as separate fields. Press <Left Arrow> and <Right Arrow>
to move between the date fields. You do not need to enter the date separator symbols - /.
Alternatively, you can choose a date from a calendar called a date picker.
Click the day of the month to select that day and close the calendar.
To change the month, click the left and right arrows around the month name. To change the year, click
the drop down arrow to the right of the year.
Data entry grids are tables such as the one you use to enter invoices lines.
Use your Tab key on your keyboard to move to the next column. You can use Shift + Tab to move to the
previous column.
To move to a new line, press Enter on your keyboard or click on the button at the end of the line.
To delete a line, click on the button at the end of the line that you want to delete.
You can also process projects, departments and cost codes per processing line.
To edit lines, you can click any field and edit it.
You move between fields with the keyboard by pressing <Tab> to move forwards and <Shift> + <Tab> to
move backwards. You can also use the <Left Arrow>, <Right Arrow>, <Up Arrow>, <Down Arrow>,
<Page Up>, and <Page Down> keys. However, when you edit a field's content, the <Left Arrow> and
<Right Arrow> keys move within the field, not between fields.
Check the Use Inclusive Amounts check box to enter inclusive prices, and uncheck the check box to
enter exclusive prices.
When you work in Accounting and the system does not detect activity for 2 hours, it will log off.
If you were busy processing transactions and your session expires, the system will save the transactions.
When you log in again, the system will ask you if you would like to restore the unprocessed transactions.
In order for the system to save unprocessed transactions, you have to use one of the following Internet
Browser versions:
Record tables
The system displays lists of records in a table. These records can be records such as customers and
items, or they can be transactions such as invoices and receipts.
Record tables are powerful tools that allow you to sort records and select the columns that you want to
view. This makes it easy to find a record you are looking for and to see groups of records in the sequence
you require.
The great thing about these tables is that they work in the same way irrespective of the information they
are displaying. Therefore, once you learn how one works, you can use them all.
You can click edit on records in record tables to open the record. For example, if you select an invoice in
the Tax Invoices grid, you will open the invoice. If the invoice has not been printed or paid, you can then
edit the document. If the invoice has previously been printed or paid, you cannot edit the document but
you can print it.
Click on the My Profile icon at the top of the page followed by the My Profile option. Click on the
Preferences option.
• Customers
• Suppliers
• Items
• Bank and Credit Card Accounts and Accounts
Customers
Customer categories
You can optionally create customer categories and then analyse sales per category. You can start or stop
using customer categories at any time.
Edit Customers
You sell items to customers. In this function, you maintain customer records. You can access this function
by selecting Customers…Lists…List of Customers.
To edit a customer account, click on edit on the customer record line. You can also delete customer
records that do not have any activity.
Check the Auto Allocate Receipts to Oldest Invoice checkbox when you want the system to automatically
allocate the customer’s receipts to the oldest invoices.
To skip between the master files, click on the next or previous links.
• Details;
• Additional Contacts;
• Notes;
• User Defined Fields; and
• Report Layouts.
Accounting, using transactions that you have processed, completes the other four tabs:
• Activity;
• Sales Graph;
• Quotes; and
• Invoices.
In the Details tab, you enter postal and delivery address details.
The Activity tab summarises your financial activity with the customer:
In the Activity tab, you are able to drill down to the original document by clicking on the detail link on each
line in the screen.
The Additional Contacts tab lets you enter contact details for persons in the customer’s company:
The Notes tab is where you will find or create notes linked to the specific customer account. These notes
are displayed in the Company Dashboard until they have been marked as completed. If you create a note
without entering an action date, the system date, or entry date, will be used as the Action Date.
In the User Defined Fields tab, you can enter additional fields. As we saw earlier, you can define the
names of the fields yourself in the User Defined Fields function:
In the Sales Graph tab, you can see sales activity in a graph, and you can drill down to transactions.
Click on the Show Settings link to change the display of the transaction types and the financial categories.
In the Quotes tab, you can see quotes that have been processed for the customer and drill down to see
quote details.
Any unpaid customer invoices are listed under the Invoices tab. You can include all paid invoices in this
tab.
You can select the default report layouts for a customer in the Report Layouts tab. This will allow you to
have different layouts per customer if you wish. You are able to design your own document layouts by
downloading the Accounting Custom Layout Designer.
Suppliers
Supplier categories
You can optionally create supplier categories, and then analyse purchases per category. You can start or
stop using supplier categories at any time.
Edit suppliers
You purchase items from suppliers. In this function, you maintain supplier records. You can access this
function by selecting Suppliers…Lists…List of Suppliers.
To skip between the master files, click on the next or previous links.
Check the Auto Allocate Payments to Oldest Invoice check box when you want the system to
automatically allocate the supplier’s receipts to the oldest invoices.
In the Details tab, you enter postal and physical address details and contact details.
Notice the ample links available on this screen, namely:
• Users can also set a default VAT type which will apply when transacting (supplier defaults will
override Item and Account defaults).
• You can also set a default due date for your supplier documents. For example you must pay your
supplier 30 days from the date of invoice.
The Activity tab summarises your financial activity with the supplier:
In the Activity tab, you are able to drill down to the original document by clicking on the detail link on each
line in the screen.
The Additional Contacts tab lets you enter contact details for persons in the supplier’s company.
In the Banking Details tab, you are allowed to enter the banking details of the Supplier if you need to pay
your supplier. Tick the Allow Supplier Batch Payments tick box to allow the system to add the supplier on
the Supplier Batch Payment feature when processing payments. To validate if the banking details are
correct, enter the supplier banking details and click on the Validate button. You will notice a green icon
will display on the right hand side if the banking details are validated successfully.
In the Notes tab, you will create and store any notes regarding the supplier. For example, if the supplier
has a special running for a particular period of time, or if you must collect stock on a specific date, you
would create a note with the details. If you create a note without entering an action date, the system date,
or entry date, will be used as the Action Date. Notes appear in the Company Dashboard until they have
been marked as complete.
Individual files may not exceed 2 MB in size. A maximum of 5 attachments per note or transaction can be
added.
In the User Defined Fields tab, you can enter additional fields. As we saw earlier, you can define the
names of the fields yourself in the User Defined Fields function:
In the Purchases Graph tab, you can see purchase activity in a graph, and you can drill down to
transactions.
In the Purchase Orders tab, you can see purchase orders that have been processed for the supplier and
drill down to see details.
Any unpaid supplier invoices are listed under the Unpaid Invoices tab.
You can select the report layouts for a supplier in the Report Layouts tab:
Items
Item categories
You can optionally create item categories, and then analyse sales per category. You can start or stop
using item categories at any time.
Edit items
In this function, you maintain records for the goods and/or services you sell to your customers. You
cannot sell anything to customers unless you have items.
You purchase items from suppliers, and you sell items to customers. You can view sales and purchase
statistics, so you know how many units you are selling each month, and their value.
You can access this function by selecting the Items…Lists…List of Items menu.
You use service items to sell maintenance contracts, consulting hours, and so on. You can also use them
for postage / delivery costs.
For new items, you can enter opening cost and quantity values.
To skip between the master files, click on the next or previous links.
In the Details tab, you enter the exclusive or inclusive selling prices. You are able to enter your own
purchase or selling prices on documents when you process them.
You can enter additional information in the Unit field for example a unit of measure for the item.
As soon as you enter your inclusive or exclusive amounts, Accounting will automatically work out the
GP% as well as the GP Amount per item.
In the Activity tab, you are able to drill down to the original document by clicking on the detail link on each
line in the screen.
In the Price fields, you enter the exclusive or inclusive selling price, which you can override per invoice.
Under the Price List Tab you can set specific prices for each additional price list that you have set up:
The price lists must be set up in the company settings before it will display under the Price Lists tab.
In the Notes Tab, you enter notes for the item. If you are creating a new item, the tabs will open on the
Notes tab since there is no activity for the item as yet. If you create a note without entering an action date,
the system date, or entry date, will be used as the Action Date. Notes appear in the Dashboard until they
have been marked as completed.
Individual files may not exceed 2 MB in size. A maximum of 5 attachments per note or transaction can be
added.
In the User Defined Fields Tab, you can enter additional fields. As we saw earlier, you can define the
names of the fields yourself in the User Defined Fields function.
In the Purchases Graph, Sales Graph and Sales vs Purchases Graph tabs, you can see sales/purchase
activity in a graph, and you can drill down to transactions.
In the Picture tab, you can add a picture of the item. The picture will be saved on the Accounting
Document Store. The supported file formats are .jpg, .tiff, .gif, .png, and .bmp.
You access this function via Banking…Lists…Bank and Credit Card Categories:
To create a new category for bank accounts, click on Add Category and enter the name of the new
category.
You can access this function by selecting Banking…Lists…List of Banks and Credit Cards:
When you add or edit a Bank and Credit Card account, the Edit Bank and Credit Card window opens.
To skip between the master files, click on the next or previous links.
In the Activity tab, you can see a summary of the bank account’s activity and drill down to view details of
each transaction.
In the Notes Tab, you enter notes and can add attachments for the account.
System Accounts
You use accounts to analyse transactions entered in the Bank and Credit Cards function, as well as
Journal Entries captured in the Accountant’s Area. In this function, you maintain accounts.
When you add or edit an account item, the Edit Account window opens.
To skip between the master files, click on the next or previous links.
If you are creating a new account, in the Category field, choose the appropriate financial category for the
account. The categories include:
• Sales -
This category is also called income, and will include the value of all of your
sales.
• Cost of Sales - This category will include all accounts for costs that are incurred directly
from selling your products. For example, if you have a mail order business
and use post to deliver all of your orders, you would include postage in your
cost of sales and not as an expense.
• Expenses - Expenses are the running costs of your business, such as rent, water and
electricity and salaries.
• Non-Current Assets - Non-current assets are assets that have a life span of more than one
financial year. For example, office premises and vehicles are non-current
assets.
• Current Assets - Current assets are assets that can be quickly be exchanged for money and
are likely to change inside one financial year. For example, the value of the
money that your customers owe you and the value of your stock on hand are
regarded as current assets. Money in your bank account is seen to be a
current asset.
• Non-Current Liabilities- These liabilities are debts that you have that are going to take more than one
financial year to settle, such as a mortgage or vehicle financing.
• Current Liabilities - Current Liabilities are short-term liabilities, such as the value of the money
that you owe to your suppliers or your local VAT authority. If you are in an
overdraft situation, this is also regarded as a current liability.
• Owner’s Equity - Owner’s Equity refers to money invested in a business by its owner. This
can also be defined as the amount that the business owes to the owner.
• Income Tax - Income Tax is tax paid to tax authorities on income. There is more than one
type of income tax; personal and company. You will need to speak to your
accountant or local tax authority to find out more about the type of tax that
you need to pay.
Important information
Once you have recorded transactions against an account, the category cannot be changed. If you
do not know which category to select, we recommend checking with a financial professional
before proceeding.
You will use Account Reporting Groups to view either a summary of grouped accounts or the individual
accounts making up a group total on your financial statement reports.
Select the accounts to add or move to an Account Reporting Group. Note: Accounts can only be grouped
with other accounts in the same Category.
To access this function, select the Accounts menu followed by the Account Reporting Groups option.
Important information
Document Definition
Quotes are optional. A quote is an offer to sell one or more items to a customer at the
price you specify. When you produce a quote, you specify a date on which the quote
expires. The customer can accept the quote up to that date. After that date, it is your
Quote
choice whether to sell to the customer at the quote price. Note that a quote is not a sale.
When you produce a quote, the system does not update any quantity or sales statistics,
because there is no sale yet.
If a customer returns an item you sold them for a refund, you process a credit note. The
Customer
values you enter into a credit note will reverse the values you entered into an invoice.
Credit
The amount the customer owes you decreases, as do the sales quantities and sales
Notes
values per item.
Customer When you are working with customer adjustments, you will work with tax in the same
Adjustments way you do when processing customer invoices – you always enter tax at the point of
the original transaction and the customer balance will always be increased or decreased
with the tax inclusive amount. For customers, you enter original transactions via
customer invoices (and returns), or via customer adjustments. In both these processes,
you enter tax codes along with the transactions. When you receive payment from
customers, you do not enter tax.
Document Definition
When you receive goods and an invoice from the supplier, you process a supplier
Supplier
invoice. If you first produced a purchase order for the supplier, you can copy the
Invoice
purchase order into the supplier invoice and print it without having to redo any data entry.
If you receive one or more defective items, or you wish to return items to a supplier, you
process a return. The values you enter into a supplier return will reverse the values you
Supplier
entered into an invoice. The amount you owe the supplier decreases, as do the
Return
purchase quantities and purchase values per item. The on hand quantity of the items
decreases by the quantity you return.
When you are working with supplier adjustments, you will work with tax in the same way
Supplier
you do when processing supplier invoices – you always enter tax at the point of the
Adjustments
original transaction and the supplier balance will always be increased or decreased with
the tax inclusive amount. For suppliers, you enter original transactions via supplier
invoices (and credit notes or returns), or via supplier adjustments. In both these
processes, you enter tax codes along with the transactions. When you pay suppliers in
Banks and Credit Cards, you do not enter VAT.
• In the header section, you choose the customer or supplier account. You then enter or select one
of the multiple delivery addresses and other information, such as the document date. Also in the
header section, you can select a quote that you want to link the invoice to. Lines processed in the
quote will be copied over to the invoice.
• In the header section, you have the option to select a sales rep as well as changing the layout of
the invoice when it's sent to the customer.
• In the lines section, you enter as many items as you are selling or purchasing. You enter each item
on its own line, with the required quantity for that item.
• You can also search for items by code of by name using this drop down.
• Select the VAT Type you wish to use.
• You can add a discount percentage or a discount amount in the respective fields.
• You can also process projects, departments and cost codes per processing line.
• In the footer section, you can enter a message or additional text to print on the document.
• At the bottom of the screen are four options:
o Save – to save the document and return to the screen that you were in.
o Save and New – to save the document and clear the fields so that you can enter another
document.
o Print Preview – to preview a printable version of the document.
o Email – to email a PDF 128-bit encrypted copy of the document to the customer.
o You can send the invoice to different people within the customer’s company by clicking on the
Additional Contacts button. These email addresses will pull from the Additional Contacts tab
on the Customer Masterfile.
You can select that the system uses the default email signature, or you can select an email signature that
you created in the Company Settings...Email Signatures screen. You can also attach additional
documents to your email, but it cannot be bigger than 1 MB.
o Print Delivery Note – to process the document and print out a delivery note for customers to
sign. You can also email a delivery note to customers .
Accounting allows you to edit your customer and supplier invoices once it is printed:
If you would edit an invoice, Accounting will keep track of the customer invoice history if you click on the
Options Button followed by the Invoice History option:
These three functions work in an almost identical manner. Once you know how to use one of these
functions, you can use the others.
Important information
If a customer returns items to you, or you return items to suppliers, you do NOT use these
functions. Instead, you create a Customer Credit Note or Supplier Return. This reverses the
invoice, adjusts the item quantities on hand and updates the customer/supplier balance.
• In Customers, Suppliers and Banks and Credit Cards screens, via the links in the Quick Links
section.
• Select the Customer Receipts or Supplier Payments options on the Customers or Suppliers menus.
• You can use the Banking option to process customer and supplier receipts and payments.
• You can also select to allocate receipts and payments by clicking on the Allocate Receipts /
Payments button.
• In the header section, you choose the customer or supplier account, and enter the transaction
details, including the amount. You also specify which bank account you are using. Also in the
header section is a Reason field, where you can enter a message should you want to.
• In the lines section, you link the transaction to one or more invoices. Until you fully match invoice
values with one or more receipts, payments, or write-off transactions, the invoice appears on the
customer or supplier statement. You can match the receipt, payment or write-off at a later stage
using the allocations screen.
• When a customer or supplier is set to automatically allocate receipts or payments to the oldest
invoices, the system will automatically allocate them in this screen. This includes receipts and/or
payments processed via the bank and credit card transaction option.
• The document status displays at the bottom of the screen.
• At the bottom of the screen, you can select one of four processing options.
Banking
Capturing your Bank Statements
How do you get the information from your bank into your accounting software? – with Accounting it is
easy and we offer a number of options to suit your preferences.
You can access this function by selecting the Banking...Transactions...Banking menu option.
Accounting allows you to map descriptions to certain recurring transactions displayed on your bank or
credit card statement. Click on the map link in the transaction line and save the mapped transaction
description. You can also personalise your mapped descriptions.
You will maintain these mapped transaction descriptions under the Bank Statement Mapping Rules menu
option. For more information regarding these features, visit the Accounting Help Files.
Budgets
Accounting allows you to create your financial budgets.
For more information on setting up and managing this feature, visit the Accounting Help Files.
The reconciliation process does not affect any values on your system, and its use is optional. It lets you
match each payment and receipt you enter into the system against a physical bank statement. This helps
you to ensure that the amounts are correct. For example, you may write a cheque for 100.00, but enter it
into the system as 1,000.00. Alternatively, the bank can make an error.
The reconciliation process also helps you know the value of the cheques that are not yet in your bank
statement, so that you can plan your cash flow. For example, you may have cash in the bank, but unless
you know the value of cheques that suppliers have not yet deposited, you do not know whether there are
sufficient funds in the bank. If your reconciliation is up to date, you can view these undeposited cheques.
Note that the bank reconciliation takes into account all payments, receipts and other transfers that you
enter. This includes customer receipts, supplier payments and other account transactions.
You can access this function by selecting Banking…Transactions…Reconcile Banks and Credit Cards.
You can also open the Reconcile Banks and Credit Cards from a number of Quick Links areas.
You mark items as being present on the bank statement by selecting the Reconciled check box.
Accountant’s Area
This area is exclusively for accountant processing such as Journal entries and Tax Adjustments.
If you are not sure about how to process these transactions, we recommend that you seek the advice of a
financial professional before proceeding.
You can access these functions by selecting the Accountant’s Area menu option:
Invite My Accountant
Invite your accountant to access your company by selecting the Invite My Accountant menu option.
Journals are posted to adjust balances in accounts. If one account increase, another account must
decrease by the same amount. In the Process Journal Entries screen, you will first enter the account that
will debit in value, enter the date and reference for the transaction and then enter an explanation for the
journal. Then you will enter the value of the journal and the corresponding account that will be credit by
the same amount. You can select to include tax on the journal if necessary.
You are able to add a comment or note to the journal entry by expanding the note button on the left hand
side.
Individual files may not exceed 2 MB in size. A maximum of 5 attachments per note or transaction can be
added.
VAT
The VAT section is split into three other categories:
Purpose of the VAT Returns and Reports Screen – VAT is a strictly regulated area of any business and
keeping your figures accurate, reliable and up to date is essential to avoid issues with the authorities.
With the VAT Returns and Reports screen you will be able to control all of your VAT reporting from one
central place.
Your VAT reporting does not always correlate to your financial reporting. Sometimes you will record
transactions in one month and only account for the VAT in another month; this can often happen if you
are behind on your processing.
With the VAT Returns and Reports Screen you will assign transactions to particular VAT periods, and not
specific date ranges.
• These should agree to what you actually submit to your local revenue authority.
• Amounts owing should agree with the VAT payments that you have made.
• No editing of transactions that have been submitted to the Revenue Authority.
• Back dated transactions will pull through to the current VAT Period (i.e. no missing of VAT
Transactions).
The screen will display a list of all of your VAT Periods detailing relevant information pertaining to each
period:
• VAT payable or refundable for the period
• Associated payments and refunds made for each period
• Quick links to the VAT 201 and VAT Report relevant to that period
The table below will explain all the fields on the screen above:
Field Explanation
This option allows you to view the VAT report for a previous
View (Previous VAT Report)
VAT Period.
VAT Adjustments:
In the VAT Adjustments screen, you are able to adjust either the input or output VAT. The most common
use of VAT adjustments is to account for customs VAT on imported goods, since these amounts are very
seldom 15%. In this case, you would process the full amount including the VAT value to the supplier
account and then post an input VAT adjustment for the VAT amount. This function should not be done
without the advice of a financial professional.
VAT reports must be submitted to your local VAT authority on a regular basis, and will either indicate that
you need to pay VAT over or receive a refund.
Important information
Since the VAT laws of your country govern VAT processing, it is of extreme importance to ensure
that you process the adjustments, payments and refunds correctly.
Accounting will calculate your VAT for you as shown below. Your Input VAT is calculated by working out
the VAT included on all of the supplier invoice that you have processed in Accounting. Next, your Output
VAT is calculated by working out the VAT included in all of the customer invoices that you have
processed in Accounting. The difference between the two is the amount of VAT that you owe. If your
input VAT is higher than your output VAT, you will be due a VAT refund.
You can process VAT payments and refunds that will automatically create a payment or receipt to your
selected bank account. You will see a VAT summary for the date range you have selected. To view any
payments or refunds already processed print the VAT Payments and Refunds report. Any payment or
refund processed in the date range you have selected will be excluded from this summary as they are
considered to be payments or refunds pertaining to a previous VAT period.
In the Details screen, you will edit the date for the transaction and the bank account that will be affected.
You will then enter the Reference and Description for the transaction. You are able to edit the value of the
amount in the Detail section of the screen; however, this is not recommended.
Accountant’s Reports
The following Accountant’s reports are available:
Report Summary
A VAT report lists VAT transaction for reporting purposes. This report is
also available in the Reports menu. You have the option to print the report
VAT Report in detail or in summary, with or without VAT adjustments. You can also
include payments and/or refunds in the report. You can set if the report
must offset all the credits on sales or purchases.
This report lists all of the original Customer Tax Invoices and Credit Notes
VAT Audit Report
that were emailed and marked as Computer Generated.
VAT Payments and This lists the payments made and refunds received from the revenue
Refunds service and can be printed from the Accountant’s Area.
VAT 201 Calculation This is a calculation report to assist with the submission of your VAT 201.
VAT Summary This report is a summary view of your VAT Payable per month.
For more information on this feature, visit the Accounting Help Files.
Analysis Codes
Accounting allows you to add up to 3 Analysis Codes to analyse your income and expenditure in more
detail. For example, you may want to analyse your profit and loss by department or project.
Create your Analysis Codes and Categories below to suit your business.
The dashboards
Accounting hosts five different dashboards and one workspace when selecting the Home main menu
option:
• The To Do List shows due and overdue customer and supplier invoices, expiring and expired
quotes and purchase orders and notes added from customers, suppliers, items, banks and credit
cards, accounts and users.
• The Banking widget summarises your bank account activity and gives you an option to import your
bank statement. The balance that displays is in date and always displays your current balance. It
will also display the date of your last Bank Statement import.
• Sales History shows a graph of total sales for this year, per month.
You can access this function by selecting the Home menu option followed by the Dashboard option.
You can drill down in each element of the main Company Dashboard either by clicking on the graphic or
by clicking on the detail links. You can customise some of the elements for more information. For
example, if you select Edit on the Sales History graph, you can select to include customer returns.
Customer Dashboard
You can access this function by selecting the Home menu option followed by the Customer Dashboard
option.
Supplier Dashboard
You can access this function by selecting the Home menu option followed by the Supplier Dashboard
option.
Item Dashboard
You can access this function by selecting the Home menu option followed by the Item Dashboard option.
Financial Dashboard
You can access this function by selecting the Home menu option followed by the Financial Dashboard
option.
The financial dashboard displays all necessary financial related information such as your income versus
your expenses, your profits and losses as well as the banking widget.
My Workspace
Accounting has a separate working area called the Workspace. Instead of selecting your dashboard you
are allowed to view the My Workspace page.
These are icons which will quickly link a user to the most important features in the software. You can
customise the workspace to only include the functions that you need. Accounting allows you to even
rename the heading and the details for each icon (link).
You can also reset the original workspace and you can reset the Dashboard to be the default Home
Page.
For more information on this feature, visit the Accounting Help Files.