Introduction The QUE Accounting series of programs has been developed over the years with much input from the user community. Many of the features included in Version 2.0 are based on the results from a graduate study of PC based accounting systems and direct inquiry from the users of earlier versions of QUE Accounting. We are confident our system offers a number of advantages over other PC accounting packages. It is easy to understand and use provides on-line help and a completely functional practice system that may be started and stopped at will without affecting 'live' data It is flexible and will grow with you much thought has been placed in the design to allow the system to adapt to your organization and not vice-versa It is inexpensive packages with these capabilities are often priced many times the QUE Accounting list price. Supported by professionals developed by accounting and data processing professionals Customization because the system is entirely developed by QUE Accounting, changes and enhancements are inexpensive About this manual This manual is meant to be both an introduction into computerized accounting system and a detailed description of the QUE Accounting system. As you progress through the pages, you'll find many screen displays that may be viewed on the computer. The manual has an introduction to accounting and some illustrations but does not pretend to be an accounting text book. Accordingly, some skills on how to use a computer is assumed. There are many excellent books on both subjects that may be obtained from your local library or bookstore to supplement the material presented here. Conventions used in this manual Bold highlight functions Underlined highlight field names on screens Capital letters highlight field names in files Shadowed Box outlines screen displays How this book is organized This book is organized into several chapters. Users familiar with accounting systems and computers may go directly to the operational manual starting with Chapter 4. Chapter 1 gives a brief description of accounting fundamentals and illustrates how computers are used in the automation of the accounting process and what additional benefits are derived. Chapter 2 gets more specific with accounting transactions and outlines how two dissimilar corporations may use the QUE Accounting system. An example of the Chart of Accounts and common accounting transactions are illustrated for both. Chapter 3 covers the preplanning process and details how the QUE Accounting system is setup to be used. Chapter 4 begins the operation manual starting with the sigon-on screen and continuing through the Utility Menu. Chapter 5 describes how to use the report writer, the pop-up calculator and the mini word processor. The Appendix includes miscellaneous information such as help text on cursor control and function keys, report examples and installation instructions. Chapter 1 Accounting Basics Control and operations Accounting is used to measure how your business is doing. It is the process of recording sales and expenses and groups that information into meaningful data to be used in determining the financial well-being of your firm. Accounting weaves its way into everyday activity. When a salesman is on the road he has expenses that must be recorded. Just as the office person receives a paycheck or a check is written to acquire office furniture, all these activities constitute an accounting transaction. The accounting transaction records the fundamental operation used in determining how to better control costs and thereby increase the 'bottom line'. The importance of controlling costs may mean the difference between profit and loss. With proper accounting practices, expenses can be easily tracked to departments and or individuals highlighting problem areas. Perhaps your sales force is spending too much time on the road or your advertising budget is out of kilter with revenues. With a good accounting system, these areas can be easily detected. In recording daily activity such as sales, petty cash disbursements, material expenses and the like, a good accounting system should facilitate the transaction entry process and provide a good tracking mechanism. Perhaps certain recurring expenses such as rent could be automatically posted to the trial balance monthly while various edits may be put into place to avoid errant data entry. Limit checking by account, date and account number validations, batch control to assure proper book balancing, are just some of the features used to help control costs and facilitate data entry. Depending on the size and needs of your organization, you may need more or less in automation. A basic General Ledger system may be just fine for a company with a few transactions monthly, while larger firms need more control and automation through integration with Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payables, Payroll and Inventory modules. Reporting and Planning Once the information is in the computer you need to get it out into a meaningful format. The reporting needs of an automated system should meet requirements for reporting on a range or subset of information; for the entire corporation or for honing in on a given department. A report writer and parameter driven reports are vital extensions to a system that has needs for reporting on any imaginable grouping of information. Whatever your needs the reports produced should include at the minimum, an income statement, a balance sheet and detailed ledgers to back these vital reports. Reports highlight the company's performance. The sooner these reports can be produced the sooner management is aware of problems. Systems providing dynamic transaction updating are necessary in providing on-demand, real-time reporting. In other words, to produce reports as frequently as desired, all information entered into the computer should be accessible to all reporting mechanisms. Systems with separate posting requirements do not easily provide this opportunity. Reporting needs also facilitate the reporting requirements for outside concerns such as your CPA firm and federal and state authorities. The planning process starts with the evaluation of past performance. With the reports provided from the accounting system performance can be evaluated for specific profit and cost centers thus aiding in the determination of future budgetary needs. Moreso, with a good foundation of information your company is better positioned to determine and attain realistic goals. Fundamentals Accounts, Transactions and Summarization The basic building block of the accounting system is an Account. The chart of Accounts or General Ledger is a list of all accounts used in the system. Accounts can be viewed as buckets or storage areas for information. If for instance your are writing a check against a certain bank account then that checking account could be assigned an account number to represent it, or one account number could be used to represent all bank accounts. The level of detail is up to you. The more account numbers used the more detail in the ledger and the finer the reporting possibilities. The transaction is the recording of an event against an account. It is the mechanism used to increase or decrease an account's balance. For instance you purchase computer supplies from the local computer store, you need to record the reduction in cash and the increase of computer supply inventory. The transaction may appear as: Computer supplies 100.00 Cash -100.00 The two parts of this transaction constitute one 'double entry' accounting transaction. A double entry always nets to zero. For every positive fiqure there must be an equal amount of negatives and vice-versa. The positive amounts are referred to debits and the negatives as credits. Depending on the type of account, debits and credits either increase or decrease an accounts balance. Account types are used to group accounts in like categories. The five major groupings are assets, liabilities, capital, revenue and expense. Assets are resources your company uses to generate revenues. In the example above, both Cash and Computer Supplies are used to keep the company going. A truck used to pick up the supplies and an office building where office staff are working are also contributing to the company's on-going existance and are assets but of a more permanent nature. Assets, like all the account types, can be broken down further into sub groupings (such as Current Assets, Buildings and Equipment). Assets are increased with positive (debits) amounts and decreased with negatives (credits). Liabilities, on the other hand, are claims against your companies assets. When you purchase supplies on credit that creditor has a claim against you company as recorded in a liability account. Liabilities like assets can be of a short-term or long term nature. Vendor invoices, accrued salaries, and outstanding bank loans all represent liabilities. Liabilities are increased with negative amounts. Capital accounts represent the net worth of a company. If you have more assets than liabilities you are said to have postive net worth. This can be seen when assets (positive) are greater than liabilities (negatives) a positive value remains. When liabilities exceed assets, the company has negative net worth and an unfavorable position. Capital accounts are treated like liabilities in that they are increased with negative values and decreased with positives. Revenue accounts record incoming funds from the sales of products and services. The offsetting entry may be to cash and/or Accounts Receivable in the case where clients pay by credit. Expense accounts are the day to day costs of operation. Office salaries, computer supplies, rent, utilities are all examples of costs that must be paid to keep a business going. Accounts are grouped and summarized into standard classifications and reports used to compare your company's performance either to past performances and/or other firms in your industry. Financial Statements The Asset, Liability and Capital accounts make up the company's Balance Sheet. The Balance sheet is a snapshot of your company's well-being. It always lists Assets first followed by Liabilities and Capital. The equation used to represent the Balance Sheet is Assets=Liabilities+Capital The Revenue and Expense accounts make up the Income Statement. Perhaps the single most important piece of information on your company's performance is the amount of profitability for a period of time. When Revenue exceeds expenses you are said to have a profit. This profit increases your company's net worth and value. When Expenses exceed Revenues, the amount reduces the company's value. Considerable losses over a period of time will deteriorate a company's balance sheet and may result in bankruptcy. Profit(loss)=Revenue-Expenses Automation with QUE Accounting Automating with QUE Accounting is easy and perhaps one of the most valuable investments you can make. When forethought is placed upfront in understanding the QUE system and designing the company's Chart of Accounts, Company amd Department master files an invaluable understanding of your company may result. Effective application of the system may save thousands in manual processing costs, the time tracking down errors and accounting fees. increased efficiency avoid costly billing errors, bookkeeping time, and tying up valuable resources in manually recording transactions, writing checks and determining balances owed and due. flexibility expanding reporting needs is as simple as adding new accounts, departments and/or companies more information analysis timely reports are available that were before cost prohibitive. History files are easily accessible to produce trend analysis, and vendor history may be used to help bargain for vendor discounts by showing volumes purchased.