Sage 50 Accounts For Dummies, UK Edition

Jane E. Kelly, ACMA, is a Chartered Management Accountant, a Sage trainer and the author of Bookkeeping For Dummies, 3rd Edition, and Bookkeeping & Accounting All-in-One For Dummies. Her previous edition of Sage 50 Accounts For Dummies was the UK's most popular guide to the software. Jane also creates online training solutions.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 2Beyond the Book 3Where to Go from Here 3Part 1: Getting Started with Sage 50 Accounts 5Chapter 1: Introducing Sage 50 Accounts 7Looking at the Varieties of Sage 7Installing the Software 9Getting what you need before you get started 9Moving to the installation 10Setting Up with the Active Setup Wizard 10Registering Your Software 16Finding Out How Easy Sage Is to Use 17Navigating around Sage 17Exploring the Menu bar 18Using Wizards 24Chapter 2: Creating Your Chart of Accounts and Assigning Nominal Codes 25Understanding as Much as You Need to about Accounting 26Dabbling in double-entry bookkeeping 26Naming your nominals 27Preparing reports 27Looking at the Structure of Your COA 28Checking out the default COA 29Identifying balance sheet codes 31Looking at profit and loss codes 33Leaving gaps and mirroring codes 36Accommodating floating nominals 36Editing Your COA 37Amending your COA 37Creating a new COA 39Checking Your COA 42Previewing errors 42Looking at some common errors 43Chapter 3: Setting Up Records 45Choosing How to Create Your Records 45Getting a quick start using the New icon 46Following the wizards brick by brick 46Creating Customer and Supplier Records 46Setting customer and supplier defaults 49Deleting customer and supplier records 51Having a change of view 51Creating Your Nominal Records 52Exploring your nominal records 52Renaming existing nominal records 54Adding a new nominal record 54Looking for a nominal record 55Looking around a nominal record 57Deleting a nominal code 58Recording Your Bank Accounts 59Renaming an existing account 60Creating a new account 60Deleting a bank record 62Getting Your Product Records in Order 62Creating a product record 63Editing a product record 65Deleting a product record 66Entering a project record 66Setting Up Fixed Asset Records 68Chapter 4: Recording Your Opening Balances 71Timing Your Switch to Sage 72Obtaining Your Opening Balances 72Entering Opening Balances Using the Wizard 74Entering your default date 75Entering customer and supplier balances 76Checking the customer and supplier opening balances 77Reversing the nominal balances in preparation for entering the trial balance 77Entering the trial balance from your accountant 78Entering the uncleared transactions for your bank account 80Checking opening balances against the trial balance from your accountant 81Checking your data 81Backing up your data 81Manually Entering Information 82Manually recording opening balances 82Manually recording opening bank balances 83Manually recording nominal opening balances 84Putting in opening balances for products 85Checking Your Opening Balances 87Printing an opening trial balance 87Dealing with errors 87Part 2: Looking into Day-to-Day Functions 89Chapter 5: Processing Your Customer Paperwork 91Posting Batch Entry Invoices 91Creating Credit Notes 94Registering Payments from Your Customers 96Giving credit where due – allocating credit notes 99Recording payments on account 101Deleting Invoices and Credit Notes 102Chapter 6: Invoicing Your Customers 103Deciding on an Invoice Type 104Creating Invoices 104Putting in the details 105Getting to the main attraction 107Filling in the order details 109Getting down to the footer details 110Going over payment details 111Checking your profit on a product invoice 112Remembering that Communication Is Key 113Managing Your Invoice List 114Printing invoices 114Using Quick Print 116Updating ledgers 116Deleting invoices 118Saving Time While You Ask for Money 118Duplicating existing invoices 118Repeating recurring transactions 118Using defaults 120Getting paid faster 120Chapter 7: Dealing with Paperwork from Your Suppliers 121Receiving and Posting Invoices 121Setting up your receiving system 122Posting invoices 122Getting Credit 125Allocating a Credit Note 127Paying Your Suppliers 128Printing a Remittance Advice Note 130Chapter 8: Recording Your Bank Entries 133Understanding the Different Types of Bank Account 134Keeping up with current (1200) and deposit (1210) accounts 134Counting the petty cash (1230) account 135Handling your cash register (1235) 135Managing the company credit card (1240) and credit card receipts (1250) 136Tracking Bank Deposits and Payments 136Transferring Funds between Accounts 140Repeating Recurring Entries 141Going for consistency with your bank entries 141Repeating customer and supplier payments 144Making regular journal entries – if you dare 144Processing and posting recurring entries 145Dealing with Petty Cash 147Funding petty cash 147Making payments from the tin 147Reconciling the petty cash tin 148Paying the Credit Card Bill 148Making credit card payments 148Reconciling the credit card statement 149Chapter 9: Maintaining and Correcting Entries 151Finding Ways to Find Transactions 151Searching for Records 153Making Corrections 154Editing a Journal Entry 156Deleting a Journal Entry 157Checking and Maintaining Your Files 158Checking errors 158Using Recovery Tools 159Reindexing data 161Compressing data 161Rebuilding data 161Backing Up Data the Manual Way 161Scheduling Backups 163Restoring Data 164Part 3: Functions for Plus and Professional Users 167Chapter 10: Processing Sales Orders 169Giving a Quote 169Amending your invoice and order defaults 170Creating a quotation 170Allocating and amending stock for a quote 172Converting a quotation to an invoice or order 172Creating a Sales Order 173Entering the sales order details 174Dealing with cash sales 177Editing your order 178Putting sales orders on hold 179Duplicating a sales order 179Printing the order 180Allocating Stock to an Order 180Going on automatic 180Assigning stock yourself 181Amending the allocation of stock 181Using the shortfall generator 182Despatching Orders 183Completing an order 183Using goods despatched notes 183Using the despatch facility 184Recording a despatch manually 184Invoicing Your Customers 185Deleting and Cancelling Sales Orders 186Deleting an order 186Cancelling an order 187Chapter 11: Processing Purchase Orders 189Creating, Changing and Copying a Purchase Order 190Creating a purchase order 190Editing your order 192Duplicating a purchase order 193Placing the Goods on Order 194Ordering via the conventional method 194Manually placing goods on order 195Completing Your Purchase Order 196Printing Your Purchase Order 197Getting the Goods In 198Using goods received notes 198Accepting delivery of everything 200Taking in part of an order 200Creating an Invoice from an Order 201Deleting, Cancelling and Reinstating Orders 203Deleting orders 203Cancelling orders 204Putting a cancelled order back on order 204Chapter 12: Keeping Track of Your Products 205Taking Stock 205Importing your stocktake 207Adjusting stock levels 208Checking stock activity 208Using the stock shortfall facility 209Understanding a Bill of Materials 210Creating a BOM 211Checking stock availability for a BOM 213Transferring stock for a BOM 214Processing Stock Returns 215Allocating Stock 217Changing stock allocation 219Issuing allocated stock 219Chapter 13: Managing Projects 221Appointing a Project’s Status and Costs 222Assigning status 222Looking at costs – types and codes 223Changing status and costs 224Managing Project Resources 225Creating or amending a resource 226Deleting a resource 226Tracking Project Costs 227Sharing out project charges 227Issuing stock to a project 228Counting costs from a supplier invoice 230Integrating POP with project costing 230Analysing Project Costs 232Looking at the project’s activity 232Comparing costs and budget 234Charging Your Customers for a Project 235Completing Your Project 236Chapter 14: Using Foreign Currencies 239Setting Up Foreign Currencies 240Entering the exchange rate for a currency 240Amending the Countries table 242Tailoring the Foreign Trader Tool 243Keeping Trade Status in Mind When Setting Up Accounts 244Processing the Paperwork 245Raising invoices, credit notes and orders 246Entering batch invoices and credit notes 248Banking on Foreign Currencies 249Coping with customer receipts and supplier payments 249Carrying out a bank transfer 251Expecting changing exchange rates 253Doing Revaluations with the Wizard 254Part 4: Running Monthly, Quarterly and Annual Routines 257Chapter 15: Reconciling Your Bank Accounts 259Recognising Reasons to Reconcile 260Using Bank Feeds to Post Data into Sage 261Setting up bank feeds 261Downloading your bank transactions 263Reconciling your downloaded transactions 264Double-checking everything 267Manually Entering Your Bank Account Data 267Using e-Banking to Import Data 268Doing the Reconciliation 269Troubleshooting When Your Account Doesn’t Reconcile 274Rounding Up Stragglers 275Chapter 16: Running Your Monthly and Yearly Routines 277Adding Up Accruals 278Counting Out Prepayments 280Depreciating Fixed Assets 282Writing down your assets 282Posting assets and depreciation 284Entering Journals 284Completing journals 285Rattling skeleton journals 286Reversing journals 287Carrying Out Your Month-End Routine 288Ticking off your checklist 288Running the month-end 289Clearing stock transactions 291Deleting stock 292Clearing the audit trail 293Managing Cash Flow 294Doing a Year-End Routine 295Chapter 17: Running Your VAT Return 297Understanding Some VAT Basics 298Knowing your outputs from your inputs 298Cracking the codes 298Comparing Sage’s VAT accounting methods 299Managing Your VAT 301Preparing your VAT return 301Reconciling your VAT return 304Checking Your VAT Return Using Reconciliation Reports 306Checking under the standard scheme 306Checking with cash accounting 308Getting ready to reconcile after checking 308Completing Your VAT return 309Posting the VAT transfer 311Submitting your VAT return 311Posting your refund or payment in Sage 313Investigating Other Useful Icons in Your VAT Module 313Posting scale charges 313Reporting Intrastat 314Completing the EC Sales list 315Understanding the Reverse Charge Sales list 315Running a VAT audit 316Accessing verification reports 317Part 5: Using Reports 319Chapter 18: Running Monthly Reports 321Making the Most of Standard Reports 321Checking the Chart of Accounts 322Figuring Out the Financial Reports 322Trying for an initial trial balance 323Accounting for profit and loss 324Comparing profits and losses 325Weighing the balance sheet 327Viewing the Audit Trail 328Forgetting the Periods and Going Transactional 330Going by date 330Being number-friendly 331Running the reports 331Designing Reports to Suit Yourself 332Chapter 19: Tackling the Complicated Stuff 337Exporting Data 337Sending spreadsheet stuff 338Transferring Outlook contacts 338Exporting to Word 339Importing Data 341Linking to Your Accountant 344Sending accounts to your accountant 345Making material changes 345Getting back adjustments and narratives 346Trying e-Banking 346Configuring your e-Banking 347Opting for e-payments 348Reconciling electronically 351Working with Document Manager 353Adding attachments and filing system references 353Deleting attachments 354Chapter 20: Running Key Reports 355Checking Activity through the Nominal Codes 355Looking into Supplier Activity 358Tracking Customer Activity 360Checking Numbers with Supplier Daybook Reports 361Finding the Customers Who Owe You 362Paying Attention to Your Creditors 364Handling Unreconciled Bank Transactions 366Doing a Monthly Breakdown of Profit and Loss 369Ranking Your Top Customers 370Chapter 21: Going Mobile 373Setting Up Sage Drive 373Tackling Sage 50 Tracker 375Installing Sage 50 Tracker 375Looking at the Sage 50 Tracker dashboard 377Sussing Out Sage 50 Mobile Sales 379Keeping Connected with Connected Users 380Part 6: The Part of Tens 381Chapter 22: Ten (Okay, Eleven) Funky Functions in Sage 383Browsing for Help with F1 384Calculating Stuff with F2 384Accessing an Edit Item Line for Invoicing with F3 384Finding Multiple Functions with F4 384Calculating Currency or Checking Spelling with F5 385Copying with F6 385Inserting a Line with F7 386Deleting a Line with F8 386Calculating Net Amounts with F9 386Launching Windows with F11 387Opening Report Designer with F12 387Chapter 23: Ten (Plus One) Wizards to Conjure Up in Sage 389Creating a New Customer Account 389Setting Up a New Supplier 390Initiating a New Nominal Account 390Creating a New Bank Account 391Launching a New Product 391Starting Up a New Project 392Helping Out at Month End: Opening/Closing Stock 392Fuelling Up: Scale Charges 392Saving Time: Global Changes 393Handling Currencies: Foreign Bank Revaluation 394Keeping Others in the Loop: Accountant Link 394Index 397