Using The Sample Chart With CAPITAL Office

If you already run CAPITAL Office and wish to use the supplied standard chart from the sample data provided, read this section.

If you have been allocating expenses through the supplier entries or cash book systems in CAPITAL then you are probably familiar with the expense code table that is set-up in CAPITAL's Install program. This expense chart represents the P&L (profit and loss) or expenses and overheads portion of a full chart of accounts. As you will now be switching to a full chart of accounts, you need to incorporate these expense codes into CAPITAL GL Controller's chart of accounts.

Fortunately, the supplied sample charts of accounts for companies, sole traders and partnerships already match the expense codes that were issued with the CAPITAL Office program. If you have not changed any of these codes then there is nothing special that you need do to the sample charts in order to start using them.

If you have added or deleted expense codes, you will also need to add and delete these codes in the general ledger to ensure that your classification system matches the sample chart of accounts. If you have only made a small number of changes, then the most straightforward approach is to simply add or delete the extra codes using the general ledger codes menu option. If you have made an extensive number of changes, or have completely replaced the expense codes provided by CAPITAL with your own codes, then the quicker approach is to perform a global delete of the P&L accounts provided in the sample chart, and use the transfer expenses option to move the new codes from CAPITAL's expense table into the general ledger chart of accounts.

This may only be practical if the codes you have specified can be incorporated into the sample charts in a sensible manner. And that depends on whether your numbering system can fit into the number systems set out in the sample charts. If your expense code numbering is not compatible with the sample charts provided it may not be practical for you to use the sample charts. You may have to consider the section on "creating new data" and construct a new chart of accounts.

Be aware that creating a new general ledger completely from scratch can involve a fair amount of work. A new Financial Formula Table will have to be created and new financial statements written or at the very least, modified.

How to add, delete and transfer expense codes is discussed in the Reference Guide, and step by step instructions are also provided in Connecting to CAPITAL Office on the procedures involved in integrating CAPITAL Office with your GL. For the time being, however, this section only discusses setting up your initial data files.

Integrating Your Expense Codes

Why is it important that the P&L codes in your chart of accounts match the expense codes you may be presently using? In part this answer is obvious. If you have been coding your telephone operating costs under code "305", for example, then you will continue to need to use the same code once the general ledger is up and running. Also be aware that once the general ledger is operating, the expense code table found in CAPITAL is completely superseded by the general ledger chart of accounts. You will still be able to add, edit or delete entries in the expense table by going into the install program, but this would generally be pointless. CAPITAL will not look at this table if the general ledger interface is activated. It will use the general ledger chart of accounts table instead. Hence, if code "305" is in your expense table but not in your chart of accounts, you will be unable to code further transactions to this category until the account is added to the general ledger chart as well.

Firstly determine if the expense code table in CAPITAL is the same as the P&L portion of your sample chart of accounts. Compare the charts listed in "samples of charts and reports" to the expense table in CAPITAL.

In CAPITAL from the main menu select Section|Reports, then click on Suppliers and run report 313 (Expensde Listing) to print a copy of your current expense table. If the coding is the same or the differences are minor follow the steps below, otherwise consider following the procedures outlined in the next section.

Select company wizard from the files menu. Select "base on an existing company" click Next then select the company that contains the sample chart of accounts that you wish to use. For example, if the company \company contains the chart you want to base your chart of accounts on, select this company from the list of choices. Click Next.

You will be prompted for the following information:

Enter Company Name

For Financial Year

Enter The Identification Code

For the CAPITAL Office company you are creating the chart of accounts for. You will need to place the sample GL data files in the same subdirectory as the company you are setting up the general ledger for. For example, if your current CAPITAL Office company code is "acme" you would specify "acme" as the company name here as well.

If the company does not already exist, a new subdirectory will be created to contain the copied files. Note that this process only copies operational information such as the chart of accounts codes, and standing journals. The newly created company is "empty" in the sense that no postings or general journal batches are transferred across during the copy process. All account totals are set to zero and the audit trail is emptied, ready for you to begin entering new opening balances.

After a few moments a new set of accounting records will be created. You will be prompted for the following information:

Start Date Of Financial Year

Enter the financial year starting date. This might be January 1st, 1997 for example, if you wish to base your financial year on the calendar year. The 1st of July 1996 or 97 would be more appropriate if you wished to work with a standard Australian financial year. CAPITAL GL Controller assumes that you want a standard financial year and provides a default date such as 01/07/96 (depending on the year you enter when you first start this program).

Number Of Accounting Periods

Most companies will run either a 12 period or 13 period financial year. Enter the appropriate number.

Next General Journal Number

This is the next general ledger batch number to be issued when creating journals. This starts at 1 and normally does not need to be changed. You may wish to change it, however, if you are moving across from another program or a manual system and want this number to correspond to the next unused batch to be entered. You can easily change this number at a later date if you need to.

Next Standing Journal Number

The next standing journal or accruals batch number to use. These numbers start with "st" to differentiate them from regular batch numbers. When a standing journal is copied to general journals for posting, the newly created batch will be issued the next standard general journal batch number for consistency. The "st" numbers are not normally posted to your general ledger audit trail.

Click Ok if you are happy with the starting and ending dates of each period, otherwise click on the first month to change. It will appear at the bottom. Click on the "from date" and change. Then click on the "to date" and change.

Select the next month and follow the above procedure until all is complete. You may also click on the period name and change it if you wish. In most cases changes to this table will be unnecessary. In some cases you will need to make changes. For example, if you have specified thirteen accounting periods, or if you wish to start at the calendar year rather than the financial year.

Several rules apply when doing changes to the period range table. The number of periods specified must add up to an entire year and there can be no date gaps between periods. That is, every date for the year must be covered by one and only one of the periods you specify.

Once you have finished with this table CAPITAL will spend a few moments updating data files.

Next, add or delete expense codes in your chart of accounts until they match codes placed in your original CAPITAL Office expense code table.

Once this has been completed, read Connecting to CAPITAL Office for information on interfacing the general ledger to your existing CAPITAL Office program.