4.2 Field Descriptions

Account

Enter the general ledger account number in this field. It can be numbers, letters, or a combination of both. This field can contain up to 15 characters. For example, you could assign petty cash fund a designation of 0.1.1.001.

The commands to format the balance sheet and income statement depend on the general ledger account codes being in the right sequence.The coding of the general ledger accounts must be done so that the sequence of the accounts is the same as the order in which the accounts will appear on the balance sheet and income statement.

All balance sheet accounts must be coded in sequence before the income statement accounts. For example, say you are using a sequence of codes that run from 1.100.100 to 9.999.999. The asset accounts might be included in the codes 1.100.100 to 1.999.999. Liability and Equity accounts would be included in the range of codes 2.100.100 to 3.999.999; and Income Statement accounts would be coded 4.100.100 to 9.999.999.

Name

Enter the full description of the account number entered in the previous field. The name or description is printed on the balance sheet and income statement as well as other financial reports. Continuing the example above, type Petty Cash Fund in this field. This field can be up to 35 characters long.

Balance

This field is a display only field. You cannot type anything in this field. It represents the current balance of the account displayed in the Account field. It also includes future transactions that have been entered into the system. This field is updated each time a transaction is posted to this account.

Debit Account

This field represents the answer to the question; Is this account a debit? If you answer yes, then type y or yes. To answer no type n or no. Under normal circumstances all assets and expenses represent debit accounts (a yes answer). All liability, capital, and income accounts represent credit accounts (a no answer).

Balance Sheet Account

This field represents the answer to the question, Is this account a balance sheet account? If this account should appear on the balance sheet type y or yes. If this account should appear on the income statement, type n or no. The information in this field is used along with the balance sheet formating commands (Select, General Ledger, Balance Sheet Format) to create the Income and Balance Sheet report. It is also used in the final close process (Closing, Final Close of Accounting Period). If an account has a value of no in this field it is closed out to the retained earnings account during the final close process.

Department

If you wish to print departmental income statements, enter the department code for the department associated with this general ledger account. This code must have been previously entered into the system through the menu choice Select, General Ledger, Department Names. You may examine the department master file through the validation form associated with this field. Input to this field is optional.

Consolidation Account

This field is used if you plan to consolidate the financial information from this set of books with one or more other sets of books on the system. The account entered here is the general ledger account in the 'holding' company that the balance of this general ledger account is posted to. Refer to the "Consolidation" chapter in this manual for more Information. Input to this field is optional.

Budget Amounts

These fields can be used for entering budget amounts for each period. Amounts entered into these fields for income statement accounts (Balance Sheet is no) are used on the report Income with Budget Figures. The amount entered into each field should reflect the budgeted amount for that period only. The Income with Budget Figures report calculates the year to date budget amounts.