Creating a holding company
The consolidated set of books for the holding company is created by running the makconsol command. The first thing the makconsol command does is display a parameter screen.
The entries on the parameter screen above direct the makconsol command to create a consolidated set of books called consol located in the directory \consol. If an absolute pathname (pathname starts with '\') is not entered for the home directory, the pathname entered will be located relative to the current directory.
The catalog description for this set of books is Consolidated Books. The data entry screens, reports, and data definition files are to be linked to the corresponding files in the installed set of books. If no is entered in response to the question on the parameter screen:
Do you wish to link all support files?
all the consolidated books files are copied from rather than linked to the installed set of books. Since copying all the files takes considerably more disk space than linking them, this option should only be used when it is not possible or desirable to link the two sets of books.
When you are satisfied with what you have entered press the STORE <F5> button and the consolidated books for the holding company will be created.
Creating books for subsidiary companies
Sets of books for additional subsidiary companies are created by running the menu selection Create a New Set of C/Books from the bookkit Database menu. Start bookkit by typing
bookkit ap
Select Database Menu from the Bookkit Development menu as shown below
When the Database menu is displayed, select
Create a New Set of C/Books
Before a new set of books is created, a parameter screen is displayed for entering user defined options. The parameter screen shown below displays entries for creating a new set of books from the installed set of books.
The database name of the new set of books is cbooks2. The new set of books is to be located in the directory \cbooks2. If the home directory for the new set of books is not specified with an absolute pathname (pathname beginning with '\'), the pathname entered will be located relative to the current directory.
Yes is entered in response to the question:
Do you wish to clear the data files?
because we do not want to duplicate the data in the installed set of books in the set of books for the additional subsidiary company.
The last entry tells the system whether to copy the reports, data entry screens, and data file definitions from the installed set of books or to link them. Since copying all the files takes considerably more disk space than linking them, no should only be entered when modifications are expected or it is not possible or desirable to link the two sets of books.
When you are satisfied with what you have entered, press the STORE button <F5>, to start the creating the new set of books. Repeat this process until there is a set of books for each subsidiary company. If desired, the installed set of books can be used for one subsidiary company.
The process of creating a new set of books does not copy or link the C/Books commands located in the bin directory within the HOME directory of the installed set of books. Therefore you must include this directory in the PATH environment variable used for each set of books.
Transaction Logging
If transaction logging is to be done on the holding company books or on any of the subsidiary company books, a log file must be named in the database catalog for the holding company books. This is done by running bookkit and selecting Define/Change Database Logfile from the Database menu. The name of the logfile is entered on the menu selection's parameter screen. If an absolute pathname (pathname starting with '\') is not entered for the logfile, the pathname entered will be located relative to the home directory of the set of books. The parameter screen shown below specifies \consol\logfile as the logfile for the holding company's books, consol.
The logfile must also be specified for any subsidiary company that will be using transaction logging. The logfile for each subsidiary company using transaction logging must match the logfile specified for the holding company books. To assign the logfile to a subsidiary company, run the bookkit command. If the database name of the subsidiary company is not displayed in the upper left corner of the Bookkit Development menu, change to the subsidiary company database by running selection Change Current Set of C/Books on the Database menu. Once the appropriate database name is displayed in the upper left corner of the menu, run the Define/Change Database Logfile selection. The parameter screen below shows the logfile entry for cbooks2.
If transaction logging will not be done on a company, the logfile entry in the database catalog for that company should be left blank. In previous releases of the C/Books, a default logfile name was automatically entered into the database catalog for a set of books whenever C/Books was installed or a new set of books was created. Therefore, you must check the logfile for the database for any set of books that is being updated from a previous release. If transaction logging will not be done on a company, and the parameter screen displays a value for Original Logfile Name, remove the logfile by storing the parameter screen with New Logfile Name field blank.
Accessing Multiple Companies
The commands used to access a company's set of books depend on the value of the DBASE environment variable. This variable names a C/Books database. If the DBASE variable is not set to a name of a database, the command
cbooks
displays the main books menu for the installed set of books, cbooks. Any of the sub-menus belonging to the cbooks database may be accessed by by running the cbooks command followed by the name of the sub-menu. For example, the Accounts Payable menu is accessed as follows:
cbooks ap
Additional sets of books may be accessed using the commands above after setting the DBASE environment variable to the appropriate database name.
Alternatively, additional sets of books may be accessed by by running the cbooks command followed by the name of the menu and then the database name of the company's set of books. The following command accesses the main books menu belonging to the database cbooks2.
cbooks books cbooks2
The Accounts Payable menu (ap) for database cbooks2 may be accessed follows:
cbooks ap cbooks2
Chart of Accounts
A chart of accounts must be set up for the holding company as well as for each subsidiary company. Each general ledger account in the holding company's set of books represents one or more general ledger accounts in the subsidiary companies. Data entry of the general ledger accounts is as described in the chapter "Enter General Ledger Accounts".
The screen below displays the entry for the holding company's general ledger cash account.
After entering the chart of accounts for the holding company, the chart of accounts for each subsidiary company must be entered.
The data entry screen for entering the chart of accounts for a subsidiary company includes the extra field, Consolidation Account. When the trial close process is run on the holding company books, all the transactions posted to a subsidiary company general ledger account are accumulated in the holding company general ledger account specified in the Consolidated Account field. In the example displayed below, the amounts posted to a subsidiary company's general ledger account, 1112 are to be accumulated in the holding company general ledger account
1111.
If the Consolidated Account field is left blank, the consolidated trial close process uses the Account field to accumulate the account's transactions in the general ledger account in the holding company books. If the Consolidated Account field had been left blank in the previous example, the amounts posted to the subsidiary company account 1112 would be accumulated in the the holding company general ledger account 1112.
Completing the set up process
After the charts of accounts and corresponding consolidated accounts have been entered, the rest of the set up process for the subsidiary companies is done as outlined in the set up chapters in the C/Books manuals. The remainder of the set up process for the holding company books is a modified version of the set up done for the subsidiary companies.
The holding company consists of a general ledger module. To complete the set up procedure the following must be done.
Enter financial report styles.
Enter the formatting commands for the financial reports.
Enter the closing dates.
Enter masthead information.
Enter departments (optional).
Enter company names.
The set up procedures for the holding company can be done from the Consolidation Set Up menu displayed below.
The formatting commands, financial report styles, closing dates, masthead information, and department information are entered in the same way they are entered for the subsidiary companies. The closing dates for the holding company should match the closing dates entered for the subsidiary companies. The one set up procedure unique to the holding company is entering the company names.
The database name of each set of books to be included in the consolidation process must be entered into the company file. This includes the database name of the holding company books as well as the database name of each subsidiary company.
Company names are entered through the menu selection Enter Company Names on the Consolidation Set Up menu. The screen below displays the entry for the installed set of books (database, cbooks).
The Code is used to identify the record in the file and can be any unique combination of characters and numbers. Data Base must be the name of an actual database recorded in the database catalog. The system uses the database name to access the data files from the various companies when running the consolidation closing processes. The Company Name is used on some of the consolidation reports.