2.1 Setting Up the CashbookThe cashbook has been designed in such a manner that you can easily do your own bookwork and VAT/GST/TAX returns during the year. You will still need to have your accounts prepared by a qualified accountant at the end of the year. A printout of the cashbook will give your accountant all the information required to prepare your accounts with minimal effort.
2.1 Setting Up the CashbookTo access the setup wizard, select setup wizard from the main screen. The cashbook can be setup with the setup wizard (chapter 1), or you can modify the bank account or category details by selecting them from the cashbook menu.
Make sure that the cashbook bank accounts, and the cashbook categories are correctly setup before continuing (see chapter 1).
2.2 Entering Your Initial Cashbook DataSelect a bank statement from which you want to start and enter the opening balance. It is best to have one or two months worth of transactions.
Enter all the items on the bank statements into the cashbook.
Click on (tick) each item in the "B" column.
Check that the bank balance is correct.
Change all the dates for each cheque item to the date on which the cheque was written. This is to make the period calculations correct for Taxation purposes.
Change all the dates for the deposits to the dates in the deposit books if they are different (they are usually the same).
Enter all the cheques from your cheque and deposit books which have not been presented to the bank yet.
The cashbook balance is now the balance if all cheques and deposits are presented. Print a bank reconciliation.
The hard part of setting up the cashbook is now complete.
2.3 Adding Transactions to the CashbookOpen the cashbook by clicking the cashbook button on the main screen. All entries are sorted by date. The cashbook will be opened at the latest transaction date for the account selected, ready to accept a new entry.
If you have more than one bank account, select the account to view by clicking on the account drop down box at the top of the form.
The bank statement balance is the bank balance from your last bank statement provided the data has been correctly entered.
The cashbook balance is the hypothetical bank balance if all cheques and deposits are presented to the bank. The cashbook balance will help you prevent bouncing any cheques, because you will know exactly how much money you have available.
Date
Enter the date of the transaction. If the date is earlier than the last transaction (if an earlier transaction was left out) it will be sorted in order the next time the cashbook is opened. You can copy the date from the record above by pressing CTRL " (the quotation key).
Ref
The reference number (Ref) can be used for any of the following, cheque number, customer reference number or code for the transaction. You can press " (the quotation key) to enter the previous cheque number plus one. As a suggestion, it may be easier to reconcile with bank statements if the same bank reference on the bank statements are used.
Category
Type in the category or click on the 
button (which appears if you click inside the category drop down box) to list the
categories available (using scroll bars if necessary).
Notes
Notes is used for entering miscellaneous information that you may want to record for a particular transaction. You can press F2 or double click on the notes box to zoom into it.
Income and Expense Amounts
Income and expense amounts should be entered including VAT/GST/TAX. As the income or expense amount is entered, the VAT/GST/TAX rate along with the VAT/GST/TAX amount and net amount will be shown.
VAT/GST/TAX Rate
The VAT/GST/TAX rate can be changed to 0% if VAT/GST/TAX does not apply to the item, type "0" into the VAT/GST/TAX rate box (the VAT/GST/TAX amount and net amount will be updated). If the VAT/GST/TAX rate box is left empty, an error message will prompt you to enter a value.
Line Details
The line details section provides extra information about the line (transaction) you are currently on. At a glance you can view information such as VAT/GST/TAX Amount, Invoice Details, and Project Details.
The INV, On and For boxes give extra invoice details for a particular line. You can only attach invoices to transactions that are assigned as income. This is simply done by selecting an outstanding invoice from the INV drop down box.
Once an invoice has been attached, you can double click on the INV drop down box to load the screen for the invoice selected. You can also double click on the From drop down box to load the details for the company selected.
Project details can also be attached to a transaction for either an income, or an expense.
The same double clicking action applies to projects as well as invoicing. Double clicking on either the project or project item drop down box will load the project information for the project selected.
New Transactions
When the VAT/GST/TAX rate has been entered, a new blank line will appear at the bottom for the next entry, and the running total bank balance will be updated.
Banked Transactions
If the transaction has been banked, click on the B (banked) check box to include it on the bank statement total.
Recalc Button
To ensure the running totals are correct for both the cashbook and bank statement totals, click on the recalc button. The computer will go through each transaction sequentially updating the totals.
Recurring Transactions
If you have recurring transactions which occur every week, fortnight or month, then simply use copy and paste to create the new transactions from the older ones as follows :-
2.4
Split TransactionsSplit transactions are used to show a series of costs as one entry in the cashbook. An example would be a VISA bill. To create a new split transaction, select Split in the category box. To open an existing Split, either double click where it says Split in the Category column, or else click the Split button on the toolbar.
Enter each item included in the split transaction (for example each item on a VISA bill). When the form is closed, only the totals will be shown in the cashbook line. The information for each item in the split transaction is still stored separately. To view the details of a split transaction, double click on the split category.
2.5 Importing a Cashbook (QIF File) From Another ProgramCashbook Complete allows you to import an existing cashbook from MS Money or Quicken, or any other program that supports the QIF file format. Please note that due to slight changes in QIF file formats, your QIF file may not import.
The first step to importing a cashbook is to export the cashbook from your current program. Cashbook Complete is capable of importing both loose and strict QIF files.
Click on the cashbook menu, and select import cashbook. You will be presented with the following screen.
If VAT/GST/TAX is enabled, then make sure that the default VAT/GST/TAX rate is correct. Next, select the date format that your QIF file uses.
When you are ready to begin importing, click on the import button, and select the file you want to import. You will be asked if you are sure you want to import. If you are ready to import, click on yes. A screen will now appear that informs you on the status of your import. It will display the account name, the number of main transactions, and the number of split transactions. The time it takes to import will depend upon the size of the cashbook that you are importing.
Once the import is complete a message box will appear stating that the import is complete. Click OK on the message box, and then click done on the import status screen.
You will now need to check that the categories have been imported correctly. If the categories look out of place, such as an expense category sitting in the income column, you can shift the category. To do this click on cashbook menu and select categories setup. Click on shift category. It is advised that you also check the category names. This is due to some names being shortened during the import process because they are too large.
If the import looks unsuccesful, then you can always Undo the import by seleting Undo from the Edit menu (before you exit the cashbook).
2.6
Electronic Bank ReconciliationYou can save a huge amount of time with Electronic Bank Reconciliation, by importing your bank statements from the internet. Where the manual reconciliation of a months worth of transactions can take about an hour, doing it with Electronic Bank Reconciliation can take a few minutes. After getting the first import reconciled, all subsequent imports are like magic. The cashbook will merge your existing transactions with the ones being imported and will then reconcile the transactions for each day. You can set up rules to automatically assign repetitive or pre-coded transactions to certain categories.
Reconciling Against Manually Entered Transactions
All bills that you pay with the "Bills To Pay" screen, all deposits (bankings) that you do with the "Payments Received" screen and all manually entered transactions entered into the cashbook will automatically be reconciled with the bank when you import the bank statement. If you have set up rules to handle the repetitive transactions then there should only be a few <Unassigned> transactions which you need to assign to the appropriate category.
Precoding Your Cheques
If you don't want to use the "Bills to Pay" screen, you can use pre-coded cheques and rules to automatically assign the correct category during the import. Filling out the analysis code when you write out the cheque saves a lot of time later on. To use pre-coded cheques :-
1. Make Up Your Analysis Codes - Print out the Categories Report (see Categories Setup under the Cashbook menu), and write the code you want to use next to each category. The analysis code must be numeric and is typically three digits. Then cut the paper down to a much smaller size and put it in with your cheque book for quick reference.
2. Order Cheque Books With Analysis Codes - The cheque books will have an area to enter an analysis code like this
. Make sure that you get the one with empty boxes, not one which is filled in with sequential numbers. There may be an extra charge from the bank to use analysis codes, but the time saved is well worth the effort.
3. Use the Analysis Codes - Neatly enter the Analysis Code every time you write out a cheque. Enter the leading zero's as shown in the example.
4. Set up the Rules - It is best to set up the rules after your first import. The bank will typically add even more leading zero's. The above code could for example become 000000000471. Click on the transaction in the cashbook, click on Rules, and New, and then make the rule so that any transaction with *000000000471* is assigned to the category Telephone for example. The * (star) is important because it means that anything can be before the number and anything can be after the number. Once you have set up the rule then all future imports will assign the appropriate category automatically.
Dates
Please note, that with 'Electronic Bank Reconciliation', the date for each line is changed to the bank statement date when it is reconciled. Suppose for example that you write out a cheque on the 8th May, and enter it into the cashbook. If the cheque is presented on the 15th May, then when the Bank Statement is imported, the date is changed from the 8th May to the 15th May, and the Banked column is ticked.
Importing
To import the Bank Statement :-
1. Determine the Start Date The start date is as follows :-
For Your First Import If you pay VAT/GST/TAX to the Tax Department, your first import should not include any transactions in a VAT/GST/TAX period for which your have already submitted a VAT/GST/TAX Return. For example, if you have paid VAT/GST/TAX for July, then start importing transactions from the 1st August. All transactions before the 1st August will not be altered, but all transactions from 1st August onwards, will have the dates changed so that they match up with the bank statement date.
For Subsequent Imports Imported Bank Statements should always overlap with the previous import. For example, if for your last import you imported data from the 1st May to the 25th May, then for your next import, get transactions starting from the 25th May or earlier.
2. Save your Bank Statement as a QIF File Go to your banks web site, log on with your account name and password, and export your bank statement to a QIF file. Save it in the 'C:\My Documents' folder, and make a note of the file name you saved it as. If you can select several different date formats, then choose the one which is correct for your country. If you have the choice of four digit or two digit years, then four digit years are better. Before exiting your banks web site, write down your Bank Account Balance which you will use in Step 4. If you have difficulty downloading your bank statement, please contact your bank for help.
3. Import the data Select 'Import QIF File Downloaded From Internet' from the Cashbook menu. Select the bank account you want to import into. Click on the Import button and locate the file you saved in step 2.
4. Check the Bank Balance The `Bank Bal` shown at the bottom right hand side of the cashbook screen should now equal the Account Balance shown on your banks web site. If they are not the same it could be because :-
a) the cashbook was not reconciled properly before the import. You need to manually reconcile the cashbook. You can Undo the import if you wish (See step 5).
b) the Opening Balance for that account is not correct. Suppose for example that the cashbook Bank Bal is $12.45 too high, then deduct $12.45 from the Opening Balance (See Bank Account Setup under the Cashbook menu), and the Bank Bal should now be correct.
c) there is a gap in the data (ie. you didn`t overlap the imports).
d) for the first import the merge was not correct. When importing for the first time into an account with existing reconciled transactions it is possible for there to be duplicate transactions because of the differing transaction dates. Some extra checking may need to be done for the first import.
5. If your Import was Not Successful then Undo It If for any reason you are not happy with the import, then you can Undo it. Go to the Edit menu and select Undo (before you exit the program).
6. Assign the <Unassigned> Categories After the import you will see a lot of <Unassigned> categories. Assign them to the correct category. If you have a repetative transaction, then it is a good idea to make a Rule for it, so that it remembers the category you want to use, next time you do an import. The easiest way to make a new rule, is to click on the line in the cashbook that you want to make a rule for, click Rules, click New and edit the rule.
7. Clean up the Notes Imported lines usually have a whole lot of junk in the Notes field which you can edit or delete if you want to.
2.7 Cash JobsIf you get paid cash for a job you have done, and you don't bank the money, then simply enter a double transaction into the cashbook as shown below :
The income and expense amounts cancel each other out, so the bank balance is not effected. The business received money from a sale and paid it out to you in the form of drawings / salary. The VAT/GST/TAX is still calculated correctly, and the sale is recorded in the cashbook. Please tick the B column for these lines, because they have effectively both been banked.
2.8 Cash
PurchasesIf you purchase an item for your company out of your own money, then you can simply enter it as a double transaction as shown below :
The income and expense amounts cancel each other out, so the bank balance is not effected. The VAT/GST/TAX is still calculated correctly, and the purchase is recorded in the cashbook. To understand this transaction, remember that it is from the point of view of the business. The business had a parking expense, and paid for it by receiving the money from you. Please tick the B column for these lines, because they have effectively both been banked.
It is not recommended to put these double transactions into a split transaction, because the nett amount in the main part of the cashbook can look rather odd (even though it is correct).
2.9 Reconciling the Cashbook
with Bank StatementsOpen the cashbook by clicking on the cashbook button on the main screen. When you get a bank statement, first check that the opening balance is the same as the current bank balance as shown by the cashbook (in the bank statement box).
Then simply tick each item on the statement and the cashbook as a pair. It is also recommended to also change the date in the cashbook to match the Bank Statement date. If there is an item such as bank fees, interest, or a VISA bill on the bank statement which is not in the cashbook, then enter it into the cashbook. Check that the amounts are correct as you check each item. When you have checked all the items, the cashbook balance should equal the bank statement balance.
Bank Reconciliation Report
A bank reconciliation report is included in the cashbook to list the un-banked checks and transactions against the current cashbook balance. These are totalled and should equal the current bank balance.
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Click on the bank reconciliation button (at the top of the cashbook form to the right of the account number). |
Select the account number by clicking on the bank account drop-down box and selecting an account. Click on preview to view the bank reconciliation report on screen, and when satisfied click on the print button.
2.10
Cashbook ReportsPlease note that the cashbook only includes Reconciled data in the reports.
VAT/GST/TAX Report (UK, NZ, and Australia only)
Make sure that all items have been entered in from your cheque book and bank statements. Also make sure that your bank balance on your last statement is equal to the bank balance shown in the cashbook. Click on the VAT/GST/TAX return button (found in the cashbook module area) to open the VAT/GST/TAX return selection screen. Enter the from and to dates to select a date range for the report. If you would like to preview the report on screen before printing, click on the preview button. Click on the print button when satisfied. Information from the cashbook is used to generate the totals, so it is very important that the cashbook is up to date and all transactions have the correct category and VAT/GST/TAX rate
The layout of the VAT/GST/TAX report is similar to the one issued by HMCE/IRD, so all you need to do is copy the figures across.
You may need to enter some adjustments to the VAT/GST/TAX return as specified by your accountant. These are your responsibility to add as required.
For New Zealand, the total sales and total purchases boxes are calculated as the respective GST amounts multiplied by nine. This figure will be slightly different to the actual total income and total expenses figures due to rounding when fractions of a cent are truncated. (for example, the GST on a $1.00 sale is 11.1 cents. This is rounded to 11 cents of GST which if multiplied by nine again gives an equivalent sale value of $0.99)
Summary Report
The summary report summarises each category for the period entered. Each category is sorted into the three main sections (income, expenses, and balance sheet).
Detailed Report
The detailed report gives a detailed list of each transaction by category, sorting the categories into the main sections of income, expenses and balance sheet.
Transaction Report
The transaction report lists each transaction in by date order, showing complete details (expanding all split entries).
Income and Expenses Graph
The income and expense graph shows all the income and expenditure for a given period. It does not include balance sheet items (see categories). The difference between the income and expenses is the cash profit.
2.11
Payments Received
Payments received allows for an easy way of posting payments received into the cashbook. You can post payments that either have an invoice, or have no invoice. The total of all payments is at the bottom of the screen.
Adding a New Payment
Select the appropriate account for the payment. Make sure that the date is correct. If it is not then you can override the date, but be aware that it will change the date for payments already listed. On a new line, select the company the payment is from. If the payment is for an invoice, then select the invoice number from the INV drop down box. Note that the INV drop down box will only display outstanding invoices for the company selected. If you have received one cheque for several invoices then enter each invoice on a separate line. They will be recombined into one line on the Cheques Listing, if you use it. Select the appropriate category. Type in the Bank and Branch if you want to print out the Cheques Listing. Enter any miscellaneous notes and the amount. If you have many cheques, you can print the Cheques Listing and attach it to your deposit slip.
Posting Payments
Once you have entered your payments received, simply click on the post to cashbook button, and all transactions listed will be posted into the cashbook. The amount outstanding for each invoice will be updated, and the status will be changed to paid if appropriate.
2.12 Bills to
Pay
The bills to pay module is an easy and convenient method of posting bills into the cashbook. At a glance you can view the current cashbook balance, the total for bills that are selected to pay, and the total of all bills.
Adding a New Bill to Pay
Select the appropriate account for the bill. On a new line, enter the date the bill is due (date due box), the invoice date (INV date box), the company it is for (company drop down box), the category it is for (category drop down box), and the amount of the bill (amount box). You can also enter some notes if you wish. The bills entered will remain in this screen until they are processed, discussed next.
Posting Bills to Pay to the Cashbook
Once you have written out all of the cheques, you are ready to process the bills to pay. To do this, you simply click on the pay tick box for the bills that you want to process. If you would like to print envelopes for the bills you have selected, then click on the env tick box also. Once you have selected which bills to post into the cashbook you simply click on the post to cashbook button. You are asked if you want to continue. If you do so, the bills will get posted to the cashbook.
Printing
Clicking on print or print preview will display bills due for the account selected. Clicking on the envelopes button will print envelopes for all bills with the Env box ticked.
2.13 BudgetsYou can set up budgets for each month for both your income and your expenses, to track your progress through the year. For your convenience the actuals are shown in yellow below the budgets.
The easiest way to set up your budgets is to start off by printing out last years actuals (click on left arrow to go to previous year) and then decide what you want to aim for. You can either enter each monthly budget, or if it is the same for each month, you can enter the annual amount into the total column.