setting up the business in sage

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "setting up the business in sage"

Hannah Walton
6 years ago
Views:

3 settig up the busiess i sage Chapter itroductio Settig up a computer accoutig program for a busiess or other orgaisatio will take some time, but as log as the correct data is etered i the correct

1 3 settig up the busiess i sage Chapter itroductio Settig up a computer accoutig program for a busiess or other orgaisatio will take some time, but as log as the correct data is etered i the correct format there should be o problem. We will assume here that the orgaisatio settig up the computer accoutig program is a busiess. Sage software always calls a busiess a compay so we will adopt that term. The chapter itroduces a Case Study busiess Proto Supplies Limited which will be used through this book to show how computer accoutig works. There is plety of help aroud whe you are settig up accouts o the computer. I Sage, for example, there is the user guide, the Help fuctio, Tutorial simulatios, ad o-scree step-by-step istructio procedures kow as Wizards. The data that will have to be iput icludes: the compay details such as ame ad address, fiacial year ad VAT status the customer details ad ay sales trasactios already carried out the supplier details ad ay purchases trasactios already carried out details of accouts for icome ad expeses, assets (items owed), liabilities (loas) ad capital (moey put i by the ower) this is all cotaied i the omial ledger This chapter cocetrates o settig up the compay details. The other data customer ad supplier details ad balaces ad the omial ledger will be covered i the ext two chapters.

2 S E T T I N G U P T H E B U S I N E S S I N S A G E 2 3 where are you startig from? If you are readig this book you are likely to be i oe of two situatios: 1 You are i a real busiess ad lookig for guidace i settig up a computer accoutig system. 2 You are a studet i a traiig situatio ad will have the program already set up for you o a traiig cetre etwork. You will be give exercises to practise the various fuctios of a computer accoutig program. I the first case the real busiess you may be startig from scratch ad will have to go through the whole istallatio ad set-up procedure. This is ot at all difficult. The software itself will take you through the various steps. I the secod case the traiig cetre situatio the computer may already have accoutig records o it, possibly aother studet s work. What you may be required to do, by agreemet with your tutor, is to remove the data (makig sure it is backed up first!) ad the start agai. This is doe usig a rebuild procedure. There is more about this o pages The Case Study which follows o the ext page Proto Supplies Limited assumes that you are i busiess settig up computer accouts for the first time usig Sage software. It is importat for your studies that you kow how this is doe, eve if you may ot carry out i the traiig cetre all the procedures explaied i the Case Study. why sage ad which sage? Osbore Books (the publisher of this book) has chose Sage software for this book for two very good reasos: 1 Sage software is widely used i busiess ad is recogised as a user-friedly ad reliable product. 2 Osbore Books has used Sage itself for over fiftee years ad is well used to the way it works. The Sage software used as a basis for this book is Sage 50 Accouts Professioal 2012 (Versio 18). The screes displayed i this book are take from this versio by kid permissio of Sage (UK) Limited. scree illustratios It should be appreciated that some traiig cetres ad busiesses may be usig older ad slightly differet versios ad so some of the screes may look slightly differet. This does ot matter however: usig Sage is like drivig differet models of car the cotrols may be located i slightly differet places ad the dashboard may ot look exactly the same, but the cotrols are still there ad they still do the same thig. So if the screes show here look ufamiliar, examie them carefully ad you will see that they will cotai the same (or very similar) Sage icos ad fuctios as the versio you are usig.

3 2 4 C O M P U T E R A C C O U N T I N G P L A I N G U I D E proto supplies limited: settig up the Compay i sage the busiess Proto Supplies is a limited compay ru by Tom Cox who has worked as a computer cosultat for over te years. Proto Supplies provides local busiesses ad other orgaisatios with computer hardware, software ad cosumables eeded i offices. It also provides cosultacy for computer set-ups through its proprietor, Tom Cox. Proto Supplies has eight employees i total. The busiess is situated o a idustrial estate, at Uit 17 Severvale Estate, Broadwater Road, Mereford, Wyver, MR1 6TF. the accoutig system Proto Supplies Limited started busiess o 1 Jauary The busiess is registered for VAT (ie it charges VAT o its sales) ad after a moth of usig a maual accoutig system Tom has decided to trasfer the accouts to Sage 50 software ad sig up for a year s telephoe techical support. Tom has also decided to put his payroll oto the computer, but this will be ru o a separate Sage program. Tom has chose Sage 50 because it will eable him to: record the ivoices issued to his customers to whom he sells o credit pay his suppliers o the due date keep a record of his bak receipts ad paymets record his icome ad expeses, busiess assets ad loas i a omial ledger I short he will have a itegrated computer accoutig package which will eable him to: record all his fiacial trasactios prit out reports maage his busiess fiaces save time (ad moey) i ruig his accoutig system gettig started Tom has decided to use just oe machie i the office to ru Sage ad so he has bought a sigle user package together with telephoe techical support for a year. He istalls the program from his CD ad uses the ActiveSetup Wizard to take him through the procedure. Note A Wizard is a series of dialogue boxes o the scree which take you step-by-step through a particular procedure. The ActiveSetup Wizard is oe of a umber of Wizards i Sage. Wizards geerally appear automatically o scree whe you eed to carry out a complicated procedure.

S E T T I N G U P T H E B U S I N E S S I N S A G E 2 5 The ActiveSetup

to his busiess. I the first he chooses to set up a ew compay as show below.

i the ext scree Tom chooses the Limited Compay optio.

4 S E T T I N G U P T H E B U S I N E S S I N S A G E 2 5 The ActiveSetup Wizard takes Tom through a series of screes by which he ca persoalise Sage to his busiess. I the first he chooses to set up a ew compay as show below. Next he must eter his compay details As Proto Supplies is a limited compay, i the ext scree Tom chooses the Limited Compay optio. The list of accouts will cover all his busiess eeds such as sales, purchases, bak accouts ad expeses.

5 2 6 C O M P U T E R A C C O U N T I N G P L A I N G U I D E Next he sets up his fiacial year start date: Jauary 2013 The ext two screes require Tom to eter the busiess VAT details ad the currecy he trades i. Tom must ow cofirm the details he has etered.

6 S E T T I N G U P T H E B U S I N E S S I N S A G E 2 7 Fially, Tom must eter a logo ame ad also a password if he wats to restrict the use of the program. The welcome scree ow opes showig that Sage is ready for use. The welcome page ca be removed by checkig this tick box. Next time Sage is opeed it will ot appear.

.. Tom ca at ay time check ad amed if ecessary his compay details. This is doe i COMPANY PREFERENCES which ca also be foud i the SETTINGS meu. This scree is illustrated below.

7 2 8 C O M P U T E R A C C O U N T I N G P L A I N G U I D E Tom should ow check his VAT codes. This is doe by selectig CONFIGURATION from the SETTINGS meu. This shows the various tax codes used, eg T1 for stadard rated trasactios, T0 for zero-rated trasactios (eg sales of books). The scree appears as follows... Tom ca at ay time check ad amed if ecessary his compay details. This is doe i COMPANY PREFERENCES which ca also be foud i the SETTINGS meu. This scree is illustrated below. There are a umber of tabs, icludig Details. The address etered here will automatically be prited by the program, as required, o busiess documets such as ivoices ad credit otes. Tom has the optio to eter a differet delivery address, but this is ulikely i his case, as all the deliveries from his suppliers will be made to his warehouse at Uit 17 Severvale Estate. He decides ot to bother with this optio. Tom will work with the default Sage settigs i the other tabs. Tom s Compay Prefereces scree appears as follows...

S E T T I N G U P T H E B U S I N E S S I N S A G E 2 9 Tom also eeds to set up the passwords for members of his staff so that access to the Sage accouts ca be restricted to authorised people.

The scree below shows how Tom creates a ew log-o ame ad password for Be James, his assistat. Tom subsequetly restricts Be s access to the Bak accouts i ACCESS RIGHTS.

8 S E T T I N G U P T H E B U S I N E S S I N S A G E 2 9 Tom also eeds to set up the passwords for members of his staff so that access to the Sage accouts ca be restricted to authorised people. Adjustmets to access rights ad passwords are carried out through ACCESS RIGHTS ad CHANGE PASSWORD i SETTINGS. The scree below shows how Tom creates a ew log-o ame ad password for Be James, his assistat. Tom subsequetly restricts Be s access to the Bak accouts i ACCESS RIGHTS. He does this by clickig o the Details butto, the o Modules, highlightig Bak ad clickig NO ACCESS. help! Tom ow has his busiess details set up o the computer but he still has to istall his accout balaces ad get to kow how the system works. Sage provides a umber of facilities which help the user whe he or she eeds iformatio: Wizards, a user guide, ad a o-scree Help fuctio.

3 0 C O M P U T E R A C C O U N T I N G P L A I N G U I D E wizards Wizards, as see i the Case Study, help the user step-by-step through difficult procedures. We will ecouter Wizards i later chapters.

9 3 0 C O M P U T E R A C C O U N T I N G P L A I N G U I D E wizards Wizards, as see i the Case Study, help the user step-by-step through difficult procedures. We will ecouter Wizards i later chapters. user guide The Sage User Guide is a useful referece source. It ca be accessed from withi the program ad prited if required. Less experieced users may fid o-scree guidace more helpful. o-scree help O-scree help ca be accessed through either the help meu or by pressig the F1 fuctio key. It works with three tabs, all of which will eable the user to access iformatio. Look at the diagram below. tutorials Visual simulatios of iputtig ad processig tasks accessed through the Help meu. cotets tab idex tab search tab a list of the cotets of the Help system click o a topic to access further iformatio type i the word you eed help with a list of related topics appears type i the word you eed help with this the brigs up a list of every topic area cotaiig that word

10 S E T T I N G U P T H E B U S I N E S S I N S A G E 3 1 trasferrig data ito sage Whe a busiess first sets up a computer accoutig system a substatial amout of data will eed to be trasferred oto the computer, eve if the busiess is i its first week of tradig. A summary of this data is show i the diagram below. The ames of Sage modules show o the right of the diagram represet the differet operatig areas withi Sage. As you ca see they relate to the ledger structure of a maual bookkeepig system. trasferrig data from maual records to sage maual records Sales Ledger (accouts of customers who are give credit) - ames - addresses - balaces (amouts owed) Sage modules Customers the computerised Sales Ledger Purchases Ledger (accouts of suppliers who allow credit) - ames - addresses - balaces (amouts owig) Suppliers the computerised Purchases Ledger Nomial Ledger accouts which record: - icome - expeses - assets (items owed) - liabilities (loas etc) - capital ivested by ower Cash book books which record: - moey paid ito the bak - moey paid out of the bak - petty cash (office cash) Nomial the computerised Nomial Ledger which is accessed through Compay Note that the bak accouts are listed i the Nomial Ledger but are operated through the Bak module

11 3 2 C O M P U T E R A C C O U N T I N G P L A I N G U I D E C h a p t e r s u m m a r y A busiess settig up a Sage computer accoutig program for the first time will have to eter the details of the compay o-scree, for example - the program serial umber ad Activatio Key code - the start date of the fiacial year of the busiess - the busiess VAT registratio umber ad VAT Status (where applicable) - the busiess ame ad address - ay passwords that are eeded The busiess ca make use of the o-scree Wizard ad other Help fuctios i the set-up process. The idex is the most useful of these. The busiess will eed to eter details ad balaces of its customers, suppliers ad its omial accouts (the other accouts). These are covered i the ext two chapters. k e y t e r m s wizard o-scree dialogue boxes i a Sage program which take you stepby-step through complex procedures sales ledger the accouts of customers to whom a busiess sells o credit i Sage this part of the accoutig system is kow as Customers purchases ledger the accouts of suppliers from whom a busiess buys o credit i Sage this part of the accoutig system is kow as Suppliers omial ledger the remaiig accouts i the accoutig system which are ot Customers or Suppliers, eg icome, expeses, assets, liabilities i Sage this is kow as Nomial

12 S E T T I N G U P T H E B U S I N E S S I N S A G E 3 3 e x e r C i s e s Warig ote! This activity ivolves you settig up a ew compay i Sage ad iputtig live data ito the computer. Remember to save your data ad keep ay pritouts as you progress through the tasks. Task 1 Set the program date as 31 Jauary Set up the compay details of Proto Supplies Limited i Sage. The details are: Address/cotact Telephoe Fax Fiacial year start VAT Registratio umber VAT rate 20% Busiess Type Uit 17 Severvale Estate, Broadwater Road, Mereford, Wyver, MR1 6TF. mail@protosupplies.co.uk Jauary 2013 (if ot already iput) Limited Compay NB If you are usig a multi-user versio of Sage (for istace i a college eviromet), you may see a additioal scree durig set up called Network Sharig (at poit 2 after the Welcome Scree). Accept the defaults if this is the case. Task 2 Check the busiess details i the first tab of COMPANY PREFERENCES i SETTINGS. Remider! Have you made a back-up?

Setting up records for customers and suppliers

Setting up records for customers and suppliers 3 Settig up records for customers ad suppliers this chapter covers... The term Customers meas people to whom a busiess sells o credit. I other words, the goods or services are supplied straightaway ad