Hello Everyone,

I found the following article, by Kathy Yakal, to be a definite keeper.  I hope you will find it so, also.

Mark

Is the biggest roadblock between you and a modern accounting system fear of plunging in? Try these 10 steps to get started. 

10 STEPS TO SETTING UP ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE
by Kathy Yakal

You may not know it, but you probably have an enormous amount of information about your company’s accounting system stored on paper and in Microsoft Office—and in your head. Given enough time, it’s likely that you can produce the most minute details about your business finances. But think about all of the time you waste on the hunt. Better to use it setting up your new accounting software. That, too, will be time-consuming, but spending a few hours up front will pay off in time saved every day of your working life.

If you’ve never set up accounting software before, read on. I’ll deal with some general start-up tips first, then get into the specific setup tasks for each product covered here: Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2008, MYOB Premier Accounting 2008, Peachtree by Sage Complete Accounting 2009, and Intuit’s QuickBooks Accounting Pro Edition 2009.

Before you install the product:

Accounting software tracks sales tax. If you’re a new business, you’ll need to check on the regulations for your city, county, and states sales tax, where applicable. Web sites can provide this information, and your accounting software may offer links.

Payroll is probably the most complex module to set up. Be sure you have complete information about your employees’ pay rates and withholding, company deductions, and so on before you start.

Pull together your customer and vendor lists. You don’t have to enter comprehensive records before you start using the program, but you’ll at least want easy access to them when needed.

Do you sell products or services? Whether you have them priced out in an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document or on Post-its, have all the info available. Your accounting program will let you document them neatly in prefabricated records.

If you’re going to have multiple employees accessing the product, decide how you’ll set up user permissions. Accounting software lets you set levels of access so that employees can work only in those designated areas.

Get your job schedules together. These programs are far from full-blown project-management software, but you’ll be able to track basic details about jobs.

Take a deep breath and make a commitment. You’re likely to hit potholes in the road to accounting automation, but remember the payoff: a place for everything, and everything in its place. Step away from the task, if you have to, and pick it up again later.

After you’ve installed the application:

Open a sample company first and get a feel for the program. Run a report. Click through the tabs on a customer or vendor record to see the kind of information they include. Open the Preferences box to see what kinds of options you have and the decisions you need to make.

While you’re in the sample file, enter an invoice or purchase order and you’ll see how intuitive these forms are. Note that all of these programs let you add things like customers and items on the fly as you’re creating the forms. It will be easier and faster if you do all of your setup work up front, but if you absolutely must jump in and start processing transactions, you’ll be able to do so.

All of the products let you select from a list of business types, so they can create an applicable Chart of Accounts for you. That’s a set of financial accounts and their balances as fits your business type. These are used throughout the accounting process, sometimes selected automatically and sometimes selected by you. If none of the business choices fit, there should be a generic option.

Next, here are 10 steps to help you get started with each program.

1. Take advantage of the opening setup tools.

MYOB: MYOB’s New Company File Assistant gets your company file started, while the Setup Assistant takes you much deeper. You start with general customization options, then move through each section (such as Accounts and Sales).

Office Accounting: Use the Quick Start window. After you have entered your company’s contact information, selected your Chart of Accounts type, and saved your company file by clicking through the wizard, the Quick Start window should open. You can complete all of your setup tasks here, and not necessarily in the order in which they’re presented. Or you can access the setup functions any time from menus.

Peachtree: After Peachtree runs you through its opening paces (fiscal year, Chart of Accounts, and so forth), it pops open a setup guide. You can either follow the links to some of the necessary steps or access them through the menus.

QuickBooks: Use the QuickBooks EasyStep Interview. This multistep wizard, which should take you only a few minutes to complete, starts you on the path to setting company preferences. It asks you questions about, for example, whether you’ll be using inventory and paying employees, and if so turns those features on. But it doesn’t do everything.

2. Set company preferences.

MYOB: Despite the depth of the automated setup, you should still go into the preferences window at Setup | Preferences. There are plenty of options to choose from there.

Office Accounting: Go to Company | Preferences. Most of this is self-explanatory. You’re turning features on and off, setting a default interest rate and minimum finance charge, approving or changing assigned accounts, and so on.

Peachtree: Go to Options | Global to establish preferences for functions like spell check, decimal entry, and transaction sorting.

QuickBooks: If you’ve gone through the EasyStep interview, you’ve already done some of this work, but some remains. Go to Edit | Preferences, and click down the list, making your wishes known.

3. Secure your audit trail.

MYOB: In Setup | Preferences | Security, check the box next to Use Audit Trail Tracking. In the same window, click the User IDs button to assign access to specific parts of the program to individual users.

Office Accounting: If you want an audit trail, be sure to check the Use Change Log field in Company | Preferences. To give users access only to specific parts of the program, go to File | Manage User and Roles.

Peachtree: The audit trail in the Peachtree versions that contain it on and cannot be turned off. Go to Maintain | User Security to assign roles and permissions.

QuickBooks: The audit trail in QuickBooks is on and cannot be turned off. To assign user access, go to Company | Set Up Users and Passwords.

4. Establish your sales tax.

MYOB: This task is handled in the Setup Assistant.

Office Accounting: After you’ve set up sales tax codes, you can create groups that contain related codes that are often charged together. For example, if you sell products in Seattle, you could make a group that contains the local and Washington state taxes. You might also set up a code for customers in other states that don’t pay taxes. Click Company | Sales tax.

Peachtree: Click the Customers & Sales button on the left, and then the Sales Tax icon. Follow the wizard to set up sales agencies and taxes.

QuickBooks: Go to Edit | Preferences | Sales Tax. Click the Company Preferences tab, and click the Yes button if it’s not already selected. Click Add Sales Tax Item to set up your sales tax agencies, and answer the other questions in the window.

5. Customize your forms.

MYOB: Go to Setup | Customize Forms. Select the form you wish to modify, and use MYOB’s layout designer tool, which helps you add fields and shift them around.

Office Accounting: Office Accounting lets you modify the templates included for forms, such as those for invoices, credit memos, and purchase orders. Click Customers | Manage Word Templates, and select a template type (say, Invoice) from the list on the left, then the precise document and color (for example, Invoice Service–green.doc). Click the Modify button and the document will open. Use Word’s editing tools to add a logo or make any other changes you like.

Peachtree: Click Reports & Forms | Forms. Select the form you want to customize and click the Customize button. You can use Peachtree’s layout designer tools to make changes to any of the forms supported.

QuickBooks: You can modify the boilerplate form templates that QuickBooks offers. Go to Lists | Templates, select the form you want to modify, and either click on the Templates pull-up list in the lower left-hand corner for options, or double-click on it. Use the customization tools and layout designer to make your changes.

6. Create cover letters for your e-mails.

MYOB: Use MYOB’s OfficeLink tool to modify prefabricated Word templates (you must go to Word to make any modifications). Back in MYOB, go to the Card File Command Center and select Create Personalized Letters to initiate the mail merge.

Office Accounting: Office Accounting’s integration with Word also helps you write boilerplate cover letters to go along with forms. Go to Customers | Write Letters and follow the wizard’s steps.

Peachtree: Click Reports & Forms | Forms. Select the letter you want to edit and click Edit Letter Template. Click Edit in the window that opens to create your alterations.

QuickBooks: QuickBooks’s integration with Microsoft Office makes it possible to create personalized mailings easily. Go to Customer Center and click on the Word drop-down menu. Select Customize Letter Templates and follow the wizard. Several sample templates are supplied.

7. Set up online banking.

MYOB: MYOB lets you download banking statements, but you have to go to your bank’s Web site to learn how to do this. When that’s set up, go to the Banking Command Center and click Bank Register, then Get Statement.

Office Accounting: Click on Banking | Banking Home and you’ll see all of the options for this function. If you’re going to use online banking, click that button and walk through the wizard.

Peachtree: Click Tasks | Account reconciliation. Select the account to reconcile, and click the arrow next to the Banking icon to set up online statement download.

QuickBooks: QuickBooks supports online banking. Go to Banking | Online Banking | Set Up Account for Online Services.

8. Import company data from Excel…

MYOB: This is handled in the Setup Assistant, though you must first convert your file to a TXT document.

Office Accounting: If you want to import, for example, a customer list, click File | Import Excel data. You may have to massage your existing database to get it in shape for Office Accounting. Click the Open Folder button in the wizard that opens to see the spreadsheet templates, or simply follow the wizard’s steps to see the mapping tool.

Peachtree: First, save your Excel file as a CSV (comma-separated values) document. Then in Peachtree, click File | Select Import | Export, then click Import to see the order of mapping fields.

QuickBooks: Go to File | Utilities | Import | Excel Files. You’ll be able to copy and paste your spreadsheet’s columns into a specially formatted spreadsheet, then import that data into QuickBooks.

9. …or synchronize your data.

MYOB: MYOB imports to and exports from Outlook. Go to the Card File Command Center and click Cards List, then Sync Cards.

Office Accounting: Synchronize your data with Outlook using Business Contact Manager. Go to Company | Integrate with Business Contact Manager. The sync is continuous.

Peachtree: Peachtree synchronizes your customer, vendor, and employee records whenever you click File | Sync with Outlook.

QuickBooks: QuickBooks offers a feature that automatically syncs your Outlook contacts. Go to File | Utilities | Synchronize Contacts to download QuickBooks Contact Sync.

10. Find the help resources.

MYOB: MYOB offers several companion manuals, as well as context-sensitive help.

Office Accounting: Click the Resource Center bar on the left for access to help tools, such as the user community, training, and the Knowledge Base. The Help button takes you to context-sensitive help.

Peachtree: Help is context-sensitive, and an extra user guide is included.

QuickBooks: If you have questions while you’re setting up, you can use the Live Community feature in QuickBooks to see relevant Q&As from Intuit and from fellow users. Click Help | Live Community to choose between LC and context-sensitive help.

Updating your accounting software is an ongoing process; you’ll tweak it continuously, adding data and automation as you go. But you’ll thank yourself later—repeatedly—for taking the time up front to build your electronic bookkeeping system thoroughly and thoughtfully.

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