Frequently
Asked Questions
General Ledger
Click on one of the questions below to find the answer.
Go to the General Ledger Main Menu select option 12 Packets
Once in the Packet Menu select option 12 Change Packet Information
Enter the Packet name and press enter and a new screen will appear. This new screen allows you to make changes to your packet.
Leave blank any field that requires no change
Press the enter key until your cursor is in the Acct Period field, enter your correct accounting period. Once you have enter your change, press the enter key until you return to the enter packet name screen.
Press escape and print your packet report to verify that the accounting period is now correct.
WARNING! – If you do not follow these steps exactly, you could lose important data.
Go to the General Ledger main menu select option 50 Office Manager.
Once in the Office Manager menu select option 4 Fiscal Period Definition
Enter a U for update and press enter.
Enter the accounting period you wish to open or close.
Press enter until your cursor is on the Posting Status field, Type O (open) or C (closed). Then press the F8 key until you see transaction complete at the bottom of the screen.
Warning: Never change the Fiscal Year/Period section of the screen.
If you change the Fiscal Year/Period section of the screen you will affect your data
You should rebuild the alternate keys at least once a year or if you notice that your reports are not printing the way they have last fiscal year.
WARNING! – If you do not follow these steps exactly, you could lose important data.
Go the General Ledger main menu select option 52 Utilities
Once in the Utilities menu select option 1 Rebuild Ledger Alternate Keys.
“Do you wish to continue Y/N”, type a Y and press enter.
Do not press escape while the program is running.
Once the program is finished it will return to Utilities Menu.
Once back at the Utilities menu select option 2 Rebuild YTD Alternate Keys
This screen is different from the rebuild alternate key screen. You can select the division and fiscal year you wish to rebuild.
The system will default the division that you are currently working in and the fiscal year. You can change theses field to different division if you have more than one and you can rebuild any fiscal year that is on the system.
Once you have selected our division and fiscal year press enter
Until you come to “Do you wish to continue Y/N “, type a Y and press enter.
Do not press escape while the program is running.
Once the program is finished it will return to Utilities Menu.
These utilities will often fix sorting problems on your reports and any problems you have on your alternate key reports.
Warning: Before using this option make sure all users are out of the General Ledger system.
Use extreme care when using any utilities option.
WARNING! – If you do not follow these steps exactly, you could lose important data.
There are several steps to set a new fund.
A.
Go to the general ledger main menu select option 50 Office
manager. Once in the Officer Manager Menu select option 8 Account Control.
Enter “U”, for update and press enter the fields Division, Year, FLD#, Code
and Description will appear. Enter the division and year for the new fund;
the fld# usually is 1. Press enter the cursor will then move to the Code
field, once at the code field press enter. The screen will display all your
current funds, select a fund that will be similar to the new fund and press
enter. Once inside the similar fund press the F4 key and a duplicating record
screen will appear at the bottom of the screen.
NOTE: If you see “Renumbering Record”, escape and start over. You do
not want to renumber a fund, but duplicate.
In the duplicating record screen the new key fields are where you will enter information on the new fund. The First field is division, Second field is Fiscal Year, Third field is FLD# and this is usually 1. Once you press enter from the third field a Fourth red field will appear and this field is where you type in your new fund number and press enter. After you press enter you will see the new fund number in the Code field and the blank Description field (this is another step so do not worry about it at this point). In most cases you will leave not change any questions, if you keep track of the last check printed in Accounts Payable, be sure to replace the other funds check number with the correct number for the new fund. Press F9 and answer Y to go to next screen.
On the second screen of Account Control, update the default account numbers as needed with the new fund/account numbers except in the Year-End Closing field this field should have nothing but x’s. Once finished with screen 2, press F9 and answer Y to go to next screen. On the third screen of Account Control, update the default fund/account numbers as needed. Once finished with the third screen, make sure you see Transaction Complete at the bottom of the screen before leaving the account control option.
B. From the office manager menu select option 7 Account Descriptions. Enter “C”, for create. The Division, Year, Field # fields will appear on your screen, make sure that the Division and Fiscal Year fields are the same as you use in the account control option when creating the new fund. Your cursor will be blinking on the Fld#, enter 1 and press enter. The next field will Code and the parenthesis will be red enter the new fund number that you use in account control and press enter. Once you have pressed enter the Name field will appear enter your new funds name/description, leave the type field blank. Make sure before exiting account descriptions that you have see Transaction Complete at the bottom of the screen.
C. From the office manager main menu select option 13 Bank Accounts. Enter “C”, for create and press enter. Next the Bank account field will appear enter Bank Account Number and press enter. Next the Description field, Bank Name field, and Division field of the account will appear. Enter the Description, Bank Name and Division. Make sure before exiting that you have see Transaction Complete at the bottom of the screen.
D. From the office manager menu select option 14 Cash Accounts, Enter “C”, for create and press enter. The Division, Year, Ledger fields will appear on your screen, make sure that the Division and Fiscal Year fields are the same as you use in the account control option when creating the new fund. Your cursor will be blinking on the Ledger field, enter the cash account number for the new fund and press enter. Enter Bank Account number for the new fund that you created in Bank Accounts. The system defaults in the Description and Bank Name. Make sure before exiting that you have see Transaction Complete at the bottom of the screen.
E.
From the office manager menu select option 15 Closing Account
Definition, Enter “U”, for update and press enter until you see a scrolling
list of accounts. Select an account type “R” Fund to duplicate
and press enter. Press the F4 key twice until you see “Duplicating Record”.
The First field is division, Second field is Fiscal Year, and Third field is
the account type. Once you press enter from the third field a Fourth red field
will appear and this field is where you type in your new fund number only leaving
rest of the field blank by pressing enter. The next screen to appear will
display the Division, Year, Account Type, Account, Closing Ledger, Use at Year
end, and Packet Codes fields. Your cursor will be blinking in the Closing Ledger
field enter the account fund that the revenue accounts will be closing into
at fiscal year end, usually it is the fund balance account. At this point
the other fields should be left blank, so press the F8 key Make sure before
exiting that you have see Transaction Complete at the bottom of the screen
NOTE: If you see “Renumbering Record”, escape and start over. You do
not want to renumber a fund, but duplicate. Enter the new fund/account
number as needed.
Repeat the procedure for Account Type X. Select
an account type “X” Fund to duplicate and press enter. Press the
F4 key twice until you see “Duplicating Record”. The First field is division,
Second field is Fiscal Year, and Third field is the account type. Once you press
enter from the third field a Fourth red field will appear and this field is
where you type in your new fund number only leaving rest of the field blank
by pressing enter. The next screen to appear will display the Division,
Year, Account Type, Account, Closing Ledger, Use at Year end, and Packet Codes
fields. Your cursor will be blinking in the Closing Ledger field enter the account
fund that the expense accounts will be closing into at fiscal year end, usually
it is the fund balance account. At this point the other fields should
be left blank, so press the F8 key Make sure before exiting that you have
see Transaction Complete at the bottom of the screen
F. The last thing we need to setup in our new fund is the Chart of Accounts. This can be done in one of two ways. If you have an existing fund that has similar accounts you can duplicate them or you can manually create them individually.
1)
First, we will look at duplicating an existing fund’s Chart of
Accounts. Go to the general ledger main menu, select option 52 Utilities.
In the utilities menu select option 11 Duplicate Ledger for a
Division. Once you enter the option a screen will display the duplication
fields. Enter the Division of the fund that was similar and press enter.
Enter the fiscal year of the fund that was similar and press enter. Enter the
Division and Year of the new fund you created. Enter the complete
range of ledger account numbers you wish to duplicate and press enter.
The Change Fund To field is for the new fund number you created. As soon
as you enter the FUND number you will see the accounts scroll across the bottom
of the screen. When this step completes, escape to the GL Main Menu and Inquire
to make sure your new account numbers exist.
Warning: Use extreme care when using any utilities option.
2) The second way to create the Chart of Accounts for the new Fund is through File Maintenance. Go to the GL Main Menu, selection option 2 File Maintenance, enter “C”, for create and press enter. Fill in the blanks on the first screen only, as needed to setup your new account numbers. As a guide, Inquire on several existing accounts to see how each account type (asset, liability, and expense) should be setup. Make sure before exiting that you have see Transaction Complete at the bottom of the screen. Repeat as needed until all accounts are entered.
G. This completes the steps to create a new Fund.
WARNING! – If you do not follow these steps exactly, you could lose important data.
This option allows you to scan the General Ledger data files for a specific amount. The option does not print any report.
Go to the General Ledger main menu select option 52 Utilities. Once in the utilities menu select option 29 Scan GLTYD for Specific Amt and press enter. Once you have press enter the below screen will appear.
Enter the criteria for your search. You must have an amount in the amount to find field, dates in "the from filed" and "thru date field", and a fund number in "from and thru ledger numbers fields" for the program to work. See the below example.
You can narrow the search using the other criteria on the screen
If the system finds a match to your criteria the screen below will display.
If the system finds no match it will return to the utilities menu.
NOTE: Just because the system does not find a match to your scan does not mean something is wrong with your data. Your search criteria could be wrong or several transactions could make up the amount you are searching for and in that case the system will not find it, because it is scanning for one transaction in that amount.
Warning: Use extreme care when using any utilities option.
How do I Create a New Ledger Account?
When creating a
new account you will first have to decide on the type of account you wish to
create and what numbers will make up that account. Once you have decide these
things from the Main Application menu select the General Ledger Menu option
and press the enter key. Once the General Ledger Master Menu has displayed select
option 2, 'File Maintenance and press the enter key. The function window will
display, enter C for Create and an abbreviated version of the Account Selection
screen will appear with the cursor on the Ledger field. If the default answers
in the Division and Year fields are not correct, use the arrow keys to move
the cursor to the fields and make the desired changes. Press the enter key as
needed to advance to the next field.
A. Enter the ledger number of the account that you want to create in the Ledger
field and press the enter key if needed to advance to the next field.
The chart of accounts screen will display with the cursor in the first field.
B. Enter the description of the new account in the Desc. field. This is the
user-defined name of the account. Each account carries up to three lines of
names which may be assigned on the basis of the codes that make up the account
number.
C. Enter a valid Account Type code in the Account Type field and press the enter
key if needed to advance to the next field. This code specifies the type of
account and determines how the system will handle the account, its data, and
transactions posted to it. The most common types are:
A for Assets
B for Equity
L for Liabilities
X for Expenditures
D. The Balance Sheet Type field - is used in School Bookkeeping Systems ONLY
E. The No Manual Entry field - is used to limit the account to automatic entries
ONLY if a Y is entered in the field. Leaving the field blank or entering an
N allows manual entries to this account.
F. The Dummy Account field - Some accounts can be used to duplicate or compile
information from other accounts to make it easier to gain access to complex
information. To assure that the duplicate information in such accounts does
not put a fund out of balance, these accounts are marked as dummy accounts and
are neglected on balance sheets and other such operations.
G. The Profit/Loss Account field - is used if the account is a profit/loss account.
H. The [H]eader or [T]otal field - You will enter an "H" to use the
account as a header account. Enter a "T" if the account will be a
total account. Leave it BLANK if this is not a header or total account. Some
accounts are meant to function as headers or as total lines in printed reports,
to mark off and sum up groups of related accounts. These accounts appear in
the account structure of your ledger as valid, numbered accounts, but no activity
can be posted to them. They carry no balances. They come into play only in the
production of reports.
I. The Total Number field - if the account was designated a Header or Total
account in the previous field, enter a number from 1 through 10, representing
the amount of data that will be covered by the header or total account. The
smaller the total number, the more specific the total will be. Total Numbers
are meaningless for accounts other than Header and Total accounts. This field
MUST be left blank for all ordinary accounts
J. The Spaces After field - Enter the number of blank lines to be inserted after
the appearance of this account in a printed report in this field. This field
requires a number as an answer. The blank lines can be useful for making reports
clearer by calling special attention to groups of accounts. Leaving this field
blank is the same as entering "0".
K. The Subsystem Type field - In most cases leave blank. Enter "AR"
if the account is an accounts receivable subsystem, "FA" if the account
is a fixed assets subsystem, "VM" if the account is a vehicle maintenance
subsystem, "IC" if the account is an inventory control subsystem,
or "WO" if the account is a work order subsystem.
L. The Delete at Year End field - There will be times when an account will be
used only for a one-time occasion, and you will want to delete it at the end
of the year. Deletion does not destroy the account records. It simply means
that the account will not be carried over into the next fiscal year.
The rest of the screen is for special reporting for the account, if you feel
that you need these fields, contact the Zortec Support Team. The Ledger Links
screen can be created at this time. If you feel that you need this screen contact
the Zortec Support Team.
When you have completed the screen or pressed the F8 or F9 key. The prompt "Message:
[Transaction Complete]" will appear on the message line. Press the escape
key as needed to return to the desired menu.
Should I keep my Packets once I have processed them?
A packet is a folder of entries to be posted or processed to the individuals account number in the general ledger. One reason for keeping them for a short period of time, like a month, is if you have processed or posted the packet to a wrong accounting period the packet can be reversed without having to re-enter the entries. The other reason is if the packet will be used as a recurring entry. So, in answer to your question there is no reason to keep your processed or posted packets pass a month. They are just taking up space.