The Ledger : The Ledger Lowdown

The Ledger Lowdown: Vendor Tax ID Woes

Jennifer Maroney — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:49:00 GMT

Hey blog readers! We are often asked why Accounts Payable users are not able to update a vendor tax ID, so I thought this would be a helpful topic to talk about today.

Beginning in The Financial Edge version 7.70 we implemented personal information security. This additional security option allows you to specify which users can view and edit information such as Social Security Number, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and vendor tax IDs. To ensure this personal information is secure, the personal information options are not marked when you create a new security group or update from a version prior to 7.70.

To be able to update the field, adjust the Shared Component Personal Information options in the users' security group. For complete steps, take a look at Knowledgebase solution BB181316.

Make sure you only assign rights to personal information for users that need to access it in order to perform their job. If you are not sure what rights are appropriate, check out What is Blackbaud's recommendation for personal information best practices?

Talk to you soon!

Make it Feel Like Home: The FE Home Page

Jennifer Maroney — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:56:00 GMT

Do you run the same saved reports and queries daily, weekly, or monthly? Save yourself time by adding links to them on your Home page. This simple process will help streamline your regular tasks by accessing common FE reports and queries, websites, or non-Blackbaud products, such as Word or Excel, from one location. Remember, these settings follow your user name, so you don't have to worry about resetting them, or doing more work , if you switch workstations.

The first thing you want to do is set FE to start on the Home page. To configure this, select Tools, Options from the menu bar, select the General tab, and then select Home from the Start on this page drop-down list.

If you have several items for a given task, such as the reports, spreadsheets, and queries needed for reconciliation, create a folder to keep organized. To add a new folder to the Home page, follow these steps:

Select Favorites, Organize favorites from the menu bar.
Highlight the appropriate home page and click New Folder.
Enter the name of the new folder and click OK.

Ok, now that you have set FE to open on the Home page of your choice and created any necessary folders, it's time to create the links.

For links to FE reports or queries:

Open the report or query and select Favorites, Add to Favorites from the menu bar.
Enter a name and description.
In the Create in field, select the modules name, such as Accounts Receivable, for the link to display on the Home page or the folder listed below the module name to add the link to the folder on the Home page.
Click OK.

For links to non-Blackbaud products or website:

Drag the saved file into the FE shell. You will see the document open and display within the shell.
Note: To create a shortcut to a Web page, right-click the desktop, and select New, Shortcut. Paste the entire URL in the location box and click Next. Enter a name for the shortcut and click Finish. Drag the shortcut on the desktop into the FE Shell.
Select Favorites, Add Page to Favorites from the menu bar.
Enter a name and description.
In the Create in field, select the modules name, such as Accounts Receivable, for the link to display on the Home page or the folder listed below the module name to add the link to the folder on the Home page.
Click OK.

Make sure you also add links to our online resources for quick reference.

Knowledgebase: http://kb.blackbaud.com
FAQs: http://www.blackbaud.com/support/faqs/fe7.aspx
User Guides: http://www.blackbaud.com/support/guides/fe.aspx
Newsletter back issues: http://www.blackbaud.com/support/newsletters/supnewsletters.aspx
The Financial Edge Forums: http://forums.blackbaud.com/forums/4.aspx
The Ledger blog: http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/financialedge/default.aspx

Stay tuned for more helpful hints to make The Financial Edge feel more like... home.

Talk to you soon!

Need to Record Handwritten Checks?

Jennifer Maroney — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:13:00 GMT

If you handwrite a check to a vendor, how do you record the payment and reflect the invoice as paid? Record a manual check. The manual check allows you to enter the payment and select the invoice(s) paid by the handwritten check.

Before you can record a manual check, you need to make sure your bank is configured to allow them. In Banks, click Edit account details under General tasks. On the Bank Account screen, select the Payments tab. In the Transaction Type column, locate Manual Check for AP. Mark the Allow? checkbox and select the appropriate Numbering option from the drop-down list. Depending on the Numbering option selected, you may also need to enter a Next Number, which is the starting number. Click Save and Close and you're ready to enter your handwritten check.

To record the check:

In Banks, select the appropriate bank.
Under Payment Tasks, click Create a manual Accounts Payable check.
Select the vendor name.
Enter the invoice and check information.
Select the Invoices tab.
Mark the Pay? checkbox for the invoice(s) paid by the manual check.
Select File, Record and Close from the menu bar.

That's it you're done. Happy check writing! Talk to you soon.

The Ledger Lowdown: Invoice Errors....No Problem

Jennifer Maroney — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:57:00 GMT

What do you do if you realize an invoice has the incorrect amount or distribution? Don't worry; you can fix it even if it's posted. The way you correct the issue depends on whether the invoice is posted, unposted, paid, or unpaid. Here are the steps broken out by scenario:

The invoice is unpaid and not yet posted:

In Records, Invoices, open the invoice record.
Select the Invoice tab and verify the status is Pending. If the status is Approved, change it to Pending and click Save.
Make the appropriate changes and save the invoice.

The invoice is unpaid and posted:
1. In Records, Invoices, open the invoice record.
2. Select the Invoice tab and verify the status is Pending. If the status is Approved, change it to Pending and click Save.
3. Select Invoice, New Adjustment from the menu bar.
4. Enter the adjustment date, new transaction amount (this can be the same), adjustment post date, reason, and any applicable notes.
5. Select the GL Distribution tab and update the distribution, if appropriate.
6. Click OK and then save and close the invoice.
Note: The next time you post, four adjusting transactions are created: two reversing the original entries and two posting the adjusted entries.
The invoice is paid and not yet posted:

Void and purge the check.
In Records, Invoices, open the invoice record.
Select the Invoice tab and verify the status is Pending. If the status is Approved, change it to Pending and click Save.
Make the appropriate changes and save the invoice.
Print the check to blank paper using the same check number.

The invoice is paid and posted:

Void and purge the check.
Note: If you do not void the check, only the invoice distribution will be updated. This will result in the check distribution being different than the invoice.
In Records, Invoices, open the invoice record.
Select Invoice, New Adjustment from the menu bar.
Enter the adjustment date, new transaction amount (this can be the same), adjustment post date, reason, and any applicable notes.
Select the GL Distribution tab and update the distribution, if appropriate.
Click OK and then save and close the invoice.
Print the check using the same check number to blank paper.

Note: The next time you post, four adjusting transactions are created: two reversing the original entries and two posting the adjusted entries.

Talk to you soon!

To Void or Purge...That is the Question

Jennifer Maroney — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:33:00 GMT

It's inevitable, no matter how careful you are, at some point you'll have to correct a check. The question is should you void or purge. What's the difference? Well, voiding cancels the check, leaving it available to view in the bank register. Purging, on the other hand, removes the check from the system as if it was never entered. Now that you understand the differences, check out these guidelines to help you determine which course of action to take:

Void a check when:
- The physical check is ruined.
- The physical check is not ruined, but is incorrect and needs to be reprinted. For example, the check was written to the wrong vendor or for the wrong amount, or it was returned by the vendor to request a replacement check.
- You don't want to use the actual check, but you want to show the check as used in the check register. For example, if the check number is out of range and will not be used, or if your internal policies and procedures mandate it.
Do not void a check when:
- The address is incorrect or did not print. The check can still be used without a window envelope.
- The check is recorded as the wrong number in the register, but the check is not ruined. In this case, renumber the checks.
- Only the post date or post status is incorrect, and the check is unposted, change the post status or post date.
Purge a check when:
- The check is recorded in the register and you need to reuse the check number. For example, you printed the check to blank paper. In this instance you should void and purge the check.
- Only the post date is incorrect and the check is posted. Void and purge the check and enter it again with the correct post date.
- You need to remove the check number from the register.
Do not purge a check when:
- You want the check to show as used in the check register.
- Your internal policies and procedures forbid purging checks.

Talk to you soon!

The Ledger Lowdown: Commingling Revenues and Expenses

Jennifer Maroney — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:12:00 GMT

Do you need to show offsetting sales with sales returns on your Income Statement? Whatever the reason to net revenues and expenses, you can do this by adjusting your Visual Chart Organizer (VCO). Just to give you a heads up, the process to adjust the VCO is the easy part; the hard part is what to select. Let's start with the easy and work up from there.

The way to control Income Statement section totals depends on the category selected for the specific header/total section. To change the category, open the VCO and highlight the header/total section to change. Then select the Header tab towards the bottom of the VCO. On the Header tab, you have the option to select several category types including Income Statement, revenue, expense, and transfer.

What do you select? This is where the complexity comes in. If your VCO template has homogeneous sections, e.g., revenue only or expense only, use the category type revenue, expense, gift, transfer, gain, or loss. These automatically result in the correct natural balance. If your report has commingled account types within each section, select the Income Statement category. Once you select this category, you'll notice a new option appears called Show debit balance as. From the drop-down select Negative if you expect a net credit balance or Positive if you expect a net debit balance. After you make your selection, run the Income Statement to make sure the correct sign displays. If not, simply go back into the VCO and change the Show balance as from Negative to Positive or vice versa.

Talk to you soon!

Improve Your Data's Quality and Consistency

Jennifer Maroney — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:30:00 GMT

A list of procedures and rules can improve your data's consistency and quality, and save you time and effort when entering data, preparing reports, and reconciling. I recommend compiling the procedures and rules to create a policies and procedures manual, also known as a data entry guide. The manual should specify how you enter and maintain records, and perform various functions related to your database. By documenting rules and guidelines, you can ensure consistent data entry. Here are some items to consider for your policies and procedures manual.

Soft close all periods except the current period and the next period. Closing previous periods prevents accidental posting to a closed and balanced period. By closing periods in the future, you prevent inadvertently posting transactions to periods that should not yet be affected.
Use journal codes correctly. Journal codes, also known as source codes, tell you the origin of a transaction. The codes specifically assigned to sub-ledgers should never be used in journal entries and vice versa. In GL Journal Entry, you can define which journal codes are allowed to prevent any errors. Check out BB58058 for the steps.
Create recurring journal entries for your regularly occurring journal entries. These templates allow you to define transactions and/or distributions to use over and over again.
Create distribution templates for commonly used distributions so all you have to do is select the template instead of manually typing in each account number, amount, project, or t-code. Using distribution templates not only prevent data entry errors but also save time, especially if you have detailed distributions.
Use business rules to promote accuracy and consistency. There are a variety of business rules that allow you to determine some things that should or should not be allowed in your database. Some examples include not posting zero dollar amounts, excluding inactive records from searches, allowing non-bank transactions to cash accounts, and automatically assigning record IDs. Each sub-ledger has its own business rules to set. Check out these solutions for some business rule tips: General Ledger | Accounts Receivable | Student Billing | Payroll
Configure security groups to restrict user rights. Carefully consider which users need what rights. For example, not all users should have access to voiding, deleting, or purging transactions. Depending on your organization's size and needs, you may be able to set up just one or two security groups or you may need to set up a separate security group for each user.

Talk to you soon!

The Ledger Lowdown: Top Questions for May '09

Jennifer Maroney — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:39:00 GMT

Each month we keep track of the top questions you ask. This FAQs list includes GL, AP, AR, CR, FA, and general FE questions. To see the FAQs broken out by individual module, review The Financial Edge FAQs on our website. Here are the top FE questions for May and April.

May

Bank Reconciliation shows out of balance to GL Cash Account or vice versa: BB61184
How to import journal entry transactions: BB53174
How to void a posted payment: BB113811
What is Cash Management and how to tell if it is installed?: BB61838
How to add or edit bank adjustments: BB66590
How to set up the queue service to run scheduled queues: BB289850
A reversal transaction does not post for a voided payment: BB219542

April

Bank Reconciliation shows out of balance to GL Cash Account or vice versa: BB61184
How to import journal entry transactions: BB53174
How to void a posted payment: BB113811
How to add or edit bank adjustments: BB66590
What is Cash Management and how to tell if it is installed?: BB61838
How to set up the queue service to run scheduled queues: BB289850
A reversal transaction does not post for a voided payment: BB219542

Talk to you soon!

The Ledger Lowdown: Get it in Balance

Jennifer Maroney — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:39:00 GMT

Nothing is more frustrating than when you run your Balance Sheet and the bottom line is out-of-balance . So here you are with an out of balance Balance Sheet that you need to have to your board in an hour, or, even worse, an hour ago. What should you do? Well, the first thing is don't, or try not to, panic. A deep breath usually works for me. Then take a look at these common causes of out of balance financial statements and reports; you may be able to resolve the issue and be a hero:

An account is marked inactive and the report is marked to not include inactive accounts
The chart template is missing accounts
The financial statement is filtering out information
Fund Balance account is not defined on all fund records
The user does not have sufficient rights
Unposted journal entry batches are out of balance

So now that you know what the common causes are, the next step is to start narrowing them down to find your issue. First, create and preview a new Trial Balance Report for the same period and fund(s) as the out of balance financial statement. The report should always be in balance when including all accounts and their balances. If the Trial Balance Report is incorrect with no filters or Visual Chart Organizer (VCO) selected, create a case.

If your Trial Balance is correct, here are some other steps to help you find and resolve the issue:

Run the report as Supervisor or as a user without account level security defined. Financial statements will exclude accounts that a user does not have rights to view.
Mark the option on the General tab to include inactive accounts and rerun the report. Inactive accounts with activity will cause the report to be out of balance.
- If the report totals correctly, create a query of inactive accounts and change the account(s) from inactive to active.
Check your VCO template. As new accounts are added or new templates created, accounts can be left off or duplicated causing the report to be out of balance or total incorrectly.
- If you find there are missing or duplicate accounts, add or remove the appropriate accounts from your custom VCO.
- If the chart validation does not pinpoint the problem, run the report using the default template.
Check the filters on the report to ensure you're not filtering out accounts or activity. A combination of advanced filters on a VCO and report filters can cause you to filter your way out of balance. If the report is still out of balance, remove all filters from the report to determine if the filters are the cause; don't forget the column filters.
Run the report at a level 9. Running reports at a lower level will summarize activity. Increasing the level is an easy way to ensure no accounts are excluded from the report.

For more troubleshooting steps, take a look at Knowledgebase solution BB63184.

Talk to you soon!

Meet Ms. Queue

Jennifer Maroney — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:30:00 GMT

Do you run the same reports and queries everyday or every week? Would you like to hire an assistant to just run these reports so you can focus on more important things? FE has your assistant waiting. Please meet Ms. Accounting Queue:

Ms. Queue is proficient in running reports, queries, exports, and posts automatically. The best part is, she works at any hour, does not require vacation, breaks, and bonuses, and no supervision is required. I recommend using Ms. Queue during non-working hours so you can be more productive by utilizing all workstations and printers during working hours.

For more information, check out the Accounting Queue Guide. If you would like to hire Ms. Accounting Queue to work for you, contact your account manager.

Talk to you soon!

Reconciliation Recommendations

Jennifer Maroney — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:33:00 GMT

At some point we all need to perform the dreaded reconciliation process. It can go smoothly, especially if you reconcile on a regular basis, or can be a headache if you don't reconcile regularly and have inconsistent data entry. The Transaction Business Rules, implemented in version 7.77, can help with inconsistent data entry, but you still need to get in the habit of reconciling regularly; have you caught my theme yet ?

Sometimes, no matter how careful you are, your subsidiary ledger does not balance to the GL. Here are some of the common causes of balancing issues:

Voided or deleted transactions
Voided checks
Transactions where the transaction date and post date are in different fiscal periods
Remitting Payroll taxes, deductions, or withholdings from the incorrect account
Journal entries made directly to the subledger summary account

You can find these sneaky transactions by creating a query or running additional reports.

I've put together a list of recommendations for reconciling subsidiary ledgers, but they can also help when reconciling balance sheet and income statement line items.

Find a reliable starting point. This may be your annual audit or another period when your subledger and general ledger were in agreement. If you cannot find a period, you may need to make a one-time adjustment at your reconciliation start date. Without a good starting point in the past, none of the subsequent beginning balances will be reliable.
Avoid manual journal entries to the summary accounts (e.g., Accounts Payable Summary, Accounts Receivable Summary, or the Accumulated Depreciation accounts). Make corrections to items such as invoices or checks in the subsidiary ledger, rather than making a manual journal entry to General Ledger. If you must make journal entries, consider creating a separate account for them to simplify subledger reconciliation.
Use journal codes to indicate the source of transactions. When posting journal entries, do not use the journal code used by the subsidiary ledger. Clearly and consistently identifying the journal codes helps you trace a transaction to its origin.
Reconcile monthly . Perform reconciliations at least monthly. Finding and correcting items regularly may prevent additional errors. If you have several periods to reconcile, start with the oldest and reconcile one period at a time.
Be aware of how your organization uses post dates and transaction dates. Items such as invoices may be dated in one fiscal period, posted in another, and paid in yet another fiscal period. When running reports, determine whether you want to see the transaction date or the post date. Ensure you have established guidelines for determining the correct transaction post date. Inconsistency can cause reconciliation issues and possible financial statement misrepresentation.
Ensure transactions have the correct post status.
Update your policies and procedures manual regularly. Include detailed instructions for correcting reconciling issues. Create a reconciliation schedule as part of your policies and procedures manual, detailing which accounts should be reconciled with what frequency, and by whom.

For detailed reconciliation information, check out the Subsidiary Ledger Reconciliation Guide.

Is it Okay to Cancel Out of Posting, Copying, or Reversing a Batch?

Jennifer Maroney — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:42:00 GMT

Do you ever notice your workstation task manager shows The Financial Edge is not responding? Just because it shows not responding on your workstation doesn't mean that FE has stopped working. Many times the process is still running on the server. If you cancel the process at the wrong point it could result in data corruption and who wants that?

Pardon the interruption, but this is a great example of why you should regularly back up your database. Check out the Backup and Recovery series on Inside the Edge for more details about the importance of backing up your database and testing it on a regular basis. Now back to you regularly scheduled program.

Here are some helpful tips:

Before initiating the process, disable any applications running unnecessarily, including those running in the background that may be using up system resources.
Post regularly, and assign a specific time of day to complete your posting.
Large batches with complex distributions, attributes, transaction codes, and projects will take longer to process because more information must be validated for each element of the transaction. If you have large distributions, post in smaller batches.
Allow sufficient time for the process to finish.
If you think you have performance issues, check out Knowledgebase solution BB8626 for performance considerations.

So remember, the next time you're posting, copying, or reversing a batch and your workstation's task manager indicates that the software is not responding, wait before you cancel the process.

Talk to you soon!

The Ledger Lowdown: Get the Discounts You Deserve

Jennifer Maroney — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:22:00 GMT

When you purchase an item using credit or on account, you enter into a contract and agree to pay off the balance by a specific date, which is usually set by the vendor. Sometimes you even get a discount if you pay the balance early. I'm sure you're asking yourself, "What does this have to do with FE?" More than you may know. You can set terms for AP invoices so you get the discounts you deserve and on AR invoices so your customers get the discounts they deserve. These terms are not just used for discounts; they also specify how long a customer can wait to pay an invoice.

The first step is to create the terms in Configuration. This process is the same for AP and AR with one exception: in AP you define the discount you receive from vendors and in AR you define the discounts you offer to your clients.

Now that you have all of your terms created, it's time to add them to records. I recommend defining the terms on the vendor or client record so they default on new invoices. This not only saves time, but ensures each invoice is discounted accurately. On a vendor record, select the default terms on the Vendor tab. On client records, define the default terms on the Defaults tab. That's it! All that is left is to do is collect yo' money and save yo' money .

Talk to you soon!

Got Backup?

Jennifer Maroney — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:29:00 GMT

Natural disasters, power outages, and hardware and network failures... Oh My! These things can happen at any time and could lead to unrecoverable data loss. Losing just one day's worth of data can be devastating to any organization, but if you back up monthly that's 30 days of data you could lose in a split second.

Ok, so you're probably saying to yourself, "that will never happen to us". The truth is you never know what Mother Nature is going to throw your way. Don't depend on your luck; be prepared by creating and implementing a disaster recovery procedure. This procedure must include plans to back up important files daily, test the backups regularly, store them in a secure, off-site location, and take a copy with you if you evacuate.

Check out the Backup and Recovery series on Inside the Edge for more details about the importance of backing up your database and testing it on a regular basis.

Talk to you soon!

The Ledger Lowdown: Top Questions for April '09

Jennifer Maroney — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:18:00 GMT

April

Bank Reconciliation shows out of balance to GL Cash Account or vice versa: BB61184
How to import journal entry transactions: BB53174
How to void a posted payment: BB113811
How to add or edit bank adjustments: BB66590
How to reconcile the bank account: BB61838
How to set up the queue service to run scheduled queues: BB289850
A reversal transaction does not post for a voided payment: BB219542

March

Bank Reconciliation shows out of balance to GL Cash Account or vice versa: BB61184
How to reconcile to the General Ledger: BB3358
How to add or edit bank adjustments: BB66590
How to create a bank adjustment from a journal entry: BB71038
How to unvoid or reverse a voided check: BB6275
What is a mock close?: BB22412
How to delete a deposit: BB133943

Talk to you soon!