Sage Instant Accounts For Dummies

Table of contents

1. 1. Introduction
      1. About This Book
      2. Foolish Assumptions
      3. Icons Used in This Book
      4. Beyond The Book
      5. Where to Go from Here
   2. Part I: Getting Started with Sage Instant Accounts
      1. Chapter 1: Introducing Sage Instant Accounts
         1. Looking at Two Sage Instant Options
         2. Installing the Software
            1. Getting what you need before you get started
            2. Moving to the installation itself
         3. Setting Up with the Active Set-Up Wizard
         4. Finding Out How Easy Sage Is to Use
            1. Burying the accounting jargon
            2. Looking at the screen layout
            3. Introducing process maps
         5. Navigating Around Sage
            1. Exploring the Menu bar
            2. Navigating the Task pane, Links list and Module buttons
         6. Using Wizards
      2. Chapter 2: Creating Your Chart of Accounts and Assigning Nominal Codes
         1. Understanding as Much as You Need to about Accounting
            1. Dabbling in double-entry bookkeeping
            2. Naming your nominals
            3. Preparing reports
         2. Looking at the Structure of Your Chart of Accounts
            1. Checking out the default COA
            2. Identifying Balance Sheet codes
            3. Looking at Profit and Loss codes
            4. Leaving gaps and mirroring codes
            5. Accommodating floating nominals
         3. Editing Your COA
            1. Amending your COA
            2. Creating a new COA
         4. Checking Your COA
            1. Previewing errors
            2. Looking at some common errors
      3. Chapter 3: Setting Up Records
         1. Choosing How to Create Your Records
            1. Getting a quick start using the Record icon
            2. Switching off the process maps
            3. Following the wizards brick by brick
         2. Creating Customer and Supplier Records
            1. Setting customer and supplier defaults
            2. Deleting customer and supplier records
         3. Creating Your Nominal Records
            1. Exploring your nominal records
            2. Renaming existing nominal records
            3. Adding a new nominal record
            4. Looking for a nominal record
            5. Looking around a nominal record
            6. Deleting a nominal code
         4. Recording Your Bank Accounts
            1. Renaming an existing account
            2. Creating new accounts
            3. Deleting a bank record
         5. Getting Your Product Records in Order
            1. Creating a product record
            2. Editing a product record
            3. Deleting a product record
      4. Chapter 4: Recording Your Opening Balances
         1. Timing Your Switch to Sage
         2. Obtaining Your Opening Balances
         3. Entering Opening Balances Using the Wizard
            1. Entering your default date
            2. Entering customer and supplier balances
            3. Reversing the nominal balances in preparation for entering the Trial Balance
            4. Entering the Trial Balance from your accountant
            5. Entering the un-cleared transactions for your bank account
            6. Checking opening balances against the Trial Balance from your accountant
            7. Checking your data
            8. Backing up your data
            9. Manually recording opening balances
            10. Recording opening bank balances manually
            11. Recording nominal opening balances manually
            12. Putting in opening balances for products
         4. Checking Your Opening Balances
            1. Printing an opening Trial Balance
            2. Dealing with errors
   3. Part II: Looking into Day-to-Day Functions
      1. Chapter 5: Processing Your Customer Paperwork
         1. Posting Batch Entry Invoices
         2. Creating Credit Notes
         3. Registering Payments from Your Customers
            1. Matching payments to invoices
            2. Giving credit where due – allocating credit notes
            3. Recording payments on account
         4. Deleting Invoices and Credit Notes
         5. Managing Write offs, Refunds and Returns
         6. Performing Customer Refunds
      2. Chapter 6: Invoicing Your Customers
         1. Deciding on an Invoice Type
         2. Creating Invoices
            1. Putting in the details
            2. Getting to the main attraction
            3. Filling in the order details
            4. Getting down to the footer details
         3. Managing Your Invoice List
            1. Printing
            2. Using Quick Print
            3. Updating
            4. Deleting
            5. Using defaults
      3. Chapter 7: Dealing with Paperwork from Your Suppliers
         1. Receiving and Posting Invoices
            1. Setting up your receiving system
            2. Posting invoices
         2. Getting Credit
         3. Allocating a Credit Note
         4. Paying Your Suppliers
         5. Managing Write offs, Refunds & Returns
            1. Supplier refunds
      4. Chapter 8: Recording Your Bank Entries
         1. Understanding the Different Types of Bank Accounts
            1. Keeping up with the Current and Deposit accounts (1200/1210)
            2. Counting the Petty Cash account (1230)
            3. Handling your Cash Register (1235)
            4. Managing the company credit card (1240) and credit card receipts (1250)
         2. Tracking Bank Deposits and Payments
         3. Transferring Funds between Accounts
         4. Repeating Recurring Entries
            1. Going for consistency with your bank entries
            2. Repeating customer and supplier payments
            3. Making regular journal entries – if you dare
            4. Processing and posting recurring entries
         5. Dealing with Petty Cash
            1. Funding petty cash
            2. Making payments from the tin
            3. Reconciling the petty cash tin
         6. Paying the Credit Card Bill
            1. Making payments
            2. Reconciling the credit card statement
      5. Chapter 9: Maintaining and Correcting Entries
         1. Checking and Maintaining Your Files
            1. Checking data
            2. Making corrections
            3. Re-indexing data
            4. Compressing data
            5. Rebuilding data
         2. Finding Ways to Find Transactions
         3. Searching For Records
         4. Backing Up Data
         5. Restoring Data
      6. Chapter 10: Keeping Track of Your Products
         1. Taking Stock
            1. Adjusting stock levels
            2. Checking stock activity
         2. Adjusting your Opening and Closing Stock
         3. Stock Reports
            1. Product Activity Report
            2. Product List
            3. Product Profitability
            4. Stock Take report
         4. Selling Stock
   4. Part III: Running Monthly, Quarterly and Annual Routines
      1. Chapter 11: Reconciling Your Bank Accounts
         1. Recognising Reasons to Reconcile
         2. Getting Ready to Reconcile
         3. Doing the Actual Reconciliation
         4. Troubleshooting when Your Account Doesn’t Reconcile
         5. Rounding Up Stragglers
            1. Listing un-presented cheques and outstanding lodgements
            2. Remembering recurring entries
      2. Chapter 12: Running Your Monthly and Yearly Routines
         1. Adding Up Accruals
         2. Counting Out Prepayments
         3. Depreciating Fixed Assets
            1. Writing down your assets
            2. Posting assets and depreciation
         4. Entering Journals
         5. Carrying Out Your Month-End Routine
            1. Ticking off your checklist
            2. Running the month-end
            3. Clearing stock transactions
            4. Clearing your Audit Trail
         6. Doing a Year-End Routine
      3. Chapter 13: Running Your VAT Return
         1. Understanding Some VAT Basics
            1. Knowing your outputs from your inputs
            2. Cracking the codes
            3. Comparing Sage’s VAT accounting methods
         2. Running the VAT Return
            1. Calculating your VAT
         3. Checking Your VAT Return
            1. Checking under the standard scheme
            2. Checking with cash accounting
         4. Making Manual Adjustments to Your VAT Return
         5. Reconciling Your VAT Transactions
            1. VAT Transfer
            2. Recording a VAT payment
            3. Submitting your return to HMRC
            4. Submitting your VAT return manually via HMRC
   5. Part IV: Using Reports
      1. Chapter 14: Running Monthly Reports
         1. Making the Most of Standard Reports
         2. Checking the Chart of Accounts First
         3. Figuring Out the Financial Reports
            1. Trying for an initial Trial Balance
            2. Accounting for profit and loss
            3. Comparing profit and loss
            4. Weighing the Balance Sheet
         4. Viewing the Audit Trail
         5. Designing Reports to Suit Yourself
      2. Chapter 15: Tackling the Complicated Stuff
         1. Exporting Data
            1. Sending spreadsheet stuff
            2. Transferring Microsoft Outlook contacts
            3. Exporting to Microsoft Word
         2. Linking to Your Accountant
            1. Sending accounts to your accountant
            2. Managing material changes
            3. Getting back adjustments and narratives
         3. Trying e-Banking
            1. Configuring your e-Banking
            2. Opting for e-payments
            3. Reconciling electronically
      3. Chapter 16: Running Key Reports
         1. Checking Activity through the Nominal Codes
         2. Looking into Supplier Activity
         3. Tracking Customer Activity
         4. Checking Numbers with Supplier Daybook Reports
         5. Finding the Customers Who Owe You
         6. Paying Attention to Your Creditors
         7. Handling Unreconciled Bank Transactions
         8. Ranking Your Top Customers
   6. Part V: The Part of Tens
      1. Chapter 17: Ten (Okay, Eleven) Funky Functions
         1. Browsing for Help with F1
         2. Calculating Stuff with F2
         3. Accessing an Edit Item Line for Invoicing with F3
         4. Finding Multiple Functions at F4
         5. Calculating Currency or Checking Spelling with F5
         6. Copying with F6
         7. Inserting a Line with F7
         8. Deleting a Line with F8
         9. Calculating Net Amounts with F9
         10. Launching Windows with F11
         11. Opening Report Designer with F12
      2. Chapter 18: (Not Quite) Ten Wizards to Conjure
         1. Creating a New Customer Account
         2. Setting up a New Supplier
         3. Initiating a New Nominal Account
         4. Creating a New Bank Account
         5. Launching a New Product (For Sage Instant Accounts Plus Only)
         6. Helping Out at Month-End: Opening/Closing Stock (For Sage Instant Accounts Plus Users Only)
         7. Saving Time: Global Changes
         8. Keeping Others in the Loop: Accountant Link
   7. Appendix: Glossary
   8. About the Author
   9. Cheat Sheet
   10. More Dummies Products