A Brief Tutorial

Now that you've had a chance to familiarize yourself with the basics of using Advanced Accounting 5.0, you might want to try running through the tutorial outlined below. These steps will allow you to exercise a number of the options within the system and see how everything ties together. Don't forget that this is only sample data at this point (assuming you are not upgrading from an earlier version), so don't be afraid to try things! You can't really hurt the sample data. If you need more information at any point, try Clicking the Help Button or pressing the F1 key for HELP. Have fun!

ENTER A NEW CUSTOMER

a) Suppose you talked on the phone today with a potential customer and you wanted to save information about them in case they ordered later. Select option AR-A, Enter/Change Customers.

b) Press ENTER in the Customer Code field; notice how the screen title changes to reflect that you're entering a new customer.

c) Enter data for the fields in the customer record. You can use the DOWN ARROW key (or ENTER) to move through the fields; UP ARROW will move you backwards through the fields. If you're not sure what should go into a field, press F1 for HELP.

d) Save your new customer using the F10 key. The program will save your entries and then clear the screen, returning you to the Customer Code field.

e) To recall your new customer, press F2 to bring up the search box. Start typing the name of your customer and watch how each new letter helps the search home in on your entry. When the highlight bar is on your customer, press ENTER twice to bring up your customer's record.

f) To clear the screen, you can press F3 (this does NOT delete the record) or press UP ARROW from the Name field. Press ESC to return to the menu.

ENTER A SALES ORDER

a) Suppose now that your new customer decides to place an order. Select SO-A, Enter Sales Orders.

b) Press ENTER to move past the S/O # and Order Date fields. Use the F2 key to bring up your customer information as you did before in AR-A. The Ship to address defaults to the same address in the customer record. You can change that address by pressing UP ARROW from within the Desc field.

c) Fill in the other fields, making sure to leave Location equal to "blank," and put Y in the Rdy? field (marks the items as ready to ship).

d) Press ENTER and the display window for entering products will appear along with the line item entry box. With the highlight bar on a new line, press ENTER again and you'll move to the first box in the line item entry window. From here you can use the F2 look up to search for the products in inventory your new customer is ordering. Select a couple of products and enter other information such as quantity and price. You can change the defaults if you like.

e) While you're entering a product, you might want to try out Advanced Accounting's "multi-tasking" feature. This facility will allow you to run several programs at the same time! Here's an example. While you're in the Sales Order entry process, press the ALT key plus the F12 key (i.e., press ALT and while holding it down, press the F12 key, and then release both keys). The main menu will become the active form (the top bar will change to the active color), and you'll be able to choose any available option. For now, click on the IC button, then the A option (IC-A) or press the choose IC-A, Enter/Chg Inventory and press ENTER. Using the F2 look-up, select one of the products you entered on the sales order, bring up the information, and check to see if you have enough units on hand to satisfy the order. When you're finished, press ESC until you return to where you were in Sales Order. It's that easy!

f) When you're finished entering products on the sales order, press F10 to save the order. You'll be given the chance to enter freight; enter some value here or just leave it at $0.00. Answer Y to the program's questions, and print a copy of the sales order to your screen or printer. When the system asks if you'd like to invoice, answer N.

g) With the sales order screen blank, you can do an F2 look-up from the S/O # field. You might want to bring up your sales order again and try modifying some of the entries (e.g., put in a discount for one of the products) and then resaving the order. You can edit the order as many times as you like before invoicing.

h) If you'd like to put in a message line on the sales order, simply move the highlight bar to a blank line (or you can press the INSERT key) and press ENTER twice. You should see the message entry line in the line item entry window. What you type here will be put on the sales order. For example, after one of the product order lines, you might say, "This item needs to be marked FRAGILE."

i) Save your order when you're finished (don't invoice yet) and press ESC to return to the menus. Select AR-A again, call up your customer using F2, and bring up their information. With the cursor in the Name field, press PAGE DOWN and select Current Orders. Here you'll be able to see, edit, and print the information for the sales order you just entered. You can also use this facility to enter sales orders directly from AR-A. Here's how: bring up your customer information and press PAGE DOWN as we just did. Select Current Orders and then press the INSERT key. You'll be chained automatically to the sales order entry program!

ENTER A PURCHASE ORDER

a) Let's pretend that you didn't have the items your customer ordered in stock. Here you'll put in a purchase order for those products. Select option PO-A, Enter Purchase Orders.

b) Press ENTER twice to move through the P/O# and Order Date fields. From the Code field, press F2 and select an existing vendor. Press ENTER to bring up the information.

c) In the same way, bring up your new customer in the area under Ship to.

d) Fill out the remaining fields in this top screen, using the F1 key for HELP as necessary. Leave the Location field blank. Press ENTER to bring up the order entry area in the lower half of your screen.

e) Here you will be able to enter the items to be shipped. Press ENTER and the highlight bar will move to the small display area at the bottom of the screen. You'll notice that the message line at the very bottom of your screen indicates that you can use the F2 key to look up products. Press F2, select a product your customer had ordered, and then fill in the other fields (e.g., ERD or estimated receive date, Tax, Qty, etc.).

f) Enter the other products you'll need, and, when you're finished, save the P/O using F10. You can print the P/O now if you like, or do it later using PO-B, Print P/O's on Forms. Press ESC to return to the menus.

g) Just for a check, select IC-A, Enter/Chg Inventory, and call up one of the products you selected for the P/O. Press ENTER to bring up all the product information. Note the entries in Units on P/O and Units on Hand. Later when you receive the shipped products, you'll see how these fields are updated.

h) You might also want to press PAGE DOWN to see information for all inventory locations. The "blank" inventory location is typically used as your main or headquarters facility, but you can add other locations and transfer inventory between locations as needed. When you're finished, press ESC to return to the menus.

RECEIVE THE PURCHASE ORDER

a) Select option PO-D, Receive P/Os.

b) Use the F2 look-up to find your P/O and bring up the information. When the program asks for Type of Receipt, select Full. For COD or Invoice, enter Invoice. Enter a check number, freight charges, and terms. (Remember: it's just sample data, so don't worry too much about these entries.) The program will ask if you want to receive the P/O; answer Yes. Press ESC to return to the menus.

c) Return to IC-A, Enter/Chg Inventory and check the inventory levels for the products you received on the P/O. You should see decreases in Units on P/O and increases in Units on Hand.

INVOICE THE SALES ORDER

a) Let's suppose you've received your merchandise, inspected it, and are now getting ready to ship the items to your new customer. You can print packing slips using SO-C, or you can go directly to invoicing and posting your sales order.

b) Let's invoice the sales order and then do the posting. Select SO-A, Enter Sales Orders, and then bring up your sales order using the F2 look-up. You can look at the line items screen by pressing PAGE DOWN. Save the sales order using the F10 key as before, and then answer the questions appropriately to invoice and post your sales order.

c) You can now check your customer's invoice history to see that this new invoice has been added. Select AR-A, call up your customer's information, then press PAGE DOWN to access the history data. Select Invoice History and you'll be able to see the invoice you just posted. This feature can be very valuable for checking a customer's current and invoiced orders.

RECEIVE PAYMENT FROM YOUR CUSTOMER

a) Time passes. Your customer receives the merchandise you sent, and is kind enough to send you payment. Here you'll record the receipt of payment. Select AR-C, Record Payments.

b) Find your customer using the F2 look-up and bring up the customer data. Accept the default for Payment Date by pressing ENTER. Put in a check amount to match the outstanding invoice amount shown for the customer, and put in check and deposit numbers. (These numbers are used in doing check reconciliation, but aren't really crucial here; any numbers will do.)

c) Answer Y to the question about applying payment. You'll then see a pop-up window with the outstanding invoice. Answer Y again to indicate that all entries are correct. Choose a bank account for your deposit by moving the highlight bar and selecting one of the accounts. The payment will be posted, and then you can press ESC to return to the main menu.

PAY VENDOR FOR PURCHASE ORDER

a) More time passes, and you need to pay the vendor for the items you shipped on to your customer. Select AP-D, Pick Vouch/Inv to Pay, and call up your vendor information using the F2 look-up.

b) Press ENTER to bring up a list of invoice numbers and descriptions. Move the highlight bar to the invoice you want to pay, and press ENTER again.

c) Accept the amount shown in the Amount to be Paid field, press F10 to save, and then press ESC to return to the menus.

d) Select AP-E, Print Pro-Forma Check Reg. Choose the appropriate bank account, and print to your screen. You'll see a record of the payment to be made; this gives you a chance to make sure everything is accurate before you print checks. Press ESC to return to the menus.

e) To print out the checks, select AP-F, Print Checks. Accept the defaults for check # and date, and send the printing to your screen or a printer. (You can change checking account information and parameters related to how checks print in SY-A-D, Enter/Change Checking Accounts.) Answer Y to the question about all checks printing.

SEE THE IMPACTS OF YOUR ACTIONS

a) Let's first take a look at the check register to see the impacts of receiving payment from your customer and then paying your vendor. Select GL-J, Print Check Register.

b) Choose the appropriate bank, and then accept the defaults for the check # and date From and Thru fields by pressing ENTER to move through the fields. Sort the printing by check number.

c) Send the report to your screen or printer. You'll see the deposit and withdrawal corresponding to your receiving payment and then paying your vendor. Press ESC to return to the menus.

d) Now let's look at a trial balance to see the actual transaction records. Select GL-E, Print Detailed Trial Balance. Press ENTER to accept the defaults and move through the fields. Answer N to Print Summary Only? and print to your screen. Notice how you can move the report right and left using the arrow keys; see the instructions at the bottom of the screen. You'll see the transactions for receiving payment from your customer and for your payment to the vendor. Press ESC to return to the menus.

THAT'S ALL for this brief tutorial. We hope you've enjoyed working with Advanced Accounting. Please see Getting Started for information about how to set up Advanced Accounting for your business.

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