Tutorial: Ledgers

Ledgers create a grouping of expense/income types for all transactions that occur in the Portal and create powerful means of reporting on transactional data within the Portal. Ledger Types group the Ledgers in the Portal, providing yet another layer of abstraction for your reporting needs. For example, we can view the details of all Income and Expense transactions, or break this down further to the Ledger level and view transactional data for the sales, petty cash and loyalty redemptions in the Portal. In this tutorial we will discuss the maintenance and reporting according to Ledgers and their types.

This tutorial discusses the screens of the Ledgers section of the Ledger Menu. The Ledger Menu can be opened by selecting Menus and Ledger from the Navigation Menu. Open the Ledgers section by selecting the Ledgers link. The first link in the Ledgers section is the Ledger Options link, which opens the Company Options screen to the Ledger section.

Select the Ledger Setup link in the Ledgers section of the Ledger Menu to open the Ledger Maintenance screen. This screen is used to set the Ledger Numbers and Types for the Ledgers in the Portal. A series of default Ledgers are maintained by the Portal and it is possible to adjust their Ledger Numbers by editing the Number column in the Ledger grid. New Ledgers can be added by entering a New Ledger Number and pressing the Add button. Edit the Name and Description for the new Ledger and select a Ledger Type from the following options:

Income, indicates that transactions assigned to the Ledger represent income to the Company. Examples include sales, bank interest received and layby deposits.
Purchases, indicates that transactions assigned to the Ledger represent purchases made by the Company. Examples include cost of goods and receipt discounts.
Freight, indicates that transactions assigned to the Ledger represent freight charges to the Company. Examples include receipt freight.
Expenses, indicates that transactions assigned to the Ledger represent miscellaneous expenses to the Company. Examples include petty cash and receipt fees.
Bank Fees, indicates that transactions assigned to the Ledger represent bank charges to the Company. Examples include bank government fees and bank interest payable.

Press the Update button to save any changes made to the Ledger grid. Select a Ledger and press the Delete button to remove it from the grid. Deleting a default Ledger will not be permanent however, but will result in the Ledger returning to its default value. User-created (non-default) Ledgers are removed permanently from the Portal when the Delete button is pressed.

Details of the Ledgers in the Portal can also be viewed in the Ledger Report. Select the Ledger Report link in the Ledgers section of the Ledger Menu to open the report. This report lists the details of the Ledgers in the Portal, including the Ledger Description, Ledger Number, Ledger Type, Information and Default Status of each Ledger. Use the Section drop-down list to filter the report by Ledger Type.

The Edit Ledgers link in the Ledgers section of the Ledger Menu is used to open the Ledger Transaction Maintenance screen. This screen allows the Portal User to create a non-itemised transaction against a Ledger in the Portal. It should be noted that many other transactions are assigned to a Ledger in the Portal, whether by selection or by default. For example, Stock Receipts are attributed to the Cost of Goods Ledger by default.

In the Ledger Transaction Maintenance screen, select the Site for the transaction, and enter a date range to view all Ledger transactions for. This allows you to edit previously entered Ledger transactions as needed. Select a Ledger from the New Transaction Ledger Number drop-down list for the transaction to be assigned to and specify the New Transaction Date (which defaults to the current date) for the transaction. Press the Add button to add the Ledger number to the transaction grid. Edit the Amount to be entered against the Ledger and select whether to allow future editing by specifying Yes or No in the Allow Edit column. Enter a Comment against the Ledger to describe the purpose of the transaction if required. Press the Update button to save the transaction, or select a line and press the Delete button to remove it from the Portal.

The Trial Balance report lists the credits and debits in the Portal against each Ledger. Select the Ledger Balance link in the Ledgers section of the Ledger Menu to open the Trial Balance report. This report lists totals for each Ledger in either the Debits or Credits column according to whether moneys were incoming or outgoing for the transactions respectively. Use the State and/or Site drop-down lists to filter the details of the Trial Balance report and select the period to report on in the usual manner. Information displayed in the report for each Ledger includes the Ledger Description, Ledger Number, Ledger Type and Total Amount. The total profit (Total Debits minus Total Credits) is also displayed at the bottom of the Credits column.

It is possible to drill down in this report to obtain a detailed view of a selected Ledger. Click on a Ledger Description to open the Ledger Detail Report for the selected Ledger. This report lists the transactions assigned to the Ledger during the period selected in the Trial Balance report. Information displayed in this report includes the Ledger Description, Ledger Number, Date of the Transaction and the Amount of the Transaction. A total amount for all transactions assigned to the Ledger is also displayed in the report.

In this tutorial we have discussed the use of Ledgers in the Portal. Ledger maintenance, transactions and reporting have all been investigated in this tutorial and we have shown how Ledgers can be used to provide an overview of the profitability of your business.