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1 INTRODUCTION CPA-LEDGER is an automated general ledger system written for IBM PC and IBM PC compatible microcomputers. The system was written on an IBM Personal Computer using IBM's Advanced BASIC (BASICA, Version 1.10) and PC-DOS, Version 2.10. See Appendix B, page 99-3, for information on the various CPA-LEDGER versions. In this manual, we will refer to three diskettes by name. They are "PC-DOS disk" (containing PC-DOS), "Program Disk" (containing CPA-LEDGER), and "Documentation Disk" (containing the User's Manual AND a practice general ledger that is already set up so that you can practice using the system.) Remember those names. PC-DOS DISK. PC-DOS came with your microcomputer. It contains the IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System and the BASICA computer language. As will be explained later, you will need PC-DOS AND BASICA for CPA-LEDGER. "PROGRAM DISK" & "DOCUMENTAION DISK". The "Program Disk" & the "Documentation Disk" are on three (two if you have the public domain version of CPA-LEDGER) different physical diskettes. . The "Program Disk" contains the CPA-LEDGER computer programs. You can identify computer programs by the name extension ".BAS" (without the quotes). ---------> . (If you have the public domain version of the system, the practice general ledger is also on the Program Disk. The practice general ledger has files with an extension of ".FIL".) . The "Documentation Disk" (on two physical diskettes) contains (1) the User's Manual AND (2) a practice general ledger with balances that have already been set up for you. You can identify general ledger files by the name extension ".FIL" (without the quotes). The User's Manual (also on the Documentation Disk) has file extensions of .TXT. . Appendix B contains complete instructions for loading CPA-LEDGER onto your microcomputer. Appendix B also contains information about the various versions of CPA-LEDGER and how to order. See page 99-3. 2 PC-DOS, BASICA, DRIVE A:, DRIVE B:, & DRIVE C: AND THE COPY COMMAND. We assume that you understand how to use PC-DOS, how to get to BASICA and the meaning of the term "Drive C:", "Drive A:", and "Drive B:". We also assume that you know how to use the COPY command to copy files from one disk to another. If you do not, read your IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System manual. USING CPA-LEDGER. To use CPA-LEDGER, you will need five things. They are (1) a microcomputer (2) a printer, (3) IBM PC-DOS, which includes PC-DOS (Version 2.10 or higher) and BASICA (Version 1.10 or higher), and (4) a knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping. The fifth item you will need depends on your version of CPA-LEDGER. If you have the "For Hard Disk Only" version, you will need hard disk. For the "For Hard & Floppy Disk" version, you will need hard disk and one floppy disk drive. For the "For Two Floppy Disks Only", version you will need two floppy disk drives. We will discuss each of these areas. First, let's talk about equipment needs. EQUIPMENT NEEDS. The minimum equipment configuration is: . An IBM PC or PC compatible microcomputer with hard/floppy disk drives as mentioned above. . An 80 or 120 column printer, for printing output from CPA-LEDGER. 3 PC-DOS AND BASICA. Make sure that you have IBM's PC-DOS (IBM's Personal Computer Disk Operating System, Version 2.10 or higher) and IBM's BASICA (Version 1.10 or higher) before you use computer programs on your "Program Disk". Look in the prefaces to your Disk Operating System and BASICA reference manuals. Version information is shown there. YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF DOUBLE-ENTRY BOOKKEEPING. You should have a knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping before you use CPA-LEDGER. First, let's define, specifically, what you need to know regarding how CPA-LEDGER functions. You should understand how to: . Set up a new bookkeeping system and prepare the beginning or "opening" entries for starting your general ledger. (Once you prepare the opening entries, CPA-LEDGER asks you to enter them in the system.) Knowing how to set up a new bookkeeping system includes a requirement that you know which accounts should be included in the various income statement and balance sheet "account classifications", such as Current Assets, Operational Assets, and Current Liabilities. Appendix D contains a list of "account classifications" used by CPA-LEDGER. Please read Appendix B and make sure that you completely understand "account classifications" and accounts that should be included in each classification BEFORE you use CPA-LEDGER. . Review each financial transaction that occurs in your business and determine the proper accounting entry. (Once you decide on the accounting entry, CPA-LEDGER asks you to post it to the general ledger.) . Prepare a standard bank reconciliation. (CPA-LEDGER will not automatically reconcile your bank account(s), but it will separately list all of your bank transactions so that you may make the reconciliation.) . Prepare the proper adjusting journal entries each time before you prepare financial statements. (You decide which accounts need to be adjusted and enter the adjustments into the system.) As you can see, in addition to knowing how CPA-LEDGER functions, you will also need a thorough knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping. Appendix D contains some comments about accounting and bookkeeping systems. Read the Appendix. It contains some observations that may be helpful to you. However, DO NOT rely on Appendix D to convey the bookkeeping knowledge that you will need to use CPA-LEDGER! Appendix D is, BY NO MEANS, intended to be a course in bookkeeping. If you are not already an experienced bookkeeper, DO NOT USE CPA-LEDGER. Even if you ARE an experienced bookkeeper, CPA-LEDGER may not be for you. Read this User's Manual from cover to cover. Practice using the 4 system. If everything looks OK and you believe that CPA-LEDGER will fill your needs, start your general ledger and try CPA-LEDGER for a reasonable period (at LEAST three to four months). Make sure that you understand not only how to use CPA-LEDGER but, also, that you fully understand how to properly maintain a general ledger and how to use and interpret all of the printouts. Then decide. In the interim, DO NOT discard you old bookkeeping system. Rather, keep your old general ledger up-to-date, in the event you decide to NOT use CPA-LEDGER. In other words, (1) make VERY sure that you thoroughly understand all of the technical facets of bookkeeping BEFORE you start using CPA-LEDGER, (2) make VERY sure that you understand how to interpret and use CPA-LEDGER's printouts, (3) make VERY sure that CPA-LEDGER will satisfy YOUR needs BEFORE you permanently convert to it, and (4) keep your old general ledger up-to-date until you finally decide that CPA-LEDGER will satisfy all of your needs, now and during the future. Also, before you decide to use CPA-LEDGER, please remember this - CPA-LEDGER has no knowledge of bookkeeping! It simply accumulates data that YOU enter and reports the information back to you in the form of financial statements. For example, it will not tell you if you debit or credit an inappropriate account; it will not tell you if your debits and credits agree, but they are in the incorrect amounts; it will not tell you if you include a current asset account under the incorrect "account classification"; it will not tell you how to interpret the values on your financial statements - it merely prints some "ratios" that can be used as inconclusive guidelines - you must apply YOUR judgement in making the final interpretation, including a judgement on whether or not to consider the ratio(s) in arriving at the final interpretation. We are not attempting to convience you not to use CPA-LEDGER, but, rather to caution you on expecting too much from the system. If you have ANY questions on what CPA-LEDGER (1) can and cannot do or (2) does and does not do, please contact Jim Foster. AUTOMATIC FEATURES. CPA-LEDGER has many automatic features - all you do is select and execute any one of the options that appear in menu form on the computer's screen. Here are just a few of CPA-LEDGER's automatic capabilities. It will: . List your chart of general ledger accounts, anytime that you wish. . Add new general ledger accounts, anytime that you wish. . Monitor your input into the system and report, in easy to understand English, errors that you make. 5 . Find and print any entry that you previously entered into the general ledger. . Show you the status of any account, at any time. . Reconstruct any account, for any period that you wish. . Prepare a check register, on demand, to provide information for reconciling bank accounts or for researching your bank transactions. . Summarize each general ledger account and report the results to you. . Prepare a trial balance, on demand, so that you may review the status of the accounts. . Prepare, footnote, and analyze your financial statements, anytime that you wish. HOW THIS MANUAL IS ORGANIZED. This manual is subdivided into progressive chapters. Chapter 1 introduces you to CPA-LEDGER and gives you an overview of the system. Chapters 3 - 16 discuss each CPA-LEDGER option. You will be walked through the entire system - from starting your electronic books to preparing financial statements. Chapter 18 discusses the partnership version of CPA-LEDGER and Chapter 19 discusses sole proprietorships. Appendix D discusses some of the planning that you should complete before you start your bookkeeping system. Appendix E suggests forms and procedures for providing complete supporting documentation of everything that you enter into CPA-LEDGER and for providing an orderly and systematic method for recording information in your electronic books. Read Appendix D and Appendix E very carefully. Even though they are not a complete course in accounting procedure, you should find enough there to provide a starting point for planning your accounting system. Do not make the mistake of glossing over the planning process. Plan, precisely, the accounts that you will need, when your entries will be recorded, who will record them, what supporting documentation will be required, and when financial statements will be prepared. Decide on all forms that you will need and train your employees in how to use them. These are only a few considerations. Appendix D and Appendix E go into some additional detail but ARE NOT intended to cover all of the planning that you may need to do. If you do not feel comfortable in planning your accounting system, consult with your local CPA or other qualified individual. He or she can assist you. 5-1 Appendix A contains some suggestions regarding planning your accounts, depending on whether or not you wish to include a "Cost of Goods Sold" section in your Income Statement. Read the Appendix carefully. For example, if you do not have inventory for resale (no beginning inventory, and no purchases of resale items), CPA-LEDGER will tailor your Income Statement to your needs and will omit the Cost of Goods Sold section of the Income Statement. But, you must follow certain rules. You must follow other rules if a Cost of Goods Sold section is to be included in the Income Statement. These rules are covered in Appendix A. They are not difficult, but you should keep them firmly in mind. 6 CHAPTER 1 CPA-LEDGER OVERVIEW MENUS - THE WAY YOU ACCESS CPA-LEDGER's DATA PROCESSING OPTIONS. CPA-LEDGER uses "menus" to list each of the data processing options at your disposal. CPA-LEDGER follows a menu numbering scheme. 1, 2, 3 ... one under the other. To the right of each number are a few words describing a data processing option that is assigned that particular number. You select an option by entering a number at your keyboard. HOW TO BEGIN USING CPA-LEDGER. As already mentioned, CPA-LEDGER is written in IBM's Advanced BASIC programming language. So, to use the system you will need access to BASICA. Follow the procedure outlined in Appendix B to gain access to BASICA. CPA-LEDGER is activated by typing either of two commands, described in the next two sub-sections, to display the menu named "SETUP" or the menu named "DAILY". AN OVERVIEW OF THE "SETUP" MENU. At the beginning of each accounting year, use the SETUP menu to establish a new general ledger for recording the coming year's transactions. To use SETUP, go to BASICA and type the following command, as you see it below, at your keyboard. RUN "SETUP" (if you have either the "For Hard Disk Only" or "For Hard & Floppy Disk versions) RUN "B:SETUP" (if you have the "For Two Floppy Disks Only" version.) In a few seconds, the SETUP menu will be displayed on your computer screen. The menu will look like this: 7 ASSISTANCE? THIS VERSION OF IS FOR _________. ASSISTANCE? WRITE CALL JIM FOSTER CPA-LEDGER JIM FOSTER 8529 GREELEY BLVD. (Business Type) (703) 569-2254 SPRINGFIELD, VA 22152 SETUP MENU AFTER 7:30 PM OR ANYTIME WEEKENDS SELECT ONE OF THE OPTION NUMBERS BELOW. 1. MAKE A NEW GENERAL LEDGER AND ASSIGN ACCOUNT TITLES. 2. IDENTIFY SELECTED ACCOUNT NUMBERS THAT ARE IN THE NEW GENERAL LEDGER AND IDENTIFY YOUR BUSINESS NAME. 3. ASSIGN BEGINNING DOLLAR AMOUNTS TO NEW GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTS. 4. START THIS YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER FROM LAST YEAR'S GENERAL LEDGER. 5. GO TO THE DAILY MENU. 6. STOP ALL CPA-LEDGER PROCESSING AND RETURN CONTROL TO PC-DOS. WHICH OPTION NUMBER DO YOU SELECT? _ (C) COPYRIGHT 1986, 1988, 1989 TRONOLONE & FOSTER, PC Note: At the top of the screen, the "version" will be for "Hard Disk Only", "2 Floppy Disk Drives" or "Hard and Floppy Disk". The Business Type will be "Corporations", "Partnerships", or "Proprietorships". For the remainder of this manual, the assistance information, version, and business type will not be shown, even thought they do appear on the screen. Also, see Chapters 18 and 19 for partnership and sole proprietorship processing. To start a COMPLETELY new general ledger, You MUST use Options 1 & 2 in consecutive order. (It is not REQUIRED that you use Option 3 - use it if you wish to start your general ledger with beginning values.) To start a general ledger from the one used last year, use Option 4 ONLY and DO NOT use Options 1, 2, or 3. (If you have the public domain version, you do not have Option 4.) If you use Option 1, CPA-LEDGER prints a complete list of general ledger accounts, with account numbers. Refer to the account numbers are the input for Options 2 and 3. It is not necessary to use Options 1, 2, and 3 during one continuous session. You may use Option 1 today, Option 2 tomorrow, and Option 3 the following day. But remember, use Option 1 first, Option 2 second, and (if you use it) Option 3 last. SETUP OPTION 1. This option asks for the (1) number of, and (2) titles of new accounts to be included in the general ledger. Give the number of accounts that you need, but do not include extras. CPA-LEDGER will request 8 account titles for the number of accounts that you indicate. For example, if you indicate that you want five accounts under the Balance Sheet classification Current Assets, CPA-LEDGER will request five account titles. (Don't worry, CPA-LEDGER automatically adds extra accounts for future expansion.) Be very careful while entering account titles and other information. Your input is displayed for your final review and approval before it is added to the general ledger. However, once your input is added to the general ledger, you cannot use CPA-LEDGER for correcting mistakes - such as a misspelled account title. (If we gave you that capability, someone else could make changes that you might not want made. Think about it!) After you have given all of your input, Option 1 prints a complete list of general ledger accounts that you entered. Review the list very carefully and note any input errors. As mentioned above, you cannot use CPA-LEDGER to correct any mistakes. But, you can correct them with the following procedure: . Completely erase your data files. (Do this by returning to the SETUP menu and selecting Option 1 again. Before setting up your new general ledger, Option 1 erases any old general ledger files. Remember this at the beginning of each year - if your use SETUP Option 1 without backing up your old general ledger, you will not be able to recover your previous year's general ledger files.) . Correctly answer all questions asked by Option 1. The correct listing from SETUP Option 1 is to be used while running SETUP Option 2, described below. SETUP OPTION 2. Several of the CPA-LEDGER computer programs need information that does not change from month to month. An example is your business name. Every time a financial statement is prepared, CPA-LEDGER needs to know your business name so it can be printed at the top of the page. One way to handle this type of problem is to ask you to enter the name every time CPA-LEDGER needs it. But there is a better and easier way. And, that is the purpose of Option 2. Option 2 asks you to enter several account numbers and your business name. (If you have the partnership version of CPA-LEDGER, you will also be asked to identify how profits/losses are to be allocated to the partners. See Chapter 18.) CPA-LEDGER permanently stores your input in its memory and automatically fetches it, at a later time, when needed. 9 Information needed for this option is shown in the printed output from SETUP Option 1. REMEMBER THIS - IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE IN USING OPTION 2, YOU MAY USE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL YOUR INPUT IS WHAT IT SHOULD BE. CPA-LEDGER will ask you about your intentions if you start to use Option 2 for the second, third, etc., time. Then, it processes according to your instructions. SETUP OPTION 3. Option 3 assigns dollar values to accounts that you identified in Option 1. Don't worry. CPA-LEDGER makes sure that your debits equal your credits. It will not let you start your electronic books unless dollar debits equal dollar credits. Information needed for this option is in the printed output from SETUP Option 1. SETUP OPTION 4. This Option is used in LIEU of Options 1, 2 and 3. NEVER, NEVER use Options 1, 2, 3, AND 4. Either use Options 1, 2, and 3 OR Option 4. Option 4 uses last year's general ledger balances to start a new general ledger for the current year. SO, BEFORE IT CAN BE USED, YOU M-U-S-T HAVE A GENERAL LEDGER ALREADY ESTABLISHED. Option 4 merely uses the account titles and values to (1) close your books and to (2) start the new general ledger for the coming year. AN OVERVIEW OF THE "DAILY" MENU. The DAILY menu is for your daily work. Use it AFTER you have selected and executed Options 1, 2, and 3 of the SETUP menu. "DAILY" provides functions such as adding daily transactions to your electronic books, listing the bank deposits and checks written, printing a trial balance and the financial statements, and analyzing the financial statements. To start the DAILY menu type this at your keyboard - RUN "DAILY" (RUN "B:DAILY" if you have the two floppy disk version). In a few seconds, the DAILY menu will appear on your computer screen: 10 CPA-LEDGER DAILY MENU SELECT ONE OF THE OPTION NUMBERS BELOW. 1. ENTER NEW TRANSACTIONS IN THE GENERAL LEDGER - NOT AUTOMATIC. SEE NBR. 10. 2. PRINT AN UNADJUSTED TRIAL BALANCE. 3. PRINT FINANCIAL STATEMENT(S) 4. PRINT TRANSACTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN POSTED TO THE GENERAL LEDGER. 5. PRINT GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTS WITH DETAILS OF ALL DEBITS AND ALL CREDITS. 6. PRINT BANK DEPOSITS AND CHECKS WRITTEN (CHECK REGISTER). 7. PRINT GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTS AND THEIR BALANCES. 8. ADD NEW ACCOUNTS TO THE GENERAL LEDGER. 9. PRINT A POST-CLOSING TRIAL BALANCE. 10 ENTER NEW TRANSACTIONS IN THE GENERAL LEDGER - AUTOMATIC. 11. STOP ALL CPA-LEDGER PROCESSING AND RETURN CONTROL TO PC-DOS. WHICH OPTION NUMBER DO YOU SELECT? _ (C) COPYRIGHT 1986, 1988, 1989 TRONOLONE & FOSTER, PC You may select any of the above options, in any order desired. A brief summary of each option follows. DAILY OPTION 1. Option 1 is used to enter daily transactions in the general ledger. It is also used to enter adjusting entries in the general ledger prior to preparing financial statements. CPA-LEDGER uses these transactions and adjustments to prepare all printed reports, such as a trial balance, a balance sheet, and a check register. Here is a point that you should remember. As mentioned above, Option 1 is used to enter adjusting entries in the general ledger. DO NOT USE OPTION 1 TO ENTER CLOSING ENTRIES! CPA-LEDGER DOES THAT FOR YOU, AUTOMATICALLY. REMEMBER, USE CPA-LEDGER FOR RECORDING DAILY TRANSACTIONS AND ADJUSTING ENTRIES ONLY. CPA-LEDGER AUTOMATICALLY PREPARES THE CLOSING ENTRIES. Appendix D discusses adjusting and closing entries. Our experience has proved the wisdom of entering transactions (some call it "posting") in the accounting records as soon as possible after they occur. They are fresh, details are still clear, and it is easier to decide which accounts are involved. Develop a habit of using Option 1 on a regular basis, daily if possible. 11 DAILY OPTION 2. Option 2 prints a general ledger unadjusted trial balance. Do not confuse 2 with Option 9. An Option 2 trial balance is one that shows the status of all accounts BEFORE adjusting and closing entries are posted to the general ledger. An Option 9 trial balance, on the other hand, is one that is prepared after posting all adjusting and closing entries. Use Option 2 anytime you want to review your general ledger accounts and to determine their current balances. Likely, you will want to do this at the end of each month. DAILY OPTION 3. Use Option 3 whenever you want an financial statement(s). If you order Balance Sheet capability from Tronolone & Foster, you will have two options for financial statements: 1. Print an Income Statement, a Balance Sheet & a ratio analysis of the statements. The Income Statement is printed first, followed by footnotes to the Income Statement, followed by the Balance Sheet, followed by footnotes to the Balance Sheet, and, finally, followed by a ratio analysis of the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet. Also, statement(s) of partners'/owner's capital are printed if you have the partnership or proprietorship versions of CPA-LEDGER. 2. Print an Income Statement for any month or consecutive series of months. The statement is followed by footnotes to the Income Statement. In almost all cases, adjusting entries are needed before preparing financial statements. Unless you have advanced bookkeeping knowledge, you may wish to follow this procedure in preparing financial statements IF, AND ONLY IF, ADJUSTING ENTRIES ARE TO BE POSTED TO THE GENERAL LEDGER. . Return to PC-DOS and copy of your data files onto a blank diskette or a different area (another directory\subdirectory) of your hard disk. All data files have an extension of ".FIL". . Return to BASICA and then to CPA-LEDGER, as previously explained in Chapter 1, to post the adjusting entries. . Then, (1) prepare your financial statement(s) and (2) copy the unaltered files (the ones you copied) back to the disk used for your general ledger files. By saving your data files and copying them back to the disk used for your general ledger files, the general ledger data that you use from 12 day-to-day will be unaltered by the adjusting entries. If you DO NOT post adjusting entries, there is no need to follow this procedure. If you have advanced bookkeeping knowledge, there is a way to record, say, monthly adjustments, but this procedure is beyond the scope of this User's Manual. See your local CPA. DAILY OPTION 4. Option 4 is for selecting and printing transactions that you previously added (posted) to the accounts. You can select transactions based on dates, account numbers, dollar amounts, check numbers, or document numbers. Or, you can print all transactions. The choice is yours. This capability comes in handy if you want to review a previously entered transaction. An example might be to determine which entries were made on a particular date. Or, you might want to know if a check has been posted to the records. The list is endless. Whatever your reason, CPA-LEDGER will scan the entire general ledger and search for the transaction. If found, it will be printed, exactly as you entered it, with account titles. DAILY OPTION 5. Use this option whenever you want to review a particular general ledger account. The printout shows every transaction that either increased or decreased the account balance. You can limit the printout to any period you wish - a month or a range of months. Or, if you wish, the printout will be for all transactions regardless of when they were entered in the system. DAILY OPTION 6. Option 6 prints a complete list of all transactions that have either increased or decreased your bank account(s). Each bank account is treated separately, with a separate printout. Like Option 5, you can limit the printout to any period you wish - a month, a range of months, or the entire accounting period. This option may be used for several purposes. For example, you may use it to assist in preparing your bank reconciliation. Or, perhaps you will need to determine if a particular check or deposit has been entered in the system. DAILY OPTION 7. Option 7 prints a complete listing of general ledger accounts. The 13 listing includes ALL accounts - including those that are not currently in use (inactive accounts). If you want to add another account to the general ledger, get the account number from an Option 7 printout. Then use that account number in Option 8. As you will see from the printout, CPA-LEDGER automatically adds account numbers for your future use. DAILY OPTION 8. Use this option whenever you want to add an account to the general ledger. Get the account number from Option 7. CPA-LEDGER will ask you for the new account title and will inquire whether the account normally has a debit or a credit balance. Be careful in entering this information. Your input is displayed for your review and approval. However, once you approve your input, there is no CPA-LEDGER provision for subsequent corrections. So, be careful. Make sure that your input is absolutely correct before you tell CPA-LEDGER to use it in setting up a new account. There is only one possible way to correct a mistake that is introduced through using Option 8. It is painful, but here it is: . Go to PC-DOS and erase your data disk. These data files are of no further value and will not be used again. . Get the latest backup of your data files. The backup will be updated (below) and be used as the original data files. . Copy the backup data files onto your regular data disk. . Return to BASICA (by typing BASICA at your keyboard) and then use to CPA-LEDGER (by typing RUN "DAILY" at your keyboard). Use Option 1 and the backup data files to reenter all transactions that were on the erased data files but not on the backup copy. . Use Option 8 again - this time being careful not to make a mistake. . Do not forget to backup your new data files. The more that you use microcomputers, the more you will come to understand the IMPORTANCE of FREQUENT (repeat, FREQUENT) BACKUPS. We could have provided an option in CPA-LEDGER for correcting previous input. However, that opens the door to potential problems and it destroys the audit trail built into the system. We decided that it would be much better to tell you to be careful while using Option 8. 14 Consult with your local CPA. He or she will inform you about the importance of a clear and uninterrupted audit trail. DAILY OPTION 9. Use Option 9 at the end of the year, AFTER Option 1 has been used to enter the adjusting entries and AFTER all formal financial statements have been prepared. The information shown in the Option 9 printout is used as a basis for starting a new general ledger for the coming year IF you do not wish to use Option 4 of the SETUP menu. (Appendix D contains more details about accounts to be included in your new general ledger.) DAILY OPTION 10. Use Option 10 to automatically post transactions to your general ledger. Automatic posting falls into two categories. . Those transactions that you save and that do not change from month to month. . The final debit or credit of a long transaction. For example, assume that you frequently have a long list of debits, with one credit to your bank account. Enter your debits and tell CPA-LEDGER to sum the amounts already entered and credit the bank. The credit to the bank is automatic. All you do is to tell CPA-LEDGER to "Quit". Option 1 has a similar capability, but you must enter the bank account number. In Option 10, everything is automatic. This gives you flexibility. Want to enter the bank account yourself, with the rest being automatic? OK. Use Option 1. Want CPA-LEDGER to do that for you? OK again. Use Option 10. DAILY OPTION 11. Option 11 returns control to PC-DOS. This is the ONLY way that you should discontinue CPA-LEDGER's processing. NEVER, NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, STOP CPA-LEDGER BY PRESSING THE "Ctrl-Break" KEYS! Always allow CPA-LEDGER to process completely and to return you to the DAILY menu. BACKING UP YOUR DATA FILES. Each time you use Options 1, 8 or 10 BE SURE to make a duplicate copy of your data files. Frequent backups are very important. Your PC-DOS manual contains details on how to make the backups. The data files have an extension of ".FIL" (without the quotes).