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PC-AR MANUAL Version 3.7 PROGRAM DESCRIPTION PC-AR is an accounts receivable and sales analysis program for small and medium size businesses. The program runs on a IBM PC or compatible computer with one disk drive and at least 256k memory. PC-AR is a user supported program. Your are encouraged to give copies to anyone who might use it. If you like the program and find it useful, please contribute $35 to: Jerry Medlin 310 S. Jefferson St. Napa, Ca. 94559 Your contribution will entitle you to a copy of the latest version of the program and a telephone number for limited telephone assistance should you require it. You will also receive a program which will allow you to customize some features of PC-AR. A complete description of the customizing program is contained at the end of this manual. The program makes liberal use of the PC's numeric key pad both for numbers and commands. You can have the Num Lock on all the time. When inputting information, the plus <+> key has the same effect as the return or enter key. Numerical information is entered "calculator style". The decimal point is placed automatically. The minus <-> key enters a negative number. This makes using the numeric key pad even easier. To run the program, simply type "PC-AR". If you want to specify a drive and path for your data just add the drive and path description after the program name. i.e. type "PC-AR B:" to use the B drive for data files. A menu is then displayed for operator selection: Enter or Change Sales Codes Enter or Change Customers Enter or Change Charges & Payments Print Mailing Labels Print Charges & Payments Listing Print Accounts Receivable Ledger Print Statements Print Sales Summary Print Customer Activity Report Apply Charges & Payments Print Customer Listing Save Data and End PC-AR is fast because it works with data in random access memory, but the capacity is limited by available memory. Available memory is shared by the data. With more customers on file, fewer charges and payments can be entered and vice-versa. PC-AR allows a maximum of 2000 customers and 2500 charges and payments per accounting period with 512k of memory. With 256k the capacity is reduced to about 200 customers and 200 charges and payments. Each time the menu is displayed, the number of charges and payments that can be added with the available memory (limited to a maximum of 2500) is printed at the bottom of the screen. If this number is less than 2500, then the number of customers that can be added can be obtained by dividing the number by 6. Since a power interruption will result in loosing all the data currently entered into the program, you should occasionally save your data back to the disk. This is done by selecting End Processing from the menu. The current data will be saved to the disk then you will be asked "Do you want to end ?". Just answer with an "N" and you may resume processing. THE PROCESSING CYCLE Accounting is done on a monthly cycle. At the end of each month all charges are added to the customer's balance and all payments are deducted from the customer's balance and the new balances are used as the starting balances for the next month. Each time the program is run, all customer data is loaded into memory. Also, any charges or payments entered since the last update are loaded into memory. When all of the charges and payments for the current month have been entered, you may begin printing reports. Reports may be printed in any order and as often as desired. If you discover an error in any of the reports you may correct the problem and reprint the report. At any time you can stop processing by choosing the End Processing selection from the menu. The last step in processing is to apply the charges and payments to customer balances. This is done by choosing the Apply Charges & Payments selection on the menu. This selection does four things: 1) Age the customer balances. All current due amounts become 30 day due, all 30 day balances become 60 day, etc. 2) Deduct the payments from the customers balance due starting with 90 day and proceeding to current due. 3) Calculate the late charge and add it to the current amount due. 4) Add the charges to the current balance. You may then proceed with the next accounting period. (month) ENTER OR CHANGE SALES CODES In addition to being an accounts receivable program, PC-AR is also a sales analysis program. Each charge or payment is posted to a sales code. The Enter or Change Sales Descriptions selection allows you to enter up to 80 of these sales codes and their corresponding descriptions. The sales description is also printed on the various reports including the statement. Just enter a three character sales code (alphabetic or numeric characters are allowed) and up to 21 characters for a description. The directions are printed at the bottom of the screen. You may add new sales descriptions and codes at any time, but don't change or delete sales codes once charges or payments have been entered. Wait until the charges and payments have been applied to customer accounts and you are ready to start a new accounting period before deleting or changing sales codes. At least one of the sales codes and its corresponding description should be for payments on account. Payments received from customers should then be posted to that code as a negative amount using the minus <-> key instead of the enter key. ENTER OR CHANGE CUSTOMERS Customer information is entered and changed using this selection from the menu. The following information is entered for each customer: Customer name - Two lines of 31 characters each are available. Customer Code - A ten character code that will be used to sort customers and also to post charges and payments to the customers account. In most cases you will want to enter the customers last name, followed by as much of the first name as will fit in the remaining characters. For instance, if the customer's name is Jerry Medlin, the customer code would be MEDLINJERR. Notice that all capital letters are used. If you enter lower case letters they will be changed to upper case automatically. Also, notice that no spaces are included. The program will prevent you from entering a previously used customer code. Street Address - Up to 31 characters for the street address. City State & Zip - Up to 31 characters for the city, state and zip code. Telephone - Up to 12 characters for the telephone number and assorted dashes. Late Charge % - Enter the desired late charge for this customer as a percentage. If you are on a monthly cycle and you wish to charge an 18% annual rate for balances overdue you would enter 1.5 (18 divided by 12 months.). If you don't want to charge late fees then press return to enter a zero. Auto Bill Amount - Dollar amounts entered here may be posted to a customers account automatically each month. Balances Due - You may enter the current balance, the 30 day balance due, the 60 day balance due, and the 90 day balance due. For new customers with no opening balances just press return to enter zero. Pressing the Escape key during entry takes you back to the previous field. Pressing the Escape key at the first name entry takes you to the command mode. The command mode allows you to scroll up and down through the customer names, delete customers, change customer information and do a quick check on the balances due for all customers. Pressing the Escape key from command mode takes you back to the menu. The acceptable commands at any point are printed at the bottom of the screen. ENTER OR CHANGE CHARGES AND PAYMENTS This selection allows you to enter charges and payments for the current period. Charge amounts are entered as positive numbers using the plus <+> or enter key and payments are entered as negative numbers using the minus <-> key (enter the number then press then minus key). Before any charges and payments can be posted you must have at least one sales description entered so that you have a sales code to post to. The following information is entered for each charge or payment: Customer Code - The 10 character code previously entered for each customer is used to post a charge or payment. You need enter only as much of the customer code necessary to distinguish it from any other code. In other words, if only one customer has a customer code beginning with MEDL then you need only enter MEDL to post to this customer. The customers name will be printed at the bottom of the screen so you can be sure you are posting to the correct customer account. If all you know is that the customers code begins with ME then just enter ME and the program will print all of the customer codes beginning with ME at the bottom of the screen. Date - Enter the date of the charge or payment as in MODA form. The date of June fourth would be entered 0604 with no dash or slash. Invoice number - Up to 5 characters for the invoice number. Alphabetic characters are allowed. Pressing the plus <+> key adds one to the previous invoice number and clears the invoice total shown at the top of the screen. Pressing <return> gives you the same invoice number as the previous line and does not change the invoice total. Sales Code - Enter one of the sales codes. Sales codes and their corresponding descriptions should be setup using the Enter or Change Sales Descriptions selection of the menu. The description will be printed at the bottom of the screen. If you don't remember the sales code enter the number 999. The program will then allow you to use the arrow keys to search through the possible sales codes. When the desired sales code appears just press return to enter it. Amount - Enter the amount of the charge or payment. Payments should be entered as a negative number. A negative number is entered by using the minus (-) key instead of the Enter key after the number is typed in. Pressing the return key on any entry except the amount, defaults to the previous value. This allows you to make multiple entries for an invoice with the same customer, date and invoice number. Pressing the plus <+> key for the invoice number increments the previous number by one. Two numbers are printed at the top right of the screen. The bottom of the two numbers is the net total of all the entries entered this accounting period. Use this number to check your input data. The top number is the total for the current invoice. This total is reset to zero each time you enter a new invoice number and should be checked against the invoice total. Pressing the Escape key during entry takes you back to the previous field. Pressing the Escape key at first entry position takes you to the command mode. The command mode allows you to scroll up and down through the entries, delete entries and change entries. From the command mode you may press the <A> Auto Bill key to automatically post the amount entered for each customer as an auto bill amount. You will be asked to enter a date and invoice number for the automatic postings. Pressing the Escape key from command mode takes you back to the menu. All the available commands are printed at the bottom of the screen and may be chosen by a single keystroke. PRINTING REPORTS The first time you choose a printed report from the menu you will be asked to enter a report date. This date will be used on all reports. If you want to change the report date you must end processing and start over, otherwise the same report date is used on all reports printed during a posting session. On some reports before you start printing you will be asked to enter a customer code. This is the starting customer for printing. Press the return key to start at the first customer. You will then be asked how many to print. Enter the number of customers you want, starting at the selected customer, or press return to print from the starting customer to the end of the list. This feature allows you to print partial reports, and is handy when your printer eats the 598th of 600 statements. When printing more than 20 statements or mailing labels, you will be asked if you want to sort the customers by zip code. If you answer Y (yes) the statements or mailing labels will be printed in zip code order. This allows you to take advantage of the cheaper bulk mailing rates. Next, you will be asked to choose if you want to print the report to the printer <P>, to the screen <S> or to a file <F>. If you choose to print to a file you will be asked for a file name. The report will then be saved as an ASCII file. These files are not readable by PC-AR, but can be viewed and changed with a text editor and used by other programs that can read ASCII files. (Like the latest version of 123). Since the report is printed to a file exactly as it would be printed to a printer, if you use LPT2 for a file name, the report would be printed to your second line printer. PRINT MAILING LABELS As long as you have all this customer information on your computer, you might as well use it to print mailing labels. You can print labels for all the customers or only one customer and you can sort them by zip code if you wish. Labels are printed on standard peel off labels with one inch spacing between labels. To align the printer, use the selection process to print a single label. PRINT CHARGES & PAYMENTS LISTING To provide an adequate audit trail, this report should be printed and retained before closing out the month. It will list all the charges and payments entered for the accounting period and the total of charges and payments. PRINT ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE LEDGER This report prints each customer's opening balance, all charges and payments for that customer, any late charges applied and the closing balance. It should be printed and retained. Since PC-AR is a "balance forward" accounts receivable program, this report will be your only source of information several months from now on how a customers balance got that way. PRINT STATEMENTS Customer statements are printed on a common statement form. The form may be ordered preprinted with your company name. The following is a list of suppliers, their toll free order number and their catalog number for the preprinted statement forms you will need: NEW ENGLAND BUSINESS SVS (NEBS) 800-225-9550 Form 9060 GLOBAL COMPUTER SUPPLIES 800-645-6393 Form C2052 CHECKS TO GO 800-854-2750 Form 380-03 800-552-8817 In Calif. FORMS SERVICE INC. 800-553-5125 Form 5060 312-671-2821 In Illinois If you don't want to use forms preprinted with your name and return address you may have the program print your name and address on blank forms. To do this requires the program ARCONFIG which is available to all registered users of PC-AR. The ARCONFIG program allows you to enter your company name and address which will then be printed on plain statement forms or on plain 8 1/2 by 11 paper. To test statement alignment use the start print feature to print a single statement then adjust the alignment accordingly. PRINT SALES SUMMARY This is a listing of all charges and payments by sales category, followed by a one page listing of total sales by category. If you choose, you can omit the detailed listing, but you should print it at the end of the accounting period (month) for audit trail purposes. The last amount printed is the total of all service charges accrued during the current period. If you have a lot of customers and invoices this may cause a noticeable pause while service charges are calculated. PRINT CUSTOMER ACTIVITY REPORT The Customer Activity Report will summarize all the transactions posted to a customers account for the past 6 months. It will look at the transaction files on your disk named AR1.TRN, AR2.TRN, AR3.TRN, AR4.TRN, AR5.TRN and AR6.TRN. It will then print all the transactions made to the selected customer code. The period currently being processed will not be included unless you have completed the Apply Charges and Payments process. APPLY CHARGES AND PAYMENTS When you have printed all the reports you need and all is in order you can complete the accounting period. All charges and payments will then be applied to customer balances. Any late charges due will be added also. The customers balances will be updated to agree with the balances shown on the statements and the Accounts Receivable Ledger. The charges and payments will then be saved so that later you may review all the transactions posted to an account for the past six months using the Print Customer Activity Report selection of the menu. PRINT CUSTOMER LISTING This report is a printout of all customer information on file including aging information. The balances shown do not reflect any charges or payments made since the last accounting period ended. Only the Apply Charges & Payments selection actually changes customer balances. EXPORT CUSTOMER DATA This selection will create a file on the logged drive and subdirectory called PC-PR.PRN which can be read by programs like Lotus 123 and Reflex. Textual data in the customer file will be surrounded by quotation marks. You can then read the data into Lotus 123 by using the /File/Import/Numbers command. Be sure that no names or addresses in your customer file contain quotation marks before trying to export customer data. SAVE DATA AND END When processing is completed you must exit the program using this selection. Do not end processing by just turning off the computer, you will lose any data entered since the last save operation. If you just want to save the current data to the disk without ending, you may answer "N" to the question "Do you want to end processing?" and you will be returned to the menu. USING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM The configuration program (ARCONFIG.COM) is provided free to all registered users. It allows you to change certain features of PC-AR. The ARCONFIG.COM program and the main program (PC-AR.COM) should both be on the same disk drive when you configure your copy of PC-AR. Just run the program by typing ARCONFIG at the Dos prompt. Use the up and down arrows to move the pointer and then press <C> to change an item. You will be allowed to change the following information: Display Colors - If you have a color adapter and monitor, you can change the colors for screen borders, program prompts, data, and background. Allowable colors are from 0 to 15 except for background color which can only be from 0 to 7. The display will be instantly updated as you enter the new colors. Laser Printer? - You will also be able to change the way PC-AR starts a new page. Usually, PC-AR starts a new page by counting lines until the page total equals 66 lines. If you enter a "Y" for the laser printer question, PC-AR will start a new page by issuing a form feed command. This would work just fine on most other printers too, but requires that you set the top of form before you start printing. Disk Drive and Path - Enter a drive and path designation for PC-AR data. If you want the program to read data from the B drive just enter B:. Months to Save - The PC-AR program saves charges and payments on your data disk for later review with the Customer Activity Report. Normally the paid invoices for the previous six months are saved. You may modify this number to be anywhere from zero to 16 months. Remember, the more months data you save, the more room you need on the data disk and the more time it will take to review a vendor's activity. Plain Paper Statement - If you change this to a "Y", statements can be printed on plain 8 1/2 x 11 paper. A "N" answer will print on pre printed 6 1/2 x 7 forms. The default setting is "N". Statement Heading - If your company name and address is not pre printed on the statement forms, you may enter up to 5 lines for a statement heading. Statement Footer Message - You can enter a message to be printed at the bottom of the statement form. This is a good place to enter your payment terms, or a short advertising message. When you have finished making your changes, press the escape key to exit the program. You will then be asked if you want to save the changes. If you answer with a Y, both the configuration program and PC-GL will be changed until you run the configuration program again. VERSION 3.0 CONVERSION If you are changing from version 2.xx to version 3.0 you will need to convert your customer data. A program called CONVERT.COM is available for that purpose and is free to all registered users. Just run the program and follow the directions on the screen. HELPFUL HINTS The escape key is always used to go back to the previous operation. From anywhere in the program if you continue to press the escape key you will eventually return to the main menu. When printing reports you may pause the printing by pressing any key. To resume printing press any key again. To quit printing press the escape key after pausing. Each customer must have a unique customer code for posting. If you insist on using numbers, the program won't object. You should at least try the method suggested earlier in the manual. Use a customer code made up of the customers last name plus as much of the first name as the 10 character limit will allow. Jane Smith would then have a code of SMITHJANE (Notice that there are no spaces). This method allows rapid posting of invoices without looking up customer numbers. The searching method allows you to quickly examine the codes for all of the Smiths by just typing SMITH when asked for a code. The first 6 times you start a new accounting period more disk space is required for historical files. If you have a large business and you are using floppy disks for data storage, you could run out of disk space. Check available disk space with Dos's DIR command occasionally. PC-AR is written in Turbo Pascal. The source code is available for $95.