Business Assistant/Business Assistant.iso/acctg/pc_ar3_8/pc-ar.doc

Text File | 1988-09-17 | 26KB | 601 lines

                          PC-AR MANUAL
                          Version 3.8


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 Shareware program.  You 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
               P.O. Box 357 Dept:MSG
               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 3000 charges and
payments per month 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 is printed at the bottom of the
screen.  The number may be limited by either disk space or
memory available and is subject to a maximum of 3000.  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 month.

     It is important to remember that the APPLY CHARGES AND
PAYMENTS selection from the menu is not something you do after
each posting session, only at the end of the 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 200 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 month 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 an