The General Ledger module is very simple to use, yet it comes with all the powerful features one would expect from a truly professional general ledger.

The main features of the general ledger include:

User defined accounting periods.
User defined length of account numbers.
User defined chart of accounts.
Handling of Budget figures for all accounts.
Handling of Last Year's data for all accounts.
Posting of transactions to past, present and future accounting periods, including last and next year's periods.
Automatic posting of standard journal entries.
Powerful report generator.
Handling of multi companies.

1.1. USER DEFINED ACCOUNT PERIODS

The user can define his own accounting periods, with total flexibility in the dates chosen and can have a maximum of 13 accounting periods in any one financial year.

1.2. USER DEFINED ACCOUNT NUMBERS

The account numbering standard can be user defined. The account numbers can be alpha numeric and can be made up of any number of characters up to a maximum of 10 characters.

1.3. USER DEFINED CHART OF ACCOUNTS

The chart of accounts is totally user defined. The system does not restrict the user with any system-defined accounts. There are three types of accounts, which are Main accounts, Control accounts and Base accounts.

Main accounts are accounts that are not controlled by any other account, and are normally used to control sections of the General Ledger such as Fixed Assets, Current Assets, Current Liabilities, Profit & Loss etc. These accounts are also Control Accounts.

Control Accounts control other accounts, and which in turn are controlled by other control accounts. The accounts that they control can either be other Control accounts or Base accounts.

Base accounts are those accounts which do not control any other account, and to which all postings are done.

The structure implemented is a branching type chart of accounts and there is no limit to the number of control accounts one can put between a Major account and a Base account. In creating the chart of accounts, it is very important that the user does some careful planning beforehand, even though the structure can be changed later on.

1.4. BUDGET FIGURES

The system handles budget figures for all base accounts. The user can enter budget figures for every base account for every period of the accounting year. All budget figures can be revised at any time during the financial year.

Budget figures for the current year, previous year and next year are maintained by the system. There is a spreadsheet interface to load, unload and manipulate the budget figures using a spreadsheet program.

1.5. LAST YEAR'S FIGURES

For comparative purposes the system keeps a record of all last year's data for the different accounting periods for all accounts.

1.6. POSTING OF TRANSACTIONS

The system allows the user to post to past accounting periods within the same accounting year and last year, he can post to current accounting periods in the normal way, and he can also choose to post to future periods within the same accounting year and next year.

When a user posts to past accounting periods all the balances carried forward to the current period will be automatically adjusted. Obviously any management accounts reports, which had been printed for these past periods, will have to be printed again if the user intends to keep correct records.

When a user posts to future accounting periods, the system will post these transactions immediately and at any point the user can view the account transactions and balance as at any particular period.

1.7. AUTOMATIC POSTING OF TRANSACTIONS

The user can define any number of transactions, which can be posted automatically at the user's discretion.

The user can choose to define the account numbers only for any automatic transaction. In which case the system will prompt for the amount during the time of posting, or else the user can choose to define the amount to be posted in each account defined as part of that transaction.

1.8. REPORT GENERATION

In a general ledger system the most important feature is the report generation module. This should be a powerful module that allows the user to present results in any way he wants. Different businesses require different ways in which to highlight different aspects of the results obtained from the general ledger.

For this purpose, apart from providing a standard profit and loss account and balance sheet, we have included a function that transports all the information that one can extract from a general ledger to a spreadsheet. This function prepares a comma-delimited file, which can be very easily imported into most commonly used spreadsheets. This file includes account numbers, account descriptions and last year, current year and budget balances for the current month and to-date for every account. Once the above information has been imported into a spreadsheet, then the power of generating any type of report is limited only by the features of the spreadsheet one is using.

Most commonly used office tools are nowadays very powerful and one can easily turn his General Ledger results into impressive graphical representations.

1.9. MULTI-COMPANY

The system is also designed to cater for any number of Companies, each of which will have to be installed by Technosoft Ltd. for a nominal charge.

The General ledger system also has a backup and restore utility that enables the user to keep up-to-date backups of the system and restore the necessary data if any hardware malfunctions occur.

Debtors Ledger

The Debtors Ledger module contains all the functions and reports for efficient and effective control of debtors' accounts.

The following are the main features that make this module powerful and at the same time user friendly:

Accounts can be kept in two currencies, that is, the base currency (usually Maltese Liri), and their original currency.
Each transaction posted will be split up into two distinct transactions, one showing the amount in base currency and another showing the amount in foreign currency. Exchange rates can be either determined globally for all transactions or else changed during the actual posting.
When payments are effected, the system automatically calculates the loss or gain on the exchange rates.
All accounts are kept as "Open Item", that is all transactions are kept on file and the balance which is carried forward from one month to the other shows the outstanding invoices in full.
All invoices and credit notes can be analysed and the monthly and yearly analysis totals can be displayed or printed.
Payments, credit notes, etc. are matched with a particular invoice or invoices that are being settled.
Payments can be either matched during the input or at any later stage.
During posting of payments, the system provides you with a very powerful facility to issue a receipt showing the amount received and the invoices, credit notes or other payments that are being matched. You can even insert your own remarks and these will be printed on the receipt.
The invoicing module provides you with free format input, however it will do all your calculations including those of VAT. For foreign currency clients the system will issue their invoices in their own currency. The layout of the invoice is according to the Maltese VAT regulations, and includes the VAT summary at the end of the document.
The invoicing module also provides the facility to issue credit notes.
Invoices can be re-printed at any time.
The general ledger is updated automatically when posting an invoice, credit note etc.
The bankbook or cashbook is also updated when posting a payment.
The user can post invoices, credit notes, etc in the past and future.
Client accounts can be divided into different groups. This is helpful for analysis and statistics.
Debtors transactions are not purged at the end of the month but can be kept on the system indefinitely or until you require more space on your hard disk.

The following are the main reports that can be issued from the Debtors Ledger Module:

User defined accounts details with various selection options.
Statements of accounts with a selection of ‘All’, ‘This Month's’ or ‘Unmatched’ transactions, either for particular or a selection of accounts.
Transactions audit report by selection.
Analysis audit report by selection.
Aged balances analysis - in base or foreign currencies.
Transactions reports by selection.
Control account.
VAT audit report & summary.

Creditors Ledger

The Creditors Ledger module contains all the functions and reports for efficient and effective control of creditors’ accounts.

The following are the main features which make the creditors ledger a powerful and at the same time user friendly system:

Users can create, amend or delete accounts.
Accounts can be kept in two currencies, that is, the base currency (usually Maltese Liri), and their original currency.
Posting of invoices, credit notes, discounts and payments together with their relevant VAT charges.
Each transaction posted will be split up into two distinct transactions, one showing the amount in base currency and another showing the amount in foreign currency. Exchange rates can be either determined globally for all transactions or else changed during the actual posting.
When payments are effected, the system automatically calculates the loss or gain on the exchange rates.
All accounts are kept as an "Open Item", that is all transactions are kept on file and the balance which is carried forward from one month to the other shows the outstanding invoices in full.
All invoices and credit notes can be analysed and the monthly and yearly analysis totals can be displayed or printed.
Payments, credit notes, etc. are matched with a particular invoice or invoices that are being settled.
Payments can be either matched during the input or at any later stage.
When invoices, credit notes etc are posted the general ledger is automatically updated.
When payments are posted the bankbook is also updated.
The user can post transaction in the past and in the future.
Creditors' accounts can be divided into different groups. This is helpful for analysis and statistics.
Creditors' transactions are not purged at the end of the month but can be kept on the system indefinitely or until you require more space on your hard disk.

The following are the main reports that can be issued from the Creditors Ledger Module:

User defined accounts details with various selection options.
Statements of accounts with a selection of ‘All’, ‘This Month's’ or ‘Unmatched’ transactions,either for particular or a selection of accounts.

Transactions audit report by selection.
Analysis audit report by selection.
Aged balances analysis - in base or foreign currencies.
Transactions reports by selection.
Control account.
VAT audit report & summary.

Bank Book

The bankbook Manager is a very powerful accounting tool, which enables the user to keep control of all the payments received and issued.

The following are the main features of the bankbook Manager:

The user can have any number of Cash and Bank accounts. All transactions posted can be analysed into a maximum of two hundred different analysis accounts.

The system handles VAT accounting in a very convenient way enabling the user to calculate the VAT content of VAT included transactions and produces the VAT totals for your periodical return.

Transactions are stored in the system according to the date of the transaction. This feature allows the user to keep track of post-dated cheques, as the payments are recorded in the proper month according to their date. Transactions entered are kept in the system indefinitely and you are able to view or print transactions or particular accounts of any particular date.

The system has special archiving facilities so that old transactions do not slow down the normal day to day operations.

Powerful features have been introduced to render the reconciliation of Bank statements of the user’s various accounts a fast and easy process.

After reconciling all the bank accounts, the user can close the month and the system will not allow any changes in order to protect all data against unauthorised access. However even though the month has been closed the analysis of transactions can still be changed by the system administrator, and this vital feature helps make life easier for accountants, who, when posting the totals to the general ledger usually come across some expenses which have been wrongly analysed. These analyses can be changed without the need of posting any contra entries, and the changes are immediately reflected in the accounting journal, which can then be re-printed with the right totals.

The following is a list of the main reports or enquiries available in the bankbook Manager:

List of Accounts Balances
Statements of Accounts
Monthly Transactions
Reconciliation Statements
Monthly Accounting Journal
Monthly Audit Report

The reports can be printed to screen, printed to file, routed to another printer or saved as a CSV file. The CSV file can then be imported from a spreadsheet application.

INVOICING

The Invoicing module enables the user to issue:

Invoices
Cash Sales

Credit Notes

Cash Returns

Items sold or returned can also be non-stocked items, such as services. The system permits the user to enter negative quantities in Invoices and Cash Sales, thus eliminating the issue of Credit Notes or Cash Returns in certain circumstances.

During the issue of an invoice the user can either use the default selling prices or enter new prices. An option also exists to give discounts – these can be either as a percentage or an amount.

As soon as the Invoice is updated, all the relevant files are updated. However, the user has the option to re-print sales documents at any later stage.

System Consistency Report

A consistency report is also available, checking if any errors occurred in the general ledger, bankbook, debtors’ ledger and creditors ledger during the posting of transactions.

All the reports can be issued for any particular month or range of months.