Atkinson Accountancy are proud to present

Atkinson Accountancy Cashbook Free Version (Beta)

Below are the instrructions that accompany the Atkinson Accountancy Cashbook

This particular version is for VAT free limited companies (although the chart of accounts can be adjusted to partnership or soletrader accounting needs

Other version coming soon are quarterly VAT cashbook, flat rate VAT cashbook, quarterly non-VAT cashbook and the annual VAT cashbook

The cashbook provides journal facilities so that accruals based accounting and VAT can be undertaken

Download

If you would like to download a test of this software please click on the button below (will open a pop-up window - please check your browser allows you to do this)

Requirements

• Microsoft Windows
• You will need Microsoft excel (2003 or higher) and the ability to add Analysis Toolkit

Introduction

Atkinson Accountancy Cashbook is an advanced, feature rich, highly flexibly excel based electronic cash book

This cashbook is Sage compatible for easy migration of accounting systems

Key features

• VAT Return input figure calculation
• Includes Journals
• Multiple bank accounts
• Multiple bank accounts bank reconcipation
• Flexible account naming
• Trial Balance calculation for ease of year end and management accounts preparation
• Multiple VAT rates and changing VATs
• Numerous checks and balances to help ensure you don't make any mistakes and make accounting simple

Who its for

This book should be sufficient for uncomplicated accounting requirements, typical of requirements of many small business

You should discuss your accounting requirements with your accountant who will be able to advise you on whether this product is suitable for your needs

If you wish to have a no-obligation chat about your requirements please contact us

Whilst you will not need detailed knowledge of accounting to use this product, users are strongly advised to famiparise themselves with the principles of book-keeping and knowledge of VAT is advised. You are fully responsible for the VAT return and are advised to seek professional help with respect to this matter

Setup

Before you open the Cashbook, please make sure that you have the analysis toolkit addon installed and enable macros

You will be prompted for your business details on initial setup and your unlock key. The program will then store your details from which your cashbook will base its transactions on

The sheets in Cashbook can be accessed from the Cash Book menu above the tool bar

You should also visit the chart of accounts. This is where you pick the account codes you wish to use in the programme

You can update this at any point although cells should be changed individually - no drag and drop or multiple highlights as this will cause an error!

If you are using a VAT version of Cashbook then you should check that the VAT rates and dates are correct for your business

Input cells

There are essentially two types of cells input and report cells. Input cells are in pale yellow and are the only cells that can be edited

Suppliers and customers

Before inputing you cash records you must first input details of your customers and suppliers

Wages and other 'non-invoiced' 'suppliers' should also be input in this section

It is permissable to also have 'bulk' accounts such as 'cash purchases' or 'sundry sales customers'

Cashbook

Creating a receipt

Creating a receipt is a simple process. Click on the Cashbook menu and navigate to the period you want -> Receipts

Enter the date of the transaction

If you are using a version of the cashbook that uses periods (Q1, Q2 etc..) and also accounts for VAT the date function is important to ensure that transactions are reported in the correct period and are assigned the correct rate of VAT. Errors are highpghted to the left of this cell

pick the customer from the dropdown menu in the customer cell

There is no requirement to input a reference code but it is recommended as good practice

The cashcode is a very important cell. You should pick which bank account the funds are being received in. This means you can reconcile multiple bank accounts and do bank to bank transfers

If you do a bank to bank transfer (ie from one of your accounts to another of your accounts) be sure to IMMEDIATELY fill in the other side - otherwise it may get missed!

The next cell tells Cashbook where to analyse the transaction. The accounts avaiable are editable in the chart of accounts sheet

Fill in the method of payment from the dropdown menu

VAT type will automatically calculate the VAT of the invoice at the prevailing rate (ensure you have the date correct)

If you are receiving a VAT rebate then this will assign 100% of the entry to the VAT account

You are recommended, for invoices of differing VAT types (say zero and standard rated) to input these as separate items

However, you can override the VAT charged although this is not recommended and advice should be sought before doing so

With respect to reconciling the bank account, see "Bank Reconciliation"

Should you have more than 10 lines you can create further pnes by cpcking on the "add 10 lines" button

Creating a payment

This is a very similar process to creating a reciept

Reconciling the bank accounts

Cashbook has a clever facility to aid you reconciling the bank accounts

Go to Cash Balances and input the bank balance at the end of the period

You will see the reconciling balance

Go back to the cashbook and tick off the items in the Cashbook (check the reconcilled box)

Return to Cash Balances and check

You should see the total outstanding payments and receipts that the cashbook is showing but not the bank

These are reconciling items and should be investigated

Once the above have been reconciled the balance outstanding represents payments and receipts in the bank accounts, not yet entered in the Cashbook

These are often bank charges, bank intest, direct debtits and standing orders

Input these from the bank statement to the Cashbook and mark as reconciled

When all items are reconciled you will get a green message showing that it is so on the right hand side

VAT return

Cashbook will mechanically feed through the VAT data to the VAT sheet.

Ensuring that the Chart of Accounts is set up correctly is essential in this respect and you should seek professional advice from your accountant

The VAT return is on a cash basis, so if you are on the Cash Accounting Scheme then this will be sufficient

If you are on the accruals VAT scheme then you need to make adjustments for invoices issued and received but not yet paid and the reverse adjustment from the start of the month

Other specific VAT items may need to be adjusted for such as VAT recoverable on new vehicles. If in doubt, seek advice - your VAT return is your responsibility, not ours!

Also note: ANY JOURNAL ENTRIES DO NOT FEED THROUGH TO THE VAT RETURN - YOU MUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS FOR THESE HERE AS WELL

Journals

Uniquely amongst the cashbooks that we have seen available, our Cashbook allows you to make journal entries

TB

There are two sorts of trial balance in the Cash-Book - The period end TBs and the Year End Summary TB

These are just output pages but are useful for the preparation of year end accounts

Chart of accounts

The general chart of accounts is created to mimick Sage's own chart of accounts. Should you ever wish to upgrade to Sage, the accounts should link up easily

The accounts are generally set-up however you can rename accounts as you wish. This should be done sparingly so that categorisation does not become an issue

Check the "Use" cell if you wish to use that particular accounts

Type of use has been prepared for you as we see the accounts generally being used. It affects which drop down menu the accounts apprear in.

Use in VAT is important in order to ensure that the correct figures feed through to the VAT return

Any account being used as a bank account (including petty cash) should be termed "bank and cash"