Copy your Favourites to a new location

Within Sage 50 Accounts you can add reports you use frequently to a list of favourites. This means you can run those reports straight from the Favourites menu rather than browsing to the relevant reports area.

The reports listed in the Favourites menu are stored in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\USER NAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Sage\Sage Report Designer 2007\SageLine50vxx, where USER NAME is the user name logged in on the PC and xx is the version of the Sage 50 Accounts software. This folder is not automatically backed up with your Sage data, and therefore, if you reinstall Sage 50 Accounts on a new PC and restore the data, the Favourites are not recreated automatically. Also, as the Favourites list is stored in the local settings directory for the user name, if a different user logs in on a PC they will not automatically see the Favourites created by the first user.

To ensure that your Favourites list appears, you can create a new Favourites list or copy a Favourites list from another PC or user name.

To copy the Favourites folder from another PC or PC user

To follow the steps in this section, Windows must be set to display hidden files and folders. To do this, open My Computer, open the Tools menu then choose Folder Options. Click the View tab, within the Advanced settings pane select the Show hidden files and folders option, click Apply then click OK.

Windows Vista - To display the Tools menu, press the left Alt key.

On the PC from which you want to copy the Favourites folder, open My Computer.

Windows Vista - Open Computer.

The My Computer window appears.

Browse to the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Sage\Sage Report Designer 2007\SageLine50vxx

Windows Vista - Browse to the folder C:\Users\USERNAME\Local Settings\Sage\Report Designer 2007\SageLine50vxx

Note: USERNAME refers to the user name of the person who set up the Favourites list and vxx refers to the version number of your Sage 50 Accounts software, for example v15. To check the version number, within Sage 50 Accounts open the Help menu and choose About.

The Favourites folder appears.
Right-click the Favourites folder then choose Copy.
The Favourites folder and its contents are copied to the Windows clipboard.

Browse to a shared area on your network, or to a portable storage drive such as a USB pen, then right-click and choose Paste.
The Favourites folder is pasted to the shared drive or storage drive.

On the new PC, open My Computer, browse to the shared network drive or the storage device and double-click the Favourites folder.

Note: If you are copying the Favourites from one user name to another on one PC, this step is on the same PC as the previous steps.

The contents of the folder appear.
Open the Edit menu and choose Select All, then open the Edit menu and choose Copy.
Windows Vista - To display the Edit menu, press the left Alt key.
The contents of the Favourites folder are copied to the Windows clipboard.

Browse to the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Sage\Sage Report Designer 2007\SageLine50vxx\Favourites

Windows Vista - Browse to the folder C:\Users\USERNAME\Local Settings\Sage\Report Designer 2007\SageLine50vxx\Favourites

Note: USERNAME refers to the user name of the person who requires the copy of the Favourites list and vxx refers to the version number of your Sage 50 Accounts software, for example v15. To check the version number, within Sage 50 Accounts open the Help menu and choose About.

The Favourites folder opens.

Note: If the Favourites folder is missing, to create a folder, right-click and choose New then choose Folder. Rename the folder to Favourites then to open the folder, double-click it.

Open the Edit menu and choose Paste.
Windows Vista - To display the Edit menu, press the left Alt key.
The report files are pasted into the Favourites folder.

To close My Computer and return to the Windows desktop, open the file menu and choose Exit.
You have now copied the Favourites to a new PC or new user name and the Favourites list is now accessible within Sage 50 Accounts.

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Posted in: favourites

How to merge Sage 50 Accounts 2009 data with Microsoft Word

To create a new Microsoft Word document from within Sage Accounts
Open the relevant module, for example, Customers then select the records to be exported to Microsoft Word.
The selected records are highlighted.
From the File menu, choose Office Integration, Contents to Microsoft Word, then choose New Document.

A new Microsoft Word document opens.
Complete the Microsoft Word document, adding your Sage Accounts fields as detailed below:

To view the list of fields that can be used, from the Microsoft Word toolbar, click Insert Merge Field.

A drop-down list appears, displaying all of the Sage Accounts fields that can be merged with Microsoft Word.

Note: The fields available to merge are from the Customer or Supplier Records and are not transactional.

To insert a field, place your cursor at the relevant place on the document then from the Insert Merge Field drop-down list choose the required field.

Once completed, your document appears with the fields that are to be updated during the mail merge appearing in brackets, for example,

To save the document, from the File menu, choose Save As, browse to the required location, enter a file name then click Save.

You have now created and saved a new Microsoft Word document and inserted the required Sage fields.

To open and edit an existing Microsoft Word document via Sage Accounts

Open the relevant module, for example, Customers then select the records to be exported to Microsoft Word.

The selected records are highlighted.

From the File menu, choose Office Integration, Contents to Microsoft Word, then choose Open Document.

The Open window appears.

From the Open window, browse to and select the document that you want to open, then click Open.

If your document does not contain merge fields, this is the only document that opens. If your document already contains merge fields then both the template and the merged document open.
Close the merged document.

The template appears.

Amend the template as required, adding your Sage Accounts fields as detailed below:

To view the list of fields that can be used, from the Microsoft Word toolbar, click Insert Merge Field.

A drop-down list appears, displaying all of the Sage Accounts fields that can be exported to Microsoft Word.

Note: The fields available to merge are from the Sage Accounts records and are not transactional.

To insert a field, place your cursor at the relevant point on the document, then from the Insert Merge Field drop-down list, choose the required field.

Once completed your document appears with the fields that are to be updated during the mail merge appearing in brackets, for example, balance.

To save the document, open the File menu, choose Save As then browse to the required location for the document, enter the required file name and then click Save.

You have now edited an existing Microsoft Word document and added the relevant Sage Accounts fields.

To merge your Sage Accounts data into Microsoft Word

Open the relevant module, for example, Customers then select the records to be exported to Microsoft Word.

The records are highlighted.

Open the File menu and choose Office Integration, Contents to Microsoft Word, then choose Run Mail Merge.

The Open window appears.

From the Open window, browse to and select the Microsoft Word document that you want to open.

The Mail Merge runs based on the selected records and the selected Microsoft Word document.

When the Mail Merge is complete, two documents open. The first is the mail merged document, and the second is the template on which the document is based.

To save the merged document, open the File menu, choose Save As then browse to the required location for the document, enter the required file name and then click Save.

The document saves.

To close the document, open the File menu then choose Exit.

The document closes.

To close the template, open the File menu then choose Exit and when prompted to save the changes, click Yes.

You have successfully completed the mail merge and created the required documents.

This small tutorial is submitted by MSF Associates Limited, if you are interested to send me some tutorial of sage line 50 with your firms name I am happy to do on this blog.

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Posted in: merging,office,word

How to account for the decrease in the standard rate of VAT - Standard VAT scheme

From 1 December 2008, the standard rate of VAT will decrease from 17.5% to 15%. This article explains how this change affects Sage Accounts and what you need to do.

To change the VAT rate in Sage Accounts

Note: You should make this change on 1 December 2008.

Open the Settings menu, choose Configuration then click the Tax Codes tab. Sage Accounts v9 and below - Open the Settings menu then choose Tax Codes. The tax code information appears.

Select T1 then click Edit.

Note: If you use a different tax code for your standard rate of VAT, select the relevant tax code then click Edit.

The Edit Tax Code window appears. Enter 15 in the Rate box then click OK. The Edit Tax Codes window closes.

To apply the change, and return to the Sage Accounts desktop, click Apply then click Close.

Sage Instant Accounts v14 - Click Save then click Close. You have successfully changed the standard rate of VAT.

Sage Accounts applies the new rate of VAT to any new transactions that use this tax code. All existing transactions remain unchanged at the old rate of VAT.

To edit existing invoices and orders

Open the Customers module then from the Links pane click Invoice List. The Invoicing window appears. Double-click the required invoice. The invoice appears displaying the relevant items.

Click in the Description column of the first item that uses the standard rate of VAT then press F3 on your keyboard.

The Edit Item Line window appears. From the Tax Code drop-down list, choose the standard rate tax code.

Note: Although the correct tax code already appears in this box, to recalculate the VAT amount you must select the tax code again. The VAT amount recalculates using the new rate of VAT.

To close the Edit Item Line window, click OK. Repeat steps 3 - 5 for any other standard rated items on the invoice. To save your changes and return to the Invoicing window, click Save then click Close.

You have successfully updated the VAT amounts on the invoice. If required, repeat the process for any other invoices that need to be updated.

To credit an invoice at the old VAT rate

1. Open the Settings menu, choose Configuration then click the Tax Codes tab. Sage Accounts v9 and below - Open the Settings menu and choose Tax Codes. The tax code information appears.
   
   
2. Select the first tax code that is not in use then click Edit. The Edit Tax Code window appears.
   
   
3. Complete the Edit Tax Code window as follows then click OK.
   
   

   Rate	Enter 17.5 in this box.
   Include in VAT return	Select this check box.
   Reverse Charge	Do not select this check box.
   EC Code	Do not select this check box.
   Description	Old standard VAT rate.

   
   The Edit Tax Codes window closes.
   
   
4. To apply the change, and return to the Sage Accounts desktop, click Apply then click Close.
   

You have successfully created a new tax code for the old standard rate of VAT.

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Posted in: VAT

How to account for the decrease in the standard rate of VAT - VAT Cash Accounting

From 1 December 2008, the standard rate of VAT will decrease from 17.5% to 15%. This article explains how this change affects Sage Accounts and what you need to do.

This article only applies to the VAT Cash Accounting Scheme.

To change the VAT rate in Sage Accounts

Note: You should make this change on 1 December 2008. Under the VAT Cash Accounting scheme, the VAT on customer receipts and supplier payments calculates automatically based on the invoice.

Open the Settings menu, choose Configuration then click the Tax Codes tab. Sage Accounts v9 and below - Open the Settings menu then choose Tax Codes. The tax code information appears.

Select T1 then click Edit.

Note: If you use a different tax code for your standard rate of VAT, select the relevant tax code then click Edit.

The Edit Tax Code window appears.

Enter 15 in the Rate box then click OK.

The Edit Tax Codes window closes.

To apply the change, and return to the Sage Accounts desktop, click Apply then click Close.

Tip: If you are prompted to save your changes, click No.

Sage Instant Accounts v14 - Click Save then click Close.

You have successfully changed the standard rate of VAT.

Sage Accounts applies the new rate of VAT to any new transactions that use this tax code. All existing transactions remain unchanged at the old rate of VAT.

To edit existing invoices and orders

Open the Customers module then from the Links pane click Invoice List. The Invoicing window appears. Double-click the required invoice. The invoice appears displaying the relevant items.

Click in the Description column of the first item that uses the standard rate of VAT then press F3 on your keyboard.

Tip: For service invoices, click in the Details column then press F3. The Edit Item Line window appears. From the Tax Code drop-down list, choose the standard rate tax code.

Note: Although the correct tax code already appears in this box, to recalculate the VAT amount you must select the tax code again.

The VAT amount recalculates using the new rate of VAT. To close the Edit Item Line window, click OK.

Repeat steps 3 - 5 for any other standard rated items on the invoice.

To save your changes and return to the Invoicing window, click Save then click Close.

You have successfully updated the VAT amounts on the invoice. If required, repeat the process for any other invoices that need to be updated.

To amend the VAT settings

Open the Settings menu, choose Company Preferences, then click the VAT tab. Sage Accounts v12 and below - Open the Settings menu, choose Company Preferences, then click the parameters tab.

The VAT settings appear. Select the Item VAT Amendable check box then to save your changes and return to the Sage Accounts desktop, click OK. You have successfully amended the VAT settings.

When you enter late supplier invoices at the old rate of VAT, you can manually amend the VAT amount.

To enter a credit note at the old rate of VAT, when you enter the items on the credit note, press F3 on your keyboard then manually amend the VAT amount as required.

Deposits and prepayments

This information only applies if you are using the VAT cash accounting scheme.

If you use the Payment Details tab to enter deposits or prepayments and you choose the Post as Payment on Account option, this may result in a discrepancy in the VAT Return for the period. This only applies if you click Now on the Create Payment prompt.

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Posted in: VAT

Running a year end routine

Running a year end involves many processes including producing and reconciling your reports and posting adjustments to your accounts. After running a year end routine these effect take place.

Profit and loss balances are cleared

When the Year End option is run, Sage Accounts checks all of the Chart of Accounts to establish which nominal codes are profit and loss codes. The balances, up to the end of the current financial year, on these profit and loss nominal codes are transferred to the Profit and Loss Account nominal code. This is 3200 by default and is in the Capital and Reserves section of the Chart of Accounts.

Any balances remaining on profit and loss nominal codes relate to transactions posted for the new financial year. The balance on the Profit and Loss Account nominal code is adjusted by the profit or loss from the financial year you have just closed.

Balance sheet balances are brought forward to the new financial year

The balance sheet nominal code balances are carried forward into the new financial year. These balances are transferred to the brought forward boxes on the Nominal Records, and are included in the Year To Date values on the Balance Sheet report when calculated for a date in the new financial year.

Audit trail updated

The journals posted to clear the balances from the profit and loss nominal codes are added to the audit trail. The Year End option creates a report that lists these journals and can be printed or output to file to be printed later.

Nominal Records updated

On the Nominal Record Details tab, the value of any future dated transactions is transferred from the future bucket to the relevant month on the Actual column. The Actual monthly balances for the financial year that you are closing are transferred to the Prior Year columns on the Nominal Record. This enables you to print comparison reports in the new financial year. If you select, in the Year End window, to Transfer / Copy Actuals to Budgets, the Actual monthly balances are also transferred as the Budget values for your profit and loss nominal codes for the new financial year. If specified, a percentage increase is applied. This is an optional feature of the year end.

Product Records

Sage 50 Accounts, Sage Instant Accounts Plus v8.2 and above - The Actual Sales Value and Actual Quantity Sold values in each Product Record are transferred to the Prior Year columns. Any future dated transactions are transferred to the relevant monthly field in each Product Record.

Customer and Supplier Records

The values in the YTD (Year To Date) turnover box in all Customer and Supplier Records are transferred to the Prior YTD field. Any future dated transactions are transferred to the relevant monthly field in each Customer / Supplier Record.

Financial Year Start Date

The financial year start date is incremented by one year. To check the financial year start date, open the Settings menu then choose Financial Year.

To prepare to run the Year End option- Mandatory Procedures

Run Check Data

The Year End option calculates balances based on your transactions and the information held in your software records. It is therefore essential that your data is error free. Before running the Year End option, you should use the Check Data option to check the validity of your data files and, if necessary, correct any data corruption.

Check your Chart of Accounts

During the Year End procedure Sage Accounts uses all layouts in the Chart of Accounts to establish which are the profit and loss nominal codes. The balances from the profit and loss nominal codes are then transferred to the Profit and Loss nominal code which is by default 3200.

Take two backups

Before running the Year End option, you should take two backups of your data and keep these in a safe place. Once the year end is run, the only way to go back to a pre year end position is to restore from one of these backups. You may need to do this to run reports, check accounts, or even run the Year End option again. We advise taking two backups as a precaution against loss or damage to your pre year end backup. Make sure you must test one of the backup if it has been backuped correctly.

To prepare to run the Year End option - Optional Procedures

Run the Month End
If you usually run the Month End option, before running the Year End option, you should run the month 12 month end.

Change Program Date

The Year End option posts journals to clear the balances on your profit and loss nominal codes. These journals must be dated on the last day of your financial year. Sage Accounts stores this date and automatically enters it in the Year End window. You can run either the Year End option with your program date set to the current date, or change the program date to be the last day of the financial year.
If you run the Year End option with the program date set to a date beyond the year end, the following message appears:
'The current program date is outside your financial year. If you continue it may cause discrepancies in your accounts. Do you want to continue?'
To run the Year End option, click Yes, or to exit without running the Year End option, click No.
This message is a warning against running certain year end routines to the wrong date, for example running the clear audit trail into the new year or running the month end for month 12 with the wrong date.
If you run the Year End option with the program date set to be the last day of the financial year the following message appears:
'You are about to process a Year End whilst in your current financial year.Are you sure you wish to continue?'
To run the Year End option, click Yes, or to exit without running the Year End option, click No.This message is aimed at preventing you from running your Year End before you are ready.

Print Reports

If required, print the following reports:
Trial Balance
Profit and Loss
Balance Sheet
Aged analysis reports for debtors and creditors
Statements for customers and banks
Bank Report, unreconciled
Day Books for customers, suppliers, banks and nominal
Activity reports on all ledgers
Audit trail
Budget Analysis report
Prior Year Analysis report
Sage 50 Accounts Plus/Sage Line 50 Accountant Plus and Sage 50 Accounts Professional/Financial Controller - Stock Valuation
Sage 50 Accounts Plus/Sage Line 50 Accountant Plus and Sage 50 Accounts Professional/Financial Controller - Product Profit Reports

Opening and closing stock journals

To ensure that the correct stock value is recorded on your Profit and Loss report, you must post opening and closing stock journals.

To run the Year End option

Open the Tools menu, choose Period End then choose Year End.
The Year End window appears.
Complete the Year End window as follows:
Year End Date - Displays the last day in the current financial year.
Current Date - Displays the current program date.
Transfer Actuals to Budgets / Copy Current Actuals - To automatically set budgets based on income and expenditure during the year for profit and loss nominal codes, select this option. These values are transferred as monthly figures.
Percentage Increase - If you want to set a target for the following year, enter the percentage increase you want to apply to your budgets here.
Year End Journals - Automatically displays the year end date. This is the date Sage Accounts uses to post the journals which clear your profit and loss nominal codes.
Output to - Displays the output options for the Year End report. This report details the journals automatically posted at the year end. You can choose one of the following:
Print - Select this option to output the report direct to your printer.File - Select this option to file the report to print later.
Sage Line 50 v9.xx and above, including Sage 50 Accounts - Archive Company Data before Year End - This option allows you to take a copy of your data at the pre year end point. You can then refer back to the archived data, either to run reports or analyse your previous year's data.
To run the Year End option, click OK.
When the year end postings have been made, the software desktop appears.
The Year End option is now complete and you are ready to prepare for your new financial year.

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Posted in: year end

How to print a bank statement

Select Bank > Statement.
The Print Output window appears.
Choose the type of print out you require and then click Run.
The Criteria window appears.
Enter a date range.
This has a default of a 'From' date of 01/01/80 and a 'To' date which is the program date.
If you accept these defaults, all reconciled transactions up to today's date are included in the report. You can change these dates so that only transactions within a specific date range are included, for example, a week or a month. To change the dates, click on the 'From' and 'To' boxes, and edit the date as required.

If required, enter a range in the 'Bank Ref' boxes to select the banks that you want to produce statements for.

Note: If a bank account is highlighted on the bank list, transactions for that account will be displayed.

Click OK to accept the settings and print the statement. Click Cancel to exit without
running the bank statement.

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Posted in: printing

Reconciling Your Bank Account

Bank reconciliation is the process of matching your computer bank records with the statement
from your bank.
We recommend that you reconcile your bank accounts when you receive your statement from the bank. By reconciling regularly, you will not have too many transactions to check and you will
not have to make as many adjustments for possible interest charges or overdraft payments.
There are two ways to reconcile your bank accounts. You can use e-Banking Or, as described in this section, you can manually reconcile your bank accounts. Regardless of which method you choose, bank reconciliation is a formal check of the bank records you keep against the bank statement(s) you receive from the financial organisation(s) you deal with.

You don’t have to reconcile any of your bank accounts if you don’t want to. However, it is good
practise to do so ensuring:
Your bank records are accurate and complete.
Charges and/or interest applied to your account are identified and adjustments made to account for these.
Erroneous transactions are identified which can then be disputed with the financial organisation you deal with.
Missing transactions can be added to your bank records to bring them up to date.

To reconcile your bank statement

Select Bank > Reconcile Account.
The Statement Summary window appears.

Select the bank you want to reconcile from the drop-down list.
Use the Statement Summary window to record information shown on your bank
statement. You can enter the following statement information:
Statement Reference If you want to maintain a history of bank reconciliations, enter a statement reference. To associate the reconciliation to your bank statement, enter the reference shown on your bank statement.
Statement (End) Date The current system date appears. You can change this date to the date on your bank statement so that only those transactions up to and including the date are available for reconciliation. The date cannot be blank.
Ending Balance If this is the first time the bank account is to be reconciled the
account’s opening balance is displayed, otherwise the reconciled balance from the previous reconciliation is displayed. Enter the balance shown on your bank statement.
If your account is overdrawn, to record a negative amount place a minus (-) at the beginning of the value.

Interest Earned Amount Amount: If your bank statement shows interest earned, enter the amount. The amount is committed to the bank account when transactions are reconciled and appears as a bank receipt. Enter the date the interest was applied to your account. NC: From the drop-down list, select a nominal account you want to post the interest to.

Account Charges: If any bank charges appear on your statement, enter an amount for charges. The amount is committed to the bank account when reconciliation is reconciled and
appears as a bank payment. This amount is added to the reconciliation as a fixed amount, which cannot be split into separate charges. If you have several charges you want to record separately,
add them using an adjustment (explained later). Enter the date the charges were applied to your account. From the drop-down list, select a nominal account you want to post the charge to. When you have entered your statement information, click OK. The Bank Reconciliation window appears.

Transactions up to and including the 'Statement (End) Date' are displayed. An opening balance appears in the 'Matched Against Statement' area of the window. If this is the first time the bank account is to be reconciled the account’s opening balance appears, otherwise the reconciled balance from the previous reconciliation appears. It is displayed for information purposes only, it cannot be removed or changed. Any account charges or interest earned that have been recorded using the Statement Summary window appear in the 'Matched Against Statement' area of the window. They cannot be moved into the 'Unmatched items' area. To remove them click Edit, then set the charge/interest amount to zero on the displayed Statement Summary window and click OK. Confirm this action by clicking OK when prompted. Depending on your Sage 50 Accounts settings, transactions may be grouped and displayed as one transaction. Grouped transactions are indicated by the letter 'Y' in the 'Grouped' column. See hints and tips at the end of this section that explain how to view this column.

Work through your bank statement one line at a time. Match a transaction on your bank statement to a transaction in the 'Unmatched items' area. Select the item to be matched (left-click mouse button - the line becomes highlighted) then click Match Transaction. As you move transactions the 'Matched Balance' and 'Difference' values change automatically.

Transactions are positioned in the 'Matched Against Statement' area in the order in which they are moved into the area. Any transaction within this area that is associated with a negative bank balance appears red.
To move a transaction from 'Matched Against Statement' to 'Unmatched items', select the transaction (left-click mouse button) then click Unmatch Transaction.

To add a transaction to your bank records (bank charge, interest earned, payment or
receipt) click Add Adjustment.
Do not use an adjustment to add transactions that affect your customer or supplier accounts, for example, BACS receipts from customers, Direct Debit or Standing Orders to suppliers. You must use the Customer Receipt or Supplier Payment facilities to record such transactions. Caution: You cannot delete adjustments from the reconciliation.

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Posted in: bank