Main Details Tab

This tab is on the Display Customer Account Details form, containing the Sales Ledger account record.

A detailed knowledge of the fields which make up your Sales Ledger accounts is indispensable to getting the most from your system. The best way to understand the information coming out of any business system is to have a clear idea of the information which has gone in.

The Main-details tab contains the essential information for identifying your accounts.

Account Code:

The Account code is the pivotal field of the Sales Ledger. At set-up, each customer record is assigned an Account code. This Account code will be the Account code/number of the customer on the Sales Ledger.

This field is pre-set to accept only Account codes corresponding to the Account code layout you have chosen in conjunction with your Kerridge consultant. This layout is held as a mask within the system parameters. The system will reject all other Account codes. Thus, if you have chosen a code of two letters and six numbers, the system will accept only Account codes entered in this format.

The system automatically fills in blank spaces in the numeric portion of the field with zeros to the right of the last non-numeric character. The system distinguishes between upper and lower case letters in Account codes, so do not be surprised if accounts B0003 and b0003 are both accepted as Autoline sees them as two distinctly separate Account codes. Click the Ellipsis button to activate the search facility.

Tip: The system will permit a new account record to be set up with only an account number. Subsequent entries of information to that record must be made with the Amend option.

Note: If you wish to access a series of accounts in succession then this can be achieved by clicking on the or buttons under the Account Code to move forward or backwards through the file from your chosen start point.

Name:

This field holds the name of the customer.

Short name:

The Short name field is a vital one. It may contain up to eight alphabetic or numeric characters. You can find a customer account with an alphabetic search. Even when unaware of the account number, you may locate the account quickly from Short name information.

To do this however, you need to adopt a consistent policy on Short names when setting up Sales Ledger accounts. It is no good being able to search alphabetically if J. Smith and Sons has a Short Name of JSS, or J. Smith Ltd. has a Short Name of JSmithLt.

All short names must be keyed in capital letters for total ease of identification by you and other users in other modules.

An alphabetic search system needs organisation to be effective. Standards may be difficult to maintain in a busy multi-user situation. If a consistent standard is not followed, an extremely useful facility will quickly become useless. You should pick simple rules for the construction of Short Names and stick to it.

Tip: Why not use the telephone directory rules?

When an account is created this field should have a default value of 'NEW'. This allows you to find new accounts quickly and easily and to distinguish them from all others. Until an account is fully set up it is best not to overwrite this field.

Tip: The Short Name search is case sensitive. A search for 'new' will find nothing. A search for 'NEW' will find all Sales Ledger accounts with a Short Name of 'NEW'.

Note: If you wish to access a series of accounts in succession by Short Name then this can be achieved by clicking on the or buttons under the Short Name to move forward or backwards through the file from your chosen start point.

Address:

These fields hold the address of the customer.

Note: If you click the Local button a Local Address form will be opened which will display any alternative Local Address that may be held on the record.

Postcode:

This field holds the postcode of the Address above.

Preferred Address:

This field holds an indicator as to which of the Addresses is preferred for this account.

Telephone number:

The Telephone number field, although important in its own right, is also important as a search field. Accounts can be found by telephone number, not simply in a conventional word search to find an unknown accounts, but in report printing. The telephone area codes in the number can provide a useful search filter.

Telex number:

This field holds the customer's Telex number.

Fax number:

This field holds the customer's Fax number.

These two fields are for information only, although obviously very useful. The Fax number is particularly useful for the automatic transmission of faxes which can be done from within the Sales Ledger if you have a Fax transmission facility installed on the Autoline System.

VAT number:

This field holds the Customers VAT registration number and is used for VAT Intrastat purposes on exports to that Customer.

Contact name:

This field contains the name of the person whom you mainly deal with in the customer's offices. It is for information only.

E_mail:

This field is for the Email address to which the Customer wants electronic communications sent. This is also the address that statements will be sent if you are using the E_mail statement distribution method.

EC Code:

This field contains the Customer's European Community Code. For example, IRE for Ireland.

Accounting division:

This field is used for divisional accounting purposes enabling divisionalised accounts (e.g. inter branch) to be run from within one total company.

VAT group:

The VAT group is used in conjunction with multi currency options allowing VAT recalculation in other than base currency. This field defaults, on creation of the account, to the code held on the Default Sales Ledger Account record which can be set up/amended in the System Maintenance menu. It should be set to the VAT Group relative to the Currency in which the account is being run. The VAT groups are created within the VAT options menu in the Nominal Ledger.

Currency code:

This field defaults, on creation of the account, to the code held on the Default Sales Ledger Account record which can be set up/amended in the System Maintenance menu. It should be set to the Currency Code in which you wish to run the account.

Account Type:

The Account type is a major parameter field. A parameter field gives very broad instructions to the system on how a particular record is controlled and used within Autoline. Autoline has a number of Standard Account types already created. If you wish to add to these it can be done via the System Maintenance Menu within the Sales Ledger.

There are currently a number of Standard Account types which are:

• Credit Sales - (blank) A credit sales account is a normal account to which Invoices, Credit Notes and Cash are posted.

• After Sales Deposits - D Similar to credit sales but used to identify After Sales Deposits held. This Account type will not allow Cash posting directly to the account.

• Statement Account - S It is used in conjunction with the Statement Account field. All transactions will be collated from any number of Customer Accounts onto this account, although the debt remains on the original account.

• VSB Credit Sales - V It is used to separate vehicle credit sales from other credit sales.

• Vehicle Sales Deposits - v Similar to VSB credit sales but used to identify Vehicle Sales Deposits held. This Account type will not allow Cash posting directly to the account.

• Address only - A An address only account is an account which is held on Autoline for other facilities to access to obtain an address. No transactions can be posted to this type of account.

• Bank cash sales - B A bank cash sales account is an account where all of its transactions are of a cash nature and where no prior Document has been raised but you wish to deal with the VAT on the transaction correctly and do not wish a Debtor to be outstanding at the end of the transaction.

• Internal trans. - I An internal transactions account deals with transactions where goods are issued for internal use. They generally will not carry any VAT and there will be no debtor outstanding on the account at the end of the transaction

• Journal-post/NL only - J Similar to an I type account except that details of the transactions do not remain on the account. This type of account is generally used by the system.

• Warranty Claims - W Used specifically for Warranty Claims transactions.

Warning: The Account type cannot be changed while there are transactions on the account.

Note: Depending on the Account type selected, a wide variety of checks and warnings are made on transactions and also when setting up the account.

Default VAT code

The Default VAT code associates a user-defined VAT code with transactions on this account as a default. This default can be overwritten for any particular transaction.

Note: In this case, the word 'default' refers not to the record you are currently filling, but to future transaction records which will use this information as a default for transactions being posted to this account.

Category Code:

The Category code associates a user-defined sales category code with the account, for example 'C' for Cash Sales. You may define a default value for the Category code. This information is chiefly used in the After Sales Modules of Autoline.

Account categories can be added, removed or updated via the Categories option in the Miscellaneous menu. At least one category must exist for the system to function.

Credit Terms:

The Credit terms code associates a user-defined Credit term with the account, for example '28th of Month following'. You may define a default value for the Credit terms. Credit terms are set up and amended in the Terms of business option on the Nominal Ledger Miscellaneous menu.

Settlement Terms:

The Settlement terms code associates a user-defined set of settlement terms with the account, for example '10% in ten days'. You may define a default value for the Settlement terms. Settlement terms are set up and amended on the Settlement terms option on the Nominal Ledger Miscellaneous menu.

Overdue Interest:

The overdue interest code indicates the percentage rate of interest that can be calculated on overdue account balances. There is no specific function that can be used to calculate this interest charge but with the use of this code in conjunction with a report written in the Report Generator function this can be achieved easily. These codes can be created to your own requirements by the use of the option Interest rates on the Sales Ledger Miscellaneous Options menu.

Invoice account:

If the Account type referenced earlier is an 'A' type (address only), this field contains the code of the account to which invoices or credit notes 'delivered' to the address account will be posted.

Statement account:

The Statement account field contains an Account code, and through it specifies the name and address to which Statements are to be sent if they are not to go to the address for the Account code being set up. When filled, this field will instruct the Cash Postings and Statement routines to collate together all transactions on accounts pointing to the Statement account. A Statement account should be of Account type 'S' (see Account Type). Leave this field blank unless it is needed.

Area Code:

The Area field is a user-defined code field which allows sales accounts to be analysed on the basis of geographical region or administrative area. It may contain up to four characters as defined in a verification mask for the Area code set in the system parameters. The area codes can also be setup in a lookup file which is done by using the Area Codes option on the Sales Ledger Miscellaneous Options Menu.

Nominal Ledger Control account:

The Nominal Ledger Account code shows the Nominal code to which the transactions are posted and to which the balances are controlled in the Nominal Ledger.

The Nominal Account code is divided into two parts. The cost centre indicates the department, whether organisational, geographical or both, and the expense code reflects the code within that cost centre.

Warning: The Nominal Ledger code cannot be changed while there is an outstanding balance on the account.

Credit Limit:

The available Credit remaining on an account is checked against this limit at transaction creation point. A warning is issued to the user that the customer's credit limit has or is going to be exceeded and if the users priority is not at sufficient level that they can override the user will have to resolve this situation before they will be able to continue.

Stop flag:

When this check box is set to a for Yes, the 'Stop' field causes warning messages to the user if a transaction is trying to be posted to this account. If an account is 'On Stop' it means that no more sales can take place to this Customer.

Date:

This is the date that the Stop Flag was last edited.

More[...]

Click the More button to access a More Account Details form where US tax codes and Interest codes can be entered.