This is carried out using the Manage Accounts screen under the Setup menu. This provides a list of the accounts already created and there are two buttons at the bottom that allow you to create a Receipt account or a Payment account. You can also use the Edit button to the left of the code to change the details of that code if you wish.
On selecting one of these, you bring up the screen that allows you to create an account name
- Account name. This is the name used for the account and there must be no other Payment Account with the same name.
- Account Group. This is the name of the Account Group in which you want the Account Name to appear. The field gives a drop-down list of the currently set up groups.
- Box number for Annual Return. Each account must be allocated to a box on the Annual Return (AGAR). The field gives a drop-down list of the boxes available.
- Confidential. An account can be marked as confidential. This will normally be used for salaries and means that its details will not appear on certain reports
- Annual budget. This is the total budget for the current financial year.
Once that budget figure has been entered you need to decide how that budget is spent over the year. Many Account Names will be spent equally each month. The obvious example is Salaries, but many other accounts will be budgeted in a similar way. In order to set this up automatically, just click the button labelled Set equal monthly budget and the appropriate figures will be entered under each month (note that the twelfth month will be adjusted to sort out any rounding issues if the total budget is not divisible by 12).
Other accounts may be paid in single lump sums at known points in the year. Thus the Precept will often be received in two instalments in April and September and Insurance may well be paid in a single payment in a known month. You can set up what is known as the budget profile by entering the appropriate amounts in the relevant months.
If you have not yet fixed the budget, then the details can all be left blank but the sum of each of the monthly figures must equal the total budget figure.
Once you are happy with the entries, press Save and the form will be checked to ensure, for example, that the Account Code is unique and that the budget figures balance.