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Personal Accounts Education EditionQuick Start Guide | ||||||
This Quick Start Guide assumes you have a copy of Personal Accounts loaded on your hard disc.Installation and Registration Installation If you used the default installation, you should have three new shortcuts on your desktop:
The first, PersonalAccounts5, runs the program you will shortly be using to enter your accounts. The second, PA5 User Manual, is the main User Manual. Double-click on it at anytime to view the manual. The third, PA5 Quick Start Guide, is what you are now reading. Registration Double-click the PersonalAccounts5 icon to run it, then read the licence that appears. If you accept its terms, click on the ACCEPT button at the bottom of the window.
Now click the Enter UNLOCK Key button in the window in the center of the screen.
Then enter your name and key and click the OK button.
Ok, lets get started.
Once you have grasped the basics the rest will come easily. 
You now need to think of a code for you to recognise your account. E.g. mba (my bank account) and type it into the code space on line 1. Next you need to name your account so let's type my bank account\u0092 in the space under account name. Well done, you should have something that looks like this: 
You have just set up your first account; note that you cannot enter any balances for your account here, as the spaces are for displaying your balances only (more on that later). Ok, so now you can set up the rest of your accounts. You will end up with something looking like this:
As, I mentioned before, there are 3 different types of account so lets tell the computer what type they are: In the accounts window click on one of the up arrow buttons. This will take you to account number 1 (my bank account). Press F4 or click on the Database button on the tool bar, this will display another window:  Look at the top of the window. You should see Account Number 1, so this is the database window for account number 1 (my bank account). Where it says label you can enter anything you like, for instance you can enter your bank's address, contact telephone numbers etc. You can set a credit limit e.g. overdraft limit (see manual for full details). The circle shows you how easy it is to pick what type of account it is: my bank account is a real account with money going in and being paid out. The database window is the place to change your account settings. you can add headings, totals, and colour code them also (see manual for full instructions). So we have told the computer that my bank account is a real account with money coming in and going out. We need to tell the computer what other type of accounts we have... In the same window click on this button, it will take you to the next account that you have set up, in this case 'cc credit card' The credit card accounts is also a real account, so once you have set that, let's move down to the next account, by clicking this button again. The sales account is purely an income account. You might receive wages once a month or once a week and it's normally paid into your bank. So we set it to income only. You will see why this is important later.  Ok now let' click that button again to take us to the next account. The next account is called motor expenses, this is purely a payment account; you pay money from your bank account for, say, petrol or repairs to your company vehicle. So let's set it to a payment account. We have now covered the three types of account. You can choose what accounts you want, what they are called and what type of account they are, it'completely up to you. Now all that remains is to show you how to enter an opening balance for your bank account, and how to enter your receipts etc. Close the database window by clicking the X in the top right hand corner. Now press F2 or click on the Entries button. You should see something that looks like this:  This is the Entries window, this is where all of the inputs are made, and whatever is put into this window will effect the accounts in the accounts window. All of this is covered more in-depth in the manual. Let's enter your opening balance for your bank account. You can use our pretend figures or you can use your own (all can be deleted whenever you want). It helps if you have a current bank statement to hand or can print one from your internet banking. Enter the date of the brought forward balance into the date field.  You can type it in in any format e.g. 12/10/2004 or 12.10.2004 you don\u2019t even have to type the whole date in you can just type 12/10 and press enter, personal accounts will fill the rest in for you. We need to tell the computer that we are entering an opening balance for mba (my bank account) we are not taking money from anywhere but there is money already in the account, so click on the To field, type in m. A drop down menu will appear with all your accounts in it, you can either carry on typing the code, in this case mba, or click on the one you want. This now tells the computer that some money is going into my bank account. Now let's tell it how much.  Ok, now click on the amount field and enter the opening balance in the amount field. Next you can add a comment to make it easy for you to remember what this was all about.  If you now click and drag the entries window to a place where you can see that window and the accounts window, you will see that there is now £500.00 in the current balance and forecast balance. If your opening balance was a negative figure or overdrawn e.g. -£350.00 you would have entered the information in the From section instead, this would give you a negative balance. You have just made your first entry. Now we will go on to add some more entries, by then you should have a grasp of the basics. Let's add an income entry. Press enter to take you to the next line in the entries window. Let's say you made a sale worth £1000.00. We need to tell the computer that £1000.00 is being received from your sales account and paid into your bank account.. Enter the date as you did previously then click on the From Field if the cursor isn't flashing in it already. Next type the letter s, this will then show a drop down menu of all of the accounts you have entered into the accounts window with sales highlighted as it's the only one that begins with s. Press enter and it will automatically place sales account into the Account Name (From) field.  Notice how the line has turned blue, this is because the sales account is set to auto-reconcile on entry. That is what the R field is for. This option is set in the database window, it is a simple way of showing which entries have been checked against your bank statement and which have not. You can change the auto-reconcile on entry at any time just open the database window by clicking on the database button or pressing F4 (see the manual for more details). Now we have to tell the computer where the money is going to. We are going to put it into mba, my bank account so type in m, the drop down menu will appear, my bank account should be highlighted so if you press enter the Account Name (To) field will be automatically filled in for you with my bank account.   Notice how this section hasn't turned blue, this is because my bank account isn't set to auto-reconcile on entry, so when you get your bank statement you can then check that everything is correct and reconcile your entries when you are happy. The cursor will have moved to the Reference field. It is up to you if you enter something in here, but a reference such as an invoice number will help you identify the sale should you need to in the future. Next press the tab key or use the keyboard arrows or use your mouse to move to the Amount field and enter 1000.00, (don't worry you can delete or change any of these entries whenever you want so you won't be stuck with these figures). You can enter a comment if you want to, again it\u2019s up to you.  Now have a look at the accounts window, you will see the effect that entering your sales has on my bank account balance. Now let's enter a payment entry. Let's say your company vehicle needs a new tyre and you decide to pay with your bank account debit card. This can take a few days to show up in your bank account. This may cause you problems because you might forget about this payment and think you have more money in your bank account than you actually have. This is where personal accounts comes into its own. If you save your receipts and enter them into personal accounts, the balance that will show up under your bank account will be a true balance, you will always know how much money you have. This will also enable you to make sure your bank statement is correct too. Same as before, press enter to take us down to the next line in the entries window. Now type in the date of the transaction, this is normally on the receipt, press enter and the cursor will jump to the From field. We are taking money from my bank account and paying it to the garage, so in the From field we need to type in m, this will bring up a drop down list as previously described, my bank account will be highlighted, press enter and the Account name from field will be automatically filled in. The cursor has jumped to the To field, we need to tell the computer what we have spent the money on. To do this, type in mo, this will bring up the drop down menu and motor expenses should be highlighted as it is the only account that begins with mo, press enter. Ok, let's say the new tyre cost £37.50, let's type that into the Amount field, with that in place I have added a comment, I have chosen to type in the name of the garage where the service was performed. This makes it easy to see where money is being spent. Also you will see that this section has also turned blue, this is because the default setting for anything other than a real account is auto-reconcile on entry. The reason for this is that a bank will send you a printed statement so you can double-check it with your entries, whereas a garage usually does not. We have now, used the entries window to enter receipts and wages, so lets see what effect it has had in the accounts Window: as we have been inputting all the information from our receipts etc., the figures in the accounts window have been changing. So as we enter information into the entries window it is automatically updating in the accounts window. Look at the current balance under my bank account, the £1000.00 has been added on to the opening balance, and the food shop at Tesco's has been deducted from the balance. You can now see how much money you have left in your bank account at any time. If you were to look at an online bank statement, or get a balance or a mini statement from a cash machine, the £37.50 from your food shop wouldn't show up for a couple of days. This becomes a problem if you forget that you have spent that money, and think that you have more than you do. Personal accounts is designed to help you budget and make the most out of your money without blinding you with complicated Interfaces. I have shown you the very basics of the program, I hope you have found it useful, however if you don't read the manual you won't find out about personal accounts best feature Automated Entries. This is the feature that allows you to set up your direct debits, standing orders, wages etc. It means that you don't have to input them into the entries window every week, month etc. Once you have set them up, your direct debits will come out of your account on the dates stated, your wages will go in on the date stated, keeping you in control. For full details on all of the features please read the user manual (which is part of your Personal Accounts installation). Back to the Top |
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