Sage LINE 50 V11 User Manual

Powerful accounting software for growing businesses

Line50 v11 User Guide

Copyright

This document and software described in it are copyrighted with all rights reserved. Under copyright laws, neither the documentation nor the software may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine readable form, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of Sage (UK) Limited (‘Sage’). Failure to comply with this condition may result in prosecution.

This computer program is the property of Sage. The program is protected under copyright law and is licensed for use only by a user who has returned the completed registration card included with the computer program and further is licensed strictly in accordance with the conditions specified in the Software Licence. Sale, lease, hire rental or reassignment to, or by, a third party without the prior and written permission of Sage is expressly prohibited.

Sage does not warrant that the software package will function properly in every hardware/software environment. For example, the software may not work in combination with modified versions of the operating system, with certain print-spooling or file facility programs, or with certain printers supplied by independent manufacturers.

Although Sage has tested the software and reviewed the documentation, Sage

makes no warranty, representation or condition, either express or implied, statutory or otherwise, with respect to this software or documentation, their performance, satisfactory quality, or fitness for a particular purpose. This software and documentation are licensed ‘as is’, and you, the licensee, by making use thereof, are assuming the entire risk as to their quality and performance.

In no event will Sage be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages (including but not limited to economic loss, such as loss of profits, loss of use of profits, loss of business or business interruption, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill or loss of anticipated savings) arising out of the use or inability to use the software or documentation, even

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Nothing in this notice shall exclude or limit Sage’s liability for fraud, death or personal injury arising out of Sage’s wilful default or negligence.

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North Park Newcastle upon Tyne NE13 9AA

All Worldwide Rights Reserved Issue date: 02/08/2004 Pbn No: 12701

Read This...

Your Sage Line 50 User Guide is made up of two parts.

The first part deals with setting up your accounting system (if you are a new user) and also the maintenance of your accounts (for established users, i.e. who are upgrading).

In the first part, Setting Up and Maintenance, we deal with:

 Installing Sage Line 50 onto your computer and using it for the first time (for new users).

 How to use Line 50.

 Setting up your company details (defaults).

 Setting up your nominal structure.

 Setting up your customer and supplier records.

 Entering your product or service details.

 Entering your opening balances.

 Setting up your regular monthly payments.

 Setting up prices and discounts for your products or services.

 Working with fixed assets.

 Setting up an e-banking system.

As a new user, you will have to work through this first part to set up your accounting system. All of the sections may not apply to your business, so you will have to see which ones do apply to you and work through the relevant sections.

As an established user who is upgrading, your system will already have your opening balances on, as well as most of your company details. So, you can use this part of the manual to make changes to your company details and defaults.

The second part is concerned with Daily Activities and Processing and we deal with:

 Completing everyday tasks, such as looking after your data, using the search, making

journal entries, and so on.

 Recording invoices and credit notes.

 Sales and purchase order processing.

 Recording payments and receipts.

 How to carry out credit control activities, such as chasing unpaid bills and writing off bad

debts.

 Reconciling your bank accounts on your computer with your real bank accounts.

 Using advanced stock features, such as working with bills of materials.

 Working with Projects.

 Producing your VAT Return.

 Running a range of financial reports, including your profit and loss and balance sheet

report.

 Running your month and year end routines.

 Working with Sage MIS, which is a management information system.

All the tasks contained in the second part are mostly concerned with processing, i.e. working with your finances as part of your day to day accounting activities. Sometimes you may have to consult the first part of the chapter, for example, if you want to learn how to reconcile your e-banking transactions. In these instances, the User Guide will clearly direct you to where you need to go.

Chapter 1: Getting Started ................................................................... 1

Transferring Accounting Systems .....................................................................2

Installation........................................................................................................3

The ActiveSetup Wizard...................................................................................4

Registering Sage Line 50 ...............................................................................13

Getting Started ..............................................................................................13

About SageCover ..........................................................................................14

SageCover Online Support ............................................................................14

sage.co.uk & sage.ie......................................................................................15

Sage Training .................................................................................................15

Chapter 2: How to Use Sage Line 50 ................................................ 17

Instructions in This Guide ...............................................................................19

The Sage Line 50 Options .............................................................................20

The Sage Line 50 Window.............................................................................21

Using Windows..............................................................................................24

Menu Commands ..........................................................................................25

Getting Help ..................................................................................................41

Wizards .........................................................................................................41

Debits and Credits .........................................................................................42

Chapter 3: Setting Up Your Company Details .................................. 43

The Configuration Editor ................................................................................44

Entering Your Company Preferences..............................................................68

Entering Your Company Defaults....................................................................77

Setting the Financial Year ...............................................................................77

Entering Your Bank Defaults...........................................................................78

The Euro and Other Currencies......................................................................80

The Countries Table .......................................................................................82

Passwords and Access Rights.......................................................................83

Changing Your Password...............................................................................84

Working With Internet Resources...................................................................84

The Foreign Trader

(Financial Controller only) ...............................................................................85

To Set Up the Foreign Trader .........................................................................86

Opening Balances .........................................................................................91

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Chapter 4: Setting Up Your Nominal Structure ................................. 93

Nominal Ledger Accounts Explained..............................................................94

The Nominal Account Structure .....................................................................99

Control Accounts.........................................................................................100

The Nominal Ledger Window.......................................................................102

Entering, Editing and Deleting Nominal Records ..........................................108

Entering Bank Account Records ..................................................................113

The Chart of Accounts .................................................................................116

Checking Your Chart of Accounts ................................................................120

Chapter 5: Entering Customer and Supplier Records .................... 123

Planning Your Customer and Supplier Codes...............................................124

Entering Customer Defaults .........................................................................125

Setting an Account Status ...........................................................................128

Entering Customer Records.........................................................................129

Opening Balances for Customers ................................................................133

Entering Supplier Defaults ............................................................................137

Entering Supplier Records ...........................................................................138

Opening Balances for Suppliers ...................................................................141

Checking and Clearing Your Customers’ and Suppliers’ Opening Balances .145

Chapter 6: Entering Product Details and

Planning a Stock System ................................................................. 151

Product Valuation.........................................................................................152

Setting Up Your Product List........................................................................152

Creating Product Categories........................................................................153

Entering Product Defaults ............................................................................154

Entering Product Records............................................................................157

Entering Your Product Opening Balances.....................................................161

Chapter 7: Entering Opening Balances for Nominal

and Bank Accounts .......................................................................... 163

The Opening Balance Sequence Consists of: ..............................................164

Entering the Opening Balances for Your

Nominal Ledger Accounts............................................................................165

Entering the Opening Balances for Your Bank Accounts ..............................167

Uncleared Items in Your Bank Opening Balance...........................................168

Checking Your Nominal and Bank Opening Balances ..................................169

Completing the Opening Balances Procedure..............................................170

Contents

Chapter 8: Setting Up Recurring Entries,

Prepayments and Accruals .............................................................. 173

Explaining Recurring Entries.........................................................................174

Prepayments

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................186

Accruals

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................189

Chapter 9: Pricing and Discounts .................................................... 193

Using Customer Price Lists

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................195

Importing Product Prices onto a Customer Price List

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller only) ............................................201

Setting Special Customer Prices

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................205

Supplier Price Lists

(Financial Controller users only) ....................................................................210

Importing Supplier Price Lists

(Financial Controller users only) ....................................................................212

'Good Customer' Discount ..........................................................................214

Early Settlement Discount ............................................................................216

Discounting by Quantity of Product Sold

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................219

Discounting by Invoice Value

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................222

Checking Discount Amounts & Editing the Total Discount ............................224

Other Discount Options ...............................................................................226

The Invoice and Order Defaults Options List.................................................228

Discounting by Unit Price

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................230

Chapter 10: Working With Fixed Assets

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only) ............................ 233

Fixed Assets ................................................................................................234

Depreciation ................................................................................................235

Depreciation Methods in Line 50..................................................................235

Writing Off Fixed Assets ...............................................................................237

Selling Fixed Assets .....................................................................................237

Creating Fixed Asset Categories ..................................................................237

Entering Your Fixed Asset Records ..............................................................238

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Chapter 11: E-Business ................................................................... 243

Contacting Sage ..........................................................................................244

e-Banking ....................................................................................................245

Configuring Your e-Banking Option..............................................................246

Using the e-Payments Option ......................................................................248

Entering Supplier Bank Details .....................................................................248

Using the e-Reconcile Option ......................................................................250

Importing e-Banking Transactions................................................................250

Reconciling Your Bank Account ...................................................................251

Transaction e-Mail........................................................................................255

Setting Up Transaction e-Mail ......................................................................256

Configuring Transaction e-Mail.....................................................................257

Processing Incoming Orders and Invoices in

Transaction e-Mail........................................................................................265

Matching in Transaction e-Mail.....................................................................267

Help with Transaction e-Mail ........................................................................274

Sage WebTrader Professional ......................................................................274

Chapter 12: Everyday Tasks ............................................................ 275

Changing the Program Date ........................................................................276

Checking Your Data .....................................................................................277

Backing Up Your Data..................................................................................279

Restoring Your Data.....................................................................................281

Event Logging..............................................................................................282

Using the Search to Find Records................................................................286

Building Your Search....................................................................................289

Finding Transactions ....................................................................................291

Using ActiveSearch......................................................................................293

Using the Spelling Checker ..........................................................................294

Printing What’s On Your Screen ...................................................................295

Working with Attachments using Document Manager ..................................298

Using The Task Manager..............................................................................304

Exporting to Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook ..........................................305

Journal Entries .............................................................................................307

Reversing Nominal Journals

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................310

Paying Wages Using Journal Entries ............................................................312

Setting Up a Petty Cash Account.................................................................317

Contents

Chapter 13: Entering Invoices and Credit Notes ............................ 319

Special Product Codes ................................................................................320

Invoices and Credit Notes ............................................................................321

Batch Invoices and Credit Notes..................................................................322

Creating Invoices and Credit Notes From the Invoicing option......................324

Memorising and Recalling Batch Invoices and Credit Notes

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................349

Creating Recurring Transactions ..................................................................350

Entering Invoice and Order Defaults .............................................................355

Updating the Ledgers ..................................................................................361

Invoice Profit Check

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................362

Creating Mix and Match Invoices and Orders

(Financial Controller Only) .............................................................................364

Invoicing From Telephone Calls

(Financial Controller Only) .............................................................................372

Quotations and Proformas

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................374

Chapter 14: Order Processing

(Financial Controller Only) ................................................................ 377

Sales Orders................................................................................................378

The Sales Order Cycle .................................................................................378

Creating a Sales Order.................................................................................379

Creating Recurring Orders ...........................................................................398

Completing Your Sales Order if it has Already Been Despatched..................400

Saving Your Sales Order ..............................................................................400

Printing Your Sales Orders ...........................................................................400

Allocating Stock to Sales Orders ..................................................................401

Order Shortfalls............................................................................................403

Despatching Sales Orders ...........................................................................406

Recording Delivery of Goods using Goods Despatched Notes.....................407

Recording Sales Order Despatches .............................................................411

Manually Recording Sales Order Despatches...............................................411

Printing an Invoice Created From the Sales Order ........................................412

Updating the Ledgers ..................................................................................412

Deleting a Sales Order .................................................................................413

Converting Quotes and Proformas to Sales Orders......................................414

Intrastat Reporting .......................................................................................417

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Confirming your Intrastat Dispatches............................................................419

Working With Purchase Orders ....................................................................424

Creating Purchase Orders............................................................................425

Completing Your Purchase Order if it has Already Been Delivered ................440

Saving Your Purchase Orders ......................................................................440

Printing Your Purchase Orders .....................................................................440

Putting Purchase Orders 'On Order' ............................................................441

Recording Delivery of Goods........................................................................442

Recording Delivery of Goods Using Goods Received Notes.........................443

Recording Purchase Order Deliveries ...........................................................447

Manually Recording Purchase Order Deliveries ............................................447

Creating Purchase Invoices From Your Purchase Orders..............................448

Deleting a Purchase Order ...........................................................................448

Confirming your Intrastat Arrivals..................................................................448

Chapter 15: Project Costing

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only) ............................ 453

Introduction to Project Costing.....................................................................454

Who Can Use Project Costing?....................................................................454

The Life Cycle of a Project ...........................................................................454

The Project Life Cycle in Line 50 ..................................................................455

Setting Up Project Costing...........................................................................457

Project Statuses ..........................................................................................458

Cost Codes .................................................................................................459

Resources ...................................................................................................463

Working with Projects ..................................................................................465

Project Records...........................................................................................465

Project Only Costs .......................................................................................472

Stock Postings ............................................................................................474

Cost Postings ..............................................................................................475

Billing Your Customer for a Project...............................................................477

Project Enquiries, Analysis and Reporting ....................................................481

Completing Your Project ..............................................................................483

Chapter 16: Recording Payments and Receipts ............................. 485

Customer Receipts ......................................................................................486

Bank Receipts .............................................................................................488

Memorising and Recalling Bank Receipts

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................492

Supplier Payments.......................................................................................494

Contents

Recording Bank, Cash and Credit Card Payments .......................................498

Memorising and Recalling Bank Payments

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................501

Batch Supplier Payments

(Financial Controller Only) .............................................................................503

Producing Cheques

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................505

Recording Expenses....................................................................................512

Bank Transfers.............................................................................................514

Chapter 17: Credit Control ............................................................... 525

The Cash Flow Option .................................................................................526

Manual Entries in a Cash Flow .....................................................................530

Credit Control ..............................................................................................531

Ageing Transactions in Line 50.....................................................................531

Producing a Retrospective Aged Balance Report .........................................535

Checking Aged Balances .............................................................................535

Credit Control for Each Customer ................................................................538

The Credit Control Window ..........................................................................541

Recording Contact Details ...........................................................................543

Viewing Transaction History and Aged Balances ..........................................547

Handling Disputed Transactions

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................550

Charging Your Customers for Late Payments...............................................551

Writing Off Bad Debts ..................................................................................552

Writing Off Bad Debt Transactions Using the Wizard ....................................553

Writing Off Bad Debts Manually....................................................................555

Days Sales Analysis .....................................................................................560

Suggested Payments...................................................................................566

Credit Control Reporting ..............................................................................569

Other Customer Reports..............................................................................571

Supplier Reports ..........................................................................................572

Chapter 18: Reconciling Your Bank Accounts ................................ 573

Bank Reconciliation .....................................................................................574

Preparing to Reconcile.................................................................................574

Reconciling Your Bank Account ...................................................................574

Posting Bank Adjustments...........................................................................577

Printing a Bank Statement Report ................................................................578

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Chapter 19: Using the Advanced Stock Features

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only) ............................ 579

Bill of Materials.............................................................................................580

Checking Component Availability .................................................................583

Making Stock Transfers................................................................................584

Using the Stock Shortfall Option ..................................................................586

Running a Stock Take..................................................................................590

Recording Stock Returns .............................................................................592

Adjusting Stock Levels.................................................................................594

Chapter 20: Running Your VAT Return ............................................ 595

The VAT Return Checklist.............................................................................596

Producing the VAT Return............................................................................597

Checking Your VAT Return...........................................................................599

Saving your VAT Return ...............................................................................601

Handling Late Transactions..........................................................................603

Handling Future Transactions .......................................................................603

Reconciling Your VAT Return........................................................................604

Clearing Your VAT Control Accounts ............................................................605

Submitting the VAT Return to the Tax Authorities .........................................606

VAT Audit Reports........................................................................................607

Entering Scale Charges

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................607

Chapter 21: Running Financial Reports .......................................... 609

Reports........................................................................................................610

Running the Audit Trail Report......................................................................611

Running the Trial Balance Report .................................................................612

Running the Profit and Loss Report .............................................................613

Running the Balance Sheet Report ..............................................................614

Running the Quick Ratio Report

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................615

Running the Budget Report .........................................................................617

Running the Prior Year Report......................................................................618

Running the Transactional-Based Management Reports

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................619

Running the Audit Assistant .........................................................................622

The Sage Management Information System (MIS)........................................634

Contents

Chapter 22: Running Your Month End ............................................ 635

The Month End ............................................................................................636

Month End Checklist....................................................................................637

Changing Your Program Date ......................................................................639

Running the Month End ...............................................................................640

Posting Opening and Closing Stock.............................................................642

Posting Monthly Accruals

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)............................................648

Clearing Your Stock Transactions.................................................................651

Printing Your Product Reports

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller) ...................................................652

Clearing the Audit Trail .................................................................................653

Handling Late Entries ...................................................................................653

Posting Late Entries .....................................................................................653

Chapter 23: Running Your Year End ............................................... 657

The Year End ...............................................................................................658

Year End Checklist.......................................................................................659

Backing Up Your Data..................................................................................660

Running the Accounts Year End...................................................................662

Historical Data Analysis ................................................................................664

Checking the Financial Year Start Date Setting.............................................667

Clearing the Audit Trail .................................................................................667

Deleting Records .........................................................................................672

Compressing Your Data ...............................................................................675

Chapter 24: Accountant Link ........................................................... 677

What Is Accountant Link? ............................................................................678

Using Accountant Link with Line 50 Accountant, Accountant Plus or Financial

Controller.....................................................................................................680

Exporting Your Accounts Data to File to Send to Your Accountant ...............683

Recording Material Changes To Your Data ...................................................686

Importing and Applying Your Accountant's Adjustments ..............................688

Using Accountant Link with Line 50 Client Manager.....................................693

Importing Your Client's Accounts Data From a File.......................................696

Recording Adjustments................................................................................698

Exporting Your Adjustments and Narratives to File .......................................700

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Appendix: Installing and Upgrading to Line 50 Version 11 ............ 703

System Requirements..................................................................................704

The Readme File..........................................................................................705

Information for Users in the Republic of Ireland ............................................705

Installing Sage Line 50 Version 11 for the First Time

(Single User Version) ....................................................................................706

Installing Sage Line 50 Version 11 for the First Time

(Multi User Version) ......................................................................................709

Upgrading from Earlier Versions ...................................................................715

Preparing to Upgrade from Version 4 or Version 5........................................718

Preparing to Upgrade from Version 6, Version 7 or Version 8 .......................720

Preparing to Upgrade from Version 9 or Version 10......................................722

Upgrading to Sage Line 50 Version 11

(Single User Version) ....................................................................................723

Upgrading to Sage Line 50 Version 11

(Multi-User Version)......................................................................................724

After Upgrading: Converting Line 50 Version 5 Layouts................................725

Registering Your Program ............................................................................727

Chapter 1

Getting Started

Welcome to Sage Line 50.

Sage Line 50 lets you record, control and examine your finances quickly in a traditional way, through a state-of-the-art computer program.

Sage Line 50 is a totally integrated system, which means that when you record a financial transaction into one ledger, all the other related ledgers are immediately updated with that information. Sage Line 50 does your double-entry bookkeeping for you.

Read this chapter to find out how to get started with Sage Line 50, including installation and using your program for the first time.

This User Guide covers Sage Line 50 Accountant, Sage Line 50 Accountant Plus, Sage Line 50 Financial Controller and Sage Line 50 Network Versions.

In this chapter:

Transferring Accounting Systems.........2

Installation ...........................................3

The ActiveSetup Wizard.......................4

Registering Sage Line 50 ...................13

Getting Started ..................................13

About SageCover ..............................14

SageCover Online Support ................14

sage.co.uk & sage.ie .........................15

Sage Training.....................................15

Transferring Accounting Systems

To help you achieve a smooth transition from your current accounting system to your new Sage Line 50 program, you should decide on which features and functionality you will use, and when. For example, if you run a shop, you will not enter each customer transaction (so you will have no customer records), but you will need to use cash book functionality to enter the day’s takings. (For details about how to do this, see Bank Receipts on page

488.) Sage Line 50 lets you choose the accounting functions suitable to your business.

As a result of your business needs, you may need to do some, or all, of the following:

 Enter your company details.

 Set up and check your nominal account structure (this includes setting up bank

accounts in Sage Line 50). For an explanation of the nominal account structure, see Nominal Ledger Accounts Explained on page 94.

 Enter your customer records and their opening balances.

 Enter your supplier records and their opening balances.

 Enter your product details and their opening balances.

 Enter the opening balances for your nominal ledger.

 Enter the opening balances for your bank accounts.

For many people, moving from one system of accounting to another is a staged process. It doesn’t happen overnight. Because of the nature of bookkeeping, where invoices may not be paid on time and bank statements do not arrive until the end of the month, you may have to make the transfer to your new system gradually.

Also, many people prefer to gain confidence in a new system by choosing to set up one ledger at a time, for example, first the sales ledger, then the purchase ledger (Customers and Suppliers in Sage Line 50), then the nominal ledger. However, other people choose to transfer their accounts in one go, and do so successfully.

Whatever the implementation strategy you choose, we recommend that, until you become familiar with Sage Line 50, you continue using your existing system for a short time. In this way you can check that you are getting the right figures from Sage Line 50, and you can also see the benefits of the new system, as many of your entries are automatically done for you. You should also use the Demonstration Data supplied with your Sage Line 50 program to experiment with all of the different areas of the program.

Getting Started

Installation

This section guides you through installing a single user version of Sage Line 50 for the first time. If you are installing a network version, or are upgrading from a previous version of Sage Line 50, refer to the Appendix at the back of this guide. New users of Sage Line 50 (single user) should follow these instructions:

Note: You must ensure that you are logged onto your computer as 'Administrator', or as a user with administrative access rights, before attempting to install Sage Line 50. The installation process cannot proceed if you do not have sufficient access rights.

1. Shut down any other programs you are running.

2. Put the Sage Line 50 CD into your CD-ROM drive.

If the Sage menu does not appear automatically after a few moments, open the Start menu from the Windows menu bar, choose Run and then type d:\start in the Open text box.

Note: If your drive letters are different to those shown above, replace them with the appropriate letter.

The Installation main menu appears.

3. Before you begin to install Sage Line 50, select ‘Readme’. This contains any additional or late-breaking information about your Sage product.

Note: Sage Line 50 version 11 requires Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 to run. If you do not have Internet Explorer version 6 on your computer, a warning message appears advising you that you must install it before you continue with the Line 50 installation. Install Internet Explorer from the Line 50 CD, then start the Line 50 version 11 installation again.

4. Click Install and follow the on-screen instructions.

5. When the installation is complete, click Finish.

You can now close the installation menu. A Sage Accounts short-cut is created on your desktop, so that you can double-click on

this icon to start the program. If prompted, restart your PC. You are now ready to run your Sage Line 50 program for the first time.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The ActiveSetup Wizard

Once you have installed Sage Line 50 you are ready to use it for the first time. To activate Sage Line 50, double-click the Sage icon on your desktop or open the Start menu from the Windows menu bar, choose Programs, then select Sage and finally select Sage Accounts.

Important Note: If you are using a multi-user version of Sage Line 50, the Logon window appears every time that you start the program. When you first use Sage Line 50 program the default logon name is MANAGER, with no password. Once you have completed the ActiveSetup Wizard, you can then set up your access rights and passwords. For more information, read Passwords and Access Rights on page 83.

When you start the program, the ActiveSetup Wizard appears. Use this to enter all of your company information.

Click Next to progress onto the next step or click Back to return to the previous step to re-enter or edit any information.

There are nine screens in the ActiveSetup Wizard when you are using Sage Line 50 for the first time:

 Welcome

 My Company

 My Details

 My Financial Year

 My VAT Details

 My Currency

 Program Activation

 Program Registration

 Next Steps

After the first Welcome screen, you should enter your company information into the relevant boxes on-screen. Information about each of these screens can be seen in the following pages.

If you need additional help on any of the screens in the ActiveSetup Wizard, press F1 or select the Help button for more information.

Getting Started

Step 2: My Company

If you are a new user you must select the first option ‘I would like to create a new company’. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, or if you have Sage Line 50 and want to set up a network version, refer to Appendix, Installing and Upgrading to Line 50 Version 11 on page 703.

You must also decide what type of chart of accounts your company needs. Sage Line 50 has a number of charts to suit different business types. For example, you can choose from construction, charities, medical, farming, garage and transport.

Note: There are more chart of accounts to choose from. To see details of the different chart of accounts, press F1, enter the words Chart of Accounts in the Index tab and then select ‘standard’.

From the list, choose the chart of accounts most suited to your needs. If you are in doubt, select the 'General Business - Standard Accounts' layout. This provides you with a basic chart of accounts layout that is suitable for most businesses. To select a chart of accounts, click Browse to access the Company Configurations window. Choose the chart you require and click Open. For more information, see To use an existing configuration file on page 6.

Alternatively, you may have been given a Sage Line 50 configuration file by your accountant, or someone in your company, to use. The configuration file holds all of your basic Sage Line 50 setup information, such as the nominal ledger details and the default settings for your company. For more information about the details held in the configuration file, see the section The Configuration Editor on page 44.

Important Note: You must select the configuration file before you exit the ActiveSetup Wizard. You cannot change the configuration file once you have completed the ActiveSetup Wizard.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

To use an existing configuration file

1. From the ActiveSetup Wizard’s ‘My Company’ window, click Browse.

The Company Configurations window appears.

If your configuration file has been saved into the default file location, the file will appear in the list. The default file location is C:\Program Files\Sage\Accounts\Configs.

2. Select the appropriate file from the scrolling list. If the configuration file is not in the list, click Browse to find the file.

3. Once you have selected the configuration file, click Open.

Line 50 returns you to the ActiveSetup Wizard and displays the file you selected.

4. Click Next to continue through the ActiveSetup Wizard.

Getting Started

Step 3: My Details

Use this step to enter your company name and contact details. When you have completed the wizard, these details will be copied to your Sage Line 50 program. If your company details change, or if you make a mistake, you can change these details within your Sage Line 50 program.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Step 4: My Financial Year

Use this step to enter your Financial Year start date.

Note: It is important that you enter the correct Financial Year start date as it is difficult to change this date once you have started to enter transactions. If you are in any doubt as to your Financial Year start date you should contact your accountant or your company’s accounts department before proceeding.

Getting Started

Step 5: My VAT Details

If your company is VAT registered, enter the VAT registration number in the relevant box. You must also specify if your company uses the VAT Cash Accounting scheme. By default, Sage Line 50 calculates tax liability using the Standard VAT scheme.

If you are in any doubt as to the VAT scheme that you are using, you should contact your accountant or your company’s accounts department.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Step 6: My Currency

You now need to choose your base currency. This is the currency you will use most often to record your transactions.

Note: It is very important that you choose your base currency correctly, as you cannot change it once it has been selected.

Getting Started

Step 7: Program Activation

You must now enter your Serial Number and Activation Key in the relevant boxes. You can find these on the sticker sheet entitled 'Important Information', which comes within your program box.

If you cannot find your Serial Number and Activation Key, please contact our Customer Care department.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Step 8: Next Steps

This is the final screen of the ActiveSetup Wizard.

From this window you can access the Configuration Editor. You can use the Configuration Editor to set up the basic information about your company. For more information, see The Configuration Editor on page 44.

From here you can also open the help system to see the Setup Checklist. To do this, click View Setup Checklist.

Click Finish to close the ActiveSetup Wizard.

Getting Started

Registering Sage Line 50

Unless you register your Sage Line 50 program, you can only use your new Sage Line 50 for a maximum of 60 days. At the end of the unregistered period you will be unable to use the program (however, all of the information you entered during this period will be unaffected).

To register your Sage Line 50 program, call one of the following telephone numbers.

UK residents (mainland), 0845 111 66 66 Northern Ireland, 0845 245 0280 Republic of Ireland, 01 642 0800

If you have Internet access, you can register your program online. From the Tools menu, choose Activation and select Upgrade Program, then click Web Register from the Product Registration window. Follow the instructions on-screen to register your program.

Getting Started

You are now ready to begin entering information into your new Sage Line 50 program. Sage recommends that you follow the structure of Part One of this User Guide in order to lay the foundations of your new accounting system.

This chapter of the User's Guide introduces you to the new Sage Line 50 and shows you how to install the program and where to get help. Chapter two explains how to use Sage Line 50 and shows you some useful hints and tips. Chapter three starts with the first major task which you must complete and continues through to Chapter seven which is the last of the tasks which you should perform in sequence. Chapters eight to eleven explain other key setup tasks. In summary, the tasks you are advised to perform in sequence are:

 Set your company defaults. Check that you have entered your company details correctly,

including your financial year start date and your VAT scheme. For more information, see Setting Up Your Company Details on page 43.

 Check your nominal account structure (this includes setting up bank accounts in Sage Line

50). Sage Line 50 has already created a nominal account structure for you, but you should check that the structure is right for your company. At this stage you can rename your nominal accounts to suit your business, add additional accounts and delete others that you do not need. For more information, see chapter 4, Setting Up Your Nominal Structure.

 Enter your customer and supplier information. If you need to keep details of your

customers and suppliers, the next stage is to enter their records and their opening balances. A customer or supplier record is like a card in a card index box. Each record holds information about a specific customer or supplier, such as an address, telephone number, contact name, credit details and so on. Depending on your business you may need to complete both supplier and customer records or you may need only the supplier option. For more information, see chapter 5, Entering Customer and Supplier Records.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

 Enter your product information. If your business has stock, you should now enter your

product details, including their opening balances. For more information, see chapter 6, Entering Product Details and Planning a Stock System.

 Enter the opening balances for your nominal ledger and bank accounts (in that order). Any

figure listed on your opening trial balance should be entered as an opening balance against the relevant nominal account. You should enter the opening balance for your bank account after you have entered the balances of all your other nominal ledger accounts. This is the last task which you should complete in order. For more information, see Entering Opening Balances for Nominal and Bank Accounts on page 163.

The remaining chapters of Part One contain instructions on how to set up monthly payments, discounts for customers, your fixed asset details and e-Banking.

About SageCover

If you are new to Sage Line 50, you are entitled to receive free SageCover for a 60-day period. Your cover begins when you register your Sage product. This entitles you to unlimited assistance in registering, installing and starting to use your new software. During this period you can contact us by calling 0845 111 5555, e-mailing your query to support@sage.com or by visiting www.sage.co.uk. There is no limit to the amount of times you can use the SageCover service in this period.

Note: The free period of SageCover applies only to new users of Sage Line 50. If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Line 50, you should use your existing SageCover support contract if you have any queries. If you do not have an existing SageCover agreement, you can subscribe to SageCover as detailed below.

If you want to subscribe to a full annual SageCover period, which gives you additional benefits such as discounted program upgrades, call 0800 33 66 33 if you are resident in the UK (mainland), 0800 1690315 for residents of Northern Ireland, or 1800 255300 for residents of the Republic of Ireland. Alternatively, complete the order forms that are sent to you following registration of your Sage Line 50 program.

SageCover Online Support

If you have SageCover and access to e-mail, you can send online queries to SageCover support. To do this, from Sage Line 50's menu bar, open the Help menu, choose Email Support and follow the on-screen instructions.

On www.sage.co.uk you'll find a wealth of business advice as well as tips on how to get the maximum benefit from your new software. Business advice includes over 100 expertly written articles on topics ranging from "How to write a marketing plan" to "How to write a contract of employment".

Getting Started

sage.co.uk & sage.ie

The Sage UK website, www.sage.co.uk (or www.sage.ie for users in the Republic of Ireland), is a valuable resource available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can find information on our products and services, print your latest invoice from us or sign up for a free newsletter. It's a convenient place to buy Sage products, find out how to get help and advice locally from a Sage business partner and much more. We are constantly adding new features to the website, so visit regularly to take advantage of our online services.

To access the website, click the sage.com option from your Line 50 toolbar and choose Sage Home Page.

Sage Training

Sage offers a portfolio of classroom training courses for all of our users, designed to enable them to make the most of their Sage software packages. Every Sage training course is written and presented by staff who know and understand Sage software. There are training centres in Birmingham, Bristol, Croydon, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, North London, Reading, Swansea and Leeds, all offering a range of training courses every month.

For customers who prefer to study in their own time, Sage has also developed a range of self study products, including on-line training courses, interactive CD-ROMs and workbooks with practice data.

For further details about our Training products and course availability, please contact one of our sales advisors on 0800 33 66 33.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Chapter 2

How to Use Sage Line 50

Now you have installed Sage Line 50 and run the ActiveSetup Wizard, you are ready for a quick tour.

Sage Line 50 is compatible with most Windows products. This means that it has its own main window, which you can maximise, minimise and resize, and keep open while you work on other Windows compatible applications.

This chapter will help you become familiar with Sage Line 50. You will find out what Sage Line 50 can do and you will learn about the demonstration data.

This chapter also describes the different ways that you can enter and manipulate your data in the program.

Finally, this chapter provides an explanation of debits and credits, and how they work in an accounting system.

In this chapter:

Instructions in This Guide...................19

The Sage Line 50 Options .................20

The Sage Line 50 Window .................21

Using Windows..................................24

Menu Commands..............................25

Getting Help ......................................41

Wizards .............................................41

Debits and Credits .............................42

The best way to become familiar with Sage Line 50 is to practise! Sage Line 50 includes a demonstration data set for a fictitious company called Stationery & Computer Mart UK. To access the demonstration data, go to File on the Sage Line 50 menu bar, then choose Open and select Open Demo Data. If Line 50 prompts you to login, enter the default user name MANAGER, leave the password box empty, and click OK.

Start using Sage Line 50 by experimenting with this demo data. Try moving around the windows and familiarise yourself with list boxes, option buttons, check boxes and the other elements of the program. Use the Search, Clear and Swap buttons on the Nominal Ledger window to see how they work and then select some records from the Nominal list. These are all activities you will use throughout Sage Line 50 and learning them now will be a real help later on.

As you are working through this guide, you can swap between your own company information and the demo data to practise any functions that you are unsure of. The demo data is fully interactive and you can enter information into the data set to try out the functions and work within the system. Whilst you are in the demo data set, you can do nothing that will influence your real accounts. So don’t worry and try things out.

Remember, you are not on your own. This chapter explains how to use Sage Line 50 on your computer, the rest of this guide explains procedures and processes with step-by-step instructions. You also have the Sage Line 50 Help system at your disposal, which you can search at any time if you are stuck, or press F1 if you are stuck on a particular screen.

Note: All details in the demonstration data are fictitious. Any similarities in the demonstration data with real names, addresses or other company details, past or present, is coincidental.

How to Use Sage Line 50

Instructions in This Guide

Sage Line 50 is a fully Windows compatible product which means that all the usual windows elements are used. This User Guide also uses the same terminology and instruction conventions that are used in your Windows User Guide, so, if you are familiar with Windows, you will already know how to navigate around your Sage Line 50 program. If you are not, the basic elements of Windows are described in this chapter.

This guide takes you through many different procedures, step-by-step, such as recording a payment or running a report. To make it easy for you to follow, these instructions are written using the following conventions. For example, a step by step procedure always starts in the same format and continues as a series of numbered steps, as shown below.

Example

1. Select a record you want to delete from the Records list.

2. Click Delete.

Note: If during a procedure you are asked to type specific text into a box, this text is always shown in boldface, as shown in step 3 below.

3. In the Command Line text box type d:\setup.exe and then press ENTER.

If you are required to press a specific key on the keyboard, this key is shown in CAPITAL LETTERS. You will notice that the key you needed to press in step 3 above, the ENTER key, is written in capital letters.

Italic text is used to refer you to other sections of the guide, for example:

4. To print your VAT Return, click Print. For more information, see Chapter 20, Running Your VAT Return.

There is also consistent use of command words within the procedures, such as:

 Open a menu from the menu bar.

 Choose from a drop-down menu.

 Select an option button, check box or an item from a list.

 Click a command button or an option from a toolbar.

You decide whether to use the keyboard or the mouse to open, choose or select items. Instructions on how to do this and how to use other elements of Sage Line 50 are contained in this chapter. The next page explains what the main buttons of Sage Line 50 are used for.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Sage Line 50 Options

Enter your customers’ details and keep track of your sales. Post any invoices or credit notes you raise and instantly see when payments are due and overdue.

The Suppliers button lets you enter details of each of your suppliers, including invoices and credit notes and contains all of their transaction details.

All your transactions are posted to the nominal accounts. Looking at these accounts lets you see the exact state of your finances.

Record your bank and cash payments, receipts, transfers and adjustments. Pay your supplier invoices and log customer receipts against invoices sent.

Use the Products option to record all of the items and services that you sell. The details can then be transferred onto the sales invoices you create.

Invoicing lets you generate and print invoices and then updates your ledgers automatically. You can invoice for items of stock you sell, or for the services your business provides.

Sales Order Processing is only available to users of Financial Controller. It lets you easily complete your sales orders and automatically updates your ledgers.

Purchase Order Processing is only available to users of Financial Controller. It makes recording your purchase orders quick and straightforward.

Look at details of your income and expenditure, assets and liabilities, compare your finances against last year’s figures, and calculate your VAT Return.

Accountant Plus and Financial Controller users can use the Projects option to create and manage projects and their associated costs, bill customers for work carried out and analyse cost information.

Use Credit Control to keep track of your money and find out how to set payment deadlines for your customers, how to charge your customers for late payment of bills and how to write off bad debts.

The e-Mail option lets you electronically send and receive invoices and orders. Sage Line 50 then automatically updates your records with their details.

Use the Period End options to carry out your routine functions at your month and year ends, such as clearing transactions from the audit trail.

This option lists all of the financial reports that are available. From here you can print off your Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss and many other reports.

Sage MIS uses your accounting data to give you a snapshot of your finances, sales performance, customers, products and suppliers, in graphs and tables.

Sage.com is a great resource for your company. Find information on products and services, print your latest invoice from us or sign up for free newsletters.

Sage Line 50’s Help system has over 1000 pages of support and instructions. If you cannot find what you want in this User Guide, it will be in the Help system.

How to Use Sage Line 50

The Sage Line 50 Window

When you double-click on the Sage Line 50 program icon, the Sage Line 50 window appears. You can choose different views for your window. The first option shows a taskbar with the toolbar visible. You can get this view by selecting View on the menu bar and putting a tick next to Taskbar and Status Bar, if you want these to show.

Option 1: The Taskbar and Toolbar View

This is the Sage Line 50 Taskbar. Open an option by putting the arrow over the word and clicking the mouse. When you first open Sage Line 50, the Shortcuts and Recent Reports areas will be empty.

This is the Sage Line 50 Menu Bar. Open a menu by putting the arrow over the word and clicking the mouse or Alt + underlined key.

This is the Sage Line 50 Toolbar. Open an option by pointing the cursor to the icon you want and clicking the mouse.

Click to minimise, shrink or close.

This is the Suppliers window, which appears when you click Suppliers from the Toolbar. You can open as many windows as you want, or close them as you finish with them by using the X in the top right hand corner. Or, you can minimise them to use them later.

This is the Status Bar. This figure tells you how many transactions you have entered onto your system, the program date and the financial year start date. You can choose to show or hide this.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Option 2: The Taskbar View

This is the Taskbar. Open an option by putting the arrow over the word and clicking the mouse. When you first open Sage Line 50, the Shortcuts and Recent Reports areas will be empty.

This is the Sage Line 50 Menu Bar. Open an option by pointing the cursor on the option you want and clicking the mouse.

Click here to minimise, shrink or close.

This is the Status Bar. This figure tells you how many transactions you have entered onto your system, the program date and the financial year start date. You can choose to show or hide this.

How to Use Sage Line 50

Option 3: The Toolbar View

The third option is to display the Toolbar only (if you are upgrading, this is the view the Sage Line 50 window defaults to). You can get this view by selecting View on the menu bar and putting a tick next to Toolbar and Status Bar, if you want it showing (see bottom right of screen shot).

his is the Sage Line 50 Menu Bar. Open a menu by putting the arrow over the word and clicking the mouse or Alt + underlined key.

This is the Sage Line 50 Toolbar. Open an option by pointing the cursor to the icon you want and clicking the mouse.

Click on the minimise button to display Sage Line 50 as a small icon at the bottom of the screen, or use the middle button to shrink the Sage Line 50 window. The X button closes the program.

This is the Status Bar. This figure tells you how many transactions you have entered onto your system, the program date and the financial year start date. You can choose to show or hide this.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Using Windows

When you select an option from the Sage Line 50 toolbar, a window appears in which you can enter or view information. You can open several options at once, so you can move between one function and another without having to close each one in turn. However, only one window can be active at any one time. When you open a new screen, a new tab appears in the bottom left area of the window. Click on these tabs to move between any of the screens.

Click on a tab to view any screen that you have opened.

How to Use Sage Line 50

Data Entry Windows

In Sage Line 50, your data is entered onto window ‘forms’. Each form is divided into small boxes into which data can be typed using the keyboard or selected from a list of choices.

Each single piece of information you enter on a screen is called a field. For example, a customer’s name is a field; so is a price. Fields that accept both letters and numbers, plus a few symbols such as hyphens or brackets, are called alphanumeric fields. Those that accept only numbers are called numeric fields and those that accept and display a date are called date fields.

The width of a field’s box usually denotes the limit of the number of characters it will accept. This is known as the field length. However, Sage Line 50 will make sure that you only enter the right type and amount of data in each field. So, for example, you will not be permitted to enter text in a numeric field. You will also be prevented from entering a date which is not a calendar date. Other types of field validation ensure that, as far as possible, the right kind of information is entered into the appropriate field. Any deviation from the expected data may result in the input being rejected or ignored, or in the screen displaying an error message.

Menu Commands

Each option on the menu bar provides access to a drop-down menu. If you use other software on your PC, you will probably be familiar with drop-down menus. You can open menus and choose options using the keyboard or mouse, as described below.

Selecting Menus With a Mouse

Click on the left mouse button when the pointer is on the menu option name, to display the pull down menu. To select an option, click on the left mouse button again when the mouse pointer is pointing to the option on the menu that you want.

Selecting Menus With the Keyboard

All menu and option names have one underlined character. You can select a menu by pressing the ALT key simultaneously with the key corresponding to the underlined character. For example, to select the Edit menu, you would type ALT and E (ALT+E) at the same time. When the menu appears, you can select one of the options on the menu by pressing just the character underlined. For example, having opened the Edit menu, you could select the Delete Row option by pressing the D key.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Toolbar

The main Sage Line 50 options are on a toolbar, which displays beneath the main menu bar. To run any of these options, click on the appropriate option with the left mouse button.

When you run one of these options, a separate window will appear with its own toolbar options. You can however run these options without a mouse by pressing the ALT key and the underlined character shown on the option, at the same time.

Command Buttons

Command buttons appear in most of the Sage Line 50 option windows. Use these to take action once you have entered some data or selected a record to work with. Command buttons appear on virtually every window and include one or more of the following commands:

Save Choose the Save button to accept the data you have entered and process the

information, e.g. make the changes in the record. Any data entry boxes on the screen will be cleared for you to enter details for another record. Save does not take you out of the option.

Close Close is the button to choose when you want to exit from an option. Close does

not save any data you have entered so make sure you do this first, if appropriate.

Discard If you choose the Discard button, any data you have just entered in the data

entry boxes will clear from the screen for you to start again.

Note: Discard does not undo any entries you have already saved.

OK The OK button is sometimes shown instead of the Save button. The difference is

that OK will not only save and process your data but will also exit the option.

Cancel The Cancel button is sometimes shown instead of the Discard button. The

difference is that Cancel not only Discards your data entry (or process) but it also exits the option.

When there are too many buttons to display on the visible window, for example if you are using a low display resolution, a double-arrow symbol appears to the right-hand side of the command button bar. Click the arrow symbol to access the remaining available buttons:

How to Use Sage Line 50

Entering and Editing Data

To type data into a form, you can move the arrow-shaped pointer (the cursor) to the field area where you want to enter data, at which stage the pointer changes to a vertical bar called the insertion pointer.

Move the cursor to the part of the field where you want to begin typing and click the left hand mouse button. If the field is blank, an insertion pointer appears at the far left of the box. If there is data already in the field, the insertion pointer appears at the same place as the cursor was positioned when you clicked the mouse button.

The figure below shows a typical data-entry screen.

Find records with this button.

When you click Save, a blank screen appears, ready for another record. If you want to recall your last record, click on the drop-down list button (represented by a down-ward pointing arrow) and this will give you a list, in alphanumeric order, of all the records that have been entered. Find the record reference that you want and select it with your mouse.

Moving Around Fields and Forms

After you have entered data within a field, you can use any of the following keys, found on your keyboard, to locate the cursor elsewhere within the field or the form:

TAB Move to the next field.

SHIFT+TAB Move back to the previous field.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

ESC Exit the form. If any data has been entered, you will be asked to

save the details.

END Move the cursor to the last character of the last word in the field.

HOME Moves the cursor to the start of the field.

CTRL+RIGHT ARROW Moves the cursor to the first character of the next word in the

field.

CTRL+LEFT ARROW Moves the cursor to the first character of the previous word in the

field.

Alternatively, you can use the mouse to place the cursor wherever you want and click the left mouse button to accept the location.

Editing Field Contents

To add characters within a field, simply place the cursor at the point you want to start typing and click the left mouse button. When you type, characters are inserted from the cursor position, displacing existing characters to the right of the cursor.

To delete all or part of a field’s contents, use one of the following methods:

 To delete individual characters to the left of the cursor, use the BACKSPACE key.

 To delete several characters at once, you can highlight the text using the mouse.

Alternatively, you can press and keep the SHIFT button depressed while you use the right or left arrow key to select the characters you want to remove, and then press DELETE.

 To delete a complete word, either highlight the word by placing the cursor over it and

double-clicking the left-hand mouse button, or use CTRL+SHIFT and the right or left arrow key, to highlight the whole word and then press DELETE.

 To delete a whole line on transaction entry screens, place the cursor in any field and press

F8.

 To delete the entire contents of the field, use the mouse to highlight all of the field’s contents

and press DELETE.

How to Use Sage Line 50

Using Drop-Down List Boxes and Scroll Bars

You can enter some field entries by selecting from a drop-down list box. Such fields are indicated by a down-pointing arrow in a small box at the right-hand end of the field.

Click on this arrow for the drop-down box to appear.

Use these arrows to scroll up and down the list box to select the appropriate records.

When you click on a drop-down arrow in a list box, the program opens a list of the first few choices. To make a selection, click on the option you want, and it appears in the field box. If necessary, use the scroll bar to move down the full list.

Scroll Bars

Windows and drop-down lists will not always be able to display all of the records or fields that can be selected. Where a window has more to display than can be shown at one time, a scroll bar appears at the right-hand side of the window, like the one shown on the drop-down list box above.

To use the scroll bar, click on the up or down arrows, holding the mouse button down, to scroll the list up or down respectively. Alternatively, drag the empty box in the scroll bar up or down using the mouse.

Option Buttons

Option buttons that appear in Sage Line 50 let you select one action, from two or more possible actions.

You can only select one option button. In this example, the Top Left option is selected.

You select an option button by clicking on the required option with the left mouse button (a dot appears in the selected option), or use the TAB key to move the cursor to the option button area, then select the button with the arrow keys.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

When

k this butt

Click this button to display a mini calculat

Click this button to go to view the

Check Boxes

Check boxes let you select one or more of the actions you require from a range of actions. For example, in the Graph windows, you can show different types of transactions.

You can select one, two or three of these check boxes at once.

Select a check box by clicking with the left mouse button on the required box (a tick appears). Alternatively, use the TAB key to move the cursor to the check box area and select on or off using the SPACE BAR. To clear a check box, repeat the procedure so that the tick does not appear in the box.

Using the Calendar Button

All those fields which require you to enter a date have a Calendar button attached. When you click this button a calendar appears from which you can select the date you need using your mouse.

you clic

which you can select the required date.

on, a calendar appears from

Using the Calculator Button

To help you perform your calculations, a Calculator button is attached to many numeric data-entry boxes. When you click this button a mini calculator is displayed, which you can use like an everyday calculator with clicks of your mouse. The results seen on the on-screen calculator appear in the numeric data entry box.

or.

‘Smart Link’ Buttons

There are often times as you use Sage Line 50, where you require additional information about an account or transaction. At the click of a button, the 'Smart Link' feature allows you to move from the screen you are working in to another window containing related data. Your account information becomes more accessible as you work.

For example, when you enter an invoice, you may want to check the customer's details. Click on the arrow button alongside the account code field to go to the customer's record details.

account details.

How to Use Sage Line 50

The 'Drill-Down' Facility

You can click on a transaction listed on a customer, supplier, bank or nominal activity window to drill down into the associated order, invoice or credit note details.

The following example shows the same transaction listed on the Bank Activity window.

Click this icon to see the details that make up the transaction.

Function Keys

Sage Line 50 uses function keys in several areas to access a number of important features, including the calculator and the Help features. Several of these keys are context sensitive, meaning that they will only perform their function when you have selected an appropriate box. For example, if you are in Customer Records and your cursor is in the A/C box, pressing F4 will open the customer record list. However, if your cursor, in the same screen, is in the Name box, nothing would happen if you pressed F4.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The various functions associated with the function keys are:

F1 Press this key to bring up Help that relates to the particular window you are using.

For example, if you are in the Customers window and press F1, the Help system will display assistance on the Customers function.

F2 This key brings up the calculator which you can use with the mouse, in the same way

you would use a normal calculator.

F3 This key brings up the Edit Item Line window when you are entering an invoice using

the Invoicing option. Financial Controller users can also use the F3 key in the SOP and POP modules.

F4 This button is a shortcut to the calendar, calculator or record list, if the selected text

box that you are using has any of these functions attached. Also if you select a drop-down list box, you can press F4 to display this list.

F5 If you press this key it brings up the Currency Calculator when the focus is in a

numeric box. It will display the Spell Checker if the cursor is in a text box.

F6 Press this button in the appropriate screen to copy data from the box immediately

preceding it. For example, when entering invoice data in the Customers window, press F6 to copy the data from the box immediately above it. This speeds up the process of entering the same data.

F7 Using F7 inserts a blank row in a list. For example, if you need to insert a blank row

for another customer invoice in the Customer Invoice window, place your cursor on an existing row, press F7 and a new blank row appears immediately above the list where your cursor rests.

F8 Press F8 to delete a row, for example, in the Customers Invoice window.

F9 Use this key in a relevant field to calculate the Net amount from any Gross tax values.

For example, in the Batch Supplier Invoices window, you can enter the gross figure in the Net column and press F9, which splits the amount into a Net and VAT amount.

F11 This button launches the Windows control panel, so, for example, you could access

your Internet options without having to minimise or close down your Sage Line 50 program.

F12 By default, the F12 key launches the Report Designer. Alternatively, you can configure

this button to launch another program on your PC, or minimise your Sage Line 50 program.

How to Use Sage Line 50

Select

You

t this list in

Selecting Records to Work With

When you first run many of the Sage Line 50 options, the active window shows you the record or records you can work with. In some options, you must first create these records; in others, you are given a standard set of records to work with straight away. As you create each new record, it is added to the list in code or reference order, so that you can always find the record you want quickly.

The following figure shows an example of the Supplier Ledger window:

one or more records by

clicking on the lines you require.

can sor

the header range, for example Balance or Contact.

any column-type order by clicking on

New records appear on the list automatically.

Click on these arrows to scroll up and down the Supplier Ledger list.

A scroll bar appears when there are more records to be viewed than can be displayed in the list box at any one time.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Selecting One Record for Processing

Each ledger window displays a list of records you have added to your ledger.

When you want to work with a single record, for example if you want to make a transfer from a bank account, you can select the record from the list before you click the appropriate button from the toolbar. This saves you from selecting the record once the process window, for example the Bank Transfer window, is open.

To select a record from a ledger window, move the mouse pointer to the record in the list and left click. The selected record is highlighted in the list.

If the ‘Enable Smart Totals’ option is switched on in Company Preferences, the information ‘1 of xx items selected’ displays at the bottom of the list, where ‘xx’ is the number of records currently displayed in the ledger. In addition, when you select a record that has a balance associated with it, for example in the Customers or Bank window, the balance amount shows in the ‘Total Amount’ box at the bottom of the record list. For more information about setting up your Company Preferences, see Entering Your Company Preferences on page 68.

Selecting More Than One Record

There may be times when you want to process several records in succession, or print a report based on a particular selection of records. Using the same method as when selecting one record, you can click on as many records in the list as you want. As you do so, each one is highlighted and becomes part of the selected set of records for processing.

Tip: You can also select the records you want by using your cursor arrows on your keyboard to scroll down or up, and pressing the SPACEBAR to select the record or records you want.

If you select several records and then click Record, for example if you want to make amendments to several records in succession, the first record highlighted in the list appears on the record window ready for processing. When you finish processing that record, you can view the next one in the selection by clicking the Next button. To go back to a previous record from the ones you have chosen, click the Previous button.

You will find it useful to be able to select several records when using the report options. You can highlight all the records you want to include in the report before choosing the report you want to print.

If the ‘Activate Smart Totals’ option is switched on in Company Preferences, as you select your records Line 50 shows how many records you have highlighted at the bottom of the list. In addition, Line 50 adds together the balance on each record and displays the total balance in the ‘Total Amount’ box at the bottom of the list. The balance may show as one total amount, for example on the Invoicing window, or it may display as total debit and credit amounts, such as in the Nominal Ledger.

Note: The total debit or total credit only display on the Nominal Ledger when it is set to use the List layout.

How to Use Sage Line 50

Deselecting Records

Having highlighted a record you may want to deselect it, either because you have finished processing it or perhaps because you selected the wrong one. If you click on the selected record (or use the SPACEBAR), the highlight disappears. As you deselect records, Line 50 subtracts their balance from the ‘Total Amount’ box at the bottom of the list.

Using the Swap and Clear Button

If you have highlighted records that you no longer want selected, click the Clear button. Any records that were highlighted are deselected, and no records are left highlighted.

When you want to select numerous records, it may be quicker to select those records you don’t want, rather than what you do want. By using the Swap button, you can change the selection to those that are not highlighted.

Click on the records you don’t want selected so they are highlighted and then click on the Swap button. Everything that isn’t highlighted is immediately selected, and the records you clicked on are deselected. You can swap back again using the same button. Try it out and you’ll soon be familiar with the process.

Sorting the List

You can sort the records in most Sage Line 50 windows by ascending, descending or alphabetical order, depending on the information in the list. Click with the mouse button on the column name to sort the records. When you close and restart Sage Line 50, any sorts that you apply are remembered.

Showing More Data Columns in the Windows

Many of the windows can show more columns of data if you maximise the window. Try it and see. If you still can’t see all of the columns a scroll bar appears, enabling you to see the additional columns by moving the window to the left.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Resizing and Hiding Data Columns

As you become more familiar with the ledgers and windows in Line 50, you may find that you use some data columns more than others. For example, in the Customers window, you might use the 'A/C' and 'Name' columns frequently for looking up a particular account, but perhaps use the 'Contact' column less often.

Using the Configurable Columns feature, you can hide certain data columns that you do not use very frequently, allowing more room on-screen for those columns that you use more often. You can also resize the columns on-screen to make the best use of the space available, according to your needs. So, in Customers, you could hide the 'Contact' column and then make the 'A/ C' and 'Name' columns wider.

Note: You cannot hide "essential" columns such as the Account Reference.

Line 50 stores the settings you select against your user name, so you can personalise your program view without affecting other users. When you next log into the program, Line 50 remembers your settings and displays each window as you configured it.

Note: You can customise the program's columns for all users at once, so that every user sees the same data column configuration regardless of their user name. To do this, log in using the 'Manager' user name, choose Tools then Options from the menu bar, and select the 'Use Manager account settings for column display' check box. You can then set up the columns in each option of Line 50 as you want them to appear for all users.

To resize a data column

1. From the appropriate Line 50 window, hover your mouse pointer over the label in the

heading of the column you want to resize.

2. Move the mouse pointer so that it appears between the column heading labels:

When it is positioned correctly between the column headings, your mouse pointer appears as a cross with a double-headed arrow pointing to the left and right.

3. To increase the column width, left-click the mouse and hold the button down. With the left

mouse button held down, drag the mouse pointer towards the right until the column is at the width you require. Release the left mouse button.

4. To reduce the column width, left-click the mouse and hold the button down. With the left

mouse button held down, drag the mouse pointer towards the left until the column is at the width you require. Release the left mouse button.

5. To reset all of the columns in the current window to their default width, right-click on any

column heading and select 'Use Defaults' from the drop-down menu.

How to Use Sage Line 50

The window displays all the columns at their default width. Note: When you select 'Use Defaults', any columns you have previously hidden reappear

on the current window. To return to your customised view, right-click on any column heading and click 'Use Defaults'. Your customised view reappears.

To hide or restore a data column

1. From the appropriate Line 50 window, right-click the heading of the column you want to

hide.

For example, if you want to hide the 'Contact' column in the Customers window, open Customers from the Line 50 toolbar, and right-click the 'Contact' label at the top of the column.

A drop-down menu appears, displaying all the column headings that relate to the current window. The column headings that currently display in the window show a tick alongside them on the menu.

2. To hide a column from the current window, left-click the column heading on the drop-down

menu.

The column disappears from the window, and the item no longer shows a tick against it on the drop-down menu.

Note: You cannot hide all of the columns on any window. To prevent this happening, Line 50 does not allow you to hide the first column on the window. For example, in Customers, you cannot hide the 'A/C' column.

3. To restore a column to the current window, right-click a column heading that is currently

displayed. The column headings menu appears. Left-click on the column heading you want to display.

The column reappears on the window, and the item shows a tick against it on the drop-down menu.

4. To restore the default column settings for the window and display all the available columns,

select 'Use Defaults' from the drop-down menu.

The window displays all the available columns at their default width.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Right-Click

You can use the right button on your mouse in many areas of Sage Line 50. This is known as ‘right-click’. You can use the right-click as a quick way of copying and pasting (and deleting). You can also right-click in many areas to access common commands that relate to the line that you click on; for example, you can right-click on a product item in a Product Invoice to access the Edit Item Line window. To learn more about invoicing, see Chapter 13, Entering Invoices and Credit Notes.

You can also use right-click to add a shortcut to your Taskbar. Point to the icon of the option or function you want to create a shortcut for, then right-click. The drop-down text 'Add To Shortcuts' appears - left-click the text to add that function to your shortcuts menu. For more information about the Taskbar, see The Sage Line 50 Window on page 21.

Duplicating Records

To save you time when you are creating new records, Sage Line 50 provides the facility to duplicate the details of an existing record. This is particularly useful if you need to create several customers or suppliers, for example, that use many of the same account details. You can duplicate a customer, supplier, nominal, bank, product or fixed asset record.

Note: You cannot use the Duplicate facility to create control or bank accounts in the Nominal Ledger. When you duplicate an existing nominal record, Line 50 automatically sets the record type to Nominal.

You can duplicate invoices, for example, if you want to create a number of invoices for the same products or services. Financial Controller users can use the Duplicate feature to make copies of existing sales orders and purchase orders.

To duplicate a record’s details

1. From the appropriate ledger window, select the record whose details you want to

duplicate.

2. Click Duplicate.

The Record window appears, showing the details copied from the original record. For more details about what information Line 50 copies for each record type, please refer to the Help system that accompanies Sage Line 50.

3. Enter an Account Reference, Nominal Code, Product Code or Fixed Asset Reference for

the new record.

Note: You must enter a new, unique Account Reference, Nominal Code, Product Code or Fixed Asset Reference. If you enter one that already exists, Line 50 displays a warning message. Click OK to return to the record window and enter a new reference.

When duplicating a nominal record, if you enter a nominal code that falls outside the range of your current chart of accounts, Line 50 displays the message ‘This nominal code is outside the range of the chart of accounts, therefore its balance will not be reflected in your

How to Use Sage Line 50

P&L and Balance Sheet reports. Either choose a different nominal code or ensure that you update the chart of accounts layout.’ Click OK to return to the Nominal Record window. You can choose a different nominal code that falls within the current chart of accounts, or alternatively you must remember to amend your chart of accounts layout to include the new nominal code. For details about editing your chart of accounts, see To edit your chart of accounts on page 119.

4. Add or amend the details you require in each of the record’s tabs.

5. To save the new record, click Save. To exit without saving your changes, click Discard.

6. To close the record window, click Close.

The main ledger window appears.

You have successfully duplicated the record.

Making Changes to Records in a Batch

If you want to make identical changes to a number of records in a ledger, Line 50 lets you make the changes once and then apply them to all the records you require. For example, if you want to set the 'Terms Agreed' flag on all of your customer records, you can select all of the relevant records simultaneously and make the change only once. Because you do not need to open and amend every record individually, this feature saves you valuable time and effort.

You can make batch record changes in Customers, Suppliers and Products. Financial Controller users can also record changes in Fixed Assets.

To make changes to a batch of records

1. From the Customers, Suppliers, Products or Fixed Assets window, select the records you

want to make changes to.

2. Click Batch Changes.

The Batch Changes window appears. Note: You can only enter information into the boxes that are suitable for batch changes.

Boxes and buttons that appear 'greyed out' are unavailable. For a list of what you can change for each type of record, please refer to Line 50's Help system.

3. Make the changes you require.

4. Choose one of the following options:

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Save Click Save to apply your changes to all the records you

selected. A confirmation message appears: 'You have chosen to make changes to multiple records. Do you want to save changes?'

To confirm that you want to apply your changes, click Yes. If you do not want to apply your changes, click No to return to the main ledger window. Alternatively, to cancel and return to the Batch Changes window, click Close.

Close To cancel your changes without applying them to the records

you selected, click Close. A confirmation message appears: 'Do you want to save changes?'

To save the changes to all the records you selected, click Yes. If you do not want to apply your changes, click No to return to the main ledger window. Alternatively, to cancel and return to the Batch Changes window, click Close.

Discard To clear the information you enter into the Batch Changes

window and start again, click Discard. The data clears from the window, ready for you to re-enter your changes.

5. To return to the main ledger window, click Close.

Help

For details about what you can change in a batch of records, type 'Batch Changes' in the Help system’s Index tab.

How to Use Sage Line 50

Getting Help

The Sage Line 50 Help system provides you with all of the information you need to get the most out of your Sage Line 50 program. To access the Help you can:

 Press F1.

Press the F1 key at any point in Sage Line 50. The Help topic that appears, directly relates to the actual window that is displayed on-screen. For example, click Customers and then click Record. Pressing F1 at this point displays the Help information relating to the Customer Record.

 Click the Help option on the main Sage Line 50 toolbar and then choose Contents and

Index.

Use the Contents tab on the left side of the Help system to search for a Help topic. The Contents is laid out module-by-module, in the same way as they appear in your Sage Line 50 program.

 Open the Help menu and choose Contents and Index.

If you cannot find the topic you are looking for in the Contents structure, or you do not know where the topic is, select the Index tab and click on the word that most closely relates to the topic that you require.

Wizards

The wizards in Sage Line 50 are specifically designed to help you complete routine or complicated procedures. A wizard takes you through the procedure you want to carry out in a logical, step-by-step process. All you have to do is follow the on-screen instructions. You will find wizards in various places in Sage Line 50, such as on the Modules menu from Line 50’s main menu bar and on the various ledger windows throughout the program.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Debits and Credits

Sage Line 50 does the majority of your double-entry bookkeeping for you. It automatically enters the debits (Dr) and credits (Cr) when you enter a transaction.

In double-entry bookkeeping every transaction has a debit and a credit. These debits and credits are represented in the nominal ledger accounts, which are made up of two sides; debits on the left and credits on the right.

Also, in the accounts, assets appear on the left; therefore to increase an asset you have to create a debit. Liabilities and capital appear on the right, so to increase them you have to create a credit.

For example, a bank loan to a business of £5000 is an increase in the bank balance and an increase in a liability, so we would debit and credit as follows:

DR Bank CR Loan

£5000 Dr = £5000 Cr

Dr = Cr

The only other time that you have come across debit and credit amounts is probably on your bank statement. You must remember that your bank statement shows your account from the perspective of the bank’s own Balance Sheet, therefore when you put money into the bank, you are actually lending them money. As they owe you this money back, from their point of view, you become the banks creditor, hence the credit (Cr) balance. If you are overdrawn, the bank sees you as a debtor who owes them money, thus the debit (Dr) label.

A debit will show in your Sage Line 50 accounts as one of the following:

 An increase in the value of an asset.

 A decrease in the value of a liability.

 An item of expenditure.

A credit will show in your Sage Line 50 accounts as one of the following:

 A decrease in the value of an asset.

 An increase in the value of an liability.

 An item of income.

The ledger used to record the double-entry is known as the Nominal Ledger. This is divided up into individual nominal account records. Some accounts may have debit balances and some may have credit balances, but when you run your Trial Balance report (a summary of all your nominal accounts), the total value of all debits must equal the total value of all credits.

Chapter 3

Setting Up Your Company Details

You need to work through this chapter to set up your company details and defaults. These defaults are the settings that Sage Line 50 will use in the absence of any other instruction from you. Using defaults will save you time, as you won’t have to retype the same information onto invoices or customer and supplier records.

First you should enter your company’s address(es) and decide how you want Sage Line 50 to display information, such as information on your customers, suppliers and products. Then you need to enter information like your financial year, your tax code rates and passwords.

Also in this chapter, there are details about how to work with foreign currencies, including the euro.

Finally, this chapter introduces a vital part of your accounting activities; your opening balances.

In this chapter:

The Configuration Editor ....................44

Entering Your Company Preferences..68

Entering Your Company Defaults .......77

Setting the Financial Year...................77

Entering Your Bank Defaults...............78

The Euro and Other Currencies..........80

The Countries Table ...........................82

Passwords and Access Rights...........83

Changing Your Password...................84

Working With Internet Resources.......84

The Foreign Trader (Financial Controller

only)...................................................85

To Set Up the Foreign Trader .............86

Opening Balances .............................91

The Configuration Editor

The Configuration Editor allows you to set up the basic information that your company needs to get you started with your Sage Line 50 program.

The information that you enter here can be saved and used in future installations of Sage Line 50. Accountants can set up this basic information for their clients so that defaults such as the nominal ledger are ready to use.

The Configuration Editor consists of the following areas:

 General

 Chart of Accounts

 Te rm s

 Tax Codes

 Account Status

 Products

 Departments

 Fixed Assets (Accountant Plus and Financial Controller versions only)

 Custom Fields

 Dispute Reasons

 Credit Control

 Project Costing (Accountant Plus and Financial Controller versions only)

Setting Up Your Company Details

The General Tab

When you use the Configuration Editor to set up your company defaults, you can save your settings to a template. You can then use this template to set up a new company ready to work with, or edit the template at a later date.

Use the General tab of the Configuration Editor to give your template a name, and specify where you want to store the template. You can also select the General tab to locate and open an existing template for editing.

Note: You cannot load and use a new template once you have completed and exited from the ActiveSetup Wizard.

To set up your general configuration settings

1. From the Settings menu, choose Configuration.

The Configuration Editor window appears, showing the General tab.

2. Enter the following settings in the relevant boxes:

Template Name Type a name for the configuration file. You should enter a

name that allows you to identify the file.

We recommend that you use a name that relates to your company or to your business type or industry sector. You can enter up to 30 characters.

Description Enter a description for the configuration file. You can enter up

to 252 characters to describe the template that you are creating. For example, 'Configuration for Garage, revised by Smith and Sons'.

Filename If you have an existing template that has already been set up,

you can choose the Browse button to find the file.

Sage has created a set of templates with information for specific industry types. When you click Browse, a list of these existing template files appears.

3. To continue entering your configuration settings, see The Chart of Accounts Tab on page

46.

To save the changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Chart of Accounts Tab

The Configuration Editor enables you to set up and amend your Chart of Accounts to suit your business. You can add or modify ranges of nominal accounts to preset categories and you can set up or change individual nominal accounts. You can also specify whether an account is a standard nominal code, a control account, or a bank account.

Note: You cannot change default bank accounts from the Configuration Editor. To edit your default bank accounts, access the Control Accounts option from the Settings menu.

Before you edit your Chart of Accounts, we recommend that you read the next chapter. See Setting Up Your Nominal Structure on page 93.

The Chart of Accounts list box uses the following colour coding to differentiate between the types of nominal account:

Green Floating range

A floating range is one that could be an asset or a liability depending on the balance of the nominal accounts included in it, and so appears in both the current assets and current liabilities categories of the Chart of Accounts.

Blue Control account

Control accounts are used by Sage Line 50 to make double-entry postings, and include your Debtors and Creditors Control Accounts, Default Bank Accounts and VAT Control Accounts.

Setting Up Your Company Details

Red Bank account

A bank account is a nominal code that you create in the Bank module.

Pink Bank and Control account

If a bank account also appears in your list of control accounts, for example your default bank account, the Chart of Accounts list box displays it in pink.

Note: The Configuration Editor only allows you to create one Chart of Accounts for each configuration file. To set up another Chart of Accounts, you will need to create a separate configuration file.

You can set up your chart of accounts in the Configuration Editor or in the Nominal option. For instructions about adding and editing your existing chart of accounts, see Chapter 4, Setting Up Your Nominal Structure, or press F1 on the Chart of Accounts tab and read the information that appears in the help system.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Terms Tab

Each time you create a new customer or supplier record, you can enter details such as the credit limit, trading terms and discount available for that account.

If you give most of your customers similar terms and conditions, or receive similar terms from many of your suppliers, you can use the Configuration Editor to set up defaults. This saves you time as you will not need to enter the same information each time you create a new record.

In addition, if your company applies credit charges to customers who do not pay on time, you can set up your finance rates here.

To set up your terms

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Terms tab.

The Terms information appears.

2. Enter your Customer Trading Terms and Supplier Trading Terms in the relevant boxes:

Credit Limit Enter the standard credit limit that you give your customers,

or that your suppliers give you.

Sett. Discount If you want to offer early settlement discount, or if your

suppliers offer you this facility, enter the default percentage in this box.

Setting Up Your Company Details

Payment Due Days Enter your usual credit terms, i.e. the number of days that you

usually give your customers to pay, or that your suppliers give you.

Sett. Due Days You can give your customers a discount for early payment, or

your suppliers may offer you this discount. If payment is received within the days you enter here, you or your customer can qualify for a discount.

Terms Type in up to 30 characters of text, such as '30 Days'. You

can print this on your invoices or statements if required.

3. To add a Customer Finance Rate, click Add in the Customer Finance Rates section.

You can enter the following finance rate information:

Date applying from Enter the date you want the new interest rate to apply from.

Base Rate % Enter the current base rate here.

Additional % If you want to charge interest above the current base rate,

enter the additional percentage here.

4. To amend an existing finance rate, click Edit in the Customer Finance Rate section.

5. To delete a finance rate, click Delete.

To save your changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close. To continue entering your configuration settings, see Tax Codes on page 50.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Tax Codes

Sage Line 50 sets the standard UK and EC VAT Rates automatically for you, so you don’t normally need to adjust anything. However, we recommend you read this section to familiarise yourself with the codes that are used and what they represent.

Upon installation, Sage Line 50 sets the code T1 - standard rate (currently at 17.5%) as the default tax code.

Note for Irish users upgrading from an existing Sage program: When you set your Regional Settings to English (Ireland), Sage Line 50 sets the standard default tax codes T1 to 21% and T3, which is used for reduced rate transactions, to 13.5%. The remaining tax codes remain as detailed in the bulleted list later in this section.

Note for new Irish users installing Sage Line 50 for the first time: When you install with your Regional Settings set to English (Ireland), Sage Line 50 version 11 creates the following standard default tax codes: T0, 0% (zero rated sales and goods for resale); T1, 21% (standard rate sales and goods for resale); T2, 0% (exempt transactions for sales and goods for resale); T3, 13.5% (reduced rate sales and goods for resale); T4, 0% (sales to VAT registered customers in the EC); T7, 0% (zero rated purchases from suppliers in the EC); T8, 0% (standard rated purchases from suppliers in EC); T9, 0% (transactions not involving VAT); T10, 0% (zero rated goods for non-resale); T11, 21% (standard rate goods for non-resale) and T12, 22% (reduced rate goods for non-resale).

If you need to add or change VAT Codes, use the Tax Codes tab from the Configuration Editor. Tax codes are used to identify the rate of VAT to be applied to a given transaction. You can specify up to 100 VAT rates, each one identified by a code from T0 to T99. You can then select the rates that are to be included in the VAT Return calculations and which relate to EC transactions.

When you install your program, Sage Line 50 automatically sets up the following VAT Rates for you:

 T0 zero rated transactions

 T1 standard rate

 T2 exempt transactions

 T4 sales to VAT registered customers in the EC*

 T7 zero-rated purchases from suppliers in the EC**

 T8 standard rated purchases from suppliers in the EC**

 T9 transactions not involving VAT***

* This tax code can be used for VAT registered customers outside of the UK, but within the EC. You must have the customer’s VAT registration number entered on the customer record if you want to use the T4 tax code. If your customer is not VAT registered, you should use one of the standard UK VAT rates.

Setting Up Your Company Details

** These tax codes can be used for suppliers outside of the UK but within the EC. In accordance with VAT regulations, EC VAT rate codes used for purchases are given a 'notional' rate that is linked to a UK VAT Rate. For example, the T8 tax rate for standard-rated purchases from suppliers in the EC is linked to T1, which is the standard rate of VAT in the UK.

*** These transactions are not included on the VAT Return. Sage Line 50 also uses T9 as the default tax code for all the routines that are non-vatable, e.g. journal entries and error corrections. If you want to change the function of T9, you will need to set up another tax code that is non-vatable, for Sage Line 50 to use for these routines

You can add or edit tax codes. To add or edit a tax code, open the Settings menu and choose Tax Codes. Select the code you require and then click Edit.

Note: The tax codes are set up by default, but it is your responsibility to ensure that these tax codes are used correctly. For more information about tax codes, you should check the following HMCE publication notices: Notice 700 - The VAT Guide. This is the main VAT reference guide. Notice 725 - The single market. This notice explains the way that VAT is charged and accounted for on the movement of goods within the EC single market. For more tax information and copies of Notice 700 and Notice 725, you should refer to the HMCE Web site. You can access this Web site from your Sage accounts program, by clicking on the Sage.com icon on the main Sage desktop and then selecting Customs and Excise from the pop-up list.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

To edit a VAT rate

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Tax Codes tab.

The Tax Codes information appears, listing all the VAT rates currently available for you. The list also shows whether each rate is 'In Use' (i.e. included on your Sage Line 50 VAT Return), and if the rate refers to transactions with EC countries.

2. To edit an existing VAT Rate, select a tax code and click Edit.

The Edit Tax Code window appears. This window shows any basic information about the tax code that you have selected, such as the code, rate and description.

Setting Up Your Company Details

3. Enter or edit the following information:

 Enter or edit the rate to be applied (as a percentage) in the Rate text box provided.

You should not change this rate if it is an EC Code, as this rate does not apply.

 If you want to include this tax code in your Sage Line 50 VAT Return, select the

'Include in VAT Return' check box. Clear the check box if you do not want to include transactions with this tax code in your VAT Return calculations.

 If the rate relates to transactions with EC countries, enter the EC details in the boxes

provided.

 If you want to change the tax code description, type the text you require into the

Description box.

4. To save the details of this tax code, click OK. To exit without saving, click Cancel.

5. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

6. To save the changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

To continue entering your configuration settings, see The Account Status Tab on page 54.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Account Status Tab

Sage Line 50 helps you to manage your customer accounts by allowing you to set up a range of status settings for these accounts. You may want to set several different types of account status to signal whether your customers are good or priority customers. You may also want to assign statuses for bad customers, or specify that a particular status on an account places that customer 'On Hold'.

A number of account statuses are already set up for you to use, but you can edit or add to these if you require.

To edit an account status

1. From the Configuration Editor, click the Account Status tab.

The Account Status information appears, listing all the account statuses currently available to you. The list shows a 'Y' if a status places an account 'On Hold'.

2. Highlight the account status you want to amend and click Edit.

Note: If you try to edit the Open account status, a message appears advising you that you cannot change the 'On Hold' status.

The Edit Account Status window appears.

3. If you want to edit the name of the account status, type the new name into the Description

box.

4. If you want to change the on hold status, select or clear the Marks Account As 'On Hold'

check box as required.

Setting Up Your Company Details

5. To save your changes, click OK. Alternatively, to exit without saving, click Cancel.

6. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

7. To save the changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

To continue entering your configuration settings, refer to the section The Products Tab on page 56.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Products Tab

The Products tab of the Configuration Editor allows you to manage your Product Categories. The categories you set up will be available as a drop-down list on Sage Line 50's Product Record window.

Sage Line 50 lets you divide your products into 999 different categories for analysis and reporting purposes.

To report on products that belong to different categories, use the Search button on the Products window to enter the category number as a selection criterion before you run the relevant report.

You can also change the category label to a term more relevant to your business, and set up custom additional information labels to appear on all your product records.

To edit a product category

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Products tab.

The Products information appears.

2. Select the category you want to amend and click Edit.

The Edit Product Category window appears.

3. In the text box provided, enter the name for your product category.

4. To save your entry click OK, or to abandon your entry click Cancel.

5. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

Setting Up Your Company Details

6. To save the changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving your details,

click Close.

To set up your product category label fields

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Products tab.

The Products information appears.

2. If you want to set up an alternative label for the Product Category box on your product

records, type the name you require in the Label box.

3. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

4. To save the changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

To set up your product record custom fields

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Products tab.

The Products information appears.

2. Enter your custom field labels in the Product Custom Fields section. You can enter up to

three custom field labels. The labels you enter appear on the Web tab of each of your product records.

3. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

4. To save the changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

To continue entering your configuration settings, see The Departments Tab on page 58.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Departments Tab

You can use up to 999 departments to analyse transactions. For example, you may want to analyse sales by area. To do this, you must set up departments to represent each of your sales areas. Each time you post an invoice, you can analyse the sales to the corresponding area. You can then run your company reports, per department, to see how each department in your company is performing.

Tip: To allow for expansion of your business, we recommend that you leave gaps so you can set up new departments. For example, your sales areas may originally be:

Scotland North Midlands Wales London South

As your business expands, you could break down your departments to:

Glasgow Edinburgh Aberdeen Manchester Newcastle Leeds

To edit a department

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Departments tab.

The Departments information appears, listing all the departments currently available to you.

2. Select the department you want to amend and click Edit. To add a new department, select

the next available department in the list and click Edit.

The Edit Department window appears.

3. In the text box provided, type a new name for your department.

4. To save your entry click OK, or to abandon your entry click Cancel.

5. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

6. To save the changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

To continue entering your configuration settings, see The Fixed Assets Tab (Accountant Plus and Financial Controller only) on page 60.

Setting Up Your Company Details

To edit the department label

Your company may not use departments. It is possible to change this label so that you can enter your own analysis information on your accounts records. Follow the following procedure to change the Department boxes throughout your Sage Line 50 program.

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Departments tab.

2. Enter your new text label in the Label box.

3. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

4. To save the changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

To continue entering your configuration settings, see The Fixed Assets Tab (Accountant Plus and Financial Controller only) on page 60.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Fixed Assets Tab (Accountant Plus and Financial Controller only)

Sage Line 50 lets you divide your fixed assets into 99 different categories for analysis and reporting purposes. For example, you may want to set up separate categories for equipment, furniture and vehicles, which you can use on each fixed asset record you create.

Note: You can change the name of the 'Fixed Asset Category' label wherever it appears in Sage Line 50 by typing a new name in the 'Label' box on the Fixed Assets tab of the Configuration Editor.

For more information, see Chapter 10, Working With Fixed Assets (Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only).

To edit your fixed asset categories

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Fixed Assets tab.

The Fixed Assets information appears, listing all of the fixed asset categories currently available to you.

2. Click Edit (or double-click on the category that you want to add or change).

The Edit Fixed Asset Category window appears.

3. In the text box provided, type a name for your fixed asset category.

4. To save your entry click OK, or to abandon your entry click Cancel.

5. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

Setting Up Your Company Details

6. To save the changes, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

To continue entering your configuration settings, see The Custom Fields Tab on page 62.

To edit the fixed asset category label

Your company may not use fixed asset categories. It is possible to change this label so that you can enter your own analysis information on your fixed asset records. The following procedure explains how to change the label on 'Fixed Asset' boxes wherever they appear throughout your Sage Line 50 program.

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Fixed Assets tab.

2. Enter your new text label in the Label box.

3. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

4. To save the changes, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

To continue entering your configuration settings, see The Custom Fields Tab on page 62.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Custom Fields Tab

When you record information about a customer or supplier in Sage Line 50, you can enter up to three additional pieces of detail for that account. For example, you might want to show the customer type, sales representative and sales region on a Customer Record, or you may need to categorise your supplies by region and account manager.

The Custom Fields tab allows you to set up labels that determine how Sage Line 50 displays information on your customer and supplier records. You can use this extra data for analysis and reporting purposes.

To set up your custom fields

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Custom Fields tab.

The Custom Fields information appears.

2. Enter up to three custom field labels in the Customer Record Custom Fields and Supplier

Record Custom Fields sections.

3. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

4. To save the changes to your template file, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

To continue entering your configuration settings, see The Dispute Reasons Tab on page

63.

Setting Up Your Company Details

The Dispute Reasons Tab

When you mark a customer or supplier invoice as being in dispute, Line 50 requires you to enter a reason code that explains why the transaction is disputed.

The Dispute Reasons tab allows you to create up to 999 different dispute reason codes so that you can specify why an invoice is being disputed.

To set up your dispute reasons

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Dispute Reasons tab.

The Dispute Reasons information appears, listing all of the dispute reasons currently available.

Note: By default, only one dispute reason is available. This is '1 - No Reason'.

2. Select the dispute reason that you want to add or change and click Edit.

The Edit Dispute window appears.

3. In the text box provided, type a description for your dispute reason.

Note: You cannot edit dispute reason '1 - No Reason' and leave the description blank. If no other reason codes exist, Line 50 uses this as the default entry when you dispute an item and it is important that there is always one reason code entry available for you to use.

4. To save your entry click OK, or to abandon click Cancel.

5. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

6. To save the changes, click Save, or to exit without saving click Close.

To continue entering your configuration settings, see The Credit Control Tab on page 64.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Credit Control Tab

If your customers do not pay after you have sent them their statement, you can use Line 50’s Payment Reminder letters. You can choose from 3 different types of letter: a simple reminder, the more forceful warning, or the threat of legal action.

Using Line 50’s Credit Control features, you can choose to automatically generate letters to send to your customers, reminding them of any outstanding invoices. The Credit Control tab of the Configuration Editor allows you to select which of your standard or customised reports you would like to use for each type of letter.

To set up your credit control letter details

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Credit Control tab.

The Credit Control Standard Letters information appears.

2. In the 'Reminder Letter:' box, enter the path to the Line 50 report you want to use for a

simple reminder letter. If you do not know the exact path to the letter you want to use, click Browse to locate the file.

3. From the 'Set status to' drop-down list alongside the Reminder letter path, select the

status code you want Line 50 to set the customer’s record to after you send them a Reminder letter.

4. Repeat the procedure to enter a path and status code for the Warning and Legal Threat

letters.

5. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

6. To save your entries, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

Setting Up Your Company Details

The Project Costing Tab

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller Only)

If you use Sage Line 50’s Project Costing option to record and track your company’s projects, use this tab of the Configuration Editor to set up your project statuses, cost codes and custom analysis fields.

Sage Line 50 helps you to track the progress of your projects using a set of statuses that you can define to suit your business. For each status, you can enter a short code and description, and specify whether the status allows you to make cost postings to the project and whether you can delete the project record.

Cost codes are a means of identifying the various types of costs that a project incurs, such as the materials that make up a product or the labour element of a job. When you enter a cost for a project, you can associate a code with each cost. This helps you to analyse the costs for your projects at a later date.

To set up or amend project statuses, cost codes and custom fields

1. From the Configuration Editor window, click the Project Costing tab.

The Project Costing information appears.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

2. In the three sections of the window, enter the following project settings:

'Project Status' Use this section of the window to add, edit or delete project

statuses. You can add to Line 50's original five statuses, creating up to 99 statuses.To add a new status, click Add.

Set up each status with a unique short code and a description. You can then use the Allow Postings and Allow Deletion check boxes to specify whether the status allows you to make cost postings to the project, or whether you can delete the project. You cannot set up a status with both of these check boxes selected.

To edit a status, select the status in the list and click Edit. To delete a status, select the status in the list and click Delete. You can only delete a status if no project records currently use it. Note: You cannot delete the default status. In addition, you must always retain at least one status, which will be set as the default if it is the only one remaining. You cannot delete all statuses.

If you want to change the default status, select the status you require and click Set as Default.

'Cost Codes' Use the 'Cost Codes' section of the window to define your

project cost codes. You can add to Line 50's original four cost codes, creating up to 99 codes.

To add a new cost code, click Add. Enter a unique short code and a description for the cost code and click OK. To amend a cost code, select the code in the list and click Edit. To delete a cost code, select the code in the list and click Delete. You can only delete a cost code if no transactions exist that use the code.

'Project Custom Fields' The Project Record contains three analysis fields that you can

use to categorise projects for reporting and analysis purposes. For example, you could categorise projects by project manager, project type and geographical area.

Use the Field 1, Field 2 and Field 3 boxes in the 'Project Custom Fields' area to set up the labels for the record's analysis fields.

Setting Up Your Company Details

3. To apply the changes to the company that is currently open in Line 50, click Apply.

4. To save your entries, click Save, or to exit without saving, click Close.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Entering Your Company Preferences

The Company Preferences option is a very important area of the program as it affects the way your program displays information. We recommend that you read this section and enter your company preferences before you use any of the other Sage Line 50 features.

Some areas of the Company Preferences option will already contain information, taken from the information that you entered on the ActiveSetup Wizard. We recommend that you check this information and enter the remaining company preferences now.

Use the Accountant tab to enter your accountant's name and address details. Line 50 uses this information when you use Accountant Link to exchange data with your accountant. For information about entering your accountant's details and using Accountant Link, see Chapter 24, Accountant Link.

To enter your address preferences

Use this area of the program to fill in your company address.

1. Open the Settings menu and choose Company Preferences.

The Company Preferences information appears.

Setting Up Your Company Details

2. If necessary, edit your company name and address. You can also add your company’s

telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and website address.

3. Financial Controller users: If you want to use Line 50 to produce Intrastat Supplementary

Declarations information and you do not have a default company Delivery Address set up, you must set the Country to GB (or IE for users in the Republic of Ireland). Select GB or IE from the drop-down list in the Country box.

4. Enter your company’s VAT registration number in the box provided.

5. If you have an Accountant Plus or Financial Controller version of Sage Line 50, you can

have multiple delivery addresses. For example, if your business has several offices, you can enter a delivery address for each office.

Help

Type 'Delivery Address' in the Help system’s index to find out how.

6. To save any changes and exit, click OK, or to exit without saving, click Cancel.

To enter your label preferences

Setting your label preferences determines how your Sage Line 50 program displays information. This includes how you want to display addresses and additional information on your customer, supplier and product records.

1. Open the Settings menu and choose Company Preferences.

2. Choose the Labels tab.

The Labels information appears.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

3. To ensure that you always enter address information consistently, you can amend the

labels that appear on all address data entry screens. For example, you can change the labels to Street 1, Street 2, Town, County and Postcode. This ensures that the county will always be entered on the fourth line. Therefore if you want to search for all customers in a specific county, you can search on Address Line 4. For more information about searches, see Using the Search to Find Records on page 286.

4. To save any changes and exit, click OK, or to exit without saving, click Cancel.

To enter your company parameters

By setting your company parameters, you can choose from a range of options which affect how your Sage Line 50 program works. These options are explained in the following instructions.

1. Open the Settings menu and choose Company Preferences.

2. Click the Parameters tab.

The Parameters information appears.

Setting Up Your Company Details

3. Enter the following information in the relevant section of the window:

'Item VAT Amendable' Select this check box if you want to be able to change the VAT

Amount figure (which is automatically calculated by Sage Line 50 when you create invoices or credit notes from within the Invoicing option). If you have Financial Controller, you can also change VAT amounts when creating sales and purchase orders.

'VAT Cash Accounting'

Select this check box if you are using the VAT Cash Accounting scheme. The VAT Cash Accounting scheme allows you to pay and reclaim VAT on receipts and payments (instead of invoices raised). It is available to companies with turnovers below a certain threshold. For further information about VAT Cash Accounting, contact your local Tax Office.

'Non-Vatable Tax Code'

When you install Sage Line 50, T9 is set as the default tax code for transactions which do not include VAT.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

T9 transactions are not included on the VAT Return. T9 is used for all the routines within Sage Line 50 which are non-vatable, for example journal entries. You can change this code, if required, to a code of your own choice by selecting one of the codes from the drop-down box. However, it is recommended that you keep the existing T9 code.

'Default Call Charge Rate'

(Financial Controller only)

'Display Account Status'

'Exclude Deleted Transactions'

You can charge people for the amount of time you talk to them on the telephone. The hourly rate that you enter here is used as the default rate that can be assigned to service invoices generated from within customer records contacts tab. To read about how to charge people for telephone calls, see Invoicing From Telephone Calls (Financial Controller Only) on page 372.

Select this check box if you want Line 50 to display the status of your customer and supplier.

If you select this check box, two option buttons become available. If you want Line 50 to display the account status when you use the account, but allow you to continue, select 'Show a warning on each change'. When you create or amend an invoice, credit note or order for the account, Line 50 displays a warning message informing you that the account is on hold. You can still create or amend the invoice, credit note or order. If you want Line 50 to prevent postings to accounts that are on hold, select the 'Stop the account' option. When you try to create or amend an invoice, credit note or order for an account that is marked as on hold, Line 50 displays a warning message advising that the account is on hold, and that you must take the account off hold before you can create or modify the transaction.

Select this check box to exclude any transactions from your transaction activity list boxes which have been deleted using the Error Corrections option. If you do not select this check box, deleted transactions appear in red on the activity windows. You cannot exclude them from the Financials window.

'Display ActiveSearch popup'

Select this check box to enable the ActiveSearch option. The ActiveSearch option speeds up data entry by trying to match what you are typing to records stored within Sage Line 50 or items that you have previously typed. For more information, see Using ActiveSearch on page 293.

Setting Up Your Company Details

'Access Rights' Sage Line 50’s Access Rights option lets you set individual

passwords for each person who has access to Sage Line 50. You can also restrict the options a user has access to, increasing the security of your company data. Select this check box if you want to set up access rights. For more information, see Passwords and Access Rights on page 83.

'Allow Negative Stock' If you want Sage Line 50 to allow negative stock levels, select

this check box. For example, a negative stock value may occur if you have not recorded recent deliveries of stock to your warehouse but have still been recording the sales to your customers.

Note: If your stock value does fall to a negative value, the cost price is calculated as an average one, so there could be an increased profit on the stock valuation report.

'Copy skeleton journal values'

(Accountant Plus and Financial Controller only)

'Timeslips Link' (only relevant to owners of the Sage Timeslips product)

'Validate VAT Numbers'

If you want to be able to save the values of your skeleton Nominal Ledger Journal Entries which you make regularly, select this check box. For example, you can save your salary journal values so that you do not have to enter all the values each time you post your salary journal.

If you want to import your accounting journals from your Timeslips program to your Sage Line 50 program, select this check box. When you have selected this check box an additional option appears on the File Import menu enabling you to import your accounting journals from Timeslips.

If you want Line 50 to check the VAT numbers you enter into your records to see if they in the correct format, select this check box.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

'Login Check'

(Network versions only)

'No Recurring entries at startup'

If you try to logon to Sage Line 50 using a logon name that is already in use on another computer on the network, Line 50 prevents the logon. You cannot logon to a company using the same logon name from more than one computer at a time.

If you want to be able to remove the logon name from the user list at the point of logging in to Line 50, select this check box. If you try to logon using the same logon name more than once, Line 50 displays the message "This username is already in use. Do you want to remove this user from the request list and logon again?". You can remove the user by clicking Yes, and logon to Line 50 as normal.

If you do not select this check box, Line 50 displays the message "Username is in use - the program cannot connect you at this time." You cannot logon using this logon name until the user is logs out on the other computer. Note: If you use this option, you must ensure that this check box is cleared on every other computer that is running Sage Line 50 across the network.

Clear this check box if you do not want to be reminded of outstanding recurring entries when you start your Sage Line 50 program.

If this check box is not selected, a message appears when you start your Sage Line 50 program if it detects any recurring entries that are due to be posted. Accepting the pop-up message opens the Recurring Entries window.

'Enable Project Costing'

Select this check box if you want to use Line 50's Project Costing option.

'Enable Smart Totals' Select this check box if you want Line 50 to display a total

balance for all records selected within a ledger window, such as Customers, Nominal or Invoicing. The window also displays how many records you have selected out of the total number available, for information purposes.

Note: The number of records selected and their total balance only displays on the Nominal Ledger if it is set to use the List layout. If the Nominal Ledger is using the Analyser or Graph layout, the totals do not display.

Setting Up Your Company Details

'Log Events' Select this check box if you want Line 50 to keep a record of

important changes and processes in your data, such as when a user runs the year end process. For more details, Event Logging on page 282.

4. To save any changes and exit, click OK, or to exit without saving, click Cancel.

To enter your reporting preferences

1. Open the Settings menu and choose Company Preferences.

2. From the Company Preferences window, click the Reporting tab.

The Reporting information appears.

3. Enter the following information in the relevant section of the window:

'Print End of Report Banner'

Select this to print an 'End of Report' message at the end of all reports to indicate that the report is complete.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

'Cheque lines per page'

(Financial Controller and Accountant Plus only)

'Print Address on Stationery'

'Use Data Path for Reports'

(Network users only)

'EMail Generation Mode'

Enter the number of lines that appear on your cheque layout here. The program uses this value to generate the correct cheque number when your remittance note runs over more than one page.

Note: If you have 12" cheque layouts, set this to 15 cheque lines per page. If you are using A4 cheque layouts, set this to 11 cheque lines per page. When you are printing your cheques, you may have to continue making adjustments to the number of cheque lines per page until your cheque layout is printed correctly.

Select this check box to print your name and address on all of your invoices, orders, statements and letters.

If you want your client machines to use the reports stored on the server, select this check box. This means that all client computers are using the same set of reports.

Use this drop-down list to select the default file format to use when you generate any Line 50 report to E-mail. You can

choose from Plain Text, HTML or PDF (Adobe

Portable

Document Format).

When you generate a report and select the 'E-mail' output option, Line 50 attaches the report to an e-mail message in the file format you specify here, ready to send to your chosen recipient.

Alternatively, if you generate a report and select the 'Preview' output option, you can e-mail the report by clicking the E-mail button within the Preview window. Again, Line 50 uses the default file format you specify here for the report attachment.

4. To save any changes and exit, click OK, or to exit without saving, click Cancel.

Note: For details about entering your Accountant Link preferences, see Chapter 24, Accountant Link.

Setting Up Your Company Details

Entering Your Company Defaults

You should enter and check the following company defaults now.

 Financial Year

 Bank Defaults

 Currencies

 Passwords and Access Rights

 Internet Resources

These options are all accessed from the Settings menu. The Settings menu also provides several other options, such as Customer Defaults, to make using Sage Line 50 easier. These are covered in detail by other chapters in this guide.

Help

For more information about tax codes, type 'Tax Codes' into the help system’s index.

Setting the Financial Year

When you first used your program, you entered the financial year start date in the ActiveSetup wizard. We recommend that you check that you have entered the correct date now as you cannot easily change the financial year start date after you have started entering transactions.

 To check your Financial Year Start Date open the Settings menu and choose Financial Year.

Your Financial Year start date appears. If you need to change the date, you should do so now.

If the date is greyed out, you have already started to enter transactions. For further information about changing your financial year start date after you have started entering transactions, type financial year into the index of the Help system, then double-click on 'changing'. It is essential that you read all the information about changing your financial year start date before attempting to change the start date.

Note: If you change your Financial Year start date, all of your prior year columns (on nominal records) will be cleared.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

Entering Your Bank Defaults

Use the Bank Defaults option to set up how you want to use your banking options. For example, you can choose how you want transactions to be grouped.

To enter your bank defaults

1. From the Settings menu, choose Bank Defaults.

The Bank Defaults window appears.

2. Select the bank defaults you want to use.

'Enable E-Banking' Select this check box to enable the e-Banking option in the

Bank module. When this check box is selected, the next time you enter the Bank option, a registration window appears. Enter your e-Banking registration details (which appear on the 'Important Information' sticker sheet included in your Line 50 box) to use the features for a trial period of 30 days.

When the 30-day trial period is over, you must enter a new Activation Key in order to continue using e-Banking. If you have valid SageCover for your Line 50 program, you can obtain this activation key free of charge from Sage’s Customer Care department. If you do not have valid SageCover for Line 50, you can continue to use e-Banking for a charge of £99 + VAT per annum. For Customer Care’s contact details, see Contacting Sage on page 244.

For more information about e-Banking, see Chapter 11, E-Business.

Setting Up Your Company Details

'Group Items in Bank Reconciliation'

'List Payment/Receipt by split'

'No Warning on Visa Receipts'

'Group Bank Transactions'

If you select this check box, consecutive transactions of the same type are combined as one item when shown in the Bank Reconciliation window if the reference code and date are the same. A 'Y' also appears in the 'Grouped?' column of the Bank Reconciliation window if the transactions have been grouped.

Select this check box to display every individual transaction when viewing invoices in the Supplier payments and customer receipts screens. If this check box is not selected, the individual transactions are grouped and only one line appears per invoice.

When entering a receipt on a Credit Card Account, Line 50 warns you that you have selected a credit card account. To turn off this warning, select this check box.

If this check box is selected, bank transactions (bank payments and bank receipts) with the same reference and transaction date that are saved on the same batch entry window are grouped together on the bank activity under one header line. To see the individual transactions that make up the header, you must use the drill-down facility. If you do not want your bank transactions to be grouped together in this way, clear this check box. When you clear the check box, each bank transaction appears on a separate line of the Bank Activity window.

Note: This option does not work retrospectively. If you change the setting of this check box, it will only effect the transactions that you post after the setting has been changed.

'Always Create Remittance'

Select this check box if you want to create a remittance advice note each time you save a supplier payment. This is useful when you need to record details of exactly what you are paying for. If you do not want to create a remittance advice note for every supplier payment, clear this check box. You will still be able to request a remittance advice note from the supplier payment screen.

3. To save your bank defaults, click OK. To exit without saving your bank defaults, click

Cancel.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Euro and Other Currencies

Sage Line 50 makes it easy for your business to record payments and receipts in other currencies, including the euro. To do this you must first set up the exchange rates for the foreign currencies that you trade in. After you have done this, you can enter the foreign currency amounts. For example, while entering a supplier invoice, press F5 when you are entering the net amount (or click on the calculator button in the net column) and click CC. This will bring up the currency calculator, which will convert your foreign currency values into your base currency.

Note: Your base currency is fixed as a result of your choice in the ActiveSetup Wizard (or if you upgraded, your new Sage Line 50 detected your original base currency from your records).

Help

If you accept payment in more than one currency, you have to set up your defaults to handle the conversions. The three examples below set out common scenarios.

Note: Because the exchange rate fluctuates, you will have to agree a rate or set a time (e.g. open or close of the day’s trading) with your customers to enter an up-to-date exchange rate. For up-to-date exchange rates, we recommend looking in the Business and Trade section of www.hmce.gov.uk.

A UK business accepting payments in Pound Sterling and in euro

For more information about working with foreign currencies, type 'Currencies' in the Help system index.

1. Open the Settings menu and choose Currencies.

The Currencies window appears.

2. Select euro and enter the exchange rate for euro into Pound Sterling in the 'Exchange rate'

box.

Setting Up Your Company Details

3. To save and close, click Close.

You have now fixed the exchange rate between euro and Pound Sterling.

An Irish business accepting payment in euro and Pound Sterling

If you are an Irish business, working in euros, you should have chosen euro in the ActiveSetup Wizard as your base currency. If you also accept payment in Pound Sterling (or any other currency), follow these instructions.

1. Open the Settings menu and choose Currencies.

The Currencies window appears.

2. Select Pound Sterling (number 1 on the list) and enter the exchange rate for euro into

Pound Sterling.

You have now fixed the exchange rate between euro and Pound Sterling.

A UK business accepting payment in South African Rand and US Dollars

1. Open the Settings menu and choose Currencies.

The Currencies window appears (as previous).

2. Choose US Dollar from the list and enter the exchange rate for US Dollars into Pound

Sterling.

3. Repeat step 2 for the South African Rand.

You have now fixed the exchange rate for South African Rand and US Dollars. Once you have set up your currency defaults, you can calculate your base currency value

from the foreign currency by using the currency calculator. To do this press F5, whenever you are in any field which requires a currency value (e.g. 'net', 'price' or 'gross' field boxes).

Sage Line 50 User Guide

The Countries Table

The Countries table lists all countries, together with country codes, that are currently members of the European Union (EU). Line 50 uses this information for Intrastat reporting purposes.

If a country joins or leaves the EU, the Countries table allows you to amend the current EU Members list so that you can keep your country list up to date.

Note for users upgrading from Line 50 version 9 or version 10: Line 50’s online Help contains important information about the Countries table. To see this information, type 'Countries' in the Help Index tab and select 'Countries: Information for Users Upgrading from Line 50 v9 and v10’.

To set up your Countries information

1. From the Settings menu, choose Countries.

The Countries table appears. The table shows three columns, containing the country name, country code and a check

box which indicates whether or not the country is an EU member.

2. To set up a country as an EU member, for example if a new country joins the EU and needs

to be taken into account for Intrastat reporting, select the check box in the EU Member column alongside the country you require.

3. To remove a country from the list of EU members, for example if a country leaves the EU

and should no longer be taken into account for Intrastat reporting, clear the check box in the EU Member column alongside the country you require.

4. To save your changes and return to the Sage Line 50 desktop, click OK. Alternatively, to

close the Countries table without saving your changes, click Cancel.

The Line 50 desktop reappears. You have now set up your Countries information.

Setting Up Your Company Details

Passwords and Access Rights

The Access Rights feature lets you set individual passwords for each person who uses Sage Line 50. You can even restrict which ledgers, menus and windows each user can access. For example, you can hide nominal and bank balances from certain users.

To be able to set up your access rights, you must log in as Manager.

Note: The Access Rights option is only available if you select the 'Access Rights' check box on the Parameters tab of Company Preferences.

To create a new user

1. Open the Settings menu and choose Access Rights.

2. Click New.

The Create New User window appears.

3. Enter a logon name and a password for your new user in the boxes provided.

4. Set the access you are giving the new user from the options provided.

Full Access Select this option to give the user unlimited access to all parts

of Sage Line 50. You can modify these options later if you want. For further information about how to do this, refer to the following section, To assign access rights to options.

No Access Select this option to give the user no access to any part of

Sage Line 50.

5. To save the new user’s details, click Save. To clear the details without saving, click Discard.

6. To exit the Create New User window, click Close.

To assign access rights to options

1. From the User’s list on the User Access Rights window, select the user whose access

rights you want to assign.

2. Click Details.

The Access Details list appears showing all of the options and menus in Sage Line 50 that can have access rights attached. The user’s current access status for each option is also shown as full, partial or none.

3. To change the access status of any of the options, click Modules.

The Option List window appears.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

4. Select each option you want to change from the list, then select whether the user is to be

given full access or no access to the option. Click OK.

5. If you want to give partial access to modules within Sage Line 50, select the module you

require and click Dialogs.

6. Select each window you want to change from the list, then select whether the user is to

be given full access or no access to the window. Click OK.

7. To return to the User Access Rights window, click Close.

Changing Your Password

You can use the Change Password option to:

 Enter your company password.

 Change your company password.

 Change your user passwords if you are using access rights.

Help

Type 'Password' in the help system’s index to find out how to set up and apply passwords.

Working With Internet Resources

If your business regularly uses couriers to deliver goods or if you use credit checking bureaus to assess customer credit risks and you are connected to the Internet, you can enter their web site details using the Internet Resources option from the Settings menu. Once you have entered their details, you can link to the courier or credit bureau web sites directly from Sage Line 50.

For more information on this, go to Settings, choose Internet Resources and press F1.

You have now completed entering your company defaults.

Setting Up Your Company Details

The Foreign Trader

(Financial Controller only)

Note: You cannot use this option if you are using VAT Cash Accounting.

The Foreign Trader option within Sage Line 50 lets you:

 Keep a record of foreign currency bank accounts.

 Keep customer and supplier records in a foreign currency.

 Record invoices, credit notes, orders, proformas and quotes in a foreign currency.

 Record customer receipts and supplier payments in different currencies.

The section on the next page explains the steps you have to take to set up your Foreign Trader option.

Help

A Note About Invoicing, Sales Orders and Purchase Orders

Foreign Trader lets you enter invoices, sales orders and purchase orders in the currency that is associated with a particular customer or supplier. For example, you could enter an invoice in Yen using an account code (A/C) for a customer record that is set up to handle Yen.

When you put the account code in the invoice or order, Sage Line 50 will automatically pick up the customer or supplier’s currency. For example, if you want to place a purchase order with a supplier in Holland, click on POP on the main toolbar, then New/Edit, and when you put the supplier’s account code in the A/C box on the order screen, Sage Line 50 will detect your supplier’s currency from the supplier’s record and all the values will then be shown in euro.

For further instructions on entering invoices and orders, see Chapter 13, Entering Invoices and Credit Notes and Chapter 14, Order Processing (Financial Controller Only).

Select 'Foreign Trade' from the 'Accounting and Bookkeeping' area of the help system to find out more.

Sage Line 50 User Guide

To Set Up the Foreign Trader

Go through these steps in order to set up Sage Line 50 to work with foreign currencies:

 Run the Foreign Trader Setup Wizard.

 Enter your foreign exchange rates for all currencies that you deal with on the Currencies

window.

 Set up any new bank accounts that will accept payments in a foreign currency.

Note: If you use your high street bank to make payments in Pound Sterling, euro and US dollars, you must set up three separate bank accounts in your Sage Line 50 program to accept each currency.

 Set up any new customer accounts.

Note: As with the bank accounts in the previous step, if you deal with a customer who pays in a number of different currencies, you must set up a separate customer account for each currency that the customer deals in.

 Set up any new supplier accounts.

Note: As with the bank accounts in the previous step, if you deal with a supplier who pays in a number of different currencies, you must set up a separate supplier account for each currency that this supplier deals in.

To activate Foreign Trader

Caution: You cannot turn off Foreign Trader once you have set it up using the Foreign Trader

Setup Wizard.

1. From the Modules menu, choose Wizards, then choose Foreign Trader Setup Wizard.

Note: If you have already run the Foreign Trader Setup Wizard for the current company or if you are on the VAT Cash Accounting scheme, this menu option will not be shown. (If you have a multi-company licence you can run this Wizard with each new company you set up.)

2. Click Next on the Welcome screen.

The Currency Revaluation information appears.

Sage LINE 50 V11 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Copyright

Read This...

Contents

Getting Started

Transferring Accounting Systems

Installation

The ActiveSetup Wizard

To use an existing configuration file

Getting Started

Registering Sage Line 50

About SageCover

SageCover Online Support

sage.co.uk & sage.ie

Sage Training

How to Use Sage Line 50

Instructions in This Guide

The Sage Line 50 Options

The Sage Line 50 Window

Using Windows

Menu Commands

To resize a data column

To hide or restore a data column

To duplicate a record’s details

To make changes to a batch of records

Getting Help

Wizards

Debits and Credits

Setting Up Your Company Details

The Configuration Editor

To set up your general configuration settings

To set up your terms

To edit a VAT rate

To edit an account status

To edit a product category

To set up your product category label fields

To set up your product record custom fields

To edit a department

To edit the department label

To edit your fixed asset categories

To edit the fixed asset category label

To set up your custom fields

To set up your dispute reasons

To set up your credit control letter details

To set up or amend project statuses, cost codes and custom fields

Entering Your Company Preferences

To enter your address preferences

To enter your label preferences

To enter your company parameters

To enter your reporting preferences

Entering Your Company Defaults

Setting the Financial Year

Entering Your Bank Defaults

To enter your bank defaults

The Euro and Other Currencies

A UK business accepting payments in Pound Sterling and in euro

An Irish business accepting payment in euro and Pound Sterling

A UK business accepting payment in South African Rand and US Dollars

The Countries Table

To set up your Countries information

Passwords and Access Rights

To create a new user

To assign access rights to options

Changing Your Password

Working With Internet Resources

To Set Up the Foreign Trader

To activate Foreign Trader