★ APPLICATIONS ★ COMPTA, BOURSE, BUDGET ★ MICRO-PLUS CASHBOOK|8000PLUS) ★ |
| Micro-plus Cashbook | Applications Compta, Bourse, Budget |
There are two ways of tackling accounts on the PCW. Buy a package that does everything except post the completed books to the auditors, or buy a simple system that just keeps track of your figures. The main advantages of the second system are that while it stops your accountant having a nervous breakdown when you bring in a shoe box full of dog eared receipts, you can run it without a degree in accountancy or computer science. In their new Cashbook Analysis System, Micro-Plus have tried to produce a 'fool-proof' simple system that will allow a small business to handle 'the books' and keep track of the financial situation. You can call up a list of entries from the Cash Book and Unpaid Bills Account, display a bank reconciliation statement, VAT information and even knock out a trial balance with little effort. The trial balance even prints out the percentage of revenue and expenditure that each expenditure represents -won't that impress the bank manager. It works on a system of Nominal Headings; that is to say when you want to tell the computer you have spent money on petrol, you type the appropriate Nominal Heading number Micro-Plus has provided quite a comprehensive list of headings which should suit most needs but with the built-in flexibility of allowing you to add or change these headings, up to a total of 80 entries. There are 15 Nominal Headings entries given over to where income has originated and there are nearly 100 sections that can hold the names of suppliers of goods to be resold or worked into finished goods. Of course this could cause total confusion while you are getting used to whether Somerton Liama Meat Traders pic is number 156 or 157. There is no 'find' facility to look for a specific name although you can call up a list on screen, ft is more practical to print out the list and keep it beside you. One major plus is that the program has worked out a system for dealing with mistakes once they are on disc -a feature often missing in accounts packages. You merely repeat the entry exactly except putting a minus before the figure, fn the next entry you put in the correct details. The weakest feature must be the limited amount of reference space that each entry is given. Although you are asked to enter the date as you enter the program that is the only interest paid to the passing of time — a tragic lack when you are trying to keep track of unpaid bills, for instance. The only way you can call up details seems to be using the 'transaction number'. This is an eminently forgettable detail, and with the sad lack of references could cause any number of headaches when you go back to look for a specific piece of information. A final oddity is that Cashbook alters your keyboard so that it can only produce upper case letters. You will have to reset the PCW later on to be able to get lower case again! In many ways the Cashbook lives up to its promise although with enough quirks to leave an unsettled feeling.
|
