Go to the Customer (C) screen to file any customer information—name, address, phone #s, business terms, tax status, etc. Customer payment information can be viewed on this screen as well, since it is automatically posted to reflect transactions (money the customer owes or has paid) with the customer.
Go to the Help section below called Links to learn more about the convenient quick links that have been added to the Windows Client Customer screen.
Helps Accessed From Customer (C) Screen
File Help (C)
Alt+I—Opens a new Invoice for this customer.
Alt+G—Opens a new Work Order for this customer.
Ctrl+N—clears the screen, without saving or unsaving the current record, and sets the reference number to the next available number.
F5—exits lookup.
F6—opens lookup.
F9—saves record.
Shift+F9—deletes record.
F10—goes to the Selection Screen.
Shift+F10—goes to the Menu Bar.
Esc—exits one level.
Alt+F4—exits ABC.
Ctrl+D—Duplicates. If you want to enter the same, or almost the same customer information under a different code, type in the new code and press Ctrl+D. You will be prompted to enter the record code of the record you want to duplicate. This transfers Name, Address, Phone # etc., but not the posted information.
Ctrl+L—Loads the last customer which was loaded on the Customer (C) screen, Deposit (D) screen, Quote (Q) screen or Receivable Invoice (R) screen.
F7—loads previous record.
F8—loads next record.
Shift+F7—When the cursor is on an indexable field, press Shift+F7 to scroll through information in reverse.
Shift+F8—When the cursor is on an indexable field, press Shift+F8 to scroll through information going forward.
Edit Help (C)
Ctrl+C—Copies text. Place your cursor on the field that contains the text you wish to copy and press Ctrl+C. Then move your cursor to the field you want your information copied to and use the paste (Ctrl+V) function.
Ctrl+V—pastes text. Any text that has been copied (with Ctrl+C) or cut (with Ctrl+X) may be pasted into any other field by using the Ctrl+V function. Simply place your cursor in the field you want to copy the information to and press Ctrl+V.
Ctrl+X—cuts text. Place your cursor on the field you want the text removed from and press Ctrl+X. The text will disappear. If you want to replace this text in another field, simply move your cursor to that field and use the paste (Ctrl+V) function.
Ctrl+Z—Zap! Undoes latest changes to the line the cursor is on. You may press Ctrl+Z to cancel your changes, providing you have not moved the cursor from the line or used any Alt or Ctrl functions since you made the change.
Tools Help (C)
Ctrl+F—Finds information bases on the type of field your cursor is in. Example: If your cursor is in the Terms field, and you press Ctrl+F, the data currently entered into the Terms field is entered in the Search at the top of the Lookup window, and all Customers with that Term are listed in the Lookup. You may change what is entered in the Search field to whatever Term you wish to search for.
(There is also an F6 Lookup option for the Terms field. This is simply a lookup of all the terms you have set up for customers in the past. It does not tell you which customers have those terms.)
Ctrl+G—Gets or jumps to the address of a certain field. When you press Ctrl+G, a message box appears telling you the address of the field your cursor is on. This box provides space for you to enter the field you would like to Go to. Enter the location number of the field you want to jump to, or enter F and the field number of the field you want to jump to.
Ctrl+J—accesses a Journal to record anything that you want to remember about this customer. To see previous notes, press Ctrl+J. When you are done, press F9. The notes will be saved with the date and time.
Ctrl+K—accesses a second journal. It is similar to the Ctrl+J journal, but saves your notes with only the date.
Ctrl+M—Gives you a Memo pad with the date and inside address as a heading, ready for you to type a letter to the currently loaded customer. To print the letter, use the Ctrl+P command. To return to the customer screen, press F9 once to save the letter and once to return. The letter is kept on record and can be accessed by pressing Ctrl+M and then paging back with F7.
Ctrl+T—Telephone dialing. This option allows you to dial the phone # for the person or business currently on your screen. Press Ctrl+T. You will be given a choice of numbers if more than one number on record. Press Enter on the correct number and the number is dialed. (A TAPI driver must be installed on your computer to run this feature. Contact your ABC Accounting representative for further information.)
Ctrl+W—puts the customer code on a Word Processor list. To see the list, press F10, W, Ctrl+N (to clear screen), and then type CLIST. Ctrl+W
This command has a very wide range of possibilities. Let's look at an example to give you an idea of how it works and what its advantages are.
Let's say we have about a dozen customers we wish to view open invoices (Report 3-9) and current activity (Report 3-15) for. Instead of running separate reports for each of these customers, Ctrl+W will allow you to run the reports for all these customers at once using a list on the Word Processor (W) screen. Follow these steps:
1. Go to the Customer (C) screen and pull up a customer you wish to put on the list. With this customer's record on the screen, press Ctrl+W. The computer sets up a record on the Word Processor called CLIST.* A message will appear at the bottom of the screen verifying that this code was put on the Word Processor list.** Pull up each customer you wish to appear on this list and press Ctrl+W on each record.
2. You can view the list in the Word Processor (W) screen by pressing F10 and W. Make any needed alterations there.
3. You can now run various reports for this list of customers.
4. In the report generator screen, you must tell the computer to use the Word list. To do this, type apostrophe (') followed by CLIST on the line that says "Starting at."
5. Leave the "Ending With" field blank.
6. Choose desired dates.
7. Choose your desired print option.
*VLIST if list comes from the Vendor screen. ILIST if it comes from the Inventory screen, etc.
** If a CLIST (VLIST, etc.) has already been generated with Ctrl+W at a prior time, pressing Ctrl+W on a name will simply add it to the list you made before. Or if you try to send the same record to the CLIST that you had sent at a prior time, you will see an error message saying something like, “This code is already on Word File CLIST.” Following are several options for dealing with a Word File list that has already been made.
1. Modify the current list.
a. Go to the Utilities module. Click on the Text Editor link. Type CLIST (VLIST, ILIST, etc.) in the Code field, and press Enter.
b. If the list is basically what you want with a few deletions, go down through the list and delete the names you don’t want. Then press F9 to save the document.
c. Now you can return to the Customer (Vendor, Inventory, etc.) screen and add any additional names you wish to include by pressing Ctrl+W on the individual records.
2. Delete the current list.
a. Go to the Utilities module. Click on the Text Editor link. Type CLIST (VLIST, ILIST, etc.) in the Code field, and press Enter.
b. If this list is old and will not be used again, press Shift+F9 to delete the record.
c. Then return to the Customer (Vendor, Inventory, etc.) screen and add all the records desired by pressing Ctrl+W from each record.
3. Save the current list and prepare to create a second list of records.
a. Go to the Utilities module. Click on the Text Editor link. Press Ctrl+N to bring up a blank (New) record.
b. Type CLIST1 (VLIST1, etc.) in the code field and press Enter.
c. Press Ctrl+D to duplicate a record.
d. Type CLIST in the text box provided and press Enter.
e. Press F9 to save.
f. Press F7 to page back to the CLIST record.
g. Press Shift+F9 on that record to delete it from the files.
h. You are now ready to go back to the Customer (Vendor, etc.) screen and press Ctrl+W on all records you wish to use in your new CLIST file.
Alt+C—allows you to change customer codes (including codes on invoices, orders and payments) that have a reference number on the customer screen. If there has ever been a data problem or too many invoices or payments or orders, it may not work properly.
Alt+Y—When you press Alt+Y, you are asked, "Transfer Customer to (V)endor, (N)ame, or (E)mployee?” This allows you to transfer the customer's name, address and phone number to one of these three screens, by pressing V, N or E. This is to save time when someone fits into more than one category.
Shift+Down arrow—moves cursor to bottom of screen (Message 4).
Shift+F3—brings up an accountant's* calculator when your press it the first time. The second time you press it, the final calculations showing are entered into the field the cursor was on.
+ adds or totals - subtracts / divides
* multiplies ) clears ( exits calculator
= totals or equals
*If you are not familiar with an accountant’s calculator, you may want to take a little time to familiarize yourself with the differences in usage here. Figures are entered as positive or negative: i.e. 100+50-75= would be entered as 100+; 50+; 75- The answer calculates each time you press the positive or negative sign. The = sign or Enter key seldom need be used unless you are multiplying or dividing.
Reports Help (C)
(The F11 hot key takes you straight to the Report Menu. Then you can just press the letter of the report you wish to run. Of course, using your mouse works too.)
A—displays invoices, deposits and balance for the current customer. (Very similar to Report 3-22.)
I—displays open Invoices for the currently loaded customer. (Taken from Report 3-9.)
O—lists the currently loaded customer's open Orders or quotes. (From report 3-8.)
P—displays the currently loaded customer's Payments. (Taken from Report 3-33.)
Q—lists the Quoted prices as set up on the Q screen for the currently loaded customer. (It uses Report # 3-6.)
S—displays freight Shipments. This works only with the optional Shipping Manifest Program and uses Report 6-18.
L—prints an address Label for the currently loaded customer.
E—prints the customer's address for or on an Envelope. You will be asked if you are printing for a window envelope. If you press Y for Yes, the address will be printed so that on plain paper the address would show through the window when the paper is folded. If you press N for No, the address will be printed on a plain envelope.
C—Combines the envelope printing with a feature that allows you to place the customer on your CLIST in the text editor. (See Ctrl+W for more about the CLIST function.)
NOTE: The on-screen reports show information from the latest date to the oldest date. For example, Alt+I lists open invoices starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest invoice.
NOTE ALSO that Alt+the letter on the Reports menu usually runs that report just as F11 and the letter would.
D—Prints invoices for all open invoices for this customer. Often, we have clients who do this with the printer set to do 4 per page and print on both sides of the page (duplex option) to send along with statements.
Links Help (C)
New Invoice—From the Customer screen records, you can initiate a new invoice by clicking on the New Invoice link. You are dumped into the Invoices (R) screen with that Customer’s information already loaded.
Copy Block—The Copy Block link copies the customer’s name and address and saves it to the clipboard. Simply open up ABC’s text editor (F10, W) or Notepad or Word or any text editing program and press Ctrl+V to paste that name and address. Now you are ready to write a business letter.
Address—Click on the Address link to lookup this customer’s address on Google maps. Quick way to get directions to a customer’s place when you are a service technician.
Verify—The Verify link takes you into www.melissadata.com to verify this customer’s information.
Telephone—Click on the Telephone link to go to www.whitepages.com search function.
Email—If this customer has an email address listed, click on the Email link to be taken into your email program with this customers address inserted in the To field.
Customer or Name Code Setup (C/N.1)
Notice that some of the fields described here work identically in the Customer screen and the Name screen.
If the Code Generator has been set up on the Company Setup (#) screen, a consistent code is automatically generated for each new customer entered. Simply fill out the Customer Name field, and the appropriate code will be generated.
If you want the codes to be generated differently, call your ABC Accounting representative for advice.
MANUAL CODE SETUP—(not recommended)
If the Code Generator has NOT been set up on the Company Setup (#) screen, enter the code you will use to reference the customer first. It may be letters, numerals or a combination of both. Be simple & consistent. Then enter the customer's name as listed in a phonebook.
Enter the customer's name as you want it to appear on invoices, statements, and A/R reports. If you use a comma in the name, what follows the comma will be placed first when it's printed on certain A/R reports, including invoices, statements, and labels. For example, Wengerman, T. Ray will be printed: T. Ray Wengerman.
Note: if you have a customer with a business name such as Walker Parts, Inc., you should not include the comma before the Inc or else it will appear as Inc Walker Parts on invoices, labels and reports.
Attention (C.2)
This may be used as an additional name or address line. Enter the information here as you want it to appear on invoices, statements, and A/R reports.
Customer Address (C.3)
Enter the customer's Street Address as you want it to appear on invoices, statements, and A/R reports. Notice that the Address field label is also a hot link. If pressed, it will take you to Google maps with that address displayed.
Zip Code (C.4)
All addresses in the system use a common Zip Code screen. When you enter a zip code, the cursor goes to the city and state fields only if the zip code you entered is not found.
Do NOT enter the extension in the zip code field. A separate field is provided for the extension. Once the city and state have been entered, the only way to change them is by using the Zip Code (Z) screen.
NOTE: Changing the information on the Zip Code (Z) screen will change ALL addresses containing that zip code!
In some cases, two cities share the same zip code. Use the zip code as normal for one of the cities. For the other city, attach a period (.) to the end of the zip code to make it unique. For example, use 17538 for Landisville, PA, and use 17538. for Salunga, PA. You could also use a comma if there are three cities sharing the same zip code.
On most screens that contain zip codes, you can page through the records by Zip, using Shift+F7 and Shift+F8 with the cursor on the Zip field.
Zip Code Extension (C.5)
If the address has a four-digit extension, enter it here.
E-Mail (C.6)
Enter the customer's e-mail address here. Clicking on the email link will open up a new email with this customers name in the address.
Telephone # (C.7)
Enter the phone number here. When you enter 10 characters, the phone number will format automatically. This appears on various reports. You may enter several phone numbers on this line, separating them with commas. But the program auto-formats only the first phone number entered.
Telephone dialing. This option allows you to dial the phone # for the person or business currently on your screen. Press Ctrl+T. You will be given a choice of numbers if there is more than one number on record. Press Enter on the correct number and it is dialed. (A TAPI driver must be installed on your computer to run this feature. Contact your ABC Accounting representative for further information.)
You can page through the records by telephone numbers when you use Shift+F7 and Shift+F8 with the cursor on this field.
Notice that the word telephone is highlighted as a hotlink. It will look up the phone number in the online white pages.
Print Code (C.8)
A “ditto dat” field. A lookup appears for this field, revealing a list of all codes you have entered in this field in the past.
This field is used by Report # 3-30, CUSTOMER ADDRESS LABELS, to print selective mailing lists. Enter a character here to categorize the customer for this purpose. You can put the customer into a number of different categories by entering a series of characters, separated by commas.
For example, all farmers could be identified with an F. All hog farmers could be identified with an HG,F. All dairy farmers could be identified with DR, F. Then to print out labels to all the farmers, use F as the print code, and to all the hog farmers, use HG.
Credit Limit (C.9)
Enter an amount in dollars and cents. This will trigger an automatic "over credit" message on the order or invoice screen when the customer exceeds the limit.
Late Charge (C.10)
Enter N here if you do not want this customer to receive finance charges for overdue invoices. If this field is left blank, the program calculates charges according to the information set up in the Company Setup (#) screen when you run Report # 3-20. You may enter a number in this field which will override the finance charge in the Monthly Rate field of the Company Setup screen. The number entered here is calculated as a percent.
Tax Status (C.11)
A “ditto dat” field. A lookup appears for this field, revealing a list of all codes you have entered in this field in the past.
If this customer normally pays sales tax, enter a tax code here which will reference a tax code in the Inventory (I) screen. Usually the two-letter State Code preceded by a period, such as .PA or .MS is used for the state sales tax.
A lookup is enabled on this field once your cursor is on it. It will reveal the list of tax codes that are currently entered on the Inventory screen.
If this customer is tax-exempt, enter the tax code with a forward slash (/) after it.
If you collect tax or track sales for more than one tax jurisdiction, you can enter multiple codes in this field.
You can use the next field (immediately to the right of this field, preceded by a # sign) to choose how to handle items that are sometimes taxable. This is the Customer Tax Exemption # field.
If more than one tax code applies to a Customer, enter the tax codes, separated by commas, in the Tax Status field on the Customer screen. A blank field indicates that this customer is exempt from all sales tax.
Or you may use the forward slash (/) option to track tax-exempt sales as explained below.
Multiple tax codes may also be entered on an order or invoice in the Tax field. Enter the same way as Tax Status on the Customer screen.
A customer or invoice may be exempt under a certain tax code, but you may need to track tax-exempt sales for that tax code. To do this, enter the tax code followed by a forward slash (/). Here are a few examples (where TX and DA are tax codes for Texas and Dallas sales tax).
TX,DA Subject to Texas and Dallas tax.
TX/,DA/ Exempt from Texas and Dallas tax but included in Texas and Dallas nontaxable sales.
TX,DA/ Subject to Texas tax, exempt from Dallas tax, but included in Dallas nontaxable sales.
TX Subject to Texas tax and not included in Dallas sales.
TX/ Exempt from Texas tax but included in Texas nontaxable sales and not included in Dallas sales.
Any codes you use, with or without a forward slash, must be set up in the Inventory screen WITHOUT the slash. For this example, set up TX and DA, but not TX/ and DA/.
For a report of sales and sales tax for multiple tax codes use Report # 3-5, MULTI-CODE SALES TAX.
A “ditto dat” field. A lookup appears for this field, revealing a list of all codes you have entered in this field in the past.
The discount level is found on the Customer (C) screen, the Customer Type (Y) screen and the Quoted Price (Q) screen—with discounts on the Q screen taking precedence over the others.
This field is used to calculate discounted prices for this customer. Enter A, B, C or D to specify which Discount field from the Inventory (I) screen you want to use. If this field is blank, the discount field A is used by default.
You may also enter a Level Code (A, B, C or D), followed by a percentage, to give this customer an additional discount. For example, if you enter A5 here, items sold to this customer will be given the Level A discount from Discount A on the inventory item, plus an additional discount of 5%. Discounts are calculated sequentially, so if Discount A is 20% and the customer gets an additional 5%, the resulting discount would be 24% (80% x 95% = 76%).
To calculate prices for this customer as a certain percent over Cost, enter E followed by a number. For example, E20 means that prices for this customer will be calculated as 20% over cost.
Ship Via (C.14)
A “ditto dat” field. A lookup appears for this field, revealing a list of all codes you have entered in this field in the past.
Enter the normal shipping method for this customer. This information will be carried across to the customer's invoices automatically as they are entered.
Customer Terms (C.15)
A “ditto dat” field. A lookup appears for this field, revealing a list of all codes you have entered in this field in the past.
This field is used to calculate the due date, discount date, and discount amount on receivable invoices. It also appears on printed invoices.
Some examples follow:
Example 1: NET 30
Example 2: 2%—10,NET 30
Example 3: 2% 10TH N 30
Example 4: NET 30TH
Example 1 will set the due date to 30 days after the invoice date. The word NET or the letter N indicate that the net days are being specified.
Example 2 will set the discount to 2% of the invoice amount, and the discount date to 10 days after the invoice date. The percent sign (%) indicates that a discount is being specified. Also notice that the due date is set for 30 days after the invoice date as in example 1.
Example 3 will set the discount to 2% of the invoice amount, and the discount date to the tenth of the following month. The TH indicates that a day of the following month is being specified, rather than the number of days. Once again, the final due date is 30 days after the invoice date.
Example 4 sets the due date to the 30th of the following month.
The only delimiters (characters that designate limits) required are N or NET for net days, TH for a specific day of the following month, and % for discounts. Commas, spaces, and hyphens are optional.
If you want to give a customer a discount for immediate payment (0 discount days), enter a C or a word beginning with C (such as COD or CASH) in the discount days position. (Using 0 as in 2%0 will not work.)
Examples follow:
2%C
2%CASH NET30
2%COD
2%COD N10TH
Salesperson (C.16)
Enter the salesman code as entered in the Salesman (S) screen. This will automatically carry across to receivable invoices as they are entered, and each time an invoice is saved for this customer, sales are automatically posted to the specified Salesman's records.
Advertiser (C.17)
This is an information field by which some reports (such as Report # 5-16) may be sorted.
Shipping Address (C.18)
This field is used for customers whose billing and shipping addresses are not the same. Enter the code for the shipping address as entered in the Names (N) screen. This address will carry across onto the customer's invoices automatically as they are entered.
Customer Type (C.19)
You can enter any code here that you have set up in the Customer Type (Y) screen. The Customer Type can be used by Report # 3-1, CUSTOMER ADDRESS LIST, to print a selective listing and by Report # 3-12, CUSTOMER AGED TRIAL BALANCE, to sort the customers by type. The Customer Type can also specify restrictions and special terms for the customer. These are set up in the Customer Type (Y) screen.
Message 1, 2, 3, 4 (C.20—23)
Any information in the Message 1 field will appear on Report # 3-26, CUSTOMER REVIEW. Enter any other information you wish to keep in reference to this customer on the remaining lines.
Any one of Messages 1—4 may be printed on a customer’s invoice. To enable this option, go to the Company Setup (#) screen, click on the A/R Setup link, go to the # of Cust. Message (0—4) field, and enter the number of the message you want to show on the invoice.
Message 4 is displayed on the bottom of the Receivable Invoice (R) screen when the customer's code is entered. Usually this is used as a reminder for the one entering invoices.
In the event of a long message, just keep typing. The field will scroll and allow you to enter quite a lot here. To view it later, click on the little curved arrow icon. A box opens up for viewing whatever was entered here in its entirety.
Contact Person (C.24)
This is an information field for your convenience. It does not reference any other screens. You may enter the name of the person you normally deal with.
Review Date (C.25)
If you want this customer to appear on Report # 3-26, CUSTOMER REVIEW, on or after a certain date, enter that date here along with an applicable message in the Message 1 field.
Last Change Date (C.26)
This field is automatically set to the system date each time you change something on the screen and save it.
Home Telephone # (C.27)
Enter the home telephone number here. If you enter 7 or 10 characters, the phone number will format automatically. This appears on various reports. You may enter several phone numbers on this line, separating them with commas. But the program only auto-formats the first phone number entered.
Telephone dialing. This option allows you to dial the phone # for the person or business currently on your screen. Press Ctrl+T. You will be given a choice of numbers if more than one number on record. Press Enter on the correct number and the number is dialed. (A TAPI driver must be installed on your computer to run this feature. Contact your ABC Accounting representative for further information.)
You can page through the records by telephone number when you use Shift+F7 and Shift+F8 with the cursor on this field.
Purchase Order Required (C.30)
If this customer requires his Purchase Order # to be included on every invoice you send him, enter a Y here. You will be reminded to include the Purchase Order # on each invoice, if you try to save it without one.
Tax Exemption Number (C.31)
If the customer is tax-exempt (has a tax code with a slash [/] after it in the Tax Status field), enter his tax-exemption number here. If the Tax Status field indicates the customer is tax-exempt, and there is no tax-exemption number, you will be reminded of this every time you enter this customer's code on a customer work order or invoice.
You may also use this field to tell how to handle items that are sometimes taxable (items with an S in the Tax field on the Inventory screen). To do this, enter one of the following letters in this field:
A—these items are Always taxable for this customer
E—these items are usually Exempt for this customer
T—these items are usually Taxable for this customer
Not entering any of these letters will have the same effect as entering a T.
You may also enter a tax-exemption number after one of the above letters, as in A12345678.
Commission % (C.32)
This is an information field used by some custom reports.
Zone (C.33)
A “ditto dat” field. A lookup appears for this field, revealing a list of all codes you have entered in this field in the past.
Zone charges are used when there are varying charges depending where the customer lives.
One example would be the charge for a service call. Here are the steps for setting up varying service call charges.
1. Enter a code in the Zone field of the Customer screen to identify the zone in which this customer lives. You may use letters or numbers such as: 01, 02, 03, or A, B, C.
2. In the Inventory screen, set up an item using a code such as SC as the item #, SERVICE CALL CHARGE as the description, and put a Z in the Unit field.
3. Also in the Inventory screen, set up an item for each zone, starting with the letters SC (or whatever you chose in Step # 2) and ending with the various zone codes (that you established in Step # 1). For example, SC01, SC02, SC03, or SCA, SCB, SCC. Type the description that you want to appear on the invoices. In the List Price field put the service call charge that corresponds to that zone. DO NOT put a Z in the Unit field of these items.
To put a service charge on an invoice, enter SC for the Item #. The correct zone is automatically attached for this customer, and the appropriate item # and charge are added to the invoice.
Fax Number (C.34)
On the Customer, Vendor and Names screens, you can enter a FAX number. If you enter 10 characters, the FAX number will format automatically.
If you have a modem that meets our specifications, you can send Word Processor records to someone with a FAX machine. Here's how:
1. Load the person on the C, V or N screen.
2. Go to the W screen and load the document that you want to send.
3. Press Ctrl+P. A message box appears asking you to press “P, N, D or Enter.” Instead, press F for FAX.
4. Press C, V or N depending on who you are FAXing to, or type in the FAX number and press Enter.
You can page through your records by FAX Number, using Shift+F7 and Shift+F8 with the cursor on this field.
Ship—R or C (C.35)
This is an information field which may be used with the optional ABC Shipping Manifest Module. Use R for Residential customers or C for Commercial customers.
Old Code (C.36)
This is used with special programming when transferring records from another system to ABC Accounting.
You can page through your customer screen by Old Code, using Shift+F7 and Shift+F8 with the cursor on this field.
New Code (C.44)
If you need to assign a new code to one of your customers, enter a new customer record for him. Then, on the customer's old record, enter the new code in this field. Now when you enter this customer on an Invoice, Order, or Job, you can enter either the old code or the new one, and the information is brought over from the new record.
Report # 3-1, CUSTOMER ADDRESS LIST, and Report # 3-30, CUSTOMER ADDRESS LABELS, skips customers with this field filled in, because they use the new code assigned to the customer.
City (C.101)
If the Zip Code you entered in the Zip Code field, did not exist in the Zip Code (Z) screen, the cursor jumps from the Zip Code field to the City field. Type the name of the city here and press Enter.
State (C.102)
Enter the two-digit state code here. See the section titled State or Province for a list of these codes.
Notes (C.781)
Click on the link to place a “journal” entry. Or use the Ctrl+J function. Your journal entry is saved and can be accessed at any time by clicking on the link again. The field will say “(present)” to alert you to the fact that there are notes recorded for this customers.
Posted Fields (C)
The following fields are restricted and are maintained in the background by your ABC Accounting program: Date First Entered, Post Date, Last Change Date, Month-to-Date Sales, Prior Sales, Month-to-Date Payments, Balance, Prior Balance, Month-to-Date Cost, Prior Cost, Non-Invoiced Amount, Sales 1 Year Ago, Sales 2 Years Ago and Special Deposit amount.
These fields are updated upon entry of a receivable invoice or deposit. The Post Date tells when the last transaction was posted, and indicates which month is represented in the month-to-date figures.
Default Record Setup (C)
A Default Record is a record that contains all the information you want to repeat on most or all of the records you will enter into this file. Setting up a default record saves the operator from entering the same information again and again.
To set up a default record, use a quote (") as the code of the record. Then enter any information on the screen which is usually true. For Customers, you could fill in Credit Limit, Late Charge, Tax Status, and Terms.
When this information is entered, save the record with F9.
When you enter a new Customer, the information that you entered in the Default Record will be displayed. Then you enter whatever other information you want on that record. Change any of the default information, if necessary, whenever you wish.
Customer Setup (C)
To set up a new Customer, go to the C screen. If the screen is not blank, press Ctrl+N for a New screen. This gives you a blank screen to enter the new Customer. Type the customer’s name the way it would appear in the phone book—the last name, a comma, the first name and the middle name or initial.
After you have typed the name, press Enter. A reference code is automatically generated for this customer. If the code is a duplicate of one that was already entered, the Customer lookup will be displayed with the new entry. If the customer you want is already found in the lookup screen, place your cursor on that line and press Enter. The record you were going to create is dismissed.
(If the software does not generate a code for the customer you are entering, make sure the Code Generator has been set up for customers on the Company Setup (#) screen.)
The rest of the fields on the C screen are optional, depending on your needs. The information in these fields can be entered or changed at any time.
The most commonly used fields are Name, Street Address, Zip, Phone # and Tax Status.
When you are done, press F9 to save. The cursor returns to the Code field. To enter another Customer, press Ctrl+N. You will be given a blank screen to enter the new information on.
Paying Back a Customer Overpayment (C)
When a customer overpays an invoice, the extra amount will automatically be applied to the customer's NIA (Non-Invoiced Amount) as a credit. Then when a new invoice is entered for the customer, the credit can be applied to it.
A credit invoice can be taken care of the same way.
A. Applying an NIA (Non-Invoiced Amount)
To apply an NIA to a customer's invoice follow these steps:
1. Press F10. Press D to go to the Deposit screen.
2. Type in the customer's code. Press Enter.
3. Leave the check number and the check amount fields blank.
4. Type the NIA amount in the Pmt Apd (Payment Applied) field and press Enter.
5. Press F9 to save the record.
B. Issuing a Check for a Credit Invoice
Sometimes you may want to issue a check to take care of a customer's credit balance. To do this:
a. If you use automatic deposit posting, it will put the amount into the specified G/L account. Parts b and c below will not apply to your case.
b. If you post Accounts Receivable to General Ledger by making a manual entry on the Ledger screen, you will need to make a special entry to post this transaction properly.
i. If you are paying a credit invoice, make an entry to subtract the check amount from the G/L Transfer Account and add it to the G/L Accounts Receivable Account.
ii. When you enter the bank deposit, you will take the whole deposit amount out of the G/L Accounts Receivable Account as usual.
iii. For a Non-invoiced Amount, simply take the check amount out of the same G/L Account that you applied it to on the Deposit screen. The rest of the bank deposit gets taken out of the G/L Accounts Receivable Account.
c. If you post Accounts Receivable to General Ledger with Report # 3-37, CASH DEPOSITS BY G/L #, the program will automatically post this transaction properly.
Customer Refunds—Invoiced Return (C)
1. Enter the customer return just like an invoice, but use negative quantities (not negative dollar amounts)!
2. If the item was taxed when you sold it, it should also have tax applied on the customer return. The proper tax code should be entered in the tax field.
3. Save as normal by pressing F9. (Saving also calculates the tax to be refunded.)
4. On the Payments (D) screen you have several options—refunding with cash, credit, or check.
a. Refund cash to the customer.
6. Enter C for Cash in Pay Type.
7. Enter a negative amount in Check Amount for the amount of the customer return invoice.
8. Enter a negative amount in Payment Applied for the customer return invoice.
9. Press F9 to save.
b. Refund by credit card.
i. Enter the credit card type in Pay Type.
ii. Enter a negative amount in Check Amount for the amount of the customer return invoice.
iii. Enter a negative amount in Payment Applied for the customer return invoice.
iv. Press F9 to save.
c. Refund by check. This requires a G/L number for customer transfers. (ABC's standard G/L account for customer transfers is G/L 10.)
i. Leave the Pay Type and Check Amount fields blank.
ii. Enter the customer transfer G/L number in the Apply to field.
iii. Enter amount of return in the G/L Amount field.
iv. Enter a negative amount in Payment Applied field for the customer return invoice.
v. Press F9 to save.
vi. You will then need to issue a check to the customer in the amount of the return. Use the customer transfer G/L number used on the Payments (D) screen.
vii. After the deposit is made and all entries are finished, the customer transfer account should be zero.
Customer Refunds—Non-invoiced Return (C)
If the customer returns something that was not paid for, make another invoice as described above. To remove this transaction from Report # 3-09, CUSTOMER OPEN INVOICES, go to the Deposit (D) screen. Enter this customer's code. Below, enter a positive amount for the one invoice and a negative amount for the other. Save with F9.
Using a Credit Card to Pay Bills (C)
1. On the G screen, set up an account labeled Credit Card Transactions. (ABC’s standard Credit Card Transactions account is # 331.)
2. On the Company Setup (#) screen, enter the G/L # that you set up in step # 1 in one of the unused ledgers. The ledgers are numbered from 3 to 7.
3. When a credit card bill arrives, mark it paid by going to the Check Writing (/) screen. (Use the Ledger # set up in step # 2.) Enter the Bill # in the Ref column and press F9. Print the check on plain paper.
4. When a credit card payment is due, write a G/L check from your Bank Ledger using the Ledger (L) screen. For the account number, use the G/L # you created in step # 1.
Bad Check Transaction (C)
1. The correct time to record a bad check transaction is immediately after printing a deposit slip (using a Y in Deposit Total). DO NOT DELETE the original deposit from the customer.
3. With your cursor in the bottom part of the screen, press Alt+I. An “Enter Invoice # to load” message appears.
4. Enter the invoice number the customer’s bad check paid.
6. If one check covered several invoices, you may use Alt+I as many times as necessary to load more invoices. Repeat steps 4 and 5 above.
7. Save the record with F9 when done.
Data Management Utilities for Customers (C)
If you want to start using a new code for a customer, leaving the original record intact, simply use the New Code field. (For help, press F1 while on that field.)
However, if you want to change a customer's code and delete the original record, any transactions that have been entered for that customer must also be changed to use the new code.
A utility is provided for this purpose. Use it with care, observing the following steps:
1. Make sure you have a current backup of your data.
2. If you are on a network, use the ABC server for the following steps.
3. Go to the Customer (C) screen.
4. Load the customer you want to change.
5. Write down any posted amounts, such as Balance.
6. Press Alt+C.
7. Enter the new code you want to use for the customer.
8. Wait until posting completes (hard disk activity will stop); then load the new customer and make sure the posted amounts are correct.
9. When the new record is correct, you may delete the old one if you wish.
10. To change another customer, go back to step # 4