Let’s look at them one at a time…

In the Filter Combo Box click on the item “All Off”. “All Off” means what it says - there are no filters set. Every single transaction is displayed in the Display Grid (except for deleted transactions).

In the Filter Combo Box click on the item “Jan 2003 – Cash”. The transactions in the Display Grid are those that have been paid in Jan 2003 (i.e. transactions marked PAY or RCP).

Note also that totals are displayed at the bottom. So at a glance you can see how much money you’ve received and how much you’ve paid out. No messing – just two mouse clicks! Have a look through the transactions.

In the Filter Combo Box click on the item “Jan 2003 – Owing/Due”.

This time there’s only one transaction in the Display Grid for an Invoice issued to Mr Zimmerman. If you had received some bills which you had not paid yet, these would have been displayed as well. So again with just 2 mouse clicks you can see your Debtors and Creditors for Jan 2003.
In the Filter Combo Box click on the item “Jan 2003 – Trading P”.

Now you get a snap shot of your business for Jan 2003. All the Payments, Receipts, Invoices issued and Bills received – your complete business activity for January 2003. Again just two mouse clicks!

Now here’s a real nugget of information. VA2000 can produce these filters for you every month. Yes that’s right – and it only takes five mouse clicks! Let’s see how.

Click on “Filter” on the Menu Bar then on “By all Criteria…” the Filters Window will open.

Now at first sight it may seem confusing, but believe me it isn’t. The button we are interested in is at the bottom right marked “Create Default Filters”. Click on it and you are asked “Create Default Filters for the month of …” (where the … is the current month). Click “Yes” and then on “Cancel” – the Filters Window will close.

That’s it. OK, you don’t believe me? Have a look in the Filter Combo Box and you will see the filters you’ve just created.

We recommend that you create a new set of Default Filters for your business at the beginning of each month.

Before you click on one of the new filters please bear in mind that the transactions in the demonstration set of accounts only go up to March 2003. So if you click on the filters you just created you will get the dialog “No records match the criteria…” as you will be doing this tutorial after March 2003. That leads me very nicely on to creating these filters manually.

If, for some reason, you didn’t create a set of Default Filters for one month or required a set of Default Filters for a period (i.e. a Quarter), it is extremely easy to create them retrospectively. To show you how, we are going to manually create a set of Default Filters for February 2003.

First the “Feb 2003 - Cash” Filter.

1. Make sure you have selected “All Off” in the Filter Combo Box.

2. Click on “Filter” on the Menu Bar then on “By all Criteria…” the Filters Window will open. Have a good look at the “All Off” switch settings.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand them, you’re just familiarising yourself with the layout.

3. In the bottom right of the Window click on “Jan 2003 – Cash”. The January 2003 Cash switches are set.

Have a look to see which switches have changed. You’ll see the “Show Dates” dates are now set (and the “On” Radio Button selected) and the Check Boxes in the “Show Types” are set to “Payments – PAY” and “Receipts – RCP” only. All the other switches in all the other panels are unchanged. Cash transactions in VA2000 are always of the types PAY and RCP.

4. Go to the top left of the Window and click in “From” Edit Box in the “Show Dates” panel. Change 01/Jan/2003 to 01/02/2003.

5. Press the TAB key on your keyboard (or click in the “To” Edit Box) and change that from 31/Jan/2003 to 28/02/2003. (Note: The TAB key moves the “Focus” to the next control).
6. Come down to the “Filter Name” (at the bottom of the Window) and change the “Jan 2003 – Cash” in the Edit Box to “Feb 2003 – Cash”

and click on the button marked “Save”.

7. Click on the button marked “Filter”

and there you are the Display Grid shows the Cash Transactions for February 2003.

Now the “Feb 2003 – Owing/Due” Filter.

8. Click on “Filter” on the Menu Bar then on “By all Criteria…” the Filters Window will open.

9. In the bottom right of the Window click on “Jan 2003 – Owing/Due”. The January 2003 Owing/Due switches are set.

Have a look to see which switches have changed. You’ll see the “Show Dates” dates are now set (and the “On” Radio Button selected) and the Check Boxes in the “Show Types” are set to “UNPAID Invoices - INV” and “UNPAID Bills - BIL” only. All the other switches in all the other panels are unchanged. Credit transactions in VA2000 are always of the types INV or BIL

10. Go to the top left of the Window and click in “From” Edit Box in the “Show Dates” panel. Change 01/Jan/2003 to 01/02/2003.

11. Press the TAB key on your keyboard (or click in the “To” Edit Box) and change that from 31/Jan/2003 to 28/02/2003.

12. Come down to the “Filter Name” and change the “Jan 2003 – Owing/Due” in the Edit Box to “Feb 2003 – Owing/Due” and click on the button marked “Save”.

13. Click on the button marked “Filter” and there you are the Display Grid shows the Credit Transactions for February 2003 (guess who didn’t have any cash again).

Finally the “Feb 2003 – Trading Position” Filter

14. Click on “Filter” on the Menu Bar then on “By all Criteria…” the Filters Window will open.

15. In the bottom right of the Window click on “Jan 2003 – Trading P”. The January 2003 Trading P switches are set.

Have a look to see which switches have changed. You’ll see the “Show Dates” dates are now set (and the “On” Radio Button selected) and the Check Boxes in the “Show Types” are set to “Payments – PAY”, “Receipts – RCP”, “UNPAID Invoices - INV” and “UNPAID Bills - BIL” only. All the other switches in all the other panels are unchanged. So your Trading Position is all the Cash and all the Credit transactions (regardless of whether the credit transactions have been paid or not).

16. Go to the top left of the Window and click in “From” Edit Box in the “Show Dates” panel. Change 01/Jan/2003 to 01/02/2003.

17. Press the TAB key on your keyboard (or click in the “To” Edit Box) and change that from 31/Jan/2003 to 28/02/2003.

18. Come down to the “Filter Name” and change the “Jan 2003 – Trading P” in the Edit Box to “Feb 2003 – Trading P” and click on the button marked “Save”.

19. Click on the button marked “Filter” and there you are the Display Grid shows “Your Business” for February 2003. Need a print out? No problem – click on the “Print” button at the bottom left of the VA2000 Window.

That’s all there is to it.

OK, your turn. I have two exercises for you:

1. Create a set of Default Filters for March 2003.

Hint: Use the steps above but change the references to February (Feb, 02 etc.) to March (Mar, 03 etc).

2. Create a 1st Quarter set of Default Filters.
Hint: Use the steps above, in the “From” date enter 01/Jan/2003, in the “To” date enter 31/Mar/2003 and call the Filters “1st QTR - Cash”, “1st Qtr – Owing/Due” etc.

Once you have created these filters (especially the 1st Qtr Filters) have a good look through the information they display in the Display Grid.

Visual Accounts is about being easy to use, about taking the complexity out of accounting.

You have a business to run and you need the right figures at the right time without having to do a degree in Accountancy to be able to get them.

Visual Accounts does that for you.

“Has Mr Zimmerman paid? - No, I’ll chase him”,

“How much money have I made so far this month?”,

“How much do we owe and have we made enough to cover it?”,

“Can I afford to take a holiday this year?”

Not reams of paper or loads of calculations, just answers in a couple of clicks.

In the next tutorial we’ll cover some other more advanced Filtering methods and look at Customers and Suppliers or as we like to think of them: “Business Partners”.

Look out for it, it will arrive in your mailbox tomorrow, see you then !

Don't wait any longer. Buy your copy of Visual Accounts now ! and use your precious time on your business and not on "doing the accounts".