Maintaining General Ledger Accounts and Items

Accounts (i.e. General Ledger accounts) are used for accounting purposes, such as summarizing income and expenses, balancing your bank account, and preparing your balance statement.  Items can be used to default descriptions of transactions and item rates, such as when you invoice dues.  Most accounts and items are setup up for you during our automated setup process. Other accounts and items can be added from the screen located at Billing Admin >> Data Maint as you go.  The following are some typical items and accounts that you should have.

1. Dues - A dues account was probably already set up in the automated setup.  You can adjust the description if need be.  If you are invoicing dues by item, you should set up any dues items with the appropriate descriptions and rates.  These items can then be selected for each user to determine that user's dues rate.  This method of invoicing dues allows you to maintain the dues rate in the item list instead of for each user.
2. Rent - Rental items and accounts were created in the automated setup.  These should not require any editing.  Rent should not be invoiced or credited manually since this will mess up the many reports that tie schedules to rental invoices.
3. Receipt items and accounts - Items and accounts can be set up for fuel, oil or maintenance reimbursement if desired.  Be sure to check the appropriate check box so that these items are displayed in the receipt entry list.
4. Instruction items - Instruction items can be set up with specific rates for instruction (e.g. ground instruction, flight instruction) if scheduling and invoicing instruction through Schedule Master.
5. Miscellaneous charges and credits - You can set up items and accounts for any miscellaneous things you plan to charge or credit to a customer's account. 
6. Sales tax - If you entered a sales tax rate during setup, the sales tax item and account should have been entered for you.  Also, be sure to designate which items are taxable.  This will default the taxable checkbox in the manual invoicing screen.
7. If using owner statements, you can also create items and account for things you plan to charge or credit to owner's accounts or things you write checks for and want to have charged to the owner's account (e.g. paying a fuel vendor).

The image below shows the account list with one of the income accounts in edit mode.  The Account Name is displayed in the account list.  The check boxes determine which lists the account is displayed in.  The QB Interface is only displayed if using the download to Quick Books.

The image below shows the item list with one of the items in edit mode.  The default description, rate, and tax code will default these fields when invoicing.  The item type and Customer/Owner checkboxes determine which screens the item is used in.  The QB Interface is only relevant if downloading the summary data to Quick Books.