If you did NOT purchase the SchoolLeader Accounting Package or if you will NOT be using the SchoolLeader General Ledger, then you can bypass this chapter.
Your G/L Chart of Accounts will be used to produce Balance Sheets and generally define how the business is performing. It receives summarized data from your A/R and A/P subledgers, as well as manual journal entries.
If you have any questions on how to set up your G/L Chart of Accounts, you should consult with your accountant.
Before setting up the G/L Chart of Accounts, you need to define the Account Categories that are going to be accessed in the G/L Chart of Accounts. The Account Categories are used for further defining and grouping G/L subaccounts for reporting purposes in your Balance Sheet
To access the G/L Account Categories, click on Accounting, then General Ledger, then G/L Rules, then Edit G/L Account Categories. The following window will be displayed:
There are 4 columns in which to define data:
Description
Display Order
Account Type
Annual Budget Amount
SchoolLeader contains a sample Account Category table.
To add a new Account Category, type in the next available row designated with an '*'. You MUST complete one row before moving on to the next row.
To change an existing Account Category, type over the selected Account Category.
To delete an Account Category, click in the 'gray area' of the row you want to delete. The row will become 'highlighted'. Now click on the Delete key on your keyboard.
If you accidentally 'blank out' an Account Category and you can't close this window, click on the ESC key on your keyboard.
Once you are done, you can click on the 'X' in the upper right hand corner of the window to close this window.
Several Account Categories are required by SchoolLeader and cannot be deleted:
Accounts Receivable
Accounts Payable
Cash
Customer Prepayments
Prepaid Expenses
Retained Earnings
Enter a description of your account category which will display in various windows and on reports
Enter a number representing the order in which to print the Account Categories on G/L reports. If no order is given, SchoolLeader will print the reports in the order of the Account Category table.
Select the Account Type by clicking on the down arrow and then double clicking on the appropriate entry. Your Account Type choices are Assets, Equities, Expenses, Liabilities, and Revenue. The Account Types cannot be modified.
Enter the total amount you have budgeted for each Account Category.
When you have finished updating the G/L Account Categories table, close the window by clicking on the 'X' in the upper right hand corner of the window.
Three are 3 buttons along the top of the window that are used for:
importing a predefined Account Category Table
exporting the existing Account Category Table
printing the Account Category Table (print grid)
The import/export categories are designed specifically for our customers who operate multiple centers, and want all of their centers to use the same Account Categories.
Once your G/L Account Categories table is established, you can define your G/L Chart of Accounts.
To access the G/L Chart of Accounts, click on Accounting, then General Ledger, then G/L Rules, then Edit G/L Chart of Accounts . The following window will be displayed:
There are 3 columns in which to define data:
Account Code
Account Category
Description
The Account Code is a unique identifier for each G/L account. The Account Code must be in the format xxxx.xxxx.xxxx. You determine the numbering scheme and description naming convention you want to use.
The first 4 characters are typically used to group accounts within your account categories, such as Cash, Fixed Assets, or Accounts Payable. In the above example, the Fixed Assets accounts begin with 1400.
The second and third set of characters in the Account Code are used to define sub-groups within the Account Code. In the above example, 1100.0310.0010 and 1100.0310.0020 are used to define 2 separate checking accounts with the cash designator '1100'. Although this is typical practice, you can define the accounts using your own scheme.
SchoolLeader contains a sample G/L chart of accounts. Here's how to modify them;
To add a new account, type in the next available row designated with the asterisk (star) in the left control column. You MUST complete one row before moving on to the next row.
To change an existing account, type over the selected account.
To delete a account, click in the 'gray area' of the row you want to delete. The row will become 'highlighted'. Now click on the Delete key on your keyboard.
There are several G/L accounts that are permanent entries and cannot be deleted. The Account Code can be changed to meet your numbering scheme, but the account name cannot be changed, nor can the account itself be deleted. These required SchoolLeader accounts are as follows;
- Cash in Bank
- Accounts Receivable
- Prepaid Expense
- Accounts Payable
- Prepaid Revenue
- Retained Earnings
- Bad Debt
The Account Category column (defined earlier) contains the category you want to use for grouping common accounts together. This grouping is used by many of the G/L reports to help organize and group account data. For example, you will probably want to group all of your Cash accounts together under a category called CASH. This will give you a single line item in the balance sheet called CASH when you print it in summary form. It will group and indent all the cash accounts together when you print it in detail format.
To select the Account Category, click on the down arrow next to the category, then double click on the appropriate Account Category.
The description column contains a description of the G/L account. This can be anything you desire with the exception of those few accounts listed above. In that instance, the name must remain as shown.
Three are 3 buttons along the top of the window that are used for:
importing a predefined G/L Chart of Accounts
exporting the existing G/L Chart of Accounts
printing the G/L Chart of Accounts (print grid)
The import/export categories are designed specifically for our customers who operate multiple centers, and want all of their centers to use the same G/L Chart of Accounts.
Importing a Chart of Accounts will overwrite your current chart. DO NOT use this feature for an existing database. This can only be used when you are first setting up your school.