You've spoken and we’re listening!

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You told us that you’d like to see even more tips, tricks, and useful ways to utilize your existing Prophesy Software in addition to news about our exciting new offerings. This issue is dedicated solely to useful tricks present in current versions of our software… please enjoy!

 

Please contact your Prophesy Account Manager to learn more at 800.776.6706, or send us an email at usernews@mile.com.

 

Wrap Up 2007 Accounting Easily, with Expert Tips from our Trainers

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Whether you use DispatchSeries with QuickBooks® Interface, or Prophesy Accounting for Trucking, our Training Team has developed some surefire methods to help you wrap up 2007 quickly and easily...

 

 

QUICKBOOKS:

In the Print Post Freight Bills screen, select the previously posted invoice status and enter a date range. Click the Select All button to choose all invoices that display within your criteria. Next, right click anywhere in the window and choose Print Freight Bill Summary. The report will first preview to the screen giving you the option to export it as an excel spreadsheet or print it to the printer of your choice. This lists each individual invoice with totals for each customer. There is also a grand total at the end of the report for all customers. This report provides a customer total for all posted invoices within the time period specified and can be used during auditing to make sure that all posted invoices made it to the QuickBooks accounting system.

 

With the QuickBooks interface, you can also view the information that was transferred to QuickBooks using the Show Records button. The screen will list all transactions posted on the date and time you choose or all processed transactions (regardless of the date).

 

 

PROPHESY ACCOUNTING:

Balancing to the General Ledger and your Financial Statements.
At the end of each period your company should follow standard accounting practices and balance your sub-ledgers to the general ledger. Failure to do so can create inaccurate financial statements.

After a period ends, the sub ledgers should be balanced to the general ledger. Matching the activity within each module to the general ledger postings proves that these systems are in agreement with each other. In other words, this verifies that the subsidiary ledger is in balance with the trial balance. All modules, with the exception of the Invoice module, should be balanced at the end of a period.

 

Possible causes of out-of-balance situations may include:

1. The module’s period may not have been closed and activities remain unposted to the General Ledger system.
2. The module’s activity may have been received by the general ledger, but still is not completely processed.
3. Some activity for the period could have been posted to the wrong period in the general ledger.
4. Manual Entries may have been entered directly into the General Ledger affecting the account balance, but not showing activity in the corresponding module. (For example, if you made a manual entry to the Billed Accounts Receivable account, this entry will not display as an invoice in the Accounts Receivable system, so the Open Invoices report may not balance to the GL.)

 

Balancing the Accounts Receivable Module
Balancing the Accounts Receivable Module requires that you verify the totals in the Accounts Receivable System match the total Accounts Receivable activity received and posted to the general ledger for the same time period. This procedure validates the transaction flow from one system to the other. Balancing each month also verifies that the master files themselves are in sync and the period’s transactions are correctly reflected in the master files.

 

Follow the steps outlined below to balance the Accounts Receivable module:

1. In the Accounts Receivable module, run the AR Open Invoices as of GL Post Date for the current month.
2. In the General Ledger Module, run the Trial Balance report for the same end date used when printing the A/R report in step one. (***Take care to use the same date range in both modules when running these reports. If the date range or periods are different, the report totals will not match.)
3. Compare the total on the “AR Open Invoices by GL Post Date” report to the total in the Billed Accounts Receivable account shown on the trial balance. Both of these reports use posting dates as a basis for reporting. If the totals on each report are the same, you are in balance.

 

Out of Balance Situations:

If the numbers from Accounts Receivable do not match the numbers recorded in the General Ledger, you are out of balance. Prophesy always recommends you first consult with your accounting professional to create a balancing protocol to report any variance.

 

Possible causes for out-of-balance situations include:

1. Prior periods have not been closed. The accounts receivable module may include activities that remain outstanding from prior periods. Re-run the reports from other periods to compare the transactions that are currently unaccounted for in the General Ledger.
2. There may be outstanding invoices that have not been posted to the general ledger system. Make sure that all invoices from the Invoicing module and the Accounts Receivable module have been posted in Accounting and re-check the report totals.
3. One or more postings in the general ledger for the Accounts Receivables module may have been adjusted or deleted. Comparing the GL List for the AR module with the Invoice Journal report in the Accounts Receivable module may help flush this problem out.
4. Activity could have been posted to the wrong period (wrong dates) in the general ledger. This should be discussed with your accounting professional. One option would be to use an accrual entry to update the current month in the General Ledger. However, when creating an accrual entry, you must remember to reverse it out before closing the following month.
5. Accounts in the Control Information - Check the default account numbers in the control information of the AR module. For Example: If the Refund Payables (sometimes referred to as credit memos) account is entered as an account other than Accounts Receivables, this may be the reconciling issue. Remember, the trial balance sheet shows billed accounts receivables. If you created a Refund Payables account and used this as your default account in the control information, you’ll need to add the total in this account to the Billed Accounts Receivable account total in order to compare the reports and balance the module.

 

Here are a few other suggestions for troubleshooting out of balance situations in the A/R module:

1. Print the General Ledger List report in the General Ledger module using the criteria of the current month for the date range and the specific module set to AR. This will give you an entire break down of all transactions currently posted in the General Ledger for the Accounts Receivable module within the time period specified.
2. Compare this list from the General ledger to the “Accounts Receivable Open Invoices as of GL Post Date” report and find the differences.
3. Tally up the difference between the reports printed and keep this number aside. This is the variance – the amount you’ll need to search for and possibly correct using an adjusting entry in the General Ledger or report to your accounting professional.
4. In the General Ledger, go to Reports>Ledgers and select the specific account for Billed Accounts Receivable. This will give you the account transactions in that period including all debits and credits. You may find that a staff member entered in a manual entry in the wrong period or posted a manual transaction to the wrong account.
5. Entries made directly to the billed accounts receivable account in the General Ledger. If a manual Journal Entry is made in the General Ledger module, the Accounts Receivable reports will not include this detail. To isolate these entries, run the General Ledger List report, limiting the transactions to only those with MN (manual) as the Journal Type within the current period.