Fundware® Update

July, 2007

Advanced Fund
Management Solutions

Hi Everyone,

You may find this month's article on budgets following revenue an interesting approach that you could modify to fit your circumstances—give it a read!

Have you ever mixed distribution tables and "normal" entries on invoices? Maybe it's time!

Learn about how to easily drill down into your accounts' net activity, find out how those numbers got there!

If you have any questions, give me a call!

Thanks,
Judy Garver

Budgets Following Revenue

The unusual name for this article refers to budgeting accounts that will receive allocated expenses. The budget, at least the initial one, should match the posted revenue that is expected to cover those allocated expenses. In this article we will show an example where a state revenue account has been posted with received revenue (either into one month, as an annual amount, or as a monthly amount). The same account has been posted with an initial budget in the same periods. We can create an allocation (using the Cost Allocation module that you all have) to allocate the revenue budget to the expense accounts that will receive related expenses.

Shown below is an allocation called "BUD" that posts with the budget journal BJ1. It takes the net period budget amount posted to the State Grant revenue account (A000 4510-00 0), and allocates the budget amount to two expense accounts on a 60% and 40% basis.

When the allocation is previewed, the CAIPOST report shows what would happen (a portion of the CAIPOST report is shown below). A budget of $9,500 for the period is found in the Source account (the State Grant revenue account). $5,700 and $3,800 will be allocated to two expense accounts on a percentage basis.

This procedure works with initial budgets. If a revised budget entry is made to the Source account and the allocation is run again, the two target accounts (the expense accounts used in this example will get their percentages of the resulting net budget entries made to the Source Account. This may not be what you want. The Cost Allocation preview option gives you an excellent way to test all of this out before you do it for real.

You may need to allocate many expenses using Cost Allocations. Why not allocate the necessary budgets at the same time? Give this approach some thought!

Viewing Account Balances

A very useful way to view account activity, and to drill down on net activity, is to go to General Ledger/Project Grant/Accounts/Balances. Once there, you will see the form below. Select an account and a yearend that covers your span of interest. The Balance View is next. The view shown here is for net activity. The other two choices are Year to Date (YTD) and both. Only the net view allows you to drill down on net activity.

Once the selections have been made, click on the “Look-Up” button. You will see activity similar that that shown above. To drill down on any number in a Budget, Actual, Encumbrance or Commitment column, merely double click on it. You will see the Posting dates, trace report numbers, item number (within the trace report), journal and description, and, of course, the amounts.

Ask Judy...

Q I have noticed something called a “Location” under AP Maintenance, what is it?

Lulu

A Locations are primarily used on purchase orders to provide predefined choices for PO letterhead and ship to addresses. They may also be used to validate (allow only certain choices) period choices for references. Monthly and Quarterly are sometimes used in the recurring frequency data item on an invoice. In this case they wouldn’t be used as locations on POs. Locations can also be used to provide short notes (instead of addresses) in the Letterhead or ship to locations on POs.

Q We use the Accounts Receivable module and need to charge a few of our customers a monthly fee for access to our web services. How can we set up this to bill automatically?

Pete

A Go to Accounts Receivable/Maintenance/Customer Groups. Add a group with an appropriate name and attach the required customers. Then go to Open/Customers and see the group on your list of customers. Right click on the group and select “Invoice” from the drop down. Fill in the charges as on any invoice and then create the invoice as usual (an invoice will be created for each customer in the group). This can be done once a month, quarter, or any time at all!

Partial Use of Distribution Tables on Invoices

You may need to distribute part of an invoice’s cost on an invoice and then distribute additional amounts to other accounts on fixed amounts, as usual. In this example we have an invoice for a total of $1,000. $500 of it is to be distributed by a distribution called Transportation (in Model Div 96). The remaining $500 will be entered manually against a supplies account. This is easy to do, using the proper steps.

First, enter the invoice as usual for your vendor. For the amount, enter the $500 that is to be distributed (on the Header tab, as usual). Next, go to the Detail Lines tab as indicated below. You will click on the “Auto” tab and choose the proper distribution table. That has been done in the example at right, and the first two entries were made automatically, totaling $500. Next, go back to the Header tab and up the total to $1,000. Come back to the Detail Lines tab and use the “New” button to add the additional entry (for another $500 to the supplies account.

It’s easy to mix entries, just do the distribution first!

Did You Know...?

Budget Preparation. You may have as many annual budgets open as you need. Each budget can be for a portion of your accounts (such as a grant with a budget period of 18 months). You can export Excel worksheets to you managers for their annual input numbers and import their responses, too. One limitation: Budget Preparation cannot automatically prorate annual amounts based on prior year’s actuals. If that’s not a problem, this module is for you!

Payroll. When setting up direct deposit, you may give an employee any number of deductions based on percentages (such as 10% to a savings account), and/or a flat amount (for example, $100 to a loan payment on the first payroll of the month). The remaining amount could then go into the normal checking account.

Allocation Management. Allocations can be setup in groups that run sequentially. An initial allocation, for example could move money to a fund, and then a follow-up allocation could move it to certain accounts, under certain conditions, found in the receiving fund. This can get you out of the spreadsheets calculations you may be doing presently. Call us!

Links to Other FundWare® Sources

There are several sources of information on the internet that can make your Fund-Ware® experience more productive and effective. Check out the following sites:

Fundware.com

This is Fundware's home page. On it you will find the latest in file fixes and program updates. In addition, you may search the knowledge base for answers to your support questions.

www.afmss.com

Check out my site for a complete listing of the products and services I offer.

www.20pines.com

This site offers a number of products that add an extra measure of functionality to FundWare®. One of these products may make your life a lot easier.

www.muhnconsulting.com

This site offers a number of free downloads that will help you get more out of Fund-Ware®.

Advanced Fund Management Solutions

11333 Grand Harbor Blvd.
Montgomery, Texas 77356
Phone: (936) 448-6571
Cell: (318) 359-8028
Fax: (936) 448-6571
Email: jgarv@afmss.com

An authorized FundWare consultant