Transfer closing balances

[Dennis Silver]

Can anyone suggest how the closing balances at the end of an accounting period (which exist only as calculated fields on a report) can be transferred as opening balances for the next accounting period?

Thanks in anticipation.

Dennis

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Transfer closing balances

In order to compute the balance figures, won't you have to build a script which repeats the calculations done in the report's calculated fields? These computed values could be stored temporarily in variables, for display on screen and so on.

Are you asking about where to store them permanently, or are you asking about how to build the scripts which do the same things as the calc fields in your report?

-- tom

[eeetee]

RE: Transfer closing balances

hi dennis:

i attach a balance field to my chart of accounts. every time there is a general journal entry (either adjusting,payables or receivables) i update the balances at the time of posting. by doing this it simplifies reporting the balance sheet / statement of revenue. if you want to report a balance sheet from a month ago you subtract all of the gl entries (from current backwards to the report date) from their current balance and presto.
i also use this to confirm the balance sheet is indeed in balance on every transaction.

ed

[vasant panjabi]

RE: Transfer closing balances

dear ed taylor,

i would sincerely appreciate if you could email me the report format
which generates the trial balance & balance sheet. am in a process of creating one - having a hard time.. having a look at yours could help a lot..

thanks in anticipation..

rgds,
v.p

[eeetee]

RE: Transfer closing balances

hi vasant:

i'm still working out the last anomalies for taxable vs non-taxable service charges. when i get that done i was going to contribute the entire app to the learn alpha as my contribution to those kind souls who have helped us all. in the infinite wisdom of our government(canadian)here some service sharges are taxable and others not. if you buy 1 donut you pay tax, if you buy 6 donuts they are not taxable. you see 6 donuts are food, one is just a snack. this is the logic i'm trying to get around.

ed

[vasant panjabi]

RE: Transfer closing balances

dear mr taylor,

well, i live in a country where the word TAX does not exist and and you can
have all the doughnuts you want and eat them too.

what i am struggling with is the format of the trial balance & balance sheet -
if you can just send an incomplete work of these reports only .
that is all i need.. i already have a crude but practical for us accounting application running.

anyway, will look forward to the entire application when posted.
v.p

[Ken L Herrold]

RE: Transfer closing balances

Hi all:

For what it's worth, I'll tell you the theory of what I've done.

To get a field(s) to hold transactions, I've inclued three fields in the customer record, 'Charges', 'Credits', and 'balance'. All three are numeric of course. Using field-rule-posts, each transaction ADD-POSTS to the charge or credit fields.

The posts happen simultaneously with the transaction event so that these are updated with no other interaction. At statement time, I do a global update to update the calculated 'balance' field. That becomes the 'balance forward' amount on the report which is a set based on the Customer as the header and transactions as children.

While it might be considered crude by a CPA my clients seem happy with it.

Just some thoughts

Ken the Newbie.

[Dennis Silver]

RE: Transfer closing balances

Ed,
Thanks for your repsonse. The system I am using is a simple invoice/payment tracking procedure, not a full-blown accounting system as yours seems to be. However, the general principles are the same but, being only semi-literate in the use of XBasic, I am seeking some advice on the script which would be able to work the magic. (See my reply to Tom Cone for further details).

Thanks for your interest in my problem.
Dennis

[Dennis Silver]

RE: Transfer closing balances

Tom,
Thanks once again for coming to my aid.
The system I am using is for invoice production and tracking for a nursing home: invoices/credit notes are produced, payments are recorded and a running balance shown. The final balance is also calculated in a more direct way which should, of course, equal the last running balance.
I hadn't bothered much about trying to transfer the period end closing balance to a period start opening balance automatically as there are only 20 accounts max and they can quickly be entered through an opening balance form but it would be neater (and quicker) to do it at the touch of a button.
Yes, if you can give me some guidance on a script which could make the transfer I would much appreciate it.

Regards,
Dennis

[Dennis Silver]

RE: Transfer closing balances

Ken,
Thanks for the suggestion which sounds fine if the transaction sums for charges, receipts etc are entered directly. The system I have calculates the charges to be debited from start and ending dates etc...(won't bore you with all the details) but virtually every numeric on the entry form and associated reports is calculated. Posting of calculated fields seems to be a problem and table calculated fields cannot cope with totals.
If I've misunderstood your method please let me know.

Regards,
Dennis

[eeetee]

RE: Transfer closing balances

hi:

i'm very tight for time today and the method i used would not be able to be explained in a couple of lines. what i've done is created a chart of accounts. tach account has a name and an account type.

H=header
L=left column account
S=sub total (of left columns)
R=right column
T=total
G=grand total

the chart of accounts (balance sheet) is broken into:

current assets (1000 through 1499)
fixed assets (1500 through 1999)
current liabilities (2000 through 2499)
long term liabilities (2500 through 2999)
equity (3000 throough 3999)

the following script verifies the balance sheet.


''XBasic

dim last_type as c
last_type="A"

dim this_type as c
dim next_type as c

dim this_acct as c

dim flag as c
flag="A" 'used to compare balance sheet totals

dim balance as n

dim liaaccum as n
dim testaccum as n


dim gaccumulator as n
gaccumulator=0 'for balance sheet totals

dim saccumulator as n 'for sub totals
saccumulator=0 'clear to start

dim taccumulator as n ' for totals
taccumulator=0 ' clear to start

dim gl as p
dim qry1 as p

'debug(1)
gl=table.open("chart of accounts") 'open up the chart of accounts which is gl

gl.index_primary_put() ' ensure no filters are active

query.filter=""
query.order="account_num" 'need to keep order for totals
qry1=gl.query_create()

gl.fetch_first() 'fetch the first record
while .not.gl.fetch_eof() 'loop until end of chart of accounts
this_acct=gl.account_num 'fetch the current account number
this_type=gl.account_type 'fetch the current account type
balance=gl.account_balance 'fetch the balance

gl.change_begin()

select 'ready for array test of account types

' the header should get bypassed as there is no case for it

case this_type="L" 'check for sub account
saccumulator=saccumulator+balance 'add left hand account to subtotal balance

case this_type="S" 'test for subtotal calculation
gl.account_balance=saccumulator 'post the calculated subtotal
taccumulator=taccumulator+saccumulator 'update the total accumulator
saccumulator=0 'cleared for next use

case this_type="R" 'test for total calculation
taccumulator=taccumulator+balance 'update the total accumulator

case this_type="X" 'test for total calculation
taccumulator=taccumulator+balance 'update the total accumulator

case this_type="T" 'test for total calculation
gl.account_balance=taccumulator 'post the calculated total
gaccumulator=gaccumulator+taccumulator 'ready for grand asset and liability totals
taccumulator=0 'clear for next use

case this_type="G" 'asset and liabilities are G totals
gl.account_balance=gaccumulator 'first pass is asset
if flag="A" 'test for first grand total
testaccum=gaccumulator 'save asset total
flag="X"
else
liaaccum=gaccumulator
end if
gaccumulator=0 'ready for liability total

end select
gl.change_end(.t.)
gl.fetch_next()
end while

'debug(0)

gl.close()

if round(liaaccum,2)!=round(testaccum,2)
ui_msg_box("G.L. Does Not Balance","OK")
else

end if


ui_msg_box("you're done","")

[eeetee]

RE: Transfer closing balances

hi:

forgot to say that acct type X is retained earnings, which is not a postable account.

ed