The Chart of Accounts Wizard

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Revision as of 10:25, 14 February 2011

The Chart of Accounts Wizard steps you through the process of creating a QuickBooks Chart of Accounts. If you have multiple locations and are setting up multiple companies in QuickBooks, you must step through this procedure for each company. You begin by telling QuickBooks which store(s) are associated with the company you are setting up. One QuickBooks company can contain several stores, however you cannot associate a store with more than one QuickBooks company.

Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts

You navigate through the Chart of Accounts Wizard by clicking the Next button. Note that if you click the Back button, you will lose the information that you entered in the current screen.

To set up your chart of accounts:

1. On the FTD Mercury Main Menu, click Accounting.
2. Click the Chart of Accounts button.
   NOTE: If you receive the message “ALERT: QuickBooks must be installed prior to proceeding,” this means that you have not yet installed QuickBooks on the FTD Mercury Server. Locate your QuickBooks installation CD and see Step 2: Install QuickBooks.
   The Associate Stores with Company panel after you click the Chart of Accounts button.
   Now you will add your QuickBooks company file and tell QuickBooks which of your stores are associated with this company file. You must create a NEW company the first time you run through the wizard.
3. Click Add Company.
4. Type the name of your company (FTD Mercury creates a QuickBooks company file with this name) and then select if the company is located in the U.S. or Canada. Then click OK. You are returned to the Accounting module with your QuickBooks company file selected.
   Complete the remainder of this window:
   • Beginning GL Export Date: By default, this field displays the sale date of the first unexported transaction in your system. If you are using the Chart of Accounts Wizard for the first time, this date may be the date that you first started using FTD Mercury. (If you were using the legacy GL Export feature, all transactions were marked as unexported transactions when you upgraded to the Accounting module. Therefore the transactions that you exported using the legacy GL Export feature are available for re-export.) Change this date to the date that you want to begin tracking sales data for your new QuickBooks company.
     Note that data can only be exported once. Even if you manually change the date to an earlier date, only transactions that have not already exported will be included in the export.
   • In the Select Store(s) box, highlight the store(s) that are associated with this QuickBooks company. If you select a store that is already associated with a QuickBooks company file, you will be prompted if you want to change the store’s company.
5. Click Next to set up your bank accounts.
   • Main Bank Name: For the given store, this is the name of the bank that you use for cash sales, house accounts paid by cash or check, paid outs/paid ins and cash over/short. You can name this the name of the bank, or if you have multiple accounts at the bank, you can name this account “Bank One – Cash Sales” for example. It is required to specify a main bank account name for each store. Type the name of the bank and then click Apply.
   • Additional Bank Account Names: If you have other bank accounts, add them in this field.
     For example, you may have accounts at other banks or you may have a separate account for credit cards. This field is optional.
     To add a bank account name, type the name of the account in the small text field and then click Add so the account displays in the large text field below.
6. Click Next to set up your credit cards.
   Here you must define where your credit card revenue should be deposited. You have the option to select the Accounts Receivable account, or any of the bank accounts that you set up in the previous screen.
   By default, all credit cards are set to be deposited to your main bank account. To change which account a credit card company’s revenue should be deposited, click in the check box for the appropriate bank. You can only select one bank for each credit card company.
7. Click Next to set up your paid out/paid in accounts.
   Here you must specify whether each paid out/in type is related to Costs of Goods Sold or Operating Expenses. For example, if you have a paid out type of “Candy” that you use to purchase Candy for your gourmet baskets, this account should be designated as a Cost of Goods Sold account. If you have a Paid Out type of “Supplies” to purchase office supplies, this account should be designated as an Operating Expense account.
   To designate a paid out/in type as a Cost of Goods Sold or Operating Expense account, click in the appropriate check box for that paid out/in type. Only one category can be assigned per paid out/in type.
   For paid out/in types that are defined as Cost of Goods Sold, a Cost of Goods Sold purchase account is created in the Chart of Accounts. The account is created with the name of the paid out/in type followed by the word “Costs” (for example “Candy Costs”). For paid out/in types that are defined as Operating Expense accounts, an Operating Expense account is created with the name of the paid out/in type followed by the word “Expense” (for example “Supplies Expense”).
8. Click Next to set up your Chart of Accounts.
   On this screen you decide which accounts will make up your Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks. The accounts that are listed here are based on the responses that you provided in the Chart of Accounts Wizard, along with setups that you have on FTD Mercury, such as product categories and fees. Other accounts are also listed, such as accounts for vehicle and furniture costs.
   At this time you should scroll through the list of accounts and decide which accounts you want to add to your Chart of Accounts. By default, only the required accounts are selected. If you want to create an account for a listed item, make sure a check mark exists for that item in the Create GL Account? column. To omit an account from your Chart of Accounts, clear the check mark that appears in the Create GL Account? column. To select all accounts, click the Select All button.
   Some accounts are required, such as your bank accounts and the accounts for your paid in/out types. If you attempt to remove the check mark in the Create GL Account? column for a required account, you receive the message Cannot uncheck. Account is required by your FTD Mercury system.
   In addition to reviewing the accounts you want to include, you can also change the account number of the accounts (you may want to do this to match a previous QuickBooks Chart of Accounts). To change the account number, click inside of the account number cell so that a cursor appears, then type the new number. Note that you can change the account number on the first export only. You cannot change account names later in QuickBooks or in the Chart of Accounts wizard. To change account numbers later, you must do so in QuickBooks. (Since FTD Mercury and QuickBooks identify GL accounts by account name, there is no need to rerun the Chart of Accounts Wizard if you change account numbers in QuickBooks.)
9. When you are finished, click Create. The accounts are then created in QuickBooks.
10. Click OK when you receive the following confirmation message FTD Mercury and QuickBooks have been updated successfully. ### new account(s) were added to Quickbooks. (### is replaced by the number of accounts added.

About Your Chart of Accounts

Keep the following in mind about your Chart of Accounts:

• A sale and purchase account are created for each product category. The sale account is named the product category preceded by the word “Sales” and the purchase account is named the product category followed by the word “Costs.” For example, the sales account for the Fresh Flowers product category is named “Sales Fresh Flowers” and the purchase account is named “Fresh Flowers Costs.”
• Accounts are created for all products with the “Fee” product category. These accounts are sub accounts of the Fee category in QuickBooks.
• Payable and Receivable accounts are created for each wire service.
• When Store Transfers are enabled, the Chart of Accounts contains accounts for Sales Accepted for Transfer, Sales Transferred, Inner Company Transfers, and Transferred Sales Commission.

Journal Entries for Outgoing Wire Orders

The “Sales Outgoing Wire Orders” and “Paid to Outgoing Florist” accounts are accounts that handle outgoing wire orders. All outgoing orders use the format of the following example when generating journal entries in QuickBooks:

• Product = $50
• Delivery Charge = $10
• Relay Charge = $5
• Sales Tax = $6
• Total Cash Sale = $71

Journal Entries for Store Transfers

For Store Transfers, entries are made to the General Ledger Accounts of each store. For example, suppose Margie’s Flowers transferred a $115.00 order ($90.00 product, $10.00 delivery, $10.00 service fee, 5.00 tax) to Jay’s Flowers and received the same order transferred order from Jay’s Flowers. The GL Export report for Margie’s Flowers would contain the journal entries shown in the table below. Margie’s Flowers and Jay’s Flowers are set up in Mercury Administration to provide an 80/20 split on revenues to stores when transferring local orders.