You use the 'Companies' screen to define the company or companies that own your publications. You define more than one company if your publications are owned by different companies, or if you use different accounting methods, fiscal years, or credit card merchant numbers for different publications.
QuickFill uses the information you enter here to determine:
the accounting policy you use,
the return address it prints on bills and renewal notices,
the correct merchant ID numbers for credit card forms, and
the type of output to produce for the 'Credit card charges' update.
Defining companies
When you select 'Companies' under 'Definitions' on the main menu, you'll see a list of previously defined companies with the "New," "Change," "Replicate," and "Delete" options running along the bottom. If you are selecting this screen for the first time, you will see an already-defined sample company. Click on "Change" to display this predefined company. Now you can simply change the fields to match the information for your own company.
You can define another company by clicking on "New," filling in the fields described below, and then clicking on "OK." If the company you want to define next is similar to one you've already defined, you can replicate the existing company by moving the cursor to that company and clicking on "Replicate."
Here's the difference between changing and replicating: when you "change" the predefined company (mentioned above), then save your new definition, you delete the predefined company. When you use replicate, you save the predefined company.
You link publications to their correct companies on the publication definition general tab (click here for details on the 'Company' field in the publication definition).
Company code
Enter a code to identify your company. Unlike other codes you define, the company code can contain only letters and numbers. And you can't enter spaces in the middle of the code. The reason: QuickFill later uses the company code as the first part of the name of the file it creates when you extract the general ledger journal for posting to your accounting system. (Click here for details on the journal extraction.)
Company name, address, and phone
Depending on how you set the 'Print company name' fields below, QuickFill may print the name and address you enter here as the return address on bills and renewal notices. If you're using forms with your company name preprinted, you won't use this address data. But you should probably fill it in anyway.
Print company name on bills/renewals
Check these fields, and QuickFill will print the name and address of the company (provided the company is entered on the publication definition general tab) on each bill or renewal notice for that publication. (Click here for details on the 'Publication' field on the publication definition general tab.)
If you're not familiar with accounting practices, click here for an overview of accounting in QuickFill, before you attempt to fill in these fields.
Select 'Cash', if you want to use the cash accounting method (no receivables). Otherwise, leave the 'Accrual' field as it is.
QuickFill keeps track internally of all accounting data on both a cash and an accrual basis. This code determines which set of accounts QuickFill uses to create the posting file when you run the accounting journal extract (click here for details on the journal extract ). It also determines which set of accounts QuickFill displays when you select 'Account codes' under 'Accounting' on the main menu (click here for details on account codes ). You can run the 'General ledger' report on either a cash or accrual basis, regardless of the method you select here (click here for details on the 'General ledger' report).
You can change from the cash to the accrual method and vice versa. However, do so only after you've extracted the accounting journal. And, discuss the change first with your accountant.
Federal tax ID
If you enter a number in this field, QuickFill prints it on bills and renewals.
Current year
Current period
Enter all four digits of the current fiscal year (1997, for example) and the number of the current accounting period. If you use a calendar year, the accounting period is the month (for example, June = 06).
Note: changing accounting year and period
Running the period and year-end closings from 'Accounting' on the main menu will automatically update the accounting year and accounting period. You shouldn't have to change these fields using 'Definitions'. (Click here for details on closing the accounting period and closing the accounting year.)
Create GL accounts automatically
Check this box and QuickFill will create all of the appropriate general ledger accounts whenever you define a new publication or click OK on the definition screen of an existing publication. This is useful when you post the numbers in QuickFill's ledger to an external accounting system and you want to avoid waiting until the end of the period to fill in the account codes for the external system. If you leave this box unchecked QuickFill will create the general ledger accounts "on demand" whenever a transaction is entered or an update is run that requires posting a number in that account.
Use this field to specify a file format for the journal extract file created by the 'Journal extract', 'Close period', or 'Close year' (on the 'Accounting' menu). The default format is 'Comma-delimited', but it can be changed to 'dBASE' or 'Peachtree' (for Peachtree Accounting 2003 software). When you run the 'Journal extract', QuickFill will place the resulting file(s) in the mail-merge directory. The file name(s) will include the company code, accounting year, accounting period, and extract number with a file extension of DBF for the 'dBASE' format and CSV for the 'Comma-delimited' and 'Peachtree' formats.
Click here for a complete description of the journal extract file formats.
Acct separator
If you selected the 'Peachtree' format in the 'Output format' field above, use this field to specify the publication code/account code separator that you would like QuickFill to use when creating journal extract files for this company. If you leave this field blank, the publication code and account code will be joined without any spaces or characters between them. For example, if the publication code in your database for accounts receivables from new orders is "1000" and the account code is "1100," the record, in your journal extract file, for accounts receivables from new orders will contain "10001100" in the publication code/account code field. If you use a separator of "$" instead, the record, in your journal extract file, for accounts receivables from new orders will contain "1000$1100" in the publication code/account code field.
The 'Acct separator' field only applies to the 'Peachtree' format.
QuickFill prints these numbers on credit card forms produced by the 'Credit card charges' update. For more information on credit cards, click here for further details on the 'Credit card charges' update. Click here for details on setting up the billing packages and/or renewal packages so that a credit card signature line is printed on your bills and renewals.
The information entered in the 'Merchant ID' fields is also used to determine the credit card types that should be accepted during the entry of new orders, renewal orders, and payments as well as to determine which card types (American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and/or Diner's Club) should be printed on the bills and renewal notices. QuickFill will only include the credit card types for which you have entered a merchant ID. For example, if you enter merchant IDs for American Express and Visa, the credit card information block for bills and renewal notices will list "VISA/AMEX" on the first line. This makes it apparent to the customer that you only accept Visa and American Express for credit card payments.
There is space for two complete sets of merchant ID's. The first set is intended for regular mail and phone orders. The second set is for Internet orders, in case your bank requires that you process Internet orders through an account that is separate from that used for mail orders.
Client ID
If you are going to select a credit card output format (below) that requires a Client ID (CheckFree or GENSAR), use this field to enter your Client ID.
Credit card output format
Right click in this field and choose from the list of available credit card output formats (PC-Capture, PC Batch 4.1, PC Batch 4.5, MAPP-PC, TeleMoney, CheckFree, PC-Ticket, GENSAR, PC Transact 2.1, PC Transact 3.0, IC Verify 6.60 for DOS, IC Verify 2.1 for Windows, IC Verify 3.1 for Windows, dBASE, Quote-comma delimited, PC-Charge, POS-Partner 2.24, POSPartner 2000, Authorize.net, viaWarp, EBatch, MBatch and MeS Virtual Terminal). If you are using a credit card format that is not listed above, please contact Technical Support at CWC Software, Inc.
You can also change the definition of a company by moving the cursor to that company and double clicking on it, or clicking on "Change." You can delete a company that is not being used by moving the cursor to that company and clicking on "Delete."
To delete a company that is being used, you must first remove that company from any publications to which it is linked. You would do so on the publication definition general tab.