Cognito has released MoneyWorks update version 8.2.3.
There are features improved and bug fixes in this update. Check out the full change history at Cognito website.
Category Archives: Accounting
Lock the period
Lock your valuables in safe.
Lock your sensitive document in the drawer.
Lock your house away from the unwanted visitor.
Lock your accounts to prevent data fall into the wrong period.
When to lock?
You lock the crossover period to prevent data wrongly entered or removed after you have migrated to MoneyWorks. Subsequently, you lock up the period after you have completed the:
- bank reconciliation
- finalised GST
- stocktaking
- month-end closing
- year-end closing
Locking up the period is a necessity and responsibility of the accountant (administrator) to maintain data integrity and accountability.
You have to lock.
From the command menu, select open/close period. Then, highlight the period you wish to lock and hit the lock button to lock the financial period.
You may add period management as a month-end task. Manage the period after you have completed bank reconciliation or after the closing exchange rate has set for the month (If you are using multiple currencies for your business accounts).
You can unlock the locked period.
From the period management window, highlight the locked period and hit the unlock button to reopen the financial period. Unlock when need to record adjusting entry or audit adjustment which will only receive several weeks or months after you have closed the book.
Close period
You can proceed to the ‘close’ period after you have completed the audit adjustment (Usually, I will close the period once every 2 to 3 years). Both locked and unlocked period are open period, which you can keep up to 99. The older period has to close when the maximum number of the opened period has reached. You can still view the transaction even when the period has ‘closed’.
Lock up is temporary, whereas close is permanent. Backup your business account before you close it.
Reference: MoneyWorks User Guide, The Period Management.
Start a MoneyWorks trial
It’s good to download a trial version, test drive before you purchase the software. Besides finding out the feature and functionality of the software, having a trial helps to reduce the risk of making a wrong decision on investing in the software.
Venture into a new piece of software is not going to be easy for you or your team. Different businesses, or even those in the same industry, have a different requirement, a different workflow. It’s going to be a challenge to find a workaround if the standard features do not fit into your unique business environment. Consider a product demo before a trial, with help from the vendor to kickstart the test drive, ask specific questions relate to what you want to achieve and clear your doubt, will ease the trial and error when you put yourself in the driver’s seat.
Although the trial software does come with a sample company file for you to navigate around, it’s good to create your company file to test drive.
To start a new company file in MoneyWorks is easy. Go to the File menu, select New and follow by New MoneyWorks Document; or hit the New button on the main page when you launch MoneyWorks accounting software. Then, the system will prompt to save your file (you can change your file name) to your preferred location, such as Documents folder in your computer.
Next, a setup wizard will prompt to enter the:
- Company name
- Period (financial period such as from Jan to Dec, and the year to start using MoneyWorks)
- Accounts (Tax localisation and Chart of Accounts templates)
- GST Setup (if any).
A bank wizard will show next once you accepted the setup. You can rename the bank name, enter an opening balance (I prefer to do it later via a receipt transaction), and unchecked those additional bank accounts if you do not need them. Click the OK button to complete your company setup.
You can use the navigator or go to the Show menu to enter the data such as:
- Names (debtors and creditors)
- Accounts (manage your chart of accounts)
- Items (products and services)
- Transactions (Invoices, Payments, Receipt, and Orders)
Refer to the 626 pages PDF User Guide which come with the installation (from the Help menu) for those features you like to explore. Maybe consider entering one week of work into the new software to compare the result with your existing software. Compare the workflow to find out how much time you saved and new features which can improve productivity.
Test out features such as the order system, multiple currencies, job, departmental account, or even customising templates, reports, or scripting (if you can code) when you are ready to take on more challenges. Besides, you can also try out importing transaction if you have sales data downloaded from the web store, POS (Point-of-Sales) system, or generated from some customised system.
Enjoy your trial.
