Create Databases -> Customer -> Create Special Accounts

Creating Special Accounts

In addition to creating database information for each customer, you need to create a few customers for special purposes. We describe each of these special accounts here.

• Cash account
• Pricing account
• Internal use account

If you need instructions for creating customers, refer to Adding a Customer.

Cash Account

The Cash account is only necessary if you sell retail.

What the CASH Account Does

When you use the point-of-sale application, every sale must be associated with a customer. In retail situations, most customers do not have their own account. For these customers, you use the CASH account.

You need a separate cash account for each general ledger location you set up.

A general ledger location is a profit center. You set up a different general ledger (G/L) location for each aspect of your business for which you want to keep separate profit and loss figures for. If you have three retail stores, for example, you need at least three general ledger locations. To learn more about setting up the general ledger, including locations, see Chart of Accounts.

A CASH account must have an account number that matches the G/L location number. Suppose you have three stores, and their G/L locations are 1, 2, and 3. You need to create three CASH accounts, with account numbers 1, 2, and 3.

DDMSautomatically posts all sales for a particular cash account to the corresponding general ledger location.

Creating CASH Accounts

1. To manually assign the appropriate account numbers, you must first temporarily disable your system's automatic account numbering (if it's enabled).

• Double-click the icon.

• Double-click the icon.

• Make sure Caps Lock is on.

• Type LA in the Master Menu Selection Code field.

• The (LA) Customer and A/R Parameters screen displays. This screen contains parameters that let you customize the customer database and accounts receivable.

• Select the [C] Chg action code by typing C.

• In the G/L Location field, type 1 and press Tab.

• In the Next Customer # field, write down the number you see. In our example here, the number is 10456. We temporarily erase this number, and it's important to restore the correct number later.
  

• After writing down the number, erase it by:

  • Pressing the Space Bar

  • Pressing Enter

• The Next Customer # field now looks like this:

2. Now open the Graphical Interface, double-click the Customer icon, and follow these steps:

These instructions assume you know how to add a customer. If you need help, see Adding a Customer.

• Click the button to add a new customer.

• In the Acct # box, type 1.

• In the Name box, type CASH.

• In the Status box, specify an order entry status code of 1 through 9 or A through F. Any of these status codes ensure that the sale is cash only — charge sales are not permitted for customer accounts with codes assigned from these ranges.
  
  This figure shows the three boxes in the Master tab completed for a location 1 CASH account.

• Click the Order Entry tab.
• In the P/O Required box, type a dollar sign ($). This indicates that the customer can only make cash returns. (It also indicates that a P/O is required; you can specify anything you want as a P/O number, though, such as the word CASH, or a customer's name.)

• Click the button to save the new customer.

• Repeat this procedure, creating CASH accounts for each additional G/L location that conducts retail sales. Specify the G/L location number as the account number for each CASH account. (Using the previous example, you would create two additional records, account 2 for G/L location 2, and account 3 for location 3.)

3. Go back to the (LA) screen. If it is no longerl displayed, display it as you did in Step 1.
   
   Make sure Caps Lock is on.
4. Select the [C] Chg action code by typing C
5. At G/L Location, type 1 and press Tab.
6. At Next Customer #, re-enter the number that you wrote down in Step 1. In the example we used, type 10456.
7. Press Enter to save your changes.
8. Press Esc until you return to the Keyop Menu.

Pricing Account

This account makes it easy to check prices for potential customers who do not have an account.

The (EL) Customer Item Price Check screen lets you do a price check for a customer quickly and easily. For more information, see the online help topic Performing Price Checks.

To create a Pricing account, do the following:

1. Go to the Customer window and add a new customer. (For instructions, see Adding a Customer.)
2. In the Master tab, you complete two boxes: the customer name, which can be PRICING or something similar, and the account number. (If your parameters are set to assign account numbers, you can use the assigned account number for this customer.)
3. Click the Order Entry tab, and assign the pricing you want to apply to customers who do not yet have accounts. (For information about basic pricing, see Creating a Pricing Strategy.)
4. In the Taxable box, type Y (To learn more about taxing, see Setting Up Tax Information.)
   
   In the District box, specify a tax district that applies to most customers. (The tax can be calculated when you do a price check.)
   
   Click the button to save the new customer.

Internal Use Account

DDMSoffers a wealth of features for tracking and managing sales to customers. You can use these features to track the costs you incur when your employees consume the products or services you sell. You do this by creating an Internal Use account.

To create an Internal Use account, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Customer window and add a new customer. (For instructions, see Adding a Customer.)

2. In the Master tab, enter the customer name (or you might enter Internal Use).

3. If your parameters are set to assign account numbers, you can use the assigned account number for this customer.

4. Click the Order Entry tab and enter the appropriate order entry status code in the Status O/E box.
   

   Determine whether you want to set this account for cash sales or let it charge. (The only disadvantage to charging is that you have to offset the charges in A/R.) For cash only, assign an order entry status code of 1–9 or A–F in the Status box. For charge orders, assign a status code after F (G–Z).

When employees need supplies, you'll be able to create an invoice for them in order entry.