FAQs

1. Where can I get help?
2. How do I customise invoices?
3. How do I change the currency symbol?
4. What is the Unallocated Opening Balances account for?
5. How to enter a receipt that contains tax, such as GST or VAT
6. How to enter a payment that contains tax, such as GST or VAT
7. How to enter a payment of net tax, such as GST, to the tax department
8. I cannot enter dates, or I get a "Date must be within current financial year" message.
9. How do I use the Mac OS X Address Book with Accounts?
10. Why do debits (credits) in my bank or credit card statement appear as credits (debits) in Accounts?
11. My reconciliation opening balance is $nil but it should be a different amount. I'm using Accounts 1.8.1.

1. Where can I get help?

You can access help within Accounts from the Help menu in the menu bar, or here on the website. If you have a question that Accounts Help does not answer please contact us. We want to hear from you!

2. How do I customise invoices?

Accounts can print invoices, quotes, purchase orders, bills and transactions. To customise headings: open the preferences window and select the sales or purchases tab. Here you can customise the title and terms thats appear on invoices and purchase orders. Your business details can be customised by clicking the details icon in the main window.

3. How do I change the currency symbol?

The currency symbol and formatting for numbers is set from your System Preferences. Accounts will display numbers using $, £, €, ¥, or any symbol you choose. Open your System Prefences, click the 'International' icon, then click on the 'Numbers' tab. Here you can set the currency you want to use.

4. What is the Unallocated Opening Balances account for?

The Unallocated Opening Balances (UOB) account is a balancing account to make the opening balances of equity = the opening balances of assets - the opening balances of liabilities. Open your capital account (or an owners equity account, or the accounts that provided you with your opening funds) and enter the same amount as the balance in the UOB account. The UOB balance will then equal zero.

5.  How to enter a receipt that contains tax, such as GST or VAT

6.  How to enter a payment that contains tax, such as GST or VAT

7.  How to enter a payment of net tax, such as GST, to the tax department

8. I cannot enter dates, or I get a "Date must be within current financial year" message.

Accounts 1.4 has issues with particular date formats. You should be able to work around the issue by changing the date display format in your System Preferences / International Settings / Date Tab (shown below) by deselecting show century, or by selecting leading zero for month in addition to show century. We will address this issue was address in a recent Accounts release.

9. How do I use the Mac OS X Address Book with Accounts?

1. In the screenshot below, in the left hand pane, you will notice that Nano Software is highlighted. This is the Address Book Group that Accounts is using for this particular file to store the file's contact information. The Address Book Group generally has the same name as the data file that you are working with.

2. Accounts can display the contact information from your Address Book Card on reports, invoices and purchase orders. To let Accounts know which Address Book Card to associate with your data file, select your Address Book Card from the popup button labeled "My Address Book Card" in the Contact Tab (shown below). Only cards in the Address Book Group of the current data file will appear in the popup button menu. You are able to change the card associated with your data file at any time by selecting a different card from the "My Address Book Card " popup button.

3. Pressing the "Contact" icon in the toolbar presents a new Address Book Card ready for editing. After the new contact details are entered and saved, the Address Book Card will appear in your file's Address Book Group and also in Address Book's "All" Group. Accounts' transactions window lets uses contact information from your Accounts Address Book Group.

10. Why do debits (credits) in my bank or credit card statement appear as credits (debits) in Accounts?

You may have noticed that the debits on your bank or credit card statement appear as credits in Accounts and vice versa.

This is because your bank statement shows your account balance from the perspective of the bank. In effect, your bank statement is just a page from one of the bank's liability accounts. Since your bank account balance is a liability to bank, in the bank's books your account balance (if it is positive) appears as a credit.

However, from your perspective your bank account balance (if it is positive) is an asset, and should therefore appear in your books with a debit balance.

To illustrate, when you deposit cash with the bank it appears as a credit on your bank statement. The bank is actually crediting your bank account in its books to record the increased liability that it owes to you. In your accounts however, you need to record the increase in your bank account as a debit.

Just remember ...

• Debit (credit) asset and expense accounts to increase (decrease) their balance.
• Credit (debit) liability, equity and revenue accounts to increase (decrease) their balance.

11. My reconciliation opening balance is $nil but it should be a different amount. I'm using Accounts 1.8.1.

If you reconciled an account with Accounts 1.8.1, you may find that the next time you reconcile that account, its reconciliation opening balance is incorrectly nil. If this is the case please email us. We are able to adjust the opening balance of any affected accounts. This problem only affects reconciliations performed with Accounts 1.8.1. All Accounts users should upgrade to Accounts 1.8.4 or later.

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Last Change: 10 October 2007