QW Journal

NewViews on Accounting

 
   

~ Issue 1, January 2011 ~

Season's Greetings

Relaunch of the QW Journal

Welcome to the relaunched QW Journal, the popular newsletter for NewViews users that was published throughout the 80's and 90's. Each issue of the QW Journals will provide you with useful and timely information that will ensure you are making the most of your NewViews program.


Please note that throughout this publication, as well as in the current NewViews documentation and website, we refer to NewViews for Windows as NV2 and NewViews for DOS as NV1.


NV2 and Windows 7 - 32 or 64 bit?

Windows 32 or 64 bit? That is the question that no one seems to think of asking when they purchase a new computer with Windows 7. All current versions of Windows 7 (i.e. Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, etc.) are available in both 32 and 64 bit versions.


What does this mean to NewViews users? NV2 is a 32/64 bit program, which means that it can take advantage of memory greater than 3 GB when running on a 64 bit version of Windows, and many computers sold today provide 4 or more GB of RAM. In general, more accessible memory means less competition between programs, enabling them all to perform more efficiently. Note: Adding more memory to computers with older versions of Windows can also provide faster performance.


To see if you are running a 32 or 64 bit version of Windows, and to check the amount of memory installed on your computer, access the Windows Start menu, right click on My Computer, then click Properties. The amount of intalled memory (RAM) should be displayed somewhere in the System Information. If you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7, you will also be able to see if you are running a 32 or 64 bit version of the operating system.


Normal Representation of Accounts

The purpose of the normal representation field is to make it possible to display a trial balance and balance sheet in a set of books in the traditional manner. In this article, we will discuss the implications of the normal representation field with respect to a trial balance.


Every account has a normal representation field that can be set to one of the following values:

  • Perpetual - amounts are displayed as at the end date of the specified period. Generally used for balance sheet accounts, i.e. assets, liabilities, bank, inventory, accounts receivable and payable, etc.

  • Periodic - amounts are displayed for the period specified by the begin date and end date. Generally used for income statement accounts, i.e. revenues and expenses.

  • Opening - amounts are displayed as at the begin date of the specified period. Used for special accounts such as opening retained earnings, opening inventory, etc.


Normal Rep

You only set the normal representation for general and total accounts. For accounts of all other classes, NewViews sets the normal representation automatically. For example, bank, inventory, and receivable accounts are set to perpetual, and revenue and expense accounts are set to periodic.


On reports, you can specify different begin and end dates for different columns. Typically, amounts displayed in any given column will all be perpetual or will all be periodic. The normal representation comes into play when you want to display both perpetual and periodic amounts in the same column. This is the case for a traditional trial balance, which contains a mixture of accounts that are normally classified as perpetual or periodic.


Normal Represenatation of Accounts and The Trial Balance


To comply with accounting tradition, you usually want to specify a period for the trial balance and have revenue and expense amounts displayed for that period. At the same time, you want amounts displayed for assets and liabilities as at the end of that period. And you would like to see this mixture of perpetual and periodic amounts in the same column.


To accomplish this, you can set the column's Respect Normal Rep setting to yes. This will cause the amount for each account in the column to be displayed according to that account's normal representation.

The Respect Normal Rep setting is normally not shown at the top of each column in a report, as it not particularly useful information for those viewing the report. To access this setting on a single period report view, you use the Window>Define Columns command. On a multiple period analysis view, you position on a column and issue the View>Analysis>Column Setup>Edit Settings command.


When you set the Respect Normal Rep field to yes for any column, that column will display the perpetual amounts as at the end of the specified period, and the periodic amounts for the period itself. The result is a trial balance that conforms with standard accounting tradition.


Notes on Payroll

Political turmoil relating to taxes and a "just-in-time" delivery attitude on the part of legislators and bureaucrats makes providing timely payroll releases a challenge. To accommodate the needs of our Payroll users, therefore, tax tables for 2011 will be provided in a three stage update:


Service pack 2.19.2 (released Dec 21, 2010) includes Canadian Payroll processing in accordance with the draft release of T2147.


Service pack 2.19.3 (released Dec 29, 2010) includes USA payroll processing for federal taxes and tax tables for the states that have released final specifications. These states include California, Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and New York City. 24 additional states confirmed no changes for 2011.


Version 2.20 is expected to be released the first or second week in January 2011, and will incorporate finalized Payroll specifications for both Canada and USA. This release will also provide Canadian Payroll users with the ability to print and/or e-file T4's, T4A's, T5's and T5018's.


Please note that you will NOT be able to process 2011 payroll with NewViews until you have installed Service pack 2.19.3 or Version 2.20 (once it is available). If you have not yet ordered/renewed your Upgrade Plan, you can do that here.


Tips and Tricks

Today's Date Shortcut: A quick and easy way to insert today's date into any date field in a set of books is to type the word now, then press [Enter].


Embedded Calculator in Numeric Fields: All numeric fields have an embedded calculator - this means you can type a mathematical expression and NewViews will automatically calculate the result and enter it in the field. For example, if you type 2.5*3 in a numeric field, the value 7.5 will be entered. You can also use parentheses for more complex calculations. For example, if you type (2+3)*7, the value 35 will be entered.


Maximizing and Minimizing Windows: If you want to focus your attention on the information in a particular window, it can be helpful to maximize it so it fills the screen. To maximize a window, make sure it is active (e.g. by clicking the title bar at the top of the window), then press [F7]. To restore the window to its previous state when you are done, press [F8]. (Click to enlarge images below.)

Maximizing Windows #1

Maximizing Windows #2

HELPFUL HINT: If someone else has closed a set of books with a window in a maximized state, sometimes it can be difficult to get your bearings when you open that set of books - you may not be sure exactly what section of the books you are looking at. If this is the case, try pressing [F8] to restore all windows.

Support Q & A

The questions and answers in this section are among those most frequently encountered by the NewViews Support Team. Please note that extensive support related information can also be found on the NewViews website.


Q: I use NewViews to keep several sets of books. Even though the books are stored in different directories, they all have the same name, i.e. database.nv2. How can I customize the file name that corresponds to each set of books?


A: Customizing the file names for different sets of books can be helpful for identification purposes, e.g. when logging into the books, or if one or more database files are moved to another directory or a different computer, or when backup files for the books are stored separately. Changing the file name for a set of books is done by simply renaming the file name in Windows, just as you would for any non-NewViews file.

Important Note #1: When renaming the file, make sure you DO NOT CHANGE THE FILE EXTENSION. In order for NewViews to recognize the file as a set of books, the extension .NV2 must be retained. So, for example, if you want to customize the filename for a set of books for the ACME company, you could rename the file from database.NV2 to ACME.NV2.

Important Note #2: Renaming a database file will NOT automatically change the file name displayed in the NewViews Workstation login table. To do this, run the NewViews Workstation, highlight the old file name in the login table (i.e. database.nv2 in the appropriate directory), then press [F3] to pick the new file name from a list.