General Ledger 8.0d for Professionals is our new Windows 98 through Windows 7 general ledger system. General Ledger 8.0d integrates to Verdict 10 and CheckWrite 8.0c to give you a completely integrated system in the Windows environment. Client payments and expenses are automatically sent to General Ledger 8 from Verdict 10; non-client expenses are automatically sent to General Ledger 8 from CheckWrite 8, saving you time and ensuring accuracy.

With the release of our Windows version of General Ledger for Professionals, we have completed our Windows financial series for law offices. The advantage of handling the general ledger in house is that you can assess the firm's financial situation and plan for the month's ahead while the information is still current. You don't wait months until your accountant can provide this information. At the end of the month, you print the Income Statement for the month and year to date, the Balance Sheet, plus all supporting schedules.

The General Ledger for Professionals 8.0d interfaces to Verdict 10 and CheckWrite 8.0c, or it may be used standalone to produce financial statements for your firm. General Ledger 8.0 uses a double-entry method of bookkeeping and is specially tailored for professionals, who use the cash method of accounting. At the present time, General Ledger 8.0 will require that your firm's fiscal year be the calendar year. (Your year must end on December 31 rather than September 30 or another month.)

Powerful new features

Micro Craft's General Ledger 8.0 has some very powerful new features that dramatically improve accuracy and efficiency. There are pop-up lists of General Ledger account numbers so you know exactly which accounts to post to. You have the ability to create a 13th month for end-of-the-year adjusting entries, and you have the ability to correct financial statements from prior months and have that information filter down to the current month.

Separate accounts for attorneys

Each attorney can have a separate Professional Fees account, a separate Cost Out of Fee account, and even a separate Cash (bank) account. Thus, all postings for the General Ledger can be segregated by attorney. Micro Craft's operating manual gives complete instructions as to how to set up your chart of accounts for the General Ledger, and an example chart of accounts for a law firm is also shown. The General Ledger for Professionals allows an unlimited number of general ledger accounts for your income and expenses. You have pop-up lists of the general ledger accounts when you post an entry so you can select the right account from the list.

Using an Interfaced System

When you use an interfaced system — General Ledger 8.0d, Verdict 10 and CheckWrite 8.0c — duplicate posting is eliminated and a great deal of time is saved.

• You only post client payments once - to bills using Verdict.
• You only post expenses paid out for clients once - by writing checks in CheckWrite. The expense is automatically sent to Verdict.
• You only post non-client expenses once - by writing checks in CheckWrite. The expense is automatically sent to the General Ledger.
• At the end of the month, you automatically collect all client payments and clients costs from Verdict and send them to the General Ledger.
• You just post other income, if any, and other expenses such as depreciation directly to the General Ledger. Then you are ready to print the Income Statement for the month and year to date, the Balance Sheet, and all the other General Ledger reports.
• Micro Craft's operating manual for General Ledger teaches accounting concepts, so you understand debits and credits and the double-entry method of bookkeeping. In addition, the manual gives step-by-step instructions and many examples so you know how to post entries.

The General Ledger Reports

The following reports can be printed using the General Ledger for Professionals 8.0:

• Chart of Accounts
• Trial Balance
• Journals
• Posting Register
• Income Statement for the month and year to date
• Balance Sheet
• Ledger for the year to date

General Ledger 8.0 has the new feature of being able to print an Income Statement and Balance Sheet from any prior month in the current year or the previous year.

Correcting Mistakes

General Ledger 8.0 allows you to make changes for any prior month in the current year or previous year. The data will filter down to the current month. For example, if you are working in November, and you suddenly realize you forgot to post an entry for August or an August entry was posted with the wrong amount, you can go back and fix it. All you do is post the correcting entry using the August date. When you save the entry, General Ledger will remind you that it is an entry for a previous month and you must reclose that month. Next, you reclose the month of August, and print the Income Statement and Balance Sheet, plus any other supporting schedules desired. Then reprint the Income Statement and Balance Sheet for September and October. The corrections for August will automatically be reflected.

The 13th Month

General Ledger 8.0 allows you to close the year, and then, months later, enter year-end adjustments. The data will automatically filter down to the current month. For example, you closed out the year on December 31, and are now in the month of March. Then your accountant gives you year-end adjusting entries for last year. General Ledger 8.0 can handle it. On the entry screen, you check 13th month and make your adjusting entries. Next you reclose the prior year and print your Income Statement and Balance Sheet for the end of the year, plus any other supporting schedules desired. Then reprint the Income Statement and Balance Sheet for January and February of the current year. The year-end adjusting entries will automatically be reflected.

New Features in General Ledger 8.0

New features include:

• It's a true 32-bit application, giving you the full power of Win XP-Win7
• Easy on-screen view of your accounts when you are setting up your Balance Sheet accounts so you can determine whether your General Ledger is in Balance. A red warning if your accounts are not in balance.
• View pop-up lists of General Ledger account numbers on screen to ensure accuracy in entries.
• View pop-up lists of the journals in General Ledger when selecting a journal to post to.
• The ability to view on screen just entries from Verdict or just entries from CheckWrite or just entries posted directly to the General Ledger.
• The ability to view on screen entries from any date range, even including entries from the prior year.
• The ability to print journals with just entries from Verdict or just entries from CheckWrite or just entries posted directly to the General Ledger.
• The ability to correct a mistake from several months ago by entering correcting entries or missing entries for that month, then reclosing that month. The corrections will filter down to the current month. Just reprint the Financial Statement from that month and each month after it through to the current month.
• The ability to create a 13th month for adjusting entries at the end of the year. You can even close out the year with the information you have through December 31st, and months later enter the adjusting entries for the previous year. For example, if your accountant gives you adjusting year-end entries in March of the next year, you enter them in the 13th month for the prior year, and the reclose the prior year. The data filters down to the month you are in. Just reprint Year End Financial Statements and reprint January, February and March Financial Statements with the changed information.
• The ability to print an Income Statement and Balance Sheet - plus all the other GL reports - from any previous month in the current year or previous year.

System Requirements

At the present time, General Ledger 8.0 is designed for law firms with fiscal years coinciding with the calendar year. If your year end does not end on December 31, you cannot use General Ledger 8.0. General Ledger 8 includes an installation program that will automatically set up the standalone version of General Ledger 8 in Windows 98 to Windows 7, or the multiuser version of General Ledger 8 on a network with Windows 98 to Windows 7 computers or under a Windows 2000 or 2003 server or a peer-to-peer Windows network. Both standalone and network versions of General Ledger 8 are available.

For the standalone version of General Ledger, you will need a Windows 98 to Windows 7 computer. The network version of General Ledger requires a network using Windows 98 to Windows 7 computers, and a Windows 2000 or 2003 server or a peer-to-peer Windows network. Highly recommended is a computer running at 1+ megahertz.