I am using Manager for over a year now, and I am extremely happy with it.
Not having any previous experience or training in accounting, and in order to save time, I am using some “techniques” that may be unconventional or even wrong to a trained professional, but my purpose is just to have a rough picture of the ins and outs of my company’s restaurants and not any official auditing.
Just recently I decided when issuing purchase invoices to clone the previous one, leave all the items as they are, and only adjust the quantity, or price if needed. If one item is not included in the new invoice I just put zero (0) on the quantity, and leave it there for future invoice “cloning”.
The problem with this is that all the transactions, including the ones with zero value, are still listed on the totals in the relevant category!
Is there a way to avoid this?
Thanks,
Christos
p.s. I have uploaded some print screens for an easier understanding of what I mean
this cannot be avoided because that is the way the program is designed. you know that anyway because you admitted you are using unconventional techniques.
if all you need is a template with pre-filled list of items, instead of using the Clone option, set the Form Defaults for purchase invoice to include necessary items. now when you create New Purchase Invoice you will have all the lines pre-filled. make sure you delete the lines you wish to exclude from the invoice.
Thanks!
I think though that purchase invoices in Default Forms cannot be created separately for each different supplier? Am I mistaken?
I can also use the “Non-Inventory Items” function, and I am indeed using it in some cases, but I found the “new” way easier and quicker, if only wasn’t this listing issue!
I was actually hoping for an “Exclude zero transaction” button, as we get in some reports!
Rather than clone an invoice, why not set up a set of standard Purchase Orders
You would still have to delete the items not included on the invoice.
But your use is most definitely “unconventional”
If used in an accounting system it could be viewed as very odd as the accounting records do not represent the actual invoices as received from the supplir
@11151, the easy way around this is to review your old purchase invoices for each supplier and pick one as the “standard.” It should be one that includes all the items you order from that supplier. In fact, since you have been using your unconventional approach, it could probably be any of them. Then, use that specific invoice every time you want to clone or copy a purchase invoice. (Copying will give you today’s date and make other relevant changes as the “dumb clones, smart copies” philosophy is gradually introduced that was announced in last month’s newsletter.) Then delete the line items you don’t want. The next time, clone or copy the same standard invoice and repeat the process.
Thanks, Tut!
That’s a great idea, at least for my needs!
I have even taken it a step further, as you can see in the pic.
I have created an invoice dated far in the future, with all the items but zero quantity for each one, to serve me as a template. It does stay on top, it is in red, and somehow, either because of the future date or perhaps for the zero total invoice value, is not even listed in the category totals! What do you think? Will I be taking it too far? Will this perhaps affect any other aspect of the accounts? (Pic. 1)
Something else that struck me as a little bit odd, is when I view the list of sales according to price (debit) the zero transactions, from the invoice on my first post, are nowhere to be found! (Pic. 2)
I would never create a future-dated invoice for this purpose. It could eventually bite you. I meant that you should choose an invoice from the past to clone or copy.
I also cannot tell what you are doing that you are trying to illustrate with PIC 1, but it is not what you apparently think it is. That screen shot shows a drill-down from the Suppliers tab on one particular supplier’s invoices. Unless your template invoice was from that supplier, it will not show. And because the date has not arrived yet, Manager is ignoring the transaction.
It hasn’t arrived yet. And a purchase invoice is not cost of sales. Cost of sales (as posted to the automatic account Inventory - cost is an expense account to which inventory costs are transferred automatically from Inventory on hand when a sales invoice is issued.
Your professed lack of accounting knowledge is getting you into trouble. Since you are not actually trying to use Manager as it is intended, you might find other tools are better for your purpose. A full double-entry accounting system like Manager is for people who want full double entry accounting. When you use it for something else, the results are impossible to interpret.
Yes, that’s exactly what I was trying to show. The supplier’s list of invoices. And, since the program is actually ignoring the transaction, its whole purpose is to act as just a template for that supplier!
Tut, I was referring to the real invoice that is dated correctly and its zero transactions are showing when viewed in the “Cost of Sales - Alcoholic drinks” default mode. (See relevant pic on my opening post)
I am not keeping an inventory! It is something that we are planning to do in the future, but for the time being, we cannot since our sales in the restaurants are not recording specific items! Just categories (Food, Alcoholic drinks, Non-Alcoholic Drinks, Take Away)!
We were at a point negotiating a full restaurant-specific POS and accounting system but due to the Covid19 restrictions - from 2020 till today all restaurants were closed in total of over 5 months - we had to postpone it indefinitely!
So, I think that the way I am posting the purchase invoices at the Cost of Sales expense account is correct for my case.
Well not arguing with that, I am after all a semi-retired chef! If at any point I will feel that I am messing things up I will let the management know immediately!
Anyway, all the real accounting is done by our professional accountants, and they are getting all the invoices every 3 months to prepare the VAT submission. Their results are always, so far, on par with mine!What they cannot offer though is day to day analysis of costs and profit margins and comparison between our two - soon to be three - restaurants.
