Setup Tips

First Data Month
Resetting Credit Terms
How to Update WinForecast's Payroll Tables to the New Australian Rates
How To Stop This Message From Coming Up Each Time You Open A Forecast
Creating Multi-Year Forecasts
How to Move Existing Records in Your Record List
Do You Know About Memo Records?
Do You Use the Description Fields?
How can I change all my records to Separately Invoiced in one go?
Creating Sub-Headings and Sub-Items
Do you need to create a Departmental Profit & Loss?
How can I copy the template of an existing forecast without its underlying data?
Do you provide for Bad Debts?
Extending or removing part of a forecast!
Allocations
Using Month Numbers on Reports
Composite Stock - With Raw Materials & Finished Goods
Revaluating or Devaluating Assets
Debtor Financing
Wages - Using Employee List
Budget reports not updating after extending forecast
Using Profiles as a Data Entry method
Copy forecast with exchange rate
Importing in a Chart of Accounts from Excel
Forecasting for the new financial year

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First Data Month

In some circumstances you may want to enter the opening balances for a forecast other than at the beginning of the forecast, for example if you are doing the forecast part way through your financial year.

How To Do It

1. From the main window's menu, select Options>Headings.
2. On the Start Date & Currency tab, use the First Data Month spinner arrows to select the month at the start of which the opening balances apply (any months before your first data month will be greyed out in the data entry screens).
3. When you change the First Data Month, calculated loans (made and received, including those of financed assets) and the employed from/to dates of employees in Wage records are adjusted relative to the new month. All other data remains unchanged.
4. Special considerations apply when consolidating forecasts with deferred opening balances. In particular, you cannot specify that factoring, stock financing and provisions are recalculated for consolidations including forecasts with deferred start dates.

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Resetting Credit Terms

Have you ever wanted to see what happens to your cash flow if debtors paid you on 30 day terms instead of 60 days or if you paid your creditors on 45 day terms instead of 30 days?

You can do this by resetting your credit terms in WinForecast.

Note: It is a good idea to �File>Save As� your forecast file before doing this, to keep an original copy of your file

How to Do It

1. Go into OPTIONS>PARAMETER DEFAULTS
2. Amend the Receipts & Payments to the terms you wish to analyse further, as in the case above, leave them as Use Days Credit and enter 30/45 in the ALL box.
3. Go to DATA>RESET CREDIT TERMS and select Taken to reset payments
4. Go to DATA>RESET CREDIT TERMS and select Given to reset receipts

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How to Update WinForecast's Payroll Tables to the New Australian Rates

As many of you are aware the tax department has issued new income tax rates for the 2008-2009 financial year.

If you use WinForecast's Employee List in your wages records, you will need to update your payroll tables to the current rates by following these steps:

1. Run Winforecast. Select the 'Existing Forecasts' tab. Open the file win4c_32.fs0 (default directory C:\Program Files\Sage\WinForecast Version 4\Forecast)
2. Go to Options > Default Payroll Tables
3. Change the bands to be the following;
• On the first 6000 @ 0.0%
• Then Up to 34 000 @ 15%
• Then up to 80 000 @ 30%
• Then up to 180 000 @ 40%
• Thereafter @ 45%
4. Select the tab labelled 'Super Rates'
5. If you have not already updated your Superannuation Rates:
• change the Number of Bands to 1
• enter a Flat Rate of 9%
6. In this same tab, update Medicare to be:
• On the first 17309 @ 0.0%
• Thereafter @ 1.5%
7. Select OK.
8. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to update the Rate Data File. Select OK
9. You will then be asked if you want to update the open forecast to the new data. Select YES.
10. Don't forget to SAVE your file!

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How To Stop This Message From Coming Up Each Time You Open A Forecast.

One of more of the Group Tax and Super rates or bands in this forecast differs from the default ones Do you wish to update the forecast to the default data? Yes No

You may get this message if you have changed certain payroll table rates in a forecast. To stop the message coming up, you go into the specific forecast then into OPTIONS>OTHER OPTIONS>ADVANCED and check the box that says Don't Ask about Group Tax / Super Rate Changes. Then save your file. Next time you open your file the message won't appear.

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Creating Multi-Year Forecasts

Forecasts can be for as many years as you require. The length of a forecast is determined by its start and end months, and is always a whole number of years. When you first create a forecast, you can specify both its start date and the number of years it is to cover. It is usually preferable to start with a single year forecast and later change its 'extent' (length), allowing you to automatically create data for later years based on data entered for the earlier year.

How to Do It

1. From the main screen's menu, select File>Forecast Extent.
2. On the screen which appears, use the From and To spinners to change the forecast's extent.
   Note: Forecast will always be extended in whole numbers of years.

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How to Move Existing Records in Your Record List

Have you ever set up your record list and then wanted to move an existing record to a different position or section?

How to Do It

1. Highlight the particular record or subtotal you wish to move
2. Hold down your LEFT mouse key
3. A double sided arrow should appear
4. Drag the record to the section and position you wish to move it to
5. Release your mouse key and the record will now stay in the new position

Note: You can only move records within a section heading or to a new section with the same record types ie you can move an Income type record to another sales section or a stock record to another costs section (Overhead/Direct costs section)

Extra Tip: Are you aware of the "YEAR ON YEAR REPORTS" that are created when your file is for more than 1 year. These can be found in View>Year on Year Reports and prove to be extremely useful in comparing this years performance to that of last year.

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Do You Know About Memo Records?

You use Memo records in the Memo Records section of the List of Records on the main screen to provide or access data not available normally on reports. Memo records can also provide data for record formulas in Sales and Costs records.

With Memo records you can provide:

1. Numeric data which may vary by month and will be totalled by quarter and for the year
2. The units of one or more income
3. Type or cost-type records
4. The amount invoiced in one or more income-type, or cost- and/or stock-type records
5. The number of employees in one or more wages records.
6. The employer�s part of deferred payroll payments
7. The number of days in each month;
8. The original value of one or more fixed (non-current) assets;
9. The cumulative depreciation of fixed assets;

How To Do It

Create a Memo record in the List of Records. Double-click on it and select what data you want from the drop-down list in the Memo Data column. If appropriate, select the record or records from which you want the data. Click on OK.

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Do You Use the Description Fields?

It is good practice to make some notes about the use of the record in the Description box. This way if anybody else is going to use your file, they can see information about each record if required ie where you sourced the data from.

The description boxes are located in the Record Properties on your main screen and can be used for each individual record in your Record Name List.

They are also located in the Menu Options>Headings, in the Tab Company Name, Sub-Heading and Description

NOTE: Any information you enter as Description is for reference - it is not printed or displayed anywhere.

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How can I change all my records to Separately Invoiced in one go?

To begin with, a brief description on each of these types of records;-

Income/Cost/Stock Records

These types of records appear separately on the Profit and Loss report, but their receipts on the Cash Flow report and trade debtors /creditors on the Balance Sheet report are combined with those of all other Income/Cost/Stock records.

The benefit of using these types of records is that you do not have to separate the opening trade debtors/creditors (or actual trade debtors/creditors when entering actuals) between all the different records.

Income records are always included in the bad debts and factoring (when you specify these) and cannot be eliminated on consolidation.

Separately Invoiced Income/Cost/Stock Records

Use Separately Invoiced records when:

1. You want the receipts listed separately on the Cash Flow report.
2. You need to specify that cash is received quarterly, four-or-six-monthly or annually.
3. You want the trade debtors/creditors listed separately on the Balance Sheet report.
4. You do not want the record to be included in bad debts or factoring.
5. The record is going to be eliminated on consolidation.
6. You do not want income to be included in bad debts.
7. To be able to change all income, cost and stock records to be separately invoiced in your WinForecast budget files at once

How to Do it

Press Ctrl>Alt>Shift F10, this will toggle all records from cost/income/stock to separately invoiced or vice versa.

NOTE: Please be careful with this operation, as the link will be removed for any stock records you have set up to transfer between other stock records.

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Creating Sub-Headings and Sub-Items

You use sub-headings and sub-items when you need to forecast at a greater level of detail than you normally want displayed on the forecast reports. For example, you may have a pool of 20 financed motor vehicles and need to enter the details of each financing agreement separately, but normally you only want the total of the payments listed on the reports. With sub-items, you can always elect to have the detail shown on the reports when you require it. In the list of records, you can move, and copy and paste, sub-headings with their sub-items as if they were single records.

How to do it

Create a record to be the sub-heading, name it, and ensure it is the Record Type you want. With this record selected, create a second record and name it. Select the second record and select the Sub-Item check box. This converts the first record into a sub-heading and the second record into a sub-item.

By selecting an appropriate record, you can create further sub-items either at the end of, or within, the sub-list under the sub-heading. If the first record already had data in it before being converted to a sub-heading, this data is transferred into the first sub-item record.

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Do you need to create a Departmental Profit & Loss?

WinForecast allows you to create up to five departments (Gross Profit Centres) in your forecast (unless you have purchased the Consolidation option in which case there is no limit to the number of departments you can create).

How to do it

From the list of records, highlight the record at the end of the (last) Costs section before the new department, or the section heading if the section is empty. From the menu, select Wizards>Create Department. Type in the Department Name and select whether you want to Show the Gross Profit Percent for this department in the Profit and Loss report. Click OK. You will then be able to see the new department's sales and cost section heading. All departments share the same Overheads.

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How can I copy the template of an existing forecast without its underlying data?

Similarly to a word processing program, a new forecast can be created using a template file. In WinForecast, the template is an ordinary forecast file called win4c_32.fs0 that has no accounts in it. The chart of accounts grows as more records are created. If you have to forecast for more than 1 company and they all have the same chart of accounts, you dont have to start each forecast from fresh and recreate the accounts. All you'd have to do is create one forecast that has all the accounts and the template of that forecast can be used as the basis of a new forecast.

How to do it

1. Firstly, create one forecast file with all the accounts then save the file as XXXX.fs0.
2. To copy the template, you'd then go to File>Select Template then browse for file XXXX.fs0 that you just created and click Open.
3. You have now selected to copy file XXXX.fs0's template.
4. To place it on a new forecast, the next step is to go to File>New Forecast .
5. Once you have created the new forecast, you can then see the chart of accounts is already created for you and all you'd have to do next is enter in the data.

NOTE: If you want to switch back to using the blank template, go to File>Select Template and choose the win4c_32.fs0 file. You cannot select to copy the template of a file that has actuals set to it.

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Do you provide for Bad Debts?

Provisions are a method of setting aside money to cover eventualities which can be reasonably expected to occur, but exactly when or their cost, cannot be predicted.

Providing for bad debts is widely practiced by all organisations that has debtors. WinForecast deals with Provision for Bad Debts automatically, the account just needs to be turned ON.

How to do it

1. From the main window's menu bar, select Data>Provisions>Bad Debt Details. Then click on the Provision for Bad Debts box to turn it ON.
2. Select the Sales Lines to include in bad debts (do not include a record in bad debts if it is to be eliminated on consolidation).
3. All income records are automatically selected for bad debts however, separately invoiced income records have the option to be selected or not for inclusion in a bad debt provision.
4. Either enter the amount of New Provision for each month, or specify it As % of Sales.
5. To write off a debt, either enter the amount you want to write off or set it to write off automatically after a certain number of months.

NOTE: Bad debts provision is only available if you have created records in the Sales Section.

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Extending or removing part of a forecast

Once you have created a forecast for one year, you are able to extend the forecast out for another one year, two year and so on. The data in the subsequent years that you create can be extended with data from the whole year, second half or last quarter of the previous year.

You would normally accept the default Whole Year option. For start-up situations, using data from the last half or quarter may be more appropriate.

Alternatively, if you have created a forecast for more than one year, you can remove/cut off one or more years of the forecast.

How to do it

From the main window's menu, select File>Forecast Extent. On the window which appears, use the From and To spinner arrows to change the forecast�s extent.

To extend the forecast, simply change the To date to when you want to extend the forecast to.

To remove part of the forecast, simply change the From date to when you would like the forecast to start/end.

Note: Forecasts must always be a whole number of years in extent, and also that you cannot move the start back in time. When you change the forecast extent, the forecast data is "locked" in time.

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Allocations

Allocations provide for situations such as when the costs of a central operation, the Head Office (for example) need to be allocated out to operating units.

Another way of looking at allocations is as a special 2 � way Hotlink between forecasts. The receiving forecast has a normal Hotlink to the allocating forecast and the allocating forecast has a reverse Hotlink to the receiving forecast.

A portion of each cost is assigned to each operating unit and netted from the central operation. WinForecast allows you to apply different percentages each year. Allocated records can have different percentages applied or they can all have the same percentage.

Allocations are set up in forecasts receiving the allocations, not the forecast providing them.

How to do it

There will normally be one forecast providing allocations, i.e. containing the costs which have to be allocated out, and several forecasts receiving allocations, i.e. to which the costs are allocated.

Before allocations can be set up, each of the forecasts must be created and saved, and each must have a special type of Other Asset/Liability record set up to hold the debtors/creditors arising from the allocations.

To do this:

1. Create a new Current Asset/Liability record under the Other Asset/Liability section heading
2. Click Enter Data and then select the Intercompany Account check box. (Only one intercompany account can be set up per forecast.)
3. In the forecast providing allocations (eg, Head Office), create records as normal for costs which are to be allocated out.
4. Then in the receiving forecast, to create records with allocations, create a Costs record and then select Allocated from the drop-down list in the Costs (#) column
5. Click Range and select the forecast from which allocations are to come (if necessary, Add it to the list).
6. Click OK, then select the record in the allocating forecast and enter the percentage to be allocated each year.

Note: Forecasts which receive allocations cannot also provide them.

Tip: It is a good idea to keep all the forecasts in an allocation group in the same folder.

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Using Month Numbers on Reports

You can set to use month numbers such as Month 1, Month 2 etc on your reports instead of using month names such as July, August etc.

If your forecast is for 3 years, the month numbers will run from Month 1 till Month 36 on your reports.

How to do it

If you are starting a new forecast, click on the Start Date & Currency tab and make sure Use month numbers on reports is checked.

If you have an existing file which you want to change, open the file, then go to Options>Headings and click on the Start Date & Currency tab. Click Use month numbers on reports so that its checked.

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Composite Stock - With Raw Materials & Finished Goods

Different Types of Stock Records Explained

A normal stock record (Stock or Separately Invoiced Stock)is the simpler of the stock records. It allows you to purchase inventory, hold it for a certain period and then sell or use it at a later date. It handles the purchases, usage, stock balances and associated cashflow all in one record. It puts the usage to the P&L, the stock balance in the balance sheet and handles the creditors on the balance sheet until it is paid which then hits the cash flow.

A composite stock record is more complex. It allows you to purchase a number of components, add some labour and overheads, and then hold the value of the stock item until you sell it at a later date. It handles the purchase of each component (or element) and their associated cashflows. It then adds all of these components together and creates one stock value in the balance sheet. You can then indicate the usage of this stock item.

In the case of a raw materials and finished goods type setup, you will need a normal stock record to handle the raw materials and a composite stock to handle the finished goods to draw through the raw materials and add other components.

How to do it

1. Create 2 records under Direct Costs called:
• Raw Materials � make this a �Separately Invoiced Stock� record
• Finished Goods � make this a �Composite Stock� record
2. Entering Data on the Raw Materials record:
• In the 'Add to Stock' column, select the Enter Additions option and enter in your monthly purchases of Raw Materials. In the 'Payments' column, choose the appropriate option to how you will pay for these purchases.
• In the 'Stock Usage' column, select the To/From Record Option. This will allow other records to draw stock from this Raw Materials record.

In the attached example I am buying $1000 worth of Raw Materials per month, and paying for it in 30 days. Download a copy of the file HERE

3. In the Finished Goods record:
• Click on "Add to Stock Elements" button. This allows you to indicate all of the components of the Finished Goods.
• Click on the �Add Element� button and add all of the element names (Eg, Raw Materials,Labour etc) - OK to exit
• From the "Add to Stock From" box, select each element and in the �Add to Stock� column, enter the purchases for this element. In the �Payments� column, indicate how you will pay for these purchases.
• The �Raw Materials� element needs to be set to draw the Raw Materials through from the other stock record.
• In the Payments column, select the option �Draw From Stock�.
• In the �Use Stock From� option that appears above, select the Raw Materials record. Now whatever amounts you enter in the �Add to Stock� column for the Raw Materials element, it will draw the stock through from the Raw Materials stock record.
• Finally select the �Enter P&L Details� element (WinForecast creates this element for you). You will see the �Total Stock� value (based on the purchases in each of the elements). In the �Stock Usage� column, enter the details for how these Finished Goods are used.

In the example, 3 elements have been created: Raw Materials, Labour and Other Inputs.

The Raw Materials element is set to draw $500 worth of stock through from the Raw Materials stock record (if you look back in the Raw Material stock record, you will see the effect of this inventory being moved)

The Labour element is a cost of $100 per month, paid immediately

The Other Inputs element is a cost of $50 per month paid in 60 days

4. In the Enter P&L Details element, the Total Stock column shows the value of the stock on the balance sheet, and the Stock Usage column shows what is going to the P&L as an expense.

In this example I have set the Stock Usage to be a % of sales.

5. The reports:
   • In the P&L you will see the Finished Goods usage as indicated in the Composite Stock record.
   • In the Cashflow report, you will see the Payments for Invoiced Costs (this include all the elements of the composite stock record) and Raw Materials.
   • In the Balance Sheet you can see the value of the Raw Materials and Finished Goods inventory.

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Revaluating or Devaluating Assets

HOW TO REVALUATE ASSETS

In the Non Current Asset record:

• In the �Assets Added� column, put the amount of the revaluation in the appropriate month.
• In the �Payments� column, select the option �Xfer in as Capital� (this will make sure there is no cashflow resulting from this transaction, and it will increase WinForecast�s built in �Capital� record)

SETTING UP AN ASSET REVALUATION RESERVE ACCOUNT

In the Capital Reserve record:

• If you don�t already have an Asset Revaluation record in the Capital section, create one
• Set the �Transfer from� to Capital (we transferred the increase in the asset in as Capital, and we now want to move it to the Revaluation record)
• In the �Transfers� column, enter the in the amount of the revaluation in the same month as you entered it in the Asset record.

When viewing reports, you should see:

• P&L � no movement
• Cashflow � no movement
• Balance Sheet � Both the Non Current Asset record and the Asset Revaluation record increasing by the same amount in the same month.

HOW TO DEVALUATE ASSETS

In the Non Current Asset record:

• In the �Assets Sold� column, put the amount of the devaluation in the appropriate month
• In the �Receipts� column, select the option �Xfer out as Capital� (this will make sure there is no cashflow resulting from this transaction, and it will decrease WinForecast�s built in �Capital� record)

SETTING UP AN ASSET REVALUATION RESERVE ACCOUNT

In the Capital Reserve record:

• If you don�t already have an Asset Revaluation record in the Capital section, create one
• Set the �Transfer from� to Capital (we transferred the decrease in the asset out as Capital, and we now want to move it to the Revaluation record)
• In the �Transfers� column, enter the in the amount of the devaluation (as a negative) in the same month as you entered it in the Asset record.

When viewing reports, you should see:

• P&L � no movement
• Cashflow � no movement
• Balance Sheet � Both the Non Current Asset record and the Asset Revaluation/Devaluation record decreasing by the same amount in the same month.

EXAMPLE FORECASTS
Asset Revaluation
Asset Devaluation

Click on the links above then choose "Save". Once saved on to your computer open the files through WinForecast.

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Debtor Financing

Debtor Financing occurs when (some of) the trade debtors (accounts receivable) of a business are assigned to a third party for collection. This third party, or factoring company, normally pays over a percentage of the debt immediately and the balance when it collects the debt. For doing this it makes a charge, normally a percentage of the value of invoices issued, and collects interest based on the outstanding balance advanced.

In Sage WinForecast Professional, factoring is modelled as a loan facility (or maximum advance) against which an advance may be drawn. This is equivalent to the normal factoring method of paying a percentage of an invoice immediately.

How to do it

First set up the individual Income records that are to be factored. In these records, you specify for Receipts what and when you expect the customers to pay, not the receipts expected from the factoring company, and for the Opening Trade Debtors, you enter what the customers owe to the factoring company.

Then from the main window�s menu bar select Data>Factoring/Financing and then Main Scheme or Secondary Scheme as required. The main scheme provides more feature than the secondary scheme. Select Factor Trade Debtors from the Scheme drop-down list.

On the Factoring/Financing window:

1. Select the month to Factor From, or select Prior.
2. Select the month to Factor To
3. Select As % of Debtors in the Max Advance column (main scheme) or the Advance column (secondary scheme) and enter the percentage of the value of the invoices that is advanced immediately.
4. Select the records that are to be factored in the Sales Lines list.

   Note: Income records are automatically selected, and cannot be deselected. Separately invoiced income records can be selected and deselected as required.

5. Select Use Maximum in the Advance column (main scheme only).
6. If there is a maximum to the amount the factoring company will advance, specify this in the Maximum box (main scheme only).
7. Select As % of Invoices in the Charges column and enter the percentage.
8. Enter the annual Interest rate charged on the advance.

Note:If you selected to Factor from Prior you need to enter the Opening Advance. This is the amount advanced by the factoring company less the amounts it has received from the customers. You may need to obtain this information from the factoring company.

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Wages - Using Employee List

Each Wages record holds a single employee list. You can have as many employees as you want in an employee list. For each employee in the list you provide:

1. A name or identification.
2. For each year an hourly, weekly, monthly or annual (base) gross wage or salary.
3. Any commission component of pay (this can be the employee�s total pay if entered manually or by using hot links).
4. Any monthly bonus specific to this employee.
5. When the employee is employed from and to.
6. You can specify percentage bonuses, or other monthly profiling of wages, at three levels that are cumulative:
   • Forecast-wide.
   • For all employees in one Wages record.
   • For an individuals employee

How to do it

1. From the list of records, create a new record that has the record properties typed WAGES
2. Double-click the Wages record for which you want to enter an employee list.
3. Select Employee List in the Wages column and click List.
   • To add an employee to the list, click Add ID and enter the New Employee�s ID or name in the box. Click OK.
   • To delete an employee from the list, select the employee in the Employee ID list and click Delete.
   • To enter an employee�s Gross Wages, enter the amount and select whether it is an hourly, weekly, monthly or annual rate. If it is hourly, enter the number of Hours/Week worked.
   • To provide a commission, or enter manually or using hot links a component of pay, for an employee, select the employee in the Employee ID list and click Commission, Bonus, Etc. Select whether to specify the commission Enter Commission, As % of Sales, As % of Gross Profit or Use Hot Link. Note that As % of Gross Profit is only available if the Wages record is in an Overhead section of the forecast. If you select As % of Sales, select to which Sales Lines the commission applies to and enter the commission percentage. Click OK.
   • To provide a bonus or profile for an employee, select the employee in the Employee ID list and click Commission, Bonus, Etc. Specify the bonus or profile in the Amend Wages to column (100% is unchanged). The total cumulative bonus or profile applied to this employee is shown in the Total Amendment column. Click OK.
4. When the data for all employees has been entered, click OK.
5. To enter a bonus or wage profile for all employees in the Wages record, click Bonus, Etc. while viewing the data entry window. Specify the bonus or profile in the Amend Wages to column (100% is unchanged). The cumulative bonus or profile from this and any forecast-wide profile is shown in the Total Amendment column. Click OK.
6. To enter a bonus or wage profile for all employees in a forecast, from the main window�s menu select Options>Payroll Tables & Options. Click Bonus, Etc.. Specify the bonus or profile in the Amend Wages to column (100% is unchanged). Click OK.

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Budget reports not updating after extended forecast

I've extended my forecast to 2007-2008 & updated the budget data but the budget reports did not update. Why?

The budget reports are only updated when you set actuals (eg. July 07). Only then it will ask you a series of questions.

When you set actuals, WinForecast will detect that there is no original budget and asks if you wish to create it now. In this case, you would say YES.

Then a 2nd question pops up which says Do you wish to change the revised/original budget for Jul 07 to Jun 08 to the current projected figures?

You should say YES if you have created a revised budget previously as you've made changes to the projections and would like it to reflect in the revised budget as well as the original.

If you haven't recreated a revised budget, answering YES would update the original budget with any changes you have made to the projections. Answering NO simply means that the changes you've made in the projections will not be updated in the original budget. This means that the projection figures will not be the same as the figures you see in the original budget as you've said NO to updating it.

NOTE: WE UNDERSTAND THIS CAN BE A CONFUSING MATTER. IF YOU WISH TO DISCUSS THIS FURTHER, PLEASE GIVE US A CALL.

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Using Profiles as a Data Entry Method

Profiles are a method of splitting an annual figures using a defined seasonality or pattern.

There are 6 custom profiles for you to define and four in-built profiles.

How to do it

1. From the main window's menu, select Option>Profiles.
2. From the drop-down list, select the profile you want to work on.
3. Click 'Change Name' to change its name.
4. Enter the annual allocation profile figures (between 0 - 999) against each applicable monthly box. Then click on OK.
5. To use it as a data entry method, go into the P&L record you wish to apply a profile to and set the data entry method to 'Use Profile'.
6. Click on 'Enter/Change Data' to assign the appropriate profile and the in the annual total.

NOTE: When in actuals mode, if the actuals are more or less than what was budgeted, the projections for the rest of the year will adjust to the annual sales figure entered when using the profile.

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Copy Forecast with Exchange Rate

You can make a copy of an open forecast and at the same time apply an exchange rate to all the data in the forecast. This allows you, for example, to print reports in dollars for a forecast you have developed in pounds.

How to do it

1. From the main window's menu, select File>Copy with Exchange Rate
2. Enter the exchange rate you require and the new Currency Symbol
3. Click the Headings tab to change any headings in the forecast
   
4. Click OK

NOTE:

• The copy you have created is a separate forecast, not connected in any way to the original one.
• If you make changes to the original forecast, you will need to make another copy to reflect the changes.
• If the Consolidation option is enabled, you can create a consolidation of just this forecast with the exchange rate applied. Any changes in the forecast will automatically update the consolidation.
• If the original forecast has hot links and an exchange rate other than 1 is applied, only the data from the hot links, and not the hot links themselves, is included in the copy.
• Also, if the forecast receives allocations, only the data is included in the copy, not the allocation links.

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Importing in a Chart of Accounts from Excel

If you have an existing chart of accounts in an excel format, you can import that into WinForecast without having to manually create the accounts when starting a new forecast.

NOTE: You can only import once into a new file. You cannot import data into an existing file with existing records. File must be blank with only the sections available.

How to do it

Prior to importing, you may like to see the format/s required. This can be done as follows:

1. Open one of your existing forecasts.
2. Right-click the mouse on a grey area of the main screen (surrounding the Record List).
3. Select �Export Record List�.
4. Select �Clipboard�.
5. Open Excel, click on the first cell then right mouse click and select Paste. You should now see what the importing chart should look like.

Please note the following requirements:

• The names of Section Headings are enclosed by left and right chevrons (� �) and NOT two greater than and less than signs.
• The left chevron (�) is created by holding down the ALT key and typing 174.
• The right chevron (�) is created by holding down the ALT key and typing 175.

(NB: The numbers should be entered using the number keypad & not the numbers along the top of your keyboard, for laptops this means hold down the Fn key also.)

• The names of Sub-Headings are prefaced by a left chevron (�) (ALT 174).
• The names of Sub-Items are prefaced by three full stops.

Once you have prepared your spreadsheet accordingly, create a New forecast in WinForecast using the empty template and add any additional Sales, Costs or Overheads Sections required.

The number of sections in the forecast must match the number of sections in the spreadsheet.

The forecast into which the Record List is to be imported must have only Section Headings in its Record List (ie no records).

In the spreadsheet, highlight the cells you want to import.

This must include the column in which the record names have been entered, plus the twelve (12) columns to its right (so 13 columns in total).

In the additional 12 columns you can enter the P&L data for records in Sales, Costs, Overheads and Other Income Sections.

Even if you aren�t importing any data, you must still highlight the additional 12 columns.

Now go to the new forecast you have created in WinForecast, right-click the mouse on a grey area of the main screen and select �Import Record List� and then �Clipboard�.

All records under the sales section will be type income, change the type if necessary. Same applies with the cost sections, all will be type cost. Change to wages and stock if they are not cost type records.

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Forecasting for the new financial year

As we are nearing the end of this financial year, most, if not all of you should be doing your forecasting for the coming financial year.

There are a number of different options and issues that affect how to start forecasting for the new year. This primarily depends on the state of your Chart of Accounts and way you have your existing forecasts setup.

Below is a summary of the various options and issues, but there is a more detailed version available on our website.

When it comes to creating the forecast to enter data for the new financial year, there are two main options:

OPTION 1: EXTEND YOUR EXISTING FORECAST

This option is most appropriate if your chart of accounts still remains the same and you would like the ability to produce variance reports back to previous years data.

To extend your existing forecast, you need to do the following:

• Open your existing forecast
• Select File>Forecast Extent
• Increase the �To� date for another year/s (Note: you don�t need to change the �From� date)
• At this point, you can also enter percentage increases for the new financial year/s as a starting point for your data.

Once the forecast has been extended, you need to individually go into each record and enter the appropriate data for the new year/s. Each record has a �Show From� box to the right of the record name. This can be used to change which months cells you can see in the data columns below.

Common issues for Option 1:

Use of the �ALL� box

If the forecast you have doesn�t have actuals entered to it, please be sure NOT to use the �All� boxes to enter data. Entering a figure in the �All� box will change the data for every month in the forecast, not just the twelve months showing.

If your forecast does have actuals entered to it, using the �All� box will amend figures for any months that are still projected (ie have not yet had actuals entered for them).

Entering of actuals & underlying �budget� figures

When you have extended a forecast with actuals entered to it, the underlying Original and Revised �Budget� reports will only update when you set actuals for the first month of the new financial year (eg. July 2010). When you do set the actuals month to the first month of the new financial year, you will be asked a series of questions, as follows:

WinForecast will detect that there is no original budget and ask if you wish to create it now. In this case, you would say YES.

You will then be asked how you would like to populate the revised budget. In most cases, you would have created a revised budget in previous years, you should say YES in this instance as well.

You will then be asked to confirm that you overwrite the Revised Budget figures. Say OK.

NOTE: If you hadn�t previously created a revised budget (ie each time you have previously �Set Actuals Month� you answered NO to creating a revised budget each month), please contact us to discuss your requirements.

OPTION 2: CREATE A NEW FORECAST

This option is most appropriate if your Chart of Accounts needs changing or you just prefer to have individual files for each year. There are a number of ways that you can go about creating a new forecast. These are:

Create a brand new forecast from a blank template

• Select File>New Forecast
• Create a new forecast from scratch

Create a new forecast using your existing forecast as a template

• Select File>Select Template
• Choose for existing forecast and click �Open� (it will look like nothing has happened after you have done this, but what you have done is changed a setting the background)
• Now select File>New Forecast to create a new forecast using the template of the last financial year. In the �Forecast Details� window, you should see the forecast you select in the �Template� box

Common issues for Option 2:

What data the template retains

When starting a forecast using a template, please be aware of the following:

• Wages records when using an employee list � the employee list will not be retained. You will need to recreate these.
• Hotlinks � any records that hotlinked will retain that link. You will have to break the link and remove data or update the spreadsheet and cells that the record is linked to.

Changing back to the blank template

When you want to switch back to using the blank template, go to File>Select Template and choose the win4c_32.fs0 file. This is usually in the �Forecast� subdirectory under the WinForecast program directory (Eg C\:Program Files\Sage\WinForecast Professional V4.04\Forecast)

OTHER ISSUES TO CONSIDER

Consolidations - There a many different issues come into play when creating consolidation files for new years. Please contact us if you have queries regarding Consolidations

Updating Tax rates - When the government confirms the 2010-2011 tax rates, the �Payroll Tables & Options� may need to be updated. We will send out the appropriate information as to how to do this when the rates are confirmed.

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