Training 2010
Financial to Accounting
Transition
Book 2:
Converting to Accounting
Computer Helper Publishing, Inc. 800-533-5227 www.churchwindows.com
Book 2 - Converting from Financial to Accounting
Converting from Financial to Accounting....................................................................2
Preparing for Conversion to Accounting .................................................................2
The Conversion Process ........................................................................................3
Clean Up after Conversion .....................................................................................7
Accounting User-Interface Screen .............................................................................8
The Chart of Accounts Screen .................................................................................10
Search ..............................................................................................................13
Detail Tab .........................................................................................................14
Balance Tab .....................................................................................................22
Tree View Tab ..................................................................................................22
Vendor/Payee Tab ............................................................................................22
Settings ...................................................................................................................23
10/2013
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Converting from Financial to Accounting
If you are a current user of Church Windows Financial and wish to convert to the
Accounting program, the process can be completed after you install Church Windows
16 and upgrade to the most recent Service Release. Converting is a feature that is built
in to the Financial module.
•
Install the 16.13.0 program using the most recent CD that you have and
following the instructions that came with it.
•
Download the most recent Service Release. Service Releases are found on the
website – www.churchwindows.com – under Customer Support, Download
Updates.
•
Open Church Windows, then go to Financial., Special Functions, Convert to
Accounting. We recommend making a backup before this procedure.
Preparing for Conversion to Accounting
Before beginning the conversion process from Financial to Accounting, here are some
helpful hints to keep in mind:
•
All transaction batches should either be posted or deleted.
•
There should be no checks waiting to print.
•
There should be no contribution batches waiting to be transferred to Financial.
•
There should be no outstanding bank reconciliations.
•
Do not delete expense payees.
•
Delete unused liability accounts (# 2 accounts) before converting, although this
can also be done after converting.
•
Print out a copy of the Balance Sheet including Beginning Balances and Year
To Date Balances. Make certain the dollar amount in the subtotal Total Assets
equals the dollar amount in the subtotal Total Liabilities + Fund Balances.
•
Make a backup of the data.
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The Conversion Process
The opening screen of Church Windows will still say Financial as the module.
If you are ready to convert,
 Click Financial, Special Functions, Convert to New Accounting Module.
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 Click Yes to confirm that you want to convert. Click No if you want to cancel the
conversion.
The conversion screen opens.
Please note: the conversion process may take a long time. Do not Cancel the
conversion.
The system will
notify you when the
conversion is
complete.
 Click OK to exit the conversion.
Note: Should you get
a conversion error
during the process of
converting, do not
panic. There may be a
program on your
computer hindering the
conversion. Call
1.800.533.5227 to talk
with a technician.
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 Re-open Church Windows and the main screen will now say Accounting.
 Click Accounting.
The system opens to the Setup Chart of Accounts screen where the Beginning
Balances need to be finalized.
The Beginning Balances for the current year will carry forward. You should
examine them.
These two columns should match to the penny.
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If the totals are out of balance
If the totals in the Balance Sheet Totals line do not match, and you click Finalize
Beginning Balances, the system will tell you.
 For users converting to Accounting, we recommend finalizing the beginning
balances as they show on the screen in order to retain the consistency of
balances from the old program into the new program. Changes would then be
made using Journal Entries in the new module. Click Finalize Beginning
Balances.
 When you do, the system will set up either an asset account or a liability
account (depending on whether debits or credits are higher) that will be labeled
To Balance and enter a beginning balance in that account.
You can come back later and, using a Journal Entry, move money to bring the
Balance Sheet in balance as of the end of the month. The To Balance account
would remain on the Chart of Accounts until you open the New Year.
Finalized beginning balances
cannot be changed. A
transaction would be used to
bring the account to its correct
balance.
 Click Yes to confirm the finalization and the Imagemap screen opens.
If you are not ready to finalize the beginning balances for the year but need to begin
entering transactions,
 Click Save Balances at the bottom of the screen to save the balances entered
in. You will not be able to open the next Accounting year in the system until
these balances have been finalized.
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 Click the “X” in the upper right corner of the screen to close the screen.
•
Every time you open Accounting, this screen will pop up to remind you that
the beginning balances for the year have not been finalized.
•
You MUST finalize the beginning balances prior to opening the next fiscal
year.
Once beginning balances have been finalized, they may not be changed. This
preserves the audit trail.
Clean Up after Conversion
1. Eliminate Chart of Accounts clutter. Accounts that do not have a beginning
balance, have not been used (and probably won’t be used in the near future)
can be deleted from the Chart of Accounts.
2. Print all the financial statements that you normally provide for meetings. Click
on the columns tab to select the columns of information that you want printed
and print those reports. If you print your statements to include accounts with
zero balances you may be able to combine the first item on this page with this
step. Doing this BEFORE you need those reports for a meeting will make the
day of the meeting run a bit smoother.
3. Are there outstanding checks from prior years still on the books? Typically a
bank will not honor checks that are more than a year old. If there are
outstanding checks on the bank reconciliation that are more than a year old, it
is best to clear them out. Depending on dollars and age of checks involved,
determine the account the check was originally charged to or establish a new
income account – “O/S Checks written off”. In the current year, go to
Transactions, Other, Adjust Asset and increase the checking account for the
dollar amount of the checks. The other side of the entry is to the original
account or the new income account. Then open a bank reconciliation for a date
different than the one you would normally use for a bank reconciliation. On the
second screen, enter in balances of $1.00 each. Mark that deposit posting and
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the written off checks as being cleared – be sure to leave everything else
outstanding. Finalize that reconciliation.
4. If you have permission for the Security screen, examine the users that are
listed. Does everyone have the permissions to access the areas that they need
and are they restricted from areas that they should not access? Are there
users in the list that are no longer using the program? If so, those users should
be marked as Inactive. You will see that you can be more selective in the
Accounting program with what people are allowed to do in the program than
you could be in Financial.
5. Are there vendors listed with liability account numbers? To move these into the
Accounts Payable/Vendor sub ledger, click Manage Accounts, View to open the
Chart of Accounts. Click on the account you want to move and then on the
Detail tab, click Add to Ledger. A new field will appear; click the down-arrow
and select Accounts Payable. Click again on the left side of the screen and the
account will be moved to the sub ledger.
6. Are there duplicate vendors listed when there should not be, for example:
Electric Company and Electric Company, Inc.? Unless you send bills to more
than one department in the company and they have different addresses, you
need only one vendor for the company. Cleaning up the vendor list can help
reduce confusion when posting bills to and paying vendors.
What if I want to wipe everything out and start over fresh in Accounting?
There are a couple of options, and a phone call to our support line would allow you to
discuss those options with a Church Windows technician. You can call 1.800.533.5227.
Accounting User-Interface Screen
To open the program,
→ Accounting
The User Interface Screen or Imagemap opens. The Imagemap is designed to help
you navigate to the accounting function of your choice easily and quickly.
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The screen has two specific functions,
• To provide shortcuts to specific Accounting functions,
• To provide access to help or information on specific functions.
Menu & Buttons
At the top there is a row of menu items, with each item corresponding to a main
function area in the Accounting module. The selected menu item will be highlighted.
Below the row of menu items is a row of command buttons. The buttons appearing in
this row are determined by what menu item is selected and are sub-functions or
components of the selected menu item. Clicking a command button takes you directly
to the screen implementing the indicated function, but in some cases, Reports, for
example, a sub-menu may be displayed.
In the previous screen shot, the command buttons: Browse, Enter Income, Enter
Bills, Pay Bills, Transfer, Accounts Receivable, Transfer Contributions and Other
are all sub-functions of the menu item: Transactions.
 Click the
menu item
Manage
Accounts;
its subfunctions are
different
buttons, as
shown here:
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Icons or Shortcuts
The labeled images are shortcuts for frequently used financial
functions. Clicking one of the labeled images takes you directly
to that function.
For example, clicking
on the Enter Bills image
displays the Enter Bills
screen which you can
also access by clicking
the Transactions menu
and then clicking on the
Enter Bills button. The
two methods are
equivalent.
The Help system’s Manuals can be accessed by clicking the Help
shortcut or clicking Help at the top of the screen.
The Chart of Accounts Screen
From the Initial Button Bar,
→ Accounting
→ Manage Accounts
→ View, or the
→ Manage Accounts icon
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The Chart of Accounts opens. It is a complete listing of all the accounts you have
entered into the Church Windows Accounting program.
If you see an account with a Plus (+) sign beside it, the plus indicates that the account
has a sub ledger.
Here there is a Plus (+) sign beside three accounts:
a. Accounts Payable where the vendors are listed.
b. A liability set up to hold the Pass Through accounts.
c. The # 3 Memorial Fund Balance account.
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Vendor sub ledger
Pass-through liabilities sub ledger
Memorial Fund with sub
ledger
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Search
The Search box at the top of the Chart of Accounts allows you to find an account
quickly by its account number or its name.
By number:
 Begin typing the account
number needed, and the
system drops down to the
accounts in that area of the
COA.
 Click on the account you want.
By name:
 Begin typing the name of the
account needed, and the system
drops to accounts with that name.
 Click on the account needed.
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Account Information Tabs
Additional information about accounts can be entered/found on the account information
tabs to the right of the list of accounts. There will be a maximum of four tabs, with each
tab containing specific information. Not all tabs are used with all accounts.
On the Chart of Accounts screen,
 Click to highlight the account number/name for which you wish to enter
information or review current information.
The screen defaults on the right to showing the Detail tab for that account.
Detail Tab
Any account may have additional information recorded for it on the Detail tab. The
options on this tab vary from one type of account to another. Therefore some of the
options discussed below may not appear on one type of account, but may appear on
other types.
(a) Long Term (Longer than 1 year)
If assets or liability accounts are not to be used or turned over for over a year,
or in the case of a debt, will take a while to pay it off, mark them here as Long Term.
Examples would include CD’s, Investment accounts, or a mortgage/line of credit.
(b) Inactive Accounts
An account may be marked Inactive at any time. For example, if you no longer want to
use an account that has transactions posted to it in the current year, mark it Inactive
for the duration of the fiscal year and delete it after opening the New Year.
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•
•
Transactions may not be posted to inactive accounts. They will not show as an
option for use on transaction screens.
Inactive accounts may or may not have a zero balance. Inactive accounts will
show on reports.
Here an
account
has been
marked
Inactive.
At the bottom of the screen, set the Chart of Accounts to show all accounts, only active
accounts or only inactive accounts.
To activate an Inactive account:
 Open to the Chart of Accounts screen.
 Find the account and click to highlight it.
 On the right side, click to remove the check mark in the Inactive box.
 Click to close the screen.
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(c) Add to / Remove from Ledger
This feature allows you to move accounts to a sub ledger at any point in the year.
Add to Ledger
We entered a vendor in as a #2 liability instead of as an Accounts Payable vendor. Or,
we converted from CW Financial and the liabilities for vendors came across with their
account number. It is easy to move that account so it becomes a vendor in the AP sub
ledger. All its history will move with it.
 On the Chart of Accounts
screen, find the #2 liability for
this vendor. You can use the
search field and type in the
account number or name. As
the system opens the list of
accounts, click on the
appropriate account.
The account will be
highlighted and the Detail
tab on the left side of the
screen will open.
 Click Add to Ledger.
The screen brings up
a Main Ledger field.
 Select the appropriate
sub ledger for the
account. We click
Accounts Payable.
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 Click anywhere on the screen. The account is moved to become part of the AP
Vendor list.
Remove from Ledger
If you have an account that is part of a sub ledger and you would like to remove it from
the sub ledger so it stands independently, that is easily done on the Detail tab for the
account.
Let’s use the same account we just made a sub ledger under Accounts Payable.
 Find the account on the Chart of Accounts using the Search box or the scroll
bar.
 Click the Plus (+) sign beside the parent account – in this example, our
Accounts Payable account. We click the Plus (+) sign to open the list.
 Click to highlight the account and the tabs on the right open.
 Click the Remove from Ledger button.
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 Key in the account number to be used for
this account and click Set Account
Number.
The account will be removed from the sub ledger and made an independent
account.
Note: If you are not using account numbers in your system, this process will
work the same way without reference to account numbers. Remember, when
account numbers are not used, the accounts will be listed alphabetically.
(d) Print
Click the Print button to open a General Ledger report for this one account. The report
will show all the activity that has affected the account. This report is an excellent
investigative tool.
(e) Bank Name and Account Number
If you would like the bank name and account number to appear on the Church
Windows Accounting Deposit Slip, include that information on the Detail tab of the
Chart of Accounts.
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Here’s how it would
show on the deposit slip
produced by Church
Windows.
(f) Link Fund Balance Accounts to Asset
Fund Balance accounts may be associated with a specific asset, which is the asset you
would typically use when posting income into or paying expenses out of that fund.
In this screen shot, we have selected the Building Fund Balance account, and on the
Detail tab, clicked the down-arrow in the Asset box and selected the asset we want to
associate with that fund.
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When entering income or paying a bill, the system will alert you if you select an asset
other than the one associated with the fund. However, it will not prevent you from using
another asset if you prefer.
(g) Fund
The Detail tab for Fund Balance, Income and Expense accounts also includes a field
showing the Fund to which that account is associated.
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If the Fund information for an income or expense account is incorrect, click the dropdown arrow in the Fund box and link it to the correct fund.
Note: If the linkage of an account to a fund is changed in the middle of the accounting
year, all monies that have come into the fund through that account or gone out of the
fund through that account will move to the new fund. Changing the linkage will thus
change any reports previously published.
To preserve the reports, create a new account linked to the correct fund and transfer
the money from the existing account to the new account.
(h) Comments
This is a free field in which you may enter text.
In this screenshot we see that an asset is managed by one of the Boards within the
Church and lists the Board name and its current chairman for easy reference.
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Balance Tab
The Balance Tab will show the Beginning
Balance for the account which is the balance
on day 1 of the fiscal year and then the balance
at the end of each month. The balance for the
month is as of whatever day it is on the
computer’s calendar.
The Balance in the lower corner will be the
current balance.
Note: Assets, Liabilities and Fund Balances
often begin the year with a balance. Income and
Expense accounts begin the year with a zero
balance.
Tree View Tab
The Tree View is a visual representation of how the
accounts relate to each other.
Here is a tree view of the General Fund with its
accounts.
Vendor/Payee Tab
 Click to highlight a liability or vendor account, and then click the Vendor/Payee
tab.
 If you do not see the names of the vendors you have entered for Accounts
Payable, click the Plus (+) sign to the left of the account name/number.
 Enter the information.
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The Name/dba, Address, City, State
and Zip Code fields will print on checks.
If the vendor is an Independent
Contractor, you can print a 1099 Misc
for that contractor out of the Accounting
program.
Settings
From the Imagemap screen:
→ Special Functions
→ Settings
This is where you would come to set the default checking account, pay type and
screen size and locations.
 Click the down-arrow in each box
to select the Default Asset
Account and the Default Pay
Method. Saves time and
keystrokes; you may change to a
different asset or pay type on any
transaction.
 If you have re-sized and/or
moved screens and would like to
re-set them to their original size
and location, click the bar Reset
all screens to default size and
locations.
 Click OK when finished.
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