Most transactions are grouped into batches. A batch is a group of like transactions for a particular period of time. i.e. All payments received on a given day would go into a batch. While Accounting for Clipper imposes no limits on the number of transactions in a batch, it is recommended that transactions be entered and posted daily.

The usual approach is:

1. The bookkeeper or operator runs a total on the dollar amount of each new batch and assigns a batch control number.
2. The transactions are entered, with debit and credit entries to the appropriate accounts.
3. When the debits, credits and batch totals balance, the General Journal is printed.
4. If the bookkeeper or accountant is satisfied that it is in order, the batch is posted to the master files. Multiple batches may be entered and edited at the same time and only batches in balance will be posted.

Okay, why batch vs real-time? Simply stated, because accountants love it and because accountants are involved in most purchasing decisions. A batch-oriented system ensures correctness and provides a detailed audit trail. It also helps to ensure that no transactions are omitted or entered twice and allows editing prior to posting, thus avoding numerous adjusting entries after the fact.

Do you absolutely have to use Accounting for Clipper as a batch system? As written, yes. However, you can bypass batch mode when posting to the GL and AR files by just modifying the code to post directly to the master files instead of the respective batch files. Not really recommended, but....

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Last updated: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 05:24:29 PM