Using Strict Accounting and Department Required

Setting up Strict Accounting for Paperwork helps to ensure nominal codes and their linked tax rates are populated throughout your workflow, creating a straight-forward finance experience. Turning on Department Required adds extra security to make sure your finance items are as granular as they need to be through cost centre codes. Follow through this article for more information about both settings, as well as setting up the References required for them.

Before You Start

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Introduction to Strict Accounting

Strict Accounting is a tool that can be turned on in the Settings area in Paperwork. When turned on, certain values become required within the References area and the Work module. When these values are completed your tax rate and nominal code will pass through into your invoices and purchase orders based on information entered during the Opportunity/Sale creation. This saves time and prevents user error when creating invoices and purchase orders.

It is important to note that nominal code values and linked tax rates will still pass through to an invoice even if Strict Accounting is off. It simply makes the relevant fields within References and the Work module required so that they are already available when the invoice is created.

A user must have Super Admin permissions to set up Strict Accounting. They will then need to select “System” within the Settings module and tick the box next to “Is strict accounting required?” before clicking “Save changes”. This will turn Strict Accounting on across the organisation for all users.

The Relationship between Account Type Classes, Account Types, and Nominal Codes

Account Type Classes, Account Types, and Nominal Codes relate to the revenue and expenditure for a Job. Tables for all three can be found within the References area of the Settings module. They are related to each other in a parent-child relationship as illustrated below, with examples of each on the right side.

Account Type Classes are read-only, meaning any children of the Account Type Class will be revenue or expenditure based.

The account types created can be selected when creating a nominal code, and allow you to specify if the nominal code is related to revenue or expenditure. By adding a nominal code with tax rate included, the selected tax rate will be passed through to invoicing via Waste Container entries and Extra Type entries.

The Account Type Classes, Account Types, and Nominal Codes tables are included in the “Setting up your References” section below. Tax rates will be discussed in more detail in the next section.

Tax Rates

Tax rates can be created in the Tax Rates References table to accommodate any tax rate you use, for example your standard rate or exempt rate, then pulled through to your nominal codes. More information about this can be found in the “Setting up your References” section. Tax rates can be moved through the process by their relation to a nominal code, or they can be added directly to the Customer Site or Customer.

Before getting started – please note that a tax rate selected within a Customer entry will over-write any tax rates set using nominal codes. Customer based tax rates can be set in two places within the Customers area of the Relationships module. First, they can be set when creating or editing a customer, within the Details section when you click “Add Customer” or “View” on a customer entry. To edit the customer details, click the edit button at the top left. This will overwrite any tax rates set using nominal codes and can also be over-written by a tax rate being set within the customer site as mentioned below.

A tax rate can be added directly to the customer site by clicking into “Sites” from the Customer page, then clicking “View” on the relevant entry. Similar to changing the rate within a customer entry, you can change the tax rate within the details section by clicking edit in the top left. Please note that this will cause blanket changes and will over-write any nominal code based or customer-based tax rate.

An invoice’s tax rate can be passed through via several routes including those above, or alternatively set within the invoice directly. See the flow-chart below for more information about how the tax rate can be passed through.

The tax rate will first come from the customer site. This is set within the Relationships module within the customer site, then passed through when that customer site is selected within the Opportunity or Sales details.

If there is no tax rate selected in the customer site, it will be taken from the parent customer’s tax rate. Please note that tax rates added in the customer site or in the customer will cause blanket changes and will over-write any nominal code based tax rates.

If neither of the above are applicable and the invoice line is an Extra, then the tax rate will come from the associated nominal code for the extra type that was chosen in the Extra entry. Alternatively, if the invoice line is Waste, the tax rate will come from the nominal code of the container that was chosen in the Waste entry.

If none of the above applies, the tax rate will not be automatically populated. It can be added by clicking Manage for the relevant invoice line. This would be done at the finance stage of the process, after the invoice has been created.

Introduction to Required Departments

When Department Required is turned on, a department must be selected when creating an Opportunity or Sale. The cost centre code associated with the department will then pull through to your invoice or purchase order.

It is important to note that if department required is turned on after the Opportunity/Sale is created, it is possible to move through to Job and Invoice without a department. However, if any changes are made to the details of the Opportunity/Sale or Job, the department will become a required field and need to be selected before the changes can be saved.

A user must have Super Admin permissions to set up required departments. To do so, click “System” within the Settings module and tick the box next to “Is department a required field?” before clicking “Save changes”. This will make department a required field across the organisation for all users.

Cost Centre Codes

Cost centre codes allow more granularity within the invoice. After creating a department with a cost centre code, the department can then be added when an Opportunity or Sale is created or edited. The cost centre code will transfer over allowing granularity in your invoicing. When Department Required is on, this will be a required field at Opportunity or Sale creation.

Impacts of Strict Accounting and Department Required within the Work Module

Strict Accounting and Department Required also impact some fields within the Work module. Please see below for more information:

• Department Required - In creating a Quote or Sale, the department field becomes required.
• Strict Accounting - Waste entries:
  • The container selected within the waste entry will have a nominal code associated with its container type – This nominal code will apply to the waste entry. With Strict Accounting on, when new container types are made (in References), they must include a nominal code.
• Strict Accounting - Extra entries:
  • The Extra Type field becomes required when the Price within Pricing Details is more than £0.
  • Only revenue-based extra types will be available in the extra type dropdown under Details. Additionally, if the Sale/Job has a department selected, the dropdown will only show options from within that department or which have no department.
  • Only expenditure-based extra types will be available in the extra type dropdown under Cost Details. Additionally, if the Sale/Job has a department selected, the dropdown will only show options from within that department or which have no department.

Setting up your References

A number of reference tables are mentioned throughout this article. This section will help to familiarise you with and set up each table. These need to be set up in the order below as some of them inherit values from previous tables.

To start with, go to the References area within the Settings module in the left side menu.

From this page you can search for different tables using the Search input at the top-right of the table. To navigate to the table you want, click “View” next to its listing underneath the Action heading.

Tax Rates

To begin, navigate to the Tax Rates table. Here you can add any tax rate that your company uses. To add a tax rate, click on the orange “Add Tax Rate” button at the bottom of the table. A form will pop up, allowing you to enter the name, description, and percentage rate for your tax rate. The Tax Rate Name and Tax Rate are required values. Click “Submit” and this will save to your tax rate table.

Account Type Classes

As mentioned previously, Account Type Classes is read-only. The Account Type Classes available on Paperwork are “Expenses” and “Revenue”. This allows you to classify any Account Type Classes as either an expense or a revenue.

Account Types

Account Types can be added to clarify your expense and revenue Account Type Classes, for example you might want to add classes for external or internal costs. To add an Account Type, navigate to the Account Types table then click the orange “Add Account Type” button at the bottom of the table. A form will pop up, allowing you to enter the name for your account type and select whether its Account Type Class is expense-based or revenue-based. Both fields are required. Click “Submit” and this will save to your Account Types table.

Nominal Codes

Nominal Codes help to classify items on an invoice into expense and revenue categories. To add nominal codes, navigate to the Nominal Codes table then click the orange “Add Nominal Code” button at the bottom of the table. A form will pop up, allowing you to enter the code itself, name, description, account type – which will be either an expense or a revenue type, and tax rate. The account type and tax rate will come from values created in their respective tables. All fields are required. Click “Submit” and this will save to your Nominal Codes table.

Container Types and Containers

Setting up Container Types and Containers helps to pass nominal codes through the process when Waste entries are added to a Sale.

To add a container type, navigate to the Container Types table and click the orange “Add Container Type Button”. A form will pop up, allowing you to enter the container type name, description, number of labels, whether it is collectable with other containers, revenue nominal code, and expenditure (expense) nominal code. The container type name, revenue nominal code, and expenditure nominal code are required fields if Strict Accounting is on. If Strict Accounting is off, only the container type name is required. Click “Submit” and this will save to your Container Types table. Container Types here will feed into the Containers table.

To add new containers, navigate back to the main References page then to the Containers table. To add a container, click the orange “Add Container” button. A form will pop up, allowing you to enter the container name, container short code (to specify the container), description, container type, and whether the container is sited. The container type will come from values created in the Container Type table. All fields except description are required. Click “Submit” and this will save to your Containers table. These containers will be available when Waste entries are added to a Sale, passing the nominal codes and therefore tax rates through from the container type selected.

Departments and Cost Centre Codes

If Department Required is on or you will be adding Extras to a Sale, you will want to set up the Departments table with your organisation’s departments. Navigate to the Departments table and click the orange “Add Department” button. A form will pop up, allowing you to enter the department code, department name, description, a colour to help you quickly identify it, and cost centre code. All fields except description are required if Strict Accounting is on. If Strict Accounting is off, all fields are required except description and cost centre code. Departments created here will be available when creating an Opportunity or Sale, allowing the cost centre code to be passed through.

Extra Types

Setting up Extra Types helps to pass nominal codes through the process when Extra entries are added to a Sale. Extra Type entries are classed as either revenue or expenditure, so it is important to select the correct nominal code for a new extra type entry.

Navigate to the Extra Types table, then click the orange “Add Extra Type” button. A form will pop up, allowing you to enter the extra type name, description, nominal code, and departments – departments can be set up in the section above. The extra type name and nominal code are both required fields if Strict Accounting is on. If Strict Accounting is off, only the extra type name is required. Click “Submit” and this will save to your Extra Types table. These extra types will be available when Extra entries are added to a Sale, passing the nominal codes and therefore tax rates through from the extra type selected.

Tutorial – Quote to Invoice

The steps below outline the Quote-Invoice process with Strict Accounting and Department Required both turned on – Steps impacted by these will be highlighted throughout the tutorial with an asterisk (*).

Only complete this tutorial once you have set up your References using the “Setting up your References” section above. Please note that this includes steps relevant to Strict Accounting and Department Required only; your usual Quote-Invoice process will likely include more information than this. Similarly, this process might not be entirely done by one person – it might be helpful to only familiarize your team with steps relevant to their role.  

1. First, go to the System area in the Settings module at the bottom of the left side menu. Check that both “Is department a required field?” and “Is Strict Accounting required?” are selected then click the “Save Changes” button in the bottom right corner.
   

2. Navigate to the Sales page and click the orange “Create New” button, selecting “Create Quote” from the options

• • Fill in detail fields including: Sales name, Sales date, Customer details, Customer site location, and Department* Required if Department Required is on
  • Once details are completed, click the orange “Create” button in the bottom right corner
    
    

2. Add at least one Waste entry:

• • Click “Waste” in the top row of buttons
    
    
  • Click the orange “Add Waste” button at the top right of the table
  • Fill in details fields including: Waste description, Waste type, Container quantity and Container, Estimated Weight/volume and Weight/volume unit, Charging basis, and Price
  • Once details are completed, click the orange “Create” button in the bottom right corner
    
    

4. Add at least one Extra entry:

• • Click “Extras” in the top row of buttons
    
  • Click the orange “Add Extra” button at the top right of the table
  • Fill in details fields including: Extra Type*Required if Strict Accounting is on and price is more than 0, Description, Unit quantity and Unit, Charging basis, and Price
  • Next, add Cost Details by clicking the orange “Add cost”
  • From here, complete the Cost Details fields including: Extra Type, Charging basis, and Cost
  • *Note that because Strict Accounting is on, only revenue extra types are available within the Details section and only expenditure extra types are available in the Cost Details section
    
    

5. Once you have completed the above steps, navigate back to the Details page of the Sale/Quote using the top row of buttons
   
   
6. Click on the dropdown that says “Draft”, underneath the buttons, and select “Won” from that list. A green “Convert” button should appear to the right of this drop down when this has been clicked.
   

7. Next, click the green “Convert” button and select “Create Job” from the list. This will bring up a validation form. Click the “Continue” button. Because we are only using the necessary values for this process, there will likely be some errors – Click the blue continue button that appears on the pop up.

8. Once you have completed step 6, the page will change to a “Create Job” page

• • Enter a Requested Date and Purchase Order Number
  • In the “Select Lines” section, tick both boxes for your Waste entry and your Extra entry
  • Click the orange “Create” button in the bottom right corner. This will process and then redirect you to the Job page.

    9. On the Job page, open the status dropdown under the row of buttons and select “Finance”.

• • The Job must have a Finance status to be able to create an invoice.

10. Once the Job is in Finance, navigate to Invoicing using the menu on the left
    
    

11. On the Invoicing page, click the orange “Create invoice” button on the top right.

• • This will bring you to the Create new invoice page. Complete the Invoice description and invoicing date, then find the customer linked to your Job by using the Filter by customer dropdown then click “Apply”

• • Find the related Job ID and select the checkbox next to it
  • Click “Show the job lines” underneath the table. This will show a preview of the lines on the invoice. Here you can see that it has included nominal codes, tax codes, and cost centre codes for each item.
    
    
• Click the orange “Create invoice” button at the bottom right
  
  

By completing the above, you will have created your invoice and you will be redirected to the specific invoice Details page. Here you can view, edit, download and send your invoice.