Contents

• Introduction
• Getting Started
• Using SBledger
• Columns In Detail
• Recording Personal Expense
• Adding Deleting and Renaming Columns
• Password Protection
• Reports
• Searches
• Monthly Or Weekly Mode
• Program Options
• Linking SBpayroll To SBledger
• Calculator, Memo Pad and Work Pad
• Toolbar Buttons
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Import From/Export To Excel
• Menu Structure
• context menu
• column context menu
• navigator context menu
• main menu
• Screen Shot
• Backups

Introduction

The Ledger is quite similar to a spread sheet, so you may be asking, why don't I just use a spread sheet. Well, you can if that's what you want - you will have to program the calculations (not that difficult, maybe) and the report generation (a bit more tricky, maybe) , and the intra-month search facility (also quite tricky) yourself.  The point is, that with SBledger, that's all done for you, and the low cost of the application should mean it isn't really worth your effort to do it yourself. 

SBledger is closely integrated with SBpayroll. If  you have SBpayroll installed, you  can easily configure it to automatically send payment amounts to SBledger.

Getting Started

You can call the Page Open dialog from the File/Open menu to open any page you want, but you will probably find it more convenient to use PageUp(previous page), PageDown(next page) and F1(toggle income and expenses page)  to move between pages. (There are tool-bar buttons that also perform this function)

On this dialog, as others that include a date control, the two small buttons move the date backwards and forward, the up arrow moves backwards and the down arrow moves forwards. The brows button (…) at the right displays a calendar from which you can pick the date.

Note: Whenever a page is saved, the previous version is also saved. You can revert to the previous version by checking the revert box on the open dialog (it will not be enabled if there is no previous version). NB: only one previous version  is maintained.
 

The Page Navigator and Navigation Keys.

When you start the application for the first time, the Page Navigator Window will be ‘docked’ in the left part of the screen. You can leave it there, dock it in the top, bottom or right, or let it ‘float’ – probably near the bottom. The first tool-bar button will hide or re-show the page navigator. You can also make the page navigator appear as a modeless dialog box rather than a dockable/floating window  from the Options menu.

Open pages are displayed in bold. You can open  pages by double clicking the item.When the Navigator is displaying as a dockable/floating window, if you  right-click an item you will see a popup context menu that allows you to open or delete the page or create new pages. NB: the 2nd toolbar button also lets you create new pages.

The PageUp/PageDown keys provide and alternative way of moving to the previous(page-up) or next(page-down). The F1 key will show you the ‘complementary’ page, e.g. if you are viewing the Expenses Page for Jan, press F1 and the Income Page for Jan will be opened.

Using  SBledger

The columns are colour coded and fall into 4 groups. (You can , of course have as many or s few columns as you wish, and call them whatever you want)

Income Columns

• 4 Description columns (item, id, ref, date - yellow)
• Gross bank columns (bank current a/c, bank investment a/c - light green)
• Vat rate and Vat amount (vat rate, vat - grey)
• Net Income Items (light blue)

Expense Columns

• 4 Notes columns (description, id, bank ref, date - yellow)
• Gross bank columns (private cash, bank nationwide, bank flemings - orange)
• Vat rate and Vat amount (vat rate, vat - grey)
• Net Expense Items (pink)

The amount entered in the Bank column (to the left of the vat columns) must balance with the amount entered in the Vat column and an amount entered in a Net column (The vat column can, of  course be empty). The application will enforce this relationship and not let you save pages that contain un-balanced rows.

That is really all there is to it. If you enter the correct figures in the ledger, you will not have to worry about calculating your VAT again. An of course, if you keep a well maintained ledger, it should make your accountants life much easier as well.

You can add as many Bank and Net columns as you wish, rename them and delete them, but you must have at least one of each.

The ID and Reference columns

The Reference column can be deleted if you don't want to use it (and re-added if you change your mind). This column can be used to enter bank-references, e.g. at the end of each month, take your bank statement and enter the reference relating to the item in the reference column. If you do this, it will probably make your accountants life even easier, which should result in a smaller accountancy bill for you.

The Notes Column

Columns In Detail

The Four Description Columns

Description or Item

This should be just a simple description of the item. This column cannot be deleted.

ID

This is the Invoice Number that you raised for the sale or a receipt number you allocate your self and write on the receipt. 

The Tools menu gives you help in generating a unique Ids which are maintained separately for income and expenses pages and can be used as your Invoice number if you wish (of course you can use what ever number or letters you wish in this field). If you type Ctrl+Q a unique ID will be generated and pasted into the current cell - the IDs generated in this way continue to increase  in value until they are manual reset. This column cannot be deleted

Bank Ref

This column allows you to enter the bank reference of the item, e.g. cheque/transaction number or credit transaction reference. It is juts to make it easier to tie up bank statements with ledger items. You could enter these each month by referring to your bank statement for that month. If you do not wish to record the Bank Ref, you may delete column.

Date

This is the date of the transaction. This column cannot be deleted.
 

The Bank and Private Expenses Cash Columns

Bank

This column records the gross amount of the expense. You can delete rename and add more bank columns, but the system will insist that at least one is present

Private Cash

If you pay for the expense item from your private cash and then reclaim the expense later you can record that in this column. Only one Private Cash column is permitted.

The best way to  record Private Cash items is to keep them together in rows next to each other. Filling out the VAT and Expense column as you go. Then, after they have all been entered, on the row below, use the right-hand context menu to define a sub-total cell, and do the same under the vat column. Enter the description as 'reimbursement'. Sub-total cells are displayed using a bold-font and can be entered anywhere on the gird. (Sub-total cells are not included in reports, and hence they do not get double-counted - as would be the case if you just summed the value your self and entered it)
 

The Bank Income Columns

Vat Column

To calculate the VAT, select either a bank column or an expense column and take the left-button context menu item Fill Vat Column (or press Ctrl+F). 
So, you just need to enter the gross amount (or the net amount) and then press Ctrl+F after you have entered it – this will fill in the vat amount and the gross amount if you entered net or net amount if you entered gross. You can move  the net/gross amounts to a more appropriate column using cut&paste if you wish. Pressing Ctrl+F a second time will eliminate the VAT amount and make the net equal to the gross.

NB: the vat column is not editable, however, you can set the vat-rate column on a per-row basis if you need to enter amounts with differing vat rates.

Only one VAT column is permitted, and it cannot be deleted or renamed.
 

Vat Rate

To calculate select either a bank column or an expense column and take the left-button context menu item Fill Vat Column

Only one Vat Rate column is permitted, and it cannot be renamed or deleted.
 

Expense and Income Item Columns

Supplies to EU countries and Inputs(acquisitions) from EU countries

Vat on inputs (acquisitions) from the EU will not have been charged by your supplier, but will be due to be paid by you to the government – but the Vat will then become an Input tax and can be offset against you output tax.

To take account of this, you can designate a column to be a source of EU inputs or a destination for EU supplies. Such columns are displayed with either red or blue text.
 

Recording Expenses incurred personally and reclaimed from the company

You may find that it is more convenient to buy some items for the company from your personal cash and claim re-imbursements later. It is always cleaner if you can avoid this, maybe using a company credit or debit card, but if you can't, this is the way we recommend you record this in the ledger.

Enter the expenses just as normal, put the gross amount in the private cash column and them  use Ctrl+F to fill the vat column and the sundries column. If there is a more appropriate net expense column than sundries use Cut and Paste (Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C) to move the amount from the sundries column to the preferred column. Enter all personal expense items in this way. Once all items are entered, place the cursor in the personal expense column of the row bellow and take the right hand context menu Define Sub Total Cell menu option. Then enter ‘reimbursement’ in the description. If you have more than one business bank account , place a check make in the business bank column to indicate which bank the  reimbursement actually came from. (use the right hand context Add Check Mark menu option to do this - NB you will only be able to add a check mark if you have a sub-total defined in the 'private-cash' column)

Adding Deleting and Renaming Columns

Not all columns can be deleted, in particular at least one bank and one expenses column is required. The Description, ID,date,vat rate, and VAT  and notes column cannot be deleted. Also columns cannot be inserted at all positions. The vat and vatrate columns always remain together and the notes column is always the last on the grid.
 

Password Protection

Reports

• Vat Return
• Excluding columns from the VAT return
• Treatment of inputs from the EU
• Treatment of supplies to the EU
• Changing the VAT payment period
• VAT Links
• Vat Month-By-Month Summary
• Profit&Loss Summary
• Expenditure Report -Month-By-Month
• Income Report -Month-By-Month
• Vat Exception Report
• Notional Vat
• Excluding rows from reports

VAT Return

This report displays the VAT data for a 3 month period in a form that matches the layout of the VAT return. Just copy the fields onto the form. If you print the report as well as the  7 fields, the month-by-month VAT calculations are also printed. You should certainly print this report and take a photocopy of the actual VAT return before you send it to Customs&Excise. The print button prints this information and a month-by-month summary similar to the following report.

Vat Calculation Log

After running a this dialog, you get the opportunity to view the Vat Calculation Log, this shows in detail what figures went into the Vat Return, and could be very useful for your accountant of vat inspections. You are strongly recommended to print the calculation log an keep it. NOTE: current versions of SBLedger have a View Calculation Log button on this dialog
 

Excluding columns from the VAT report

You can exclude an expense or income column from the VAT report. If you do this, you will not be able to add VAT amounts to rows that contain amounts in VAT excluded columns. NOTE: excluding a column is not the same as entering zero vat rated items or vat exempt items. If you purchase vat exempt or zero rated vat items (inputs) or supply zero rated or vat exempt items (supplies) you should still include these amounts on the VAT return even though no VAT arises because of them. if you exclude a column, it will automatically never contain a VAT element and, importantly, will NOT be included in the VAT report – this is really just a reporting issue, since you cannot exclude columns that have VAT amounts associated with them,  it won't affect the amount of VAT due. If you want to exclude a column, you should check with your local VAT office first, to determine if it should be included in the VAT report or not. Vat-Excluded columns are shown in a different colour. One reason you might want to exclude a column from the Vat Report is if you make an internal transfer between your bank accounts and record this in the ledger, such a transaction should not be included in the Vat reports. The system, by default, excludes the following expenses columns from the VAT report: PAYE/Corp-TAX, Salary, Dividend, Quarterly Vat Payments.

To exclude (or re-include) a column, right-click the column heading and take the  Exclude Column From VAT Reports option.

NB: Zero rated or vat exempt inputs and supplies (i.e. items that don't have a vat element) are still included in the totals for inputs and supplies in the VAT report. The only way to exclude such items it to enter them in columns that have been explicitly excluded from the Vat Report. Check with your local VAT office before you exclude anything.

Treatment of VAT for purchases(inputs) from EU countries.

If you purchase goods (inputs) from other EU countries, you will not be charged VAT on the items as you would be if you bought them in the U.K., but VAT may still be due on them and must be paid to Customs and Excise (see box 2 on the VAT return). Of course, just like domestic purchases, the item could be zero or non-vat rated, check with your local Vat office. NOTE: Such VAT charges that are due on EU inputs are also, of course, offset against VAT collected on supplies. Thus the net effect of VAT on EU aquisitions(inputs) is Nil. I.E.  the E.U. vat amount is added to the Vat due to the government because it hasn't been paid yet, but can be reclaimed from the government because it is an input VAT tax. There may seem little point in recording it at all, but it is required information on the VAT return.

The application supports this by allowing you to designate a column as a EU input (or indeed output) source. The chief difference of such columns is that the NET item entered must be the same as the GROSS item in the ‘balancing’ bank column and the VAT is treated as a debt that is owed to Customs and Excise. Such columns are also used to calculate the NET amount entered into box 9 on the VAT return. If you press Ctrl+F while the NET or GROSS amount is selected, the correct VAT amount will be automatically filled in.

To designate a column as a source of EU inputs or a destination for EU supplies, right click the column heading and take the Identify column as an EU input (on Expense pages) or Identify column as an EU supply (on Income pages). Columns identified as EU inputs are displayed using red text, and columns identified as EU supplies are displayed using blue text.

Treatment of VAT for supplies to EU countries

Normally, you will not charge VAT on goods supplied to EU countries, but the application does not enforce or check this, because in certain cases you will need to charge vat; one of these cases is the supply of services rather than goods, but you should check with your local VAT office to see if you need to charge VAT or not.

In any event, you should designate an Income column as a EU supply destination. In this case any VAT is calculated in the normal way, the designation just allows the NET Amount to be calculated for box  8 on the VAT return.

Changing your VAT Payment Period

When you select the Tools/Vat Return  or the Tools/Vat Month-by-Month summary, you will have the opportunity to choose the vat period you want to calculate, by default, it will be the period just ended. The vat periods are quarterly and by default start in January If your vat period starts from a different month, you can use the ‘arrow icon’ on this dialog to change the start month of the period.
 

Obviously, you should ensure that your Vat Payment Period in SBledger is the same as that on your Vat returns. Note: you should only need to change the start period once ever, and if you change it after you have made Vat payments you will either get a gap or an overlap, it is up to you to deal with any overlap or gap, the software does not deal with this.

Links for information relating to VAT...

General Customs&Excise
    http://www.hmce.gov.uk/

VAT Specific Customs&Excise page
    http://www.hmce.gov.uk/business/vat/vat.htm
 

VAT Month-By-Month Summary

Income Gross: The gross income.
Income Vat (EU-included): VAT  levied on supplies, plus VAT  owed due to  inputs from the EU on which VAT wasn't paid directly to the supplier.
(Vat owed due to EU inputs is counted here and then cancelled out by also counting it in the Vat on Inputs column, this may seem a little pointless, but this is how the data should be recorded on the VAT return). If you receive inputs from the EU or send supplies to the EU, you should use a separate column to record these and designate the columns as EU destinations or sources.
Income Net: The total: NET income, excluding any VAT.

Including ZeroRatedVatSupplies: the total of any supplies made without adding VAT, this figure is already included in the Income NET column.
Including EU NetSupplies: The Net Total of supplies made to EU countries, this figure is already included in the Income NET column.

Expenses Gross: The gross amount of inputs.
Expenses Vat EU-excluded: The total amount of VAT paid on supplies.
EU-inputs Vat Due: The amount of VAT  due (but not yet paid) on EU inputs.
Expenses Net: The Net value of all inputs.

Including ZeroRated VatInputs: The value of any Zero VAT Rated inputs, this figure is already included in the Expenses Net column.
Including EU NetInputs: The Net Total of inputs  from EU countries, this figure is already included in the Expenses NET column
 

Income & Expenditure

Expenditure - Month-by-Month

Income - Month-By-Month

Vat Exception Report

Entering Notional Vat Amounts

When you eventually transfer the funds to your own account, you should enter the amounts in a column that is Excluded from Vat Reports so that your Gross Sales figure does not double count the Notional Vat items.

Excluding Rows from Reports

Rows that excluded do not need to balance in the usual bank/net+vat, so you could record the movement of funds between 2 bank accounts by adding 2 entries one positive and one negative.

Excluded rows are shown using an italic font, and are automatically prefixed with "X:" in the description column.

Searches

The following types of search can be made

• Text In Current Page

This search is limited to the currently active page, the remaining
searches work on a range of pages specified in the above dialog
• Rows without a VAT Item

This is also called the Vat Exception Report
• Plain Text

The whole page is searched for the specified text
• ID and Reference 

The ID and Bank Reference columns are searched
• Numeric Value

The numeric columns are searched for the given value, you can specify less-than, equal-to, or greater-than
• Notes

The user-notes are searched for the specified text.
• EU Inputs and Supplies

Columns can be marked as EU supplies or inputs.
• Items explicitly excluded from Vat Reports

Columns can be marked as Excluded from VAT reports.

Monthly Or Weekly Mode

In week-per-page mode, the month is spread across 5 ledger pages, each one (except the last) containing  7 days, the last will contain 1 2 or 3 days depending on the month and year. (only 4 pages are used for normal Februarys, of course). The dates of the pages are always 1 – 7, 8 – 14, 15 – 21, 22 – 28 and 29 onwards. This is true regardless of what days-of-the week the 1st day of the month is. Hence this is more properly called seven-day-per-page mode. When operating in this mode, you will find the Page Navigator a particularly useful way to browse pages.

Linking SBpayroll To SBledger

You do this from the SBpayroll  application as follows. Close all employees and take the File/Configure External Interfaces menu option. NB release 2.1 or higher of SBpayroll is required to take   advantage of this functionality. This menu option displays the Configure External Interfaces dialog box. If the Send to SBledger box is checked, whenever   you mark a payment as paid SBledger is started (if it is not already running); an expenses page that matches today's date is opened and a salary item containing   the correct value is created.  You can decide what ‘bank’ and ‘expense’ columns in SBledger are actually filled in, but probably, the default values for these will   be what you want. (If you do change these, the names you enter here need not be an exact match to a column name, they just need to appear somewhere in the   column name )

Calculator, Memo Pad and Work Pad

Program Options

Close current window on 'prev/next'
Under normal circumstance the Prev/Next menu/toolbar command will keep the current window open, with this option set, the current window will be close before a new one is opened

Edit Notes On Cell Entry
By default, this option is off. If it is set, clicking the notes column will invoke the user-notes editor (tabbing into the cell will have the same effect).

Enable Coloured Cells
By default, this option is set. If this option is off, the grid is displayed without any colours.

Select Text On Cell Edit
Under normal circumstance when a cell is entered the text it contains is ‘selected’ within the edit control, if this option is off, the text remains ‘un-selected’ when the cell is entered.

Enable Row Selection Mark
By default, this option is set, in which case the currently selected row is displayed in white. If this is off, the currently selected row looks the same as all other rows, except for the currently selected cell, which is always displayed in a different colour.

Show Page Navigation as Dockable Bar
This options is selected by default. If you un-check it, the Page Navigator will be displayed as a modeless dialog box rather than a dockable floating window.

Include Vat Collections/Payments on Month-By-Monthy Reports
If you check this option, the VAT amounts collected and VAT Payments made to Customs and Excise are included in the dual Month-By-Month Income and Expenditure report. The default is not to include VAT. The single Income/Expenditure report will always exclude VAT regardless of this option.

Toolbar  Buttons

The Page Navigator: A convenient way to browse ledger pages
Open: Display the open dialog – you can open an income or expenses page for any year and any month
Save: all page data, notes and any column configuration changes are saved. Column configuration changes are applied to the next new page opened.
Save All: save all open pages

Cut Cell, Copy Cell, Paste Cell: these commands work on the current cell and behave in the standard windows manner

Undo, Redo: these commands work on cells – only actual typed changes can be undone or redone
Undo Line: this undoes the last line delete

Prev Page, next page: open the previous or next page – if the page doesn't exist you will be asked if you want to create it.
Toggle: toggle between Income and Expense pages.

Fill Vat: This is only active if the current cell is a Bank or Expenses cell, if you click this button the Vat amount is filled in if it is not present, or removed if it is.(This is the same as pressing Ctrl+F)

Insert: insert a a line below the current line 
Delete: delete the current line

Vat return: display a vat return report
P+L report: display an income and expenditure (Profit&Loss) report.
Monthly P+L: display both an income and expenditure month-by-month report

Search: search for text in the current page
Multiple Search: search for text in a range of pages.

Run SBpayroll
Display the Calculator Dialog: this is a simple convenient calculator that will save the last 6 calculations performed.
 

Keyboard Shortcuts

Import From / Export To Excel

CSV files can be imported into either the Income or Expenses ledger pages. A sophisticated, yet intuitive and easy to use column mapper allows you to specify which CSV file column goes into which Ledger column – this mapping is preserved for future imports.

Excluded rows (and also sub-total rows) can be excluded from the Excel/CSV export using the Options/Export To CSV menu option, by default.

When included, entries in Report-Excluded rows are surrounded by angled brackets and entries in sub-total rows are surrounded by square brackets when exported to Excel/CSV files. (These markings are used because font-information cannot be recorded in a CSV file, if you print pages that contain report-excluded or sub-total rows, they will be printed in the appropriate font.
 

Menu Structure

Right Hand Button Context Menu

• Add Check Mark (or Remove Check Mark)

If the row contains a sub-total cell in the private cash column, you can set  a check-mark in one of the Bank columns to indicate that  the private cash expenses were reimbursed from a particular bank account (particularly useful when you have more than one) if the mark already exists, this menu option will be come ‘remove check mark’
• Fill Vat Column (or UnFill Vat Column)

This option will fill the vat column and a Bank or Expenses column depending on which cell is selected. If a notes column is selected, this menu option will not appear. If the vat column contains an entry, this option will become ‘UnFill Vat Column’
• Define Sub Total Cell (or Clear Sub Total Cell)

You can use this to create (or remove) a sub total cell
• Insert row above
• Insert row below
• Delete Row
• Cut Cell
• Copy Cell
• Paste Cell
• Cut Row
• Paste Row
• Copy Row
• User Notes...

This option allows user notes to be added, edited  or deleted.
• Exclude row from all reports
• Mark row as Notional Vat

 

Column Heading Right Hand Button Context Menu

• Rename Column
• Insert Column
• Delete Column
• Help
• Exclude Column from VAT reports
• Identify column as an EU input/supply

Page Navigator Right Hand Button Context Menu

• Open
• Create New…
• Delete...

NOTE: This is the only way to delete a page. Pages deleted in this way are actually placed in the system recycle bin.
• Help..

Main Menu

• File
• Open
• Close
• Save
• Save All
• Export To Excel
• Export Notes
• Import From Excel
• Print Setup...
• Print Preview...
• Print Ledger Page...
• Print Notes...
• Print Multiple Pages...
• Exit
• Edit
• Insert Row Above
• Insert Row Below
• Define Sub Total Cell
• Fill Vat Column

This menu option either fills the Net(Expense) and Vat or Gross(Bank) and Vat columns depending on the current column – the options is only available if the current column contains a value is and a Bank(gross) or Expense(net) column.
• Undo Cell Edit
• Redo Cell Edit
• Undo Row Delete
• Cut Cell
• Copy Cell
• Paste Cell
• Cut Row
• Copy Row
• Paste Row
• User Notes...

Each row can have notes attached, this option allows the notes to be edited.
• View
• Previous Page

Open the previous page. You can configure this option to close the current page or leave it open. If the previous page does not exists, you will be asked if you want to create it or not.
• Next Page

Open the next page. You can configure this option to close the current page or leave it open. If the next page does not exists, you will be asked if you want to create it or not.
• Toggle Income/Expenses

If you are displaying the Expenses Page for a given month, the Income Page is displayed and vice versa. If the page is not open it will be opened for you. If the page does not exists, you will be asked if you want to create it.
• Reset Default Column Widths
• Redraw
• Display Toolbar
• Display Status Bar
• Display Page Navigation
• Tools
• Vat Return...
• Vat Month-By-Month Summary...
• Income/Expenditure Report...
• Month-By-Month Income&Expenditure Reports...
• Calculator...
• Work Pad...
• Memo Pad...
• Search
• Find on this Page...
• Find Text in Multiple Pages...
• Find Items without a VAT element...
• Find Items By Value...
• Find IDs and/or Refs...
• Find Text In Notes...
• Find EU inputs and supplies...
• Fins VAT-Excluded items...
• Quick ID allocation and paste

fill the current cell with the next Unique ID, A different ID is allocated for expense pages and income pages.
• Allocate new unique ID...

A new ID is allocated and placed on the clipboard. A different ID is allocated for expense pages and income pages.
• Undo previous ID allocation...

The current ‘next ID value’ is decremented by one.
• Reset Unique IDs...

The unique ID (expense or income depending on the current page) is reset to 1
• SBPayroll Application

Start SBpayroll (if it is installed on your computer).
• Options
• Close current window on 'prev/next'
• Edit Notes On Cell Entry
• Enable Coloured Cells
• Select Text On Cell Edit
• Enable Row Selection Mark
• Show Page Navigation as Docackable Bar
• Include Vat Collections/Payments on Month-By-Monthy Reports
• Help
• About SBledger...
• Quick Help
• The Basic - Pages and Navigation...
• Columns at a glance...
• Subtotal Cells...
• Private Cash...
• Search Facility...
• Vat and other reports...
• Keyboard Shortcuts...
• Program Options...
• Vat and other reports...

Screen Shot

Data Backups