Accounting setup considerations

Before setting up your general ledger and other parts of accounting, you should consider several things. For example, what is your startup date? It is going to take days and perhaps a couple of weeks to set up your company, so you need to have a startup date for your company in Sage 100 Contractor. You also must know your company’s fiscal year-end. In addition, you’ll need to consider the amount of information that you plan to bring into Sage 100 Contractor and its level of detail.

Here is a list of suggested information:

• Balance sheet and income statement as of now. If it’s currently mid-year, you have to merge the income statement from Sage 100 Contractor with the prior system for year-to-date reporting.
• Balance sheet as of beginning of fiscal year and year-to-date activity as of Sage 100 Contractor start date. You do not need month-by-month income statements, and you do not need prior year history.
• Balance sheet as of the beginning of the fiscal year and activity for each month. You do not need details. All detailed information must come from your prior system.
• Balance sheet as of beginning of fiscal year and all transactions. Starting up your accounting this way requires a lot of work unless only a few hundred entries need to be made.

In addition, you need:

• A chart of accounts
• A list of open accounts payable invoices
• A list of accounts receivable invoices (including fully paid) for jobs that are in progress
• Job information: names, clients, and addresses
• Contract amounts
• Payroll information regarding employee balances, unions, company deductions, local taxes, and so forth.