Glossary

Glossary of Terms

A grouping of valid General Ledger Accounts according to a business' organizational and operational structure

Balanced

A condition where the sum of all amounts of all Records making up an Accounting Transaction Document equals zero.

An input form duplicated from a Primary template for the purpose of re-configuring (either cosmetically, functionally, or both) the Primary template. Unlike Primary templates, Cloned templates do not create any underlying database structures - they are merely input funnels to existing database tables. Therefore, based on the Primary template the Cloned template:

must contain all essential (mandatory) input fields;
may omit non-essential input fields; and,
can't have input fields (excluding non-database fields) not present in the Primary template.

Common Field: A transaction data field defined in the Common Template and forming an integral part of the Common Transaction Table. By definition all Transaction Documents contain Common fields; however, not all common fields are "mandatory" in regards to data input.

Common Template: A transaction input form containing all data fields which must be present in each and every Record. The Common template becomes the foundation for each Extra Template (do not confuse Extra Templates with Cloned Templates).

Control Points: A set of eight (8) square points surrounding a selected object.

Distribution: Accounting Data Entry can be automated and/or controlled by defining distribution patterns for a triggering account combination e.g. purchases from a given supplier can only be allocated to certain expenditure accounts i.e. an invoice from the Gas Company must be expensed to Utilities.

Document

an item consisting of accounting Transaction Data forming a group of individual records that, collectively, are balanced when coded and entered correctly. A Document may consist of:

a single Document e.g. Purchase Invoice where the Invoice total (Credit/-) is offset by the distribution of the purchased items to their respective acquisition or expenditure accounts (Debit/+) ; or,
a batch of Documents e.g. Deposit Slips that might each be coded to Bank (Debit/+) and all summed up in a single entry to Cash (Credit/-).

Extra Template: A transaction input form containing all Common fields plus Extra fields which should be present in a given Record under certain conditions. The use of Extra templates is triggered automatically when the specified conditions have been met.

General Data: Non-accounting data (no balanced debit or credit amount transactions) such as Subledger and Global data.

General Ledger (GL) Account

An account which may or may not be preceded by a GL Prefix number. It can be thought of as a key and/or as a repository reference to accounting transactions carrying the same account number.

GL Accounts are:

firstly defined and created as an inventory of Accounts with Accounts > Prototype; and,
specifically activated and matched up with GL Prefixes with Accounts >Chart.

General Ledger (GL) Prefix

One or more segments preceding the GL Account for the purpose of narrowing down its usage. e.g. Wages (a GL Account) may be applicable to a number of Departments (GL Prefix) within a business operating out of several Branches (GL Prefix) resulting in an account number of: Branch#+Department#+Wages (GL#).

Global Data

Data that is Account Chart independent.

Host Template

The Template to which a given Procedure is attached.

Mandatory: A condition set (in the Template Inspector) that requires that the field so defined be given data before the record can be saved as Completed.
Match Elimination: The process of matching Secondary Records against Primary Records, using a unique Match Reference, and flagging all records associated with a given Match Reference, when their amounts sum to zero, as being retired from the Open-Item analysis process.

Match Field: One of the Common fields designated in the Account Chart Inspector as furnishing the Match Reference for Open-Item analysis.
Match Reference: A data value from the Common fields of the Primary Record according to the Match field specification given as part of the Open-Item definition in the Account Chart Inspector.

Non-Database Field

A display-only field whose content is not stored in the record of which it is a visible part during data entry;
a button or
a pop-up list either one of which can be used to trigger the execution of a Procedure.

Open-Items: The process of storing Primary Records in an Open-Item table and holding them there until a sufficient combination of Secondary Records achieves Match Elimination.
Operator: A mathematical or logical symbol denoting an operation to be performed (Webster). Used in STEP FORWARD's Procedures (Palettes), Search Criteria (Inspectors, Find Panels, etc.)

Primary Record or Item

Every Document, other than a Journal Entry, has a Primary Record which is associated with it, e.g.:

a supplier's invoice is normally a credit (-) to Accounts Payable, whereas the distribution could be anything e.g. inventory, operating expenses, recoverables, etc.;
a sales invoice is normally a debit (+) to Accounts Receivable, whereas the distribution could be anything e.g. sales of merchandise, taxes, reduction in inventory - and an offsetting cost-of-sales, etc.;
a bank deposit slip is always a debit (+) to a given Bank, whereas the distribution could be anything e.g. payments on account, refunds, shareholder investments. etc.

When using Open-Item analysis with a given GL Account, the Primary Record is added to the Open-Item table automatically.

Primary Template

A template (for data input) which, when saved, will be the basis of creating the underlying relational database table.

Record

"A collection of related items of information (as in a database) treated as a unit" (Webster) i.e. a collection of data fields forming a single row of data in a database table. Therefore, a Record is a row of information (entered during the data entry process and subsequently stored in the database) i.e, in the case of:

Accounting Data Entry, a row of data (Document line) forming part of a Document; or,
General Data Entry, a stand-alone Record i.e. Subledger or Global Data.

Rubber-banding

The Process of using the mouse to select one or more visual objects by dragging the cursor over them with the mouse button held down (fields/objects need not be located within the trace line, simple touching them is adequate).

Secondary Record or Item

This term is used in conjunction with Open-Item analysis and with Distribution of a Document:

in Open-Items one or more Secondary Records are matched up with a single Primary Record to achieve Match Elimination e.g. the payment received from a customer to be applied against one or more invoices, in whole or in part;
Records distributing the Primary Record amount are always Secondary Records, whether or not Open-Item analysis is involved.

Selecting: usually by clicking on the object.

Subledger Control Accoun: A GL Account which has been declared as being subject to Subledger analysis as part of the Account Chart creation.

Subledger Data

Data that is Account Chart dependent. Subledgers are used to analyze in greater detail Document records posted to a Subledger Control Account. They contain data of sufficient detail to explain the purpose of the analysis:

Customer data for Accounts Receivable;
Supplier data for Accounts Payable;
Product data for Inventory Control; or,
any meaningful data for the analysis of any GL Account.

The tie-in between Subledger data and Subledger detail (i.e. Transaction Record) is the Subledger Number.

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