Table of Contents
Chapter 1 ·············································· 3 Project Instructions and Information 13 Chapter 2 ·············································· 14 Chapter 3 ·············································· 18 Chapter 4 ·············································· 20 Chapter 5 ·············································· 25 Chapter 6 ·············································· 28 Chapter 7 ·············································· 32 Chapter 8 ·············································· 36 Chapter 9 ·············································· 38 Chapter 10 ·············································· 40 Chapter 12 ·············································· 40 Appendix A ············································· 41
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE CITY OF BINGHAM SOFTWARE
Welcome
Thank you for selecting Version 1.0 of the City of Bingham Governmental Accounting Software. This software is designed to be used with the McGraw-Hill/Irwin textbook Accounting for Governmental and Nonprofit Entities, 15th Edition,ISBN 0073100951.
System Requirements
To use the City of Bingham accounting software application, you must have the following:
· Operating System:
· Microsoft® Windows 2000 or later
· Mac OS X v10.4 or 10.5
· Linux Red Hat® Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5
· Hardware:
· Windows ®: Intel® Pentium® II 450MHz or faster processor (or equivalent)
· Macintosh: PowerPC® G3 500MHz or faster processor;
Intel Core Duo 1.33GHz or faster processor
· Recommended screen resolution of 1024 x 768 minimum
· 128MB of RAM minimum
· Spreadsheet program (in order to easily view the exported CSV files)
· Excel 2003 or later (in order to view the exported Excel files)
· Internet Explorer 7 or later, Mozilla Firefox 3.x or later, Safari 3.x or later
· Adobe Flash Player version 10 or above
Licensing
This manual was written for use with the City of Bingham software, Version 1.0. This manual and the software described in it are copyrighted, with all rights reserved. This manual and the City of Bingham software may not be copied, except as otherwise provided in your software license or as expressly permitted in writing by McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Inc.
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Use of the City of Bingham governmental accounting software (the Software) and its documentation are governed by the terms set forth in your license. Such use is at your sole risk. The software and its documentation (including this manual) are provided AS-IS and without warranty of any kind.
RUNNING OR REMOVING THE CITY OF BINGHAM
Running the City of Bingham
The City of Bingham can be started by clicking on the Start.html file as indicated in the Opening the City of Bingham instructions below. As the City of Bingham is a web-based application, it need not be installed onto your local computer.
However, the web-based software is downloaded, copied to your computer, and run locally.
As computers are often configured differently, you may need to change your Adobe Flash Player Security settings in order to run the City of Bingham. For more information and detailed instructions, please see Appendix A.
GENERAL OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
Opening the City of Bingham
You can open the City of Bingham at any time by clicking on the
Smithville_Bingham folder and then clicking on Start_Student.exe.Theapplication requires the Web Browser pop-up blocker be turned off in order to run the application properly.
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Creating a New Project
To create a new project, click on Create New Project in the opening window. The Create New Project dialog window will appear, as shown below.
Enter your first and last name, then click [Create]. You should save your project folder in the Projects folder located in the Smithville_Bingham folder created when the downloaded files were unzipped. For your own protection against hard-drive failure, you should create a dated backup file at the end of each session on a removable disk (CD/DVD/USB Flash Drive). This step creates the accounts and funds that you will need to complete the City of Bingham cumulative problem.
The main project window will pop-up once the project is created.
Opening an existing Project
Click on Open Existing Project, and then select the file you wish to open.
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Saving the current Project
Click on [File] and [Save/Save As]. If a filename has already been specified, the current filename will be pre-populated in the Save dialog but may be changed if desired. Unlike previous versions of Bingham, this version does NOT automatically save your work. Be sure NOT to exit your browser before saving your project file.
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City Of Bingham Main Window
If you have opened a project file, the main project window should appear:
To navigate between the Journal, Account, and Ledgers screens, simply click on the [TAB] for that particular screen.
To switch between different funds and governmental activities, government-wide, choose the desired entity from the drop-down menu.
You can verify which entity you are working on by the caption on the upper right corner of the window. It will show the title of your project, and the current fund you are in.
The main window has the same standard window controls as most other applications. To close down your project, simply click on the [X] box. Warning:
It is very important that you always save your project file and remember where you saved it before closing your browser.
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Adding and Posting Journal Entries
If you are looking at the main window, you need to switch to the journal screen before you can add any journal entries.
Once you have switched to the journal screen, you will see the entry form on the lower portion of the window.
Before ANY entry can be added to the journal, a description and debit or credit must be specified.
Once you have filled in the necessary fields, simply click on [Add Entry] to add the entry to the journal. If the entry being made is a closing entry, you must click on the check mark for [Closing Entry].
If one of the fields is missing a value or contains an illegal character, the [Add Entry]button will remain disabled.
If you are adding an entry that also affects a detail journal, the detail journal screen will automatically open, as described on page 11, when you select the corresponding control account from the drop-down Account #/ Description menu.
Once you have entered a batch of entries into the system, you can post them to the general ledger at any time by clicking the [Post Entries] button. In the case of the General Fund, posting transactions also posts entries from the detail journal to the revenue ledger and appropriations, encumbrances, expenditures ledgers as well.
The [Post Entries] button only posts entries for the current fund/entity.
Editing/Deleting/Unposting Journal Entries
To edit entries that have already been entered, double click or right click on the entry, and select edit. You will know you are in edit mode when the entry form turns red and the blanks will fill in with the data from the journal. If you wish to delete an entry, right click on the item and select [Delete] or choose [Edit]-[Delete].
The City of Bingham software provides the capability to unpost individual batches of posted transactions. Simply highlight any entry within the batch you want to unpost and either right click and select [Unpost] or select [Unpost] from
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the Edit menu. Editing is then done in the same manner as for unposted journal entries. When editing is completed, click [Post Entries] and your corrections will be made to the appropriate accounts. If you need to add an entry to a previously posted journal entry, then unpost as described above and make the new entry at the bottom of the journal. You can then right click
Screen shot of
Right Clickingon ajournal entry.
and use the [Move Up] option to move the entry one step at a time up the journal until it appears in the desired location. As in prior versions, a provision also allows you to clear all of the transactions from the current fund or entity. Under [File]-[Student Assistance] you will find the option [Wipe out Current Fund or Entity]. The wipe out function should be used as a last resort. Once you select thisoption, there is no going back. It will remove ALL of the transactions for the current fund or entity.
Working with the Ledgers Screen
Switch to the ledgers screen by clicking on the ledgers tab. The screen shown on the following page
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Switch entities at any time by changing the selection.
If your screen is not wide enough to display all of the columns, use the vertical and horizontal scrollbars to navigate the data.
Depending on the fund or entity you are working on, there may be different ledgers for you to view. Choose the ledger you want to view from the drop-down list.
If you want to print out a ledger, you need to select the [Reports] menu, and choose the report.
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Working with the Detail Journal Screen
The General Fund of the City of Bingham uses a Detail Journal to avoid excessive detail in the general journal/ledgers.
If you choose an account that has subsidiary detail associated with it, you will be taken directly to the Detail Journal. If you attempt to edit a journal entry that has associated subsidiary detail, you will automatically be prompted to also open the Detail Journal for editing, if desired.