• the statement summarizing the record of transactions in the form of credits, debits, accruals and adjustments that have occurred and have an affect on an asset, equity, liability or past, present or future revenue.
  
• the record of a business transaction or "deal". When you buy something on credit, the company you are dealing with sets up an "account". This means it sets up a record of what you buy and what you pay. You may do the same thing with any customers to whom you extend credit.
  
  

• the record of a liability created by a purchase made on credit. In Free Accounting the balance of this account shows how much your company owes to your vendors.
• the record of a claim against a customer for goods sold or services rendered on credit. The balance of this account shows how much your customers owe to your company in Free Accounting.
  
  

The record of what is owed to you by your Customers. All of the debit "accounts" - the record of what each customer owes you - when taken together is your "accounts receivable".

The process of analyzing receivables and payables by classification according to the length of time they have been outstanding. This process is automated in Free Accounting and its results can be viewed in A/R Aging Summary and A/P Aging Summary reports.

The report that shows the status of the unpaid bills on the Accounts Payable account in Free Accounting.

The report that summarizes the status of the unpaid invoices and statement of the charges in Accounts Receivable in Free Accounting.

The sum of debit entries minus the sum of credit entries in an account. If positive, the difference is called a DEBIT balance; if negative, a CREDIT balance.

The business establishment in which money is kept for saving or commercial purposes or is invested, supplied for loans, or exchanged.

The funds deposited in a bank that are credited to and subject to withdrawal by the depositor.

The operation used to compare your records of the Bank account with the bank's records for a definite date, as shown in the Bank Statement.

The writing binding the signer or signers to pay a certain sum at a future day or on demand, with or without interest, as may be stated in the document.

The address where any notice, statement or bill relating to a company is mailed.

The Free Accounting feature that allows to create an item that is composed of material units (finished goods) that already exist in Free Accounting Inventory. An item assembled from other items can be sold and tracked in inventory just like any other item.

The cost of credit expressed as a dollar amount.

The set of accounts used by a business that constitute its general ledger. There are 17 main accounts that are built in Free Accounting, but it is possible to edit them or add as many new ones as your business requires.

The written order directing a bank to pay money.

The journal that displays all the checks made and received by your company to a specific bank/cash account.

The next lower level of government that adds its tax rate to a higher level of government (parent jurisdiction). Example - The county is a child jurisdiction to the state. The child's tax rate is added to the parent tax rate.

The accounting term used to describe the total value (cost) of products sold during a specific time period.

The association of people for the purpose of conducting a business, a corporation, a firm. Free Accounting allows to maintain records for as many companies as necessary, including child companies.

The name, symbol, or trademark designed for easy and definite recognition, especially one borne on a single printing plate or piece of type. It is possible to set a logotype for created companies and it will be printed on Free Accounting reports.

The person or organization that represents a customer, vendor or another party that is important to your company. All the contacts of your company are displayed in the Free Accounting Contacts List.

The financial measure of resources consumed in accomplishing of a specific purpose such as performing a service, carrying out an activity, or completing a unit of work or a specific project.

• The ability of the banking sector to create money by giving advances. In accounting, is an accounting entry system that either decreases assets or increases liabilities.
• the promise to pay in the future in order to buy or borrow in the present. The right to defer payment because of debt.

The maximum amount that is allowed for this Customer to owe at any given time. Company can give a credit to customers. The Free Accounting application doesn't allow entering charges for the customer until he doesn't have the amount of unpaid charges less then the amount of the credit limit.

The feature that allows Free Accounting users to lock customer credit, i.e. no charge can be made for the customer. Credit Lock has higher priority than Credit Limit.

The document sent to the customer approving that the goods returned by customer were received by your company.

On this tab, you can create the fields that you need for inserting any additional information about customers, vendors or payees in Free Accounting.

The person or organization that purchases (orders, requests, or bills for) goods or services. In Free Accounting it is possible to sell goods only to customers that were created in the system for a definite company.

When a company has to deal with sets of customers it is necessary to classify them somehow. For this purpose Customer classes can be used in Free Accounting.

The entry on the left side of a Double-Entry Bookkeeping system that represents the addition of an asset or expense or the reduction to a liability or revenue.

The financial document created by your Company, which confirms that the goods were returned to the Vendor according to Vendor's notification.

The money put into an account. The deposit may be in the form of cash, check or electronic transaction.

The money held in banks or building societies which earn interest but which are subject to a period of notice before withdrawal.

The deduction from the stated or list price of a product or service in relation to the standard price. A discount is a selling technique to encourage customers to buy and is offered for a variety of reasons: for buying in certain quantity or for repeat buying; as a special offer to move a slow-moving line or for paying in cash, etc.

The date by which the bill should be paid.

The Employer Identification Number. It's a nine-digit number assigned to employers by the federal government in the format 99-9999999.

The person who is working for your company.

The reward or compensation for services rendered or to be rendered; especially, payment for professional services, of optional amount, or fixed by custom or laws; charge; pay; perquisite.

The 12-month period that defines your company's accounting year. For example, a fiscal year could be from January 1st to December 31st.

• The surcharge on the repayment of debt (borrowed money).
• The return derived from an investment.
• The right to one's claim in a corporation, such as that of an owner or creditor.

The aggregate of all Items in stock at a given time, their Quantity On Hand at a point in time and a list of assets being held for sale.

Keeps track of the movement and cost of each item in inventory. For convenience, all the items in the database can be sorted by different criteria very quickly and easily.

The product which is sold by Vendor to your company or assembled by the company and bought by Customer.

The financial document that approves the fact that the customer received the goods your company sent to him. When an Invoice is created in Free Accounting, a transaction is recorded in the Master Transaction Ledger.

The Invoice Reconciliation window allows the user to adjust the existing Customers' charges with the existing payments in Free Accounting.

The product or service upon which there is a need to retrieve pre-defined information and that may be priced or ordered or invoiced at any point in any supply chain.

The book of original entry in a double-entry system, listing all transactions and indicating the accounts to which they belong.

The transaction in which the total amounts of the Debit and Credit columns are equal and each amount refers to an account of the chart of accounts. In Free Accounting there is a list of Journal Entries, the aim of which is to make adjustments.

The unique code name of the Free Accounting user.

The unique information of the Free Accounting user, that includes login and password.

The customer who controls or owns another customer or customers.

Displays all the operations that have been performed in the Free Accounting.

The vendor who controls or owns another vendor or vendors.

MSDE stands for Microsoft Desktop Engine. It is a toned down version of Microsoft SQL Server which is free for non-commercial use (and certain limited commercial use as well). MSDE and SQL Server are Microsoft's database platforms.

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system produced by Microsoft. It supports a superset of Structured Query Language SQL, the most common database language.

Incapable of being taxed; unliable by law to the assessment of taxes. If this option is chosen in Free Accounting, it means that no tax is applied to a sale.

The balance of an account at the beginning of a period.

The company that controls or owns another company or companies.

The next higher government level that the Customer has to pay tax to.

The person or organization to whom a check, draft or note is payable.

The sum of money or other item(s) of value that is transferred from one party to another.

The Free Accounting Payment and Charges History window displays all payments and charges and their adjustments for all or a specified customer / vendor in Free Accounting.

• the conditions under which payments should be made to the vendor or received from the customer.
• the terms under which a user will pay vendors and customers will pay a user. Payment Terms are used to determine how accounts payable and receivable will be aged. Payment terms may range from cash-in-advance to open account with extended payment terms such as a 120 days payment from the date of purchase.

• the operation which increases or decreases inventory quantity. It can be used in case of some unexpected situations, for example, there were a few broken cases during items transportation or the vendor gave several items free and the Company should set up the item cost manually.
• physical adjustments are used to bring in Opening Inventory quantities and manage inventory levels after that in Free Accounting. Physical adjustment is not a proper way of handling shrinkage and overage. When physical quantities do not match the Quantity On Hand, the first thing that should be done is to follow an established company procedure to determine why the inventory is off and correct any errors. Only as a last action inventory should be physically adjusted.

The amount of money that Customers are to pay for the goods or services they buy from the Free Accounting company.

The way of combining items into groups in Free Accounting. Usually all items in one Product Group have some common attributes, sphere of use or something else. Product Groups are used in Contracts, Matrix Pricing and for reporting purposes.

The set of activities leading up to placing an order with a supplier of goods or services.

The non-financial document that contains list of the items or services which customer wants to get. This document can be sent to the vendor by mail, by fax or another way and the vendor will send items or services to customer on the basis of this document.

The Free Accounting Receive Payments option is used to record the information about the payments received against the invoice or billing statements. Payments can be received from customers, vendors or payees. Later on a payment can be adjusted against an appropriate charge.

To start working with Free Accounting, you should transfer the balances from the old system. It can be done through the Free Accounting Record Opening Balance feature, however it does not record the corresponding invoice and receipts numbers that accrued to the balance. To record the invoice and receipt information with the balances, a journal entry is to be made.

Free Accounting provides you with the reports for all the documents, operations, journals and lists that exist in the application. It is possible to modify the look of reports, save these modifications, define report parameters and print reports.

The non-financial document that records information about Customer's intention to return goods that your company sold to this Customer. This document is usually created upon receipt of the Return Receipt document from the Customer.

The non-financial document that your company sends to Vendor about your intention to return goods.

The act of selling; the transfer of property or a contract to transfer the ownership of property from one person to another for a valuable consideration or for a price in money. In Free Accounting a sale is recorded upon creation of an Invoice document.

The non-financial document that contains instructions of a customer for buying some goods from your Company. This document is usually created when a Purchase Order is received from the customer.

The type of item in Free Accounting that denotes a service - a non-material equivalent of a good. It is possible to work with a Service Item just like with any other item, i.e. buy, sell, receive or pay money for it.

The address of a customer or vendor where the goods should be shipped or returned by your company.

The recommended method of shipping the goods.

The four-digit number assigned to identify a business based on the type of business or trade involved. The first two digits correspond to major groups such as construction and manufacturing, while the last two digits correspond to subgroups such as constructing homes versus constructing highways. A business can determine its SIC number by looking it up in a directory published by the Department of Commerce, or by checking in the SIC book in the reference section of a local library.

The smallest Unit of Measure in which the Item can be bought or sold.

The relational database management system (RDBMS), which is part of Microsoft's BackOffice family of servers. Free Accounting stores its data in this format.

The percentage of the final sales price that is required to be paid to local, state, and/or federal government entities. In Free Accounting you can define as many taxes as necessary by creating new Tax Jurisdictions.

The government identifier for the particular tax rate.

The Free Accounting notion that defines a tax. Besides the common tax information such as Tax Code, Tax Type, Tax Rate (Amount) this notion maintains additional information about the tax (Parent and Child Jurisdictions, contact person, contact person address, account affected etc.).

Capable of being taxed; liable by law to the assessment of taxes; as, taxable estate; taxable commodities. If this option is chosen in Free Accounting, it means that a tax is applied to the sale made. In this case the amount of the applied tax will be calculated automatically by the application and the necessary transactions will appear in the Master Transaction Ledger.

The collective name denoting the expiration date, striking price, and underlying stock of an option contract.

The economic operation or an event that is reflected in accounting.

The list of accounts and their balances at a point in time; the total debit balances should equal the total credit balances. You can view the Trial Balance for your company choosing Reports / Accountant and Taxes / Trial Balance from the main menu.

Any determinate amount or quantity (as of length, time, value) adopted as a standard of measurement for other amounts or quantities of the same kind. For physical Item it can be used to measure its height, width, weight, etc. For Non-Physical Item it can be used to have some measure in hours, days and so on. Unit Of Measure describes how the quantity of an item is tracked in the inventory system.

This code is usually accompanied by vertical bars on the item's packing.

An individual person or organization which sells goods or renders services which your company buys.

The storehouse for goods and merchandise of the company. In other words this is a place where inventory is physically stored or staged.

The company you are working with. Any changes that you make in Free Accounting relate only to the working company.

The numerical code assigned by the US Postal Service to identify a local area or entity for the delivery of mail.