Accountant Link for clients

Summary

How to use the Accountant Link feature, in Sage 50 Accounts to send data to your accountant.

Description

NOTE: This feature is depreciated in Sage 50 Accounts v29.0 and above is no longer available. To add your accountant you'll need to use Remote Data Access and set up an Accountant user.

Many businesses send their Sage 50 Accounts data to an accountant to prepare their final accounts. The main methods of sending data to your accountant are:

Remote Data Access (formerly Sage Drive) (Recommended) - You can grant your accountant access to your data from a remote location. This means you can continue your day-to-day processing and your accountant can work on your live data as and when required. Read more >
Backup and restore - Involves suspending processing in Sage 50 Accounts while the data is with your accountant. Read more >
Accountant Link - You can continue to process in Sage 50 Accounts while your accountant has the data. When your accountant sends back a file containing the adjustments, you can import it into Sage 50 Accounts and the two sets of data are merged. You can't use Accountant Link at the same time as Remote Data Access

To use Accountants link, your accountant must be on the same or a later version of Sage 50 Accounts.

CAUTION: You can't use OSS / IOSS features in conjunction with Accountants Link.

To find out how to set up and work with the Accountant Link, please click the options below.

Enter your accountant's contact details >

On the menu bar click Settings, click Company Preferences then click the Accountant tab.
Enter your accountant's company name and contact details.

Under Accountant's Link Import/Export Folders, you can amend the details as follows:

Datasets (out)	When exporting the Accountant Link data files, Sage 50 Accounts defaults to the path you enter here. If no path is entered, Sage 50 Accounts defaults to the Exports folder located on the same path as Accdata.
Adjustments (in)	If required, enter a default location to import the Accountant Link import from. If no path is entered, Sage 50 Accounts defaults to the Imports folder located on the same path as Accdata.

Click OK.

Export the data to send to your accountant >

NOTE: Your accountant can't import data from a version that's beyond the automatic conversion limit. If your accountant imports data from an earlier version, customer and supplier refunds aren't available.

On the menu bar click Modules, click Wizards then click Accountant Link.
Click Export then click Next.

NOTE: If you get the message 'Your accounts data has been previously exported but no corresponding accountant's adjustments have been subsequently imported.' This indicates you've already exported a file to your accountant. If you continue you can't then import any adjustments your accountant has already made.

Complete the Accountant Link window as follows:

Save as	The default path and file name appear here. Folder - The path defaults to the location held in Settings > Company Preferences > Accountant tab > Datasets (out). If this box is blank the path defaults to the Exports folder located on the same path as Accdata. File name - This consists of the company name together with the date and time the file was created and has a file extension of .sae. For example, Stationery & Computer Mart UK 200711220813.sae If required, both the file name and directory can be changed.
Password	Enter a password for the file. The password must be between 8 and 10 characters and is case sensitive. You can't decode this password once it's been set. If you can't remember the password set on the file you must recreate the file by completing the Accountant Link wizard to export the data again.
Confirm	Enter the password again. You must inform your accountant what this password is.
Comment	A default comment appears here. You can replace or add to this, if required.

Click Export.

Select from the following options then click Exit.

Navigate to file	If you select this option when you click Exit the folder you saved the file to automatically appears.
Email file	If you use Microsoft Outlook and you select this option, Sage 50 Accounts creates an email and attaches a copy of the export file. If required, amend the details on the email and then click Send.

Working with material changes >

Once data is exported, and before importing your accountant's adjustments, any amendment to the data is classed as a material change.When a material change is posted, for example, a bank payment or creating a new customer record, a Confirm message appears asking if you want to record the detail of the material change.

Yes	Posts the entry to the data and records the details within the Material Changes tab.
No	Posts the entry to the data and does not record the details within the Material Changes tab.
Don't ask me this again while I'm working in this dataset check box	To prevent this message appearing every time you make a material change, select the check box.

View the material changes You can only view the material changes that you've chosen to record. They appear in the Accountant Link - Material Changes window.

On the menu bar click View, click Material Changes, then click the Material Changes tab.

You can view the details of a selected entry in the Change Details area.

Send the material changes to your accountant

TIP: If your accountant hasn't yet worked on the data that you originally exported, instead of sending the material changes we recommend you create a new export file and send that instead.

On the menu bar click View, then click Material Changes.
If required, enter your comments in the text box.
Click Send.

An email is generated with the relevant dta files for your material changes attached.
Complete the email and send it to your accountant.

Import adjustments from your accountant >

When your accountant has completed their work they'll send you an accountant adjustments file with the extension .saa, normally by email. Save the file to your Windows desktop or the folder you want to use for Accountant Link imports. Your accountant must advise you of the password for the file.

NOTE: When following the steps below, if you've changed the name of your company since sending the data to your accountant you'll receive the message: 'The adjustment file you have chosen to import does not match the company that is currently open.' Check you're importing to the correct company and if necessary, rename the company to match the old company name.

In Sage 50 Accounts, open the company the adjustments are for.
On the menu bar click Modules, click Wizards then click Accountant Link.
Click Import then click Next.
Click Browse, locate and select the adjustments file then click Open.
Enter the password as advised by your accountant, then click Import.
Select View comments and adjustments now or View comments and adjustments later then click Exit.

If you chose to view comments and adjustments now, the Comments and Adjustments window appears.

Comments

The Comments tab displays any comments entered by your accountant when exporting the data using the Accountant Link wizard.

Adjustments

The Adjustments tab displays the material changes recorded by your accountant. If you select an adjustment, more information regarding that adjustment appears in the Adjustment Details.

Click the Adjustments tab, click Begin then click OK.

Adjustments are processed in the order that they appear. The Type column shows if the adjustments are manual or automatic.

Type	Reaction
Automatic	The Accountant Link posts the following adjustments automatically:If your accountant imports transactions only Customer, Supplier and Nominal transactions appear when the data is sent back through the Accountant Link. Batch Customer Invoice (SI) Batch Customer Credit (SC) Batch Supplier Invoice (PI) Batch Supplier Credit (PC) Customer Refunds (SP) - If your accountant uses a later version, customer refunds are manual. Supplier Refunds (PR) - If your accountant uses a later version, supplier refunds are manual. Journal transactions (JC and JD) Bank, Cash and Visa Payments (BP,CP and VP) Bank, Cash and Visa Receipts (BR,CR and VR) Bank Reconciliation - Sage 50 Accounts 2007 and above. VAT Reconciliation - Sage 50 Accounts 2007 and above.Transactions are marked as VAT reconciled but the actual VAT Return isn't saved in Company > Manage VAT. For the Bank and VAT Reconciliation adjustments, you and your accountant must be using the same version.
Manual	The following adjustment must be manually entered in Sage 50 Accounts: Change program date Bank transfer Customer payment on account (SA) Supplier payment on account (PA) Customer receipt (SR) Supplier receipt (PR) Recurring entries Backup Clear Audit Trail Lock Date Bank opening balance Invoice update VAT Return Contra entry Deletions Period end Import Once you've processed the manual adjustment > View > Comments and Adjustments > I have completed this task check box > Next or Continue.

Type

Reaction

Automatic

The Accountant Link posts the following adjustments automatically:If your accountant imports transactions only Customer, Supplier and Nominal transactions appear when the data is sent back through the Accountant Link.

Batch Customer Invoice (SI)
Batch Customer Credit (SC)
Batch Supplier Invoice (PI)
Batch Supplier Credit (PC)
Customer Refunds (SP) - If your accountant uses a later version, customer refunds are manual.
Supplier Refunds (PR) - If your accountant uses a later version, supplier refunds are manual.
Journal transactions (JC and JD)
Bank, Cash and Visa Payments (BP,CP and VP)
Bank, Cash and Visa Receipts (BR,CR and VR)
Bank Reconciliation - Sage 50 Accounts 2007 and above.
VAT Reconciliation - Sage 50 Accounts 2007 and above.Transactions are marked as VAT reconciled but the actual VAT Return isn't saved in Company > Manage VAT.
For the Bank and VAT Reconciliation adjustments, you and your accountant must be using the same version.

Manual

The following adjustment must be manually entered in Sage 50 Accounts:

Change program date
Bank transfer
Customer payment on account (SA)
Supplier payment on account (PA)
Customer receipt (SR)
Supplier receipt (PR)
Recurring entries
Backup
Clear Audit Trail
Lock Date
Bank opening balance
Invoice update
VAT Return
Contra entry
Deletions
Period end
Import

Once you've processed the manual adjustment > View > Comments and Adjustments > I have completed this task check box > Next or Continue.

Begin	Starts the process of posting the adjustments.
Next	Moves on to the next adjustment so that each adjustment can be processed individually.
Continue	Processes the adjustments, in order, until it reaches a manual adjustment.

Click Close.

Recording no longer appears on the Status Bar and the Accountant Link process is complete.

Cancel the Accountant Link or stop recording >

On the menu bar click View, click Material Changes, click Cancel then click Yes.

Recording no longer appears on the status bar.