Record and transaction settings

Summary

How to set up your default record and transaction settings and preferences in Sage Accounting Start.

Resolution

Set up preferences that suit your business and save you time when creating records and processing transactions.

Go to More, Settings, then Business settings. Click Record and transaction settings to enter your default settings and preferences.

How this works

Use these options to:

Set default credit terms
Set default categories to use when entering transactions or creating records
Choose how to sort categories on menus and drop-downs
Choose your profit or loss is shown on your balance sheet

Choose when your sales invoice are due

Here you can set default Credit Terms for your customers. This is useful if your credit terms are the same for most of your customers. You can still set different credit terms for individual customers where required, or change the due date on individual invoices and credit notes.

Once set here, we use this as the default on all new customer records. When you enter a sales invoice and select a customer, we calculate the due date based on the credit terms and print this on your invoices.

If you change this, we don't update the Credit Terms for existing customers. You must manually change any relevant customer records.

Invoices due - Enter the required number of days.

We add that number of days to the invoice date to work out the due date. For example, for 30 days, an invoice with a date on 1 May has a due date of 31 May.

Default ledger accounts

Income and expenses

Here you can set the ledger accounts we use by default when you enter money in and money out transactions.

Income - this sets the category used to record your income on Money In transactions
Expenses - this sets the category used to record expenses on Money Out transactions

Customers and suppliers

Defaults for sales
We use this as the default ledger account on all new customer records. When you enter a sales invoice and select a customer, we prefill it with the ledger account saved on the customer record. You can still change this when entering transactions and when creating new records.
If you change this, we don't update the ledger account for existing customers. You must manually change any relevant records.

Default for sales discounts

We use this category when you add a discount to a sales invoice or credit note.

Default for Suppliers

We use this as the default ledger account on all new supplier records. When you enter an invoice and select a supplier, we prefill it with the ledger account saved on the supplier record. You can still change this when entering transactions and when creating new records.

If you change this, we don't update the ledger account for existing suppliers. You must manually change any relevant records.

Sort categories by name or nominal code

The is determines how we display ledger accounts in the menus and drop-down lists.

Choose from:

Ledger name - Lists ledger accounts in alphabetical order followed by the nominal code. For example, Other income (4900)
Nominal code - Lists ledger accounts numerically by nominal code followed by the name. For example 4900 - Other income

Show Profit and Loss Account value

Choose whether to show the amount of your Profit and Loss account separately on your Balance Sheet or in your calculated Profit and Loss amount.