This tab contains several sections which are each detailed separately below.
Accounts link
From the dropdown available you can select your linked accounts system. If you are not linking directly to another cloud based product you can select a path to export data to and import manually. If you are using Sage then our Synergist Connect will assist with this.
Here you can also decide whether you are exporting to the Sales ledger (Post SL), Purchase ledger (Post PL), Expenses (Post approved expenses) and whether to export base or currency values if applicable (Export currency amounts).
Nominal code builder
When creating sales & purchase invoices you can allocate the value of the invoice to one or more nominal codes. This nominal analysis is then typically exported to a linked accounts system. The simplest way to allocate nominal codes is to either type them in or select the codes from a pre-defined list of valid codes (set up in File Maintenance).
However, in some organisations such a simple approach is not possible since there may be many nominal codes set up to cover very detailed analysis of revenue etc. In this case you might want to use the nominal code builder to generate a nominal code automatically for an invoice based on associated job / phase attributes.
The following tables in Synergist have the facility to allocate nominal codes, or fragments of, to a record via the builder (depending on looking at sales / purchases / expenses):
- Job type
- Phase type
- Job number
- Team
- Client
- User defined fields 1-8
- Initials
- Employee ref
- Supplier
- Supply type
- PIR No
By allocating nominal code fragments to records in one or more of these tables/fields you can set up Synergist to automatically allocate nominal codes according to a pre-defined system.
Main sections of the builder
In the nominal code builder table (shown above) you can see 3 sections:
- Sales
- Purchase
- Expense
For each of these sections there is a "default" box and a set of pull down menus. In the default box you might want to allocate a default nominal code (e.g. 4000 for all sales invoices). In the following pull down menus you can then specify how you want the nominal code to be structured.
For example for a sales invoice, you might want the first part of the code to be the default snippet (i.e. 4000). following that you might want a code dependent on the job type (defined in the job type table), followed by the team code.
e.g. for an invoice raised on job 123, which is of job type 1/BRO (Brochure), for Team "ART" where job type 1/BRO has been allocated the nominal code snippet 344, and team "ART" has been allocated the nominal code snippet 325 the nominal code would be 4000-344-325.
It is possible to have up to four component parts to the nominal code.
The nominal code builder is used by Synergist in the following situations:
Purchase Invoices / expenses:
PIR - When the user clicks the "Auto" button on the analysis page of an invoice in the PIR.
Expense approval system - if the expense approval system is being used, the nominal builder is used to allocate nominal codes for the posting file.
Sales Invoices:
Invoice line analysis - in sales invoicing it automatically fills in the correct code (as defined by the builder settings) on every line of an invoice. In this situation you would normally see the same nominal code selected for every line of the invoice. However, if you are doing multi-job invoicing, or invoicing from the job header and using the phase description builder, each line may be allocated a different nominal code depending on the phase type / team etc.
Note: The header analysis option described below allows the sales analysis amounts to be separated from the invoice line amounts. So if you have a one line invoice that you wish to analyse to two sales codes you would have to use header analysis. This is not an invoice by invoice decision, all invoices have to follow the same process of analysis - either by assigning nominal codes to invoice lines / amounts, or by creating separate analysis on the accounts analysis tab. See below for more detail on header analysis options.
The Auto button on the accounts analysis tab will build a nominal breakdown based on estimated values from associated phase estimates, summarised by charge code, material and supply type. In a header analysis setup you can enter sales nominal codes against each of these items (charge code, material, supply type). There is an additional option that is only available in the builder for sales header analysis called "costs". This then uses ticked off costs rather than associated estimates to build the nominal breakdown. The summaries are still driven by charge code, material and supply type.
Advanced
Include PO no. in comment for PI analysis: This will include the PO number on export.
Show gross profit for each invoice on financial pages: If this is selected the gross profit (Sales Invoice less ticked off Purchase Order costs) will be displayed on the financial pages of job and phases.
Managed client sales orders: This creates a new tab at client level where a Sales order can be generated and allocated out to multiple job / phases.
Analysis
Sales header nominal Analysis (if this is not ticked then the options below are hidden): This gives the option to analyse sales invoices across multiple nominal analysis codes without referring to the invoice lines. If this feature is not used, each invoice line is allocated a separate (amendable) nominal code. When this option is enabled you can optionally choose to enter a sales analysis code against every charge code, material and supply type. A new item in the sales nominal builder, "Costs", is now available and this will build a sales analysis breakdown by charge code, material and supply type. Regardless of what the nominal builder is set to, if multiple sales analysis codes are built by the builder the value used for each analysis line is estimated recommended charge out.
Use of the Auto button is, of course, optional, and this feature is often used to simply allow an account handler or finance team member to manually create analysis lines according to known requirements by adding / amending lines to the accounts analysis page of the invoice.
Tied to invoice line allocation: You can have the sales header nominal analysis built automatically based on the revenue allocated to each phase of the job that has been invoiced. This is done by looking at the phase type of each invoiced phase which will be set up with a related nominal code. This is an advanced feature and should not be switched on without consulting your Synergist project manager.
Use proportional calculation for auto-analysis: Disabling this option makes the analysis values equal to the estimated / ticked off charge out values. The sum of these may not equal the invoice total net. Ticking this box ensures the analysis total equals the invoice total by increasing / reducing each analysi value in proportion.
Nominal analysis force on draft: Selecting this option will force the user to allocate valid nominal codes to draft invoices. The draft cannot be saved until nominals codes have been applied, a valid nominal code is defined as being one which is present in your Synergist file maintenance setup.
Always use actuals for auto-analysis: This option changes the value used for sales analysis to be based on actual recommended charge out rather than estimated recommended charge out.
Nominal analysis using recognised values: This option only appears if sales header nominal analysis is ticked, you are using revenue recognition, AND you are linking to a supported accounts package. Ticking this option reveals more settings relating to this feature - you will be required to enter balance sheet account codes for accrued and deferred revenue, and a VAT code to use for accrued / deferred revenue transaction. Read more about this feature's implementation and usage here.
Misc options:
PI analysis tied to allocations: This feature prevents the manual entry of analysis codes and amounts on purchase invoices. Instead, the analysis code is taken from the supply type of allocated purchase orders, and the amount is taken from the purchase order cost.
Validate nominal codes: Checking this option ensures that nominal codes used in Synergist are present in the nominal codes table. It is not advisable to use this feature if you are generating your nominal codes in Synergist automatically using the builder (see above) since it's unlikely you will have all the possible codes in the nominal code validation table.
The nominal code table can be used to validate nominal codes in these situations:
-
Sales Invoices: When sales invoices are "made real" the system will validate any nominal codes allocated to invoice lines against the list of nominal codes. If "sales header analysis" (see below) is being used, then these nominal codes are also validated against the list of nominal codes.
-
Purchase Invoices: Nominal codes allocated to an invoice via the PIR will be validated against the list of nominal codes.
Use posting date instead of document date: When invoices are transferred to an accounts system as part of a Synergist batch, the date that is sent to the accounts system is the document date in Synergist (the date on the paper document received from your supplier, for example). Financial reports in Synergist always use the posting date when determining which period a transaction falls in. In this way it is possible to control which invoices are sent to the current period in your accounts system, whilst retaining control of the financial period information in Synergist.
Changing the posting date away from the document date is unusual, and when linking to date-driven accounts systems like Sage 50, they should always be the same. However, if your accounts package has a concept of the current period and is not just using calendar dates for this it can be necessary, on late purchase invoices for example, to retain the document date but to adjust the posting date such that Synergist includes the PI in the same period as your accounts package.
This option forces Synergist to send the posting date to your accounts system instead of the document date.
Include zero value lines in sales postings: By default zero value, narrative-only lines are not sent to batches in Synergist for transfer to an accounts package. This option will force such descriptive lines to be included in the data sent to the accounts package. The import routine you use may need to be configured to accept these zero value lines as they may be deemed unnecessary by your accounts software.