Set up company/business details
Set up accounts, including customers and suppliers
•Customer and supplier accounts
•Bank, cash, and credit card transactions
•Customer and supplier transactions
Download the installation file for the package you have subscribed to:
VT Final Accounts and VT Transaction+
A pop-up for the installation file then appears in the corner of your screen; click on this (or select Run or Open depending on your web browser).
If you do not see the pop-up, go to the Downloads folder on your PC and click on the file from there.
Accept the prompts that come on screen to install the software.
If you experience any issue when installing see Installation.
•Start the software by clicking on the VT Transaction+ shortcut 
on your desktop.
•In the VT Transaction+ menu select Help>Register Software. For more details, see Enter your license key.
| (If you are on the free trial you will not need to enter a license key until the trial period has expired.) |
Set up company/business details
•Create a new company/business data file by choosing the New Company command from the File menu at the top of the screen:
 |
| (An existing file can be opened by choosing Open Company from the File menu.) |
•In the New Company/Business dialog:
oenter the name of the business
otick the VAT registered box if you are registered for VAT, and if you are on the VAT cash accounting scheme, tick this box also
oselect a chart of accounts template from the list
•If you wish to create your own chart of accounts template, select File>Templates>New, then choose an existing template from which to base your new template on. You can then modify the accounts in the new template as you wish.
•Click on OK to save the file to your PC. The default location to save the file to is the Documents folder, but you can choose a different folder. This file will contain all data entered for the particular company, therefore it is important to back up this file regularly by selecting Backup to any drive from the File menu - for further details see Backing up data files. Note: when backing up a file, it is best to name each backup with a different name so you don't overwrite the same file.
•Set the dates of the current financial year by clicking on the caption at the bottom of the screen that says [year not set] and then entering the dates:
Set up accounts, including customers and suppliers
Customer and supplier accounts
The need to set up customer and supplier accounts depends on how you account for sales and purchases - see Customer and supplier transactions for more information.
•To set up customers and suppliers, click on the CU 
and SU 
buttons on the main toolbar then select Set up a new account - for further details see Creating customers and suppliers.
The main toolbar in VT Transaction+
Other accounts
•The default chart of accounts should be adequate for most transactions. However, if you need to set up new accounts, click on the A button 
on the main toolbar then click on the ledger you want the account to be in, and select Set up a new account. To modify an existing account, select the account and select Change the name or other details of this account. For further details see Accounts and ledgers.
Transaction entry methods
•Transactions can be entered by clicking on the transaction buttons on the main toolbar (P+R, PAY, CHQ, REC, TRF, SIN, SCR, SIN, SCR, PIN, PCR, CTX, JRN, RJN) - for further details see Transaction entry methods.
•You can categorise transactions by department or any category by selecting Set Up > Currencies, departments and lists > Departments (or Lists to create your own category) - for further details see Departmental costing.
•Transactions can also imported in bulk by clicking on the Universal Input Sheet button 
- for further details see Importing.
Opening balances
If you have not been using VT Transaction+ since your business started, you will have some opening account balances to enter - for further details see Opening balances.
Bank, cash, and credit card transactions
•Bank or cash transactions can be entered by clicking on the PAY (payment out), CHQ (cheque payment), REC (payment received) and TRF (transfer between bank accounts) buttons on the main toolbar.
•You can also enter bank or cash transactions in a batch by using the P+R button - for further details see The Payments And Receipts entry method.
•Alternatively, you can import bank transactions from a bank statement file by clicking on the Universal Input Sheet button - for further details see Importing from a bank statement.
•Credit card transactions can be entered in the same way as bank transactions - see Credit card transactions.
Customer and supplier transactions
The customers ledger is normally used if you make sales on credit to customers - i.e. you issue an invoice to a customer and give them a period of time to pay. This requires two separate transactions: the sales invoice (SIN/SIN), and the payment received from the customer (REC). The analysis account for the REC transaction is the customer account.
If you make non-credit sales, i.e. the customer pays at the time of the sale, the customers ledger is not usually used. Instead, one transaction can be entered: a bank receipt (REC) which accounts for the sale and the payment received within the same transaction. The analysis account for the REC transaction in this case is the income account.
Purchases go by the same principles, i.e. the purchase invoice (PIN) and payment (PAY) transactions are normally used for purchases made on credit, and (PAY) is normally used for non-credit purchases.
Customers
Generate a sales invoice |
•Click on the SIN button •A sales credit note is raised in the same way, by selecting the SCR button |
Enter a sales invoice (generated outside of VT Transaction+) |
•Click on the SIN button •A sales credit note is entered in the same way, by selecting the SCR button. |
Enter a payment received from a customer |
•Enter an REC transaction as part of your bank transactions as described in Bank, cash, and credit card transactions •Manually allocate the REC to the sales invoice(s) (SIN/SIN) as follows: oclick on the CU oselect Open Entries then click on the REC and associated SIN/SIN lines so they are highlighted in blue oclick on the Contra button For further details, see Customer and supplier payments Or •Enter an REC directly against the SIN/SIN(s) as follows: oclick on the CU oclick on the SIN/SIN line(s) in the Open Entries tab so it is highlighted in blue oclick on the special REC button which appears directly above (not the one on the main toolbar). This creates a REC entry automatically allocated to the selected SIN/SIN(s) For further details, see Customer and supplier payments. |
which then appears directly above (Note: If the Suppliers
Enter a purchase invoice |
•Click on the PIN button •A purchase credit note is entered in the same way, by selecting the PCR button. |
Enter a payment to a supplier |
•Enter a PAY transaction as part of your bank transactions as described in Bank, cash, and credit card transactions •Manually allocate the PAY to the purchase invoice(s) (PIN) as follows: oclick on the SU oselect Open Entries then click on the PAY and associated PIN lines so they are highlighted in blue oclick on the Contra button For further details - see Customer and supplier payments Or •Enter an PAY directly against the PIN(s) as follows: oclick on the SU oclick on the PIN line(s) in the Open Entries tab so it is highlighted in blue oclick on the special PAY button which appears directly above (not the one on the main toolbar). This creates a PAY entry automatically allocated to the selected PIN(s) For further details see Customer and supplier payments. |
Non-routine transactions
Non-routine transactions are normally recorded by journal entry (JRN). If you require the journal to automatically reverse in the next period (commonly done for accruals), use RJN (reversing journal entry):
Examples of non-routine transactions are:
To perform a bank reconciliation, click on R button 
on the main toolbar - for further details see Bank reconciliation.
To issue statements to customers, click on the CU button on the main toolbar, select the customer, then click on Statement - for further details see Customer statements.
•To set up MTD (Making Tax Digital) for VAT, see Setting up MTD: businesses, or Setting up MTD: agents if you are an agent submitting VAT returns through an agent services account.
•To generate a VAT return, click on the VAT button 
on the main toolbar and select New VAT return - for further details see VAT - quick start.
•To submit a VAT return, click on the VAT button on the main toolbar and select Submit VAT return to HMRC - for further details see VAT - quick start.
•To generate reports such as profit and loss, balance sheet, trial balance and transaction reports, select them from the Display menu - a full list of reports is given in the Report windows topic.
•To copy and paste any open report to a spreadsheet, click on the Copy button 
, then in your spreadsheet, right-click and select Paste.
The financial year can be changed to the next year by clicking on the financial year caption at the bottom of the screen and selecting Next:
This automatically transfers the balances in income and expenditure accounts to the accumulated profit and loss account (called Profit and Loss account in VT Transaction+) in the balance sheet at the year-end date. This is done through an automatic journal called a Year-End Transfer (YET) journal. See also Year-end procedures.
Moving VT Transaction+ to another PC
Using VT Transaction+ on multiple PCs
Access a VT Transaction+ file on different PCs using a cloud storage service
Domestic reverse charge VAT for construction services
