Accounting Setup

Payment Terms are time conditions under which two parties agree to fulfill a sale by a certain date or period. Payment Terms are available for both Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable transactions and will allow your Company to track late payments in collections. You can add new Payment Terms from the Payment Terms List in the settings. Below is a screenshot demonstrating how adding Payment Terms appears. Payment Terms can be found in the following locations:

• Company → Settings → Accounting → Sales → Sales Orders → Payment Terms
• Company → Settings → Accounting → Sales → Invoices → Payment Terms
• Company → Settings → Accounting → Purchasing → Bills → Payment Terms
• Company → Settings → Accounting → Purchasing → POs → Payment Terms

Classes are used to separate the finances of your Company. This can be used in a variety of ways from separating finances by Company Locations, Divisions, etc. Each Class will have its own Balance Sheet, profit and loss inside Striven’s Balance Sheet by Class, and P&L by Class reports. Using the Accounting Settings, you can choose to enable Class tracking for your Company. Below is a screenshot of how the Class window appears and descriptions of what can be accomplished there. To view Classes use the following steps below:

Company → Settings → Accounting → Classes

How to Add GL Accounts in Striven

There are multiple accounts that have been added to Striven as defaults for convenience. These accounts can be edited or new accounts can be created to fit your Company’s needs. Once an account has been created, the type cannot be converted to a different type. Choosing a hierarchy, if the account should allow posting or if it is reconcilable, can all be accomplished right when creating a General Ledger Account. Below is a screenshot of adding a General Ledger Account into Striven and descriptions on what can be accomplished there:

How to Import Your Chart of Accounts in Striven

Your Chart of Accounts can be brought into Striven en masse by utilizing Striven’s Chart of Accounts Import tool. This can be done for large and small databases to bring in multiple General Ledger Accounts at once.

Below is a screenshot demonstrating how the Chart of Accounts Import page appears. To view the Chart of Accounts Import page, follow the steps below:

Accounting → Recurring Transactions → Chart of Accounts → Import Button → Chart of Accounts Import

The Retained Earnings account displayed on the Balance Sheet, Balance Sheet by Class, and Trial Balance reports is automatically calculated based on the following:

• On the Balance Sheet & Balance Sheet by Class Reports: Net Income from the start of time to the end of the previous fiscal year.
• On the Trial Balance Report: Net Income from the start of time to the End Date specified by the report filter, or today’s date if the End Date is left blank.

With that in mind, Striven provides the option to flag an Equity-type account as a Retained Earnings account, which will then be calculated into the actual Retained Earnings account amount on those reports.

Using this account-flagging option, when you flag an Equity-type account for Retained Earnings, any postings (such as Journal Entries) will now be automatically calculated into this amount on the reports on the backend.

In order to use this feature, you will first need to create a new GL Account, set it as an Equity-type account, and check the box so the Retained Earnings Account option is selected.

With this new account established, you can create a Journal Entry and select the flagged Retained Earnings account to adjust the amount as needed, making sure to select an offsetting account with which to offset the posting as well.

It is important to note that the flagged Equity-type account you create in your Chart of Accounts will not display on the Balance Sheet, Balance Sheet by Class, or Trial Balance reports but will be automatically calculated as part of the Retained Earnings on the reports behind the scenes.

As discussed above, clicking on the name of the GL Account from the Chart of Accounts will generate the Account Activity Report. The Account Activity Report lists all of the transactions that have been entered in Striven for individual GL Accounts. These reports also show a running log of the account’s financial information from the start of your Striven system up to the present day. Below is a screenshot displaying how the Account Activity Report appears and details of what can be accomplished there:

1. Type: Lists what type each transaction is.
   • Note: Transaction Types include: Deposit, Bill, Invoice, Manual Check, Credit Memo, and many more.
2. Transaction #: The number of each transaction and is a hyperlink to enable you to view each transaction’s details by clicking on the hyperlink.
3. Date: The date set on each transaction.
4. Customer/Vendor: The Customer or Vendor that the transaction is associated with.
5. Memo: Lists the memo entered on individual transactions. For Journal Entries listed within this report, the line memo will display instead of the transaction header memo.
6. Offsetting Account: The offsetting GL Account for each transaction. This can be seen in more detail using the Posting Journal on transactions.
7. Amount: The amount of each transaction. The column header totals the amount for all transactions shown on the report page.
8. Balance: The balance of the account from the start of your Striven system to the present day.

Once you have set up how your taxes are recorded and assigned a default taxes paid account, you are ready to create Agencies. Tax Agencies capture the tax rate that is charged and which governing body charges that tax rate.

By creating Tax Agencies, your Company can charge taxes for either State, City, or other rates as needed on transactions. Striven has a unique feature when charging taxes in which Agencies will automatically be chosen on transactions based on the Customer Location. Below is a screenshot demonstrating how Tax Agencies appear and descriptions of what can be accomplished there. To set up Tax Agencies use the following steps below:

Company → Settings → Accounting → Tax → Agencies

A Tax Code import is useful for maintaining accuracy, efficiency, compliance, and consistency in financial and tax-related processes. It helps manage your tax obligations and financial data more effectively while reducing the potential for errors.

With this in mind, Striven has implemented a Tax Code Import feature. Users can upload Tax Codes into their Striven system using the Tax Code Import Tool found on the Tax Agencies List page.

Clicking on the Generate Sample File button on the Import page will allow you to select the columns you will need to import the Tax Codes properly. This will help when mapping the data in your import file to the corresponding fields in Striven.

Striven has a feature that will prevent users from selecting certain Tax Agencies when creating a new Sales Order or any A/R transaction, such as an Invoice, Credit Memo, or Sales Receipt. This feature is designed to flag a component Tax Agency as unselectable, as they are meant to be used internally within a Tax Group.

On the Tax Info page, there is an option for Do not allow to be selected individually with a checkbox to toggle the setting on/off. Next to the option is an Info icon explaining how the feature works.

Toggling this option on will only be effective going forward, and all existing transactions that use Tax Agencies that are flagged to not be used individually would not change and will continue to display with that configuration.

The following areas of the system will be affected by turning on this feature:

• Account Location Info Page:
  • If a Tax Agency is already designated and is then flagged to not be selected, it will continue to use that Agency setting.
  • If you create a new Location, a Tax Agency flagged to not allow selection would not even appear in the drop-down list as an option for selection.
• Sales Order Info Page (or any A/R transaction info page):
  • For an existing transaction or Sales Order, if the Tax Code used is one of those flagged to not be selected, it will still be attached to the transaction and will calculate the taxes according to that setting.
  • When copying existing transactions or createing a new Salse Order by selecting a Customer, if the Customer has the Ship To Location defaulted to a Location that has a flagged to not be selected Tax Code, that Tax Code will not be selected on the transaction. Instead, the default Tax Code will be selected.

Note: This feature is not applicable to Invoices or Credit Memos that are automatically generated by the nightly job or those that are configured to periodically recur.

This feature was built to lock Tax Agencies to prevent changes or additions being made to transactions prior to the lock date specified.

By navigating to Company → Settings → Accounting → Tax → Agencies, you can select the Tax Agency in your system you wish to lock. The locking option is located on the Sales Tax Info page for the Tax Agencies, noted by the Tax Paid Through Date. The Tax Paid Through Date must be a past date; it cannot be today’s date or any future date. Setting this date will determine the lock date so users can no longer make changes that affect the Sales Tax for that agency.

The exception would be for users that have the “Transactions Prior Closing Date – Edit” permission included in their User Role. Users with this permission will be given the choice to allow the changes to be made, whereas a user without the permission will be unable to save any changes or additional transactions that are prior to the Tax Paid Through Date.

Creating a New Invoice, Credit Memo, or Sales Receipt

If the user has the “Transactions Prior Closing Date – Edit” permission in their User Role and the transaction date is prior to the Tax Agency’s Tax Paid Through Date, Striven will display a popup confirmation message stating that the payment for the Tax Agency used has been paid through a certain date and asks if you wish to proceed.

If the user does not have the permission in their User Role and the transaction date is prior to the Tax Agency Tax Paid Through Date, Striven will present a popup error message notifying the user that the transaction date cannot be on or before the date of the Tax Agency’s Tax Paid Through Date. It will also not allow the user to create the transaction.

The same applies to editing existing transactions. If the user has the permission, they will get the same popup notification. If the user does not have the permission, the transaction will be un-editable for them.

Pay Tax Page

After the tax is paid, you will have the ability to set the Tax Paid Through Date directly from there by selecting the Tax Agencies you would like to update and save. This will save time and help avoid having to go to each Tax Info page individually and update the Tax Paid Through Date for the agencies that had Tax Payment checks created.

• Note: Specifying the Tax Paid Through Date for Tax Groups is not possible, so Striven will always take the latest Tax Paid Through Date specified for the component Tax Agencies.

Once you have your taxes set up and have begun creating Orders and transactions, you may want to have a view into your Tax Liability. With the Tax Liability Report, you will be able to see per Agency, how much of your transactions resulted in taxable and non-taxable sales on an Accrual or Cash basis.

Below is a screenshot of how the Tax Liability Report appears and descriptions of what can be accomplished there:

1. Search: The Search icon allows you to filter the report with the following filters:
   • Date Period: By default, this filter is set for Last Month.
   • Date Range
   • Tax Agency
   • Tax Code
   • Class
   • Report Basis: Allows you to choose a reporting basis of Accrual or Cash for this report. The default reporting basis of Accrual or Cash is based on the Tax Settings configured for your Company
2. Filters: Displays which filters are applied to the displayed report. These filters can be configured by clicking on the Search icon, or by selecting the Filter icon. This section also displays the number of results matching your filters that are displayed on the report.
3. Collapse All: Using the Collapse All option allows you to collapse every group displayed on the report. Once collapsed, the option will change to an Expand All button, which can be selected to expand the groups once more.
4. Export Options: Selecting the Export option will open a drop-down list allowing you to choose your preferred file type. The export options for the Tax Liability Report are currently Excel and PDF.
5. Report Details: The Tax Liability Report will have each Agency separated out into a group, which by default displays expanded to list the Tax Codes and their values.
   For each Agency, the report will display the gross amount, non-taxable, taxable, and total tax. By clicking on an amount within the report for one of these columns, you will be brought to a detail report to see what transactions make up the sum total. These detail reports can be exported to Excel and PDF.

   If Tax Adjustments have been recorded, the adjustments will be displayed separately within the report, and will only display a value within the Tax column.
   It is important to note that if a Tax percentage for a Tax Group changes over time, the value for each percentage will be displayed separately on the report.