Change History for 7.3

Posted on September 27, 2015 by rowan

MoneyWorks 7.3 is a significant update bringing user interface and performance improvements. This update is free for all registered users of MoneyWorks 7.

5 Oct 2015

Windows: DPI-Aware UI

  • The user interface is now System–DPI Aware: Windows are scaled to match the selected UI “text size” so that text is renderered sharply at all user interface scales (Windows are no longer pixel-scaled by the system).
  • The Windows UI has been flattened a little to fit in better with Windows 8 and 10.

Mac: 64-bit Cocoa app

The internal user-interface framework has been ported from the classic Mac/Carbon APIs to use the Cocoa framework.

  • 64-bit means access to more memory for better performance with very large data files (>2GB).
  • Cocoa Text system for data entry fields fully supports text transformations, speech, dictation, multi-level undo/redo, etc.
  • Core Text output for higher quality and slightly faster text rendering.
  • Faster initial launch and lower memory overhead on systems with no other 32-bit apps, due to not having to drag in 32-bit system libraries.
  • Resize windows from any edge (finally).
  • Smooth scrolling.
  • Retina display support—sharp text on Macs with Retina displays.
  • 64-bit operation is supported on Lion and later. MoneyWorks 7.3 will continue to execute in 32 bit mode with the Carbon framework on Snow Leopard.

El Capitan compatibility for Datacentre

You must update to version 7.3 before installing OS X 10.11 El Capitan on your Mac server (The El Capitan installer has a bug that will damage your Datacentre installation and prevent the normal software update from working; 7.3 has repair measures to autoatically fix problems caused by the El Capitan installer).

  • Unrelated to the El Capitan installer bug, versions of Datacentre prior to 7.3 are not compatible with the “rootless mode” of Mac OS X 10.11. In 7.3 the symbolic link to MoneyWorks Gold has moved from /usr/bin/ to /usr/local/bin/. This link is used internally by the server to start MoneyWorks CLI worker processes for serverside reporting, REST request processing, and various other tasks. If you have scripts that use the old symbolic link path, they will need to be updated.

Cloud/Internet performance improvements

  • Statements can now run on the server for orders of magnitude speed increase when running over an Internet connection. The caveat is that the fonts used on the statement form must be installed on the server. If your statement form uses special fonts only installed on your client, you will need to continue to have statements rendered by your client, otherwise statements will suffer font substitution.
    To enable server-side statement generation, you must set the “Run on server if possible” checkbox in the Form Options for the statement form.
  • Payments History optimised; now orders of magnitude faster when running over Internet connection.
  • Enquiry on a P&L account is now much much faster.
  • Purging is much faster, and may be interrupted by clicking Stop.
  • Sped up transaction entry window a bit more, especially with foreign currency transactions.

Script Editor improvements

  • 64-bit Mac version gets Scintilla-based script editor (as for Windows version):
    • Block indent/outdent (tab/shift-tab for selection)
    • Line numbers.
    • Unlimited script size.
    • Multi-level Undo/Redo.
  • Handler popup for easier navigation of large scripts.
  • Script control for reports now has syntax highlighting.
  • Added Copy Script as Styled HTML command to Scintilla script editor.

Increased some size limits

  • Report editor now supports reports with up to 30,000 parts.
  • Budget editor now supports unlimited number of ledger records without having to select a subset.
  • Up to 10,000 detail lines in a transaction.
  • Additional optimisations to improve performance with large data files.

Other improvements

  • New Privilege: Stocktake. Stocktakes were not previously protected by a privilege. Since this new prvilege will be off by default for existing users, it will need to be added for users who need it. Go to Sharing and Users and open each user who needs the Stocktake privilege and click the Stocktake checkbox under the Products heading.
  • Recurring transaction setup now picks up the date of the template transaction and syncs the start date to the day-of-month or day-of-week automtically. To have a start date that does not conform to the repetition rule, change the start date after changing the day of month/week. Recurring transactions and messages will now sync themselves to the intended day number if they were initially set up with a non-matching start date.
  • PDF output for forms now preserves the compression of images on Windows—when you email invoices and statements containing PNG or JPEG images, these images will retain their compression (resulting in a smaller PDF), provided that the images have 100% opacity. Additionally, on both Mac and Windows, form output with the same image repeated will result in smaller PDFs because the image will be stored only once in the PDF and referenced thereafter (this optimisation only happens for direct save to PDF, not from the Preview window).
  • Start menu items have been cleaned up: MoneyWorks is now just one icon link rather than a folder.
  • Improved scroll-wheel responsiveness on Windows, and we now respect the scroll speed preference in Control Panel.
  • Script runtime errors: now show line numbers in message and selects error line more reliably in editor.
  • New: GetLastErrorMessage() function returns last import error.
  • New: TableAccumulateColumn() function.
  • CreateTable() can now take an optional parameter to dimension the table.
  • Improved performance of Find Related ➝ Highlight with a large number of records to highlight.
  • ChooseFromList() fn: Window is now resizable.
  • Mac Shift-⌘-H for Payments History conflicted with key equiv for Hold in transactions, so has been changed to opt-shift-⌘-H.
  • Drag scrolling of lists is accelerated according to distance mouse is outside list bounds.
  • Navigator Extras folder is now in Signing list to facilitate signing of custom navigator panels.
  • Stock Journals: Stockcode field made bigger.
  • Script editor log display now autoreloads (Windows).
  • Improved file compression performance slightly.
  • Script mail() function may now be used with no attachment.
  • DisplaySelection() function now has an optional 3rd parameter: pass 1 to highlight results rather than making found set.
  • Removed conflicting keyboard equivalent on Contra command.
  • Report generation is more responsive to cancel button.
  • Currency conversions now use the rate for today’s date (in case periods have been opened in advance).
  • Improved alignment for parenthesis-negative integer values in reports.
  • Windows Script Editor now implements Find/Find Selected.
  • ReplaceField() function no longer clears the highlighted selection of associated list.
  • Searching long text fields (e.g. description) now always searches the entire text.
  • Export Script as XML: Now exports the current text even if the script has not yet been compiled and activated.
  • CLI no longer treats blank line input as “unknown command”.
  • Email attachments are cleaned up immediately, and backups downloaded from server no longer accumulate files on the server.
  • Balance Sheet view in Accounts list now includes Shareholders’ funds accounts.
  • Drilling down to a related record for a code (e.g. from the Customer code in a transaction) now only does a relookup of the customer information if you click OK for the customer record while the code field is still the active field in the transaction (likewise from products, accounts, jobs). Since drill down became modeless in v6, a relookup was always being forced regardless of any changes having been made. If you change the colour of the related record, that will be reflected immediately in the drill down arrow before you even tab out of the field.
  • Gain/loss adjustment journals against bank delta are now purgeable.
  • Change Password is disabled for MoneyWorks Now logins (document passwords should not be changeable for MoneyWorks Now users).
  • Faster list opening when sorted by extremely compute-intensive calculated column.
  • SetBudget(), SuggestNameCode(), and SyncTransactionImage() now available in MWScript.
  • Updated Stock History report.
  • Updated Malaysia GST report.
  • Updated Executive Summary report.
  • Statement of Cash Flows report: Required for Malaysia.
  • UK VAT Report: Amended for Flat Rate Scheme.
  • Sorting by a calculated column where the calculation is very time consuming (such as a SumSelection) will now time-out after 5 seconds, rather than locking up the server. If you absolutely need such a sort, consider using Advanced Replace or ReplaceField() to store the values in a user/custom field and then sort that.
  • Upgraded security of SSL connections
    • TLS is now enabled (previous versions were forcing SSLv3)
    • There is now an option to disable SSLv3 and use only TLS, but this may only be used if connecting clients have already updated to v7.3 or later.
    • Now using openssl 1.0.2d on both Mac and Windows.

Bugs fixed

  • Windows PDF now supports proper decimal alignment.
  • Fixed occasional double execution of script Load handlers on startup.
  • Improper use of IntersectSelection() et al in a search expression is now flagged as an error rather than crashing or hanging.
  • Find by Formula in budget and balance editor no longer limits search to a previous search result.
  • Text output is no longer inappropriately scaled due to display resolution setting (Windows).
  • Optimised and corrected some issues with date calculations and DayOfWeek() function on 64-bit Mac server.
  • Forms designer: Fixed cosmetic issues with editing a zoomed out list object.
  • Windows colour picker Hue label displays correctly.
  • Gold server reliability improved when multiple network clients are doing progressive searches.
  • Double-clicking title bar to zoom window in 32 bit version on Mavericks and later now properly resizes window content.
  • Fixed incorrect heading on gst finalise dialog.
  • Fixed highlighting of underpaid invoices in receipting dialog.
  • Fixed error when using Shift-enter in modify transaction selection.
  • Chart by month no longer outputs bad xml if month name is non-ASCII.
  • Windows PDF generation from preview no longer loses euro symbols and treats intra-field linefeeds properly.
  • Fixed misaligned syntax colouring on Scintilla when there are multibyte chars in the script.
  • Single quote ( ‘ ) in recipient’s name no longer breaks emailing.
  • Single quote ( ‘ ) in file name no longer breaks server-side backup.
  • Payments History now clears notes window when you change Name code
  • Fixed some memory leaks.
  • Fixed some code signing issues on Mac DC.
  • Prompt Payment Discount calculation no longer goes wonky when there are no discountable accounts on the transaction.
  • A failed XML transaction import with posting is now cleaned up properly, and database is unlocked immediately after success.
  • Receipt/Pay this Invoice now displays local currency equivalent.
  • Receipt/Pay this Invoice: fixed potential crash.
  • Reports: Custom Number controls no longer get rounded to 2 decimal places.
  • Posting foreign currency transactions with loss/gain in local file no longer loses progress display.
  • Foreign currency gain/loss adjustments due to rate fluctuations should no longer get “currency delta” errors.
  • Ctrl-shift Esc (for task manager on Windows) no longer passes through the Esc to MoneyWorks, which could cancel the current operation (such as a report being generated).
  • Improved cache sizing to prevent memory errors with large files when running in 32-bit mode.
  • Fixed Bonjour incorrect advertising for Web apps on Windows Datacentre.
  • Windows Datacentre Console now quits reliably via Taskbar ➝ Close Window.
  • Option to restart Datacentre service at midnight (only via manual config file edit).
  • Option to oberride SSL cipher selection (only via manual config file edit).
  • Fixed missing “View” toolbar icon when in read-only mode.
  • Mad Mac email autofill from address book more reliable.
  • AddStatementTransaction fixed sign of splait allocation.
  • MWScript fixed potential crash in foreach in textfile with empty name.
  • Fixed potential crash when adding custom calculated column.

Removed

  • Mac 64-bit: Applescript terminology used by Helper scripts no longer supported. Use MWScript scripts to customise and extend application functionality. The core scripting API (open/import/export/evaluate/doreport) is still supported by Applescript as well as CLI and COM. If you need Applescript Helper support, it is currently still available when running in 32-bit mode, although the dictionary has been removed so developing new scripts is not possible.

How to run Mac MoneyWorks in 32-bit mode on Lion and later.
If you need to run in 32-bit mode to continue to use the features that are not in the 64-bit Cocoa version, select the MoneyWorks application in the Finder and choose File ➝ Get Info. In the Info panel, select “Open in 32-bit mode”

Other changes to be aware of

  • The Datacentre daily backup file names changed slightly, so older backups will not be overwritten, resulting in an increase in the size of the Backups directory. If your server is storage-contrained, you will need to delete the older backups manually.

OS version End-of-life

While MoneyWorks 7.3 still supports the following obsolete OS versions, please note that support for these OS versions will end soon.

  • Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard
  • Windows XP
  • Windows Server 2003
Posted in Change History | Comments Off on Change History for 7.3

Moving to MoneyWorks from QuickBooks

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Grant Cowie

There are many and varied versions of Quickbooks so these are guidelines only. A full and very detailed guide to migrating from Quickbooks to MoneyWorks is available on request. It may be worth reading the first section of this document which explains how to tidy up your Quickbooks file before migration.

Provided you can export data from Quickbooks you can import it into MoneyWorks, although you may need to pass it through something like Excel to remove any extraneous data. You should find an Export or Excel button in some versions of Quickbooks in Items list at the bottom, and in the Customer Centre the Excel button at the top.

Exporting from QuickBooks

To export a QuickBooks report to Excel, click the Excel button at the top of the report, then choose Create New Worksheet. If you choose Create a comma separated values (.csv) file in the Send Report to Excel, Quickbooks will make a much cleaner text file (devoid of the formatting) direct to your hard drive. You can then open it in Excel (or a text editor) to view its layout.

If you do not have the Excel button you can usually use the Quickbooks export facility to export Customers, Suppliers, Products and the Chart of accounts into tab-delimited txt files or an IFF file (use File>Utilities>Export>Lists to IIF Files…). If using IIF files, you need to remove a number of rows of gibberish code (used to communicate with other Intuit apps), so that you are left with just the columns of actual data, which you can then save as tab-delimited. The gibberish IFF tags are at both the beginning and the end of the file. You can open the .iif file in Excel by right-clicking on it and choosing Open in Excel.

Transferring the Chart of Accounts

If you want to import your old chart of accounts, you will need to massage the one exported from Quickbooks into the correct columns (use a spreadsheet for this). Note however that in general QuickBooks doesn’t use account codes, so you will need to add a column for these. The information required is at Importing your Chart of Accounts. However you may want to set up again to take advantage of some of the more sophisticated features of the MoneyWorks account structure.

Transferring your Contact Information

To export your contact details, it is probably easiest to use Customer Contact List report (under Reports>Customers & Receivables). Use the Modify Report or Customize Report button to add the additional information that you need (in the Display tab), then send the report to Excel. You will need to repeat this for your suppliers (vendors).

To manually import the contacts, use the MoneyWorks File>Import>Names command (or copy and paste the block of text from Excel into the MoneyWorks Names list). You will need set the File Format to Merge file, and manually align the MoneyWorks fields to those in the CSV file. Note that you should set the MoneyWorks customerType field to 2 for your debtors, and the supplierType field to 2 for your creditors. Set the Code field to work-it-out and MoneyWorks will automatically assign a unique code for each customer/supplier as QuickBooks does not seem to have a unique name code.

Transferring AP/AR Balances

To import your opening AR/AP balances, you should be able to use the MoneyWorks AR/AP import script. Save the A/R Aging Summary and the A/P Aging Summary reports from Quickbooks as text files, then run the script. Make sure the reports are “collapsed”, so they just show the totals for each customer (and not the outstanding invoices).

Items and Inventory

To import your items, use the MoneyWorks file>Import>Items command. Again set the File Format to Merge file, and manually align the MoneyWorks fields to those in the tab delimited (or CSV) file.

Alternatively (and easier) run the Inventory valuation summary report from QuickBooks, and use the MoneyWorks stock Import Script. This enables you to easily import the basic stock information (codes, descriptions, prices), and also the inventory count and valuation.

Posted in FAQ, File Conversion | Comments Off on Moving to MoneyWorks from QuickBooks

Importing your items and inventory

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Grant Cowie

We’ve made a available a MoneyWorks script that will make the setting up of your items and inventory easier when creating a new MoneyWorks file.

If you can extract your item list, stock count and valuation from your old system in a sensible format (and this is no mean task for some legacy accounting systems), then this script will be useful. It runs in two passes, so you can use it to import all your items, or just your opening stock balances:

1. Bring in your items list: This is the item codes, description, prices etc.
2. Import your opening stock count and valuation.

Basically the script will read a structured, tab-delimited text file (which is one of the Saving options in Excel), and import the items and stock values. You just need to tell it which columns contain the data. If the report contains page headings, which most accounting reports do, you can tell the script how to identify and skip these.

The script requires MoneyWorks Gold/Datacentre 7.2 or later to run on.

To download the script and documentation, click the link below. The download is a zip file (so you will need to decompress it) that contains a pdf of the instructions and a file OpenStock.mwxml—double-clicking the latter will install it into the currently open MoneyWorks file. You should read the instructions before you install the script.

     Download OpenStock.zip

Note: If you want to the run the script from more than one MoneyWorks file, you will need to install it into each one separately.

Posted in FAQ, File Conversion, Scripts | Comments Off on Importing your items and inventory

Moving from Xero

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Grant Cowie

Because Xero is purely cloud based, you don’t have the same access to your data as you do on a traditional system hosted on a computer under your control. This limits the type of data that you can extract.

Fortunately however, Xero does offer some limited export capabilities, either to Excel or as a CSV file. An overview of the exporting from Xero is to be found on their export page.

  • Chart of accounts (if you want to use the same structure)
  • Contacts
  • Aged Receivables Summary (without transactions)
  • Aged Payables Summary (without transactions)
  • Inventory Items

If you want to import your old chart of accounts, you will need to massage the one exported from Xero into the correct columns (use a spreadsheet for this). The information required is in the MoneyWorks Manual (Importing your Chart of Accounts on page G-363). However you may want to set up again to take advantage of some of the more sophisticated features of the MoneyWorks account structure.

To import the contacts, use the MoneyWorks File>Import>Names command. You will need set the File Format to Merge file, and manually align the MoneyWorks fields to those in the CSV file. Note that you should set the MoneyWorks customerType field to 2 for your debtors, and the supplierType field to 2 for your creditors. If you set the Code field to work-it-out, MoneyWorks will automatically assign a unique code for each customer/supplier.

To import your opening AR/AP balances, you should be able to use the MoneyWorks AR/AP import scripts, against the previously exported Aged Payables and Aged Receivables summaries. If you leave the code column as zero in the settings, MoneyWorks will match the customer/supplier name against the new code in the previously imported contacts to correctly assign the balances.

To import your items, you can use the MoneyWorks file>Import>Items command. Again set the File Format to Merge file, and manually align the MoneyWorks fields to those in the CSV file. However it is easier to the OpenStock script, which can also bring in your inventory count and value.

Posted in FAQ, File Conversion | Comments Off on Moving from Xero

Importing Q & A

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Grant Cowie


MoneyWorks has extensive and very powerful importing capabilities, allowing you to import almost any data. Below are some of the common questions we get about importing. Note that technical details are in the MoneyWorks manual, which you can search here

How do I import data into MoneyWorks?

The standard way to import data is to choose Import from the File menu, then select the type of data you want to import (Accounts, Transactions, Customers etc). You will then be asked to locate the text file that contains the data.

Alternatively you can just highlight a block of text in a spreadsheet or text editor, and copy it, then display the appropriate list in MoneyWorks and paste it.

What sort of data can I import?

You can import almost any data, including your chart of accounts, budgets, customer/supplier, products, transactions and job information. You can also update existing information (for example, if you get a new price list from a supplier).

MoneyWorks will always check the data being imported, and will discard any information that has errors. For most imports you have the option of rejecting the entire import file if any errors are found, or just the records that are in error (which are written to a new file so they can be identified and corrected).

What form does the data need to be in?

The information can be sourced from other applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, databases or even other accounting programs (provided they have an export capability). It can be simple text (csv or tab delimited), or xml.

What data do I need?

You can only import the data that you have. MoneyWorks has a lot of data fields in its various tables, and a common mistake is to export out some MoneyWorks data and then assume that MoneyWorks needs all of those fields. It doesn’t!

So take just the data that you have (which must be in a CSV or tab delimited text file unless you are copy/pasting).

What order should my fields be in?

Almost any order. The first step in importing data is to align the MoneyWorks fields with your actual data using the Import field order window. This is described in the MoneyWorks Manual, but basically you drag the MoneyWorks fields up and down so they align with your fields. The important thing is that the data must have a consistent structure (for example, if the third column of your data contains say an email address, then all rows must have the email address in the third column).

What is the purpose of the Import Field Order window?

This is where you align the MoneyWorks fields with the data that you are importing, and also supply any missing data. Simply drag the fields in the Destination Field column up or down so they match the equivalent field in the data you are importing. The arrow in the middle column indicates that you are transferring the data on the left into the destination field on the right. If you don’t want to import some of your data, click on the arrow to turn it off. For a description of the MoneyWorks fields, see the Appendix to the MoneyWorks manual.

When you have got all your fields aligned, click the OK button and MoneyWorks will check the data, and, if the data is OK, it will offer to import it. If there are errors in the data (maybe a transaction doesn’t add up, or some required data is not specified), these will be displayed and you need to correct them (either in the Field Order window, by clicking the back button, or in the data file itself). The possible errors are described in the Export/Import section of the MoneyWorks manual.

MoneyWorks seems to want data that I don’t have.

It doesn’t matter, the MoneyWorks import process can provide the data, so long as you tell it. For example, when you are importing new customers you need to set the customerType field to “2” if you want to be able to invoice them. You could do this by manipulating the data in a spreadsheet and adding a whole column with value “2”, but it much easier is to have MoneyWorks provide this. Just double-click on the <= icon in the right hand column, and a window opens where you can supply the value (or calculation) to that field. In the example of the customer type, we would put 2 into the Use Value field.

How do I update existing data?

You can update existing customer/suppliers/items etc by clicking the Options button in the Import Field Order dialog and turning the Update if Exists option. If the data that you are importing already exists in MoneyWorks (identified by the code field), the existing data will be updated. If it doesn’t, a new record will be created.

Will I have to align my data every time I do an import?

No, MoneyWorks remembers the last order you used, so it is ready for next time. But you might want to save it with its own name, just in case someone fiddles with it later—simply click the Save button to save your alignment (technically referred to as an Import Map) with your own preferred name. You can retrieve it by clicking on the Arrows next to load button. You will definitely want to save the map if you are switching between data sources for imports (e.g. loading price books from different suppliers).

What is XML?

XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language, and it is basically text that contains not only the data elements, but also tags that define what the data is. You can import XML data into MoneyWorks using the Import>File>XML command, or by just copying and pasting. The key difference with XML is that you don’t need to align the fields, as that information is in the data file itself as “tags”, with the tag value being the name of the target MoneyWorks field. For more information on the MoneyWorks XML data format, refer to the MoneyWorks XML article

Posted in FAQ, File Conversion | Comments Off on Importing Q & A

Importing your Opening Receivables and Payables

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Grant Cowie

One of the time-consuming tasks in changing to a new accounting system is getting your opening receivables and payables entered. It is made harder because some systems do not let you export this information in a sensible format (so even MoneyWorks’ powerful importing can’t just re-import it).

However most systems do have some sort of Receivables and Payables report, probably with ageing. If the report is well structured and you can get it into Excel or a similar spreadsheet, then the OpeningARAP MoneyWorks script might be useful.

Basically the script will read a structured, tab-delimited text file (which is one of the Saving options in Excel), and import the customer or supplier balances. You just need to tell it which columns contain the data. If the report contains page headings, which most accounting reports do, you can tell the script how to identify and skip these.

The script requires MoneyWorks Gold/Datacentre 7.2 or later to run on.

To download the script and documentation, click the link below. The download is a zip file (so you will need to decompress it) that contains a pdf of the instructions and a file OpeningARAP.mwxml—double-clicking the latter will install it into the currently open MoneyWorks file. You should read the instructions before you install the script.

     Download OpeningARAP.zip

Note: If you want to the run the script from more than one MoneyWorks file, you will need to install it into each one separately.

Posted in FAQ, File Conversion, Scripts | Comments Off on Importing your Opening Receivables and Payables

Converting to MoneyWorks

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Grant Cowie

Converting to MoneyWorks is not hard, but it does need to be done correctly. In essence you want a snapshot of your existing business at a point in time, and it is this snapshot that you take into MoneyWorks. If you are a new business with no history, this is almost trivial. But if you are switching from another system, it is slightly more complicated. The hardest bit can be getting the appropriate data for the snapshot out of your legacy system.

The first thing to do is to decide on a swap-over date. The end of the financial year is often good (because you have to have that snapshot for your end-of-year financials), but in fact you can switch over at any point, normally the end of a trading month. In fact given that there are often other issues that you need to address at year-end, changing part way through a year can be simpler. If you are not on a monthly GST/VAT/HST/Tax cycle, then it is a good idea to coordinate the swap-over with the end of your tax cycle. Note however that it is quite feasible (and not that uncommon) for users to switch mid month — the steps are exactly the same.

The aim is to ensure that closing balances from the old system match the opening balances in MoneyWorks. This is for both the general ledger and things like receivables, payables, inventory levels and valuations. If your old system is in a real mess with unreliable values, then you might just want to start afresh, but you will need to account for the differences to keep the tax people happy, so you should talk to your accountant about this.

What you need from your old system

  • Your customer and supplier details, and their balances as at the swap-over date
  • If you sell items, your item list and pricing
  • If you run inventory, your stock count and value
  • If you do manufacturing, your bills of material
  • A list of your unpresented payments and receipts
  • If you do order processing, your outstanding orders and quotes
  • Your general ledger accounts list and balances

How and if and in what form you can extract this information depends entirely on your existing system (and in most cases we can’t help you). But assuming you can get the information out, and from some “accounting systems” that is by no means a given), here’s what you need do.

Customer/Supplier information and balances

Your customer and supplier list (names, addresses etc) probably form the bulk of your data. In the absolute worst case scenario, if you are moving from a really decrepit system, you might have to print this out and rekey it into MoneyWorks. Hopefully though you will be able to export it and get it into a spreadsheet, where you can manipulate it and then import or just paste into MoneyWorks.

Most accounting systems (and MoneyWorks is no exception) require a code to uniquely identify a customer or supplier. If you are using one that doesn’t (and MYOB is one, which is one reason why MYOB users get so many duplicated customer entries), you can define a column in your spreadsheet and enter your code, or have MoneyWorks generate one automatically when you import the data.

In terms of your spreadsheet, it should be well formed (i.e. the same sort of data in every column and every row, with no gaps or report column headings appearing part way through the rows). In effect you need a column per datum (e.g. customer name, customer address line 1, customer postcode, and so on), and a row per record (so each customer is contained within one row).

Because of timing differences, you might not have the customer and supplier balances available when you set up the customer/supplier list in MoneyWorks. It is a good idea to get the customer/supplier list into MoneyWorks before the swap-over date, but you won’t know your customer/supplier balances until some time later. The balances need to be entered as invoices (check the Getting Started section of the MoneyWorks Manual for reasons for this).

If you can export your receivables/payables data as a report (for example, an Aged Receivables report), then you should be able to that information into MoneyWorks using the free OpenARAP script.

Product/Item Information

Your product list (if you have one, not everyone deals with products) can also be substantial; tradesmen for example routinely deal with over 50,000 items. Hopefully you can export it from your old system and get it into a spreadsheet, where once again you can manipulate it and then import (or copy/paste) into MoneyWorks.

If you are running inventory, then you need to bring the inventory counts and valuations as recorded in your old system into MoneyWorks. It may not be possible to export this information directly, but you should be able to run some sort of stock valuation report. If you can get the information out in a structured form, you should be able to get the product details, stock count and value into MoneyWorks using the free OpenStock script.

Bills of Material

Your bill of materials is essentially a list of components and quantities (including potentially labour) that are used to assemble/manufacture an item. If you have this list, you can use this handy script to import it into MoneyWorks (after the product information has been imported).

Unpresented items

These are cheques you have sent that have not yet been cleared by the bank (normally because the recipient hasn’t got around to banking it), plus any funds that you have received that you haven’t got around to banking. These need to be entered in part because at some point they will be presented, and its easier to have them there ready to tick off, but also for accounting reasons. These unpresented items are coded differently to normally deposits, as outlined in the Getting Started section of the MoneyWorks Manual.

Outstanding Orders and Quotes

If you have any outstanding orders or quotes, you will need these in MoneyWorks so they can be followed up. Although you can import these, it is probably easier just to re-key them into MoneyWorks.

General Ledger Accounts and Balances

The chart of accounts and general ledger is the heart of any accounting system. MoneyWorks has a very powerful, free-form chart of accounts structure, so you can probably just use whatever your coding structure was in your old system (or you might just adopt one of the built-in templates that are in MoneyWorks). If you can export your accounts list from your old system, you can import it into MoneyWorks, but it does need to be in a specific structure (described in the Exporting and Importing chapter of the MoneyWorks Manual), so you will have to massage it in a spreadsheet.

The actual general ledger balances as at the swap over date might not be available for some time, especially if you are waiting for the final year-end results from your accountant. This doesn’t matter, as you can enter them months or even years later. It is normally easiest just to journal these in—again this is covered in the Getting Started section of the manual.

In summary, conversion is not hard but you do need to be methodical and well organised. A lot depends on the quality and accessibility of the data in your old accounting system. If you have some skills with manipulating data in a spreadsheet, that can be helpful. Also remember that you can get your accountant or a MoneyWorks consultant to assist.

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Change History for 7.2

Posted on March 17, 2015 by rowan

MoneyWorks 7.2 March 2015

All

  • Fixed crash caused by long analysis filenames.
  • Housekeeping Navigator panel now has a heading for the data section.
  • Updated BAS guide for Australia (for 49% tax withheld).
  • Transaction.Flag is now included in fulltext search.
  • Bank account next payment reference number now enforces field length on entry.
  • Updated 1099 Form: incorrect instructions on form.
  • Updated Trial Balance report: Not printing detail.description correctly.

Gold

  • Changing view in Jobsheet list now clears the search box.
  • Exporting item records: Buy price field is now actual last buy price (used to be base currency stock unit cost price).
  • New script function ImportImage(tablename, key, path)
    • tablename is “transaction” or “product”
    • key is sequencenumber for a transaction or product code for a product
    • path is the filesystem path to the image file to import and attach to the record
  • Authenticate(user, password, privilege) function now tests privileges for the requested user, rather than the currently logged-in user.
  • Deposits on Order: fixed a rounding issue.
  • Fixed Debtor Terms display (if added via custom column) in Names list (was not displaying as signed on high latency connection).
  • Batch Creditor Payments: Fixed Outstanding column display on high latency connection.
  • Updated Job Detailed report.
  • Updated Reorder list report.
  • MWScript: Fixed crash on reference to uninstantiated array.
  • MWScript: Fixed crash when executing DoForm() followed by External().
  • Sanitise filenames for temp files that use window title as a base (caused, e.g., print to Excel to fail for windows with a script indicator in title)..
  • Find related Job from Accounts list: fixed crash.
  • Deleting departmentalised account: merge window on Windows now shows department options.

Datacentre

  • Additional MoneyWorks Now™ support.
  • Upload All plugins no longer removes the Pictures folders on the server.
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What’s with the blurry display on my Retina Macbook Pro?

Posted on January 8, 2015 by rowan

MoneyWorks 7.2 and earlier did not support “Retina” display mode on the Mac.

For retina text rendering, please update to MoneyWorks 7.3 or later.

Also, for best results, make sure that your Mac is set to its native display resolution (“Best for Retina Display”) rather than one of the “scaled” modes.

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Change History for 7.1.9

Posted on December 15, 2014 by rowan

December 2014

  • Datacentre: Fix race condition in temp file creation (Windows)
  • Cosmetic fix in Period maint dialog
  • Datacentre: Sales Enquiry Value column no longer includes GST when enquiry runs on server
  • Updated BAS Guide (Aus)
  • Fix possible circumvention of Select Filters privilege in choices
  • Datacentre: Serverside Import on Mac: Error condition is now returned from AppleEvent if a data error occurs
  • Datacentre: Colour now shows in Choices windows on high latency networks
  • Outstanding Column in Payables/Receivables: fixed decimal display
  • Windows: Allow files to grow beyond 2GB
  • Mac: fix SMTP with SSL on Yosemite
  • Report editor: parts with breakspecs now display as such (v7.0 regression)
  • Applescript do report to pd: fixed
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