Converting Practice Masters from VAP to AP

Converting the VAP Practice Masters into AP

1. On a test client in Trust Accounts, go into VAP and make all the practice master pages local.
2. In Trust Accounts in Nominal Client Details, change the formatter from Viztopia to Accounts Prod.
3. Go into Accounts Formatting and convert the client to AP.
4. Usually the client already exists in Central and has Personal Tax. So you do not tick the client to import contacts (or Personnel and Addresses as they are known in VAP). But in other circumstances you may wish to import contacts.
5. The local pages are converted. If they have the same title as the CCH master pages they replace them. Pages with a different title appear at the end of the list.
6. In the example below, the user has used the CCH page codes and titles. But in AP in the CCH masters , CCH have changed the title of the Beneficiaries’ Income Account from “Beneficiaries’ Income Account (Max 5 Beneficiaries” to “Beneficiaries’ Income Account (Max 5 Beneficiaries)”, i.e. they have added the missing closing bracket. So the master page is not replaced by the converted local page and the converted local page appears at the end of the list. (CCH have also changed the code of the page from page9bi2 to page9bi, but that is not the reason why the local page has not replaced the CCH master.)

Copying the Converted Pages into AP Practice Masters

7. Now prepare the client to produce a set of accounts. Firstly, go into the Officers screen and tick the trustees who will sign the Trustees' Report. Also add any missing beneficiaries, settlors or trustees. (They could be missing because they did not need to be declared on the tax return and the contacts from VAP were not converted.)
8. Then select the Associated tab for the client in Central. Most contacts will already be there. But you may need to add the Accountant using the relationship  “has Auditor of”, as this relationship is not required for Personal Tax. Also if the Investment Manager is shown in the accounts then that may need to be added.
9. Create a new Trusts Master Pack using File > Maintenance > Accounts > Master Pack. Select Type as Trust and Entity as UK Trust. It will have version 1.01 and be flagged as not Published, i.e. you can change it.
10. Add the converted pages to the new Master Pack using File > Maintenance > Accounts > Format Designer. Select the UK Trust Entity. The CCH master pages are shown. Use the Add Format option to add in the converted pages from the client. (If Add Format is disabled, you probably have a Published Master Pack selected).
11. If a page with the same name as the converted page already exists in the CCH master pack, you see both the CCH version and your converted version. You can tell which is which by looking at the Master Pack and Document Version columns. The CCH page will be version 1.00 while the converted page will be 1.01. See below.

Customising the AP Practice Masters

12. Now customise the pages. First use Select Accounting Period to select the converted client’s latest accounting period. You can then open each page in turn and decide which version of the accounts page to use. If the user’s version was very close to the CCH master in VAP then it is recommended that the user takes the CCH master and customises it again for the practice. But if the user’s version was quite different, it is better to start from the converted page.

• If the CCH master is being customised, you can copy any useful customisation from the converted page. Cells may be copied in the usual way using Control-C and Control-V. The page can be previewed within Format Designer. It will show whatever client data was selected using Select Accounting Period.
• If the converted page is being customised, then changes can be made by checking the documentation or by copying from the CCH master.
• Either way, when the changes are complete, remove the unwanted version of the page using right click > Mark as Deleted.
• Check the pages are all in the right order in the list. To change the order, click Change Sequence in the Ribbon and then drag pages to the correct position.

13. After changing the master pages, any standard practice paragraphs can be tailored using File > Maintenance > Accounts > Paragraphs. The main paragraph that users change is “Trusts – Accountants’ Report – Opinion”.
14. Once the changes look correct at master level, they should be checked on a few clients. This is particularly important for page references as they cannot be viewed when individual pages are previewed in the Format Designer. To test the customised masters:

• Open a converted client in Central.
• You are asked whether you wish to upgrade from the Master Pack 1.00 to 1.01 (Draft). Answer Yes. The word, “(Draft)” means that the Master Pack has not yet been published and changes made to the practice masters in the Format Designer will continue to affect the client.
• To see the latest changes to the practice masters applied to the client, click Revert to Default. This warns you that your local pages will be removed.
• You can now run the practice masters to check them.

15. Note that the practice masters cannot be changed while in a client. Any change made at client level will create a local version of the page. To change the practice masters:

• Go back into Format Designer
• Make the change.
• Return to the client and select Revert to Default.
• You will then be able to see the effect of the change on the client on a full set of accounts.

16. Continue to run the draft practice masters for a reasonable period. When you are happy that they are correct, select File > Maintenance > Accounts > Publish. No further changes can then be made to that version of the Master Pack. If later changes are required, a new version of the Trusts Master Pack must be started.