Changing Nominal Codes Globally
This topic describes how to change the nominal chart for all clients to a new master chart of accounts. The approach is to change the nominal codes in the master chart from an 'Old Standard' to a 'New Standard' by going through the codes currently in use and changing them to the new codes. There is no need to change nominal codes one by one at client level. The changes made at master chart level automatically update all client codes. The whole process usually takes about a day with no other users able to use the system.
Options Used to Perform the Conversion
Several functions are used within Trust Accounts to move to the New Standard.
- Editing the Account Code If an account code is edited in the master chart it is changed automatically for every client in the class that uses it. Also all references to the account code are automatically changed if, for instance, it has been used on entries or as a posting account on an investment account.
- Deleting an Account from the Master Chart You cannot delete an account from the master chart if it exists on a client. Trying to do so displays a warning message which contains the name of the first client using that account. (To get a complete list of all clients with the account you would need to use Transaction Reporter, if you have that module, or use the Global Nominal Ledger Report and tick Show unused a/cs. The Global Nominal Ledger Report can be found under Reports > Nominal Ledgers > Global Nominal Ledger Report).
- Deleting an Account from the Master Chart and All Clients However if you want to delete an account from all clients, and if it has no balances or entries, then this can be done using the option Global Delete. Global Delete only deletes an account from a client if it is safe to do so. To find Global Delete select Activities > Common/Shared Data > Client Classes, select the Old Standard chart, then Master Chart > Other > Global Delete.
- Remapping and Deleting Accounts Sometimes it is desirable to simplify the master chart of accounts. For instance in the past multiple accounts might have been used for Dividends when only one account is now needed. To remove the unwanted dividend accounts even if they are still in use on some clients:
- Select Global Delete as above.
- Click on the Remap A/c References If In Use checkbox.
- Select the unwanted dividend accounts for deletion (e.g. ‘Dividends 2’, ‘Dividends 3’).
- For each account being deleted specify ‘Dividends 1’ as the replacement account.
- Click Select clients to select all clients in the class and then click the Include Master Chart checkbox.
- Click OK and the unwanted accounts are deleted. If they had entries or other references, these are moved to Dividends 1. If they had balances, these are also added to Dividends 1.
- MultiCode Edit This option is used where a series of accounts need to be edited. The user selects a range of accounts and the program takes the user into each code successively to edit the code to the new code. There is also an option that allows a block of accounts to be moved to a new range without the user needing to type in each new account number. The Multicode Edit is found on the same menu as the Global Delete.
- Change code length This option is used when the Old Standard Chart has a different code length to the new one. It is found on the same menu as the Global Delete. The option always lets you make the code length longer, which it does by adding zeroes on to the end of each code. But it will not always let you make them shorter. For instance, suppose you have a 5-digit chart and want to move to a 4-digit chart. If you have 2 codes, 10110 and 10111, you will not be able to use Change code length as both codes would end up as 1011. There are two solutions to this:
- Use the method given in Remapping and Deleting Accounts to merge 10110 and 10111 into a single nominal code, before using Change Code Length.
- Manually edit code 10111 to a different code as described in Editing the Account Code. This is usually done by editing every code in the chart to end with a zero so that the codes will still be unique after reducing the code length. If you edit 10111 to 10120 then Change Code Length will be able to change 10110 to 1011 and 10120 to 1012. This way you preserve the degree of detail in the original chart.
The Conversion
- Take a back-up of the Trust Accounts data
- Print out the old chart. Against each code write what is to happen to it i.e. a) Delete it (if not in use), b) Map it to a new code, c) Remap it to an existing code (where 2 codes are in use in the old chart and one in the new chart. See below).
- If any codes are required that don't exist in the new chart then make a note of them. When choosing new codes, check that they are in the correct place for the accounts pages to work.
- Delete all unused codes from the old chart. Use the Global Delete option and select to delete all codes. Only the codes that are not in use are deleted.
- Re-map where 2 codes are in use in the old chart and one in the new chart by using the Global Delete option with the option to Remap codes selected. At this stage all the codes are still those of the old chart.
- Edit codes to new codes. The Multicode edit can speed this up. Where there is no new code, use the code noted down above.
- There are 2 approaches that could be followed next to add any extra accounts that may be needed in the future.
- Approach 1 - Completing the New Chart Manually This approach is used if no import file for the New Standard is available.
- Manually create any further nominals that may be required. This completes the conversion.
- Approach 2 – Importing the New Chart This approach is used if an import file for the New Standard is available and is quicker than Approach 1. Users usually need some assistance from CCH Software Support doing this.
- Use Edit Client Class to change the client class number to match the client class number in the import file.
- Import the New Standard import file. This fills in any gaps where the new chart contains some codes that don't exist in the old chart. On importing, select Duplicate records to be Updated. This changes the old account descriptions to the New Standard descriptions in the Master Chart.
- Check out a few clients. This involves checking the trial balances and ideally includes producing the accounts if the accounts pages are available.
- If OK then continue then this completes the conversion.
- Approach 1 - Completing the New Chart Manually This approach is used if no import file for the New Standard is available.
Notes
- The above steps assume the old code length is the same as the new one. If it is not, then before the step Edit codes to new codes, use the option Change Code Length to change the code length to that of the new chart.
- Further information on changing the nominal chart is given here.