Alpha Five for All Your Record Keeping Needs

by Sylvia Tobias

INTRODUCTION

I appreciated the article in the last issue entitled "The 8 Solutions of Highly Successful Businesses", by David McCormick. It gave me some ideas for convincing others that a database system is a viable way to keep records and something which would benefit them regardless of the type of business they run.

I was disappointed, however, with the author's statement that QuickBooks is the best way to do accounting and touting the fact that the information from one's database can be shared with that program through use of Qlinker.

ACCOUNTING WITH ALPHA 5

The beauty of using a database for record keeping is that it is utterly flexible. Alpha 5 includes the ability to do complex calculations as well as share information between databases. I keep track of income, expenses and depreciation as part of my own application. I also print checks and maintain a check register as well as generate income, expense, and depreciation listings. This is all I need for my consulting business. I give the income, expense, and depreciation listings to my accountant at tax time. He can then select the appropriate things to include in my tax return. For others I have created inventory management systems, sales, returns, production, etc. With the ability to set a posting rule for amounts to be added to a field in another database, it should be fairly easy to create categories of incomes and expenses in an accounts database and have the date and amounts from the other databases posted to the appropriate category. The accounts database could then be used to generate profit and loss statements as well as balance sheets.

For depreciation, I have a database for equipment and furnishings in which I keep all the general information about each item, including date of purchase, cost, serial and product numbers, warranty information etc. I also include the years and percentages for depreciation of that item. I then have fields for each year's depreciation percentage and amount. The amount is automatically calculated by multiplying the purchase price by the percentage for that year. I then have a report for each year which lists each item which can be depreciated for that year along with the original amount and that year's depreciation. Having the other information about each piece of equipment or furniture in the system is useful when you need to furnish a serial or model number for support or if something is stolen or destroyed. A report can also be generated to include this information for filing in a safe place.

CORRESPONDENCE

I have also created a letter/memo database which I use for writing individual, non-standard, letters to clients, vendors or contacts. I have an entry form into which I bring in the name and address from the appropriate database after clicking on one of the logical fields for the three different databases (contact, client, or vendor). I enter a salutation and complimentary close in their fields and type the body of the letter in a memo field. I created two types of letters (letter and memo) which bring in the different fields. . I also created an envelope format to print an envelope for the addressee. I then placed buttons on the form to print "letter" or print "memo" This is a quick and easy way to write a letter "on the fly".

CONCLUSION

Once again, you are limited only by your imagination in creating database systems with Alpha 5. The versatility of the program enables you to do all of your record keeping in one place - the most efficient and productive way of keeping track of and retrieving your information in a variety of ways.

About the Author:

Sylvia Tobias is an independent consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area who has been using Alpha 4 and Alpha 5 since 1990. She also heads the San Francisco Bay Area Alpha Software users group.