Accounting Setup

What is XETEX Xebra?

XETEX Xebra is a work-flow processing software that accomplishes all of the necessary accounting functions in the background. Operators perform order entry, invoicing, and accounts payable functions without concerning themselves with the accounting.

Typical general accounting software is driven by the general ledger. Often the operators are required to start with the accounting function and get some help with the tasks they are trying to accomplish. Xebra is driven by the tasks that need to be performed. As those tasks are performed, the program takes care of any accounting functions needed to properly reflect them in the general ledger.

The other aspect of general accounting software is that it generally provides all management reporting based on the general ledger. People sometimes look at our financial reporting and have a reaction that it does not contain enough detail for them to run the company. This is a very valid observation. Xebra financial reporting is designed to report financial information. Sales management and operational control are provided by other management reports that do not rely on the general ledger. If you are used to looking at your financial reports and seeing everything, you are going to have to adjust your thinking with Xebra. Section 7 of this manual provides a management report overview. The most pressing reason for separating management and financial reporting is that management reporting is most effective when it is based on order entry.

Charlie Hickey, the founder of XETEX, tells a story about being in a room for a sales meeting. The owner of the distributorship used his cash basis financial reports to critique the performance of each sales rep. The report he was using was brand new, but he was critiquing the reps on what they sold two months before. Even if the sales reps responded immediately, the owner would not see a change in the reports until the items being sold were produced, invoiced and paid for by the customer. The reps were being chastised for what they did two month earlier and results of the discussion would not be seen for another two months.

Sales management based on order entry is much more effective. “Based on your orders from last week, you are selling too much low margin product.” If the sales rep gets the message, the order reports for the following week will show the response. General accounting systems provide very limited information on orders that were booked. If you pay attention to order entry, the cash receipts will take care of themselves.

Error corrections are difficult to accomplish with most general accounting software packages and often require making debits and credits. With XETEX Xebra, mistakes within the current accounting period can be corrected without regard for the accounting. If the price on a job is wrong, the operator only needs to fix the price and Xebra will take care of the accounting.

XETEX Xebra is date driven. There is no need to close one accounting period to begin working in the next. There is no need to post or commit information on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. There is no need to delay invoicing at the beginning of a new month because there are still entries to be made for the prior month.

When all work is completed for an accounting period, the bookkeeper goes through a procedure to verify the accounting information for the month. There is no rush to do this. We recommend waiting until the bank statements for the month have been received and reconciled. This way any fees or automatic withdrawals can be posted to the correct month. Any errors found can be corrected in the source data. The posting to the general ledger will reflect any changes made.

It is important to understand that the approach to Xebra accounting is a little different than what you may be used to. The financial reporting is good but does lack the detail that may be on some general accounting software. This isn’t because the information is not available. It is because the information is available on management reports that are more effective. A good example is general ledger codes for different product categories and general ledger codes for sales for each sales representative. Neither of these is necessary with XETEX Xebra. Management reporting gives you the details of orders by product category without the need for separate GL accounts for each category. The commission reporting and sales analysis reports also let you sort and select by sales representative. For your financial records, all the general ledger really needs to know is that you sold something.

Xebra is going to be different, not only in the accounting, but in everything else. We recently did a survey of our customers. It was either love or hate as far as accounting was concerned. Customers either took time to praise our accounting concept or to criticize it harshly. The only difference that we could find between the extremes was customer attitude. If you try to use Xebra like your previous software, you will be disappointed. If you take the time to understand Xebra you will find it superior.