Lesson 53-- Calculators

Calculators fetch a value or a list of values from accounts, lists or transactions. Use them when you want to show a single value or a short list of items, for financial reports in Goldenseal accounting software. Calculators can also add multiple items, and do other math.

In this Lesson you will make a calculator that shows the average contract price for projects. To do that will require three calculators.

Total Amount for All Projects

To create a calculator that displays the total contract amount for all projects, follow these steps:

Choose Calculations from the Options menu, then choose Accounts from the submenu.
You'll see a list of calculators. Click the New button.
Enter a name, and any comments you have.
Choose Projects from the Source popup menu.
Choose Contract Amount from the Field popup menu.
Choose Sum as a Calculation Type.
Leave the other fields the same. When you have finished, click OK.

Number of Projects

To create a calculator that displays the number of projects, follow these steps:

If you closed the Account Calculation window, choose Calculations from the Options menu, then choose Accounts from the submenu.
Click the New button.
Enter a name, and any comments you have.
Choose Projects from the Source popup menu.
Choose Contract Amount from the Field popup menu.
Choose Count as a Calculation Type. HINT: As you change the calculator, you'll see the current value.
Leave the other fields the same. When you have finished, click OK.
Click the Close button to close the list of Account Calculations.

Average Contract Amount

To create a calculator that computes the average contract price from the two previous calculations, follow these steps:

Choose Calculations from the Options menu, then choose Custom from the submenu.
You'll see a list of custom calculators. Click the New button.
Enter a name, and any comments you have.
Enter Accounts for the First Source.
Enter the first calculator you made into the First Calculator field.
Enter Divide by Calculator into the Calculation Type field.
Enter Accounts for the Second Source.
Enter the second calculator you made into the Second Calculator field.
You can leave the other fields the same. When you have finished, click OK.
To leave the list of calculators, click the Done button.

Using a Calculator

To use a calculator, add it to a report layout (see Lesson 22).

When you view that report via the Reports menu, the calculator will fill in a value based on the current data in your company file, and the current conditions you've entered at the top of the report window.

Payroll Tax Calculator

Goldenseal provides special calculators for payroll taxes. You can assign them to wage rates, tax items or benefit items. They will calculate totals for an employee, and fill in a number for W-2 and other payroll reports.

To create a new payroll tax report field, follow these steps:

Choose Calculations from the Options menu, then choose Payroll Taxes from the submenu.
Click the New button.
Enter a name for the tax report field. You can also enter a brief description for it.
Enter calculation details.
If this item takes values for certain taxes, benefits or wage rates, enter them into the Items Included table.
Click OK.

Using in Reports

To use a tax report field in a payroll report, follow these steps:

Choose Custom Layouts from the Options menu, then choose Reports from the submenu.

Enter Payroll into the Area popup menu at the upper right corner of the window.
Choose a report from the Report popup menu.
Click on the Calculator tool (beneath the Oval tool).
Click in the layout at one corner of where you'd like the new field to be located, and drag to the opposite corner.
You'll see a dialog to choose a calculated field. Choose Payroll Tax Fields in the Calculation Type popup menu-- Goldenseal will show you a list of all tax report fields.
Choose a tax report field from the list, then click OK.
The tax report field will be added to the layout at the selected location.

Other Calculators

Goldenseal includes several other classes of calculators that you can use to put custom values into reports and printed forms.

Use any of the following:

Breakdown Calculations-- Get values from transaction breakdown items.
List Calculations-- Get values from list records.
Transaction Calculations-- Get values from any class of transaction.
Income Tax Calculations-- Calculated values for income tax reports, (similar to payroll tax calculators).
Utility Account Calculators-- Get values from utility accounts.

EXAMPLE: Most of the calculators in the Income Statement are Utility Account calculators.

Some calculators also fill in Dimension values for your estimates-- those have already been covered in Lesson 23.

Finishing Up

This is the last Lesson. You're done! You now know everything you might ever need to know about Goldenseal, chic hats, gargoyles, duct tape, and even about life.

NOTE: And you probably thought Goldenseal was just an estimating and accounting program.

Now is definitely a good time for a break. Maybe it's even time for a vacation.

Have you ever thought about someplace exotic?

How about Tuva, in the center of Asia, where the musical instruments are all made from horse body parts and people sing duets with themselves? Not a McDonald's within a thousand miles.

Or then again, you might prefer the Mall of the Millennium in Mormolu, Missouri. Five McDonald's all under one roof, and free souvenir glasses for anyone who eats at all five in a single day.