Nominal Codes in Sage

[PurplState]

Hello,

I'm setting up my nominal codes for my new company and have a few questions. I'm a total begginner so please excuse my ignorance.

1 - what nominal code should I use/create for food and drink? I don't entertain clients (currently) so its just for myself and my employees. Tea, coffee, biscuits etc for the office. My lunch and other food thoughout the day(can I put that through the company?). And also, when we work late I tend to buy a takeaway for the staff.

2 - what code should I use for buying new machinery?

3 - if I need to add new codes for different parts of my production process (I'm a printer/finisher) such as folding, printing, cutting, etc, should they be added in 4XXX and is there a particular structure/method that I should follow or can I just use 4001,4002,4003, and so on.

4 - i also buy and sell print. because this is an expense and an income should I have a code in 4XXX and the same code in 5XXX?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Scalloway]

1. I would just use general expenses

2. 0020

3. Sage recommend incrementing codes by 5 or 10 to allow additional codes to be slotted in if needed in the future.

4. You must have separate codes for the sales and purchases.

 

[BankViewFinance]

You're not really going to get a better answer than the one above!

 

[PurplState]

Thanks for the reply, thats great.

 

[DavidWH]

We're similar but print in house.

We have ours set like so.

4001 - Small format sales
4002 - vehicle graphic sale
4003 - signage sales

With opposite

5001 - small format purchases (paper)
5002 - vehicle graphic purchases (vinyl)

It allows is to see in simple terms how sales/purchases look.

 

[PurplState]

Thanks David,

I think I'm going to do similar. Do you go as far as which machine or process you use? I was thinking of have something like:

4005 - Folding
4010 - Trimming
4015 - Colour Digital
4020 - Black only Digital
.....
4050 - External Litho
4055 - External Digial
etc

 

[DavidWH]

We don't have a massive array of machinery and our management software looks after the machine costings.

We use the nominal codes simply to keep an eye on what we're spending on certain things. When we come to look at a new digital S/F machine, we can see what sales we've done, what our costs are, (service charges are another nominal) and see if it's viable.

It's handy to see at a glance where your sales are coming from, for example in your case you may have 40% of your turnover in folding, if you could increase productivity in folding, you could in theory make more profit more turnover.

I wouldn't go as deep as Colour Digital, Black & White Digital, unless you can easily separate the purchases for both, I'd imagine though you just buy paper and print it either B&W or Colour.

External litho/digital are handy, as if you're buying in enough of it, at some point it might be time to consider bringing those in house.

 

[PurplState]

That makes sense. Thanks for that.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Hello,

I'm setting up my nominal codes for my new company and have a few questions. I'm a total begginner so please excuse my ignorance.

1 - what nominal code should I use/create for food and drink? I don't entertain clients (currently) so its just for myself and my employees. Tea, coffee, biscuits etc for the office. My lunch and other food thoughout the day(can I put that through the company?). And also, when we work late I tend to buy a takeaway for the staff.

2 - what code should I use for buying new machinery?

3 - if I need to add new codes for different parts of my production process (I'm a printer/finisher) such as folding, printing, cutting, etc, should they be added in 4XXX and is there a particular structure/method that I should follow or can I just use 4001,4002,4003, and so on.

4 - i also buy and sell print. because this is an expense and an income should I have a code in 4XXX and the same code in 5XXX?

Thanks for any advice.

I do hope you don't mind me saying but I think Sage is a horrible choice for someone starting out. In my opinion you will find packages which are much nicer to use.

I've just taken on a new client who was really struggling with Sage and based on what they needed I recommended Accounts Portal. They were so grateful, it has saved them a huge amount of time and they are finding it so much easier to use.

 

[PurplState]

I have to admit, I am having a few teething problems with it. But to be fair I think its more down to my inexperience in bookkeeping than down to sage.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

I have to admit, I am having a few teething problems with it. But to be fair I think its more down to my inexperience in bookkeeping than down to sage.

I do honestly think its a hard system to use. I'd take a look at a few others before you go any further.