Getting Started with Departmental Accounting

In Mamut Business Software you can use departments in order to get an overview of your business. You can for example link employees, contacts, sales orders, projects and journal entries to departments, making it easier for you to analyse business data such as sales figures and costs.

The first step is to create the departments you wish to use in the Properties Register.

How to create/edit a department

Go to View - Settings - Company - Properties Register.
Highlight Departments and click on Edit.
Click New in order to create a new department.

--or--

Select an existing department and click Edit in order to change the name of the department.
Note! If you choose to rename a department, the change will affect all contacts, employees etc. who are linked to the department. You can use the search and filter feature to find out if a department is in use. Read more in Advanced Selection.
Enter a name for the new department and click OK.
Repeat this procedure for each department you wish to create.

A new department has now been created and will be now available for selection in the journal entry.

Note! You can only delete departments which are not in use.

Departmental Accounting

When you have created your departments you can start using them as cost centres.

You also have the possibility to simplify your postings by predefining certain products and accounts to departments, thereby linking postings to products/accounts automatically to the specified departments. Please note that you are always able to override the selected department manually in the different modules.

Departments and Journals

In the journal entry module, which can be accessed by clicking View - Accounting - Journal Entry, you can manually link journals to departments by selecting a department from the drop-down list in the Department column. You must first open the user settings and choose to display the department column in the journal entry module.

Click the User Settings button in the tool bar, or go to View - Settings - User - Settings per Module - Journal Entry, and select the Columns tab. Select the option Department under Show column. Click OK to save the changes. If you wish the cursor to stop in the Department column when pressing the [Enter] button, select the check box in under Enter-stop.

Tip! You can also assign or change a department in the Financials module after the journal has been transferred. Open the Financials module by clicking View - Accounting - Financials, select the line you wish to edit and click Edit. Select department from the Department drop-down list.

If you want to display the department column in the Financials window, click the Settings button in the tool bar and select the Department check box.

Departments and Accounts

In the chart of accounts, under View - Accounting - Chart of Accounts, you can link each account to a specific department. This feature may be used if you want to link all postings to a certain account to a department without having to change each transaction manually. Be careful when using this feature in combination with departments defined for products and contacts so that you do not mix the departments.

You can also select Department required (and Project required) on the account in the chart of accounts if you wish to be reminded about entering a department in the journal.

Note! Please note that this setting will affect all modules in which postings are made towards the selected accounts. You must therefore remember to enter a department when registering information anywhere in the system.

Departments and Employees

You can link employees to departments by clicking View - Employee Register and selecting department from the Department drop-down list. You can choose to transfer information about the employee's department automatically when registering a time sheet. Read more about this in the following section.

Departments and Time Sheet Input

When registering a time sheet, from View - Time Sheet Input - Time Sheet Input, you can link each time sheet line to a department by using the column Department.

If the column Department is not displayed in the main window, open the user settings and select this option:

Click the Settings button in the tool bar or go to View - Settings - User - Settings per Module - Time Sheet Input, select the Columns for entries tab and select the check box to the left of Department. Click OK to save your settings.

Tip! In the tab Default values in the user settings you can choose which department should be suggested as default when creating a new time sheet line. You can also select the option Retrieve from employee register if you want to use the department to which the employee is linked to in the employee register.

Departments and Sales Orders

Sales orders can be linked to departments, making it possible for you to analyse sales figures, costs and profits. If there are several sales teams in your company, you may wish to create one department per team in order to link each sale to the correct sales team. You will then be able to print reports based on the sales figures for each team.

A sales order can be linked to a department in the Sales and Invoicing window (accessed via View - Sales/Invoicing - Order Registration) on the Miscellaneous tab, by selecting a department from the Department drop-down list.

You can also link each individual order line to departments. You must first go to the user settings and choose to show the Department column on the Product Lines tab:

Click the Settings button in the tool bar or go to View - Settings - User - Settings per Module - Sales and Invoicing, select the Order body tab and select the check box to the left of Department. Click OK to save your settings.

The Department column will now be displayed on the order line and you can simply select a department from the drop-down list.

Departments and Purchase Orders

In the same way as with sales orders, you can link purchase orders to departments. It may prove useful to get an overview of the costs connected to each department. When registering a purchase order via View - Purchase Order - Purchases, simply select the correct department from the Department drop-down list. You can also link each individual purchase order line to departments by using the Department column.

If the drop-down list Department is not displayed in the main window, or if the column Department is not displayed on each line, you must go to the user settings and define the relevant settings:

Click the Settings button in the tool bar or go to View - Settings - User - Settings per Module - Purchase. On the Purchase tab, select the check box to the left of Department. The option in the top of the window determines if the drop-down will be displayed in the main window and the option under Column settings determines if the column will be displayed in the purchase order lines. Click OK to save your settings.

Departments and Products/Contacts

By linking a product or contact to a department, all registrations associated with that product/contact will be posted to the selected department.

Note! Department settings defined on contact level will usually override settings made in other modules such as products and accounts.

Products can be linked to departments by navigating to View - Product - Product Register and selecting the department from the Department drop-down list on the Miscellaneous tab. Contacts can be linked to departments by navigating to View - Contacts - Contact Management and selecting the department from the Department drop-down list on the Other Info. tab.

Tip! You can update many products/contacts at the same time by the use of a wizard which lets you define a selection of products/contacts. Read more about this in The Contact Filter Wizard or Updating a Selection of Products.

Departments and Projects

You can also link entire projects to departments by navigating to View - Project - Project Register or New Project. Select the relevant department from the Department drop-down list.

Read more about how to use the project module in The Project Module