Accounts - Savings account

Accounts - saving account

Accounts and Payments provide a way to create different types of accounts. This chapter explains how to create and use a Saving-type account against which the Maintenance and parts cost can be settled.

To create a new account the driver uses the top part of the screen that looks like this:

The "New" button starts a new account. The Account name is whatever the driver wants to call it. (In this example Maintenance 150). The Valid From and To are the dates this account is active. In other words the automatic deduction from the trip pay will only apply to the trips that fall within this time frame. This time frame does not prevent the driver from settling a maintenance cost against this account, even if the balance on that account reaches 0. The software will show the balance on the account but it is up to the driver to settle the cost against it or not. (See more on this subject of overdrawn accounts further in this manual)

To setup the payroll deductions the driver enters the amount in to the Payroll Deductions field and specifies how the deduction is made. There are 5 (five) available deduction types: Every Dispatched Mile, Every Odometer Mile, Every Week, Every two Weeks and Every Month. In the example above the deduction is set to $150 every week. The software will automatically deduct $150 from the trip pay and place it under this account. The deduction occurs on the first of the trips within the week.

If there are trips in the database and the account "From" date is in the past the software will automatically apply the deduction to the trips starting from the date the account starts up until the close date or today's date, whichever comes first. Thus if the there are trips from the beginning of 2007 and a new account is created today that starts on 01-February-2007 with deduction of $150 a week and closing date (To) set sometime in the future the software will scan through all the trips from 01-February-2007 up to now and apply 150 deduction a week. Those weeks where driver made more then one trip the software will apply the deduction to the "nearest" available trip.

$ every dispatched mile

This option tells the software to scan all the trips from the account start date up to close date or up till today (whichever comes first) and deduct the amount specified for each dispatched mile entered for the trip toward this account.

$ every odometer mile

This option tells the software to scan all the trips from the account start date up to close date or up till today (whichever comes first) and deduct the amount specified for each odometer mile entered for the trip toward this account. This option will only work properly if driver records the odometer miles under the Trip Sheets, otherwise this option is useless and will not deduct anything

$ every week

This option tells the software to scan all the trips from the account start date up to close date or up till today (whichever comes first) and deduct the amount specified on the first trip of each week.

There is something to keep in mind if you are entering trips retroactively, (trips you have done in the past):

If the driver starts with a blank database and creates the accounts before any of the trips are entered And the account open date is way in the past the following will happen: Once the first trip is entered all payments that are due will be charged to that trip. No need to panic. Just enter the rest of your trips and then re-save the accounts. Re-saving the account will redistribute the payments among the trips that fall within the account time frame

$ every two weeks

This option tells the software to scan all the trips from the account start date up to close date or up till today (whichever comes first) and deduct the amount specified on the first trip of each two week period.

$ every month

This option tells the software to scan all the trips from the account start date up to close date or up till today (whichever comes first) and deduct the amount specified on the trip nearest to the one month time laps from the last payment or from the date the account was opened.

Below the account history table there is a graphical representation of that history. Here is an example of one year history of an overdrawn Maintenance account. The driver ended up charging more maintenance and repairs than he had money on the account and therefore owes the company:

Any time the red line dives below 0 on X axis the account is overdrawn.