ExcelBFA can be adapted to many different types of business operations, but the primary use is for small-business/home-business applications. You do not have to install anything (besides Excel™) to open the workbook and populate the worksheets. The system depends on multiple worksheets in a workbook to represent what commercial software uses a database for. The system provides data-entry panels with drop-down selections that can be automatically initialized by menu selection when a process is started, in order to make it easier to select a correct account, vendor and/or client, product, and other details.

There are menu selection options to determine what transactions template to use, so that standard transactions will be presented for input. You can prepare these transactions at the Excel™ worksheet level without actually programming any logic (yes, you have to follow the rules, but that is why we run this course to help you prepare for it).

You can pre-enter the account numbers for specific transactions so the user can just fill in the amount for (say) paying rent from the cash account. Transactions can update the affected supporting sub-ledger accounts with minimal effort on the part of the user, and the sub-ledger entry will also be reflected in the general ledger to keep the books in balance. The biggest effort in preparation is to establish the chart of accounts, not unlike other systems, and specific supporting worksheet tables.

ExcelBFA is as simple to operate as most Excel™ workbooks. There is one worksheet where all the data-entry takes place. The input panel is simply a layout in the worksheet that shows the different cells where you can enter data. You can make copies of this panel and move it into columns right of the default entry panel. You can assign a name, and add that name to the list of input panels in column [A] of the worksheet. The name will be what the transaction is used for, like buying goods to put in for-sale inventory, which then enables drop-down lists of products and vendors the way you want. With this setup you can also add instructions to these transactions, so whoever is entering transaction data does not have to remember every detail just to be able to capture the input.

Transactions are entered into a journal, which will be the general journal, from where posting takes place to the general ledger, or to (a) sub-ledger(s) such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory, or projects, each defined as a separate Excel™ worksheet. When you open one of those worksheets you will enable the specific operations associated with those worksheets, such as aging, and other reporting tasks relevant to that sub-ledger. You can also open one of several specialized report-writer worksheets that will take the data from the required ledgers in order to produce a composite report.

ExcelBFA provides the option to predefine transaction types and variants, making it really easy to keep track of how to enter various things, before a transaction is journalized. You can categorize transactions by type(s), and in the general journal we can cross reference the transactions accordingly. For example, if you want to quickly find all transactions involving a specific account it is easy enough to filter on that using standard Excel™ features, but to summarize a particular type of service that could impact different accounts you may want to name the associations and then filter a selection column to find all the transactions involved. It actually marks the link with the amount, so as a bonus you get the total value of the transactions that are associated with that selection.

Remember that one journal entry can have multiple selections, so the sum of the selection columns is not used for any reconciliation purposes. The transaction journal must be balanced: it validates each transaction as balanced before it is posted. This ensures that the most common error in bookkeeping is prevented. The ability for you to define different transaction templates with drop-down menus will also help to reduce many other common bookkeeping errors.

ExcelBFA enables you to provide custom reporting that is meaningful to your business. By using worksheets called “REP-xxxx” you create unique templates that drive the report generation process. Reports are output in the same worksheets that provide the templates, but when you want the reports printed the templates will be invisible. Printing is done using basic Excel™ printer support, to make sure the format is consistent with what is expected. You can predefine the layout parameters for printing as well, so if you need to scale the report it will be prepared accordingly. In this part of the course we spend quite a bit of time on experimenting with reports, so you will end up with a result that suits your business needs.

Learning Formats       BPEA_BFA

This course is currently available in a classroom setting (public or company private) with approximately 15 contact hours.

PDF – Certificate Of Completion

Each course offers a certificate of completion that identifies the course, the student, and a brief description of the course. To receive a certificate the student must have attended at least 80% of the course sessions. This personalized certificate is forwarded to the student by Email.

PDF – Course Notebook

Each course includes a notebook in PDF format that provides the minimum knowledge the student must master in order to obtain the certificate. In the notebook you will find references to other study materials. Students receive the notebook by Email when their registration is confirmed.

PDF – Program Overview

An overview of this study program can be downloaded from the website by right-clicking on the program link on the enquiry page.

PDF – Current Training Schedule

A list of upcoming training sessions can be downloaded from the website by right-clicking on the schedule link on the enquiry page.

Registration – Service Providers

To register for any training course please look on the enquiry link page of your service provider (from where you accessed this website). On the page you will find a registration request form where you can order the course that you are interested in. The availability dates will be provided to you, along with payment instructions if you decide to go ahead.