OVERVIEW OF PROJECT

This project requires you to evaluate a PC-based accounting system (Peachtree Complete Accounting) to see how the system handles recording transactions, collecting data, and generating reports and information.

STEP 1. ACCESS PEACHTREE COMPLETE ACCOUNTING

• You will access Peachtree via the iLab tab under Course Home. There are instructions located on the DeVry iLab page to help you through this.

STEP 2. EXPLORE THE SOFTWARE

• Review the Peachtree Guided Tour (located in the Help menu) and the What's New in Peachtree (located in the Help menu) to see some of the features of Peachtree Complete Accounting.
• Review any online documentation (Peachtree User Guide, etc. ) regarding how to use the application.

STEP 3. TRY OUT THE SOFTWARE USING A SAMPLE COMPANY

1. Peachtree has two sample companies (Bellwether & Stone Arbor) that you can play around with.
2. Once you are in your sample company, you must explore the sample company to determine how you can do the following.
   1. Revenue Cycle
      • How can you create and maintain customers?
      • How can you create customer invoices?
      • How can you apply customer payments?
      • What reports can you run to provide you with information regarding
      • your customers and their orders?
      • What reports can you run in order to provide you with information regarding key revenue cycle information - sales, accounts receivable, cash?
   2. Expenditure Cycle
      • How can you create and maintain vendors?
      • How can you create and maintain inventory?
      • How can you generate payments to vendors?
      • What reports can you run to provide you with information regarding your vendors and your accounts payable?
      • What reports can you run in order to provide you with information regarding key expenditure cycle information - purchases, inventory, cash?
   3. Financing Cycle
      • How can you create and maintain the chart of accounts?
      • How can you post journal entries?
      • What are the key financial statements that are available?
      • What are some key reports one can generate to measure the firms financial performance?

STEP 4. COMPLETE THE PROJECT

Once you have completed your evaluation, you will need to develop a report using the following layout. The details of the report are outlined below. Make sure that you number your sections and use the following format requirements. Peachtree 2010 Tutorials - Below are links to Peachtree 2010 Tutorials that you might find helpful as you go through the Course Project.

• "

• General Ledger - Setup New Company"
• "Purchase/Payment Process"
• "Sales/Collection Process"
• "HR New Hire Process"
• "Financial Statements"
• "Adjusting Entries in Financial Statements"

REPORT REQUIREMENTS

Section I: Overview (minimum 2 pages)

Provide a general overview of Peachtree Complete Accounting. Make sure the overview provides the reader with a general understanding of the application, including the projected purchase price and any special hardware and/or software requirements.

Section II: Transactional Processing and Data Management (minimum 6 pages)

Describe how Peachtree Complete Accounting handles processing the accounting transactions and recording business activities for the revenue, expenditure and financing cycles. You should provide at least one detailed example of how one would record a specific accounting transaction/ business activity for each of the three transaction cycles below. Address the following questions in this section of the report.

1. Revenue Cycle (2 pages) Answer the following questions.
   • How can you create and maintain customers?
   • How can you create customer invoices?
   • How can you apply customer payments?
   • What reports can you run to provide you with information regarding your customers and their orders? Describe them.
   • What reports can you run in order to provide you with information regarding key revenue cycle information - sales, accounts receivable, cash?
2. Expenditure Cycle (2 pages) Answer the following questions.
   • How can you create and maintain vendors?
   • How can you create and maintain inventory?
   • How can you generate payments to vendors?
   • What reports can you run to provide you with information regarding your vendors and your accounts payable? Describe them.
   • What reports can you run in order to provide you with information regarding key expenditure cycle information - purchases, inventory, cash?
3. Financing Cycle (2 pages) Answer the following questions.
   • How can you create and maintain the chart of accounts?
   • How can you post journal entries?
   • What are the key financial statements that are available? Describe them.
   • What are some key reports one can generate to measure the firms financial performance?

Section III: Reporting (minimum 3 pages)

Describe how Peachtree Complete Accounting produces information that can be used to manage the business. Identify and describe at least three key reports for each of the cycles - the revenue, expenditure and financing cycles for a total of nine reports. You should describe how the report is used, and why it is important in this section. Do not include any screen shots of your reports in this section. You will include one sample report for each of the transaction cycles in the Appendix %u2013 see below.

Section IV: Your Evaluation of the Software and Final Thoughts (minimum 2 pages)

Your evaluation of Peachtree Complete Accounting will be based upon your experience. You will use screen prints to support your evaluation. You will include the screen prints in an Appendix. They are not part of the required 7-10 written pages. Also, include your final thoughts regarding the application you selected here. Include such things as ease of use, in what size of business it would be best used, etc.