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WMS Accounting Take On Rules

9 min read

Master this for hassle-free onboarding

Onboarding Steps #

  1. Qualify your Customer- See Pre Quote Requirements.
  2. Quote your Customer
  3. Set up VMG Accounting
  4. Train Users
  5. Measure and Report

Pre-Quote Requirements #

DO GREAT BUSINESS AND CHOOSE YOUR CUSTOMERS WISELY!

It is imperative that you ensure that only qualified clients are permitted access to VMG’s DMS Accounting Module. Failure to meet these requirements will cause serious damage to your time, VMG’s time, your clients’ time, your clients’ money, your reputation, and VMG’s.

The following requirements MUST be met before you send a quote to your client for the DMS Accounting Module. If any of these items are not met, walk away from the sale.

  • Your client must have an up-to-date trial balance
    • Missing, unbalanced, out of date trial balances are a huge red flag that must be resolved before you bring the customer on board.
    • This trial balance must be reviewed and approved by you.
    • Where applicable, the debtors and creditors ledger balances MUST balance to the Debtors and Creditors control accounts seen on the trial balance. Do not skip this step.
    • Pay close attention to the state of the debtors’ and creditors’ balances. Are they a mess?
    • The trial balance is required to bring on the opening balances.
  • You must meet with the accountant to conduct due diligence and discovery.
    • Only relevant if the accountant is actively involved in the business
    • The accountant will be your closest ally. You will need their goodwill, enthusiasm, and support.
    • You MUST disclose that VMG’s system is accrual based and not cash based. This could be a problem for the accountant, and they may want to delay any forward movement until the new financial year.
    • You MUST disclose what VMG’s module is NOT. It is only a to-trial balance, accrual based system.
    • They will be able to provide you with the trial balance.
    • They will give you better insight regarding the VMG user that will be processing the bookkeeping data.
  • The Bookkeeping user must be verified by you.
    • You do not want a user constantly contacting you, asking you basic bookkeeping questions.
    • Gather info and manage expectations. Speak to your user about the role. Are they up for it? do they have any concerns? do they have on-demand access to the bank statements? are they able to receive answers to their queries in real time?
    • Make sure your user understands the intense focus VMG has on debtors and creditor management.
    • We are not in the business of training people to become bookkeepers. Rather, we train experienced/qualified bookkeepers how to use VMG’s Accounting module.
  • WMS Pro admin data processing MUST be PERFECT! There is zero room for error. Perfection is mandatory.
  • The Regional settings MUST be VMG compatible.
  • VMG will manage the chart of accounts setup with the bookkeeping user. But VMG controls.

Only once you have met these requirements can you send your client a quote for the use of VMG’s Accounting Module.

Don’t accept anything less and walk away from the sales that do not meet our criteria.

Pre-Training Requirements #

Once your quote is approved by your client, you will need to get the accounting module setup, PERFECTLY. There is no room for error and excuses for failures are not welcome.

  1. Triple-check that WMS Pro data is perfect. Solve any issues there first.
    1. This is the data that will be entered into the accounting module. Diamonds in, diamonds out.
    2. Make sure that your Stock on Hand value matches the Stock on Hand value on the Trail balance (inventory) Parts ( Pull the parts Valuation report in workshop and compare). If it does not ask why! This will affect the balance sheet
  2. Make sure that your day-to-day admin user and your bookkeeping user understand the process flows.
  3. Set up the Current accounting period, Start period, and Financial year.
  4. Ensure that accounting periods and years are correct (WMS ) –
  5. IF THE ACCOUNTING YEAR IN THE ACCOUNTING MODULE IS 2026, MAKE SURE THE WORKSHOP YEAR IS ALSO 2026!!!
  6. If the accounting year is 2026 but the calendar year is still 2025, ensure that the display date is 2025.
  7. Ensure that regional settings on the users PC’s are correct.
  8. Set up the internal supplier (WMS) – If applicable
  9. Set up the chart of accounts (Map the Chart of Accounts)
  10. Once this is done, send the VMG Chart of Accounts to the accountant and get approval from the accountant, in writing, to proceed.
  11. Set up sundry invoice ledger accounts for the sundry income types.
  12. Update user levels
  13. Remove the ability to post to custom periods
  14. Remove access to the accounting module for anyone not involved in bookkeeping data processing. This includes the owners.
  15. Ensure that only the relevant reports are accessible by the appropriate person.
  16. Clear all accounting transactions before your starting period.
  17. NB!!! NEVER REMOVE ACCOUNTING TRANSACTIONS AFTER RELEVANT PERIOD DATA CAPTURING HAS BEEN DONE.
  18. If available, bring on the opening bank balances. Ideally, we want to user to do the opening balance data capturing. VMG Bookkeeping Services is available, but that time is not free.
  19. Use the suspense account, and when the Trial balance is brought in for the bank, take on balance use that same suspense account to clear it

Once these items are complete, you can commence with your training schedule.

Training Phases – High Level #

TRAINING IS METHODICAL AND “PAINT BY NUMBERS”. DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS. EVER!!

You must communicate effectively and ensure your user understands every step of the training process.

You will be training in phases. Each phase must be complete before moving on to the next phase. Make sure that you have met ALL the pre-training requirements.

Do not neglect to send progress, objectives, tasks, and “What’s Next” emails. You must build training momentum and keep it going like clockwork.

Training and data processing may commence even if the opening balances have not been brought into the system.

The following training phases assume that you have verified that Step 1 of the VMG Bookkeeping Process Flow is PERFECT

Training Phase 1 #

Transactions to the ledger (Step 2 of the VMG Bookkeeping Process Flow) Workshop Transactions hit the ledger automatically. This phase falls more under the workshop training phase, but just make sure all data is correct and is in the correct period.

  • Process orders and Invoices (WMS)
    • Show the user the ledger reports (detailed ledger, debtors, and creditors)
  • Process any outstanding purchase orders in the accounting module that need to be processed for that period and update to ledger.
  • Send progress and objectives to achieve email
  • Review the data, making sure all your workshop data has gone to the correct period. The current period as workshop is live.
  • When you are happy, move on to Phase 2
  • Send progress and “What’s Next” report
  • User must maintain stock transfers daily
Training Phase 2 #

Process Cashbooks (Step 3 of the VMG Bookkeeping Process Flow)

  • Only one bank at this time.
  • Manual cashbook processing during the training phase (you can discuss bank import only once the user is fully trained).
  • User must capture all payments and receipts
  • User MUST NOT update cashbook entries to the ledger.
  • Once the user has completed the data capturing, they must let you know so you can review the data. 
  • User MUST NOT update to ledger until you have verified the data.
  • If you are happy, let the user update cashbooks to the ledger.
    • Review the Income Statement and the debtors and creditors reports with your user. Discuss the impact of their work on these reports.
  • User must process all other banks (do not forget Petty cash and Cash On Hand accounts)
  • Only once ALL Cashbooks are processed to date can you move onto Phase 3
  • Send progress and “Whats Next” report.
  • User must maintain cashbooks daily.
Training Phase 3a #

Reconciliation Debtors and Creditors (Step 4 of the VMG Bookkeeping Process Flow)

  • Show the user how to navigate to debtors and creditors ledger summary reports
  • Show the user how to process debtor and creditor journals
  • The objective is to ensure that only legitimate and known debtors and creditors are displayed on the summary reports.
  • User to reconcile ALL their debtors and creditors. Show the user how to match items. Do NOT rely on the match items screen as your work is done (ALWAYS pull debtors and creditors age analysis)
  • Show user how to bank recon DO NOT USE BANK RECON ON THE CASHBOOK
  • Send progress and “What’s Next” report.
  • User must maintain debtors and creditors daily. Never let this pile up.

Training Phase 3b

Income Statement to Workshop full stats report, Sublet sales, purchase order report (Step 4 of the VMG Bookkeeping Process Flow)

  • Show the user how to verify the accuracy of the income statement. (Accounting Workshop Health Check)
  • Once the user can process this recon themselves, move on to phase 4
  • Send progress and “What’s Next” report.

Training Phase 4

Month End (Step 5 of the VMG Bookkeeping Process Flow)

  • Training phase 4 MUST take place as early as possible in the new month.
  • You must do this in person with your user wherever possible. Don’t take shortcuts because you’re “too busy”. Rather, manage your calendar like a professional.
  • Show user how to role over to a new month.
    • Stock Month End
      • This must be done for the Workshop on the 1st of every month. It does NOT matter if they have not finished with their accounting side. If they do NOT do it, all workshop transactions for the new month will go into the wrong period.
    • Ledger Month End
    • Accounting Month End
  • Show user how to export income statement to PDF and email to the owner and accountant.
  • User is to continue step 2, 3 and 4 of the VMG Bookkeeping process flow.
  • Arrange a sit-down with the owner and the accountant to go through the income statement, Workshop full stats report, purchase order report, debtors, and creditors.
  • Let the owner know that training is complete.
  • Send progress reports, congratulate the user publicly (Dale Carnegie), and set new objectives.

Ensure regular follow-ups to maintain data processing momentum. DO NOT get caught out by a user who stops processing data the moment you step away. You must be diligent and aware.

  • Health Checks
  • IS to Workshop full stats report, Sublet sales, purchase order report.
  • Debtors and Creditors Recon
  • Bank Recon
  • Match Items  
  • Suspense Acc 
  • TB Balanced   
  • Opening Balances
  • Progress Reporting
  • Keep your users and relevant role players informed.
  • Achievements and objectives still to achieve.
  • What’s next and where are your users in the process?
  • How well are they doing?
  • What should your user be focusing on?