User Page

This page contains information about some program functions that current users may find helpful.

If you don’t find your answer here or in the printed User’s Guide that accompanies the program, email us at

help@trustmesoftware.com.

If you need help with a specific client file, please send us the file attached to an email explaining the problem.

The client file name looks like this: <clientID>.tmf.

Having the file to look at helps us give you a more definitive answer, or if something is wrong with the file, we will fix and return it promptly.

Helpful Tips and Tricks for Users

1. Identifying and naming investments.

2. Preparing interim financial statements.

3. Reinvesting income or associating income with an investment.

4. Entering a stock split or dividend.

5. Locating a previously entered transaction quickly.

6. Changing the year end date.

7. Changing client header information.

8. Printing a footer line on financial statements.

9. Naming and combining a large number of client files.

10. Reporting income associated with investments.

11. Keeping track of original cost of investments.

12. Entering the sale of real estate to ensure gain/loss is correct.

13. Reopening a year after it has been closed.

14. List of accounts (chart of accounts) used by the program.

15. List of transaction codes.

16. Finding the program version and release # installed on my system.

17. Error on attempting to close a year.

18. Calculating gains or losses on sales.

19. Backing up your data.

20. Assigning (changing) client file names.

21. Using transaction accounts (and what they are).

22. Same investment in more than one transaction account.

23. When to close a year.

24. Entering a negative amount for a transaction.

25. Entering and editing fields on major entry screens.

26. Listing the transaction in a given account or series of accounts.

27. Changing the transaction account number for all transactions in a batch.

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Text Box: 1. Identifying and naming investments When you enter the beginning balance, purchase or sale of an investment, you must enter an investment ID code (up to six characters) to permanently identify the investment and all subsequent transactions. We suggest you use the published investment symbol for publicly traded investments. Although it is customary to enter beginning balances first, it is not essential. Just ensure that beginning balances are entered before selecting any formal reports. The investment ID code identifies the beginning balance and all transactions having the same code. If you code an investment to a wrong investment code, you may change it using the special function: Revise, One Investment ID Code or Name. When entering an investment, you must also give it a full name, which will be printed on all statements and reports exactly as you enter it. Change the name of a previously entered investment anytime by using the menu function “Revise, One Investment ID Code or Name.” Also if you change the name when entering or revising a transaction (or a beginning balance) for a previously entered ID code, it will change on all other transactions with the same investment ID code, including its beginning balance. 2. Preparing interim financial statements Some of users prepare interim financial statements. Those that need only year-to-date interim statements can use the statements prepared by the program without change. However, because the program is not designed to retain beginning balances on an interim basis (balances are retained only for prior year end), it cannot determine unrealized gains for a single interim period (e. g. for the second quarter only). After entering market values for the interim date, you must make an adjusting journal entry so the statements properly reflect unrealized gains for a single interim period (except for the first interim period). The amount and instructions for making this adjusting JE are shown on the last page of the unrealized gains proof list. Please refer to Appendix F in the User's Guide for detailed instructions on making this simple adjustment. 3. Entering interest or dividends to be reinvested and/or associated with an investment When making an income entry, you have the option of entering the investment ID code which generated the income. Immediately after entering income for an investment whose income is usually reinvested (e. g. a stock dividend), the program will ask if it should be reinvested. If so, a purchase for the same amount will be shown on the next entry line. Even though an income is not reinvested, you may wish to associate income with an investment to enable the program to provide a report of income by investment. To facilitate entering ID codes for income items, the cursor stops at this field for each entry. To avoid stopping for every income entry, click (check) the red box at the bottom of the screen. 4. Entering a stock split or stock dividend Enter a purchase (code P) in the “Enter Transactions” function for the number of added shares without entering an amount (leaving it at zero). 5. Locating a transaction quickly If you know the batch number, list the batch and look for it there. However, it's often quicker to use the search feature (speed button "Seach" ) to locate any transaction using one of five primary and secondary criteria: investment ID code, account number, date, amount, name. Note that in searching for a transaction by name, you need not enter the complete name; just the first few characters of the name will do. Should you need to revise a found transaction, double click it in the “Found” window to jump immediately to the revise transaction function. 6. Changing the plan year end date for a client file You can change the plan year end date at any time using “Revise, Client Header Data.” However, you should not change the year end date from year to year. When you close a year, the date is automatically changed by the program. Only use “Revise, Client Header Data” to make a permanent change if the plan adopts a new year end. In this case, you may have to do a few extra things before closing the partial year. When closing a year, the program changes the file suffix for the year being closed from ".tmf" to "tmy" where "y" is the last digit of the year being closed. If you change the plan year end date, there will be two files with the same ending digit, causing a problem for the program when attempting to close. Therefore, to avoid this conflict you should archive (move from your TRUST.ME folder to a permanent backup) all files ending in a number. The program no longer needs these closed prior year files; they need only be saved for reference. 7. Changing client header information Use “Revise, Client Identification Information.” Keep in mind that the descriptive lines in the header data are to describe the plan on all reports. They should NOT include the plan year end date as that is supplied by the program on all reports. If you put it separately on one of these lines, it will show twice on the reports. Also you must update it manually every year. NOT necessary! 8. Adding a footer (such as, “Prepared without audit”) to print on financial statements Use “File, Configure Your System” to enter the footer exactly as you want it to appear on financial statements (without quotes). Click the “Make Permanent” box if you want it shown on all client financial statements. If the program is installed on more than one computer, this must be configured for each one. 9. Simplify combining a number of files at year end report time Name all files to be combined (such as a group of 401k participants) so the first few characters are the same. Then they will appear in the combining list together and can be selected quickly. Caution: avoid using the underscore (_) as the first character as that is automatically prefixed to the combined file to identify it as a master combined file. An example of naming files to be combined: aa<participant name1>, aa<participant name 2>, aa<participant name 3>, etc. Of course, you have to give some thought to this ahead of time to use a different first few letters for each separate group. By the way, if you have already named files without using this idea, you can always rename them using Windows Explorer. You are looking for files with extension of ".tmf." There is a button to select all files in a folder. So if you have many files to combine, you can select all and then click those you don't want to combine to deselect them. Also you could move all files you want to combine to a separate folder. After selecting that folder when in the file selection dialog window, use menu "Year End, Combine Two or More files" and click "Select All Files.” Many users prefer to place such files in a separate folder in the first place. 10. Entering reinvested income and/or associating income with each investment (See 3 above) To reinvest and/or associate an income transaction with its investment, enter the investment ID code of the investment. If you have neglected to enter the ID code initially, use "Revise Transactions" to add it. This feature is entirely optional. Use it only if you need to reinvest the income or want a report of all income by investment (select menu "Lists, Income by Investment"). To ignore (bypass) the investment ID code for income transactions not requiring reinvestment, check the box at the bottom of the transaction entry screen labeled in red "Ignore (Bypass) Investment ID code for Most Income Transactions." It is unchecked when the screen first appears, and the data entry point (the cursor) stops at the ID code field for each income entry. If you don't want to stop for every income item, click (check) this box. Entering an Investment ID code for an income item does not automatically trigger a reinvestment. As you complete the income line, you will be offered the opportunity to reinvest income associated with appropriate investments for which you have entered an ID code. 11. Keeping track of the original cost of investments Enter the per unit average cost to date in the beginning balance for each investment when you first set it up. From then on the program keeps track of average per unit costs as purchases and sales are made. No further action is needed. Two original cost reports are available under menu "Reports." Also the supporting schedule(s) of the 5500 for large plans shows the original cost of investments on hand at year end. 12. Entering the purchase or sale of real estate to ensure the gain or loss is correctly maintained Leave the number of units at zero; the program will automatically make them the same as the dollar amount. Investments having no per unit value, such as real estate, are maintained at one dollar per unit to ensure any gain or loss is correctly calculated. 13. Reopen a year after it has been closed The file for a closed year is merely renamed, not changed. So all you need to do is change the name back to what it was to reactivate it. The file for the closed year is renamed by changing the extension (".TMF") to ".TMy," where "y" is the last digit of the closed year end (e. g. ACLIENT.TMF is changed to ACLIENT.TM8, if the year closed is 2008). The new file with the extension ".TMF" created at closing must be deleted and the closed file renamed from ".TMy" to ".TMF" (e. g. rename ACLIENT.TM9 back to ACLIENT.TMF). That's all it takes to reopen a year. But remember, any data entered in the new year file is lost when you delete it. Use Windows Explorer to delete and rename. 14. Where can I find a list of the accounts used by the program? Appendix A in the User's Guide lists all account numbers and names. You assign your own names to these accounts: all the transaction accounts (112 through 130), two receivable accounts (135 and 136), and two liability accounts (219 and 220). 15. Where can I find a list of transaction codes associated with each account? Appendix B in the User's Guide lists transaction codes and what accounts each affects. If there is no transaction code associated with an account, use a journal entry (menu “Enter, Journal Entry”) to make transactions and change its balance. 16. How do I find what program version and level I'm using? Click "About" at the end of the menu line in the System Director. 17. I get an error message when trying to close a year. Why won't it close when I select that option? The program is telling you the file is not ready to close. Usually this occurs (1) if the balance in either account 111 (General Transaction Account) or 199 (Suspense) is not zero; (2) accounts 498 (Transfers-In) and 598 (Transfers-Out) do not net to zero; or (3) you have made a journal entry to account 301 (Participants' Equity) causing it to differ from the beginning balance (an accounting NO, NO!). This also means any reports you have prepared from this file are not correct for the year end. Correct any of these problems, re-run the reports you need, and try closing again. A special note concerning account 301 (Participants' Equity): This account should NEVER need adjusting. If you need to correct an error or omission from the prior year, use the Beginning Balance routine to change any balance carried forward incorrectly. If you MUST make an adjusting entry to 301, make sure you make another entry to bring its ending balance back to the same amount as its beginning balance (look at the “Trial Balance”). 18. Calculating gains/losses when recording the sale of an investment Versions prior to Version 9 required you to calculate realized gains/losses ("Compute Gains"). This is no longer necessary in current versions (10 or later); the program now automatically recalculates realized gains/losses each time an investment is changed. 19. Backing up your data It is important to establish a regular back up routine to avoid losing data. Because most users today have their own backup system, the program doesn't offer a back up routine. It does have a default feature that creates a copy each time you open a file. This file is named <clientfile>.bac. So if something happens to a file in use, you can recover by changing the ".bac" extension to ".tmf." This feature may be removed by using menu “File, Configure Your System.” If you routinely back up data files on a regular schedule, you may wish to remove this feature to avoid cluttering up your hard drive. Or at least deleting all files with a ".bac" extension after backing up. 20. Assigning or changing client file names The client ID, which you assign when you first establish a new client, is used as the client file name with the suffix “.TMF” added. You may use up to 16 characters for the client ID, any combination of letters and numbers. The program adds the TRUST.ME file extension: ".TMF" — so don't include it in your file name. Also, avoid the underscore as the first character (this is used by the program to identify combined master files). If you already have files with short names, you may rename them using Windows Explorer using up to 16 characters, not including the extension (".tmf"). Several words of caution, however: (1) even though Windows will accept more than 16 characters in a file name, TRUST.ME WON'T; (2) make sure to retain the extension ".tmf," which does not count in the 16 characters. So a 16 character client name turns into a 20 character file name including the dot and the extension. Here is an example of a client ID with the maximum number of characters assigned: ABCDEFGH12345678. This becomes the Window’s file name: ABCDEFGH12345678.TMF. 21. Setting up and using transaction accounts Transaction accounts, accounts in the 112 thru 130 series, are accounts that you name to identify bank and broker accounts, or any account thru which transactions flow in and out of the plan. They are NOT intended to be investment accounts, such as money market funds (although this usually causes no trouble) — It’s best to establish these as investments. Transaction accounts are used like a check book (or transaction journal) to record deposits (contributions, investment sales and income) and checks written (investment purchases and expenses). They may or may not have a cash balance. If you are familiar with Quicken, TRUST.ME transaction accounts are called just "Accounts" in Quicken and all other TRUST.ME accounts are called "Categories" in Quicken. 22. Keeping the same investment separate in two different broker accounts Unless you want investments in different broker accounts to be combined in TRUST.ME (probably not a good idea), you must give them different investment ID codes. If you have many instances of the same investment in multiple transaction accounts, you may wish to use a special naming convention. By assigning each transaction account (broker) a distinctive letter (for example S = Charles Schwab, M = Merrill Lynch, etc.), you can prefix (or suffix) the investment code with the letter. For example, when IBM common stock is held in both transaction accounts assign the investment codes like this: C-IBM and M-IBM. If you wish all IBM investments to appear together on investment reports (they are sorted on ID code), use a suffix instead of a prefix, for example IBM-C and IBM-M. The name can be exactly the same on both accounts. An alternate method is to establish a separate client file for each broker account, then combine them at reporting time. This alternate approach will ensure that investments with the same investment ID code can be maintained and reported separately by broker, but combined and shown as a single line on combined statements. 23. When is it OK to close a year? When all transactions have been entered; market values updated and gains and losses calculated; and financial statements and the tax form printed. Its probably best to wait until the audit is complete before closing. You need not close a year before posting transactions for the next year. The program will allow you to post transactions for the next year by selecting that option in the “Enter Transactions” set-up screen — it has radio buttons to select the posting year. 24. How do I enter a negative amount for a transaction? You shouldn’t enter a negative amount. The transaction code you assign determines the accounting treatment for a transaction, i. e. whether the entry is a debit or a credit. In accounting a negative debit is really a credit and a negative credit, a debit. There are a few instances in which you "sell" an investment before you "buy" it, such as options and short sales. These require special treatment. Please see Appendix D in the User's Guide for instructions on how to handle them. 25. Entering data in a field on one of the major entry screens when the field is all blue (i. e. the field is in "view" mode)? You can start typing in any blank, all blue (selected) field to change it from "view" to "edit" mode (it will turn to all gray) and accept data. If you start typing in a field with a prior entry, the prior entry will be erased to accept new data. To avoid erasing the prior entry click it (or press F2) to activate "edit" mode before you start typing. Then, to retain the entry for editing (i. e. remove the blue highlight around the entry), click again or use a movement key (right arrow, home or end). If typing in a blank, all blue (selected) field doesn't change it to "edit" mode, click it (or press F2) until it does (changes color from all blue to gray). 26. Reviewing the balances and transactions in a given account or series of accounts Use the speed button "General Ledger" or "Menu, Lists, General Ledger" and specify the account number or account series (e. g. 112, or 112-129) in the dialog box provided. 27. Changing the transaction account number for an entire batch You may rarely need to change the transaction account (bank or broker) account for all transaction in one or more batches. Use “Revise Transaction” to select the batch and click the “Change Trans Account” button to enter a different account number. All transactions in the batch change to the different transaction account when you select “Save and Quit.”

Special Note for Current Users :

Version 12 is now available!!! Click here for a description of this important upgrade.

Software created by pension and accounting professionals for pension and accounting professionals. It has been helping CPAs and plan administrators save time and money since 1985.

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