iTRANSAcct
interactive transaction-enabled accounting
‘iTRANSAcct’ is an interactive transaction enabler facilitating direct transacting power between other entities, leaves a trail for formal bookkeeping.
FAQ
01. Is iTRANSAcct an accounting package?
iTRANSAcct is primarily a transaction enabler like email for messages, yet it leaves a trail for formal accounting while executing a Unlike regular accounting packages, it provides a lot of useful reports like the status of a transaction, a dynamic ledger with colour codes, and a powerful automatic Universal Reconciliation System that gives a unique ‘Final Balance between a pair of entities, not provided by the conventional reconciliation systems. It is beyond an accounting package with many additional features.
02. Why is it called a ‘Transaction Enabler’?
The regular Accounting packages are for accounting within one entity and lack the capacity to send and receive transactions to and from other parties. This is a Transaction Enabler facilitating exchanging live transactions similar to emails meant for messages.
03. Is it like an email?
Email is mainly for messages, extended to have various attachments. Whereas iTRANSAcct is exclusively for enabling transactions and in the process leaves a trail for formal accounting.
04. Is it different from normal accounting?
Yes! It is positively different from normal accounting packages. It classifies the difference between internal and external transactions, where the initiated external transaction needs to be completed by the receiving party, filling in the received Reference and Received Date, as an acknowledgment. Only then the said transaction is completed in the real business sense. This is a very important requirement that solves the ever-prevailing constraints in reconciling a pair of accounts at both ends.
Each organization is looking to serve its respective customers, whereas each customer likes to get information from other organizations in one go. Otherwise, there are multiple logins and logouts
05. What is Networked Bookkeeping?
Normal Accounting packages are like islands, restricting all the transactions within the same system. They are similar to PCs without any networking capability. Messages can be interactive and exchanged when PCs are connected as a network. Using Networked bookkeeping, an external transaction created in one system will be completed in the other system. Transaction sent by a Sender has to be completed by the Receiver, which is a feature of the Networked Bookkeeping
06. What are Internal and External Transactions?
Any transaction that has to go beyond the four walls of an organization or away from their enterprise servers are External Transaction with respect to the source, while the Internal Transactions stay within the same source of creation. [Ex: In the Journal entry, Cr. Sales and Dr. Party, the Cr entry is Internal, whereas Dr entry has to reach the other party, is External]
07. What is a Complementary Voucher? Why it is needed?
From the original eVoucher created by the source, the Debit side which is sent to the Destination is exactly shown on the Receiver’s side as a Credit Entry which cannot be altered. The Receiver needs to fill only the Debit side of the new Voucher choosing the appropriate Account Head which is termed as a Complementary Voucher.
Since the original debit entry and details sent will appear on the credit side of the receiver that cannot be altered, ensuring data integrity, and preventing wrong re-entry from paper documents is quite secure and authentic.
08. Why do you want to differentiate between Internal and External transactions?
While accepting an external transaction the receiver has to fill two important fields, namely the accepted Reference and the Accepted Date. This data is added on the receiver’s side where the filled-up data are the above two fields which is synchronized on the Sender side also as a confirmation though it may not be immediate. This feature facilitates the powerful Auto Reconciliation between the connected entities. For Internal transactions, the completion takes place immediately with no time delay as the Source and Destination are the same.
09. How does it provide full control to the users?
It has the facility to send and receive transactions and take them at the appropriate occasion when received. The ledgers are dynamic with colour codes indicating the status. URS acts as a Dashboard giving the recent Ledger balances including the FINAL BALANCE, the user will have full control and information.
10. What is a Dynamic Ledger?
Since this is an interactive transaction accounting, the ledgers are capable of giving the status of the ongoing transactions using colour codes. The eVouchers or invoices prepared are to be verified, checked or signed by higher authorities before sending them to their customers. Until then, the ledger entries will show them in Pink colour, indicating ‘Not Yet Sent’. When these entries are sent to their destinations, they will change to Green colour, indicating ‘Sent, but Not Yet Taken’.
Once the entries are accepted and taken, they will appear in the customer’s books. At the same time on the Sender side, the entry will drop the Green colour and will appear in normal white background. When any ledger entry at the sender side appears without any colour code ensure it will appear on the customer side ledger also.
As the ledgers give not only the values and details but also indicate the dynamic status of those items, they are not mere conventional ledgers but Dynamic Ledgers.
11. What is that additional feature NextGen account provides?
Auto Reconciliation is a powerful additional feature provided in this NexGen accounting which is unique and multi-dimensional. As it gives the Reconciliation Statement between each pair of connected and related entities it is named as Universal Reconciliation System (URS). In addition to Ledger Balances of both the Source and the Destination, it also provides the FINAL BALANCE when all transit transactions are completed at either end. It is a very important Management Information hitherto was not available. This is made possible mainly by interactive transacting accounting.
12.While Trial Balance is available why do you need a Reconciliation?
While Trial Balance ensures the correctness of transactions for a single entity, Reconciliation Statement validates the book balances of any two related pairs of entities or businesses. Earlier all the transactions were treated as internal and hence Trial Balance is sufficient. Whereas in the interactive NexGen accounting the electronic transactions are dynamic and External with frequent change of status. Without a Reconciliation statement, one cannot be sure about the status of each transaction sent and received.
13.What is URS? What is special about it?
As against BRS, which is mainly for Bank Reconciliation, URS can provide for all the connected and transacting entities. That is for N nodes, it will give for the other (N-1) nodes at any point in time. It will list all the transactions sent by one Source A, that are Not Taken by Destination B, into their books and what the transactions received from them are Not Taken by the former (into the books of A).
14.What is the container concept in URS?
First, we will see what is a Reconciliation, which is a listing of those entries which cause the difference between the two book balances.
iTRANSAcct acts as a container to hold all the transactions sent from one Sender to the Receiver. Until each of them is taken by the Receiver with Marked Reference and Marked Date, it will stay in the ‘container’ with a ‘Not Taken’ Status.
In the same way, when the other party sends a few transactions through the same container, they will have the ‘Not Taken’ status until they are taken at this end.
For example, initially, when the balances are the same in the respective books, A sends 4 entries to B out of which 3 are taken and one is left. Likewise, B sends 3 entries out of which A takes one entry and two are left. Hence there is bound to be a difference in their book balances.
The difference-causing entries are available in the container. As per the explanation given in the first paragraph, listing those entries in the container provides the reconciliation. It is a simple straightforward method.
No ticking or clicking is done as in the conventional process.
15. Explain ‘Final Balance’ in the Universal Reconciliation System.
FINAL BALANCE is an additional but essential information provided by URS. It indicates the same numerical value as the balance in the books of both the sender and receiver when all transit transactions are completed. That is,
in the books of A, the Final Balance will show the ledger balance of B as Cr. 5,000/- and
in the books of B, the Final Balance will show the ledger balance of A as Dr. 5,000/-
16. What is multi-dimensional in URS?
Consider this table for the Reconciliation in the Books of
X for Ledger Account of Y:
Books of: >for Ledger A/c of
|
A |
|
>B |
>C |
>D |
|
B |
|
>C |
>D |
>A |
|
C |
|
>D |
>A |
>B |
|
D
You |
can |
>A
see for |
>B
all the |
>C
possible combinations, |
Reconciliation is available and hence multi-dimensional.
17. What is a Tri-Party Transaction?
As the name implies, three parties are involved and hence three pairs of transaction entries are to be passed into the respective books of accounts. This was not easy to complete at all the places in the manual systems as the flow of entries took some time to reach the other parties.
The Source (S) sends a pair of Debit and Credit entries to two Destinations, (D1& D2) simultaneously. There is a protocol to be followed. The Debit entry received by D1 is taken and forwarded to D2 crediting S and Debiting D2.
D2 will have a Debit entry from D1 and a Credit entry from S. D2 has to simply accept them and take them into his books, crediting D1 and Debiting S. This will complete the full cycle of transfer entries between the three parties, initiated by S, forwarded by D1 and completed by D2.
Before receiving the Dr entry from D1, D2 will not be able to complete the transaction with only a Credit entry, preventing any ambiguity, that will affect the transaction flow.
18. What is Balance Transfer?
Balance Transfer is possible by using the Tri-Party Transaction feature and one of the useful facilities. A Banking transaction is also similar to a Tri-Party transaction as the Balance from one party’s account is transferred to the other party’s account. Here Bank is only acting as a trustee, completing or ‘clearing’ the instructions received from two sources.
19. What is workflow automation? .
Once a transaction is initiated from one source, it will trigger a series of successive movements in progression that will ultimately be completed when the intended task is achieved. The sequence of these actions creates an automatic workflow prompting the user to proceed further. There may be a minimum data entry needed at the receiving end. Though this is automatic, a certain amount of controls will be available to make decisions at the appropriate instances. When you receive an Invoice and take it into your system, immediately it will update the ledger Accounts of the Party, Purchase, GST input, Trial Balance, URS, Bills Payable, and Due Date Manager including their periodical statuses.
20. What is new?
Liability created in the books is a commitment for now or later. Unless this is created the original transaction is incomplete in the business sense. We were unable to verify this through the earlier system until we got the statement of account from the other side. As the iTRANSAcct (eDropBox) will act as a container, the status will be known at any point in time. The source or sender can follow up to find the reason and persuade to find the entry in the destination or receiver’s book. This is a transparent system. Each entity having business relations with its customers can have this facility.
About Author
U.P. Prakasham is an accomplished Mechanical Engineer, holding a degree from the prestigious College of Engineering, Guindy. He further pursued a postgraduate course in Computer Science in the United States. As the head of Prakash Business Software Consultancy, he has made significant contributions to the field.
During his tenure as Managing Director of NEBULA Solutions Ltd., he introduced innovative software products that have had a substantial impact. Notable among these are QuesT, EC-Poll, InTelli-Tick, and Quiz- Pot, which have garnered widespread recognition.
Mr. Prakasham’s accomplishments extend beyond software development. He holds the Indian Patent for the groundbreaking ‘Verifiable Electronic Voting Device’ (VEVD). This invention has revolutionized the voting process, ensuring transparency and credibility.
His diverse professional experience includes serving as a Director at Newlink Overseas Finance Limited and co- founding Exnora International. Additionally, he has held prominent positions such as Chairman of the All India Manufacturers’ Organization (AIMO, TNSB) and President of the Cyber Society of India.
Mr. Prakasham’s expertise is not limited to technology and business. He has showcased his intellectual prowess through various publications. His paper titled ‘Customer Transaction Information Exchange’ was published in the CSI Annual Proceedings 1996, proposing a system for auto reconciliation in banks.
As Joint Editor of UMA Tamil magazine, he has contributed numerous insightful articles. He is also renowned for his creation of the quiz program ‘Kellvikku_Enna Badhil,’ presented in a captivating game format with animated explanations for mathematics, which has received high acclaim from viewers and participants alike.
For further contact and information, Mr. Prakasham can be reached via mobile at 9840033881 or through email at prakasham.up@gmail.com.
Additional details can be found on his website, www.iTRANSAcct.com.
Mission
Fundamentals of Accounting formulated a long time back when there were no computers and communication technology available, have to be extended to make the best use of the facilities to provide transparency, control, status and useful additional information that are not possible in the traditional bookkeeping system.
About Book
As a technical enthusiast, a language specialist, or a mathematical wizard, accounting may not be your cup of tea. But with iTRANSAcct, that’s about to change.
Introducing iTRANSAcct, the Transaction enabled NexGen Networked Accounting system that revolutionizes bookkeeping. The accounting becomes effortless, even for non-accounting professionals. By combining modern communication and computing, we’ve made accounting accessible to all.
Using iTRANSAcct is as easy as using email. When creating a transaction, only the creator enters the data, and at the receiver’s end, data entry is eliminated. They simply accept and acknowledge the transaction with a marked reference and date. It’s that simple!
Incomplete transactions are a thing of the past with auto reconciliation, using the unique Universal Reconciliation System, ensuring a comprehensive and reliable record for formal accounting.
iTRANSAcct aims to make technology more accessible and affordable for everyone. Our goal is to bring comfort and ease to the common man. Say goodbye to the complexities of accounting and welcome a new era of simplified, networked accounting with iTRANSAcct.
When using iTRANSAcct, you’ll experience a level of comfort and ease that will transform your perception of accounting. Embrace the future today!
Vision
The typing skill set is completely superseded by the use of computers and word processing. Likewise, accounting skills will be embedded in the use of technology, empowering individuals to directly transact with another person which leaves a trail for formal accounting, making every computer user an accounts-knowledgeable person.