Banana Accounting : the comprehensive training software

In this article

Professional accounting software for individual use

Banana Accounting is a suite of professional accounting applications based on the double entry accounting system. It offers all the typical features of a professional software which is inspired by Excel and is intended for individual use. It therefore lends itself very well for training purposes.

The different features available are listed below. In most cases, training will be limited to using the basic functions, but it is useful to keep in mind that Banana Accounting allows you to provide a very broad educational offer.

Provide students with accounting tools used in businesses

Increasingly, accounting training is aimed at providing practical skills, so that students are able to make the best use of the modern tools available upon entering the labour market they.

Each management software has its own specificity, determined by the type of activity and the size of the company. The program used by a bank will differ from that used by a large industry and or of a public entity. As far as the financial and accounting aspects are concerned, the programs are very similar, because they all use the same logic, based on the accounting system involved. Concepts such as Account, Debit and Credit, the structure of a Journal and the presentation of a Balance Sheet and Income Statement, are substantially the same. For this reason, once you learn how one program works and to use the different tools it makes available, it will be easier to switch to another software.

To exercise with professional software, that also offers multiple possibilities of use that are not restricted to manual, will offer a great advantage for students. As you will see from what is listed below, Banana Accounting offers a very wide working and exercising platform, which largely meets the needs of most accounting training curricula.

Learning double entry accounting

The following topics are generally covered in basic accounting training:

The structure of the teaching will be vary according to the curriculum, the age of the students, the objectives to be achieved and the time available.

Banana Accounting supports this basic teaching very well, thanks to the fact that the table-based mode of use matches the traditional one of accounting. It makes it easy for teachers to explain and for students to practice.

  • In File Properties you set the company name, the accounting period and the currency.
  • In the Accounts table, list the accounts and groups by Assets, Liabilities, Costs and Revenues.
    • You may use alphabetic or numeric names as account identifiers.
    • Groups can be defined freely.
    • Enter the opening balances in the Opening column of the same table.
    • If there is a difference between debit and credit, a report is immediately delivered to you.
    • Updated balances and group totals are also displayed.
    • New accounts can be added at any time.
  • Enter the movements in the Transactions table.
    • The columns are typical of accounting records.
    • You can enter direct transactions, debit and credit or transactions on multiple accounts and on multiple lines.
    • The list of accounts is always available to you and if you make a mistake you will be notified of the error.
    • Check the account movement, the updated balance and any difference between debit and credit in the information window at the bottom.
    • The student will get accustomed with using descriptions, that contain the necessary elements.
  • Instant display of the accounting situation.
    • Check the updated balances of the accounts and groups in the Accounts table. You have a complete view of:
      • Balance sheet, with total assets and liabilities.
      • Income Statement, with revenues, costs and operating profit.
    • In the Totals table you a summary of the main classes and the profit for the year can be seen.
  • Account cards.
    • With one click, the account card offers you a view of all the transactions entered and the resulting balance.
  • Check accounting.
    • Thanks to the information held in the Transactions and the Accounts tables, you can check whether the accounting is correct.
    • Via the Check accounting command, all operations are recalculated and existing errors are reported.

You can select the most appropriate way of working, depending on your situation.

Complete and advanced courses

As the level of the course progresses, accounting training tends to focus more on the conceptual, and regulatory (IAS rules), tax and organizational aspects.

It is therefore important for the teacher and the student to ensure that the accounting tool, even when used on an individual basis, supports all the functions with which one will get confronted in the accounting field and in a company environment. 

Reporting

The Chart of Accounts offers students an immediate overview of the accounting situation. IT tools also make it possible for users to select the most appropriate type of display.

Banana Accounting allows you to create prints, to adapt the presentation of the Balance Sheet and Income Statement, to choose between displays in detail or by groups, for the whole year or for selected periods. The settings can be saved for later use. The previewed reports can be printed or exported in pdf format.

Thanks to these tools, students learn to make the best use of the possibilities offered by accounting software.

Accounting documents in digital format

Digital formats such as pdf, are replacing paper Documents in companies. Even at the accounting practice level, it may prove convenient to use digital documents, especially since most smartphones have functions to scan documents.

Each Banana Accounting entering can be linked to a document and this can then be viewed with one click.

Importing bank statements

Banks and Credit cards make statements available electronically. By importing bank statements, the data entry work is reduced, but there is always a need to:

  • Understand that different formats are in use.
  • Complete the counterpart.
  • Create several postings when you need to spread your spending across multiple accounts.
  • Add information about VAT, customers or cost centers.

It may prove useful to make students practice on importing the extracts so to get them accustomed with this way of operating, that is increasingly used within companies.

Account plans

The plan of accounts of Banana Accounting is very flexible.
You may use the numbering you want, even text such as "Bank", "Cash", that are easily understood by a class of beginners. 

Indicate the list of accounts in the Chart of Accounts as well as the presentation structure of the balance sheet and income statement, which can be structured as you wish, to match any requirement.

The structure can be adapted to any requirement

Companies are required to present the balance sheet and income statement in an articulated way, with a whole series of minimum of groupings. In some countries there are standards for the structure of the chart of accounts, the numbering of accounts and groups.

Banana Accounting has a grouping system that is specifically designed for the double-entry accounting logic, which allows you to create structures on multiple levels to meet any need. 

Students can be trained to use numbering and Chart of Accounts as required in their country.

If there is no template of Chart of Accounts matching your nation, you can create a new one and then use this in teaching. The standardized account plans are generally designed to cover the needs of large companies, so they can be very complex. Setting up the whole Chart of Accounts, with all the different grouping levels can take some time. It may be useful to take a hint from an existing Chart of Accounts.

IFRS Accounting standard

The IAS / IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) are principles issued by the IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) which standardize the reporting methods of companies. Many countries have adopted IFRS standards.

Banana Accounting makes plans of accounts available, that are already set up with the accounts and groups complying with IFRS standards. Students are offered the opportunity to practice using the presentation prescribed by the IFRS.

XBRL (eXtended Business Reporting Language)

XBRL is an international standard used for the electronic transmission of accounting reports. XBRL allows you to create industry-specific or nation-specific data presentation formats, which is called taxonomy. Several countries have already adopted this standard to transmit reports to tax authorities

Banana Accounting includes a flexible system, which allows you to create specific solutions for each taxonomy. It can be proposed to students to introduce and experiment with these data transmission techniques.

Automation for calculation and VAT reports

All countries apply revenue taxes and Banana Accounting, like all accounting software, has mechanisms to automate these features. It will prove profitable to the student to learn how these automatism work and how they are used.

VAT is the most used revenue tax in the world, but Banana Accounting is also able to manage other sales taxes. The parameters for calculating sales taxes are set in the VAT codes table. The comments below refer to VAT, but the reasoning may be applied to other form of taxes.

It is generally necessary, in accounting training, to explain the functioning of VAT to students, including the taxation and recovery mechanisms. In order to understand how VAT is managed in the double-entry accounting system, it will prove useful that during this teaching phase normal multi-line records are used, even when working with an accounting file without VAT codes.

Taxes on sales have become a very complex matter, therefore software allows you to create codes that enable the management of the different scenarios to be matched (rate, calculation on gross or net, account used, etc.).

In Banana Accounting, VAT is set up in the VAT Codes table. When you enter data, you indicate the appropriate code and the program automatically calculates and breaks down the VAT and registers it on the set VAT account. The classification of the VAT code is also used to group the operations for the reporting phase.

Thus the student is able to practice:

National VAT extensions

Banana Accounting allows you to develop extensions to create reports and files, necessary for compliance with the VAT of each country. Thanks to these extensions the student will be able to understand the whole process of fulfilling requirements.

Extensions for several countries already exist. If one does not exist for your nation, it is possible to create it and make it available to students. The first step in developing an extension for the management of a nation's VAT is to set the VAT codes so that all the necessary cases can be coded in the report. The second step is to create the extension, which requires Javascript programming knowledge. It is not complicated for a programmer, as he can set off by using an existing extension.

Invoicing and reminders

Every business needs to manage financial relationships with customers and suppliers. All accounting software provide tools to facilitate billing and controlling of amounts that remain outstanding. With digitization, the transmission of invoice data is increasingly taking place electronically.

Accounting logic and the layout of the invoice are substantially always the same. IT systems are optimized to manage specific business activities. In most programs, the accounting part is managed automatically by the program and bypassing the user. 

Banana Accounting, instead, offers the possibility of creating invoices directly within the Transactions table. This system is ideal for understanding how invoicing works, because there is a correlation between the accounting movement and the moment it appears on the invoice. Banana Accounting also provides various layouts for printing and exporting data in electronic format.

Students have the opportunity to practice comprehensively and track the whole process of checking relations with customers and suppliers.

Blockchain for the protection and integrity of recorded data

Blockchain technology ascertains that movements cannot be counterfeited and allows for legal certainty of data even when information is made available online.

In 2002, Banana Accounting was the first accounting software to make this technology available to ensure legal data certainty. Bitcoin used the same approach in 2008 to guarantee the security for the distribution of its virtual currency. This technology will play an increasingly important role in financial and accounting applications of the future.

Teachers can use Banana Accounting to explain this technology, how it works and how to make the best possible use of it. Students will thus be prepared for the new digital world.

Financial planning and business plan

With Banana, accountants can prepare financial plans using the double entry method. This allows for detailed forecasts of the company, complete with budget and forecast of economic accounts, liquidity, investment and financing plans. 

Everything being already set up, makes teaching to prepare financial plans easier and faster than with Excel. The settings and Chart of Accounts are used in both accounting and planning. The different reports can be obtained with data of the past and present (accounting), with future ones (forecast) or with both, displaying the differences between them.

Using the double entry method for accounting and financial planning, makes it much easier to use the Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology. Many repetitive tasks are taken care of by IT, which is why the accountant will increasingly take on and focus on high-level tasks, such as planning and verifying that the company maintains the objectives it has set itself.

The planning tool may be used for existing companies or to create the financial part of a startup business plan.

Cost and profit centers

In addition to double-entry accounting criteria, transactions are also often categorized by other criteria relevant to companies. For this purpose, the programs have specific functionalities, such as Cost and Profit Center, Categories or similar. A specific code for the cost or profit center is then assigned when the transaction is recorded, in addition to the debit and credit accounts. 

Banana Accounting allows you to create up to three cost and profit center levels, each one offering an unlimited number of accounts. It can be used to introduce the topic and to prepare simple and complex exercises.

Segments for sector or branch reports

Entities and companies of a certain size require separate reports, financial statements and income statements for the various local or administrative entities, which are generally called business segments. Upon registration, accounting transactions can then be classified on the basis of the segment or segments they will be impacting.

When reporting, each segment or sector will the be presented distinctively.

Banana Accounting offers a highly articulated and flexible system that allows you to create up to 10 levels of segments, with an unlimited number of accounts available for each level. The Financial Statements and Income Statement can also be prepared separately for the various segments. Students can be introduced to this topic and practice with it.

Payroll in accounting

Banana Accounting does not offer an integrated payroll program. Payroll programs are highly complex and very specific to different sectors and nations, and quite often, regional differences within a nation. Generally, payroll management is done with separate modules that manage data and create overall monthly records that must be imported or integrated into the accounting Journal.

Usually accounting training indicates what the deductions are and how they should be recorded in the accounts. Banana Accounting allows you to manage this part. Normally in accounting training, you don't have the time to explain and practice specific payroll programs. If required and depending on the size of headcount of the company, specific software must be used.

Warehouse and inventory

Although the principles are the same, warehouse management programs are generally designed specifically according to the needs of the single individual realities.

Banana Accounting includes a small warehouse management, directly integrated into accounting, to support invoicing. When the option is activated and accounting records are entered, the item code, quantity and prices can also be indicated; it serves for basic needs and can be used exercises in teaching.

Analytical and cost accounting

Analytical and cost accounting solutions, such as warehouse management and invoicing, generally depend on the sector of activity, the type of goods and the size of the company. In the field of accounting training, the topic is generally dealt with at a theoretical level, with exercises on methodologies for identifying the unit cost of the products and services that the company offers.

When the related specific option is activated, Banana Accounting, allows you to indicate the quantities and the price of the incoming and outgoing goods during the registration phase. These tools, together with cost and profit centers and article management, can serve as a tool for data collection and become the basis for calculating product costs and unit profit margins.

Budget Analysis and Business Intelligence

In accounting training, students learn to analyze the balance sheet, by making use of comparisons and the calculation of indices. With digitization processes, companies have access to ever more data. Data analysis activities which serve to extract useful information for the company, are designed as Business Intelligence (BI).

Accountants traditionally use Excel for these analyses, but there are also several other tools that make it easier to leverage business information. To make the best use of these tools, it is useful to be familiar with databases and programming. Ever more students are now also trained to make the best use of Excel and modern BI tools.

Banana Accounting allows you to easily export data to Excel, copying and pasting them, or exporting them through specific applications (API).

Banana Accounting also includes a Javascript programming platform that allows you to develop extensions to import and export data, create reports and invoice layouts. It can be used to calculate indexes, analyze and extract information.

With this entirely integrated programming tool, students can practice programming and data extraction.

Management of depreciable assets

Depreciation is one of the typical topics in accounting teaching. The first step is to make students practice calculating and recording depreciation.

Banana Accounting includes an application for the management of depreciable assets that allows you to manage the list of assets and to indicate the rates and frequency of amortization and other typically related data. The program will then automatically calculate the depreciation. The application also allows you to enter revaluation and devaluation transactions and to keep a history of all the changes.
Depreciation data can be imported into accounting.

Students are offered the opportunity to deepen and practice fully on this issue.

Audit file

The audit file is a file that contains all the accounting data (accounts, transactions, customers, suppliers etc), so that these can be processed by other programs.

The OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) has invited nations to issue regulations so that all accounting programs make data available to tax authorities, for review and control purposes. The OECD has also developed the SAF-T (Standard Audit File for Taxation) format that nations use as a guide to establish their specifications. More and more countries are imposing an obligation on accounting programs to create audit files. With the advent of cloud programs, companies often don't know where their files are located. The audit file has become a necessity to ensure that accounting data can be stored in accordance with the law.

Banana Accounting began in 1998 to offer the possibility to export all the accounting data, first in the Html format, then also XML, Pdf and also in the SAF-T format for various countries. Banana Accounting also allows you to import SAF-T files. Teachers can train students to understand and use these new techniques.

Cloud accounting management

Cloud systems such as Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive, GoogleDrive or similar services, are also being used by businesses. Students can learn to organize the management of accounting files with these systems.

Multi-language and Multi-nation

Banana Accounting can be used in different languages and offers accounting plans for different countries. Teachers have access to everything they need to prepare students, who are readying themselves for an experience abroad, how to keep accounts in another language or country.

Working with different operating systems as well as smartphones and tablets

Banana Accounting is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and as well as for Android and iOS and iPadOS. Schools, teachers and pupils can quickly install it on any of their devices. No internet connection is required when keeping accounts. Teachers can easily prepare their own exercises and models. Students can use it to practice in the classroom or even at home.

Accounting files are compatible and can be readily switched between the different systems.

Suitable for older generations of computers

Schools do not always own the latest technological equipment. Banana Accounting is a software that requires limited resources and can be installed and used on computers that do not even have a stable internet connection.

Exhaustive documentation

Each function of the program is properly and carefully documented. The entire documentation  is accessible both on the banana.ch website and also via a pdf document that can be downloaded and consulted on your computer.

 

Share this article: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email