Solar Accounts

We're constantly adding features to Solar Accounts based on feedback from our users. Below are some of the changes we've made over the past year. Got an idea for a feature in Solar Accounts? Feel free to let us know!

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November 2011

Version 3.5:

	Support for Jobs or Departments Each transaction in Solar Accounts can now be associated with a particular job or department - click the Options button in the bottom-left of the transaction window. The 'Profit and Loss By Job/Department' report shows the income and expenses for each job or department. Also, the Transactions list can be filtered to show the transactions for a particular job or department.
	More Options When Adding an Element to the Invoice Template When adding a new field to the invoice template, you now have the option of including a black border and title. You can also add a secondary logo to the invoice.
	Default Date Can Be Based on the Most Recently Entered Date A setup option now allows you to use the most recently entered date as the default for new transactions. (Click menu Setup > Transaction Defaults > Default Date)

August 2011

Version 3.4.2:

	Print Multiple Invoices as a Batch Invoices can now be printed as a batch - hold down the shift key to select mulitple invoices, then click menu File > Print. This also applies for quotes, receipts and payment notices.
	Option to Not Update Invoice Price When the user selects an item from the description drop-list, the default behaviour is to update the Unit Price column based on the most recently used price. This can now be turned off by clicking the Options button in the bottom left of the invoice window.

July 2011

Version 3.4.1:

Solar Accounts now supports Mac OS X Lion (10.7) If you are running Solar Accounts on a Mac and have upgraded your operating system to OS X Lion (version 10.7) you should also upgrade Solar Accounts as described here.

April 2011

Version 3.4:

	Invoices with Zero Amount Invoices with zero amounts can now be saved in Solar Accounts. This might be used, for example, to indicate that an item or service was free.
	Hide Columns on Printed Invoices The invoice template can now hide table columns - this is particularly useful for businesses which aren't VAT-registered and don't want to show the VAT column. To hide columns click menu Setup > Invoice Template, then double-click on the main body of the table.

March 2011

Version 3.3.4:

	Print VAT Return Summary When completing the VAT return guide steps, the VAT return figures can now be printed as a summary. In addition, the VAT Return Detail report is saved to a PDF file rather than printed.
	Warning When Opening Out-Of-Date File If Solar Accounts detects that the file being opened does not include the most recent changes (eg. an old backup file) then Solar Accounts will offer to switch to the most up-to-date file.

January 2011

Version 3.3.1:

Solar Accounts Now Runs On Apple Mac Solar Accounts now runs on Apple Mac OSX 10.5 and 10.6 in addition to Windows XP, Vista and 7. Files created with the Mac version can be edited in the Windows version and vice-versa. You can download the Mac version here.

Version 3.2.4:

VAT Changes In Line With UK VAT Rules The default rate for VAT in Solar Accounts has been changed from 17.5% to 20% (existing uses can update the default rate as described here).

November 2010

Version 3.2.3:

Improved Emailing When emailing a customer statement, the email address of the customer is used and other fields populated with the email template. Also fixed a bug where emails were not currectly sent in Outlook 2010.

October 2010

Version 3.2.2:

	Profit and Loss Report Now Supports 12 Periods The Profit and Loss report can now show monthly figures for a full year. Click the 'Configure' button next to the report title to set the report periods.
	Print Reports in Landscape Page Orientation All reports can now be printed (and exported to a PDF file) in either portrait or landscape page orientation.

July 2010

Version 3.2:

Customise Invoice Template Solar Accounts now allows users to add, remove and re-position elements on the template for invoices, receipts, statements and other documents. To do this, click 'Invoice Template' from the Setup menu.

May 2010

Version 3.1:

Better Support for Recovering EU VAT Prior to version 3.1, Solar Accounts allowed non-UK VAT to be included on the UK VAT return - this has now been corrected. Existing users may need to adjust their next VAT return as described here.

Version 3.0:

Delete From Invoice Description Drop-List You can now delete items from the description drop-list in the invoice table - just right-click on an item and select 'Remove From List'.

April 2010

Version 2.9:

	Better Support for the Construction Industry Scheme We've added two reports showing your CIS deductions. Also, it's now simpler to record CIS deductions if you are VAT registed. See our CIS help page for details.
	Edit the First Financial Year If you have incorrectly entered your first financial year start date, this can now be corrected by clicking menu Setup > Financial Year > Edit the current financial year.

February 2010

Version 2.8:

	Repeating Payments The Money Paid Out window now allows you to specify a repeating monthly or weekly schedule (click the 'Repeat' button at bottom left). You will be prompted to create any payments which are due whenever you open your data file.
	Delete User Activity History You can now delete all entries from the User Activity history list (click menu Tools > User Activity > Delete All). This can reduce your file size and decrease load time.
	Customer or Supplier Reference on Invoice Payments In the Invoice Payment window, placing your mouse over the Invoice number will reveal the reference number from the customer or supplier. The printed payment notice also includes this reference number.

January 2010

Version 2.7:

	VAT Changes In Line With UK VAT Rules The default rate for VAT in Solar Accounts has been changed from 15% to 17.5% (existing uses can update the default rate as described here). Also, the EC Sales List report now includes supplies of services (as well as goods) to EU customers.
	Fixed Problems With Unit Price Previously, the system sometimes set the unit price on an invoice line to four decimal places even if it had been entered as two decimal places. This problem has been addressed in the latest release.

November 2009

Version 2.6.2:

	Recent Files List When you choose to open an existing file, Solar Accounts now displays the last few files that were opened - you don't have to hunt for your data file in the file window.
	Better Installation by Standard Users Previously, some Windows users who did not have administrator rights on their computer could not install the software. This problem has been addressed in the latest release.

October 2009

Version 2.6:

	Support for Quotes and Purchase Orders As requested by many users, we've added support for producing Quotes and Purchase Orders to Solar Accounts. To create a quote, click menu File > New > Quote. To create a purchase order, go to the Purchase Invoices list and click New > Purchase Order.
	Search Transactions by Journal Memo Transactions can now be searched by memo. To do this, tick the 'Advanced' checkbox in the Transactions list, then set the filter to 'Where Memo Contains...'.
	Grouped Fields in the Customise Invoice Window The field names listed in the Customise Invoice window are now grouped by document type (Invoice, Quote, etc).

September 2009

Version 2.5:

	More Options for Customer Opening Balance When creating a new customer (or supplier) with an opening balance, you can now specify the date and VAT rate of the opening balance invoice - just click 'Edit Balance' in the Customer window.
	Printed Receipt Now Shows Paid Invoices The receipt printout now lists the invoices that have been paid and the balance of each invoice.

August 2009

Version 2.4:

	More Currency Options Solar Accounts now supports any currency symbol, and can use the 'European' currency format (ie. using a comma for decimal place). Click menu Setup > Currency to set currency options.
	Import Data from CSV File Data from CSV files can now be imported into Solar Accounts as described in this help topic. Exporting data to a CSV file results in a file which can be imported back into Solar Accounts.
	More Customisation of Statements and Receipts All text on customer statements, receipts and payment notices can now be changed by clicking menu Setup > Customise Invoice > Field Names. This is useful for translating the document into another language.
	Keyboard Search for Customers and Suppliers Typing a name in the customers list or suppliers list will now search for that name.

June 2009

Version 2.3.5:

	Export Invoices to Excel Individual invoices, receipts and delivery notes can now be saved as an Excel spreadsheet. To do this, click menu File > Export To > Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet.
	Calendar Drop-Box for Date Fields Every date field in Solar Accounts now has a drop-down button allowing you to pick a date from a simple calendar.
	Print Blank Invoice Lines Older versions of Solar Accounts would remove blank lines when the invoice was printed – this problem has now been fixed.

May 2009

Version 2.3.4:

	New 'Invoices Summary' Report We've added a new report showing the invoices for each customer and supplier during a given period. We've also split the customer and supplier reports into two groups.
	Accounting Report Parameters Saved The parameters for each Accounting report are now saved on exit and re-loaded when Solar Accounts opens again.
	Window Sizes and Positions Saved Solar Accounts now saves the size and position of windows. The columns widths in transaction windows are also persisted.
	Edit Opening Balance of Income and Expense Accounts We've simplified the set-up process by allowing the opening balance for all accounts to be directly edited.
	New Video Tour We've added a video tour to our website demonstrating some of the features of Solar Accounts. Check it out here.

April 2009

Version 2.3.2:

	Free-Text Field on Invoices Each invoice now has a free-text section to add details such as accepted payment methods or bank account details. Click the 'Other Information' button next to the comments field to access this feature.
	New Nominal Ledger Report The list of reports now includes a Nominal Ledger report showing transactions for a particular period grouped by account.
	Table Column Widths Automatically Saved Column widths for all main tables and reports are saved on exit and re-loaded when Solar Accounts starts.
	Send Emails Using Outlook 2007 To ensure email messages are sent correctly, Solar Accounts now automatically adds the text 'smtp:' in front of email addresses when using Outlook 2007.

Version 2.3:

	Solar Accounts is Now More Robust The latest version of Solar Accounts better protects your data if your computer crashes or the program closes unexpectedly. We recommend users of older versions upgrade to minimise the chance of data loss.
	Blank Lines Allowed in the Payment Window In older versions users would sometimes have to enter a zero amount to exclude the line from the transaction. This has been fixed to allow for blank lines.

March 2009

Version 2.2.9:

	Customise Font and Color of Invoice Text You can now change the font and color of elements on the invoice. Select 'Customise Invoice' from the Setup menu to access this feature.
	Print Reconciliation Window Click the Print toolbar button in the Bank Reconciliation window to print the reconciled transactions.

February 2009

Version 2.2.4:

	Print Receipts and Payment Notices To print a receipt or payment notice, select a Money Received or Money Paid Out transaction in the Transactions list, then click menu File > Print.
	Directly Adjust VAT Amounts on Invoices Some users find the purchase invoice in Solar Accounts doesn't exactly match thier supplier's invoice due to rounding of VAT amounts. This can now be corrected by clicking the VAT link in the invoice window then editing the VAT amount.

December 2008

Version 2.2:

	Delivery Notes We've added support for printing delivery notes. To print a delivery note, select an invoice in the Invoices list and click menu File > Print > Delivery Note.
	Configurable Payment and Receipt Accounts The default account used when paying or receiving money can now be specified – click menu Setup > Default Accounts then enter the account name.
	Mini Page Preview in Print Dialog When printing or saving Solar Accounts now displays a small preview showing the first page of the document being saved or printed.
	Save Lists and Reports to Excel™ Spreadsheets All lists and reports can now be saved as a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel™ format – click 'Save As' from the File menu.
	Configurable Email Template Text The default text used when emailing an invoice can now be changed – click menu item Setup > Email Template.
	Auto-suggest Invoice Description When typing into the Description field on an invoice line, you are now presented with a list of previous descriptions. Selecting a description populates the unit price and tax rate.