Accounts Masters in Tally – Advanced Features

Masters are the containers or links of the Accounting Data. These are to set first before transaction data can be recorded. Data stored in Masters are independent. Any transaction record must link to a specific Master record.

Account Masters are organised Accounting entities representing similar type of transactions (like Account Ledgers) and of similar nature (like Account Groups). All transaction data are compiled, summarized and balanced, for Accounting Reports & Financial statement (like Profit & Loss Account & Balance sheet).

Basic features of Accounts Masters are described. In this post, we describe the advanced features of Accounts Masters in tally. We explain the Important Advanced Features of Accounts Masters.

Alias Names in Accounts Masters in Tally

In earlier system, Codes were used. However, Codes cause inconvenience. But Names may be wrongly spelt, or spelt in different ways by different persons. In such case, records may not be properly identified.

Tally is a codeless system. So, the Item of Master record is referred or selected by the name of the Master. No code is necessary. However, many legacy systems still use codes. Codes are convenient in some cases. Sometimes a Master record may be conveniently called by short name, mnemonics etc. In case of mechanical input device, like Bar Codes, QR Codes, codes are essential.

Tally provides novel additional features of Codes by offering the facility of Alias Names. Alias Names are additional Names / Identifiers for a Master record, used for Code / Mnemonics to select the Master record through Alternate Names, more precisely.

You may create multiple unique alternate codes (i.e Alias Names) for one Item of Master record. So, you can use convenient names as per use or custom, to work more efficiently.

For example, you have one dealer at each city. You remember them by short name or place. So you can enter their short name as Alias and can select them by Alias Names. For example, for a Party G.C. Publishers, enter Alias as GCP (short Name) or 01125686 (Account Number) . Now you can select the party from its Name (G.C. Publishers, GCP or 01125686).

Like the Name of the Master record, the Alias Names also appear in drop down list of master selection. You may select the Master by selecting either the Name or any of the Alias Names.

However, the flip side is that when you use Alias, they also get listed in selection list of Masters. So, the list of masters get longer. So, you have to move the cursor more for selection. However, if you filter properly, you may find Alias Names convenient. Tally provides quick selection facility through gradual character matching. So, selection of Master from long list is fast

Rules of Alias Names in Tally

Multiple distinct Alias names may be created for each Master record.

The First Alias Name may be displayed / printed at Name (in place of Name or alongwith Name)

The Alias Names cannot be created through Multiple Masters Creationmode. Alias Names are to be entered through Single Masters option, as described earlier.

You may enter multiple Alias Names for any Master Record. But the Alias Name must be unique within the Master Type. For example, you cannot speciify same Aias name (e.g. AKB) to 2 ledger Accounts but can specify in one Ledger Account and one Account Group.

General Activation for Alias Names in Tally

To activate the features of Alias Names, you have to first set up Configuration option for Alias Names. At Gateway, click F12: Configuration > Accts/Inv Info to get Accounts Info Configuration screen. At Master Configuration part, set Yes at Allow Aliases along with Name.

Masters General Configuration in Tally

Consequently, you may activate the Alias Feature in the respective Masters entry

Activation of Alias in specific Master

At the respective Maser entry, you may selectively set Alias feature through Configuration for each Master Type. So, you have to activate Alias for Ledger Accounts & Account Groups, separately, as needed.

Account Group Alias Name Activation in Tally

To activate Alias for Accounts Group, at Accounts Group entry screen, click F12:Configure to get Accounts Group Configuration screen. At Accounts Group Configuration screen, set Yes at Allow Aliases along with Names.

Alias activation for Accounts Group in Tally

Account Ledger Alias Name Activation in Tally

In the same way, at Accounts Ledger entry screen, click F12:Configure to get Accounts Ledger Configuration screen. At Accounts Ledger Configuration screen, set Yes at Allow Aliases along with Names

Alias activation for Accounts Ledger in Tally

Alias Name Entry in Masters in Tally

Having activated the Alias option at he respective master creation, during master entry, you get a field (alias) to enter Alias Names , in every Masters like Accounts Group, Accounts Ledger and other Accounts Masters

Alias Name entry in Ledger Accounts

Accounts Masters – Configuration options in Tally

At Master Configuration (F12:Configure> Accts /Inventory Info), set Yes at Allow ADVANCED entries in Masters, to activate respective Advanced Accounts Masters Configuration options.

Advance Masters Entry Configuration screen

Accounts Groups Advanced Features Activation in Tally

Having activated the Advanced Accounts Master general features, you should further set up the individual options at respective Master Entry configuration, like Account Group & Account Ledgers.

At Accounts Group creation / Alteration screen, click F12:Configure to get Accounts Group Configuration screen. At Allow Advanced entries in Masters, set Yes to set Advanced options for Account Group.

Accounts Group Configuration screen

Consequently, during Group creation / alteration screen, you get following additional advanced options for 1. Primary Group, 2. Compact Group 3. Net Balance of Group 4. Computation of Group 5. Purchase Expense Group, 6. Position Index

Primary Account Group creation in Tally

Tally organises Accounts Groups in hierarchical structure. The top level groups (called Primary Groups) do not have any higher parent group, while subordinate Groups are placed under some Group.

At the time of Company creation, Tally automatically creates Reserved Account Groups, each carrying some specific inherent properties. All new groups created carry the properties inherited by the Tally created parent Reserved Group.

Normally new Groups are created under some Reserved Group, which carry inherent properties of parent group. However, sometimes, you may need to create independent top level Primary Group (which are not placed under any Reserved group, but are placed independently like top level Reserved Group), to organise Groups / Ledger Accounts in your own way.

You can create Primary Group when advanced configuration option for Account Group is activated, as explained.

Primary Group creation

To create new Primary Group, at Group Creation screen, specify as follows :

Name : At Name, Enter the Name of new Primary Group to be created
Parent Group : At Under , select Primary from the list of Groups
Nature of Primary Group: At Nature of Group, select from Nature of Group list
Trading Account Applicability: If you have selected Income or Expense at Nature of Group, at Does it affect Gross Profit, further set Yes if the Group is to be included in Gross Profit / Loss (i.,e treated like Direct Expense or Direct Income), else set No, if it is to be treated like Indirect Income or Indirect Expense.

This way you may create new Important Primary Groups not provided by Tally (like Depreciation, Interest Paid etc.), for better presentation of Accounts. For example, you may create Primary group for Depreciation, Interest etc, to get figures for EBDIT (Earnings before Depreciation, Interest & Tax) and other key financial figures often required by management.

Do not create Primary Groups for Reserved auto created Groups, like Sales, Purchase, Cash & Bank, Duties & Taxes. These groups carry special properties and the respective features will not work, if the related Ledger Accounts/ Account Groups are placed under any other user created Parent Group.

Compact Account Group in Tally

There is no Subsidiary Ledger concept in Tally. You have to create Account Groups & Ledgers in the main Accounts System only. Often, under some Accounts Groups (like Sundry Debtors & Creditors, Employees, Advance etc), there are numerous Ledger Accounts. The Trial Balance and other reports showing the Ledger Accounts Details, become unmanageably long showing each Ledger Account.

Group Behaving like Ledger : To get a consolidated figures of all such ledgers in Reports, you may create a Compact Account Group (referred as Group behaving as Ledger) showing the consolidated figures of all subordinate Ledgers under the Group.

Even on creation of Compact Group, in Voucher entry, you select Individual Ledgers, and you get separate Ledger Accounts as usual.

Creation of Compact Account Group : At Group Creation / Alteration, set Yes at Group Behaves like a sub Ledger. Consequently, in Reports (e.g in Trial Balance), the consolidated (total) figure of the Group (e.g Sundry Creditors) is shown. Set No to show individual ledger accounts under the Group.

Account Group behaving as ledger

Characteristics of Compact Group in Tally

Compact Group only reduces the length of a Report, hiding individual ledger details. However, it makes no difference in voucher entry. All ledger accounts will be available in the selection list and all reports of the child Ledger Accounts of the Group will be printed as usual, without any effect.
Compact Group can be created only for Lowest Level Group (Group having only child Ledger Accounts, but no child groups)
On drill down of the compact Group, the underlying Ledger Accounts would be displayed as usual.

Account Net Balance in Tally

Normally, you like to get Net Balances (Net of Debit / Credit ) figures. But, for some Accounts, the split up (separate Debit / Credit figures) may be useful. For example, in Sales, you may like to get Sales & Sales Returns separately.

You may set the option for Net figures / Debit Credit split, for each Group, as per your choice

At Group Creation / Alteration, at Net Debit / Credit Balances for Reporting, Set No to show both Debit & Credit figures total separately (under the respective Debit / Credit columns), Set Yes to show the net of Debit / Credit figure only (under the respective Debit / Credit column)

Consequently, in various reports (like Group Summary, Trial Balance etc), the Group Balance of each Group is shown according to the option set for respective Group.

Group Summary with Dr/ Cr & Net Figures for specific group

This feature is set for each Account Master separately. Consequently, Balance of each Master is shown as per respective option set. So, you may set the option to show Net Balance for one Account Master record, while another record may set to show Debit & Credit figures separately

Ledger Accounts Advanced Configuration in Tally

We have shown Accounts Ledger Creation with default configuration Features. To set the Ledger Account Configuration options as desired, at Ledger Account creation, click F12: Configure to get Ledger Account Configuration screen, to set the Ledger Configuration Options.

Ledger creation configuration

At Ledger Account Configuration screen, set the Options as follows:

Alias Name : Alias option have been explained earlier. At Allow Aliases for Name, set Yes to enable Alias entry for the current Ledger Account,
Advanced Master Entries: At Advanced Entries in Master, set Yes to get additional advanced option (like Inventory Values in ledger accounts, Cost Centre allocation, Interest Calculation etc), according to the nature of Ledger Accounts.
Ledger Account Notes : At Use Notes for Ledger Accounts, set Yes to get another field to enter Internal Notes about the ledger account, in one line. The notes are for internal info only and is not shown in any report
Ledger Account Description : At Add Description for Ledger accounts, set Yes at enter Description about the ledger account, for internal reference, apart from Notes, as explained above.
Ledger Account Addresses: At Use Addresses for Ledger Account, set Yes to get fields for Address Entry (Mailing Name, Address, State, PINCODE) to enter address for some Ledger Accounts (like Sundry Debtors , Sundry Creditors, Bank Accounts etc), as described next.

Having set Yes at Use Addresses for Ledger Account, you may further set Yes at Use Address for Revenue Accounts, to enter Address for Revenue Accounts also (set No, if you do not need to enter Address for Revenue Accounts).

Ledger Account Contact Details Entry

Now we discuss about entry of advanced options for Contact details and related info in Ledger Accounts.

Ledger Accounts creation with Advanced options

Mailing & Contact Details / Tax Information in Ledger Account in Tally

In case of personal ledger accounts placed under Loan, Advance, Branch, Sundry Debtors or Sundry Creditors, you may enter following additional Information under the section Mailing Details at right part. You may leave any of the field blank, if not required.

Name : Enter here the Party’s Mailing Name (i.e legal name). The ledger name is carried here. You may change the ledger name, The Mailing Name entered here will be printed in all external document
Address : At Address, enter address in the same way as explained in Company creation. You may enter in multiple lines (normally 3-4 lines), in the way you want to print in the Invoices, Receipts etc.
Country : Select the Country from list of Countries. The country selected for Company appears as default, which you may change
State : At State, select State from the list of States.
Pin Code : At Pin Code, enter the PINCODE

Ledger Contact Details in Tally

To enter contact details as follows, at Ledger Account Configuration screen, set Yes at Use Contact Details

Contact Person : At Contact Person, enter the name of the contact person of the organization.
Telephone No : At Telephone No, enter the Telephone Number, if any.
Mobile Number: At Mobile Number, enter Mobile Number. This may be used for sending SMS.

Phone & Mobile Numbers help you to keep the phone numbers of all parties at a central place (it serves as your ready phonebook/ address book). The phone numbers may be printed in Reports, as ready reference, without any need to look elsewhere.

Fax : At Fax, Enter the Fax Number, if any
e-mail : At e-mail, enter the e-mail address, if any. Reports may be e-mailed to the party even through Tally.ERP 9, It is good idea to fill the e-mail address even you do not send e-mail through Tally.ERP 9, as you can keep e-mail address of Parties at a centralized place, like phone numbers.
e-mail copy: At c.c To (if any), enter the Copy to e-mail address. This is included in the copy to field in e-mail. This is relevant only when you enter main e-mail address.
Website : Enter website address, elated to the ledger account, if any

Tax Registration Details: At Tax Information section, at PAN / IT No, enter the I Tax PAN, if any. This data is used in Accounts Confirmation Report etc.

You get additional prompts for other options like Alias, Description, Notes, if you have set the respective options at Ledger Configuration, as explained earlier.

Ledger Account Multiple Mailing Address in Tally

Some Party (Debtor Creditor, Lender, Borrower, etc) may have multiple offices, branches, but only one common ledger accounts maintained).

Activation of Multiple Ledger Address in Tally : To activate Multiple Address for such ledger accounts features, at Ledger Account Configuration screen, set Yes at Use Multiple Address.

Multiple Address names activation

Multiple Ledger Address entry in Tally : Having activated Multiple Address at F12:Configurtaion for Accounts Master, at Ledger Entry / Edit screen, you have to further set Yes at Set / Alter Multiple Mailing Address to get entry screen for Multiple Mailing Address for the Party, to enter Multiple office Name and Mailing Address for each location, in the same way as explained for Multiple Mailing Address for Company

Multiple Address details entry

Accounts Master records sequencing

Account Groups / Ledgers are listed in sequence of Sort (Index) Value and then in Alphabetical order having same Sort Value. The same default Sort Value is allotted to all subordinate Group / Ledger Accounts. So, the Groups / Ledgers are listed in alphabetical sequence within same parent Group

However, sometimes, you may need to list Important accounts in specific order, instead of default order. In that case, you need to change the Position Index value as desired.

Master record Position Index in Tally

At Account Groups & Ledger Account Alteration, Click F10:Skip Sort/ Edit Sort toggle button to get the field Position Index in Reports, showing the default value of Sort Sequence. However, you may change to place the Account Group or Ledger in specific order, or to hide the option (the default value will be internally retained).

Master record Position Index value set up in Tally

You change the default sort value after creation of Accounts Master, but cannot set it at the time of creation of Accounts Master record. At respective Master record Alteration, click F10:Skip Sort/ Edit Sort toggle button of Accounts Group (GoT>Accounts Info>Group>Alter) and Accounts Ledger (GoT>Accounts Info>Ledger>Alter).

Position Index Values in Tally

In Account Groups, Tally specifies a default Sort value for Account Groups for each Reserved Group, as they appear in Balance Sheet & P L statements, the following order

Major Groups of Liabilities
Major Groups of Assets
Major Groups of Direct Income / Expenses
Major Groups of Indirect Income / Expenses

Primary Reserved Account of Balance Sheet Groups with default Sort :Position values

The user created Groups are given value of 500. Stock-in-Hand and all user created Ledgers are allotted value of 1000.

Changing Position Index Values in Masters in Tally

Tally allots default values for Reserved Groups . Al new user created groups are allotted same value (e.g 500)

You may change the Order of appearance as per your own choice. So, the Ledger Accounts would appear as per Sort Position (Index value). Groups / Ledgers having same Index value will appear in alphabetical order among themselves

Subordinate Reserved Account Group and user created Groups with default Sort Values

Sequencing of Account Groups in Tally

The following table shows an example of sort values for Group under Sundry Debtors. First set of values (first 2 columns) in the Table shows the default values. So, the Groups under Sundry Debtors will appear alphabetical order (with same default values):

Account Groups	Sort Value	Account Groups	Sort Value
Asansol	500	Kolkata	500
Durgapur	500	Durgapur	501
Kolkata	500	Asansol	502
Siliguri	500	Siliguri	503

But, you may like the Groups to appear according to the importance of each zone. So, change the Sort values as per desired sequence, as shown in the next 2 columns. Consequently, in the report of Sundry Debtors Account Group, the Ledger Accounts will appear in sequence of revised sort values (not in alphabetical order).

You may Change Sort Value of Ledger Accounts through Edit Mode of Account Groups (GoT>Accounts Info>Groups>Alter).

Sequencing of Account Ledgers

Like Accounts Groups, set the Sort Value of Ledger Accounts within a Group. For example, The 1^st 2 columns in the following table, shows the ledger accounts with default sort values. So, the Ledgers will appear in alphabetical order in the respective Account Group report. To show the report with ledger accounts in preferred sequence, edit the sort values in your desired manner, edit the sort values, as shown in the table, in next 2 columns.

Account Ledgers	Sort Value	Account Ledgers	Sort Value
A Zamir & Co	1000	S Vaidya & Co	1000
S Vaidya & Co	1000	A Zamir & Co	1001

Consequently, the Ledger within the Parent Group will be sorted as per revised sort sequence.

Account Ledgers	Sort Value
S Vaidya & Co	1000
A Zamir & Co	1001

This way, you arrange the newly created Account Ledgers as per your own choice, overriding the alphabetical sequence within a Group.

You may Change Sort Value of Ledger Accounts through Edit Mode of Account Ledgers (GoT>Accounts Info>Ledger>Alter), both under Single & Multiple options.

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