Hi everyone,

I am in need of assistance with regards to the following.

I am a recent B.com management accounting graduate and I am working for this start-up manufacturing company (Cold asphalt) and the company has just recently purchased Pastel Software.
I did pastel partner V14 training last year and got the certificate, but I fear that I may not be well equiped to start the set of books from scratch with 100% precision.

My worries lie especially with:

1. Opening balances (Bank account) - How do I enter opening balance?. Our financial year started on the 1st of March 2016.

2. Customer and suppliers accounts. - According to what I learned in training, opening a customer account is as easy as just going to "Edit, Customers, accounts..." But when I follow this process, guided by my study material from last year, A message saying I must create a customer "Main account" pops-up. What type of account should this be (Accounts receivable)? And what about Cash customers?... I have already created 3 three customer categories. My concern is this customers main account.

3. Bill of material - We use three different direct materials. I have all the measurements required for one mix that yields thirteen 25kg bags of finished product. Additionally, I have to include the cost of plastic wrap (used to wrap a pallet of 40 bags), cost of that pallet, transport costs to collect material, and other overheads. I am not sure how to go about doing this. The bill of material was not included in my training package.

4.Open item or balance forward - Which is the best to use.

5. I do not want to make mistakes when it comes to taxes. I need to know which are the important areas to tick/untick when it comes to tax. We are registered VAT vendors.

I would appreciate any assistance with these issues from anyone. Thanks in advance.