Amortization Plus Tutorial

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Amortization Plus Overview

Amortization Plus, or A+ for short, is a tool to help create and maintain loan amortization, annuity, and lump-sum distribution schedules for clients and companies that you can setup in the program. You can calculate interest rates, terms, payments, payouts, and print schedules for the life of a loan or annuity. In addition, you can make balloon payments, change terms, withdraw lump-sums, or change any other facet of a loan or annuity. In addition to printing schedules, you can also graph and chart loan and annuity information and even print a 5-year loan analysis schedule to include for financial statement reporting. Set up as many companies as you like and for each company set up as many loans and annuities for them.

Features

The following are some of the most significant features you will find in Amortization Plus:

  • Create and maintain an unlimited number of companies
  • For each company or client create an unlimited number of loan and annuity schedules
  • Calculate interest rates, terms, payment amounts, payouts, principal amounts, and future value amounts for loans and annuities
  • Make balloon payments, lump-sum distributions, or change terms of any loan or annuity
  • Print loan and annuity schedules including a 5-Year loan analysis for financial statement reporting
  • Graph the terms of any loan or annuity
  • Help and Tutorials to guide you through the creation of clients and entering loan and annuity data

Amortization Plus will become indispensable as you begin to utilize the many customizable features for your clients. You can quickly enter loan information to get a payment or interest rate on the fly using the "Quick Schedule" option, and then save the results for any client already setup in A+. From there, you can print loan amortization schedules, annuity schedules, and even graph the results. Once you see how easy and intuitive Amortization Plus

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To demonstrate copying a file, we choose the Backup/Restore wizard button once again, make sure the Backup option is selected and click Next to proceed. This time we select the Copy files to another location option and click Next to proceed. We will use the previous folder which we have just created to copy our data files. So we first click the ellipses button to the right of the location shown and then click the local C drive and the AP_Backup folder we just created. Once we have the correct location, we click Next to proceed. If the location shown where our files will be copied is correct, we click Finish to complete the copy process. Upon completion, we can then click OK to return to our main menu once again.

To restore a data file using the Backup/Restore wizard, we click the button for the Backup/Restore wizard, click the Restore option and then click Next to proceed. On the next screen, we are given 2 options. We can either restore a previously backed up,  zipped file or we can choose to copy a previously copied file to our current default data folder. In this example, we are going to restore the backup file we created in the first part of this tutorial. So we make sure the ZIPPED File option is selected and click Next to proceed. Now we click the ellipses to find our backup file and navigate to the location. Once the correct location is identified, we can then select the zipped file. We will select the one we created and then click OK and then Next to proceed. If the location and zipped file are correct, we can click Finish. Click OK after the restore is complete to return to the main menu.

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Configuration Wizard        High Res. (1024 x 768)       Low Res. (800 x 600)

This video will take you through the various settings that can be changed using the Configuration Wizard in Amortization Plus (or AP for short). To access the Configuration Wizard, select it from the File Menu.

On the first screen of the wizard, we are shown some system settings that can be changed. We could change the size of screens which is defaulted to 100%. If you would like to make the screen sizes larger for easier reading or smaller to take up less space, you can change the default to something less than or greater than 100%. If you are running a comfortable resolution however, 100% will probably serve as the best choice. Additionally, you can change the default data location. If the location shown is not where you want your data files, you can change the location by clicking the ellipses and navigating to another location. Once you are finished, your settings are automatically saved. In addition, you can change the behavior of AP when printing reports. AP will automatically return to either the report specification screen or the main menu after printing reports and will allow you to change your printer every time you print a report or print to your default printer without prompting you first. Change these options only if you do not want the default behavior of AP.

To select other configuration options, click on the appropriate item on the left of the screen. The first are system settings which we have already looked at and the next option will change the programs behavior regarding amortization schedules. On this screen we can change what type of information gets printed on our amortization schedules including the way we would like AP to print subtotals. We can also select the type of rounding to use the number of days for AP to use when making its calculations. The Time Value of Money (or TVM), for short) also allows you to change the number of days in the year used when making TVM calculations. Clicking the Backup option allows you to change your default backup and restore locations.

Finally, the Email Configuration option allows you to input up to 3 different email addresses from which to send correspondence from AP. Enter a description of the location and then click the ellipses to the right of the SMTP address and enter the appropriate information here. It is not necessary to enter your SMTP address and you can have your network administrator enter it a later time if you do not know the specifics of your email address at this time.

Finally when you are finished changing your configuration settings, click Finish to automatically save these settings and return you to APs main menu.

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Creating an Amortization Schedule       High Res. (1024 x 768)       Low Res. (800 x 600)

This video will take you through the steps necessary to create a client amortization schedule in Amortization Plus (or AP, for short).

To create a client amortization schedule, click the Client Amortization option on the main menu and then click Amortization or click the Amortization button on the toolbar. Upon clicking this option we notice that a grid is displayed. Here we can see all of the schedules currently set up for the client we are using. Since there are none set up yet we click the Add button to create a new one. For this loan we want to calculate the amount of the monthly payment on a $150,000, 30-year loan at 6.5%.

Once we click Add, the details tab appears and we can then enter the pertinent information for the loan. The first item to add is a loan number and description for the loan. Here, we enter 101 as the loan number and Building Loan #101 as the description for the loan. The loan we are adding is a standard 30-year fixed rate building loan. We select 09/01/2007 as the start date of the loan and the payment frequency which will be monthly. Next, we enter the first payment due date, which will be on 10/01/2007. The interest rate for the loan is 6.5%, so we enter that information in the box labeled interest rate. Now we enter 360 as the number of monthly payments we are making and finally we enter $150,000 as the principal amount. Next, we click Save to save this loan and then we can see that the payment amount will be $948.10. Once saved, we can then print an amortization schedule showing the schedule of payments to be made, and the amount of the payment allocated to principal and interest.

To view or print a report of this loan information, we close this screen by clicking Cancel and then we select Amortization Reports from the Reports Menu. We then select the appropriate loan (in this case Loan #101) and then select the loan we want to print an amortization schedule for by clicking the appropriate checkbox next to the loan. We can print an amortization listing, a detailed view of the report, or an Amortization schedule. In this case, we want to view just the loan details so we select that report and then click Preview to see what our report will look like. From there we can click on the printer icon to print the report to our printer.

In addition to entering the basic loan information, you can enter additional information about the loan such as a balloon payment or refinancing information. To enter a one-time balloon payment of $20,000 and see its impact on our monthly payment, select the Amortization Schedules button on the toolbar. With the #101 loan selected, click on the Payment Adjustments tab. The adjustment we would like to make is a $20,000 balloon payment which will take effect on 01/01/2008. Once this information is entered, click Save to save the balloon payment information and AP recalculates the various facets of the loan. To see these changes, click the Details tab of the loan. Here, you will see that our number of payments has changed to 254 from the original 360.

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Creating an Ordinary Annuity      High Res. (1024 x 768)       Low Res. (800 x 600)

This video will take you through the steps necessary to create an ordinary annuity schedule for a client in Amortization Plus (or AP, for short).

To create an ordinary annuity schedule for a client, click the Client Schedules option on the main menu and then click the Annuity Time Value of Money option or Time Value of Money calculations button on the toolbar. Upon clicking this option we notice that a grid is displayed. Here we can see all of the time value of money schedules currently set up for our client. Since there are none set up yet we click the Add button to create a new one. For this annuity we want to calculate the payoff amount of an ordinary annuity with $10,000 down and $100 per month payments for 2 years. The interest rate for the annuity is 4.5%.

Once we click Add, the details tab appears and we can then enter the pertinent information for the annuity. The first item to add is the annuity number and description for the annuity. Here, we enter 201 as the annuity number and First Federal Annuity #201 as the description for our annuity. Since this annuity is an ordinary annuity, we make sure that Ordinary is selected. This annuity is an accumulation type annuity so we select Accumulation as the type of annuity. We also want to know the future value of this annuity, so we make sure that Future Value is selected. The annuity we are adding is a 2 year annuity with a $10,000 down payment and $100 per month payment at 4.5%. We select 09/01/2007 as the start date of the annuity and the payment interval which is monthly. In the Deposit Amount field we enter $10,000, the payment is $100, the interest rate is 4.5% and the number of payments is 24. Next, we click Save to save the annuity information and then we can see the future value of this annuity which is $13,446.30.

To view or print a report of this annuity information, we close this screen by clicking Cancel and then we select Annuity Reports from the Reports Menu. We then select the appropriate annuity (in this case First Federal Annuity #201) and then select the annuity we want to print an annuity schedule for by clicking the appropriate checkbox next to the annuity. We can print an annuity listing, a detailed view of the annuity, or an annuity schedule. In this case, we want to view just the annuity details so we select that report and then click Preview to see what our report will look like. From there we can click on the printer icon to print the report to our printer.

In addition to entering the basic loan information, we could also enter additional information about the annuity, such as a note indicating that the interest rate is a variable rate. To enter this information, click the Client Annuity Calculations button, select the #201 annuity and then select the Notes tab to enter this additional information for the annuity.

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Creating a Lump-Sum Deposit      High Res. (1024 x 768)       Low Res. (800 x 600)

This video will take you through the steps necessary to determine the interest on a lump-sum deposit and create an accompanying schedule for a client in Amortization Plus (or AP, for short).

To determine the future value of a lump sum deposit and create an accompanying schedule for a client, click the Client Schedules option on the main menu and then click the Lump Sum Time Value of Money option or click the Client Lump Sum Calculations button on the toolbar. Upon clicking this option we notice that a grid is displayed. Here we can see all of the Lump Sum Future Value schedules currently set up for our client. Since there are none yet set up in AP, we click the Add button to create a new one. For this lump sum deposit we want to calculate the interest rate of a lump sum deposit of a $10,000 CD that will be worth $10,780 and has a 2-year maturity date and the interest rate is compounded quarterly.

Once we click Add, the details tab appears and we can then enter the pertinent information for our lump sum deposit. The first item to add is the lump sum deposit number and description. Here, we enter 301 as the lump sum deposit number and Credit Union CD #301 as the description. Since this lump sum deposit is a CD and we know what it will be worth at the end of its 2-year maturity date, we want to know what the interest rate is so we mark the option to calculate the interest rate. We know that the interest is compounded quarterly, so we drop that menu down and select Quarterly as the compounding. The lump sum deposit we are adding has a 2 year maturity and cost $10,000 and will be worth $10,780 at the end of the 2-year period. We select 09/01/2007 as the start date and 09/01/2009 as the date of maturity for this CD. In the Deposit Amount field we enter $10,000 and in the Future Value field we enter %10,780. Next, we click Save to save this loan and we can see that our interest rate has been calculated at 3.773%. Once saved, AP automatically calculates the variable we were looking for which was the interest rate of this CD.

To view or print a report of this lump sum deposit information, we close this screen by clicking Cancel and then we select Lump Sum Deposit Reports from the Reports Menu. We then select the appropriate lump sum deposit (in this case the Credit Union CD #301) and then select the lump sum deposit we want to print a schedule for by clicking the appropriate checkbox next to the lump sum deposit. Similar to the annuities and amortization schedules, we can print a lump sum deposit listing, a detailed view of the lump sum deposit, or a lump sum deposit schedule. In this case, we want to print a schedule of the lump sum deposit so we select that report and then click Preview to see what our report will look like. From there we can click on the printer icon to print the report to our printer.

In addition to entering the basic lump sum deposit information, we could also enter additional information about the CD, such as a note indicating that upon maturity this CD can be rolled over for another 2 years. To enter this information, click the Client Lump Sum Calculations button, select the #301 CD and then select the Notes tab to enter this additional information for this CD.

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Creating a Quick Amortization Schedule    High Res. (1024 x 768)     Low Res. (800 x 600)

This video will take you through the steps necessary to create a quick amortization schedule for a client and optionally saving those calculations in Amortization Plus (or AP, for short).

To create a quick amortization schedule for a client, click the Quick Schedules option on the main menu and then click the Amortization option or click the Quick Amortization Schedule button on the toolbar. Upon clicking this option we notice that a details page is displayed where we can fill-in several components that make up a loan and determine based on that information any variable we are searching for. We can then save that information and add it to the list of amortization schedules we have already created or simply delete it from the system.

In this case, we simply need to know what our monthly payment will be on a 5-year car loan at 6.5%, financing $32,000. First, we click Edit to edit the information shown. We can ignore the loan number and description fields since this is just a quick loan. Note that these items can later be filled-in if you want to save this loan information permanently for the client. We want to calculate a payment amount so we make sure that option is selected. Next, we enter the start date of the loan as 10/01/2007 and the payment frequency will be monthly, so we select the Monthly option from the frequency drop-down menu. The first payment is due on 11/01/2007, so we enter that date as the date of the first payment. Our interest rate will be 6.5%, so we enter 6.5 in the interest rate field. The number of payments we will make is 60 so we enter that in the number of payments field and finally, we enter $32,000 as the principal amount needed to finance. To see the monthly payment amount we simply click Save and the amount of $626.12 is then calculated as the monthly payment.

Once our monthly payment has been calculated we print an amortization schedule for this loan by clicking Print or even chart the results graphically by selecting the Chart option. Finally, if we decide that we want to save this loan and add it to the amortization schedules we have already created for this client, we click the Payment Adjustments tab (or the middle tab) and then click the Create Client Loan tab. This information is then permanently saved and the loan can be edited to accommodate any payment adjustments or additional notes we would like to add. Also note that even though we created a quick amortization schedule in this example, quick schedules can also be created in the same manner for both annuities and lump sum deposits.

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Printing and Charting Reports     High Res. (1024 x 768)       Low Res. (800 x 600)

This video will take you through the steps necessary to print a client listing, a loan amortization schedule, and a 5-year analysis report in Amortization Plus. In addition, we will also learn how to chart the data from a loan amortization schedule.

All of the reports in AP can be found under the Reports Menu. The first report on the menu is a Client Listing report. This report will print a list of all clients that are currently setup in AP. To print this report, we click the Client Listing option under the Reports Menu. You can also print this listing for just selected clients by clicking the Selected Clients option. When we select this option, we are shown a grid that contains all clients currently entered in AP. From here, we can select just those clients we want to print. In this case, we click the Mark All button to mark all of the clients to be printed. In addition, we want to see the entire detail of each company set up in AP, so we set the Detail to Yes to show us detail. We will be printing in portrait format, so we do not check the Landscape option and finally, we have the option of printing this report to file in a multitude of formats. We just want to preview and print this report, so we click Preview to see what the report looks like. Then, if the report looks correct, we click the printer icon to print this report to the printer.

To print a client amortization schedule, we simply select the Amortization Report option in the Reports Menu. This option displays a screen with a listing of all loans currently set up for the client. We can print an Amortization Schedule Listing which will show us all of the loans we have set up and what items have been calculated. We can also print the details of any loans by selecting that option and finally we can print an Amortization Schedule which will give us a complete schedule of the loan payment information. The Amortization Schedule is the report we want to preview, so we select that option, make sure that the loan we want to display is selected, and we click Preview to view the report on screen. We can print this report to the printer by selecting the printer icon or close the Preview screen by clicking on the Close (or Exit) icon. Printing reports for annuities or lump-sum deposits works much the same way in AP. Select the report to print, select the annuities or deposits to print, and click Print or Preview.

The final report listed in the Reports Menu is the 5-year Loan Analysis Report. This report gives you all of the information necessary for financial statements. It breaks down principal and interest for both the current and long-term portion of the debt. It also lists a 5-year schedule that can be included in the financial statements or working papers for a client. Simply select the loan by placing a check to the left of it and click Print or Preview to display the results.

In addition to the reports found under the Reports Menu, you can also print a report for any loan, annuity, or lump-sum deposit already entered in AP by clicking the corresponding button on the toolbar. For instance, we click the Client Amortization Schedules button, highlight the loan we want to see and then click the Reports button. We can see a listing of the payments and even set a range of payments to display. Cancelling or closing this report will take us back to our amortization listing. Clicking the Chart button will display a graph showing principal versus interest through the life of the loan. We can change any aspects of the graph and Amortization Plus will save our settings for any loan, annuity, or lump-sum deposit for which we want to display a graph.

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Summary

The number of features and flexibility of the Amortization Plus program may take some time to discover. Perhaps one of our best features is that you do not need to be familiar with any other program to take advantage of AP's power and convenience. The basic features may be all you ever need, but you can take comfort in knowing that when the need arises, chances are youll find a feature that will make short work of the task.

We encourage you to provide us with your feedback. There is an option in the Help menu that will allow you to fax or email your comments to our support staff. Many of the new features we add are a direct result of feedback from our users.

Finally, since support is included with the cost of your software (and upgrades), help is never more than an email or phone call away. We look forward to meeting your continuing needs.

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If you wish to ask specific questions or request additional information, e-mail us at info@proware-cpa.com.

                                                                                                                                       

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