The program will automatically calculate discounts on purchase orders.  Enter the percentage of the discount (as a whole number) in the "Overall Discount" blank (bottom left-hand side of the Purchase Order Screen).

To enter a discount in the "Overall Discount" field, enter the number as a whole number.  For instance, you may type in "20" to indicate a 20% discount on the items sold.

Discounts Based on Retail.  Percentage discounts are always figured by using the standard system of calculating them based on the item's retail price, not on its wholesale cost.  For an example, a 50% mark-up on a $50 item is $100, not $75 ($50 x .25 + $50).  By basing discounts on the retail price, the discount is easy to calculate. A $100 item discounted by 50% is $50.

Percentage Discount vs. Dollar Amount Discount.  Discounts can either be a percentage discount or they can be a dollar amount discount.  As mentioned above, if you give someone a 20% discount, you would enter 20 in the "Overall Discount" blank.

You can also give someone a dollar amount discount.  Let's say you decided to give someone $5.00 off their order.  This is a dollar amount discount.  Dollar amount discounts are entered in the Less Discount blank.

Entering a Dollar Amount Discount.  In the example above, you are giving an individual a $5.00 discount. Since this is a dollar amount discount, it's entered in the Less Discount blank. Whenever you enter a dollar amount discount it should be entered as a negative number.  Thus, you would enter -5.00 in Less Discount.  (The only time, you would enter a positive number would be in the case of a credit, but its use is very rare.)

After you enter a number in the Less Discount blank, the percentage that number represents will be shown in parentheses next to the Overall Discount blank.  The Overall Discount blank remains at 0%.  (When you enter a dollar amount in Less Discount, the Overall Discount blank always shows zero percent.  It's a reminder that the discount will be calculated based what is entered in the Less Discount blank.  The actual percentage of the dollar amount is shown to the right of the Overall Discount blank in parenthesis.)

Changing from Percentage Discount to Dollar Amount Discount.  If you have a percentage discount indicated in the Overall Discount blank and later decided to enter a figure in the Less Discount blank, you'll need to first make the Overall Discount blank 0%.  Then you can enter the figure.  You don't have to remember this, however.  The program will remind you as you make the changes.

You can also move back the other way.  Let's say you entered a number in the Less Discount blank.  That means Less Discount will have a value in it and the Overall Discount blank will show 0%.  Later, you decide to go back to having a percentage discount figured.  To do so, first delete the value in the Less Discount blank.  Then enter the percentage in the Overall Discount blank.  Once again, you don't have to remember this.  The program will remind as you make the changes.

A Note About the Less Discount Blank.  As mentioned above, when Less Discount has a value in it, the Overall Discount blank shows 0%.   That means that Less Discount is taking precedent over a percentage discount.  The discounted total will be figured on what is in the Less Discount blank.  If you later make some changes on the Purchase Order Screen (changing items, prices or S-codes), the value in the Less Discount blank will continue to remain constant.  If you plan to keep the dollar discount the same, then everything will work out fine.  However, if you are making changes to prices, etc., you might not want to continue to use the same dollar value in the Less Discount.  Either change it to a new value or delete it altogether.

Item Area: Discounts of Individual Products.  You can also change the percentage discount of individual items.  This is done by expanding the Item Area to show the Discount column (by clicking on the right arrow, upper right of Item Area.)  Use the Item Discount column when you have variable discounts.  For example, you may need to discount one item 40% and another item 35%.  (If you need to discount all items the same amount, use the Overall Discount blank.

When you enter discounts in the Discount column of the Item Area, the "Overall Discount" blank will show 0%.  Just to the right of Overall Discount, in parentheses, the average discount will be shown.  (The average discount is calculated based on quantities and individual product discount.)  When Overall Discount shows 0%, it is a reminder that the average discount is being calculated on variable product discounts and not one consistent percentage discount.

If you need to zero out the individual products' discount, either enter zero (0) in the Less Discount blank.  Or re-enter zero in the Overall Discount blank and press "Calculate."

Working Backwards from a Total Amount.  AnyPO can also work backward for the situation where you have a total amount and you want the program to calculate what the percentage discount should be. For more information, see Calculating A Discount When You Know Only The Total.