Running Tally is a feature which is turned on or off from the Royalty Set-up Information Screen.  It allows you to keep track of accumulated sales.  When it's turned on, each time you do a royalty report, the number of products sold will be updated, and you'll always know how many total units have been sold.

The Running Tally Dialog Box appears if you click on the "More" button in Running Tally box on the Set-up Screen.  It also can be accessed by selecting TOOLS and INSERT RUNNING TALLY DATE from the Menu Bar on top of the screen.

An Example: Setting Up a New Royalty Holder.

Let's start with setting up a new royalty holder.  Let's assume that you send out royalty accounting reports on an annual basis.  Let's also say that the royalty holder's product started selling some time in the year 2013.

If you want to keep track of accumulated totals, you would place a checkmark beside Running Tally on the Set-up Screen.  In the "Total Sold" blank on the Set-up Screen, you would enter 0.  It's zero(0) since the product wasn't released until this year.

In the "As Of Date" blank, you would enter the end of your previous royalty accounting year.  Since in this example, we are issuing royalty accounting reports at the end of the calendar year, and the product started selling some time in the year 2013, we would use enter 12/31/12 in the "As Of Date" blank (shown below).

The royalty report will cover sales which occurred in 2013.  That means we need to wait until 2013 is finished (so we have all the sales accounted for), and then sometime early in 2014 we can actually generate the royalty report.

Another Example

In this next example, let's assume that we have been selling the book for a while.  Each time a royalty report is created the Running Tally Figure (Total Number Sold) is updated  In the example, below, the last royalty report generated covered up to 12/31/14.  That means, the next report, the report covering sales occurring in 2015 must start at 01/01/15.  The Start Date of the report should always be one day later than the "As Of" date.

Date Insertion Feature

The Running Tally dialog box has a feature to help you enter the "As Of Date."  It assumes that you base your royalty reports on the fiscal year (the same fiscal year that you set-up in Basic Set-up).   It also assumes that the first (or next) royalty report that you issue to the royalty holder will be the end of the current year.  Here's an example of how the insert feature works using 2016 as the current year:

If you do reports annually and the current year is 2016, the first report would cover through 12/31/16.  Thus, when you click on the insert button (+), 12/31/15 will be inserted in the "As Of Date."

If you do reports every six months and it's in the first half of 2016, the first report will cover through 6/30/16, and when you click on the insert button (+), 12/31/15 will be inserted in the "As Of Date."  If it's the second half of 2016, the first report will cover through 12/31/16.  When you click on the insert button (+), 6/30/16 will be inserted in the "As Of Date."

If you use the insert feature, be sure to check the "As of Date" after it's been inserted.  The insert feature assumes that you'll be issuing the royalty holder's first (or next) royalty report at the end of current year (that's year that you are entering set-up information).  The "As Of Date" year will need to be adjusted if you're setting up information some time after the ending date of the first report.  For example if the first report covers through 12/31/15 and the current year is 2016 (the year you are entering information), then you'll manually need to subtract one year from the "As Of Date."

A Running Tally is Required Only for Variable Structure (Quantity Option)

If the royalty system you have chosen is not Variable Structure (Quantity Option), it's up to you whether or not you want to keep a running tally.

Generating Reports at Odd Intervals

Keeping a running tally requires no effort on your part if you provide royalty reports to royalty holders on a regular basis.  AnyBook will automatically update it and keep track of the total as you issue reports.

But if you attempt to generate royalty reports at odd intervals, AnyBook will ask for additional information.  Whenever AnyBook detects a period of time out of the ordinary, the Running Tally Wizard will be triggered.  The Wizard will guide you on how to proceed.

Generate Reports after End of Reporting Period

It is best to wait until some time after the royalty period to do your reports.  If you do reports at the end of the year, wait until December 31st has past before generating reports.  If you do a report on December 15, you may be missing some sales that occurred between December 15 and December 31.  Doing your report after the end of the report period also makes it easier to use the Running Tally feature.  The "As Of" date in the Running Tally is the last day of the report period.  When you run a report for the next year, your starting date for the Report Generator is January 1st.

Information on "As of Date" and "Total Number Sold" and How They are Updated

The "As of Date" and the "Total Number Sold" figure are updated each time you run a royalty report.  It's helpful to look at this in more detail.

Let's say you do royalty reports twice a year and you want to run a report for the last half of 2012.  The "As of Date" must be 6/30/12.  The "Total Number Sold" needs to be the total number of unitss sold as of 6/30/12.  Let's say the total number sold as of 6/30/12 is 1,000 units.

AnyBook then calculates how many units were sold between 7/1/12 and 12/31/12 and figures the royalties based on your quantity breakpoints. In addition to producing the royalty report, AnyBook will also update the Running Tally figures.  It will change the "As Of Date" to 12/31/12.  And if you sold 500 products during this period, it will update the Total Sold figure to 1,500.

Now when it comes time to run the next report, for the first half of 2013, it has the required running tally information to work with.  So, you can see that the running tally has to be updated when you run a report.

Recalling the Previous Running Tally Total and Date

The question that often comes up is: What if I want to re-run the report for the last half of 2012? Won't there be a problem, because after all, the running tally has now been updated to end of 2012 and the program will need the data from the middle of 2012 to run?  AnyBook remembers the previous running tally figures.  So if you re-run the report for the last half of the 2012, it is smart enough to pull out the mid year figures and use those.  (You can look at previous running tally figure that AnyBook uses by selecting TOOLS and RECALL PREVIOUS RUNNING TALLY TOTAL & DATE.)

Generating Old Reports or Reports at Odd Intervals

The Running Tally feature works fine as long as you go in order and keep report periods the same.  If, however, you attempt to run an old report or select a different period of time from normal, you'll need provide AnyBook with additional information.  AnyBook will guide you through the process by the use of the Running Tally Wizard.

What to Do if You've Lost Track (or Have an Inaccurate) "Total Number Sold" Figure

One possible problem that may occur is that you lose track of the "Total Number Sold" figure - or you have an inaccurate figure.  This may have resulted from inadvertently deleting the number - or you may have run a report for an odd range of dates and neglected to follow the directions in the Running Tally Wizard ending up with an erroneous number.  However the problem may have resulted, there is way you can get back on track.  The following describes how to do it.

The best way to describe the following procedure is to use a scenario.  Let's assume that you are running annual reports from January 1st to December 31.  It's now mid January of 2015, and you're trying to run a report for January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014.  You discover that the Total Number Sold is not accurate or non-existent.

We know from the discussion above that if we are trying to run a report from 01/10/14 to 12/31/14, then the "As of Date" should be 12/31/2013.  (The "As of Date" should be the day before the start date of your royalty report.)

Based on the above scenario, here's what you need to do . . .

1. First determine how long you've been selling the book (or product).  Let's say you started selling it in 2010.

One thing you want to ask yourself is this question:  did you sell the book before you started using AnyBook?  If the answer to that question is yes, then you need an additional piece of information.  You'll need to know how many were sold up to the time when you first began using AnyBook.  We'll call the "Pre-AnyBook Sales Figure."    You'll need to add that to Total Number Sold figure which results from the following process.  If the book was not sold prior to using AnyBook then you don't have to worry about it.

2. Now that you know when you started selling the book, go to the Report Generator (MAIN TASKS and GENERATE ROYALTY REPORTS).   We need to know how many books were sold as of 12/31/2013 (that's our "As Of" date).  To do so, enter the following dates in the Report Generator:

Start Date: 01/01/10

End Date: 12/31/13

3. In the Report Generator, place a checkmark beside the proper book or product

4. Click the "Generate Report"  button.

5. The "Running Tally Wizard" will appear.  AnyBook thinks we are trying run a normal report, but we doing something different here.  We're trying to correct the Total Number Sold figure.  To trick AnyBook into doing what we want, click on the "Run With Errors" button.

If you don't have the "Run With Errors" button on the wizard, it means that you haven't configured the royalty holder with Variable Structure Quantity.  That's fine.  You can still make the proper adjustment.  In that case a slightly different Running Tally Wizard appears.  You won't see the "Run With Errors" button, and because of that you'll need to following a slightly different procedure.  You'll need to look at the report that appears at the end of the generation process and copy down the number of books sold figure.  Then return to the Royalty Set-up Screen for the royalty holder and manually enter that figure into "Total Number Sold" field.  Also make the proper adjustment in the "As Of" date, that goes along with Total Number Sold.  In our example, we would change it to 12/31/13.

6. When the report generation is complete you'll be taken to the Royalty Report Screen. You will have created a royalty report for the period  01/01/10 to 12/31/13.  You really don't need this report.  We did this to update the Total Number Sold figure.  You can delete the report by selecting EDIT >> DELETE THIS ROYALTY REPORT.

7. Now return to the Royalty Set-up Screen for the royalty holder.  Both the "Total Number Sold" figure and the "As of Date" (which in our example will be 12/31/13) will updated.  Both will be correct.  You're ready to proceed as normal with running a report for the royalty holder.

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Other Parts of the Set-up Screen include:

Menu Bar

Name, Address, and Phone Blanks

Email, Product, and Catalog Number Blanks

Summary Name, Social Security, and Active Check Box

Keep Running Tally Box

Counting, Calculation and Structuring Methods

Options (Net and Profit Calculation Methods)

Vary Rate Based on Pricing Level

For more information on setting up a royalty with a Variable Structure:

Indicating the Number of Quantity Breakpoints

Indicating the Number of Discount Ranges

Entering Breakpoints & Royalty Rates for Variable Structure (Quantity)

Entering Discount Ranges & Royalty Rates for Variable Structure (Discount)

Entering Breakpoints, Ranges & Rates for Variable Structure (Quantity & Discount)