NewViews
Encyclopedia
NewViews is accounting software
that is developed and distributed by Q.W.Page Associates Inc., a privately held company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. NewViews is noted for its integrated, non-modular approach, which enables the total financial cycle to be updated instantly as each transaction is added. It also allows users to customize nearly every aspect of a set of books. This flexibility comes with a trade-off, however, as NewViews is perceived to have a long learning curve, and to require an investment of time and effort to create a customized accounting solution. In a software review published in InfoWorld, NewViews was compared to "going to a tailor and handing him a bolt of cloth and a pair of scissors."
’s Award for Technical Excellence at Comdex in Las Vegas.
NewViews was considered a radical departure from other accounting software programs. It was described by some as revolutionary, by others as making the dry business of accounting exciting and fun.
It dispensed with separate modules (e.g. accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, etc.) and organized accounting documents into an integrated hierarchical structure that was updated in real-time. It also allowed users to view and edit accounting documents in much the same way they could view and edit data on a spreadsheet.
After a lengthy delay, the multi-user version of NewViews (NV2) was released for Microsoft Windows
in 2005.
. Accounting data in a set of books is organized in a tree or hierarchical structure called the NewViews Database Explorer. The Database Explorer is used to navigate between four main levels of detail: reports, accounts, transactions and distributions.
NewViews does not rely on accounting modules, as is typical of other accounting software programs. Instead, reporting structure is controlled by the way accounts are totalled on reports (referred to as report arithmetic). An account can total to another account on the same report, or to an account on any other report. The ability to total an account on one report to an account on another report is the foundation of integration in NewViews. For example, the change to retained earnings on the income statement can be totalled to the retained earnings on the balance sheet to reflect this relationship. Total amounts from subsidiary ledgers and schedules can also be totalled directly to controlling accounts on financial statements or other subsidiary reports. In this way, NewViews can be set up to accommodate standard subsidiary ledgers (e.g. accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory, etc.) as well as highly customized reports that are specific to user needs (e.g. reports required for fund accounting in not-for-profit agencies).
Transactions can be added through journals, or directly to account ledgers. When transactions are added directly to account ledger, corresponding journal entry
is created automatically. Account totals are updated instantaneously as each transaction is entered, modified or deleted. As each account total is updated, the change ripples forward through the report arithmetic. In this way, the entire set of books is updated in real-time. Historical data for all accounts are retained indefinitely, and can be viewed on a yearly, monthly, quarterly, biweekly, weekly or daily basis.
All changes to a set of books are recorded in an audit trail that is stored within the database; it can be viewed by users with access rights but cannot be modified.
or workstation
as long as it has access to a local area network and/or the internet. A server is simply the NewViews program configured to run as a server and offer access to one or more sets of books. Both workstation and server functionality are included with each NewViews license. Any number of users can work in the same set of books simultaneously; accounts and reports are updated in real-time, even when the books are being accessed remotely.
Accounting software
Accounting software is application software that records and processes accounting transactions within functional modules such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, and trial balance. It functions as an accounting information system...
that is developed and distributed by Q.W.Page Associates Inc., a privately held company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. NewViews is noted for its integrated, non-modular approach, which enables the total financial cycle to be updated instantly as each transaction is added. It also allows users to customize nearly every aspect of a set of books. This flexibility comes with a trade-off, however, as NewViews is perceived to have a long learning curve, and to require an investment of time and effort to create a customized accounting solution. In a software review published in InfoWorld, NewViews was compared to "going to a tailor and handing him a bolt of cloth and a pair of scissors."
History
NewViews was first launched in Canada in September 1985 at the Toronto International Software Show. In November 1986, shortly after its U.S. launch, NewViews was awarded PC MagazinePC Magazine
PC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
’s Award for Technical Excellence at Comdex in Las Vegas.
NewViews was considered a radical departure from other accounting software programs. It was described by some as revolutionary, by others as making the dry business of accounting exciting and fun.
It dispensed with separate modules (e.g. accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, etc.) and organized accounting documents into an integrated hierarchical structure that was updated in real-time. It also allowed users to view and edit accounting documents in much the same way they could view and edit data on a spreadsheet.
After a lengthy delay, the multi-user version of NewViews (NV2) was released for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
in 2005.
General Structure and Approach
The current NewViews interface is modeled on Windows ExplorerWindows Explorer
This article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
. Accounting data in a set of books is organized in a tree or hierarchical structure called the NewViews Database Explorer. The Database Explorer is used to navigate between four main levels of detail: reports, accounts, transactions and distributions.
NewViews does not rely on accounting modules, as is typical of other accounting software programs. Instead, reporting structure is controlled by the way accounts are totalled on reports (referred to as report arithmetic). An account can total to another account on the same report, or to an account on any other report. The ability to total an account on one report to an account on another report is the foundation of integration in NewViews. For example, the change to retained earnings on the income statement can be totalled to the retained earnings on the balance sheet to reflect this relationship. Total amounts from subsidiary ledgers and schedules can also be totalled directly to controlling accounts on financial statements or other subsidiary reports. In this way, NewViews can be set up to accommodate standard subsidiary ledgers (e.g. accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory, etc.) as well as highly customized reports that are specific to user needs (e.g. reports required for fund accounting in not-for-profit agencies).
Transactions can be added through journals, or directly to account ledgers. When transactions are added directly to account ledger, corresponding journal entry
Journal entry
A journal entry, in accounting, is a logging of transactions into accounting journal items. The journal entry can consist of several items, each of which is either a debit or a credit. The total of the debits must equal the total of the credits or the journal entry is said to be "unbalanced"...
is created automatically. Account totals are updated instantaneously as each transaction is entered, modified or deleted. As each account total is updated, the change ripples forward through the report arithmetic. In this way, the entire set of books is updated in real-time. Historical data for all accounts are retained indefinitely, and can be viewed on a yearly, monthly, quarterly, biweekly, weekly or daily basis.
All changes to a set of books are recorded in an audit trail that is stored within the database; it can be viewed by users with access rights but cannot be modified.
Year End
NewViews tracks transaction activity for each account in real-time. An account's ledger balance can be set as perpetual, periodic or opening in order to retain their history and the books are never closed. Users can set specific date ranges on the History View of reports in order to obtain snapshots of the accounting activity for any given period.Payroll
The ability to process Canadian and United States payroll is fully integrated into NewViews, and both can be used in the same set of books at the same time. NewViews payroll supports an unlimited number of employees, and unlimited earnings and deduction categories. Payroll transactions (paychecks/time-cards) and item details of each transaction are treated as standard debits and credits. Direct deposit and electronic filing have been available since the release of version 2.06 in December 2005.Multi-user
Multi-user communication is through TCP/IP, therefore no proprietary server hardware or software is required. Any computer can function as a NewViews serverServer (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
or workstation
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
as long as it has access to a local area network and/or the internet. A server is simply the NewViews program configured to run as a server and offer access to one or more sets of books. Both workstation and server functionality are included with each NewViews license. Any number of users can work in the same set of books simultaneously; accounts and reports are updated in real-time, even when the books are being accessed remotely.
Milestone Releases
| Version | Release Date | Main Features Added/Updated |
|---|---|---|
| 2.21 | Aug 2011 | Proof Control Tool, Transaction Totalto Graph, Payroll Payroll In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons... Summer 2011, EHT Medicare (Canada) Medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's publicly funded universal health insurance system. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.Under the terms of the Canada Health... , WCB, Inventory - units of measure Units of measurement A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention and/or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same physical quantity. Any other value of the physical quantity can be expressed as a simple multiple of the unit of... , Back Orders, new Quick Start Guide |
| 2.20 | Jan 2011 | Payroll Payroll In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons... 2011, print/e-file T4, T4A, T5 & T5018 Income taxes in Canada Income taxes in Canada constitute the majority of the annual revenues of the Government of Canada, and of the governments of the Provinces of Canada... slips, updated W2 slips and summary |
| 2.19 | Oct 2010 | Enhanced Open View, Updated Purchase Journal, new Sum columns |
| 2.18 | Sep 2010 | Geographic Sales Tax Codes Sales taxes in the United States There is no federal sales or use tax in the United States. 45 states and the District of Columbia impose sales and use taxes on the retail sale, lease and rental of many goods, as well as some services. Many cities, counties, transit authorities and special purpose districts impose additional local... , Sales Codes Aliases, Optional Transaction Reprocessing |
| 2.17 | Jun 2010 | Allocation Tags, double click, foreign exchange Exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate between two currencies is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another. It is also regarded as the value of one country’s currency in terms of another currency... |
| 2.16 | Dec 2009 | Outgoing email Email Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the... and mail merge Mail merge Mail merge is a software function which allows to create multiple documents from a single template form and a structured data source.-History:This technique of merging data to create gave rise to the term mail merge.... |
| 2.15 | Jul 2009 | Smaller/faster database, enforcement of unique transaction ref #s |
| 2.14 | Mar 2009 | Batch printing, discontiguous blocks |
| 2.12 | Dec 2008 | Back/Forward navigation buttons, bookmarks |
| 2.10 | Feb 2008 | Sort transactions on account ledgers General ledger The main accounting record of a business which uses double-entry bookkeeping. It will usually include accounts for such items as current assets, fixed assets, liabilities, revenue and expense items, gains and losses. Each General Ledger is divided into debits and credits sections. The left hand... by order entered |
| 2.08 | Apr 2006 | Less memory Computer memory In computing, memory refers to the physical devices used to store programs or data on a temporary or permanent basis for use in a computer or other digital electronic device. The term primary memory is used for the information in physical systems which are fast In computing, memory refers to the... consumption, speed improvements for printing |
| 2.07 | Feb 2006 | Total to graphs |
| 2.06 | Dec 2005 | Electronic funds transfer Electronic funds transfer Electronic funds transfer is the electronic exchange or transfer of money from one account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions, through computer-based systems.... (EFT) |
| 2.00 | Apr 2005 | Initial release of the multi-user Multi-user Multi-user is a term that defines an operating system or application software that allows concurrent access by multiple users of a computer. Time-sharing systems are multi-user systems. Most batch processing systems for mainframe computers may also be considered "multi-user", to avoid leaving the... version for MS Windows - object oriented, written in C++ C++ C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell... and open source Open source The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology... tools |
| 1.41 | Jun 1993 | Final release of the DOS version - stable code, Y2K compliant |
| 1.13 | May 1990 | Real time database integrity Database integrity Database integrity ensures that data entered into the database is accurate, valid, and consistent. Any applicable integrity constraints and data validation rules must be satisfied before permitting a change to the database.... , new file structure and faster operation |
| 1.10 | Feb 1988 | Initial release of fully integrated Payroll Payroll In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons... |
| 1.10 | Jun 1987 | Data recovery, real-time save to disk, color |
| 1.00 | Sep 1985 | Initial release of the DOS DOS DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related... version, written in Assembler Assembly language An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture... |