Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Critical Version Information!

All users should plan on updating their Sage 100 Contractor program version to Version 19. Sage has advised that they will not support Versions 18 and earlier. Specifically, the Aatrix Tax Filing capabilities will not produce documents (think W-2s and 1099s) suitable for filing with Versions 18 and earlier. The program will likely produce documents, but they will be printed with a DRAFT watermark that makes them unsuitable for filing.
Version 19.5 will be available for download to users with current support contracts in mid-December.  This version will contain the latest Federal and State Income Tax Withholding Tables for 2015 and will include capabilities to assist with compliance with the Affordable Care Act.  DO NOT install this update until after you have completed all your 2014 payroll entries and closed your payroll year.

Year End Closing

Last month, I wrote about things that users can do to prepare for year end, particularly for preparation of W-2s and 1099s. There is still time to continue with your preparations, but now I want to talk about what users should do at the end of December.  With the functionalities added in Version 19, the tasks that must be done at the end of December are significantly fewer than were required in earlier versions of the program. 
The only thing a user must do at the end of December in Version 19 is close the payroll year. Payroll must be closed only after the last payroll record for 2014 is entered, computed, printed and posted and before any payroll record for 2015 is entered in menu 5-2-2.  Payroll data entered in 5-5-1 Daily Payroll or 6-11-6 Daily Field Reports or 11-2 Service Work Orders/Invoices/Credits will survive the Close Payroll Year process and be available for 2015 Payroll processing, but any entries in 5-2-2 Payroll Records will be removed during the Close Payroll Year process.
Follow the Year-End Checklists document found in the Product Documentation area of the drop-down menu of the Home and Resources Activity Center. I strongly encourage users to read through the document and then follow the check list in the order specified.  And above all else, BACK UP your data folder before you start!
Be aware that the Maximum Wages subject to FICA (Social Security) Tax in 2015 is $118,500, up from $117,000 in 2014. While the Version 19.5 update will update the Federal and State Income Tax Withholding tables, users are expected to update their FICA, FUTA, and State Unemployment payroll calculations and push the updated data to all employees.

Other than making sure your data is shipshape, there is little that needs to be done at the end of December for 1099s or your fiscal year end closing.  The 1099s should be processed and printed or E-Filed during January 2015, and your fiscal year end data should not be archived until all entries are made and finalized for 2014 and your balances tied back to published financial statements and tax returns.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Version Information

The current version of Sage 100 Contractor is still version 19.4.58, but in the past few days Sage has advised that it will only support version 19.5 (which won’t be available until mid-December) for the impending Year End. The 19.5 update will contain the 2015 Tax Tables.  Thus, be on the lookout for the version 19.5 in December and be ready to install it so that withholdings for 2015 Federal and State Income Taxes will be correctly calculated.

Time to Start Preparing for Year End!

It may not yet be Thanksgiving, but it’s not too early to start preparing for W-2s and 1099s that must be filed in January 2015.
Vendor Payments and 1099s
Most construction businesses will be required to report payments for services totaling more than $600 per year to recipients that are not specifically exempted from such reporting.  Exempted recipients include corporations (other than professional services corporations like doctors and lawyers), governmental agencies, non-profits, banks, and insurance carriers.  Individuals, sole proprietorships, partnerships, and limited liability companies are not exempt from 1099 reporting. Payments for merchandise (but not parts installed as part of a service provided), certain expense reimbursements to employees, and loan principal repayments do not need to be reported on a 1099.
There are a number of steps that you can take to ease your 1099 processing before the end of the year.
  • Request a form W-9 from all vendors paid this year to ensure that you have proper names, addresses and Taxpayer ID numbers for vendors. The form also will provide the information needed to determine if a vendor is an entity exempt from 1099 reporting.  The current W-9 form can be downloaded from http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf.
  • Review all vendors to ensure that they reflect the correct 1099 Type and if they are designated to receive a 1099 with types 1-Misc, 2-Rent, 3-Sole Proprietor, or 4-Interest, make sure you have the correct Name, Address and Taxpayer ID#. If a vendor is type 5-No 1099, it can’t hurt to have a valid Taxpayer ID#, but you are generally not required to collect one.
  • There is no excuse for having a vendor with a 1099 Type of 0-Undetermined unless you have never paid the vendor!
  • Review report 4-1-1-61 Vendor 1099 report to find problems or missing data.
  • If you have questions about what payments are included in the 1099 balances, run report 4-1-5-61 Vendor 1099 Payments to see the details.
  • If your Sage 100 Contractor information is incomplete for the calendar year (for instance you implemented during the year, you may need to adjust your data for payments made outside of Sage 100 Contractor.  Contact your friendly Sage Certified Consultant for more information about this special situation.

I strongly recommend that users not order 1099 forms or plan on in-house printing and mailing of 1099s to recipients and government agencies.  This tends to be more expensive than using the embedded Aatrix E-File service. Yes, there is a cost per recipient, but when one factors in the cost of acquiring the forms and envelopes, printing the forms, stuffing envelopes, affixing postage, and mailing the forms, the benefits of using the Aatrix E-File service become obvious.
Payroll and W-2s
If you prepare your payroll in house and will have to distribute W-2s to the governments and your employees, there are a few steps you can do to ease the process before the end of the year.
  • Review all 5-2-1 Employee records for accuracy of employee names, social security numbers and addresses. 
  • Be aware of any employees that may have received third party sick pay from a workers compensation insurer or a disability insurance provider and ensure that all reported third party sick pay data has been properly recorded in your payroll records.
  • Run 5-3-7 Payroll Audit regularly and ensure that all audit errors are corrected.
  • Review with your outside tax accountant whether any items of additional compensation must be added to employees’ total compensation, such as the cost of “excess” employee life insurance, the value of personal use of company owned vehicles, certain benefits provided to company owners, etc.  Such additional compensation can be properly reflected in your payroll records, but care should be taken to quantify the amounts and record them properly.

I strongly recommend that users not order W-2 forms or plan on printing and mailing W-2s to employees and government agencies.  This tends to be more expensive than using the embedded Aatrix E-File service. Yes, there is a cost per employee, but when one factors in the cost of acquiring the forms and envelopes, printing the forms, stuffing envelopes, affixing postage, and mailing the forms, the benefits of using the Aatrix E-File service become obvious.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Current Version of Sage 100 Contractor

The latest and greatest version of Sage 100 Contractor at the time of this posting is version 19.4.58. We bring you this as a public service, so that you may keep your program up to date and take advantage of the most recent features and functions.

Archiving Fiscal Year Data and Purging Old Jobs

When Sage announced the Multiple Fiscal Year General Ledger capability in the release of Version 19, most clients were truly excited, as they no longer needed to archive off the ending fiscal year data before entering transactions for the new fiscal year.  Every year end I would get numerous calls from clients worried about how they were going to archive off the old fiscal year before they were ready, yet they had transactions to record for the new fiscal year.  Earlier versions of the program had a great facility for continuing to record data for most prior year transactions (period 0 postings), but there were challenges with operator errors and some types of transactions were not period 0 friendly. Thus, the Multiple Fiscal Year General Ledger capability of Version 19 was an exciting new feature!

It seems that most clients that upgraded to Version 19 are still working with two fiscal years in their general ledger.  While there is no requirement to archive off fiscal year data, and more than two fiscal years can coexist in the general ledger, eventually users will experience some processing speed issues. If you have completed all accounting for your earliest fiscal year in your general ledger, I recommend that you consider archiving that fiscal year, taking it out of the current general ledger.  What do I mean by having completed all accounting for your earliest fiscal year?  Generally, you will have received and entered any year end adjusting entries that your outside accountant may have provided and you or your outside accountant will have compared your adjusted trial balance as of the end of the fiscal year to the accountant’s published tax returns or financial statements and determined that everything is in agreement.  If that has been done, you can archive your fiscal year accounting data with confidence!

Users may also use this process to purge jobs and their related data from the current company.  Jobs must be marked with a status of Closed or Refused, and must not have any open accounts receivable or accounts payable invoices.  Users may also purge old Service Receivable records with a status of Paid or Completed and Closed Purchase Orders not tied to Jobs as part of the archiving process.

Archiving a fiscal year is accomplished through Menu 1-6 > Archive Fiscal Year 20xx.  The process is well automated and practically runs itself.  If you are uncertain, consider printing, reading and following the Year End Checklist, a 20 page document that can be found in the Home & Resources > Product Documentation menu.  Backup your data before you get started, just in case something appears to be a problem.  If you are still uncertain, call your favorite Sage 100 Contractor Certified Consultant to give you a hand.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Current Version of Sage 100 Contractor

The latest and greatest version of Sage 100 Contractor at the time of this posting is version 19.4.52. We bring you this as a public service, so that you may keep your program up to date and take advantage of the most recent features and functions.

Reports – Windows into Your Business

Sage 100 Contractor comes, right out of the box, with nearly 1,200 system reports, yet some of our most frequent questions are about tweaking or customizing reports!  Most of the system reports were written with the report writer module that comes with the program, but some of the more complex reports rely on special programming to collect data or control the appearance of the report.  Most of report questions seem to be about these complex reports, ranging from adding or deleting data to changing the report selection criteria to rearranging how the data appears on the page.  Too often, we have to inform the client that the complex report they want to have modified cannot be changed because of the special programming in the report.  The only way to determine if a report is locked and cannot be modified is by looking for the Modify Report button on the report printing screen when the report is selected.  If the Modify Report button is present, the report can be modified.  If the Modify Report button is not present when the report is selected, that report is locked and cannot be modified.
If a report that has most of the data you want appears to be locked, don’t despair!  Depending on the changes sought and one’s tolerance for slower report generating speed, we may be able to create a new custom report that can collect and present the requested data.  Flesh out what your report should look like, perhaps in Excel, and send it to your Certified Consultant for an opinion as to whether it can be done with the Sage 100 Contractor report writer.
If the report cannot be generated with the included report writer, we have had great success using a third party reporting program to create quite complex reports that can solve almost any reporting problem.  If the data is available in Sage 100 Contractor, we can extract the data and present it in a format that meets users’ needs, usually at a very reasonable cost.

Consider also the ability to export system and custom reports from Sage 100 Contractor into Excel, where data can be added or removed and formats can be tweaked to meet one-time requests.  This is not an ideal solution for reports that may be needed regularly, but for random requests, this can be a viable and affordable option.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Save Time with Project Work Center

So often, when working with a client to resolve a problem with one of their projects, I’ll jump to menu 6-12 Project Work Center and plug in the job number.  The client then stops me to ask what I’m doing. I realize that I have another opportunity to train users about the usefulness of the Project Work Center!
Project Work Center was designed with project managers in mind, bringing all areas of the program preloaded with the job number, into one central work area.  The best part of the project work center is that one gets a much more comprehensive view of the data related to a project.  If you look at Purchase Orders, your first screen is a complete list of all the purchase orders for the project, from which you can select and drill down into each record.  If you look at Subcontracts or Change Orders, in each case, you start with a complete list of all that data for the project and you can drill down from there!  Open Receivable Invoices/Credits and you see all receivable invoices related to the job.  Open Payable Invoices and you see all open payable invoices for the job.  Any report related to a specific job is preloaded with the job number to ease the process.  The right side of the project work center loads with a hot list of flagged items related to the project and summarized data about the project.  The menu structure on the left side can be customized to trim out menu items that are not used by a particular user.
Project Work Center, originally created for project managers, can be an invaluable tool when performing Job Autopsies, or whenever anyone needs to deal with one project at a time.
Call Mathieson Consulting for more information and training.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

What’s New in Version 19.3?

Yes, the current version of Sage 100 Contractor – 2014 is version 19.3!  Its availability was announced in mid-June by email.  There were several enhancements in this version, but a few that are particularly worth noting are:
Integration with Sage Payment Solutions - For users that process credit card payments from customers, the program now connects with Sage Payment Solutions to provide seamless processing of credit card payments from customers with a cost-effective merchant card service provider. Sage Payment Solutions can also enhance collections by generating ACH virtual check payments.  All customer data is safely stored in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) – an important necessity.
Expanded State Certified Payroll Reports - For users that must supply certified payroll reports to State Labor Departments, the program’s integration with Aatrix now prepares and, where available, e-files state certified payroll reports in all 49 states that have their own reporting requirement. 
Drag and Drop Files and Shortcuts on Your Sage 100 Contractor Desktop - I think this is an underappreciated enhancement that can benefit most users.  Are you tired of having to jump out of Sage 100 Contractor to locate and open a spreadsheet, document or folder while working in the program? Now users can drag and drop those files and shortcuts right onto your Sage 100 Contractor desktop and ease that process. 

The program help system and your favorite Certified Consultant are available for your assistance with these new features.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Use Other Forms of Templates to Ease Data Entry

Sage 100 Contractor often uses grid structures for data entry.  Grids look like your excel spreadsheets, with columns and rows.  In grids, users can copy data from excel or other spreadsheet sources and paste the data into the Sage 100 Contractor grid.  There are a few exceptions where the grid may have formulas embedded in specific protected columns, but the program will tell you if you attempt to paste data into a protected column.  Just like with copying and pasting in excel, after you have copied a block of cells from your source, put your cursor in the top left cell of the target range, right click and select paste.  In some circumstances, users may find it easy to assemble data in a spreadsheet and then copy and paste it into a Sage 100 Contractor grid.

Grids in several modules of the program permit the use of special files that function as templates.  When a user has a grid of data in one of these modules that the user may want to use again, the module permits the user to Export the grid into a template file specific for that particular module.  This Export is usually found in the Options dropdown menu of the module.  Then, when a user wishes to use a previously saved template, the Import function found in the Options dropdown menu will load the template data quickly and completely.  These exported grid files may also be used to temporarily save data while a user is performing what-if analyses or other testing – when the analyses or tests are complete, the user can import the saved grid file and bring the data back to the starting point.  Modules that employ these grid templates include:
  • 6-2 Budgets
  • 6-9 Proposals
  • 6-10 Unitary Proposals
  • 9-5 Takeoffs
  • 10-3 Schedules

Contact Mathieson Consulting for additional information about these useful tools.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Use Templates to Ease Data Entry

The ability to create data entry templates has been available in the program for many years, yet I often find that users are not using templates because they were unaware of them or forgot that they existed! 

Templates help by reducing the amount of repetitive data that must be entered in a screen.  Take a look at data entry where you find yourself entering same or similar data over and over again or a type of transaction that you enter repeatedly.  Enter the repetitive data for a type of transaction and save it as a template in the “File>Save as Template” drop down menu.  Then, when beginning a repetitive transaction, go to “File>Load/Delete Template” and select the type of template you want to start entering.  You will see all the repetitive fields already completed and all you must then do in enter the non-repetitive data, review it and save it.

Templates in Sage 100 Contractor are found in most data entry screens, including


·         1-3 Journal Transactions
·         3-2 Receivable Invoices/Credits
·         3-5 Jobs (Accounts Receivable)
·         3-6 Receivable Clients
·         3-7 Progress Billings
·         3-8 Loan Draw Requests
·         3-9 Unitary Billing
·         3-10-1 T&M Billing Setup
·         4-2 Payable Invoices/Credits
·         4-4 Vendors (Accounts Payable)
·         4-7-3 Enter Credit Card Receipts
·         5-2-1 Employees
·         5-2-2 Payroll Records
·         5-5-1 Daily Payroll Entry
·         6-4-1 Change Orders
·         6-6-1 Purchase Orders
·         6-7-1 Subcontracts
·         6-11-1 Requests for Proposal
·         6-11-2 Requests for Information
·         6-11-3 Transmittals
·         6-11-4 Submittals
·         6-11-5 Plan Records
·         6-11-6 Daily Field Reports
·         6-11-7 Punch Lists
·         6-11-8 Correspondence
·         8-3 Equipment
·         9-2 Parts
·         9-3 Assemblies
·         11-2 Work Orders/Invoices/Credits
·         12-2 Inventory Allocation

For assistance in the creation and use of templates, give us a call.

Monday, March 31, 2014

How Can Sage 100 Contractor Help the HR Function?

When one scans the Sage 100 Contractor menus and data screens, there is only one menu item that explicitly describes itself as pertaining to the Human Resources functions in a company – Menu 5-3-9 HR Forms.  While this menu item is potentially a great aid to generating the various forms and documents that may be needed to properly communicate between employer, applicants, employees and various government agencies, it is by no means the only part of the program that can aid in Human Resources functions.  With a little imagination, we can provide significant support for many of the requirements of a Human Resources department:
  • The 5-2-1 Employee record should be the central repository for all employee data, from the obvious information like pay rates, address, social security number, phone numbers, email address and the like, to a separate table for an unlimited number of contact people for each employee.  Don’t overlook the ability to track the accrual and use of Sick Leave and Vacation hours.  There are also several fields that can be relabeled and repurposed to meet specific needs.
  • The Employee Licenses table can be used to track Drivers Licenses and Trade Licenses that have expiration dates.  Consider what other licenses you might need to track – think of an expiring Resident Alien or Employment Authorization card as a License to Work….  Never lose track of the fact that an alien worker may no longer be eligible to be employed if they haven’t renewed their paperwork and given you proof of the extension. 
  • The Employee Training table can be used to track various training opportunities, especially those safety trainings and certifications that need to be redone periodically.  Consider other “training” opportunities that should be revisited periodically – think of a regular performance review or a regular compensation review as training opportunities.  By properly configuring the training item, one can track when the last training occurred, when the next training should occur, and keep notes as to what occurred during the training.
  • Attachments to the Employee record are often overlooked.  Scan the employee resume or application, tax forms, form I-9, other employment packet forms, an employee photo, and anything else that can be reduced to an electronic file and attach it to the employee record so that it is always instantly available for reference.
  • Use Alerts Manager to create periodic automatic queries of Employee data to identify areas that need attention this week, or this month or next month.  If the data is maintained in the database, it is likely that we can configure Alerts Manager to notify the appropriate personnel that an important action is about to require attention.
If you would like help with implementing any of the functions, give us a call at 480-471-5305.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

How to Avoid Giving Up

In another venue, someone asked for advice to several construction company clients that were considering giving up and closing shop in the face of a sustained downturn.  After some thought, I posted this response:


The downturn has been different in different parts of the country. Many areas perceive that the downturn is over and business is picking up, but that may not be the case in your region.
What makes a survivor? There are as many answers as there are listeners. My thoughts:

  • Survivors sensed the downturn early and acted on it promptly. 
  • Survivors trimmed staff quickly. Keeping on people for whom you have no work jeopardized the lives and livelihoods of those that you do keep on. Too many times, the people that you kept on during bad times were the first to go out on their own or jump to a competitor as soon as things get going again. 
  • Survivors were acutely self-aware – they knew what they were good at; knew whether or not what they were good at would continue to be in demand during the downturn (buggy whip manufacturer scenario); and they had a good sense of their regional marketplace. 
  • Survivors were acutely aware of their cost structure – they understood their direct and overhead costs and how those would be affected by volume. They knew how much they had to markup direct costs to cover their overhead and never, ever, dropped below that markup rate. They might take a job to cover overhead and forego profit, but they never, ever, knowingly take jobs at a loss. Just make sure that sufficient owners’ compensation is included in the overhead number! 
  • The ability to accurately estimate costs and mark them up sufficiently, coupled with the ability to produce the work without cost slippage is the single greatest predictor of success. Don’t ever forget that! 
  • Always take what used to be called a Zero-Based Budgeting approach. Always ask whether an overhead cost is necessary or can be done without. Always assess the returning value of expenditures – will they result in benefit to the company. Marketing is not an unnecessary expense! If you spend your marketing dollars effectively (there’s the rub), it will be a significant benefit to the company in the long run.
Some may suggest that I failed to really answer the question.  What would your suggestion have been? 

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Let Your Software Help During the Construction Boom

Sage 100 Contractor is chock full of useful and time saving tools!  Consider implementing (or fine tuning) the following features:
  • Track vendor and subcontractor insurance certificates (also good for tracking contractor license expirations and annual subcontractor agreements).
  • Prepare fully executable subcontract agreements from within the system, whether each subcontract is a complete, free standing agreement, or a short form work order pursuant to an annual (or multiple year) subcontract agreement.  Include a prefilled application for payment form with the subcontract or work order.
  • Prepare complete and effective purchase orders to ease materials purchasing and subsequent payables processing.
  • Use Document Management to prepare and track in one place
    • Requests for Proposals
    • Requests for Information
    • Transmittals
    • Submittals
    • Daily Field Reports
    • Punch Lists
    • Project Correspondence
  • Consider using Scheduling to plan work and keep all subcontractors, staff, and clients apprised of project status.  When subcontractors and staff know when they are expected to complete their work, their satisfaction improves and subs in particular may be more willing to work with you.   Profits tend to improve drastically when projects are completed timely.
Your friendly Certified Consultant can help you put these tools to good use!

Estimating for the Construction Boom

Many contractors cut back significantly when business slowed down, which may have had a profound effect on their labor costs, production rates and overhead structure and may have caused a change in the markups used in estimating. 
What happens when things start to boom?  You may experience a sudden increase in business, and start to scramble to find workers and managers.  You may have to add overhead to support the increased volume. There have been significant labor shortages recently – will you have to pay more in wages and benefits than in the past to find qualified workers?  Contractors must carefully consider their labor and overhead structure and consider revising their production rates and overhead markup when pricing work that will be done during the boom times.  Keep an eye on your materials costs and know that a boom can cause shortages and upward price pressure.  This will help keep you profitable and competitive going forward.

About Master Builder Notes

Master Builder Notes is maintained by Walt and Gerry Mathieson, Sage Master Builder Certified Consultants. We have provided implementation, training and report writing services and general business advise to users of Sage Master Builder since 2000 and have over 30 years of real-world accounting and business management experience. While based in AZ, we use Internet tools and telecommunications to work with clients across the country. If you have Internet access, we are instantly available to assist you! To reach us, email to info@mathiesonconsulting.com or info@spcconsultants.biz.