Current Version Information

Sage released the 2016 Payroll Tax Table update on December 17, 2015. Version 19.7.28 contains all federal and state payroll tax table data available as of that date that will be effective in 2016. It also contains a few enhancements and fixes related to payroll processing.  Install this update after all payroll to be paid in 2015 has been final computed, and before any 2016 payroll is processed.

Archive Locally to Minimize Problems

While users can usually archive data across their network, running the program on their local workstation on the data folder located on the server, this involves pushing and pulling massive amounts of data over your local network, in thousands of operations and processes.  This tends to require much more time to process since pushing and pulling that data over the network is inherently slow. Sometimes networks fail to make a connection reliably, and this can cause the archiving process to fail.

There are two ways to get around these potential problems:

• Perform the archiving process from the server’s desktop, rather than a workstation. This eliminates entirely the network’s effect on the process, or
• Copy the company data folder to your workstation’s C:\MB7 folder.  Perform the archiving process on the copy of the company residing on your C: drive, and then copy the two resulting data folders – the cleaned up current company data folder and the new archive folder—back to the server.

Users working in a cloud configuration typically are not presented with network speed or reliability issues and can ignore this tip.

For assistance with archiving data, give us a call at 480-471-5305 or send an email to walt@mathiesonconsulting.com.

Backup before Archiving!

The archiving process, whether for payroll closing or archiving the general ledger, is a destructive process.  Every discussion of archiving starts with an admonition to back up (twice for safety) your data .

Most users have invested in significant backup systems and processes that they rely on to prevent catastrophic loss of critical data.  Too many of these same users do not regularly test the backup process to ensure that their backups are effective and able to be restored easily and quickly.

Too often we find that users are relying on these overnight backups as their only backups when archiving their data.  If they have a problem with their archiving process—and problems do occur—they must restore from backup and start the archiving process over again. And since they have relied on their outside networking consultant to administer the backup process, they must wait for the networking consultant to restore the data from the overnight backup, losing valuable time in the process.  And this is NOT the time to find out that your overnight backups haven’t been working properly!

The easiest, and most expedient, way to make a quick and restorable backup is to use Windows Explorer to copy the current company data folder and paste it onto your workstation’s desktop or some other location in your network.  To ensure that no one has any files open that may not copy properly, just log into the company with Sage 100 Contractor with Exclusive Access, and then log out to make your “copy and paste” backup.  If the archiving process has any problems, you can easily recover by deleting the file folders affected by the failure and restoring the data folder from the “copy and paste” backup data folder.

Backups when archiving are important to cloud users also.  Check with your cloud hosting provider to ensure that you can make a quick and easy “copy and paste” backup as well.

Give us a call at 480-471-5305 or email walt@mathiesonconsulting.com if you have any questions or need help.

Closing Out the Year

With the introduction of multiyear general ledger functionality in version 19 of Sage 100 Contractor, year-end closings have become much more relaxed.  No longer do we have to worry about closing the general ledger before we can record any transactions relating to the new fiscal year, and no longer do we have to understand how Period 0 postings work.

However, let’s not get too relaxed….  The Payroll Year must still be closed and a 2015 Payroll Archive must still be created! Fortunately, this is not a terribly difficult or time consuming process, but you have to time it correctly.

In December

• Ensure that you have the latest version of the program, currently version 19.6.54, installed.
• Ensure that your employee names, addresses and social security numbers are up-to-date.
• Determine with your tax advisor or benefits administrator whether you will be required to file forms 1094-C and 1095-C to comply with the Affordable Care Act.  If so, ensure that the monthly data is present and up to date on the ACA Tab of the 5-2-1 Employees records.  Doing this before the Close Payroll Year process will help you avoid making entries twice.
• Run 5-3-7 Payroll Audit regularly and ensure that any audit errors are corrected.
• Be aware that you may receive information from payers of Third Party Sick Pay that can affect your payroll tax reporting.  Ensure that any notices received have been properly reflected in your payroll records.
• Determine with your tax advisor that all amounts that should be reported on W-2 forms have been included, including taxable vehicle allowances and certain taxable benefits for owners.  Also review which payroll calculation amounts may have to be reflected on the W-2 forms.

After the Last 2015 Payroll is Processed and Before Any 2016 Payroll Records are Entered

• Run 5-3-7 Payroll Audit and ensure that there are no audit errors.
• Make a complete backup of the current company’s data folder.
• Decide ahead of the closing how you will name the 2015 Payroll Archive folder.
• Decide ahead of the closing whether you want to remove employee records for workers that have left the company.
• Log into the current company as Supervisor with Exclusive Access.
• Run 5-3-8 Close Payroll Year and follow the prompts and instructions carefully. It’s really rather simple!

Remember – prepare your 4^th quarter payroll returns and your W-2 and W-3 forms from your 2015 Payroll Archive company.

Contact us at 480-471-5305 or walt@mathiesonconsulting.com for additional information or assistance with closing your payroll year.

Current Version Information

The latest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.6.54, the release of which was announced on October 1, 2015. In addition to getting the most up to date tax tables, there are changes to the program to accommodate compliance with the Affordable Care Act.

Fall Maintenance

Look at the calendar! The end of the calendar year is fast approaching. There are a few things that Sage 100 Contractor users should start working on so that the end of the calendar year goes smoothly.

Affordable Care Act Compliance
Make sure you know what your responsibilities are for reporting and compliance with the Affordable Care Act. Check with your tax accountant and your benefits provider to get the best information about your responsibilities. Current versions of Sage 100 Contractor will generate the data and forms required.

Form W-2 Wage Statements
Make sure that your employee data is up to date. Verify employee addresses and social security numbers. Make sure your payroll account bank reconciliations are current and complete (and thus all payrolls are recorded), and investigate why payroll checks are still outstanding long past the time you would expect. Run the Payroll Audit (menu 5-3-7) and ensure that all errors are corrected. Discuss with your tax accountant what payroll calculations should be shown in which boxes on the W-2s.

I am a huge fan of the built-in Aatrix E-File feature, especially for W-2s. Aatrix will print and mail all employee copies of W-2s and will submit electronically the data to the Federal and State governments. All you need to print is the employer copy for your records and that can be printed to plain paper. With Aatrix E-File, you don’t have to order preprinted forms and special envelopes. The cost of the Aatrix E-File W-2s is so reasonable when you consider the cost of acquiring the forms, applying postage, and the manual labor of stuffing special envelopes, I strongly endorse E-Filing.

If you do not wish to use the Aatrix E-File feature, you should order now the forms and envelopes required from Sage Checks and Forms. DO NOT plan on getting your forms from Staples or other office supply stores as the paper (4-up perforated paper) and envelopes are not typical.

Form 1099 Statements to Recipients
Make sure that your vendor data is up to date. Obtain W-9s from all vendors so that you can verify addresses, federal identification numbers and legal status, such as corporations, individuals, limited liability companies, partnerships, etc. With this information, you can then ensure that each vendor has the correct 1099 Type assigned. Use report 4-1-1-61 Vendor 1099 Report to see the 1099 Type of each vendor and whether or not you have a federal identification number for those vendors to whom you may be required to provide a 1099.

The built-in Aatrix E-File feature also works for 1099s! As you might guess, I’m a big fan of this feature as well. The comments above about W-2 E-Filing also apply to 1099 E-Filing.

If you do not wish to use the Aatrix E-File feature, you should order now the forms and envelopes required from Sage Checks and Forms. DO NOT plan on getting your forms from Staples or other office supply stores as the paper (4-up perforated paper) and envelopes are not typical.

If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to send us a note or give us a call.

Current Version Information

The latest recommended version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.6.54, the release of which was announced on October 1, 2015. Give Mathieson Consulting a call if you have a current support contract and want assistance with the update.

Don’t Forget to Audit Payroll!

All too often, I find that clients forget to run 5-3-7 Payroll Audit before preparing to pay their payroll tax liability or preparing payroll tax returns.  Payroll Audit is a handy utility that compares amounts actually withheld and accrued for FICA and Medicare Taxes with what should have been withheld.  It also identifies payroll records that have not been completely processed or processed with conflicting payroll quarters compared to payroll check dates. If you use the Repair option, the system will reconstruct the control totals on the employee records – this will correct any misposted or partially posted payroll records before it actually audits the payroll records. The Repair option takes longer than just running the Payroll Audit (this makes sense because it performs both the reconstruction of control totals and the auditing of payroll), but the extra time is usually worth it.  Always run the Payroll Audit with Repair and resolve any issues indicated, before computing the amount of payroll taxes to deposit or preparing payroll tax returns.

Since we’re talking about preparing payroll tax data, remember to always run your payroll tax reports by check date, not by period ending date.  The tax authorities want all of their payroll data reported by check date.

If you find that payroll audit errors exist, contact Sage Tech Support or call Mathieson Consulting at 480-471-5305 for assistance.

Current Version Information

The latest “recommended” version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.6.41, the release of which was announced on May 28, 2015.  Since then, there have been two “Optional” updates that contain payroll tax table updates for North Dakota, Connecticut, Ohio and Idaho, plus a couple of minor report fixes. You may want to consider the optional updates as well.

What’s Your Type?

Last month I wrote about creating a user-defined Purchase Order Type to help track and control materials returned to suppliers for credit.  Now, I’d like to review ideas for Types in the many areas where users can create their own:

• 3-5 Jobs – Types can be created to categorize the work (e.g. painting vs drywall for an interior finishes subcontractor) or billing method (e.g. time and materials billing vs progress billing) of jobs. Less desirable uses of Job Types might be to use types to identify the salesperson, project manager or department as fields already exist for these purposes.
• 3-6 Receivable Clients – Types can be created to categorize the clients for an organization. Options may be numerous, and input from management is often sought so that we can respond to data requests by client type. Options may include commercial vs. residential, multifamily property manager vs commercial general contractor, homeowner vs investor – anything management may find useful.
• 4-4 Vendors – Types can be created to categorize the vendors for an organization. Vendor Types can be simple (e.g. suppliers, subcontractors, overhead vendors) or more detailed (lumber yard, plumbing supplier, excavation subcontractor, plumbing subcontractor, insurance, banking, employees, etc.). Consider how detailed vendor types can help an estimator, purchasing agent or project manager find “all the plumbers we have used in the past” when seeking quotes.
• 6-4-1 Change Orders – Since change orders have several roles in Sage 100 Contractor, use Types to help separate them into their various roles – prime contract changes, internal budget adjustment changes, subcontract change order only, etc. Then use the Type as a report selection criterion when running a change order list report so that you only get the types of change orders you want in the list.
• 6-6-1 Purchase Orders – In addition to a type for materials returned, types can be used to separate job materials purchases, overhead purchases and stock or inventory purchases.  If purchase orders are also used for subcontracts (rather than the 6-7-1 Subcontract module) a separate type for those may also be in order.  Types can be used as report selection criteria to ensure that job materials purchases print to a specific materials purchase order report form, and subcontract purchase orders print to a separate, subcontract-specific report form.
• 6-7-1 Subcontracts – Types can be used in the subcontract module to relate specific specialized report forms to types of subcontracts. For instance, you may want to use different report forms for subcontracts that only provide subcontract labor, subcontracts that provide labor, installation materials and customer selected fixtures, or subcontracts that are for professional services like architectural and engineering services.  In each case, the report form may have different terms and conditions that are important to the user.
• 6-11 Document Control – Types can be defined for several documents to relate them to specialized reports and report forms:
• 6-11-1 Requests for Proposals
• 6-11-2 Requests for Information
• 6-11-3 Transmittals
• 6-11-4 Submittals
• 6-11-8 Correspondence
• Each document has the option of creating user defined types that may be useful to your specific business.  For instance, you might have separate request for proposal forms for materials purchase quotes and subcontract quotes.  Requests for information might be categorized as those to an architect or engineer, versus those to the owner or owner representative. Correspondence might be categorized as to format – memorandum vs formal letter.  The possibilities are many.
• 8-3 Equipment – Users of the equipment management module can create their own list of equipment types to categorize their equipment for reporting purposes.

Sage 100 Contractor is designed to be adaptable to most clients’ unique needs.  Take advantage of these options to make it work for you.  Contact Mathieson Consulting, LLC (480-471-5305) for more information or assistance.

A Little Bit of Imagination!

Recently, a client asked what they could do to solve a longstanding problem for their business.  They are an equipment sales and service organization, and have a high volume of materials purchases and returns.  Management was concerned that they either were not returning defective and or warrantied materials, or the suppliers were not giving them credit for their returns.

At first glance, there is no module or menu item labeled “Materials Returns” in Sage 100 Contractor, so the easy answer was “sorry, there’s nothing to help you in the program”. But let’s look a little closer at the problem. In reviewing the request with the client, we found that they needed to be able to keep records of what items were returned to their vendor, how much of a refund or credit they expected to receive as a result of the return, and whether or not they had actually received the credit from the vendor. With just a touch of imagination, you might see that this problem is an exact opposite of how purchase orders work. Purchase orders communicate to a vendor what you want to purchase, how much you expect to pay for it, and whether or not you have entered an AP invoice as a result of the purchase.  A purchase order record with negative quantities (a positive quantity is an item purchased and to be paid for, a negative quantity is an item returned for a credit) does just what an materials return record should.

To make this work effectively, we made a few changes in the system To keep the materials returns records separate from the materials purchases, we defined a purchase order type for returns, repurposed a user-defined field for the vendor’s RMA or returned material authorization number, and repurposed the purchase order grid line user-defined field for the reason the item was returned.  We created a specific report and report form, which we called a Materials Return Transmittal to effectively document the return to the vendor, specify what was expected of the vendor, and the amount that was expected to be received as a credit from the vendor.  When the credit memo is received from the vendor, the entry in accounts payable invoices should reference the order number so that the open record could be marked as closed. A Materials Returns List report was also created that shows the current status of materials returns.

This is just a brief synopsis of what can be done with a little imagination.  If you want more information about how to implement a materials returns tracking system, give us a call or send us an email!

Archiving Company Fiscal Year Data

When Sage 100 Contractor Version 19 was released, there was great joy because the multi-year general ledger functionality drastically reduced the perceived pressure of having to archive the ending fiscal year before entering any data for the new fiscal year.  Version 19 changed all of that by permitting several fiscal years to co-exist in the same database.  The old fiscal year can be archived at your leisure, after all entries and adjustments have been made for that year.  Because it can be done at one’s leisure, I find that archiving is sometimes forgotten and we start to see three or more fiscal years residing in the same database. While the system works fine with several fiscal years still resident in the database, you can expect to see processing times start to slow down and people will get annoyed with job lists that include jobs done two years earlier.  The solution is to archive your oldest fiscal year soon after all of its data entry is complete and in agreement with your published financial statements and tax returns for that prior fiscal year.

Usually around this time of year, we see that financial statements and tax returns for the prior fiscal year have been completed.  Make sure that your outside accountant has provided any adjusting entries that they want posted to your books.  Post them to the correct prior fiscal year.  After the adjusting entries are recorded, run a Trial Balance (report 2-1-0-21) for Period 12 of the prior fiscal year and compare it to your published financial statements for that year (or send it to your outside accountants and ask them to confirm that this trial balance agrees with their work papers).  When your adjusted trial balance is deemed in agreement, that prior fiscal year can be archived.

Archiving must be done by the Supervisor user, with Exclusive Access.  Larger and busier companies find that archiving is best done very late in the day or on weekends when Exclusive Access doesn’t prevent other users from doing their own work in the system.  Decide whether you wish to, during the archiving process, remove:  (1) jobs with a status of Closed or Refused, (2) paid or void payable invoices not related to a job, (3) service receivables records with a status of Paid, Completed, or Void dated prior to a specific date of your choosing and (4) closed purchase orders dated prior to a specific date of your choosing that are not related to a job.  Purging can add significant time to the archiving process so you may elect to perform the purging of this data from the current company at a later, more convenient time.

Other preparation should include running a general ledger audit in menu 1-6, searching for and resolving Ledger Transactions (menu 1-3) with a transaction number of 0000, usually the result of not completing the printing of GL Checks (menu 1-1), and deciding what you want to name the archive company data folder.  It could be something like [Company Name] 123114 GL.  Just make sure that it’s descriptive and unique.  Have available a paper copy of your Trial Balance (report 2-1-0-21) for Period 12 of the year you will be archiving for reference purposes. Finally, create two backup copies of the current company data folders before starting the actual archiving process.

Now the easy part – as Supervisor with Exclusive Access, go to menu 1-6, select Archive Fiscal Year 20xx.  That selection button will display the oldest fiscal year available in your current company.  Follow all the instructions therein, reading and understanding each of the prompts.

If you have any questions or concerns or if you want help with the archiving process, give Mathieson Consulting, LLC a call!

Current Version Information!

The latest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.6.41, the release of which was announced on May 28, 2015.

Don’t Forget Scheduling!

Smart contractors realize that projects that take too long to complete often experience cost slippage, where actual costs exceed the original planned cost.  Cost slippage on fixed price jobs falls straight to the bottom line.  Cost slippage and delays on time and materials billing jobs may not show up directly in financial performance, but can cause customer dissatisfaction which will erode reputation and have a negative effect on the bottom line over time.

A scheduling program can help orchestrate the intricate plan of an efficient project by identifying:

• The work or tasks required to complete a project, and estimating how many days it should take to perform the tasks 
• The resources needed to complete those tasks, whether employees, equipment or subcontractors
• The ordering of materials, especially those that must be special ordered and may have long lead time
• The arranging for inspections required by building codes
• The timing of billings, especially those dependent upon specified milestones in the project’s completion

A schedule should take into account the order in which tasks must be performed, which tasks must be completed before the next can be started, and which tasks can be performed simultaneously. In some organizations, the availability of resources such as specific employees, subcontractors or equipment may be limited and if they are assigned to another project, the schedule for this project may be affected as well, so resource planning and conflict identification can be important.  Contractors that are consistent and effective schedulers find that their subcontractors and employees appreciate knowing when they are expected to perform tasks and how long they have to perform them.  By periodically updating schedules, contractors can identify changes to the original schedule resulting from taking more or less time than planned for completed tasks and project new task starting times for subsequent tasks.  Effective project managers can then promptly notify resources assigned to these subsequent tasks of these changes and help them adjust their own schedules.

I often find that managers of my clients are surprised to find that Sage 100 Contractor has had an effective scheduling module built in to the core system for many years!  They are looking to acquire a scheduling program when they have had one in their office for as long as they’ve had Sage100 Contractor and its predecessors.

Scheduling can be quite complex, between building task lists, estimating task durations, identifying and defining task predecessors, estimating lead and lag times and putting it all together into a coherent schedule.  Scheduling is one of the many processes that usually isn’t perfect “out of the box” and benefits greatly from ongoing refinements gleaned from job autopsies.

Contact us for assistance and more information about the scheduling module.

What Do Your Workers Cost?

Smart contractors make sure they are accounting for all possible costs when estimating the cost and bid price for a project.  One area where the cost isn't always readily apparent is the cost of labor.  While estimating the number of hours it takes to perform work is where an experienced estimator earns his or her keep, it is equally important to make sure that the hourly cost of performing that work is truly accurate and all inclusive.  Everyone understands that the gross wage one pays a worker is included in the hourly cost, and most also understand that payroll taxes and workers compensation insurance should be included as labor burden added to the gross wage.  However, smart contractors look at ALL costs of employing a worker when estimating the cost of performing a project.  Costs that vary with employment activity (or the incremental cost of putting a worker in the field) that are too often overlooked as components of labor burden may include:

• Liability insurance
• Employer’s cost of health and other employee benefit insurances
• Employer’s portion of contributions to retirement plans
• Estimated cost of providing company owned vehicles
• Allowances paid to employees for use of their privately owned vehicle
• Estimated cost of providing company owned mobile devices
• Allowances paid to employees for use of their privately owned mobile devices
• Estimated cost of providing uniforms
• Estimated employer’s cost of training, licensing and certifications
• Estimated cost of providing paid time off, including vacations, holidays, sick leave and any other paid time off
• Estimated cost of providing items too numerous and individually too inexpensive to specifically job cost when purchased, but which can become significant over time, such as small tools and supplies for production
• Estimated supervisory costs that are not being directly job costed

The above list may not be complete, and may vary from contractor to contractor.

Some estimators will go to great lengths to develop a comprehensive cost of employing production staff and use it quite effectively in their estimating and job cost budgets, only to find that the accounting department, in job costing their payroll costs, does not recognize and account for the same components of labor burden.  This creates a built-in price variance when analyzing budgets versus actual costs. 

For example, let’s assume that the estimator correctly predicted that work will take 100 hours to complete, and estimated that the true cost of the employees doing the work (including all possible labor burdens) was $45 per hour.  The accounting department’s payroll calculations only include and job cost the gross wages, payroll taxes and workers compensation insurance, which adds up to $28 per hour.  The job cost budget shows 100 hours with a total cost of $4,500, while the actual cost to date shows 100 hours with a total cost of $2,800.  It is misleading to say that actual costs beat the budget by $1,700 when the estimated hours were spot-on!  That $1,700 difference is a price variance.  Consider the same project, except that actual results were 160 hours, job costed at $28 per hour.  The budget versus actual report shows actual labor costs of $4,480 versus the budget of $4,500. It looks like the work was performed on budget, but it actually took 60% more time to do the work than estimated!

Clearly, it is important to prepare budgets and job cost reports consistently and comparably.  Budget versus actual reporting should avoid built-in variances and show how production is really doing in light of the estimator’s plan.

Fortunately, the payroll system of Sage 100 Contractor was designed for the specific and unique needs of contractors.  Payroll calculations can be designed to include all such labor burdens as mentioned above in the cost of employing workers.  Additional labor burden costs can be calculated as a percentage of gross pay, or per hour worked.  These payroll calculations effectively pull costs out of overhead expense accounts and make them part of job costs and direct expenses with very little effort once they are setup.

If you want to look more closely at how you are burdening your labor costs, or how to add payroll calculations that you know you should be including, give us a call.

Current Version Information!

The latest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.5.34, the release of which was announced on January 23, 2015. 

In addition, on February 27, 2015, Sage released a Tax Table only update to accommodate lately released tax table changes for the District of Columbia.  This is not considered a version change, so your Sage Advisor Update does not appear to consider this a change worth notifying users about.  If you have employees in the District of Columbia and have a current support plan, you should look for this Software Notice 15-B or give us a call.

Solution to an Inventory Dilemma

Recent tips have been geared toward general topics about Sage 100 Contractor.  This one is just for the accountants and bookkeepers out there.

Users of the Inventory module know that the system will not let the quantity on hand for any inventory item go below zero.  Recently, a client called with the following scenario:

• They found that a payable invoice for two inventory items had been entered erroneously on Monday through the use of menu 12-4 Purchase Order Receipts. 
• Tuesday, an inventory allocation had been entered and shipped to move one of these inventory items to a job. 
• Wednesday, it was discovered that the second inventory item entered on Monday had not been received and was instead backordered.  When the error in the entry of the invoice on Monday was discovered, the client tried to void and re-enter the invoice correctly.  However, the system would not permit the client to void Monday’s erroneous entry because there was not sufficient inventory quantity on hand of the one item to absorb the quantity that would be subtracted from inventory with the voiding of that invoice – it would have caused the quantity on hand for that item to go below zero.
• When they called for help on Thursday, I suggested the following steps to correct the erroneously entered invoice:
• Copy the erroneous AP Invoice record that was entered on Monday in menu 4-2.
• Paste the copied invoice to a new record in 4-2 and modify the entry to the way it should have been entered with the item that was received and not the item that was backordered.
• Save this new 4-2 AP Invoice record.
• This will increase the quantity on hand for the first inventory items involved in the correction and the Tuesday inventory allocation.
• Then go find the erroneously entered AP Invoice and void it.  This takes the backordered item out of inventory and adjusts the quantity on hand of the item actually received on Monday and partially shipped out on Tuesday to the correct amount.
• The order in which these entries are recorded is a little counter intuitive, but when you follow it through, checking the recorded inventory quantities on hand at each step, you can see how it works.

For more help with inventory issues, don’t hesitate to call your friendly Certified Consultant!

Current Version Information!

The latest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.5.34, the release of which was announced on January 23, 2015. 

In addition, on February 27, 2015, Sage released a Tax Table only update to accommodate lately released tax table changes for the District of Columbia.  This is not considered a version change, so your Sage Advisor Update does not appear to consider this a change worth notifying users about.  If you have employees in the District of Columbia and have a current support plan, you should look for this Software Notice 15-B or give us a call.

Backups? I don’t need no stinking backups!

Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s talk about backups – effective backups. 

To most people, the title above sounds totally ridiculous.  Everyone knows you do need to back up your accounting data.  So many things can happen to your accounting data that may require a restoration of data from a recent backup – inadvertent deletion of data, interrupted posting processes that result in corrupted data, an ill-advised change in an accounting process or principle that is easier to “roll back” to an earlier state than to make correcting entries, or the dreaded virus or malware infection.

I’ve recently had several clients suffer from the CryptoLocker malware infection or a variation of it.  Someone in the office opens an email attachment that they shouldn’t, and before they know it, a malware program seeks out and encrypts database files on their network, rendering them totally useless.  The encryption is a strong encryption that is difficult for anyone to crack without a decryption key.  The extortionists that sent out the malware in the first place make a limited time offer to sell the decryption key, accepting bitcoin or some untraceable payment form for the ransom.

Paying the ransom is just wrong! It encourages other “evil-doers” and sets a bad example for your staff.  The correct solution to the problem is to clean the infected machines of the virus, and restore your data from backup data.  This is a moment of truth for your backup processes.  I have had at least two clients discover that there were no effective backups being done, even though they were told by their IT professionals that backups were being performed!  And several clients were down for more time than they should, waiting for their complicated backup restoration process to be performed.

Whether you get hit with the CryptoLocker malware infection or just need to restore from backup for some other less nefarious reason, don’t take the chance that your backup processes are faulty.  Insist that your IT professional demonstrate to you that backups are being performed consistently, completely and securely, and that the data can be restored from backup in a reasonable timeframe.  Make sure that the backups are insulated from your network so that a malware virus can’t infect the backup at the same time it’s infecting your live data.  Also, insist on a process to periodically copy off a permanent, archival copy of your data each month and keep then in safe storage for a year or more.

If you want further help with your backup processes, give us a call!

Current Version Information!

The latest and greatest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.5.34, the release of which was announced on January 23, 2015.  This version was released to update state income tax withholding tables for states that were tardy in publishing their withholding tables.  It also contains some fixes for problems discovered in version 19.5.27. The 19.5.27 version was announced in the middle of December 2014 with the caveat that it should not be installed before the payroll of 2014 (based on check date) is processed and posted to the general ledger and the 2014 Payroll Year is closed. This version includes the latest Federal and State withholding tax tables for 2015 available at that time and enhancements for helping employers collect and report employee benefit information to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

Tips for Outside Accountants and Auditors of Sage 100 Contractor Clients

I get calls from clients asking for assistance with entering Adjusting Entries provided by their outside accountants and auditors, only to find out that the entries are written without consideration of the functionality of Sage 100 Contractor. I sometimes find that outside accountants don’t understand how the program works and what effect certain built-in controls have on the accounting processes of the company. In an effort to help clients with communicate their accountants, I suggest the following tips be provided to your accountants:

• Understand what General Ledger (“GL”) accounts serve as control accounts and have specific requirements. Control accounts are specified in menu 1-8 General Ledger Setup. Most control accounts have specific requirements:
• Accounts Receivable entries require that a job be specified and, where appropriate, specific invoice numbers.
• Service Receivable entries require that a client be specified and, where appropriate, specific invoice numbers.
• Accounts Payable entries require that a vendor be specified and, where appropriate, specific invoice numbers.
• Journal transactions cannot be posted directly as such to receivable and payable control accounts but such entries can be made by entering debit and credit memos to these accounts.
• Sage 100 Contractor vigorously enforces job costing in specific ranges of accounts. Any entry to GL accounts in the WIP Assets or Direct Expenses ranges of accounts must have a job, cost code and cost type! If you are going to propose an adjusting entry to accounts in these ranges, expect to provide a job number, cost code and cost type. Don’t suggest that the client create a junk job number just for adjusting entries. It just trashes up important reports like the bonding report. If you have an entry that can’t be attributed to a specific job, post it to a GL account in the Overhead or Administrative ranges of accounts.
• Sage 100 Contractor vigorously enforces equipment costing in specific ranges of accounts. Any entry to GL accounts in the Equipment/Shop Expense range of accounts must have a specific equipment number, cost code and cost type! If you are going to propose an adjusting entry to accounts in this range, expect to provide an equipment number, cost code and cost type. Don’t suggest that the client create a junk equipment number just for adjusting entries. It just trashes up the equipment database and encourages clients to subvert the enforced equipment costing. If you have an entry that can’t be attributed to a specific equipment number, post it to a GL account in the Overhead or Administrative ranges of accounts.
• Control accounts for the Equipment Management system are specified in menu 1-8 General Ledger Setup. Single GL accounts for Equipment Cost, Equipment Accumulated Depreciation, and Equipment Loans are defined there, and any postings to these GL accounts require subaccounts that correspond to Equipment defined in menu 8-3 Equipment. If you propose an adjusting entry to one of these control accounts, be prepared to identify what equipment number should specified.
• Be aware of defined departments and subaccounts when proposing adjusting entries. If a GL Account is set up for Subaccounts or Departments, please provide that information for your entries. Subaccounts and Departments are important control and information points, and are required for any entry to GL Accounts that are defined for such.
• When adjusting journal entries are provided to the client, help them by identifying which entries are merely reclassifying entries (for presentation purposes only) and do not need to be posted to the client’s books, and which entries are accruals that should be reversed in the next fiscal year.
• When adjusting journal entries are provided to the client, it helps to also provide a copy of your working trial balance as well. This can help resolve questions about the entries, and provides a means of confirming that the client’s books are in agreement with published financial statements and tax returns.

This list is not exhaustive, but it can go a long way to improving the service you receive from your outside accountants and auditors.

If your outside accountants and auditors have questions that you cannot answer satisfactorily, consider having them contact Mathieson Consulting, your friendly Sage Certified Consultant!

Current Version Information!

The latest and greatest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.5.27.  This version was announced in the middle of December 2014 with the caveat that it should not be installed before the payroll of 2014 (based on check date) is processed and posted to the general ledger and the 2014 Payroll Year is closed. This version includes the latest Federal and State withholding tax tables for 2015 and enhancements for helping employers collect and report employee benefit information to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

A New Year Resolution

The Times Square ball has dropped, the 2014 calendar has been replaced with a 2015 version, and it is traditionally time to resolve to do things better in the New Year.  With that in mind, consider adopting the following New Year Resolution:

I resolve to help all of my Sage 100 Contractor users customize their program workspaces so that they can work more efficiently and effectively with the program. I will learn how to:

• Change what Activity Centers (the tabs across the top of the desktop) are shown and available to a user for their daily work tasks.
•  Modify what menu items show on an Activity Center and how those menu items are arranged on the screen, whether there are lines corresponding to work flows between the menu items, and whether there are boxes drawn around like menu items.  This is all intended to make it possible to arrange the desktop in a manner that is most helpful to a specific user and his or her role in the organization.
• Place links to specific reports on the activity center workspaces that are most likely to be useful to a user during their typical workday.  Report links can be integrated into the work flow diagrams or grouped to suit the user’s needs.
• Place links to other programs (like Excel, Word, Outlook, DataLink Viewer, or whatever one might need) on the Activity Center workspace so that the user doesn’t have to get out of Sage 100 Contractor to use other tools that are important to their work and role in the organization.
• Teach users how to hide unneeded columns in work grids throughout the program so that they aren’t burdened by viewing and entering through columns that don’t apply to the way the user should work.

Helping users use Sage 100 Contractor more efficiently will help the organization achieve its goals in the New Year.

If you are unsure how to take advantage of these features, give your Sage 100 Contractor Certified Consultant a call for assistance.