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!