tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15627356124913535532024-03-06T12:00:33.789-08:00Master Builder NotesA blog for Sage Master Builder users looking to improve the effectiveness of their construction, home building or service contracting company.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-35955834847459015192016-04-04T09:00:00.000-07:002016-04-04T09:01:05.309-07:00Oops! Payroll is Posted to the Wrong Accounting Period….<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pay dates on or shortly after the beginning of a month can present a challenge. Too often, I get calls from clients that posted an entire payroll dated on the first of a month back to the previous month, usually because they fail to check the rather small accounting period button on the 5-2-6 Post Payroll to GL screen before pushing the Post Payroll button. Despite regular admonishment to always post payroll to the period in which the checks are dated, mistakes happen. How do we fix them?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If the payroll was posted in detail (rather than in Summary) and the number of payroll records is not too great, I usually recommend a “copy, void, paste” process:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First, print out a payroll check register for the misposted payroll. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then, for each misposted 5-2-2 payroll record:</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Click on the copy button to save the header and timecard data to a program copy buffer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Go to the calculations tab, highlight all the rows of the calculations grid, right click and select copy to save the calculations lines to the Windows clipboard (as the save button does not capture the calculations grid)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Click on the scissors button to void the misposted payroll record and say yes to void the related job cost and ledger transaction records</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When the empty record is displayed after the voiding, click on the paste button to paste record header and timecard lines to a new record</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Click on the calculations tab and with the cursor in the top left cell of that grid, right click and select Paste to copy the calculations from the Windows clipboard, and enter “Y” in the Override column for each line so that nothing changes from the original record</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Save this new record and locate the next record to correct.</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When each payroll record has been corrected, trial compute the copied and pasted records, compare the records to the original payroll check register, and if everything agrees, final compute the payroll records and carefully post these new records to the general ledger in the correct accounting period.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s been suggested that I’m a cruel person to suggest such a tedious task, but there is the sneaking suspicion that such painful work to correct a problem may help that person pay better attention the next time.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If the payroll has too many records to make this a reasonable exercise, we can help you with queries and MS Excel to summarize the general ledger and job cost entries of the misposted payroll to use in a journal entry to reverse the entire payroll from the wrong accounting period and reenter it in the correct accounting period. Just give us a call at 480-471-5305 for assistance.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-17850357533549903212016-02-28T16:13:00.001-08:002016-02-28T16:13:30.004-08:00How to Replace a Check Written in a Prior Period<div class="MsoNormal">
I have recently received several inquiries about how to replace a lost payroll or vendor check written in a prior period without affecting the previously reported financial statements or tax reports. If all you need to do is replace a previously written check with a new check to the same payee and for the same amount, follow these simple steps:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>In menu 1-1 Checks/Bank Charges, record a reversal of the original check by entering the original bank account, the original check number followed by the word “Void”, the current date, a description like “Void & replace lost check”, the payee name and address (or just enter the vendor number), and in the grid enter a clearing account and the net check amount as a NEGATIVE amount in the Debit Amount column. Save this entry to the current accounting period.</li>
<li>Then, also in menu 1-1, record the replacement check by entering the bank account you are drawing the replacement check on, “0000” in the check number field, the current date, a description like “Replace original check number…”, the payee name and address (or the vendor number if it was used in the reversal above), and in the grid enter the same clearing account and the original net check amount as a POSITIVE amount in the Debit Amount column. Save this entry to the current accounting period also.</li>
<li>Then, also in menu 1-1, click on the print button, enter the cash account for the replacement check, and print the replacement check on your check stock following the usual 1-1 check printing process.</li>
<li>When next reconciling your bank account, clear the voided check and the original check, as they will offset. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
By using offsetting entries in the same accounting period, you don’t affect your accounting and tax reports. Using the vendor number in both the reversing and replacement entries ensures that the 1099 balances are not misstated as well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you want additional guidance on this process, or more complex situations, give us a call at 480-471-5305.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-36505542535460549582016-02-28T16:09:00.003-08:002016-03-09T10:30:03.679-08:00Equipment Management (a nearly forgotten module)How often does an owner or manager ask his accountant (or him- or her-self) “how much does that truck or piece of equipment cost us?” How often is the response to this question “we don’t know!?" Is your investment in heavy equipment, shop equipment, or vehicles a significant cost of your operation? Is the cost of owning and operating this equipment being consistently and accurately charged to jobs based on a measure of use, like miles, tons, hours, days, weeks or months? Are you recovering enough equipment ownership and operating costs in your job costing and estimating assumptions?<br />
<br />
The Equipment Management module is designed specifically to collect and organize the cost of owning and operating equipment, and then recover that cost by charging out to jobs the estimated cost of owning and operating that equipment using estimated cost recovery rates per measure of use (i.e. per mile, per hour, per day, etc.) With the module, a thoughtful and creative implementation, and diligent bookkeeping, users no longer have to hear the answer “we don’t know!”<br />
<br />
If you want to learn more about using the Equipment Module, give us a call at 480-471-5305.Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-10406610894372700802016-02-22T09:38:00.000-08:002016-02-22T09:38:13.300-08:00Current Version InformationOn February 18, 2016, Sage released Sage 100 Contractor Version 19.7.52. This update includes all payroll tax table revisions known to date, and more importantly, fixes a problem created in version 19.7.43 with the Reconcile Credit Card Statement function. I strongly encourage users to consider installing this update.Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-19862408488699176992016-01-28T15:41:00.000-08:002016-01-28T15:41:28.203-08:00Current Version Information<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sage released the first 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 are effective
in 2016. It also contains a few enhancements and fixes related to payroll
processing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On January 21, 2016, Sage released the January
2016 payroll tax update, Version 19.7.43.
It contains revised payroll tax tables for states that were late in
publishing their 2016 tax tables, including Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri,
North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of
Columbia. It also includes a few more enhancements and fixes related to payroll
processing. However, Sage has since
advised that this update has caused a problem with the Reconcile Credit Card
Statement process. If you have payroll
in the affected states, you should consider installing Version 19.7.43 so that
your payroll tax withholding is correct, knowing that you may have challenges
with your credit card reconciliations.
Otherwise, defer installing this latest version until Sage publishes a
revision or later update.</span></span>Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-71912877643683319102016-01-28T15:39:00.000-08:002016-01-28T15:39:15.473-08:00How Do You Know What You Don’t Know?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of my favorite clients sent me an email this morning
that asked for my assistance with the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<i>One of my goals is to
find out from you what is in </i>[Sage 100 Contractor]<i> that we can use for more effective results for this next year. I don’t know what I don’t know. I am familiar with what I use all the time
but I believe there is more available that I am not aware of. We will experience great growth this
year. We will be hiring additional staff
but I want to make sure we are effective and efficient with the tools we have
in hand to maximize our results.</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This client has used the program for decades and might be described
as a “power user,” but she has a nagging suspicion that there may be more
functionality in the program than what they are currently using. This is a pervasive problem with many of the
users that I come across. This is often
understandable since initial implementations are often geared toward getting a new
user up and running with the basic accounting capabilities they had with their
previous accounting package. Too little time and attention is devoted to
identifying and learning new functions that can benefit their organization.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How did I respond to my client’s request for assistance? My
reply included the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<i><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are a couple of ways to assess the "not knowing
what you don't know" problem. I could spend a day nosing around your
office, observing and asking questions to try to identify areas that can be
improved. Or you and your staff (accounting and project management) can
make lists of things that annoy them, things that they spend valuable time
doing in Excel or Word, things they wish they had, things they suspect the
program should do but they just don't know how to do, etc. The lists can be
compiled and sorted and a </span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[training]<i> plan can be developed.</i></span>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many clients have purchased modules
of the program and then left those modules unused for years! I often see
Estimating, Document Control, Equipment Management, Scheduling, Change Orders
(!), Insurance Certificates (!), Credit Card Management, ACH/Direct Deposit
Payroll and Vendor Payments, and similar modules forgotten and unused, or
perhaps just underused. Wise clients
will take a little time to scan through the program menus just to remind
themselves in general sense of what the program can do, and then call us to ask if it might be of use to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clients are always calling with
requests for a report that shows certain information that they need to run
their business. Often the report already
exists in the program and we can point them in the right direction
and give them pointers on how to use report selection criteria to hone in on
their specific need. If a report doesn’t already exist, we can usually create a custom report to meet their need. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you wonder what you don’t know, take the time
to jot down notes about those things that annoy you about how you use the
program, what tasks or reports you spend too much time preparing with Excel or
Word, what things you wish the program could do for you, or what data you want
from the system that you currently aren’t receiving. Then give us a call
and talk it over with us. It may cost
you some consulting fees, but the end result is usually well worth the
investment.</span></span>Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-2196072248777808372015-12-29T14:56:00.000-08:002015-12-29T14:56:02.755-08:00Current Version Information<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-45961816545185200722015-12-29T14:53:00.000-08:002015-12-29T14:54:52.439-08:00Archive Locally to Minimize Problems<div class="MsoNormal">
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. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are two ways to get around these potential problems:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Perform the archiving process from the server’s
desktop, rather than a workstation. This eliminates entirely the network’s
effect on the process, or</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Copy the company data folder to your
workstation’s C:\MB7 folder.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">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.</span></li>
</ul>
Users working in a cloud configuration typically are not
presented with network speed or reliability issues and can ignore this tip.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
For assistance with archiving data, give us a call at 480-471-5305 or send an email to <a href="mailto:walt@mathiesonconsulting.com">walt@mathiesonconsulting.com</a>.Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-51265503437404679902015-12-29T13:53:00.000-08:002015-12-29T13:53:13.570-08:00Backup before Archiving!<div class="MsoNormal">
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 .<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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!<span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">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.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Give us a call at 480-471-5305 or email <a href="mailto:walt@mathiesonconsulting.com">walt@mathiesonconsulting.com</a> if you have any questions or need help.</span>Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-28300533195689037352015-12-10T08:59:00.001-08:002015-12-10T08:59:55.346-08:00Closing Out the Year<div class="MsoNormal">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>In December<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Ensure that you have the latest version of the program,
currently version 19.6.54, installed.</li>
<li>Ensure that your employee names, addresses and social
security numbers are up-to-date.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>Run 5-3-7 Payroll Audit regularly and ensure that any audit
errors are corrected.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>After the Last
2015 Payroll is Processed and Before Any 2016 Payroll Records are Entered<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Run 5-3-7 Payroll Audit and ensure that there are no audit
errors.</li>
<li>Make a complete backup of the current company’s data folder.</li>
<li>Decide ahead of the closing how you will name the 2015
Payroll Archive folder.</li>
<li>Decide ahead of the closing whether you want to remove
employee records for workers that have left the company.</li>
<li>Log into the current company as Supervisor with Exclusive
Access.</li>
<li>Run 5-3-8 Close Payroll Year and follow the prompts and
instructions carefully. It’s really rather simple!</li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remember – prepare your 4<sup>th</sup> quarter payroll
returns and your W-2 and W-3 forms from your 2015 Payroll Archive company.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Contact us at 480-471-5305 or <a href="mailto:walt@mathiesonconsulting.com">walt@mathiesonconsulting.com</a> for additional
information or assistance with closing your payroll year.<o:p></o:p></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-25632403867262296832015-11-02T08:10:00.003-08:002015-11-02T08:10:25.571-08:00Current Version InformationThe 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.Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-1193096694748999252015-11-02T08:09:00.000-08:002015-11-02T08:09:09.275-08:00Fall MaintenanceLook 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.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Affordable Care Act Compliance</u></b><br />
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.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Form W-2 Wage Statements</u></b><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Form 1099 Statements to Recipients</u></b><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to send us a note or give us a call.</div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-83050046717295192272015-10-05T15:17:00.000-07:002015-10-05T15:17:05.427-07:00Current Version Information<span style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;">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.</span>Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-11763163537865249432015-09-30T10:34:00.000-07:002015-09-30T10:35:04.568-07:00Don’t Forget to Audit Payroll!<div class="MsoNormal">
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. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since we’re talking about preparing payroll tax data,
remember to always run your payroll tax reports by <b>check date</b>, not by period ending date. The tax authorities want all of their payroll
data reported by check date.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you find that payroll audit errors exist, contact Sage
Tech Support or call Mathieson Consulting at 480-471-5305 for assistance.<o:p></o:p></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-16398665505969921942015-09-02T09:30:00.002-07:002015-09-02T09:30:39.847-07:00Current Version Information<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333332; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-31385446627706475532015-09-02T09:29:00.000-07:002015-09-02T09:29:20.746-07:00What’s Your Type?<div class="MsoNormal">
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:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<ul>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><u>3-5 Jobs</u></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– 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.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><u>3-6
Receivable Clients </u></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">– 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.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><u>4-4
Vendors </u></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">– 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.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><u>6-4-1
Change Orders</u></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – 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.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><u>6-6-1
Purchase Orders</u></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – In addition to a type for materials returned, types
can be used to separate job materials purchases, overhead purchases and stock
or inventory purchases.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">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.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">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.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><u>6-7-1
Subcontracts</u></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – 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.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">In each case, the report form may have different terms and conditions
that are important to the user.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><u>6-11
Document Control</u></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Types can be defined for several documents to relate
them to specialized reports and report forms:</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">6-11-1 Requests for Proposals</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">6-11-2 Requests for Information</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">6-11-3 Transmittals</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">6-11-4 Submittals</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">6-11-8 Correspondence</span></li>
</ul>
<li>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.</li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><u>8-3
Equipment</u></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Users of the equipment management module can create their
own list of equipment types to categorize their equipment for reporting
purposes.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Sage 100 Contractor is designed to be adaptable
to most clients’ unique needs.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Take
advantage of these options to make it work for you.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Contact Mathieson Consulting, LLC (480-471-5305) for
more information or assistance.</span><br /><ul>
</ul>
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Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-72610881983858970332015-08-03T10:26:00.001-07:002015-08-03T10:26:34.542-07:00A Little Bit of Imagination!<div class="MsoNormal">
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. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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 <b><i><u>negative quantities</u></i></b> (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. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
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!<o:p></o:p></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-83460934664461341222015-07-01T14:34:00.000-07:002015-07-01T14:34:19.497-07:00Archiving Company Fiscal Year DataWhen 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <b>Finally, create two backup copies of the current company data folders before starting the actual archiving process.</b><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
If you have any questions or concerns or if you want help with the archiving process, give Mathieson Consulting, LLC a call!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-18033105352716617432015-06-01T14:13:00.000-07:002015-06-01T14:13:22.087-07:00Current Version Information!The latest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.6.41, the release of which was announced on May 28, 2015.Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-55143863667656631322015-06-01T14:11:00.000-07:002015-06-01T14:11:42.604-07:00Don’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.<br />
<br />
A scheduling program can help orchestrate the intricate plan of an efficient project by identifying:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The work or tasks required to complete a project, and estimating how many days it should take to perform the tasks </li>
<li>The resources needed to complete those tasks, whether employees, equipment or subcontractors</li>
<li>The ordering of materials, especially those that must be special ordered and may have long lead time</li>
<li>The arranging for inspections required by building codes</li>
<li>The timing of billings, especially those dependent upon specified milestones in the project’s completion</li>
</ul>
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Contact us for assistance and more information about the scheduling module.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-43103888217183799122015-05-04T08:39:00.000-07:002015-05-04T08:39:20.151-07:00What Do Your Workers Cost?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">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 </span><span style="line-height: 16.8666667938232px;">isn't</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> 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:</span></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Liability insurance</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Employer’s cost of health and other employee
benefit insurances</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Employer’s portion of contributions to
retirement plans</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Estimated cost of providing company owned
vehicles</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Allowances paid to employees for use of their
privately owned vehicle</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Estimated cost of providing company owned mobile
devices</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Allowances paid to employees for use of their
privately owned mobile devices</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Estimated cost of providing uniforms</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Estimated employer’s cost of training, licensing
and certifications</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Estimated cost of providing paid time off,
including vacations, holidays, sick leave and any other paid time off</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">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</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Estimated supervisory costs that are not being
directly job costed</span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The above list may not be complete, and may vary from
contractor to contractor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">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. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">This creates a built-in
price variance when analyzing budgets versus actual costs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">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. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">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.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">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.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">It is misleading
to say that actual costs beat the budget by $1,700 when the estimated hours
were spot-on!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">That $1,700 difference is
a price variance.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Consider the same
project, except that actual results were 160 hours, job costed at $28 per
hour.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">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!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly, it is important to prepare budgets and job cost
reports consistently and comparably.
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Budget versus actual reporting should avoid built-in variances and show
how production is really doing in light of the estimator’s plan.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Fortunately,
the payroll system of Sage 100 Contractor was designed for the specific and
unique needs of contractors. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Payroll
calculations can be designed to include all such labor burdens as mentioned
above in the cost of employing workers.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Additional labor burden costs can be calculated as a percentage of gross
pay, or per hour worked.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">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.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-46811928124709248902015-03-30T15:05:00.000-07:002015-03-30T15:05:38.891-07:00Current Version Information!<div class="MsoNormal">
The latest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version
19.5.34, the release of which was announced on January 23, 2015. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-800882150850473322015-03-30T15:04:00.000-07:002015-03-30T15:04:16.479-07:00Solution to an Inventory Dilemma<div class="MsoNormal">
Recent tips have been geared toward general topics about
Sage 100 Contractor. This one is just
for the accountants and bookkeepers out there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>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. </li>
<li>Tuesday, an inventory allocation had been entered and
shipped to move one of these inventory items to a job. </li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>When they called for help on Thursday, I suggested the
following steps to correct the erroneously entered invoice:</li>
<ul>
<li>Copy the erroneous AP Invoice record that was entered on
Monday in menu 4-2.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>Save this new 4-2 AP Invoice record.</li>
<li>This will increase the quantity on hand for the first inventory
items involved in the correction and the Tuesday inventory allocation.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
For more help with inventory issues, don’t hesitate to call
your friendly Certified Consultant!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-83762557122667031272015-03-02T11:34:00.003-08:002015-03-02T11:34:51.613-08:00Current Version Information!<div class="MsoNormal">
The latest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version
19.5.34, the release of which was announced on January 23, 2015. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562735612491353553.post-10790809759563502832015-03-02T11:33:00.000-08:002015-03-02T11:33:29.110-08:00Backups? I don’t need no stinking backups!<div class="MsoNormal">
Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s talk about backups –
<u>effective backups</u>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you want further help with your backup processes, give us a call!<o:p></o:p></div>
Walt Mathiesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837254937271315271noreply@blogger.com0