Dear AccountMate Clients,
From our vantage point of supporting over 100 clients across 20+ states, we see many companies optimizing their businesses with a never before seen focus – understandable considering today’s market.
First, the old tried and true optimizations are done: reduce headcount and squeeze inventory costs. But it doesn’t take long to reap all the possible benefits from those options in small and mid-size operations – so then what? With fewer employees expected to each do more, effecting further improvements can be TOUGH – especially when some of that manpower may have been dedicated to keeping your sales pipeline full.
For most businesses, the most reliable source of new sales is your existing customer base, while you also need to be laser-focused on retaining existing customers. Accomplishing these two tasks effectively can be the difference in staying in business or not!
INFOtrac for AccountMate, our CRM module, is the basis for identifying, prioritizing, and following through with the customers that will yield the most business the soonest. Most importantly, because it’s an integrated CRM, management can now have visibility into the sales process and your sales force can have visibility into important accounting information such as customer payment trends – so that you don’t focus your sales efforts on slow paying customers!
Alternatively, if you’re less busy than you were previously, this can be a good time to rebuild your financial management infrastructure and use CRM to increase productivity (which automatically makes every customer service representative an expert on every customer) and manage shrinking resources so you’re well positioned when the economy recovers.
As always, for more information on the most important step you can make in optimizing to survive – and then prosper – contact us at your convenience to discuss your particular goals and challenges.
On the running front: Marathon training is going well with less than six weeks until marathons on back-to-back weekends in mid-April, including The Boston Marathon. I’ll also be running the Kettle Moraine 100-Miler in early June, and would like to find a nice hilly 50-mile race as a training run sometime in May. Be sure and drop me a line if you can recommend any!
Regards,
Kevin E. Stroud
NexLAN, LLC
https://nexlan.com
NexLAN Invoices E-Mailed Nightly
I’m almost embarrassed to say that we haven’t done this sooner… Effective today, NexLAN is switching to invoices e-mailed as PDFs. The results of implementing the Info-Alert for AccountMate module have been positive at all of the clients we’ve set it up for – cutting paper, printing, envelope and postage costs all to ZERO, while decreasing the time for invoices to reach their customers – so I really can’t believe it’s taken us this long to implement it ourselves.
If you’ve been considering a similar move, but just haven’t gotten around to it, then this is your wake-up call for a free demo installation. Otherwise, as of May 11th, you’ll be spending another 2¢ per invoice and paying the same preparation costs you’re paying now. And, weren’t we just talking about business optimization?
AccountMate Basic Product Training Class
AccountMate regularly holds product training classes at their corporate offices in Petaluma, CA, covering the planning and implementation of the AccountMate 7 core financial modules (AP, AR, BR, GL, IC, PO, SO, and UM). The cost of the class is $2,085 per person, not including travel and hotel expenses.
The complete schedule for 2009 has been released so that you may plan ahead:
- March 18 through 20
- June 17 through 19
- October 14 through 16
If you are interested in the class please contact us at NexLAN at (217) 431-7236 or by <replying> to this e-mail.
Payroll Tax Update Released
If you’re an AccountMate client of ours, then you should have received an e-mail from us last Thursday regarding the Payroll tax update just released per “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” (popularly called “The Stimulus Package”). The IRS asks that these new tables be implemented “as soon as possible but not later than April 1.” Here’s a link at the IRS website for more details: IRS Notice 1036.
As part of your 2009 Payroll Tax Update Plan, this update is provided at no software cost. Please contact us if you would like us to install the update for you.
Tech Note: Tracking Lost Sales Opportunities
No matter what industry you’re in, a lost sale is a missed opportunity. Depending on how large the potential sale was relative to your regular sales volume and the economic climate, those lost opportunities could have a large impact on your company.
Because we understand your need to analyze lost sales opportunities, AccountMate 7 helps you monitor these transactions with the addition of functionality by which users can choose to track cancelled sales quotes/orders and assign a reason for the missed opportunity.
The following Tech Note discusses that mechanism:
Article 1268: Tracking Lost Sales Opportunities in AccountMate
Tech Note: How GL Account Segment Redefinition Affects AccountMate Records
As your company evolves, your financial reporting requirements may also change. Taking this into account, AccountMate is designed to provide the means by which you can change your GL Account ID structure. The Redefine GL Account Segment function is a nifty tool that you can use to efficiently update your Chart of Accounts in response to your changing needs.
The following Tech Note discusses how certain changes to your GL segments affect the AccountMate records. I t also identifies any limitations that may apply to each type of GL segment change.
Article 1267: How GL Account Segments Redefinition Affects AccountMate Records
Technical Tips
Version: AM7 for SQL and Express (AM7.5 and higher)
Module: PO
Q: I need to print the Accrued Received Goods Report; however, I could not find it in the reports listing in the PO module. What happened?
A: With the addition of the AP/PO Matching feature in AM7.5 for SQL/Express, the Accrued Received Goods Report is enhanced and is now called the PO Line Items for AP Matching Report. This report tracks the received and un-matched quantities and amounts of PO receipts for vendors set up for AP/PO Matching. Also available is the PO Line Items Matched to AP Report which lists the quantities and amounts of PO receipts that have been matched to AP invoices.
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Version: AM7 for SQL and Express (AM 7.5 and higher)
Module: PO, AP
Q: What is the difference between the Accounts Payable Module’s PO Line Items Matched to AP Report and the Purchase Order Module’s PO Line Items for AP Matching Report?
A: The Accounts Payable PO Line Items Matched to AP Reports can be generated when the liability that was accrued during the receipt of goods is matched with AP Invoice Transaction. It displays the PO #, Receipt # and Date, Invoice # and Matched Amount.
On the other hand, the Purchase Order Module’s PO Line Items for AP Matching Report displays information about the matched and unmatched accrued received goods. It displays the PO #, Received Date, Received Amount and Unmatched Amount. An unmatched amount of zero means that the total PO amount is fully matched. You can also view the vendor accrued receipt status. To generate the report, perform the following:
- Access the PO List Items for AP Matching Report in the PO Reports menu.
- Select from the Sort By and specify the criteria.
- Mark the Include Fully Matched Items checkbox if you want to include in the list the AP matched PO’s; then, Preview or Print the report.
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