Dear AccountMate Clients,
Numerous businesses operate without being able to see their current financial position. In fact, many don’t even know “Are we making any money or not?” until several weeks into the following month, when they finally close their books – which I describe as driving by looking in the rear view mirror!
AccountMate offers two powerful features to keep you on top of “Where am I at?”
The simplest is the Executive Summary button in the user toolbar, which provides summary totals pertaining to sales orders, purchase orders, accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory and bank accounts – plus drilldown to detailed analysis listings of the transactions those values are composed of.
Even more powerful, though, is that AccountMate allows the temporary transfer of activity to General Ledger before/without closing the period.
Many mid-tier financial management systems use an architecture where activity within the subsidiary modules (Sales Orders, Accounts Receivable, Purchase Orders, Inventory Control, etc.) take place in “real-time”, while General Ledger is buffered from these instantaneous transactions. As an example: immediately after invoicing an order, the inventory quantity is decreased, but there is no such immediate impact visible in the GL module. This is so someone analyzing financials doesn’t have “the ground shifting under their feet” as every transaction takes place in the subsidiary modules.
AccountMate’s <Transfer to GL> functionality results in what I call a “soft post” where you have full visibility in your financial statements (including drill-down!) of the transactions entered thus far – yet the orginal transactions can still be amended. Thus, if you’re, say, halfway through the month and the boss kicks in the door and yells, “Are we making any money?” you can do a <Transfer to GL> and have the complete financial statements in hand within a couple minutes. This function is so popular, that in the latest versions of the product it can even be scheduled – we have several clients who schedule it nightly so when they come in the office in the morning the current month-to-date financial statements are waiting for them.
Also included in this NewsLine is information on solutions for end-user custom report writing and integration with commercial shippers, such as UPS and FedEx. Also, for the first time, we’re including information about recently released Application Improvements.
Finally, on the running front, am in the final “sharpening phase” of my annual Boston Marathon training cycle. March is always the toughest month as my mileage is peaking yet includes at least weekly sessions of speed work. Looking forward to my sixth consecutive Boston Marathon on April 16th!
Regards,
Kevin E. Stroud
NexLAN, LLC
https://nexlan.com
Stonefield Query Webinar
Stonefield Query is a reporting solution that supports all versions of AccountMate. Now everyone in the organization from the President to the receptionist can take advantage of Stonefield Query’s reporting solution. It is a user-friendly database report writing, query, and data mining tool which is equipped with an intuitive wizard-driven design, making report writing a snap for even the most novice user.
A free webinar will be presented on Wednesday, March 7th, at noon (CST).
If you are interested in attending this webinar, please hit <reply> to this e-mail, or send directly to nexlan@nexlan.com and we will be glad to get you registered!
BizNet Excel Reporting & Analytics Webinar
BizNet’s Excel Business Information Suite is the next generation reporting solution which provides a conduit from AccountMate data to what you already know – Microsoft Excel! BizNet’s reporting solution for AccountMate and offers:
- Real Time Reporting & Business Intelligence
- Drag and Drop Report Creation
- Pre-built Connections, Content & Analysis
- Drill to Transaction Detail
- Utilize Single Excel Template for Multiple Report Distribution
- Fully Deployed in Less Than a Day
- No additional Hardware
The free webinar will be presented on March 22nd from 12pm CST.
If you are interested in attending this webinar, please hit <reply> to this e-mail, or send directly to nexlan@nexlan.com and we will be glad to get you registered!
ShipIT: Integrated Shipping Solution
ShipIT is a shipping solution which integrates your AccountMate Ship Sales Order and Create Invoice screens to UPS, FedEx and USPS – passing out the customer ship-to address and, optionally, the total item weight; receiving back the shipping price, cost and tracking number; and printing carrier approved labels.
ShipIT also optionally allows you to create multiple packages/boxes from one order, integrate to an electronic scale, calculate/include insurance value, assign 3rd party billing account numbers for the shipments, and e-mail the tracking numbers to the customer for each order.
ShipIT is available for the AccountMate SQL and SQL/Express platforms and is compatible with Windows Terminal Server, Citrix, and WAN connections.
For complete details, please visit http://www.akaconsulting.com/ship-it-for-accountmateShipIT/ or contact us at 877.2NexLAN.
Application Improvements Released
Application improvements are regularly released, but we’ve honestly wrestled with the best means of notifying you about them. Since many installations are customized, installation sometimes requires integration of the updates with customizations already in place; and many issues being addressed occur only in very narrow circumstances (such as when multi-currency is configured, or other such esoteric conditions) so we’re hesitant to make everyone think every patch even has to be installed.
So, with those caveats, we’d like to make you aware that AccountMate has recently released program amendments to address the following possible issues in AM SQL/Express 8 and LAN 7. These application improvements are available to clients with an active AccountMate Software Maintenance Plan and we’re happy to provide them to you directly, or to install/integrate them (which would be a billable event).
AM SQL/Express V8
Module: AP
Problem: Check Distribution Report shows incorrect total amount.
Module: AP
Problem: AP Apply Payment displays error “VFP 12: Variable ‘NXCHGRATE’ is not found
Module: AP
Problem: Inconsistent recording of reprinted AP checks using the same check numbers in check reports.
Module: AP, PO
Problem: Encounter VFP 1581 “Field LAPPLYTAX does not accept null values” in AP Invoice Transactions.
Module: BR
Problem: Void Deposits/Other Receipts erroneously verifies void date against AP posting period restrictions.
Module: IC
Problem: Mass Copy Inventory displays no valid items when copying inventory items from one company to another
Module: GL
Problem: Income statement crashes with Error “VFP 13: Alias ”CURGLSEGV” is not found.
Module: IC, MO
Problem: Allocated quantity drilldown is incorrect if WO contains more than one record of same master item.
Module: PR
Problem: W-2/1099 Year-End Closing generates leave accrual entries for terminated employees.
Module: SM
Problem: Audit Trail Transaction Log always displays Supervisor as User Name.
Problem: Create RTV Transaction incorrectly displays the message, “Item # [xxx] is not for purchase.
Problem: Import Sales Order displays error, “VFP 11: Function argument value, type, or count is invalid.
AM LAN V7
Module: BR
Problems: Void Deposits/Other Receipts erroneously verify void date against AP posting period restrictions.
Module: PR
Problems: Create Time Card calculates incorrect Total Amount.
Module: AR
Problems: Optimize saving or amending a customer record in a large data.
Module: MI
Problems: Some component items do not appear on the Routing Slip.
If you are interested in utilizing any of these fixes within your AccountMate software, please contact us 877.2NexLAN or nexlan@nexlan.com.
Tech Notes: Difference Between Time Card And Hourly Employees
Did you ever face a situation where it was difficult to decide whether to assign an employee a Time Card or Hourly pay type? Some companies find it simple–assign the Time Card pay type if that employee who is paid by the hour fills out a time card and your company wants to track those time cards in AccountMate; otherwise, assign an employee the Hourly pay type. Some companies implement payroll policies that necessitate assigning an employee a Time Card pay type though in reality that employee does not fill out a time card.
This week we revisit an article that illustrates the differences and similarities of the Time Card and Hourly pay types. It also includes a guideline that demonstrates situations where a Time Card pay type is appropriate. Click on the article’s title below for a link to a downloadable PDF version.
Article 1102: Difference between a Time Card and an Hourly Employee
Technical Tips
Versions: AM8 for SQL and Express
AM7 for SQL and Express (version 7.6 and higher)
AM7 for LAN (version 7.4 and higher)
Module: AP
TIP: In AccountMate versions 7 and 8 for SQL and Express, users can assign sales tax code to a Recurring AP invoice for a Canadian company. Sales taxes are automatically calculated for AP invoices created using the Generate Recurring AP Invoice function. This capability is now available in the Accounts Payable module in AccountMate 7 for LAN, starting in version 7.4.
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Versions: AM8 for SQL and Express
AM7 for SQL and Express
AM7 for LAN (version 7.4 and higher)
Module: PO, AR, SO, MI, IC
TIP: The capability to show the Vendor # in the Quantity On-order for Item # [xxx] in Warehouse [xxx] window, present in AM8 for SQL and Express, is now available in the AccountMate 7 for LAN Purchase Order, Sales Order, Accounts Receivable, Manufacturing and Inventory Control modules starting in version 7.4. Authorized users can see the vendor # information with the item on-order quantity when they click on the Detail Analysis button beside the On-order Qty field in Inventory Maintenance.
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Versions: AM8 for SQL and Express
AM7 for SQL and Express
Module: PR
TIP: During apply payroll, AccountMate will accrue paid leave hours for an employee if the following conditions exist:
- The Accr checkbox is marked in the Employee Maintenance ► Paid Leave tab. Note that each paid leave code shown in the tab has a corresponding Accr checkbox. The Accr checkbox is applicable to version 8 only.
- The Accrue Leaves checkbox is marked in the Apply Payroll/Payment ► Earnings/Deductions tab.
- The employee’s total hours worked must be equal to or greater than the Qualifying Hours value in the Paid Leave Code Maintenance function. AccountMate will start accumulating paid leave hours when the employee has reached the qualifying hours for the paid leave code.
- The year-to-date accumulated paid leave hours should not exceed the Max Leave Hours value in the Paid Leave Code Maintenance function. The program will continue to accrue paid leave hours as long as the maximum leave hours has not been met.
Note that only paid leave codes set to accrue per pay period or per hour worked will be accrued during apply payroll/payment.
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