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Focus Time

by | Sep 2, 2025 | Backups, Optimizing Your Business, Taxes

Dear Clients,

Once upon a time, I was a fairly competitive long-distance runner (six Boston Marathons in a row, numerous 100+ mile ultra-marathons, etc.). I’m still pickin’em up and puttin’em down, but for health now instead of competition.

One lesson I learned from those tens of thousands of miles was where “the breaking point” is—the point in the race where it was most common to lose focus and fall off the pace—which turns out to be the “two thirds” point. Simply put, if a runner has been reasonably training for a distance, then half that distance would be no problem and if they make it to 90% then many have the mental fortitude to push to the end. I can vouch for this firsthand, particularly in 100-mile races where “the black hole of mile 70” is well known as the point that many quit—having come a long way, but still with a long way to go. In baseball, it’s the famous seventh-inning fade, which the seventh-inning stretch is supposed to ameliorate.

So, what does this have to do with accounting? Well, look at the calendar and welcome to exactly two thirds of the way through 2025! Now get up, stretch, and ask, “how’s the mental fortitude holding out?” Because this is it: Clutch time in the accounting game! Is the business ahead or behind of where you thought it would be at this point in the year? If you’re ahead, there’s still four months to go and it’s not time to start relaxing. If you’re behind, then there’s still time to do something about it—and it’s going to require working harder than you have—and the first step to a successful year is recognizing that.

Of course, the worst place to be is two-thirds of the way through and not knowing where you’re at—which, yes, sometimes happens. I often ask clients, “How is this year doing compared to last year?” and most are right on top of the answer with percentage changes in year-to-date revenue, expense, and profit. But occasionally, the response is silence… then some throat clearing… and finally vague muttering which doesn’t include any numbers at all.

Hey, it’s OK to be behind—there are market forces at work which are out of your control—but it’s not OK to not know where you’re at. So, stop right now to take a good look at your Income Statement comparing YTD values of August 2025 to August 2024 or your budget. Plenty of information right there at your fingertips. Revenue healthy? Product mix changed? Gross margin maintained? Any expenses higher, by percentage, than last year? Feel free to give me a call on how to analyze it in detail.

Shake up the paradigm so that the two-thirds point is where you GAIN focus on the business—while you can still do something about it!

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Continuing updates on the OBBBA (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) impact to payroll: The Internal Revenue Service has announced that, as part of its phased implementation, there will be no changes to certain information returns or withholding tables for Tax Year 2025 related to the new law.

Key points for TY 2025 relating to OBBBA provisions:

  • Form W-2, existing Forms 1099, and Form 941 and other payroll return forms will remain unchanged for TY 2025.
  • Federal income tax withholding tables will not be updated for these provisions for TY 2025.
  • Employers and payroll providers should continue using current procedures for reporting and withholding.

These decisions are intended to avoid disruptions during the tax filing season and to give the IRS, business and tax professionals enough time to implement the changes effectively.

The staffs at NexLAN, AccountMate and Acumatica are already in motion on the required design changes and we’ll be ready for 2026!

Regards,

Kevin E. Stroud
kestrou@nexlan.com
NexLAN, LLC
https://nexlan.com

AccountMate: Ideas to Shorten Your Picking Time

Probably your put-away time for new warehouse items is pretty efficient (like this guy—whoa). But did you know about these time-saving AccountMate abilities for picking items to ship?

1. Forward picking and dynamic slotting

It’s common to have warehouse slotting configured to store some less-popular items in the back, and some more-popular items up front, closer to packing and shipping stations.

➤ But what about seasonal items? Snow shovels might be big sellers heading into winter months, while leaf rakes sell when autumn is approaching.

With dynamic slotting, you can use forward picking for high-demand items to move a small part of your leaf rake inventory to a forward bin close to the packing area to speed up order fulfillment. AccountMate’s built-in reorder points and reorder quantities work on a per-item-per-bin basis to facilitate replenishing the stock of the forward bins.

Then, make adjustments when demand changes. As winter approaches, the rakes can be moved back to their regular bins, to be replaced by snow shovels that are moved forward for quicker picking.

➤ If you’re running a sale or other special promotion, forward picking can save time when you know that sales volume and picking volume for those items will increase during the promotional period.

2. Optimized picking routes

With or without a pick line, you can define “pick order” (sequence) so that the picklist generated by AccountMate for a sales order will be “sorted in the order of your bins in the warehouse”—e.g. “up aisle A (A1, A2, … A20) then down aisle B (B20, B19, … B1).”

This is even more helpful if you have temp or seasonal employees, or high employee turnover.

It’s also handy if you regularly optimize your overall warehouse slotting, causing items to be moved to new locations in the warehouse.

If any of the above automations would boost your warehouse efficiency, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions about setting them up. Email NexLAN.

AccountMate: Oct. 1 – Nov. 20 Core Product Training Class

This is THE class for brushing up on your skills, learning a new module, getting tips and tricks, or gaining a deeper understanding of the full capabilities of AccountMate. The modules covered are AP, AR, BR, GL, IC, PO, SM, and SO—peruse the full details at the Course Outline link below.

You’ll learn hands-on in your AccountMate system in the live, online sessions. You’ll have ample opportunity to ask the AccountMate Corp. instructor questions. There are two sessions per week, 2-4 hours per session, for a total of 39 hours.

It’s $3,200 for the full class, or $420 per session, per person, and the person attending each class can be a different person. Better yet—if you’re on a current Lifecycle Maintenance Plan, your company can send at least one user free annually. See the Course Overview link for a chart showing the number of free seats you’re eligible for based on your number of users:

Course Overview | Course Outline | Course Schedule

To register, contact NexLAN. Act now, as registration closes September 24, 2025. Not a good time? This class is normally offered three times per year and we’ll keep you posted.

Acumatica: Generic Inquiries Make it Easy to Ask New Questions About Your Business Data

Generic Inquiries open up new possibilities to access and visualize your current information

A way to think of Generic Inquiries is that you can use them to ask Acumatica a question about your business that you want answered with your data and get the answer back in an easy-to-read, visual manner such as a report, grid, Excel file, or even dashboard widget so you can make informed business decisions. You can inquire about things like, “What are all the purchase orders created last week?” or, “What are our top selling items over the past year?”

There’s a buffet of flexible Generic Inquiry options:

➤ Use the built-in Generic Inquiries

Your Acumatica system comes stock with hundreds of Generic Inquiries (plus NexLAN added more when we were tailoring your new Acumatica system to your business). Built-in examples include the list of all vendors, the side panel on the Sales Order screen where you can access the related return documents, and the pre-built AR Clerk Dashboard widget of the top 10 overdue balances.

➤ Edit existing Generic Inquiries

You can edit existing Generic Inquiries to add additional fields of interest to your business. For example, you could add a new field to the support cases screen to track the sales rep related to orders needing support cases.

You can also remove fields, apply filters and conditions, create pivot tables, define parameters, add interactive side panels, enable mass record updates, set default values for new records, and more.

➤ Make your own Generic Inquiries

Perhaps you want to monitor a specific key performance indicator for your business and then extend it to a dashboard widget to review it with a glance. Or maybe you are being audited and being asked to create a new report to provide the exact information the auditors are requesting. 

Work on Generic Inquiries without coding

With the Generic Inquiry Writer’s low-code/no-code approach, changes are not a big project. This promise is even enshrined in Acumatica’s Customer Bill of Rights—As a customer, you have the right to fully adapt and customize Acumatica to meet your evolving business requirements.

The bottom line is, don’t hesitate when you want to ask new questions about your data. Reach out to NexLAN if you want to know if there is already a built-in Generic Inquiry, how to edit an existing one, how to create your own Generic Inquiry to get the information you’re looking for—or if you would like NexLAN to make the changes for you. Let us know how we can help.

Acumatica: Two Good Webinars Coming Up Very Soon

1. Real-Time Excel Reporting with Velixo—Sept. 3, 9:30am – 10:30am CT

Of close to 300 third-party add-ons available in the Acumatica Marketplace, Velixo is the most widely used, and NexLAN folks are fans too. Find out why.

Join this webinar from Velixo to learn how to connect Excel directly to Acumatica (GL and far beyond too) for live, automated reporting and real-time reporting.

What you’ll learn

✅ How Velixo connects Excel to Acumatica for live reporting, budgeting, and real-time data writeback
✅ How customers like Bridge Tower are saving 60+ days per year on reporting and accounting
✅ See a live product demo with open Q&A

September 3 is SOON so register for this Velixo webinar now.

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2. Acumatica 2025 R2 Virtual Launch Event—Sept. 23 11:00am CT

Acumatica ships two releases per year, and the next one arrives later this fall. Get a sneak peek of what’s coming at this event, which includes live demos for the General Edition, followed by your choice of Industry Edition breakout sessions.

Highlights will include:

✅ General Business: Automations for the tedious process of paying vendors, giving you back more time for growing your business.

✅ Distribution: The Order Orchestration feature automates inventory sourcing, while AI-driven product recommendations boost sales and customer satisfaction.

✅ Manufacturing: Advanced lot and serial number traceability improve quality control, compliance, and operational efficiency, while enhanced scheduling visibility gives a comprehensive view of production schedules.

Register for this 2025 R2 launch event and you’ll also receive a link to the recording after the event.

AccountMate Tech Note: Data Backup Strategies

A data backup ensures data recovery if any of the following occurs:

  •     Data is lost or corrupted due to computer viruses, ransomware attacks, power outages, hardware defects, drive or media failures, and natural disasters.
  •     You inadvertently closed a period, fiscal year, or payroll tax year.
  •     You need to examine the history of transaction details for audit purposes.

Article #1087: Data Backup Strategies provides tips for creating and managing adequate backup of accounting data.

For more information and resources, see our comprehensive web page, Backup Guidelines for AccountMate Files.

AccountMate Tech Note: How to Amend Posted Customer and Vendor Beginning Balances

There are two methods of providing the details about the customer and vendor beginning balances. One method is to recreate all the transactions that comprise the GL Account ID balance. The other method is to use the Post Customer Beginning Balance or Post Vendor Beginning Balance functions.

Article #1049: How to Amend Posted Customer and Vendor Beginning Balances focuses on the second method, which is to use the Post Customer Beginning Balance and Post Vendor Beginning Balance functions.

Acumatica Technical Tips

Can I Add a Website Link to My Dashboard?

Q: I would like to add a link to a high volume vendor’s website to my dashboard so I have easy access to the vendor portal where I can check my outstanding PO’s status. How do I add that?

A: You can add a direct website link as a widget in Acumatica so that you have that instant shortcut. 

Here are the steps to set this up:

  1. From the dashboard that you would like to add this widget too, in the top right of the screen, select Design to enable edit mode of your dashboard. 
  2. Select Add a new widget.
  3. On the Add Widget pop-up, highlight the Embedded Page option, then click Next.
  4. On the Widget Properties page, fill in the website URL in the Source field, then enter what you would like the title of the widget to be in the Caption field.
  5. Click Finish to create the widget.
  6. In the top right of the screen click Design to turn off Design mode of the dashboard. (And congratulations by the way—you just used Acumatica’s low code/no code ability to set up a widget and edit a dashboard, with no programming or developer required.)

 

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Does Acumatica Retain Multiple Uploads With the Same File Name?

Q: Can I upload multiple versions of a file into Acumatica or does Acumatica replace the file every time I upload another with the same file name? If so, how can I maintain those versions?

A: Acumatica does allow for multiple file versions of the same name. If you upload multiple files with the same file name Acumatica will store each as a ‘version’ in the system and not overwrite the file.  

Acumatica has a File Maintenance screen that allows you to view and maintain those different versions. To maintain a specific file, please do the following: 

Example: Inventory Stock Item – I have uploaded many updated photos of a stock item and I would like to view and maintain those multiple uploads. 

  1. On the Stock Items screen for the item you have many uploads for, in the top right click Files.
  2. In the Files pop-up screen, for the File name that has multiple files uploaded with the same file name, click Edit.
  3. In the File Maintenance screen, on the Versions tab, you can view all versions of the file that have been uploaded. 
  4. On the Files Maintenance screen you can:
    • Upload a new version of this file.
    • Get the Latest Version of the file.
    • Add a comment or original name to each version which will then be searchable using the Universal Search.
    • Add to Articles.
    • View the Entity that photo is tied to.
    • Maintain access rights for user roles and Wiki pages.
    • Set up Synchronization to outside sources.
  5. After you have made any changes, click Save.

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Is There a Keyboard Shortcut For Universal Search?

Q: Is there a shortcut I can use to take me directly to the Universal Search bar? I’m a power keyboard user and keyboard shortcuts save me a lot of time.

A: Yes, CTRL+Q will take you directly to the Universal Search bar and you can look up anything you need from there.

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    Can Different Order Types Have Different Number Sequences?

    Q: Acumatica has many Sales Order types. Can we have different numbering sequences for each order type?

    A: You can set up order types to have unique numbering sequences. To set up a unique numbering sequence, follow these steps:

    1. Use the Universal Search to search and select Order Types in the Sales Order workspace OR go to Sales Order > Preferences > Order Types (you may need to select Show All at the bottom of the screen).
    2. In the Order Type lookup, select the Order Type that you want to set up unique numbering for.
    3. In the Order Type screen for that order type, on the General tab, in the Accounts Receivable Settings section, click the pencil next to the Invoice Numbering Sequence. 
    4. In the Number Sequences pop-up window you can make changes to the sequence of the current Numbering ID or create a new Numbering Sequence by clicking the plus sign. 
    5. Save the changes to your existing number sequence or the new number sequence you created and close the pop up window. Then save the changes on the order type screen.

      AccountMate Technical Tips

      Why Did The Company Name Not Change?

      Versions: AM11 for SQL and Express (and higher versions)

      Module: SM

      Q: I changed the company name in the AccountMate Administrator ► Setup ► Company Setup ► Company field; however, the change is not reflected in the main AccountMate program (e.g., the company name displayed in invoices is still the old one). Why?

      A: The main AccountMate program must be refreshed after changes in the AccountMate Administrator program have been made. To refresh, close the main AccountMate program; then, log in again. Print or preview an invoice to verify that the company name has been updated.

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      How Do I Disable the Post AP Button?

      Versions: AM10 for SQL and Express (and higher versions)

      Module: AP

      Q: How can I disable the Post AP button in the second Receive Goods window?

      A: The Post AP button will bring up the AP Invoice Transactions function. There is no way to disable this button; however, if you do not want users to access the AP Invoice Transactions function, then these users must be in a group that does not have access to that function. Users who belong to the group that does not have access to the AP Invoice Transactions function will encounter the message, “AP Invoice Transactions – No Access Right. To assign group/user access rights, please run the Group/User function in the Administrator program.” when they click the Post AP button.

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      Why Do My Tax Forms Have a Demo Copy Watermark?

      Versions: AM11 for SQL and Express (and higher versions)

      Module: PR

      Q: The printed tax forms from the Tax Forms function (e.g., W-2 or 941) have the “DEMO Copy” watermark. Why?

      A: The printed tax forms will have a Demo Copy watermark if any of the following conditions exist:

      •     You do not have the updated tax forms. If you do not have the updated tax forms, then the Forms Update window will be displayed after you click the Preview button in Tax Forms. Select the Automatic Update option and be sure that you complete the update process without errors.
      •     Your company EIN is not registered with Aatrix. The registration is generally automatic; however, there are times when the automatic registration fails. In this case, call AccountMate Technical Support at 707-774-7599 so they can manually register your EIN. Once AccountMate Technical Support informs you that your EIN has been registered (AccountMate will provide you with the registration code), perform the following:
      1. Close AccountMate.
      2. Run AccountMate again. Be sure that you run AccountMate as an Administrator or that your Windows login has administrative rights on the machine.
      3. Access the Tax Forms function; then, print the report. Be sure that you are printing a new copy and not a saved copy of the report.
      4. If the issue persists after Step 3, then go to the Tax Forms Report Preview Toolbar. Click Tools and select the Registration… option. Enter the registration code in the Registration window; then, print the report.

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        How Can I Void an Open Credit from a Closed Period?

        Versions: AM10 for SQL and Express (and higher versions)

        Module: AR

        Q: I attempted to void an unapplied credit invoice with an invoice date that falls within a closed fiscal period; however, AccountMate prevented me from doing so. Why can’t I void the credit invoice when it is still unapplied to outstanding regular invoices?

        A: To preserve data integrity, AccountMate prevents users from amending or voiding regular invoices and credit invoices with invoice dates that fall within closed fiscal periods. An alternative method is to write off open credits using the Adjust Open Credit function. The journal entries generated from the open credit write-off transaction are not a reversal of the journal entries generated from the credit invoice creation; thus, you must record an adjusting entry. AccountMate also does not automatically update the on-hand quantities (if applicable) when open credit write-off transactions are recorded; thus, you must record an adjustment to the inventory item’s on-hand quantities.

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