Dear AccountMate Clients,
I regularly speak at local middle/high schools and youth organizations, such as The Boys & Girls Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters (where I’m a “big”), to students about their future career plans.
Usually I talk about careers in technology, but sometimes it’s even broader and I discuss changes in the job market as a whole and how technology has affected the employment landscape in the last few decades – particularly at the “less than 4 year college degree” educational level.
Many people talk about the “job destroyers” in this low-skilled area as being overseas manufacturing outsourcing and illegal immigration, when in fact it’s been technology!
To illustrate, I tell a boring – I mean amusing! – story to the kids about “how life was in the old days”, when we had to go inside the bank to get cash, inside the gas station to pay for gas, call a travel agency to get air/hotel/car reservations, visit AAA to get maps/directions to distant cities, stand in long lines at airports to check bags, etc. Our daily routine included numerous interactions with relatively low-skilled individuals that technology has since replaced – with ATMs, credit card swipes at the gas pump, Expedia.com, MapQuest, and numerous websites and kiosks to accomplish tasks faster and more conveniently.
In my presentations to the kids, I point out that while there have been jobs destroyed, there have been numerous jobs created (web developer, hardware and circuit designers, mapping analysts, etc.) which are all highly skilled jobs. So this isn’t a “tale of woe” regarding the employment landscape – the opportunities have just shifted.
What does this mean to us in the business world? Exactly the same thing: that using technology to do things faster, more accurately, and more conveniently is where business is going to survive – where business has “velocity.”
So, I challenge you to look around your operations and see where technology can streamline your processes. Still doing Bank Rec in a spreadsheet? We have a module for that. Still wrestling with getting your shipping information into UPS or FedEx? Have integrated this numerous times. Still manually keying sales orders from your website into AccountMate? Yup, we’ve skinned this cat.
Of course there’s numerous other examples I can cite – the key being where there’s repetitive tasks that can be automated to lower your costs and increase customer satisfaction – both of which propel you forward in this emerging economic recovery without adding to your labor overhead.
And that, boys and girls, is how technology created the jobless recovery…
On the running front, ran a HOT 8-hour ultra in early August – made all the tougher because the cool summer didn’t really allow the opportunity for “heat training” beforehand. Halfway through, at the four hour mark, I knew my meltdown was imminent so I eased off to avoid being one of the half-dozen that were taken away in ambulances with severe dehydration and heat stroke. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was in 2nd place out of 293 runners – lucky for me as I would have surely pushed hard and likely ended up face down in a ditch…
Plans are solidifying for my solo “stage race” 240 miles run west to east across Illinois. Now planned for early October, stay tuned for final details in next month’s NexLAN/AccountMate NewsLine.
Regards,
Kevin E. Stroud
NexLAN, LLC
https://nexlan.com
LAN 5 Extended Support Ends Next Year
Extended Support for AccountMate LAN 5 ends on July 31, 2010. While the Payroll Tax Subscription is included in Extended Support, since it will be released next January for the entire year, all of 2010 will be covered. Please note, however, that 2010 will be the final year for Payroll Tax Subscription for LAN 5, so please contact us if you’re currently running Payroll in LAN 5.
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 next scheduled class is October 14-16. If you are interested in the class please contact us at NexLAN at (217) 431-7236 or by <replying> to this e-mail.
Tech Note: Understanding the Recalculate Customer Data Feature
If the customer balances in your AccountMate system become inconsistent as a result of data corruption, you can use the Recalculate Customer Data feature to fix the problem. This TechNote discusses the conditions that will require the recalculation of customer data and the requirement that must be met before performing the recalculation. It also explains the procedures that must be perfomed, the AccountMate tables that will be used during recalculation, and the issues that would cause the recalculation to fail. Click the title of the article below to access the document.
Article 1142: Understanding the Recalculate Customer Data Feature
Technical Tips
Versions: AM7 for SQL, Express and LAN
Module: AR
Q: What comprises the Un-invoiced Shipments amount in the Executive Summary Report? What are the ways to verify the amount that appears on this field?
A: The Un-invoiced Shipments field in the Executive Summary Report displays the total amount of shipments without invoices and excludes freight charges and adjustments as of the report date. You can verify the amount by generating the Shipment Report filtered to show Shipments without Invoices Only; be sure to exclude the freight charges and adjustments. You may also verify the amount by using the Generate Invoice from Shipment function. In the Generate Invoice from Shipment window, mark the “ALL” checkboxes; then, click OK. In the View Shipment List window, sum all the amounts under the Subtotal column.
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Versions: AM7 for SQL, Express and LAN
AM6.5 for SQL, MSDE and LAN
Module: GL
Q: When I accessed the Posting Period Restrictions function, I noticed that there are no options for the SO and PO modules. Why?
A:The SO and PO modules are not included in the Posting Period Restrictions function because these modules are considered linked to the AR and AP modules. Restricting a period in the AR or AP module will therefore restrict posting of new transactions for the same period in the SO or PO module.
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Versions: AM7 for SQL, Express and LAN
Module: SO, AR, PO, AP
Q: How do I print the Analysis report (e.g. Transactions Listing) from the vendor or customer record?
A: After generating the Analysis report in the vendor or customer record, perform the following:
- Highlight any value in the grid and right-click to show the Export Grid to Excel, Cut, Copy and Paste options. Select the Export Grid To Excel option to export the data to MS Excel.
2. Print the report from MS Excel.
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