New Year’s Anti-Resolutions

Greetings AccountMate Clients,

‘Tis the season when everyone makes resolutions of things they’re going to do, both personally and professionally, to improve their lives. I very much enjoy the sentiment and have to admit I’ve done my share of New Year’s Resolutions over the years, but I heard an interesting twist on the theme I’d like to share: Making New Year’s Anti-Resolutions – determining things you WON’T do!

In a business environment, I think applying Anti-Resolutions is even easier than the regular old-fashioned resolution approach – especially as I sat and made a quick list. So, here’s some examples you’re welcome to borrow from. Now repeat after me, “In 2012 I resolve NOT to…”

Type numbers from AccountMate financials into Excel spreadsheets – the F9 Excel add-in pulls AccountMate GL information in real-time into Excel spreadsheets, and even lets you write back budget information.
Keep track of sales leads and quotes with little yellow sticky notes and Excel spreadsheets – INFOtrac Customer Relationship Management (CRM) provides industry-standard CRM functionality – but since it’s integrated to AccountMate, salespersons can have visibility to important information like customer payment history and recently placed or shipped order.
Tolerate ever increasing postage rates for what is promised to be even slower delivery in 2012 (thus negatively impacting your cash flow) – Info-Alert provides a broad range of functions from automatically e-mailing or faxing invoices to customers to sending dunning notices. Hey, that’s another good thing NOT to do in 2012: make a dozen collection calls per day to slow paying customers!
Re-type orders from external systems (either EDI or website) – RedTail EDI automates the entire EDI process from order receipt and acknowledgment to advanced shipping and invoicing, while AccountMate’s Sales Order module has built-in order import functionality that we’ve used to integrate numerous client websites.

I’m sure you get the idea that the goal is to NOT do the time intensive tasks that your financial management system can do for you, but I also have to mention two things you really should do right now:

Lock your January 2011 fiscal period – whether you’ve closed the fiscal year or not, now is the time when people typo the year in a transaction and accidently post it 12 months in history. So head to <Housekeeping><Posting Period Restrictions> in General Ledger and check the boxes for each module to restrict posting in that period. You can also use this during the year to keep transactions from hitting periods that have already been audited and approved – and you can always unrestrict the period if you really do have to post back.
Photocopy your wallet – I mention this every year, but since we always have new clients on distribution for our NewsLine it bears repeating. Just as you back up the important information on your computer systems, take five minutes to get all the cards out of your wallet, line them up face down on a photocopier and hit the button – then flip everything over and make a copy of the backs for the important “lost card” call-in info. This five minutes will save hours of effort if you lose your wallet during the coming year and is a good opportunity to review for any expired or expiring cards too.

In closing, I’d like to thank everyone for a great 2011, and let you know how much we sincerely look forward to working with you in 2012. This is our 15th year in business and, with our recent selection as a 2011 VAR Star, our seventh consecutive year as a nationally recognized support organization across ALL mid-tier financial management products.

Regards,

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

LAN V7.4 New Features Webinar

AccountMate 7.4 for LAN was released last month and a free webinar is now scheduled on Thursday, January 12th, from 12pm to 1pm CST to present the changes and enhancements.

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!

Order 2011 Tax Forms from AccountMateForms.com

We always encourage clients to order tax forms and check stock through AccountMateForms.com. Being the beginning of the New Year, it is definitely time to order your tax forms if you haven’t done so already.

AccountMateForms.com tax forms are 100% compliant with 2011 IRS and SSA requirements and are approved by the Federal Government
All forms are printed on recycled 30% post consumer waste laser compatible paper using heat and pressure sensitive ink. Remember to order by the number of employees or recipients
3 FREE Transmittals are included in each order
Free test samples available upon request

To order either call 800-499-2022, fax order to 800-261-1499 or go to the website at www.accountmateforms.com.

Re-Cap of 2011 Year End Closing Info

If you happened to miss the three information-packed Year-End Closing webinars that were held, the recorded webinars can be viewed 24/7. Click here to access the “Webcast On-Demand” section of AccountMate’s website.

You may also find the following Tech Notes on payroll, period and year end closing helpful:

Technical Tips

Versions: AM8 for SQL and Express

AM7 for SQL, Express, and LAN

AM6.5 for LAN

Module: PR

Q: One of our employees has chosen to not have state taxes deducted from payroll. How do I configure AccountMate to handle this?

A: Access the W-4 tab in Employee Maintenance. Ensure that the check mark is present in the Apply State Tax checkbox. Enter the value “99” in the Allowances field.

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Versions: AM8 for SQL and Express

AM7 for SQL, Express, and LAN

AM6.5 for LAN

Module: PR

Q: I have a negative balance on the Payroll Tax Deposit – Federal 941 for the 3rd quarter. I want this credit balance to reduce my payable for the 4th quarter. How does AccountMate handle this scenario?

A: When you are ready to record your 4th quarter tax deposit, select the Year-to-Date option instead of the 4th Quarter option in the Deposit Period area. The Year-to-Date option takes into consideration the balances in all quarters and will reduce the tax liability by any overpayment.

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Versions: AM8 for SQL and Express

AM7 for SQL and Express

Module: AP

Q: The Amend AP Invoice function does not allow me to change the Post Date field value. The posting period is not restricted. What did I miss?

A: The posting date cannot be changed on a fully paid invoice. You must void the payment before you can amend the invoice posting date.

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