Dear AccountMate Clients,
We’re now into the ever shortening days past the Fall Equinox – when young minds look forward to Halloween candy and thoughts of Santa start to creep in, sports fanatics are celebrating the return of football and the baseball playoffs, while those of us in the accounting world know that year-end is on the horizon and many are now starting the budgeting process for next year.
There are several options in AccountMate for budgeting: manual spreadsheets, AccountMate’s built-in budgeting functionality, the F9 Excel Conduit, and the new Budget Maestro. Here’s an overview of each, in order of increasing sophistication.
What many think is the easiest is actually the toughest: keeping Excel spreadsheets “on the side”. External spreadsheets are definitely the most common, but keeping them up to date with the current values in AccountMate for reporting against the budget is a huge effort. Yes, easy at the start, but going with this approach creates a monster that has to be fed!
AccountMate’s General Ledger module has built-in budget creation, maintenance, and reporting ability under the <Maintenance> menu. I’ll be the first to say it can be tedious to create and edit budgets with the built-in functionality – so be sure to use the trick of exporting it to Excel and then importing it back in once you’ve tweaked the values (shortcuts for these are in the toolbar).
If you’d like complete flexibility in the format of your budget reporting, then the F9 “Excel Conduit” dynamically links Microsoft Excel with your AccountMate General Ledger data – so you can work inside Excel with real-time reporting against your actual current balances. More F9 info here.
On the high end, Budget Maestro has been providing phenomenal budgeting functionality for more than a dozen years, but is newly integrated to AccountMate. More than just budgeting (which it does a fantastic job of!), it’s also strong at forecasting and dashboarding financials. Be sure to check it out.
I am sure one of these will fit your needs – and hopefully with a lot less effort than a completely manual spreadsheet – so contact us to discuss details and arrange a demo. Looking forward to this being your smoothest budgeting process ever!
Regards,
Kevin E. Stroud
NexLAN, LLC
AccountMate Core Product Training
Are you new to AccountMate or just having problems working your way around the software? AccountMate is offering a three-day training course at their Petaluma, CA Corporate Office on October 16 – 18, which will cover the installation and implementation of AccountMate, as well as, discuss the key features in each of the core financial modules: General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Sales Order, Upsell Management, Accounts Payable, Purchase Order, Bank Reconciliation, plus the basic Inventory Control features.
If you are interested in registering or receiving more information, please contact us at 877.2NexLAN or nexlan@nexlan.com
Tech Notes: How to Reverse a Sales Invoice in a Prior Period
If sales invoices were created and dated in a closed period, AccountMate will prevent users from amending these sales invoices using the Create Invoice function > Amend option. This system design is implemented to strengthen the internal controls and to safeguard data integrity. When the period was closed, the journal entries pertaining to the sales invoices had been permanently posted to the General Ledger; theoretically, you cannot go back and delete them.
There are instances though when it is inevitable to reverse sales invoices that were created and posted in a prior period. We present a Technical Note that discusses the alternative options other than the Create Invoice > Amend option to successfully reverse this kind of sales invoices. It also discusses the effects each option has on the customer and GL Account balances. Click on the article’s title below to access the PDF document.
Article 1169: How to Reverse a Sales Invoice Created in a Prior Period
Technical Tips
Versions: AM8 for LAN
Module: SO
Tip: AccountMate 8.1 for LAN adds a new feature that gives authorized users separate options to print line item remarks on SO pick lists, SO packing slips, and AR packing slips. You can select which option to use by marking the appropriate checkbox in the Remark/Image tab ► Print Remark On area of the inventory item record.
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Versions: AM8 for SQL, Express and LAN
AM7 for SQL, Express and LAN
Module: AR
Q:There are instances when I need to record an AR invoice on which the inventory line items must not be taxable. To remove the tax amount on those inventory line items, I typically remove the sales tax code in the Create Invoice ► Payment/Bill To/Ship To ► Sales Tax field. I thought that this would make the inventory line items not taxable; but, the invoice still displays “Y” in the Tax column. Is there a better approach that I can use to achieve my intention?
A:Removing the sales tax code in the Sales Tax field is not the correct approach to achieve your goal. To make the inventory line items NOT taxable, you must unmark the Taxable checkbox in the Create Invoice ► Line Item Details tab for each inventory line item. This approach will not trigger AccountMate to calculate sales taxes only on the inventory line items; and, the invoice will display “N” in the Tax column.
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Versions: AM8 for SQL and Express (AM8.2 or higher)
Module: SM
Q: I just created a new company using the AccountMate Administrator program. When I accessed the main AccountMate program, the company was not displayed in the Company Selection List. What did I miss?
A: The System Setup ► Menu Display ► Do not show companies on company selection list checkbox may be marked. When this checkbox is marked, users who have no access rights to the new company will not see the company in the Company Selection List. A company can be viewed in the AccountMate main program’s Company Selection List only if users are granted access rights to at least one of the functions and features for that company.
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