Dear AccountMate 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 run now for health instead of competition, but recently read an article that talked about “the break point” – 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 to 90% then many have the mental fortitude to push to the end. I can vouch for this first hand, 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 ways, but still with a long ways 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 2015! Now get up, stretch, and 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 – but 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 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 transfer all modules to GL, and then the easiest place to start is the Income Statement set to “Period Comparison” for YTD values of August 2014 vs. August 2015. Plenty of information right there at your fingertips – 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!
Regards,
Kevin E. Stroud
NexLAN, LLC
https://nexlan.com
September Core Product Training
It’s not quite too late to jet to beautiful Northern California to attend the upcoming End User Core Product Training class on September 16-19 (Wednesday-Friday) at the AccountMate corporate office in Petaluma, CA. This course is for first-time AccountMate users and existing users who need to brush up on the latest features.
In addition to learning about AccountMate 9 installation and implementation, attendees will get familiar with the key features in the core financial modules. Here’s the course outline:
- Introduction
- User Interface
- General Ledger
- Inventory Control
- Sales Order
- Accounts Receivable
- Upsell Management
- Purchase Order
- Accounts Payable
- Bank Reconciliation
Contact us for pricing and to schedule, plus travel recommendations.
Tech Note: Understanding the IFRS Statement of Cash Flows
The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) feature is implemented in AccountMate 8.3 for SQL/Express. When this feature is activated for a company, certain financial reports are replaced with IFRS reports. One of these IFRS reports is the IFRS Statement of Cash Flows. This report can be generated using either the Direct or Indirect method. Compared to the Statement of Cash Flows in the earlier AccountMate versions, the IFRS-ready Statement of Cash Flows report has additional generic captions and cash flow categories.
This article comprehensively discusses the IFRS Statement of Cash Flows. Click on the article’s title below to access the PDF document.
Article 1333: Understanding the IFRS Statement of Cash Flows
Technical Tips
Versions: AM9 for SQL and Express (AM9.3 or higher)
Modules: AP, PR
TIP: Starting in AccountMate 9.3 for SQL and Express, the Void Check function in Accounts Payable as well as the Void Payroll Check and Void Tax Deposit Check functions in Payroll provide the capability to void multiple checks by batch. This feature applies to all check types (i.e., computer, handwritten, e-payment and non-check).
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Versions: AM9 for SQL and Express (AM9.3 or higher)
Module: AR
TIP: AccountMate 9.3 for SQL and Express introduces the option to automatically apply the open credit to a customer’s outstanding invoices after recording a sales return. The Create Sales Return dialog box has a new Apply Payment button, which you can click to display the Apply Payment function. You can expect the following behavior in the Apply Payment function:
If you are recording a sales return with an invoice #, the open credit will be automatically applied to the invoice for which the sales return was recorded.
If you are recording a sales return without an invoice #, the open credit amount will be automatically shown in the Unapply Amt field. This amount can be applied to any of the customer’s outstanding invoices.
Note: The default open credit amounts can be overwritten and the open credit application is not committed until you save the transaction.
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