Dear Clients,
Has it been tough hiring accounting personnel in-house or getting your outside CPA services done? Not a surprise as, according to this recent Wall Street Journal article, there’s a national shortage of accountants—with more than 300,000 leaving the field in the last two years.
Everyone knows Baby Boomers are retiring in droves—almost 10,000 a day—but the career selections of the succeeding Gen X and Millennials are also a factor as… well… as I word it, “What we do isn’t SEXY!” so not as many people in the upcoming generations are selecting accounting and related fields.
As the article notes, the accountant shortage is resulting in greatly increased costs of inhouse and outhouse accounting services—even with overseas outsourcing—and it’s going to get worse as Boomer retirements continue.
Short of “growing your own accountants” (be sure to check out the happy note at the end of this article!) the most immediate option is to leverage your existing system to optimize accounting tasks—again, both inhouse and outhouse—and here’s some of the simplest options:
- I’m surprised how many of our clients don’t use the General Ledger module and instead outsource preparation of their financial statements. What’s up with that? You’ve got a world-class system at your fingertips that will automatically feed the transactions to the financial statements—and in a TIMELY manner, not weeks or months later when your CPA gets them back to you. Have complicated financials? I’ll bet we can handle it with F9 or Velixo!
- We also have several clients not using the built-in Bank Reconciliation functionality. Besides not having immediate visibility to cash and a means to validate the Balance Sheet, talk about a tedious manual process… For those clients that ARE using the AcccountMate Bank Rec module, few have gone all the way to importing files from banks to have the system clear the majority of the transactions. THERE’s a time saver, and it’s a topic of one of our Tech Notes below.
- Want to save a huge amount of in-house effort? Let’s implement Acumatica’s “machine learning” (we’re not supposed to call it “artificial intelligence” <grin>) to create AP invoices directly from PDFs or scanned images of your vendor invoices, eliminating the data entry.
- Have you noticed the cost of your outsourced payroll processing going up? Makes sense now, huh?… Once upon a time, inhouse payroll was a YUGE hassle, but it’s really not that tough today. And it used to be WORK to do the tax payments and report filings, but with the modern system you have at your fingertips, this is heavily automated and integrated as a seamless function with all the bells and whistles you expect like employee direct deposit. Look up how much your outsourced payroll is costing and then let’s chat.
That’s just a few of the ways to leverage your current system and reduce the ever-rising cost of external accounting services while reducing your inhouse staffing needs. Give me a call with some that apply specifically to your business and we’ll get them implemented!
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Finally, NexLAN is doing our part to backfill the accountant shortage with our office manager, Rachel, out on maternity leave with the birth of Elias Eugene Jones in January. While sadly missing out on the personal income tax exemption for 2022, all is otherwise well with mother and baby, and we have Cindy filling in for the next couple months. Have been unable to find an infant-sized green eyeshade though…
Regards,
Kevin E. Stroud
kestrou@nexlan.com
NexLAN, LLC
https://nexlan.com
What Do You Wish AccountMate Could Do?
Have you ever been working in AccountMate and said to yourself, “I wish there was an option here to do it this way instead”? You, as an AccountMate user, can make a request for that enhancement for a future release of AccountMate!
The AccountMate product development staff is always coming up with ways to improve the product, and as a Business Partner we contribute suggestions regularly—but MANY enhancement requests come directly from end-users such as yourself.
AccountMate’s doing their next prioritization of enhancement requests soon, based on a review of all requests submitted through February 17. So now is a great time to request new features and functions as well as enhancements to existing ones, for any module.
How to request an AccountMate product enhancement
Send your request to NexLAN. Why us? Because more than half the time, the feature that a user is asking for already exists. That means you wouldn’t need to wait for a possible enhancement to the software. For example, a reporting enhancement request might already be addressed by one of the several hundred (!) built-in reports in AccountMate. Or, one of those built-in reports might get you 90% of the way to what you’re requesting, and we could quickly tweak that report to get you the other 10% that’s specific to your business. If the enhancement you want is already something that your current version of AccountMate can do, we’re here to let you know and show you how it works.
If it turns out that what you want isn’t already in AccountMate, we can submit your enhancement request for you. You can also do it easily from inside your AccountMate software. Just hit <Help> then look down the list of options for <Enhancement Request>. Clicking that will take you to the AccountMate website where you can enter the details of your suggestion, including the benefits it would provide. Few software companies make it so easy for users to send in ideas for product requests, and seriously review every one.
You can even “think big” and request an all-new feature or module, rather than an addition to an existing one. We encourage you to help direct the future of the product—because who knows what you need better than you?—and there’s no limit to the number of enhancement requests you can make!
Attach Pop-Up Notes, Files, Scans, and Photos in Acumatica
Your Acumatica system serves as your always-current information hub for everything in your business related to your money, your customers and vendors, your products and services, your orders, and more.
One feature that makes this consolidation easy and powerful, is the file attachment ability. You can attach pop-up notes and files to records, line item details, templates, and wiki articles.
You can manage versions of attached files over time, as well as assign roles to control access to sensitive attachments such as legal documents. Scans and photos can be attached directly from scanners and mobile devices once you register the devices.
Do these examples give you an idea for a new way to use attachments in your system?
- Attach a pop-up note to a vendor account to alert your colleagues about your company’s temporary primary contact at the vendor while your main contact is out for six weeks.
- Attach a revised contract to a customer sales order.
- Attach a customer’s purchase order PDF to an invoice for those items, or attach a copy of an original vendor invoice to a credit adjustment.
- Attach a photo of an inventory item to a related record in an inventory document, or attach the photo of an inventory item to wiki training materials for your company’s kitting procedure.
How to add attachments in Acumatica
- Pop-up note example: From a customer account, click Notes on the form title bar. In the subsequent Enter Record Note dialog box, select Add Pop-Up Note and type in a note.
- File attachment example: View an invoice. Click Files on the form title bar. In the subsequent Files dialog box, click Browse, select a PDF file, and click Upload.
- Scanned image example: From a data entry form, at the beginning of a detail row, click the Files button (paperclip icon). In the subsequent Files dialog box, click Scan and Submit for Scanning, and Upload.
Go ahead and experiment with an attachment type you haven’t tried before! If you’d like to reference step-by-step instructions, see the end user Acumatica help documentation portal, under Getting Started > Working with Attachments. Or reach out to NexLAN with questions of course; we’re here to help!
Have You Used NexSQLBack for AccountMate?
The NexSQLBack utility, made by us, is free to direct NexLAN clients using AccountMate. It can save you from big problems! But are you using it? If not, read on.
1. What is NexSQLBack for? It’s an easy way to create a snapshot file of your AccountMate SQL database (i.e. your company data), prior to you doing something substantial that might accidentally result in a data mistake or catastrophe that you’d want to quickly be able to undo—by restoring your system to its previous condition via that snapshot file. “Easy” means a few mouse clicks by the user. If you didn’t have NexSQLBack, you’d normally have to ask an IT colleague to go into the Microsoft SQL Server Management Console to create a snapshot each time. We recommend you take a snapshot before actions such as these:
- Purging transactions
- Recalculating information in data tables (account balances, vendor data, customer data, employee data, inventory data…)
- Copying a chart of accounts
- Period-end closing and fiscal year-end closing
- Updating customer YTD sales amounts or vendor YTD purchase amounts
- Starting a physical inventory count
- Running the AccountMate Data Wizard to change key fields
- Installing AccountMate software updates
- Moving AccountMate to a different server
Read about the difference between a data snapshot like NexSQLBack creates, versus AccountMate full-system backups, at System Backup Guidelines for AccountMate.
Note that NexSQLBack can be run by AccountMate users who have the “supervisor” password or have approved access to the Data Manager section. If that’s not you, you’ll need to ask a supervisor user to run a quick database snapshot when you need one. If things go wrong and you find that you need to restore the NexSQLBack snapshot, that needs to be done for you by NexLAN or by a Microsoft SQL geek in your IT department.
2. Do you have NexSQLBack? Look in AccountMate’s menu under <Utilities> <Data Manager>. If it’s not there, please reach out so we can get it set up for you.
3. Do you know how to use NexSQLBack? If you perform actions like the ones in the bulleted list above, but you’re not sure how to use NexSQLBack, check out steps with screen shots, then give us a holler if you have questions.
4. Are you actually using NexSQLBack? If you have it, and you know how to use it (or your supervisor user knows how), all that’s left is to use it! No sense in regretting not using it one day when you could have. Go take a snapshot now, just to remind yourself how quick it is, so that you won’t hesitate to do it going forward.
5. Are you a manager? Consider checking in with the users around your company who perform actions like the ones in the bulleted list above, and ask them when is the last time they used NexSQLBack. If they say, “What’s NexSQLBack?” then introduce them to this handy disaster-prevention tool.
AccountMate Tech Note: Managing Cash Flow
In business, a steady flow of cash is important to meet financial obligations, prevent cash shortages, and plan business growth or expansion. To avoid cash flow problems, management should constantly monitor and improve cash flow needs—which AccountMate just happens to provide the tools for! Check out Article #1201: Managing Your Cash Flow with AccountMate for tips on how to manage cash flow—including the reports to generate for an effective cash flow management strategy.
This Tech Note covers the steps to:
- Organize Accounts Receivable (accounts receivable ratios and reports)
- Organize Accounts Payable (liquidity ratios, past-due aging report, discount reports, and finance charge report)
- Manage Inventory (inventory ratio analysis and warehouse quantity listing)
- Forecast Cash Flow (statement of cash flows, cash receipts dispersements and reports, cash requirement report, on-hold checks report, applied payment/payroll report, bank reconciliation transaction listing, forecast aging report)
AccountMate Tech Note: Understanding the Import Bank Transactions Feature
Banks may provide data that can be downloaded from their website or may send files via emails and other electronic transfer methods, or you may have generated these files outside the AccountMate application. Rather than manually recording bank transactions one by one, you may import the file using the Import Bank Transactions function. It allows you to import bank transaction data from an Excel, CSV, TXT, or DBF source file. Article # 1345: Understanding the Import Bank Transactions Feature provides you with tips to successfully import bank transactions, and discusses the procedures for importing bank transactions. It also lists the reports that show the imported bank transactions.
Acumatica Technical Tips
Show Detail for Both Open and Closed Documents on a Customer Statement
Q: I want to pull a customer statement with detail, as sometimes there is a discrepancy and you want to indicate what has been paid or received and what is still open as well.
A: In Acumatica, you can run the AR Balance by Customer Report. Under Report Parameters, on the Report Format drop down, make sure you select All Documents (Customer Required).
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Send Customer Statements to a Different Email Address than Invoices
Q: Some of our customers have begun using separate AP inquiry and invoice submission email addresses (e.g., accounting@ for inquiries and ap.invoices@ for invoices, etc.). As a result, when we send invoices or statements to a customer automatically, one or the other often is sent to the wrong address, unless we blast both addresses for everything, which is annoying if you’re on the receiving side. Is there a way to set up Acumatica to send customer invoices to a dedicated address and then use the general Billing contact email for statements (or vice-versa)?
A: Yes. You can specify the recipients for each email template separately within the Mailing and Printing tab in the customer’s record. For details, see the Acumatica help documentation:
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Set Up Repeating Orders for a Customer
Q: Is there a way in Acumatica to copy sales orders for a customer that places repeat orders, instead of careting a new sales order from scratch each time?
A: Quotes can be used as templates for repeating orders for a particular customer. In this case, you can create orders based on quotes by using the standard copy-paste functionality on the Sales Orders form. When you create an order in this way, the quote is not completed and is still available when you need to prepare other sales orders.
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Change the Order of Columns in a Table in Acumatica
Q: Where do I go to reconfigure a table to change the sequence of columns? When viewing sales orders, I want one of the columns on the far right to be displayed as my second column instead of it being near the end.
A: To change the order of columns in a table, do the following: While you are still viewing the table, drag the header of the column you want to move, to place it in the new location where you want it.
AccountMate Technical Tips
Void an ACH Payment
Versions: AM12 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM11 for SQL and Express AM10 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM9 for LAN
Modules: AP, PR
Q: How can I void ACH payments (direct deposit)?
A: You can void ACH payments using the Void Payroll Check function for payroll payment transactions and the Void Check function for accounts payable payment transactions.
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Amend a Sales Return
Versions: AM12 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM11 for SQL and Express
AM10 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM9 for LAN
Module: AR
Q: I created a sales return using the Create Sales Return with Invoice # function. Now, I need to amend the sales return. How can I amend the sales return?
A: Amend the sales return using the Create Sales Return without Invoice # function. Access the Create Sales Return without Invoice # function and select the Amend Sales Return option; then, enter the applicable credit invoice # and make your changes.
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Change Loans Payable GL Account ID from Asset to Liability
Versions: AM12 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM11 for SQL and Express
AM10 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM9 for LAN
Module: GL
Q: My Loans Payable GL account ID appeared under Current Assets. How do I correct this to make it appear under Current Liabilities?
A: Access the Chart of Accounts Maintenance function and take note of the Account Group ID assigned to Loans Payable. Then, access Account Group Maintenance for the account group assigned to Loans Payable and change the Account Category from Current Assets to Current Liabilities.
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Amend an Item’s Used Qty When Posting Work-in-Process
Versions: AM12 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM11 for SQL and Express
AM10 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM9 for LAN
Module: MI
Q: I used to be able to amend the components’ Used Qty when posting work-in-process. Now I cannot amend them. Why?
A: This happens if you have selected the Entire WO # option in the Post Work-in-Process function. To amend the components’ Used Qty in the Post Work-in-Process function, select the By WO # or By Job # option.
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