In Transaction entry for General Ledger, Sales Order, Purchase Order, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Payroll, and Service Director you can customize your data entry workstation by workstation. This customization allows for quicker data entry because as you press enter or tab you can skip over fields you normally do not enter data into.           

When you select the ‘Preferences’ button it will bring up each ‘tab’ that is part of the transaction. If you want to stop at a particular field leave the box for that field checked. If you normally do not stop at a particular field while performing data entry leave it un-checked and while you are entering transactions it will skip over that field. Should you need to occasionally enter data into that field just click on it and you can enter data into the field.            

Besides the ability to skip over fields there is also a MISC tab in the Preferences: 

· Payroll you can check the box and have Sick and Vacation remaining hours appear when you enter a sick or vacation earning code.

· Accounts Payable gives a choice to have transaction entry in the ‘Detail’ or ‘Summary’ mode.

· Accounts Receivable also allows Detail or Summary as well as the ability to display Inventory Quantities on hand when entering items on the detail tab.

· Purchase Order can also turn on the Inventory Quantities on hand, and the ability to see only open lines or also show the completed lines in the order.

· Sales Order completed lines can also be displayed or hidden. Inventory Quantities on hand can be displayed as well as showing a Credit Warning if the Customer is over the credit limit assigned.

· Service Director can be viewed in Detail or Summary, Inventory Items Quantities can be displayed, and the Dispatch view can be set to Detail or Summary.                       

General Ledger does not have a MISC tab but the Default tab will allow you to set the New Entry Defaults. These can be set to Offset the Remaining Balance, Offset the Last Line, or Leave Blank. You can also enter a Prefix if you are using a segmented chart of accounts so that while you are entering transactions for one segment of the company the prefix will default to that segment. This can assist in accuracy while entering transactions for one segment at a time. Also on the Default tab you can set the Combo Box (the listing of General Ledger Accounts) to open up the accounts listing each time you enter the Accounts field.           

Inventory Transactions, Inventory Location Transfers, and Material Requisitions do not have a Preference, but you do have the ability to enter transactions in Detail or in Summary. 

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In System Manager, Company Setup, Company Information there is a ‘Company Logo’ box that you can insert your Company’s logo into. A Bit Map image no larger than 200 X 300 can be copied and pasted into this box.           

When the Business Rule for Accounts Receivable is set to YES for Print Company Logo on Plain Paper then each invoice printed will include your Company Logo on the upper left hand corner of the invoice. If you have a color printer it will even print in color. 

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Do you have old Purchase Orders hanging out there in various status’ that you know are complete as far as you are concerned but just don't go away?           

If you have an Ordered Quantity that is higher than the quantity that was received and invoiced, just change the status from “Open” to “Completed”. The next time you post purchases this Purchase Order will be removed once the quantity invoiced equals the quantity received.   

If you entered a higher quantity as received than was actually received you will need to complete this purchase order by applying the invoice to the received goods and then doing a Debit Memo to remove these items from Inventory.           

Purchase Orders will not be removed until all line items have been received and invoiced. So the main clue to cleaning up old Purchase Orders is to make sure each line of the P.O. has been satisfied. 

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With Version 10.5 the Purchase Order application got a new feature—Landed Cost.           

Landed Cost allows you to assign shipping costs directly to inventory item values when they are received in. These costs are generally not to the same vendor you purchase the goods from and generally they include shipping costs, entry costs, duties, brokerage fees and taxes.          

Landed Cost can be applied by Percent of Cost, Fixed Amount, Weight, or Quantity.           

Landed Cost can also be set up as several levels. For example shipping costs may be a percentage of cost for the whole shipment based upon the extended cost. A Container Duty may apply to not only the extended cost but also the addition of the shipping cost applied by percentage.           

You determine how the cost is applied, what the amount of the cost is and whether or not it is a straight addition to the extended cost of the items or an addition to the items plus other additional costs as defined in the Landed Cost setup.           

For each Cost within the Landed Cost set up you a General Ledger Expense Account for the costs to be credited to when the items are received. When the invoices come in that pertain to the Landed Costs you expense these directly to the same General Ledger Account you set up in the Landed Cost Set up.           

Because Landed Cost Setup is actually an estimation of all charges that pertain to bringing in the inventory items that you purchased you will need to reconcile the Expense Account(s) that you used in the setup.           

When the Item is Invoiced the Expense account is Credited and when the invoice for the additional cost is entered the same account is debited. In theory this is a wash. When the item is sold the full cost (Landed Cost) flows out to Cost of Goods Sold.  

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As you complete entries for the year 2009 and begin entries for the New Year 2010, remember to UPDATE THE CURRENT YEAR in Periodic Processing each time you Post to the Master in General Ledger.  This needs to be ran while you are in the 2010 GL Year.           

Updating the current year brings forward all the ending balances as beginning balances for the current year. If you check “Consolidate unclosed income(loss) accounts to retained earnings” all Accounts with an Account Type of 500 or greater, which should by your Income Statement accounts, are cleared to the “Retained Earnings Account” you select on the Update Current Year screen.

Performing this function each time you post to the master will insure that your 2010 Beginning Balances are correct. This is extremely important for Cash as you reconcile bank accounts. 

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Last year and already this year we have seen several “Ice Storms” come through the south the has effected 100’s of 1,000’ of people and business. We have survived the snow and the ice because we had a “Disaster Recovery Plan” in place.  

Do you?           

When the electricity goes out, the roads are impassable, and business must continue will you be able to function?           

Offsite backups, backup servers, and remote access can be the three things that will keep your business open.           

It’s bad enough when Mother Nature wont cooperate but that is no reason your business cant still function.           

If you are interested in developing a Disaster Recovery Plan give us a call and we can assist.  

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Very often after you turn in your yearly information to your CPA for tax filing the CPA will make entries to write off Bad Debt from your Accounts Receivable for the year. At the current time these invoices are still on your Open Invoice or Aged Trial Balance Report. The best way to handle the year end entry in 2009 and the actual writing off of the bad debt in 2010 would be to make your CPA’s year end adjusting entry as a RECURRING entry rather than a MANUAL entry.           

If you credit the Accounts Receivable and debit the Bad Debt expense as you CPA requests in 2009, instead of using M1 use R1 for the SOURCE. This then, will reverse itself in January and become a Debit to Accounts Receivable and a credit to Bad Debt.           

In Cash receipts set up a Method of Payment that is a write off and use the Bad Debt Expense account as the write off account. When you use this Method Of Payment in Cash receipts it will Credit the Accounts Receivable and Debit the Bad Debt expense as well as removing the invoice from the Open Invoice File as unpaid.           

When the reversing entries comes into 2010 it will completely off set the entry that you made when writing off the invoice and will net the entire entry to zero in year 2010. The write off will then occur in 2009.           

The second method to handle the write off would be to NOT make the CPA year end adjusting entry but to actually do the Cash Receipt entry to Period 12 of 2009. This will then send the entry back to 2009 as a bad debt entry in that year.           

Remember that when you do Bad Debt Write off by using a Method of Payment for Write off it does not update the Commission files not does it update the Sales Tax Reporting. You will need to manually adjust those or credit memo invoices to Bad Debt Exp. 

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As you already know even if you are in the Graphical Mode in OSAS you can still use all function keys rather than the mouse. Data entry can be sped up by not having your hands leave the keyboard to reach for the mouse.           

Another way to speed up data entry is by making use of the QUICK tables found in Accounts Receivable, Sales Order, Accounts Payable and Purchase Order. In Resource Manager, User Set Up, Preferences activate the option for QUICK. This allows you then to go into File Maintenance in each of the applications listed above and edit the “Q” Tables. In all cases when you edit these Q tables you have to ability to tab or enter (or both) to skip over fields you don't normally enter data into. Should you need to enter data into the field simply arrow back up or use your mouse to enter the field that was skipped. 

·         Accounts Receivable allows you to skip over fields while entering the Header of an invoice, the detail line items of the invoice, miscellaneous credits and also when editing an invoice.

·         Sales Order allows separate quick table setups for Editing,  New/Quote, Shipped, and Verify orders as well as Returns. Customize each type to reflect how you normally enter your data.

·         Accounts Payable Quick entry tables allow separate set up for Headers, Invoice Detail, Miscellaneous Debits and Editing invoices. Material Requisition Quick tables for Header, Line Detail, Returns, and Editing.

·         Purchase Order has all the Quick tables that Accounts Payable does with the addition of Order/Receive entry status 

Additional ways to speed up data entry can be found also in Preferences. Whether you want to Page Down once or Page Down twice (verify). Setting the Verify PgDn to Inactive you only need to Page Down once each time to finalize and entry. Setting the Verify Exit to Inactive allows you to F7 only once to exit any menu (or OSAS itself) rather than having to F7 twice each time you exit.           

Setting Default Batches, Locations, Bank Account ID’s and Printers will also speed up entry. These defaults will automatically insert themselves and not have to be re-keyed each time. You can change any of these defaulted fields when you need to use another Batch, Location, Bank ID, or Printer.           

Finally making use of the Favorites Menu allows you to quickly move around between various menu items in various applications without having to go through the menu structure to get to the function you want to use. Favorites are turned on in the Preferences first. Then each function you want to add to your Favorites menu you simply F10 to add the function to the Favorites menu or F10 to remove a function from the Favorites menu when it is no longer wanted there.

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For BBj Users you can place your company logo within the OSAS Documents Folder and in Resource Manager, Company Setup, Company Information, enter the name of the logo file with the extension in the Logo file field. (There should be no blank spaces in the name of the logo file).           

Now when you print your plain paper invoices your logo will appear in the upper left hand corner. If you have a color printer the logo will print in color.

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Do you have old Purchase Orders hanging out there in various status’ that you know are complete as far as you are concerned but just don't go away?           

If you have an Ordered Quantity that is higher than the quantity that was received and invoiced, just change the status from “Open” to “Completed”. The next time you post purchases this Purchase Order will be removed once the quantity invoiced equals the quantity received.            

If you entered a higher quantity as received than was actually received you will need to complete this purchase order by applying the invoice to the received goods and then doing a Debit Memo to remove these items from Inventory.           

Purchase Orders will not be removed until all line items have been received and invoiced. So the main clue to cleaning up old Purchase Orders is to make sure each line of the P.O. has been satisfied.

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One of the newest applications released for OSAS is Landed Cost.           

Landed Cost allows you to assign shipping costs directly to inventory item values when they are received in. These costs are generally not to the same vendor you purchase the goods from and generally they include shipping costs, entry costs, duties, brokerage fees and taxes.

Landed Cost can be applied by Percent of Cost, Fixed Amount, Weight, or Quantity.           

Landed Cost can also be set up as several levels. For example shipping costs may be a percentage of cost for the whole shipment based upon the extended cost. A Container Duty may apply to not only the extended cost but also the addition of the shipping cost applied by percentage.           

You determine how the cost is applied, what the amount of the cost is and whether or not it is a straight addition to the extended cost of the items or an addition to the items plus other additional costs as defined in the Landed Cost setup.           

For each Cost within the Landed Cost set up you a General Ledger Expense Account for the costs to be credited to when the items are received. When the invoices come in that pertain to the Landed Costs you expense these directly to the same General Ledger Account you set up in the Landed Cost Set up.           

Because Landed Cost Setup is actually an estimation of all charges that pertain to bringing in the inventory items that you purchased you will need to reconcile the Expense Account(s) that you used in the setup.           

When the Item is Invoiced the Expense account is Credited and when the invoice for the additional cost is entered the same account is debited. In theory this is a wash. When the item is sold the full cost (Landed Cost) flows out to Cost of Goods Sold.

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As you complete entries for the year 2009 and begin entries for the New Year 2010, remember to UPDATE THE CURRENT YEAR in Periodic Processing each time you Post to the Master in General Ledger. This needs to be ran while you are in the 2009 GL Year.          

Updating the current year brings forward all the ending balances for those accounts to the beginning balance in the year 2010. For all accounts that have a Type of 500 or greater the ending balance will be accumulated and the “Retained Earnings” account that you select on the Update Current Year screen will be adjusted by this amount. And all of these accounts will have their beginning balances set to zero.   

Performing this function each time you post to the master will insure that your 2010 Beginning Balances are correct. This is extremely important for Cash as you reconcile bank accounts.

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Last year and already this year we have seen several “Ice Storms” come through the south the has effected 100’s of 1,000’ of people and business. We have survived the snow and the ice because we had a “Disaster Recovery Plan” in place.  Do you?           

When the electricity goes out, the roads are impassable, and business must continue will you be able to function?           

Offsite backups, backup servers, and remote access can be the three things that will keep your business open.           

It’s bad enough when Mother Nature won’t cooperate but that is no reason your business can’t still function.  

If you are interested in developing a Disaster Recovery Plan give us a call and we can assist.

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Based on requests from clients, we have created a number of enhancements that may also benefit you.   We will be making a section on our website to support a listing of these enhancements.  Each month we will feature an enhancement in our newsletter as well.  For more enhancements available from InterMicro visit http://www.intermicro.com/products.html. 

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