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SOS Consulting Newsletter |
Monthly User line
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December 2016
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Hello All,
As the year end quickly approaches, and 2017 looms large on the horizon in what promises to be an interesting time of change, it is a good time to reflect and plan. Please review the Section 179 and Budgeting Rules sections below, and let me know if you have an interest in upgrading, or reviewing add-on options to enhance your budget preparation.
Finally, please visit the new and improved
SOS Consulting Website! Your comments, suggestions and feedback are always welcome.
Blessings and Continuing Success Always,
Kathy Hemmelgarn
"Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun."
---CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
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IRS Section 179: $2,000,000 Spending Cap for 2016
Most people think the IRS Section 179 deduction is some mysterious or complicated tax code. It really isn't, as you will see below.
Essentially,
IRS Section 179
of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software purchased or financed during the tax year. That means that if you buy (or lease) a piece of qualifying equipment, you can deduct the FULL PURCHASE PRICE from your gross income. It's an incentive created by the U.S. government to encourage businesses to buy equipment and invest in themselves.
The 2016 Spending Cap on equipment purchases = $2,000,000.
AM Leasing/Dimension Funding: IRS 179 Equip/Software Financing
To take advantage of the IRS Section 179 deduction, you can find financing yourself OR you might want to check out leasing with the AccountMate Leasing Powered by Dimension Funding loan program. This way you will be able to spread out your payments over many months and actually be able to buy more software, licenses, modifications, maintenance, and equipment.
Remember, this particular deduction ends December 31, 2016 for the tax year. If you have any questions please call us today at 916-334-1858.
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Playing by New Budgeting Rules
Why modern budgeting requires built-in business logic and accounting rules
Spreadsheets have long been considered a necessary evil when it comes to the process of annual budgeting and re-forecasting. But even with dedicated software solutions, companies still find themselves dependent on formulas that must be programmed manually into the budgeting software and then further reviewed and updated as the model changes. Given the fast-paced world of business today with acquisitions, new product rollouts, and organizational realignments, the budget needs to change as the business changes. Otherwise management may be misled by inaccurate financial information. To make a budget useful, organizations must incorporate business logic into it from the outset.
If you've spent more than a few years preparing and presenting annual budgets or perhaps participated in the periodic reviews and re-forecasts of these budgets, you have certainly come to the realization that the budget outputs must be a result of your implemented model and a consolidation of inputs from several budget participants such as departments or cost centers. What you may have also learned is that this entire process would be better off with business logic built in from the get-go, able to take into consideration the use of drivers and prior actual results in order to determine what the budget is actually going to look like in the end.
Unfortunately, Excel spreadsheets are not the right tool for the job. And yet, many companies still use Excel to prepare annual budgets and conduct re-forecasting work. There is so much effort that goes into the setup of these spreadsheets like the enormous complexity of the formulas, functions and links used, the tedious maintenance required to keep the model up-to-date, but at the end of the process all you can really hope for is that the numbers are relatively free from material errors.
To avoid that problem, some organizations have upgraded to a dedicated software solution for budgeting, modeling, and analytics. However, many of the formulas and accounting rules used in the spreadsheet version must be programmed into this budgeting software and periodically reviewed and updated as the model changes. Many additional links and other application-specific programming must also be performed before you can actually use the application. Turns out, this is not much different than using spreadsheets themselves.
No matter your industry or organizational size, every company can benefit from greater insight into their financial future. Trading in traditional budget and analytics processes in favor of those with built-in rules and logic can deliver the accurate, detailed information companies need to compete, thrive, and grow.
For more information on setting up budgets and on budgeting solutions that link to AccountMate please call us today at 916-334-1858.
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Benefits of AccountMate Lifecycle
Approximately 12 years ago AccountMate introduced the Lifecycle Maintenance Plan to provide a cost effective and easy to budget means, to satisfy many aspects of system support and maintenance.
The benefits of the Lifecycle plan are substantial as it provides all version and build updates to your system, which always include many new features that will make your accounting process easier. There are also significant discounts if changing from one platform (such as LAN to SQL, or SQL to Enterprise), to another.
The on-demand access to online eLearning videos, and one free seat per year for the Core Product Training class at AccountMate's headquarters in northern California, is very helpful when hiring new employees or when you upgrade to a new version. Tech support via telephone and e-mail support, direct from AccountMate, is unlimited and included in this Lifecycle plan.
While few clients implement every build immediately upon its release, the Lifecycle plan is an excellent way to ensure compatibility with current Microsoft server/desktop operating systems. Plus you can plan ahead for when you need to upgrade to the latest version, which will ensure you are running on a fully supported version.
Also important is that this maintenance plan allows businesses to "expense" their software cost on an annual basis, vs. capitalize and depreciate it. The annual renewal amount is calculated as 25% of the current MSRP of each individual system.
If have any questions regarding this plan or would like to find out about paying for this plan monthly via ACH payments direct to AccountMate, please call us today at 916-334-1858
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AccountMate Tech Tips
Module: PR
Q:
How can I exclude the overtime earnings from the deduction calculation during payroll application?
A:
The Deduction Maintenance function provides the capability to exclude the overtime earnings from the deduction calculation during payroll application only when the deduction type is Rate/Work Hour. For these types of deductions, you must unmark the Include Overtime Hours checkbox in the Deduction Maintenance
►
Information
►
Type
area to exclude the overtime earnings from the deduction calculation during payroll application. This capability is unavailable for both the Fixed Amount and Percentagededuction types.
Versions: AM9 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM8 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM7 for LAN
Module: IC
TIP:
To set up bins in the
Inventory Maintenance
function, the bins must exist and the
Active
checkbox that corresponds to each bin is marked in the
Warehouse Maintenance
function. Inactivated bins will not be displayed in the
Bin Search
window when you set up a bin for an inventory item in a particular warehouse.
Versions: AM9 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM8 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM7 for LAN
Modules: IC, PO
Q
:
I recorded a receipt for purchased lot-controlled items and got the message, "You can assign Serial #/Lot # later in the Inventory Control module." When I attempted to assign lot numbers to those items using the
Assign Lot Number by Item
function, I received the message, "No unassigned qty in Item # [xxx]." What did I miss?
A:
Use the Assign Lot Number by Purchase Order function to assign lot numbers to lot-controlled items purchased from vendors and you did not assign lot numbers upon receipt of the purchase order.
Versions: AM9 for SQL and Express (AM9.4 and higher)
Modules: AP, PO
TIP:
AccountMate 9.4 for SQL and Express and higher versions now allow the AP invoice amount to be less than the
AP/PO Matching Amount
. When this specific scenario is encountered, AccountMate will display a warning message; however, you can save the transaction when you click the
OK
button in the message window.
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