I’ve had the pleasure of attending two class reunions over the past year. My own 30th High School reunion in the fall and my husband’s 25th College reunion this past weekend. Yes, as he will happily point out to anyone, he’s the younger one. I never thought I would be the type of person who enjoyed attending reunions. So why do I go? There is a distinct shared camaraderie with people who go through the same experience that you do. Even though each journey through that experience is unique, your classmates are still able to relate to that time in your life in a way that others cannot.

Being at the reunion this weekend got me thinking about other shared experiences which for our customers would be that they are users of the same software. Soft Trac offers our version of a “reunion” by hosting quarterly user group meetings. While everyone may use the same software at their individual organizations, each user brings something unique to the conversation whether it is the way they used the software to solve a particular problem or how they streamlined a cumbersome financial report. It is an opportunity to share and learn. Please join us at our next Sage 100 Fund Accounting user group meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 31, 2013 from 1:00-3:00 PM. It will be held at the University of Maine Alumni Association in Orono, Maine. Please click on this link to register for the event: Sage 100 Fund Accounting User Group Meeting Registration.

“Sage 100 Fund Accounting Goes Mobile!” This headline caught my eye in the April issue of Sage Nonprofit Solutions News. I think this is awesome news for customers but it got me thinking about mobile apps in general. I have to confess, I’m an iPhone newbie. I held onto my non-texting flip phone as long as possible and probably would still be using it if the work benefits didn’t finally outweigh my living in the technological dark ages. Being able to quickly check and respond to e-mails while away from the office is pretty nice. But, I’m struggling with which apps are worth installing and which are not. I’m still on the learning curve but am starting to have some favorites.

For Finance professionals, I suspect the new Sage 100 Fund Accounting Mobile App will quickly become one of their favorites giving them the ability to easily perform key tasks from their mobile device or tablet. If you’d like to see a tour of the new mobile app, please view this video: Sage 100 Fund Accounting Mobile App Video. The new app will be released with the latest version of Sage 100 Fund Accounting (Version 2013.4) this coming Monday, June 3, 2013.

I do not have a green thumb but it hasn’t stopped me from attempting to garden.  About ten years ago, I decided it would be wonderful to have a lemon and lime tree.  While that doesn’t sound terribly complicated, I do live in Maine so my potted trees have to spend much of the time inside and they do require some shuffling around which isn’t that easy especially now that they’ve grown in size.  But, they are still alive and I have been able to make key lime pie – once.  Unfortunately, I really don’t invest the time and energy I should to help them thrive.  I think we often treat our software investments the same way.  We keep them “alive” and know how to do enough to get by but they’re not thriving.  For that we need to invest time and money to help us optimize our use of the system and with everything else on our plates it’s not something we do as often as we should.

Taking the time to sit in on a class, or learning how to use a new area of the software, can really help you maximize your software investment.  Soft Trac offers a variety of classes both on-site and remote as well as customized training for more specialized needs.   Please visit our training catalog: http://www.softtrac.com/training_catalog.asp to see the range of classes that we offer.

And for those of you who are new to the Sage 100 Fund Accounting software, please join us for one of our monthly free orientation webinars.  Our next one is scheduled for Thursday, June 13, 2013: http://www.softtrac.com/View_Class.asp?ClassID=845

We want you to thrive with your software.  I know if I took the time and invested more in my trees I might be able to enjoy key lime pie more often.

The payment of vendors by credit card will require a clearing account with a Cash (CSH) type account, the use of Cash Disbursements to record receipts as expenses for vendors and finally recording AP invoices to vendors offsetting the credit card clearing account.

Set up Credit Card Clearing Account
1. From the Navigator select Accounting Setup.
2. From the Task Window select Chart of Accounts.

3. Click on New to create the new account.
4. Make sure the Segment is GL, Account Type is Cash and the Designation is APO.

Record cash receipts as expenses for vendors
To record the credit card receipts as expenses for your vendors you will need to use a manual Cash Disbursement (Transactions>Enter Cash Disbursements) session. This transaction will act as pseudo AP invoice by associating the vendor with the expense. In the cash disbursement transaction select the appropriate Vendor for Payee ID, debit the appropriate expense and credit the new Cash type Credit Card clearing account. When the credit card statement is received, you will record the Accounts Payable Invoices to the appropriate vendors, debit the Credit Card clearing account and crediting the expense.
1. From the Navigator select Basic Transactions.
2. From the Task Window select Enter Cash Disbursements.

3. Create a new session selecting the Credit Card Cash Account.

4. Record the document information including the appropriate vendor. Debit the expense and credit the Credit Card Cash Account.

When the credit card statement is received, record the vendor invoice in Accounts Payable. Debit the credit card clearing account and credit the appropriate accounts payable account.

You can then pay your credit card company with a check and you will be able to track your expenses by vendor using the Vendor Activity Report.

Are you trying to create Supplemental Pay Calculations for 2012 this week? If so, be sure you create your 2013 pay schedule for each processing group in the calculation.
To create pay schedules for 2013, go to Maintain/Processing Groups.
• Open the processing group.
• Go to the Pay Schedules tab.
• Type “2013” in the Year field.
• Fill in the first pay day for 2013, and the first period end date.
• Click Save.
Do this for each processing group that has a supplemental pay calculation to run.

If you need help please call Soft Trac at 207-221-0342

If you answer yes to any of the below questions, this resource article is for you!
   • Wishing you could save your organization money during your next audit?
   • Does the mere mention of Form 990 preparation leave you dazed and confused?
   • Does the thought of Form 990 exhaust you even before you take your first step?
   • Do you use Sage 100 Fund Accounting software?

The attached resources will provide you with easy to use steps that will result in a savings of time and money when working with your auditors or preparing for the submission of your Federal 990.

Sage FA 100 Report Groups is an easy to use tool that will aid you in assigning IRS 990 Line Numbers for Parts VIII, IX and X. Rather than assigning these line numbers individually to General Ledger accounts, Report Groups allows you to group multiple accounts and assign the appropriate 990 Line Numbers. Once this information is entered, use 990 Worksheet reports in the Accounting Module to print this information in preparation for the completion of IRS Form 990.

   • IRS 990 Form

   • Report Groups to create IRS 990 Line Numbers

   • Sage Form 990 Lines

   • 990 Worksheets in Sage 100 Fund Accounting

   • IRS Form 990 Instruction

Soft Trac is pleased to announce that Amy Bellevue has joined the company as a Nonprofit Software Consultant. Amy brings over ten years of experience as an instructor and consultant in the nonprofit space. As a Senior Systems Consultant for Blackbaud, Inc., she implemented nonprofit accounting, fundraising, and grant making systems for many types of nonprofit organizations, including university foundations, private K-12 schools, community foundations, churches, and human services organizations. Most recently, Amy worked at Minnesota Philanthropy Partners, a community foundation, where she worked with them to complete a large-scale conversion.

Amy has just relocated to New England after over 10 years of living in South Carolina and Minnesota. She resides in Lewiston, Maine, with her two dogs.

About Soft Trac
Soft Trac has been serving nonprofits and governmental agencies for more than a decade and is recognized nationally for its leadership, client success, and revenue goal achievements. Read more at www.softtrac.com.

We have all heard a horror story (or two) about a nonprofit that became embroiled in a financial scandal. In addition to the public relations nightmare such things engender, organizations caught up in a scandal are forced to turn their attentions toward the crisis and away from the real work they are meant to be doing.
Here are a few simple procedures you can put in place in your fundraising office to help prevent fraud.
The Maryland Association of CPA’s recommends the following simple steps to help prevent fraud.
1. Spread financial duties, such as processing payments, making deposits, reconciling bank statements and handling petty cash out among several people in your department. If possible, you should rotate these duties between people.
2. Make sure that employees take a vacation of at least one week of consecutive days. This may heighten your chances of discovering irregular activities.

http://www.macpa.org/Content/23704.aspx

Tracy Coenen, CPA, recommends some of the following tips on her website:
• Safeguard physical assets, including data and money
• Implement an anonymous reporting mechanism to allow employees to participate in the reporting suspicious activity
• Monitor access to assets and data
www.fraudessentials.com

Sage recently posted an update to Sage Fund Accounting (formerly Sage MIP Fund Accounting). Version 10.2.11, is now available for download from the Sage MIP Fund Accounting Knowledgebase. The v10.2.11 download link as well as all of the detailed release information and installation instructions can be found within Knowledgebase article #311222.

You may access the knowledgebase article at www.sagesoftwareonline.com. After logging in, simply click the green “SUPPORT” button to be directed to the main support page, which contains a link to the Knowledgebase. If you are not already registered for Sage Software Online, click the “Register now” link on the login page.
As v10.2.11 is a cumulative update, it includes all of the updates (v10.2.7, v10.2.8, v10.2.9, v10.2.10 and v10.2.11) since the October 2010 release of v10.2.6.

The updates prior to v10.2.11 contain:
- The following federal changes:
• The Employee Social Security withholding rate was reduced to 4.2%.
• The Earned Income Credit option is no longer applicable.
• The withholding allowances and the percentage method income tax withholding tables were updated.
• The percentage method nonresident alien calculations were updated.
• The HIRE Act has expired effective 12/31/10; therefore, all HIRE Act benefit codes should be changed to Discontinued.

Changes in state withholding tax information for AZ, CA, CO, HI, KY, ME, MO, MI, MN, NM, ND, OK, OR, PR, RI, VT, IL and Palau.

Feature to credit the 2% excess employee social security withholding back to each employee if your organization ran payroll before installing v10.2.8 which was released on January 4, 2011 and you have not processed the credits manually. Please refer to Knowledgebase article #316443 for more details on how to set up and use this new payroll feature.
- Resolutions to customer reported issues.

The v10.2.11 contains the above updates and:
- New update makes accommodation for the reduction in the FUTA tax rate from 6.2% to 6.0% effective 7/1/2011
- Resolutions to customer reported issues (See aKB 317867 for more information on all resolved issues).