Manufacturing Module Supports Items with Specification

Authorized users can now create work orders for items that have specifications (e.g. size, color, make, model, etc.) Simply set up a Bill of Materials (BOM) for each combination of specifications that is assigned to a parent item. For example, there can be one BOM for a small black shirt, another BOM for a medium white shirt and so on.

An item that has specifications can also be used as a component in a Bill of Materials. Just select an item specification that will be used in the standard Bill of Materials and swap it with a different item specification on each work order, if necessary.

These changes give AccountMate the flexibility to meet the needs of companies that manufacture products which come in different specifications.

Return Prebuild Kit Items in RMA

Authorized users can now record the return of prebuild kit items in the Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) module. They can choose to either return the entire kit or only return specific kit components. When returning an entire kit, the following return actions are supported:

• Restock and Credit
• Restock and Replace
• Restock and Substitute

If an RMA order requires substitution, a prebuild kit item can be used as a substitute for a non-kit item and vice versa. The RMA Line Item Report, Receive RMA Report and RMA Invoice Listing have been enhanced to show the kit # of the kit item or component that was returned and the kit # of the kit item that was shipped as a replacement or substitute.

With this enhancement, AccountMate’s RMA module becomes the main tool by which users can record and monitor all item returns.

Option to Track Paid Leave Using an Anniversary or Fiscal Accrual Year

The following enhancements have been made to AccountMate’s paid leave feature:

Assign an Accrual Year to Paid Leave Codes

Each paid leave code can be assigned one of these accrual year options:

• Calendar – the paid leave code’s accrual year runs from January to December.
• Fiscal – the paid leave code’s accrual year follows the company’s fiscal year.
• Anniversary – the paid leave code’s accrual year is annual starting from either the employee’s hire date or a user-defined anniversary date.

This enhancement gives users more flexibility to set up each paid leave code according to the company’s leave accrual policies.

New Accrual Year-End Closing Function

Authorized users can now close the current accrual year at their convenience instead of having it be tied to the W-2/1099 Year-End Closing process. This is made possible by the new Accrual Year-End Closing function. Simply choose the type of accrual year that will be closed (calendar year, fiscal year or anniversary year) or choose any combination of the 3. When closing the anniversary accrual year, specify the end date(s) of the accrual years that are to be closed. Only the paid leave codes that meet the selected criteria will be included in the accrual year-end closing process. This process does not only close the current accrual year and roll the employees’ unused leave balances into the new year, it also accrues leave hours for paid leave codes that are set to accrue at the beginning of the year.

This feature is most useful for companies that need to process payroll for the next accrual year (and have the payroll check stubs show the next year’s accrued leave balances and used leave hours) but are not yet ready to close the current tax year.

PR Period-End Closing Simultaneously Closes the Current Fiscal Accrual Year

We have enhanced the Payroll (PR) module’s Period-End Closing function and the General Ledger module’s Batch Period-End Closing function to simultaneously close the current accrual year for paid leave codes that are assigned a fiscal accrual year. During this process, AccountMate also accrues leave hours for paid leave codes that are set to accrue at the beginning of the year.

To ensure that the aforementioned functions do not duplicate what the Accrual Year-End Closing function has already done, only the paid leave codes which current fiscal accrual years end on or before the fiscal period being closed will be included in the closing process. By building the fiscal accrual year-end closing process into the period-end closing functions, AccountMate saves users from having to perform an extra step at the end of the fiscal accrual year.

W-2/1099 Year-End Closing Only Closes the Current Calendar Accrual Year

The W-2/1099 Year-End Closing function in version 9.2 has been changed to only close the current accrual year of paid leave codes that are assigned a calendar accrual year. This way any paid leave codes assigned a fiscal or anniversary accrual year will not be closed before their respective accrual year end dates. To ensure that W2/1099 Year-End Closing does not duplicate what the Accrual Year-End Closing function has already done, only the paid leave codes which current calendar accrual years end on Dec 31 of the tax year being closed will be included in the closing process.

Option to Close the Current Anniversary Accrual Year when Applying Payroll for the Next Accrual Year

Users have the option to automatically close the current anniversary accrual year when processing payroll for the next accrual year. Simply mark the Close Anniversary Year when Applying Payroll checkbox in PR Module Setup to activate this feature. This gives users the convenience of having the Apply Payroll/Payment function automatically perform the closing process thereby saving them the extra step of closing it separately. During closing, AccountMate also accrues leave hours for paid leave codes that are set to accrue at the beginning of the year.

To ensure that the Apply Payroll/Payment function does not duplicate what the Accrual Year-End Closing function has already done, only the paid leave codes which current anniversary accrual years end before the Apply Payroll/Payment posting date and only the employees who are included in the Apply Payroll/Payment process will be subject to closing.

Since this is an optional setting and can be changed at any time, AccountMate gives users absolute control on whether to combine the anniversary accrual year-end closing process with the application of payroll or keep the two separate.

Employee Paid Leave Information Updated Immediately after Applying Payroll

Unlike prior versions, AccountMate 9.2 updates the employee’s accumulated and used leave hours immediately after the payroll transaction is saved. This way users don’t have to wait for the check to be printed in order for the paid leave transaction’s effect to be reflected in the employee record. Also, AccountMate uses the Apply Payroll/Payment posting date instead of the check date to determine which accrual year to update for the leave transaction. This helps ensure that the information shown in the Employee Maintenance Paid Leave tab matches the accounting entries generated for the paid leave transactions.

Enhanced Employee Paid Leave Listing

This report has been updated as follows:

1. It can be generated using the Subtotal and Grand Total options thereby allowing authorized users to see the total accrued liability per department (for example) as well as the company’s total accrued liability.
2. We have added Leave Code to the available report Criteria options thereby allowing authorized users to generate the report for one or a range of paid leave codes.
3. We have added an As of Date field that can be used to show the paid leave hours (carry over, accumulated, used and balance) at a specific point in time.
4. We have added the option to show the cost of the accrued leave balance based on the employee pay rates that were in effect during the selected As of Date.

These changes are designed so that the report can provide the information needed to accurately determine the company’s leave accrual liability at any point in time.

Enhanced Paid Leave Transaction Report

This report has been updated as follows:

1. It comes with options to show transactions for active employees only, inactive employees only, terminated employees only or all employees.
2. There is a new Transaction Date field in the report. This is the same date that was used in the accounting entries generated for each paid leave transaction.
3. If there are paid leave transactions before the selected transaction date range, the report shows a Balance before report start date to ensure that the total reflects all recorded transactions up to the report’s end date.
4. If generated for a transaction date that spans across accrual years, the report shows a Carry Forward Adjusting entry for the unused leave hours at the end of the accrual year that were not carried forward into the next year because they exceeded the maximum carry forward hours set for the specified paid leave code.

These changes are designed so that the report can be of more use in verifying the employee leave balances as well as in reconciling the accounting entries for paid leave transactions.

Ability to Import Time Cards

Authorized users can now import time cards into the AccountMate Payroll (PR) module. This is a two-step process:

Step 1: An authorized user runs the new Import Time Card Setup function to configure the settings that lets AccountMate know what information is in the source file and how to map its data to the PR data fields.

Step 2: An authorized user runs the new Import Time Cards function to perform the actual import.

Data can be imported from the following file types:

• Excel (.xls/.xlsx)
• Text – Delimited (.csv/.txt)
• Text – Fixed Length (.csv/.txt)
• Table (.dbf)

This enhancement helps users save time and avoid data entry mistakes that may arise when manually entering time card details. By letting users map the import fields to the PR data fields, the source file does not have to be edited to get it into a state that can be successfully imported.

New Time Card Data Converter Function

It is possible that the employee numbers used in the time card application differ from the employee numbers maintained in AccountMate. If the time card application also tracks employee hours using earning codes, the earning codes used there may differ from the ones in AccountMate. It is for this reason that AccountMate 9.2 comes with a new Time Card Data Converter function. Use this to map the time card application’s employee numbers and earning codes to those used in AccountMate. This way there is no need to change the employee numbers and earing codes in the source file before importing the time cards.

BR Module Enhanced to Streamline Reconciliation

Changes have been made to the Bank Reconciliation (BR) module to simplify the reconciliation of bank accounts. The enhancements are as follows:

Ability to Import Bank Transactions

Authorized users can now import transactions downloaded from their bank’s website into AccountMate. This involves a three-step process:

Step 1: An authorized user runs the new Import Bank Transaction Setup function to configure the settings that lets AccountMate know what information is in the source file and how to map its data to the BR data fields.

Step 2: An authorized user runs the new Import Bank Data Converter function to build a list of keywords that appear in the bank statement and can be used to identify the nature of a transaction and, in some cases, to locate the check number.

Step 3: An authorized user runs the new Import Bank Transactions function to perform the actual import. This saves time by allowing users to import the data downloaded from their bank’s website without having to edit the source file.

Automatically Match Imported Transactions to Un-reconciled BR Transactions

As bank transactions are imported, AccountMate matches them to the un-reconciled transactions in the BR module using a predefined set of rules. For example:

• Imported checks are matched to the outstanding checks in AccountMate based on their check numbers and amounts.
• Imported customer ACH transactions are matched to the unverified Accounts Receivable (AR) deposits based on their source module, transaction type, dates and amounts.
• Imported vendor ACH transactions are matched to the outstanding Accounts Payable (AP) electronic payments based on their source module, transaction type, dates and amounts.
• Imported employee ACH transactions are matched to the outstanding PR electronic payments based on their source module, transaction type, dates and amounts.

When a match is found, AccountMate will flag both the imported transaction and the BR transaction as reconciled. This helps speed up the process by automating the reconciliation of bank transactions that most frequently occur.

Improved Reconcile Bank Account Function

A number of changes have been made to the Reconcile Bank Account function to make it easier to use. First, we added a Difference field to the Information and Details tabs. This read-only field shows the amount that is needed in order to complete the bank reconciliation. This amount is updated each time the user marks the checkbox in the Details tab’s grid. When this reaches zero, the reconciliation is complete and can be finalized. With this enhancement there is no need to manually calculate the amount remaining to be reconciled.

Second, users who import bank transactions will be able to see the bank statement’s transactions alongside the BR transactions on the AccountMate screen. Imported bank transactions are easily identified by the red dot that appears next to them. Click the Amount column to see records with the same transaction amounts together. This makes it easier to compare the records in the bank statement with the BR records and identify the ones that pertain to the same transaction.

Third, authorized users can manually match the imported bank transactions to the BR transactions. Just hold down the CTRL key while clicking the imported and BR transactions that are to be matched. The Details tab has an Amt to Match field that shows the difference between the sum of the imported transactions that are selected and the sum of the selected BR transactions. This is most useful in cases where one BR transaction appears as multiple transactions in the bank statement and vice versa. Not until the Amt to Match is zero will the Match button be activated. Click the Match button to flag the selected BR transactions and imported bank transactions as reconciled. An imported bank transaction that has been reconciled can no longer be selected for matching
with other BR transactions. If an imported transaction was erroneously reconciled, users can still unmark the checkbox of the BR transaction to which it was matched to undo the matching as long as the reconciliation has not been finalized.

And last but not least, authorized users can set the default verification date that will be used when reconciling bank accounts. Choose between the AccountMate system date and the ending statement date. Users can override this date during reconciliation.

Copy Details from Un-matched Imported Bank Transactions

When bank transactions are imported, AccountMate doesn’t automatically add them to the BR transactions. This is because there may already be existing BR records that pertain to the same transactions and we don’t want to duplicate them. After the imported bank transactions are matched, either automatically during import or manually using the Reconcile Bank Account function, the remaining un-matched imported bank transactions can be used to create new transactions in the BR module.

Simply click the Copy button to display a list of imported bank transactions that have not been reconciled. Select a record from the grid and AccountMate will copy the transaction code (if any was assigned to the bank transaction during the import), check # (if it is a check transaction), date, description, reference and amount from the imported bank transaction record to the BR transaction being created. Controls are in place to stop users from copying an imported check transaction that has the same check # as an existing check record in BR.

AccountMate automatically flags as reconciled the BR transaction and the imported bank transaction which details were used to create the BR transaction, thereby saving users from having to run the Reconcile Bank Account function to do so. This Copy feature is available in the following BR functions:

• Record Deposits/Other Receipts
• Record Checks/Other Disbursements
• Record Bank Transfers

Option to Disallow Recording of Checks and/or Deposits in BR

In older versions, there was no way to stop users from recording checks paid to vendors/employees or deposits of customer payments in BR. This allowed users to record these transactions in BR when they ought to have been recorded in the AP, PR and AR modules. To address this need, we have added these two checkboxes in BR Module Setup:

• Do Not Allow Recording of Checks – when this is marked, the Record Check option is not available in the Record Checks/Other Disbursements function and editing of check records is not allowed in BR.
• Do Not Allow Recording of Deposits – when this is marked, the Record Deposit option is not available in the Record Deposits/Other Receipts function and editing of deposit records is not allowed in BR.

This enhancement helps ensure that vendor/employee checks and customer deposits are entered in the appropriate modules so that the vendor, employee and customer records are correctly updated.

Ability to Switch among Item # Search, Customer Item # Search and Vendor Part # Search When Looking up an Item

Authorized users can now easily switch from doing an item # search to doing either a customer item # or vendor part # search when looking up an item record. We have added Customer Item # and Vendor Part # buttons to the Item # Full/Leading Search window. Click the Customer Item # button to look up an item from the customer inventory list. Click the Vendor Part # button to look up an item from the inventory vendor list. An Item # button is also displayed while in the customer item # or vendor part # search so that the user can go back to the standard item lookup. This enhancement is available in Inventory Maintenance and in Transaction functions where users can call the Item # Full or Leading Search window.

Inventory Transaction Log Stores Actual Data Entry Time

AccountMate now updates the Inventory Transaction Log file with the actual time when the transaction occurred. The Create Date field is updated with both the time and date when the transaction was entered in AccountMate. The server UTC date and time are used to populate the Create Date for an accurate log of when transactions were recorded regardless of the user’s time zone. This is also necessary to ensure that the Create Date is not affected by the user changing the AccountMate system date.

Option to Sort and Filter the Inventory Transaction Log Report by Entry Date

Authorized users can now filter the Inventory Transaction Log report by Entry Date. They can also choose to sort the transactions by Item # + Entry Date. An Entry Date field has also been added to the report itself. This field shows the date and time when the transaction was entered in AccountMate. AccountMate takes the server UTC date and time that is stored in the Inventory Transaction Log file, translates it to the user’s time zone and displays the resulting value in the Entry Date field.

These changes make it possible to utilize the report to determine the exact order when transactions were recorded which is helpful especially in those situations where users are trying to investigate an inventory cost or on-hand quantity issue.

Set Default Ship Via and F.O.B. Terms by Customer Address

Authorized users can now assign default ship via and freight on board (F.O.B.) settings to each customer address record. AccountMate has added Ship Via and F.O.B. fields to the Customer Address Maintenance and Customer Maintenance functions. The Ship Via and F.O.B. fields in AR and SO Module Setup are now used to set the defaults for new customer records. Customer transactions get their default ship via and F.O.B. settings from the customer address record that is used as the shipping address. These settings can be overwritten per transaction.

This enhancement provides users more control over the ship via and F.O.B. settings while giving them the flexibility and convenience of setting these in advance according to each customer’s preference so they don’t have to edit them unless required in a specific transaction.

Configure Check Layout and Print Settings per Bank Account

The check layout and other settings used when printing AP and PR checks can now be configured separately for each bank account record. A new Printing tab has been added to the Bank Account Maintenance function. This tab contains fields where the user can select the check layout and specify whether to print the company logo, company name and address, MICR line, check # and stub lines on the check stock. This tab is split into two sections: one section that applies to the printing of computer checks and another that applies to the printing of e-payment checks. The E-Payment Check section is only accessible if the Electronic Payment feature is
activated in at least one module where the bank account is used. The Printing tab settings in AP and PR Module Setup are now used to set the defaults for new bank account records.

This enhancement allows users to set AccountMate to correctly print on their check stock without having to change the settings before printing.

Ability to Disconnect Users

AccountMate 9.2 comes with a new Disconnect User function that can be used to close the application and log out users either immediately or at a designated time. This function is available in the main AccountMate application and requires user access rights. Choose from among the following options:

• All Users – logs out all users who are accessing any AccountMate company database at the time the disconnection is performed.
• By Company – logs out all users who are accessing the AccountMate company database selected in the Disconnect User screen at the time the disconnection is performed. Only companies that are being accessed at the time of the setup will appear in the list for the authorized user to select for disconnection.
• By Login – logs out the selected users who are accessing the AccountMate company database selected in the Disconnect User screen at the time the disconnection is performed. Only users who are currently logged into AccountMate at the time of the setup will appear in the list for the authorized user to select for disconnection.

This function also comes with an option to activate the company access lock to ensure that no new users log into AccountMate or the selected company at the time the disconnection is performed. Take note that AccountMate will not disconnect any user who is in the midst of a period end, fiscal year-end or tax year-end closing or running any other function that initiated the company access lock.

This is a very useful tool to log out users while preparing to run AccountMate functions that require exclusive access. It can also be used to release the license seat held by a user who has gone home for the day without logging out thereby freeing it up to be utilized by others.

Add Email Address to Salesperson Records

An Email field has been added to the following:

• Salesperson Maintenance
• Salesperson Listing
• Salesperson Profile

This allows authorized users to maintain and view all contact information about each salesperson in one location.

Report Enhancements

The following report enhancements are introduced in version 9.2:

Ability to Search Transactions in AR Payment Reports by Customer Check # or Reference Authorized users can now run the AR Payment Reports filtered by Check # and/or Reference. The following reports are affected:

• Print Payment Receipt
• Cash Receipts Report
• Payment Distribution Report

The Payment Distribution Report can also be set to Show Reference.

This enhancement is very useful when verifying that a customer check or payment has been recorded and applied to the correct invoices if the only information available to the user is the check number or reference. It also cuts down on research time.

Option to Print “Paid in Full” on the Invoice Document

AccountMate 9.2 now comes with an option to print the phrase “paid in full” at the top of the invoice document. Only fully paid invoices will have this notation. This setting is optional so that users can choose if they want to use it or not. This enhancement is designed to help eliminate any confusion as to whether an invoice has an outstanding balance and reduce the need to refund overpayments as a result of the confusion.

Display the Transaction # in Bank Transaction Reports

The following reports now show the Transaction #:

• Unverified Receipt Report
• Verified Receipt Report
• Outstanding Disbursement Report
• Cancelled Disbursement Report

With this enhancement, users can utilize the transaction numbers to verify the information shown in these reports against the recorded transactions.

Supports the Latest Microsoft Technologies

AccountMate 9.2 supports Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition and Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Standard, Enterprise and Express Editions.