Like a child your business is constantly growing and needs to be outfitted with solution software that fits. To make a decision on a new system you first have to analyze your needs. How many users do you plan on having access the system? What are your data needs? Do you have the right amount of space to facilitate a new system? How quickly is my business growing? These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself before moving to a new system.

Sage provides a few pointers on how to analyze your business and which systems may suit your needs. It is a very easy decision once you understand exactly what you need and how to implement changes.

Read the full article here

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The kids are back in school, reviewing old material and learning new content. It’s the perfect time to assess your own knowledge of Peachtree’s accounting tools. Are you wasting time trying to puzzle out features on your own?

If you’re just starting with Peachtree, it’s a good idea to consult with us as you go through the initial setup and data population procedures. Even businesses that have been using Peachtree for awhile can benefit from some expert help in using Peachtree to its fullest.

Peachtree’s simple, intuitive design lets you dive in and start generating forms and reports quickly. But you’ll save time and probably even learn things you didn’t know about the program’s broad capabilities if you explore the in-depth guidance offered.

Read the complete article with in-depth analysis and complete listing of features by clicking here!

Take a Vacation From Long-Term Financial Concerns: Use Peachtree’s Budgeting Tools

As summer winds down and vacation time for your kids dwindles, you’re probably making plans for next year’s adventures. You may be relaxed from your time off and full of ideas about what—and what not—to do next summer, based on how this year’s time off went.

Peachtree’s budgeting tools can provide the same combination of relaxation and anticipation in your professional life. Rather than wondering whether you’re making enough money every month to meet expenses (and how that will play out long-term), you’ll be able to track cash flow, spot problems ahead of time, and tweak your financial blueprint. And the knowledge that budgeting affords you will help you plan for future years.

Numerous options

Budgets are not available in Peachtree First Accounting. Peachtree Complete and Pro offer limitations (a single budget) that Peachtree Premium doesn’t have.

To get started (with Premium and sample data as our example), click Maintain | Budgets. A large grid-like screen opens, looking something like this:

Peachtree Premium’s budget grid works similarly to a typical spreadsheet.

First, enter a name for your budget in the Budget Name field. Write a description if you’d like. Tab to the first Type drop-down list. You’ll have several options here, including Income Statement Accounts, Balance Sheet Accounts, and Accounts Receivable. Select Income Statement Accounts to make your budget as comprehensive as possible.

You can further filter the content for your budget in the Segment fields. You can pare down your budget by selecting Departments, GL Accounts, or Wildcards (All is, of course, another option). If you’ve opted to pull out a subset, pull down the list next to Equal to:, and choose an entry there (the Equal To: list will change to reflect your choice).

To Show Inactive, check that box, and then select a fiscal year for your budget. Click Save on the toolbar.

And Now he Hard Part…

If you’ve never created a budget before, you may have some work ahead of you. You’ll need to enter numbers in all applicable cells in the grid. Consult your accounting professional if you’re taking this on. You’ll be able to edit the budget as the year goes along, but it’s important to be realistic about your prospects from the start.

If you’ve been using Peachtree faithfully for more than a year, you’ll have a much easier time of it. You can pull in actual data from your Peachtree file to fill in the cells.

Click on Autofill in the toolbar, and you’ll see this dialog box:

If you have an existing budget from a prior year, or have been using Peachtree for more than a year, you can automate much of the budget process.

Click the first button to select it, and click Next. To move fiscal year 2010’s data into FY2011, select This Year in the first drop-down list. The dates in the next two fields should change to match it. If your fiscal years start on January 1, select that date in the drop-down list below; otherwise, select the appropriate date. It should look like this:

It’s easy to set up a transfer of Peachtree data from the current year into next year’s budget.

Click Finish. Your prior year’s data now displays as budget totals for next year. Of course, you’ll be missing the last few months of 2010 when you run this example. You can either extrapolate or wait until closer to year’s end to run a complete budget.

You can also copy one budget to another. Open the desired budget, click Autofill, and select Copy amounts from the open budget.

More Useful Tools

The toolbar gives you access to other tools that further extend the usefulness of your budgets. You can use these tools to help you:

• export your budget to Excel for additional massaging
• attach related documents to your budget
• take notes
• or run reports.

The latter is critical. Peachtree Accounting helps you keep an eagle eye on how you’re adhering to your budget. You should run these reports often to evaluate your current situation and plan for future budgets.

Peachtree provides numerous tools to help you work with your budgets.

Be Budget Smart

You can’t successfully run a business without a carefully crafted budget any more than you can erect a building without a blueprint. Before getting started with the budgeting process, give us a call and we’ll help you make the right moves.

Peachtree automatically assigns sequential invoice numbers at the time the invoices are printed. For this reason, there is typically no need to manually enter a number into the “Invoice No.” field on the Sales/Invoicing screen. One exception is in an event  where you have to manually create an invoice outside of Peachtree and need to record the transaction without printing the invoice.

To change your invoice number format:

Go to Reports & Forms > Invoices and Packing Slips…

Click Preview and Print then enter your newly-formatted invoice number into the field labeled “Number the first invoice“:

For example, let’s say Peachtree assigned invoice numbers 100, 101, 102 to our last three invoices. We want to change the format to ABC###, where “ABC001” is the next invoice number. We simply enter “ABC001” into the “Number the first invoice” field. Peachtree will now number our next three invoices with ABC001, ABC002, ABC003.

Peachtree will continue to use your format to number invoices sequentially, so unless you change your invoice number format, you will not need to manually enter a number again.

As part of the purging process that often occurs around this time of year you make a backup in case you later need to access detailed records. Of course this presents some challenges. Backups take several steps to restore and you have to be careful where you place them on your network. Also, you can mistakenly modify data in a restored backup or make new entries that should be made in your live company file.

Peachtree Premium Accounting and Peachtree Quantum offer an option that simplifies this process and eliminates the potential for mistakes: Archive Company. This function allows you to easily access and review data in an archived company by selecting File > Open Archived Company. The archive allows you to run reports, see detailed transactions, and get Financial Statements all based on the data as it was when you made the archive. What’s more, you won’t have to worry about erroneously modifying archive company data because archives can’t be edited. To create an archive, select File > Archive Company or use the Archive option in the Year End Wizard.

The start of a new year is one of the best times to purge data from your Peachtree company. More specifically, the best time to purge is after you close the fiscal and/or payroll tax year. This is a healthy practice that reduces the size of files that make up your Peachtree company, and generally makes it easier to work with.

The Purge Wizard will guide you through the purge process, letting you decide the type and age of records to be purged. During the Purge wizard, you will be required to make a backup before you begin purging. In fact, Peachtree recommends that you make two backups, one for current reference and one to be stored in a secure location for emergency needs.

To begin the purge process, select Tasks from the Peachtree menu bar, then System > Purge Wizard. The Purge Wizard Welcome Screen will display and you will be guided through each step of the process.

Note: The purge process gives you the ability to stop the purge at any time and to resume at the same point when time permits. However, if the process is stopped, some remaining transactions or maintenance records may not have been purged.

When the purge process has been completed, you can click the Log button to verify what was purged.