Budgeting Options With
Sage MAS 90 And 200
Does your organization produce budgets and track progress? What about revenue forecasts? In this article, we discuss why budgeting is important, and how you can produce budgets with surprisingly little effort in Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 ERP.
Why Budget And Forecast?
If you are only forecasting revenue but not budgeting expenses, you only have half the picture. By doing both, you can anticipate potential cash flow crunches and make plans to manage through them, such as applying for a business line of credit. In fact, budgets and forecasts can help you qualify for funding - demonstrating your company's potential to investors and lenders.
Budgets and forecasts also are an excellent management tool. They can help your staff to understand goals and be accountable for staying in budget and reaching revenue milestones.
Budgets and forecasts also are essential if you are thinking of developing a new product line. By comparing expected revenues to costs you will quickly get a feel for the feasibility of your venture, as well as identify capital requirements.
Sage MAS 90 and 200 General Ledger Version 4.0 and above contains enhanced budgeting tools to help you create a basic budget. If you prefer to use Microsoft Excel for budgeting, F9 software allows you to read and write budget information between Excel spreadsheets and General Ledger module. If you need a tool with more flexibility and power, Sage Active Planner is available as a stand-alone budgeting tool. Here we provide an overview of each option.
Budgeting In General Ledger
With the current version of the Sage MAS 90 General Ledger module, you can save your historical budgets for reporting and comparison purposes, and set up budgets for future fiscal periods. An efficient grid-entry screen allows you to simultaneously edit budgets for multiple accounts.
Using Automatic Budget Copy, budgets can be generated for a new fiscal year based on prior year budget or actual expenses. You then can globally update by an amount or percentage and adjust individual accounts manually as needed. Budget Revision Entry allows you to perform what-if scenarios by making a number of changes without immediately updating the budget. You can print the Budget Revision Register to verify the accuracy of the information entered before updating.
Budgeting With F9 And Excel
If you and your staff like working in Excel, F9 software may be your choice for budgeting. F9, an Excel add-in, dynamically links Sage MAS 90 General Ledger data to Excel. Read Budget and Write Budget buttons pass budgets back and forth between the General Ledger and spreadsheet. Since F9 is hot-linked to the General Ledger you can be sure all numbers are up-to-date, consistent, and complete. If you want multiple users to develop budgets using Excel, but want to restrict General Ledger access to just a few key people, your accounting staff can export the budgets through F9 and forward them on to the appropriate staff. When complete and approved, accounting staff can use the F9 tool to load the revised budgets.
Sage Active Planner
If your organization is growing and many people are involved in the budgeting process, consider an enterprise-level budgeting software such as Sage Active Planner. Budget templates or Plan Sheets have a familiar spreadsheet look and feel and can be automatically distributed to budget owners in multiple departments and then consolidated at the end of the process. You can allocate budgets from bottom-up, top-down, or a combination of both. You also can consolidate several different budget plans. When budgets are complete, they can be entered into the General Ledger manually or through the built-in data import capabilities.
Do you need help getting started with budgeting at any level? Give us a call for assistance.
Creating A New Company In Sage MAS 90 Is Easy As 1-2-3
At year end, it is useful to establish an archive company for the year's data using the Copy Company feature. This gives you a readily accessible copy of the current year's data even after you perform year-end processing in your live company. To make a copy, select the Company Maintenance task from the Library Master module's Main Menu. Create a company code that is easy to identify, such as A for archive and the last two digits of the year — A09 for the year 2009. Next, from the new company's Company Maintenance screen, click on the Copy button and type in the Company Code of your current year's live company. You will be presented with a list of the modules installed in that company and you can select which modules you wish to copy to your archive company. The steps below provide an overview of the process.
1. Set Up A New Company:
Create a new (archive) Company Code into which your 2009 data will be copied. Next, enter in the source company code (your current live company) to copy the data from.
2. Select Modules To Copy:
For the purpose of creating an archive company, we suggest you select all modules and copy them to your new company code.
3. Confirm:
After you've confirmed your selection, answer Yes to the prompt to copy all selected data files to the archive company. It's that easy.
What's New And What's Coming
Update To The Payroll Module
Changes to the W-2 form, box 14, among other tax law changes, will require Sage to issue an IRD (Interim Release Disk) for the Payroll module. You will need to download the IRD and install it prior to printing W-2s and performing year-end processing. Look for an e-mail from Sage that will let you know the IRD is available for download. The IRD will be compatible with Sage MAS 90 ERP Versions 3.71 and above.
Note: This is the last year Payroll Module updates will be provided for Version 3.71. Support and Tax Table Updates for 3.71 will end September 30, 2010.
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Sage Online Community
Early in the year, Sage launched the Sage MAS 90 and 200 Online Community. This is an excellent resource for best practices for using your software. It gets better over time as the blogs and discussion forums fill with useful information. In the discussion forums you can post questions, discuss ideas, and share information about your experiences. The online community is a great place to find creative ideas to get more out of your software investment, and even provide feedback directly to Sage staff. Here's the link:
http://community.sagemas.com/
sagemas/
Version 4.4 Coming Early In 2010
With the release of Sage MAS 90 ERP Version 4.4, the Inventory Management, Purchase Order, Bill of Materials, and Bar Code modules will migrate to the Business Framework. The Business Framework adds flexibility and workflow efficiencies to the modules. Beyond the updated modules, there are significant feature enhancements, including expanded customer and item numbers, automated standard cost adjustment, quicker physical count processing of inventory, and greater decimal precision.
Another important new feature is the Parallel Migration Wizard. It will be available for conversions from Versions 3.71 and greater, to Version 4.4 of Sage MAS 90 and 200 ERP. With the Parallel Migration Wizard, you can take the stress and time pressure out of upgrading.
The key to the new upgrade process is the ability to convert your system in two phases, removing the time-sensitive nature of upgrading. During the first phase, the Parallel Migration Wizard is used to convert your current data to a new parallel installation, either on the same or a different server. Normal operations can continue on your old system. You can test and train on the new system at a pace that suits your business needs.
In phase two, your current data is migrated to the new system, and very quickly you will be running on the new software. If you have been holding off on upgrading due to concerns of losing information or business downtime, Version 4.4 might be the time for you to make the move. Give us a call to discuss.
Module Closing Sequence
The order that modules are closed is very important. The period-end and year-end processes performed in one module often write data to another module, so to close the modules out of order may cause damage to your data.
Note: Before you begin any year-end closing procedures, ensure that you have a complete and verified back up of your data. Modules should be closed in the following order - after you back up your data:
• Bill of Materials
• Work Order
Note: that while there is no formal
year-end processing procedure in these
modules, all transactions should be
entered and posted before proceeding
with year-end processing in the other
distribution modules.
• Bar Code
• Purchase Order
• Sales Order
• Inventory Management
• MRP
• TimeCard
• Electronic Reporting
Note: that while there is no formal
year-end processing procedure in these
modules, all transactions should be
entered and posted before proceeding
with year-end processing in Payroll.
• Payroll
• Accounts Receivable
• Accounts Payable
• Job Cost
• General Ledger
If you are running modules not on this list, for example e-Business Manager, one or more Sage MAS 90 ERP Extended Solutions, or a third-party product, there may be special considerations involved in year-end closing. Give us a call and we will advise you on the best procedure for closing your year in Sage MAS 90 or Sage MAS 200.
General Module Closing For Sage MAS 90 And 200
Here we provide general module closing procedures for the most common modules. For your convenience we indicate the version that a module was updated to the Business Framework. For instructions on how to check your version, see Tips & Tricks on page 3. Modules that have not been updated to the Business Framework maintain buckets of data by year (year-to-date, prior-year, etc.). These data receptacles are initialized during year-end processing, so year-end processing is time sensitive and must be performed in the first month of the new year. Regardless of your version, the Payroll module is the most time sensitive when it comes to year-end processing, because there is no future period.
Use this document as a guide. If you are using Paperless Office, we highly recommend that you save time, paper, and filing cabinet space by using the Period End feature to electronically archive the reports.
Purchase Order
Ideally, Sage MAS 90 and 200 ERP Purchase Order Year-End Processing should be performed before any transactions are updated for the new year. If that is not possible, remember that the future posting capability for Purchase Order is limited to one accounting period beyond the current period. Failure to close Purchase Order before the end of that one future period will cause the summarized totals for the current or future period to not match the transaction detail reports.
1. Before closing the Purchase Order module for the year, be certain that:
• All purchase orders for the prior year
have been entered.
• All receipts, invoices, returns, and issues
have been entered and updated.
• The current Purchase Order date agrees
with the period-end date.
• A backup of Purchase Order files is made.
2. From the Reports Menu the following reports should be created and retained:
• Open Purchase Order
• Open Purchase Order by Item (optional)
• Purchases Clearing by Item and by
Product Line Reports (should reconcile to the General
Ledger Control account).
• Cash Requirements (optional)
• Receipt History
• Purchase History
• Purchase Order Recap (optional)
3. The Purchase Order Full Period and Year- End Processing performs the following housekeeping tasks:
• Sets the PTD and YTD quantity and
dollars purchased fields to zero.
• Removes completed purchase orders
according to the number of days
designated in the Purchase Order Setup
options.
• Removes master and repeating orders
that have expiration dates on or prior
to the period-end date from the open
purchase order file.
• Advances current period in Purchase
Order Setup Options to the next period
and year.
Sales Order
Updated to Business Framework in Version 4.1
Ideally, Sales Order Year-End Processing should be performed before any invoices are updated for the new year. If that is not possible, remember that for versions 4.0 and earlier the future posting capability for Sales Order is limited to one accounting period beyond the current period. Failure to close Sales Order before the end of that one future period will cause the summarized totals for the current or future period to not match the transaction detail reports. Sales orders may be entered with a date of the new year without adverse consequence.
1. Before closing the Sales Order module for the year, be certain that:
• All Sales Order invoices for the current
year have been entered and updated.
• The current Sales Order date agrees with
the period-end date.
• A backup of Sales Order data files has
been made.
2. From the Reports Menu the following
reports should be created and retained:
• Open Sales Orders
• Open Orders By Item (optional)
• Back Order (if applicable)
• Customer Sales History (optional)
• Monthly Recap (optional)
3. The Sales Order Full Period and Year End
Processing performs the following housekeeping tasks:
• Resets the PTD and YTD Sales, Cost of
Goods Sold, and Quantity Sold fields in
the daily and monthly Sales Recap files
to zero.
• Resets the periods for current year,
quantity shipped, dollars sold, and cost
of goods sold; and moves current year
Quantity Sold to Prior Year Quantity
Sold in the Sales Order Customer Sales
History file.
• Removes master and repeating orders
from the open sales order file that have
expiration dates on or prior to the
period-end date.
• Advances current period in Sales Order
Setup Options to the next period.
Inventory Management
Ideally, Inventory Year-End Processing should be performed before any transactions are updated for the new year. If that is not possible, remember that the future posting capability for Inventory Management is limited to one accounting period beyond the current period. Failure to close Inventory Management before the end of that one future period will cause the summarized totals for the current or future period to not match the transaction detail reports.
The Inventory year-end process should occur immediately after Purchase Order and Sales Order year-end processing and before Accounts Receivable year-end processing.
1. Before closing Inventory for the year, be
certain that:
• All adjustments have been entered and
registers updated.
• Current Inventory date agrees with
period-end date.
• A backup of Inventory files has been
made.
2. From the Reports Menu the following
reports should be created and retained:
• Inventory Trial Balance (should tie to
the inventory accounts on the G/L Trial
Balance for the same period).
• Stock Status (quantities reflect day
printed.
• Inventory Valuation (should tie to G/L
inventory account as of the day it's
printed).
• Inventory Negative Tier Adjustment
(from Period-End Menu). Be certain toupdate this report.
Note: Any negative tiers should be resolved
before closing and making any new year
entries.
3. The Inventory Full Period End and Year
End Processing performs the following housekeeping
tasks:
• Calculates beginning average cost (by
item by warehouse) and average on-hand
quantity.
• Resets PTD and YTD quantity sold and
issued, quantity returned, dollars sold,
and cost of goods sold.
• Moves current year information to
prior year fields in the Inventory Item
Warehouse Detail file.
• Removes any zero quantity costing tiers
for LIFO, FIFO, Lot, or Serial items (if
applicable).
• Advances current period in Inventory
Setup Options to next period and year.
To perform year-end processing, select
the option Full Period End Processing. This
ensures that the ending period is the last
period of your year.
Payroll
The Payroll module is based on a calendar year. There is no future period in Payroll. You cannot post a payroll with a check date in a future quarter until the current quarter is closed by selecting Quarter and Year End Processing from the Period End menu. Before proceeding with year-end processing, make sure the Quarterly Governmental Report, Quarterly 941 Form, and employee W-2 Forms have been printed. Consider creating a company to archive your 2009 information (see "Creating A New Company In Sage MAS 90 Is Easy As 1-2-3") and review year-end update information (see "What's New And What's Coming").
1. Before closing the Payroll module for the
year, be certain that:
• All payroll cycles have been entered and
updated for the quarter.
• All checks written during the quarter
(including manual) have been entered
and updated.
• Payroll System Date is set to the last day
of the calendar year.
• Proper year tax tables are installed (2009
for 2009 Year-End Processing).
• W-2s are printed and verified.
• Electronic Reporting files, if applicable,
are processed and created.
• A backup of the payroll files has been
made. Check and double-check the backup.
2. The following reports should be created
and retained:
• Quarterly Tax
• Payroll Check History
• Quarterly Pay Period Recap
• Earnings
• Deductions
• Quarterly Governmental
• Quarterly 941 Form
• Benefit Accrual
• Workers' Compensation
3. Be certain to reconcile QTD and YTD
totals on all reports.
4. Payroll Period-End Processing performs
the following housekeeping tasks:
• Resets the QTD and YTD employee
fields to zero.
• Increments the current year to the next
year.
• Changes the current quarter from 4 to 1.
• Resets employee benefit limits according
to Payroll Options Setup.
• Resets Pension Plan, Cafeteria Plan
Deduction, Allocated Tips, Fringe
Benefits, Non-Qualified Plan, and
Dependent Care Benefits fields to zero.
• Sets all quarterly/yearly reports to zero.
• Removes check history and perpetual
history depending upon your system
settings.
• Purges terminated employees.
• Purges standard deductions that have met
goals.
Note: Once you have completed year-end
processing for Payroll, be certain to install the
Q1 2010 TTU (tax table update) for 2010
before the first payroll run of the year.
Accounts Receivable
Updated to Business Framework in Version 4.1
Ideally, Accounts Receivable Year-End Processing should be performed before any transactions are updated for the new year. If that is not possible, remember that for versions 4.0 and earlier the future posting capability for Accounts Receivable is limited to one accounting period beyond the current period. Failure to close Accounts Receivable before the end of that one future period will cause the summarized totals for the current or future period to not match the transaction detail reports.
1. Before closing the Accounts Receivable
module for the year, be certain that:
• All invoices and cash receipts have been
entered and updated.
• Finance charges have been run and
updated (if applicable).
• Customer statements have been printed
(if applicable).
• The Accounts Receivable System Date is
set to the last day of your fiscal year.
• A backup of the Accounts Receivable files
has been made.
• Any AP from AR Clearing has been
processed.
2. From the Reports Menu the following
reports should be created and retained:
2. The following reports should be created
and retained:
• Aged Invoice
• Trial Balance (this amount should agree and be reconciled to the General Ledger
account before completing year-end
processing)
• Customer Sales Analysis
• Cash Receipt Report
• Sales Analysis by Salesperson
• Salesperson Commission
• Sales Tax (if applicable, this report should
be printed and cleared each month)
• Monthly Sales Analysis (optional)
• Monthly Cash Receipts
• Accounts Receivable Analysis
3. The Accounts Receivable Full Period and
Year End Processing performs the following
housekeeping tasks:
• Purges AR Monthly Cash Receipts file
(unless retained in AR Options).
• All PTD and YTD fields in the
Customer Masterfile are reset.
• Purges PTD and YTD COG in AR
Analysis by Salesperson.
Moves current year
information to prior year.
PTD and YTD sales, gross
profit, and commission
amounts are reset in the AR
Salesperson masterfile. YTD
information is moved to the
prior-year field.
• Purges all temporary customers with zero
balances.
• Purges various customer history files
according to the parameters you selected
in Accounts Receivable Options. We
recommend you check these parameters
prior to performing year end.
• Sets current fiscal year to next sequential
year and the current period changes to 1.
Accounts Payable
Updated to Business Framework in Version 4.2
Ideally, Accounts Payable Year-End Processing shouldbe performed before any transactions are updated for the new year. You don't need to print 1099 forms before proceeding with the Accounts Payable yearend processing because Sage MAS 90 and 200 has a separate 1099 calendar year in Accounts Payable options.
Note: Please check with us for instructions if your 1099 information is not correct before proceeding with year-end closing.
1. Before closing the Accounts Payable module
for the year, be certain that:
• All invoices have been recorded in both
the Accounts Payable and Purchase
Order modules.
• All checks are printed and updated.
• All manual checks written during the
month have been entered.
• The current Accounts Payable date agrees
with the period-end date.
• Accounts Payable files are backed up.
• AP from AR clearing has been processed.
• 1099 data for the calendar year is
verified.
2. From the Reports Menu the following
reports should be created and retained:
• Aged Invoice
• Trial Balance (this amount should agree
and be reconciled to the General Ledger
account before completing period-end
processing)
• Vendor Purchase Analysis
• Monthly Purchase
• Check History
• Accounts Payable Analysis
• 1099 printing to paper (verification only)
3. Year-end processing takes place automatically
when period-end processing is performed
for the last period of the fiscal year.
The Accounts Payable Full Period End and
Year End Processing performs the following
housekeeping tasks:
• Resets the PTD and YTD purchases,
payments, and discounts fields in the
vendor master file to zero. Moves current
year information to prior-year fields.
• Removes all temporary vendors, and any
associated memos, with zero balances
from the vendor master file.
• Purges vendor, 1099, and check history
according to the number of days to
retain history in Accounts Payable Setup
Options.
• Sets current fiscal year to next sequential
year and the current period changes to 1.
General Ledger
Updated to Business Framework in Version 4.0
Sage MAS 90 or 200 allows you to post to unlimited future periods/years; however, you can only print accurate financial statements for one future year.
1. Before closing General Ledger for the year,
be certain that:
• The current General Ledger date agrees
with year-end date.
• Balance Sheet is in
balance.
• Budget revisions are
entered through Budget
Revision Entry, and
the Budget Revision
Register is run.
• All activity and
adjustments in
modules integrated with General Ledger
are complete in the year to be closed.
• Recurring Journals have been printed and
updated.
• Allocations have been posted if necessary
and the Allocation Journal has been
updated.
• General Journal adjustments have been
entered.
Note: The General Ledger Worksheet is a
useful tool in determining which adjustments
to make.
• Daily Transaction Register is printed and
updated.
• A backup of the General Ledger files has
been made. This is even more important
for General Ledger than the other
modules. Do not neglect this step. Label
and store the backup for safekeeping.
• A second backup has been performed.
Label and store the backup for
safekeeping, once year-end processing is
completed.
2. From the Period End Report Selection
menu confirm the list of reports you wish to
print during year-end processing. The reports
you select here will print automatically during
year-end processing if you check the
Print Period End Reports box on the Period
End Processing window. At a minimum,
the following reports should be created and
retained:
• General Ledger Detail (the reports for
periods 01–12 should be printed and
retained)
• Trial Balance
• Standard Financial Statements
• General Ledger Analysis
• General Ledger Worksheet
• Balance Sheet
3. Year-end processing takes place automatically
when period-end processing is performed
for the last period of the fiscal year.
Year-end processing performs the following
housekeeping tasks:
• Sets current fiscal year to next sequential
year and the current period changes to 1.
• Clears all income and expense account
balances and posts net profit to the
Retained Earnings account.
• Creates next year's budget based on your
setup options in the Auto Budget feature
in General Ledger Options.
Note: Options determine how you create
next year's Current Budget. The options
are: copy this year's Actual or do nothing
to next year's Current Budget.
• Transaction history may be purged based
on how you have set the Number of Years
to Retain General Ledger History setting in
the General Ledger Options. It is advisable
to retain at least seven years of history.
• To perform period-end processing,
select the option Period-End Processing
from the General Ledger period-end
menu, ensuring that the period number
displayed is your final period of the year.
Please call us if you have any questions or
concerns regarding year-end processing - we
would be happy to assist you.
In the Spotlight: The Applianz System Can Save On Upgrade Costs
Has your organization been holding off on upgrading your Sage MAS 90 ERP software, because of the cost of the hardware and operating system upgrades you would need? If so, read on to learn about the Applianz System, a cost-effective platform for your mission-critical business management software.
Leverages Existing Systems
Many customers have older Windows 98, NT, or even Windows 95-based workstations. Because Sage discontinued support for these operating systems with Version 4.1, you may be looking at significant costs to upgrade your operating system or hardware. However, with the Applianz System you can continue to use your existing PCs and network to run the latest Sage business software without upgrading your hardware.
How It Works
The Applianz System uses platform virtualization to provide you with three different types of sessions.
• The Server Session - This session type
is a Windows 2003 server session - the
server session is where company data
and server software are installed. This
session is what would traditionally be
a dedicated server, but with Applianz
technology it is all on one server.
• The Template Session - This session is used primarily during initial setup so you
can configure a template from which you
can clone all your individual workstation
application sessions.
• Application Sessions - The application
session is what is used to run the
workstation software.
All of the sessions exist on one Applianz server. These sessions can be run on any of your older workstations, so there is no need to upgrade them.
A user of the Applianz System connects using a thin client known as the Applianz Client. It securely connects the user to an already running application session, and displays the workstation software for your application. When processor-intense operations are performed in the software, they use the processor of the Applianz System, instead of the user's PC. Only when the software on the application session changes the display is that visual change transferred to the Applianz Client software. Because only a small amount of visual display information is transferred from the Applianz System to the Applianz Client, it is possible to use the Applianz Client from any location outside your network. The only requirement is that you configure your firewall or router to allow the Applianz Client to make the connection to your Applianz System.
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Remote Access
The savings in upgrade costs alone may be enough for you to seriously consider the Applianz solution, but it comes with other significant benefits. It provides you with oneclick remote access from any location, such as a regional or home office, without the complexity and expense of VPNs or other remote access software. You have easy access to support when you authorize us to log on remotely to perform any required maintenance or modifications, or to review a procedural question.
Automatic Backup
Applianz also backs up your system automatically every night, removing the necessity of in-house backups. The backup is stored offsite, so should your business ever be disrupted by fire or natural disaster, Applianz can restore you to a new system in hours.
Applianz is a Sage Endorsed Solution. Please give us a call if you would like more information.
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