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October 2012
Inside This Issue Features Update from Jennifer Warawa Message from Pascal Houillon—Our commitment to our customers remains as strong as ever Product What’s new in Sage 50 Accounting 2013 New Your clients can subscribe to simplicity Upgrading and converting your files What’s new webcast—Sage 50 Accounting Canadian Edition 2013 Training Opportunities 2013 recertification—begins in October Training videos—Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition Webcast—Sage Accountant Network Certified Consultant Program Excel tips and tricks—Creating Excel formulae in your report Newsworthy Sage 50 Accounting launch parties SAN at Sage Summit—A Canadian experience Accounting today—Stop playing it safe and start marketing online Quote of the month Take a Break Social intelligence: learning to love the "like" Social media tip of the month—Creating a Facebook page The best careers for your zodiac sign Want to be a guest columnist in the Partner Pulse?
Update from Jennifer Warawa Happy October! Many of us are still "glowing" from the excitement and success of Sage Summit that took place in August in Nashville, Tennessee. The Sage Simply Accounting (soon to be Sage 50!) partners were out in full force and were a dominant presence at the conference. There were many long-time Sage Summit attendees that said to me, "I can’t believe how many people are here from Canada" or "Wow—there are a LOT of Simply Accounting partners here!" The Sage Simply Accounting partners who attended are already planning to attend next July in Washington, D.C., and it is expected to be an equally fantastic event (or even better). Mark your calendars for July 21–26, 2013, and start planning for it, because you definitely won’t want to miss it! I’m hoping you caught "The Mentor" newsletter that went out last month. It's our newest newsletter, entirely focused on training opportunities. If you haven’t already seen our easy-to-navigate partner training landing pages, make sure you visit them to learn about all the training opportunities available to you. Also, do you have ideas for training or suggestions for "The Mentor" newsletter? Send an email to Greg Dyer, our manager of partner training— he always loves to hear from partners. Greg is working on some exciting new partner training topics already, including Twitter training for all of you who are still trying to get social media savvy. September and October are busy months for us, and we’re spending a lot of time on the road. We were at the IPBC (Institute of Professional Bookkeepers) Conference September 21–23 and of course going across Canada for the Accounting Technology Tour (which is almost sold out) with Alan Salmon throughout October. In between these two action-packed events we have our launch of Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition and our customer launch parties being held across Canada, which are being hosted by our Certified Consultant community. Whew—it will be a busy few months, but it’s one of my favorite times of the year because I get to spend a lot of time with our Canadian partners and travel across this beautiful country, so I consider myself fortunate! I hope you have a productive kickoff to fall, and I look forward to seeing many of you at the events we’re taking part in this fall. In the meantime, let’s connect on Twitter and stay in touch! Sincerely,
Message from Pascal Houillon By now you are likely familiar with our new product naming structure, which you may have seen in Sage emails, product invoices, or on the New Sage website. While some products have changed names, the company and our commitment to our customers remain as strong as ever. In fact, in August we made several announcements about our upcoming goals and strategies at Sage Summit, where thousands of Sage customers gathered to learn more about their software, discover new technologies, and exchange ideas, tips, and experiences. We also took the opportunity to share with attendees our focus for the near future. I thought you might be interested in getting a taste of that vision. These days, fewer businesses operate exclusively in the office. Your software has to be accessible wherever you operate, which is why Sage foresees solutions like yours becoming more robust in the future. As always, our goal is to make your business life easier, which is why we’re focusing on making future versions of our products accessible online, any time, from anywhere, on any device. We’re also offering options like subscription-based pricing, cloud versions of our popular products, expanded offerings, and better support through Sage Business Care. Watch this video from Sage Summit to see ways we anticipate our customers in the near future will rely on Sage to streamline their business. We understand you’re busy. That’s why even if you aren’t able to attend customer events like Sage Summit, we provide many ways for you to keep up with Sage and to stay involved. Connect with us through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or our product communities, and you’ll be able to learn what’s new, access product information from the experts, and develop relationships with fellow users, software specialists, and more. As always, thank you for being a Sage customer. Pascal Houillon, President and CEO, Sage North America Your Sage 50 Accounting 2013 Upgrade You should have received by now an email from Sage with your product download information. You will notice the product download link directs to a site that starts with “https://red.protexis”. Do not be alarmed, this is the company that is hosting our file. Since our official Sage 50 Accounting web site was not yet LIVE on September 19th when we released the product to you, we directed you right to the file. You may now visit the “How to Videos” under the Support section of www.Sage50Accounting.ca for details. Please note that you will need to first download the Sage Download Manager, and once you do so, you can download the Sage 50 Accounting 2013 file
Jennifer Warawa Vice President, Partner Programs & Channel Sales Sage North America Jennifer.Warawa@Sage.com Twitter: @jenniferwarawa
Meet the new face of Simply Accounting: Now Sage 50.
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SAN Partner Pulse October 2012
What’s new in Sage 50 Accounting 2013
What’s new in Sage 50 Accounting 2013 (continued)
By now you are well aware that Simply Accounting officially becomes Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition on October 1, 2012. We are very excited to finally make this transition whereby our products, our website, and all communication will shift to Sage 50 Accounting 2013. Our name may be changing, but the Sage 50 team remains dedicated to developing and providing the same great accounting solutions and services and will continue to be proudly Canadian-made and fully English-French bilingual. The new features of Sage 50 Accounting 2013 continue to focus on helping Canadian businesses manage their business and financial information easier and glean relevant trends to make insightful decisions to grow their business. The four areas of focus are:
1. Easier to remain accurate and compliant with payroll1 All Canadian employers are required to record their employees’ work history, which includes insurable vacation time, on a ROE form. To assist SMBs to comply with this requirement, Sage 50 records, tracks, and enters the total insurable vacation hours directly onto the ROE form that is created within the solution. Other improvements to payroll in this year’s Sage 50 release provide users with increased flexibility, making payroll tasks easier than before. The new Look Up tool allows the user to conveniently find and make corrections to paycheques made in the current and previous years in the payroll journal. Furthermore, users can drill down in their payroll reports through the Look Up tool to pull up individual paycheques. Another new functionality of Sage 50 allows users to post paycheques into future years, adding convenience for employers to record a postdated paycheque in a new year. Rather than making multiple manual entries, an employer can record paycheques in the payroll journal and date them in the next calendar year without closing off the current fiscal year.
The 2013 release makes it easier to access and share your Business Intelligence reports even when you’re away from your desk. With just a few clicks, you can email, FTP, or publish reports to the web. And if you don’t want to receive every report, you can set up rules so that you only receive the ones you want, when you want. In addition to providing a more user-friendly method to create or modify the layouts of reports, another new feature of Sage 50 is the Trends Forecast dashboard, which is available in Sage 50 Quantum Accounting (formerly Sage Simply Accounting Enterprise). This new tool further enhances the ability to gain better insight by illustrating a business’ projected performance in a set of four graph which allows businesses to adjust plans quickly or make more informed, timely and strategic decisions.
1 All access to any payroll functionality requires, at minimum, a Sage Business Care Gold or Payroll subscription.
2. Increased convenience and usability with electronic payments With more small businesses adopting technology so they can manage their business more efficiently, one such area is payments. As such, Sage 50 includes new features that support users so they can now avoid payment discrepancies. Users can set up an option so an email is sent to vendors, notifying them when a payment has been made electronically. For those businesses that have customers who prefer to be billed in U.S. dollars, the 2013 release provides users the capability to now record, process, and track credit card payments in U.S. dollars. In addition, those users who integrate Sage 50 with Sage Payment Solutions can switch between multiple Sage Payment Solutions accounts and choose to process foreign credit card payments in either a Canadian or U.S. dollar merchant account. 3. Gain better insight and access to real-time business information Another highlight of Sage 50 Accounting 2013 is the additional improvements to Sage 50 Business Intelligence (formerly Sage Simply Accounting Intelligence)—an integrated reporting solution that leverages the power of Microsoft® Excel®—including the introduction of a new Report Designer. The new tool expands on the existing functionality of the Report Manager, making it easier for users to customize financial reports to their own unique reporting requirements so they can more easily see the details they need.
4. Install with just five clicks of the mouse
Lastly, Sage 50 made significant improvements to the installation process that all users will no doubt appreciate. While the installation has previously always been very straightforward, the number of clicks required for installing the 2013 release has been decreased to five, and its streamlined installation wizard provides clearer options and more intuitive instructions. We encourage you to read the details of What’s New in 2013 or watch our What’s New 2013 Video!
What’s new in Sage 50 Accounting 2013 (continued)
Training opportunities
New Your clients can subscribe to simplicity Available with the Sage 50 Accounting 2013 release, some clients will be able to upgrade their software through a new subscription plan. By simply paying a monthly fee, they can get access to Sage 50 software upgrades and updates as well as telephone support from Sage 50 Customer Support Specialists. The subscription service is currently only available to customers with Internet access, and the product is set to read-only mode when the service expires. During the month of October, this special subscription plan offer is going out to a select set of Sage 50 customers. This group of customers are primarily running outdated versions of Sage Simply Accounting and would benefit by moving to Sage 50 Accounting 2013. You have also been sent an email about this new offering, so please check your inbox. Sage 50 Accounting—Upgrading your file With the launch of the new Sage 50 2013—Canadian Edition, many of you will be upgrading and converting your file to the new version. Once the installation process is complete, you will be prompted to open an existing company file, and this may not always point directly to your file’s location; knowing where to find it will make this process much easier. This goes not only for the upgrade process, but in general it is helpful to know the location of your file in case you are required to relink it to your Sage 50.
2013 recertification begins in October Get ready; it’s back and better than ever! Recertification! All certified premier advisors and consultants must take the product recertification exam every year to maintain their current certified status. This is in addition to the Gold Certified Consultant and Platinum Certified Consultant courses. The assessment will be released immediately following the new 2013 product release. You will have 60 days from the date of the assessment release to complete your recertification. All partners are required to achieve a passing score of 80%. The fee for recertification is just $50. You can begin preparation by reviewing and studying the list of resources provided on Sage University for the 2012 Bronze Certification assessment.
Finding the right training courses made easy! The new Partner Training land page provides you with the ease of finding and registering for various types of training. Simply click the link provided to take you directly into Sage University where you can register for the course.
Before a disconnection occurs, take note of your file’s location. You can quickly check this by going to File—Properties in your Sage 50 program. In the properties window you will see (and can take note of) what product you are currently running and on what version, as well as your file name, location, and size.
• S tart on the training path that’s right for you at Sage University. Register for Realtime Training—classroom and seminar-style training.
If you are at a point that you need to find your file and are not sure of its location on your PC, search your system using Windows search functions. In the Windows search you can enter *.SAI; this will search for all Sage 50 files located on the computer. Any files found called "universl.sai" are going to be the Sample company files, you can ignore these. Once your company file; appears, you can right-click it and select "Open Containing Folder" or "Open File location," and that will bring you directly to the saved location of that file so you can take note. If you are unsure that the file found is the correct one, once you are in the containing folder, switch the folder view to Details (option for this found on the top right-hand corner of the window or in the View menu) and verify the date modified. If this file is incorrect, you can return to your search and select the next appropriate file.
• H elp your business grow with Sage 50 Accounting Platinum Certified Consultants.
What’s New Webcast Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition 2013 Learn more about the new features of Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition 2013. Register now: Tue. Oct. 2, 2012 10 a.m.-11 a.m. PT Once you've registered, you will receive an email confirmation with information to join the webcast. System Requirements: PC-based attendees: Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP, or 2003 ServerMacintosh®-based attendees: Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newerMobile attendees: Required: iPhone®/iPad®/Android™ smartphone or tablet
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• B oost yourself to a new level by becoming part of a unique group with Sage 50 Accounting Gold Certified Consultants.
Sage 50 Accounting training videos Get the most out of your Sage 50 Accounting software! The Sage 50 Accounting How-to videos offer easy access for clarification and simplicity of certain tasks and procedures. Watch Now. Sage 50 Business Intelligence webcasts These webcasts will provide information you can use now! With Business Intelligence you have customized reports, on demand, without having to manually update any spreadsheets. In these sessions the presenter will be showcasing the features and benefits of this powerful reporting tool. Register Here Sage Business Care support services update Transforming the customer support experience through online self-service options, world-class phone support, and an extensive network of business partners, certified consultants, and authorized training centers. Read More
SAN Partner Pulse October 2012
Creating Excel formulae in your report
Creating Excel formulae in your report (continued)
Did you know you can create Excel formulae as data expressions in the Administrator module? This can be very useful if you have a formula you need to be extended as far down the sheet as the rest of the data. Method 1. Open your Administrator Module and browse to the container in which you want to add the Excel formula. 2. Right-click on the container and select Add Expression. 7. Select the Excel formula you created and click OK.
8. Run the report out; you will see your Excel formula in the data sheet (for example, Sheet1). Notes 3. Select Excel Formula option.
窶｢ I f you create an Excel formula with a specific cell reference (for example, Sheet1!A2), it will not be changed as the formula moves down the rows (for example, all the rows formula will refer to Sheet1!A2). Alternatively you can use the column reference Sheet1!A:A. 窶｢ It is advisable to use named ranges in your Excel formula. 窶｢ A lchemex automatically creates a named range for each column in the data sheet of a report based on the name of the column. Tip It is easier to create the Excel formula on the data sheet of a run out report and then copy the formula back to the Administrator module.
4. Give the Excel formula a name, for example, "GrossProfit," then type in the Excel formula (do not put an = sign in front of the formula; Alchemex automatically puts it in when you run the report); click OK.
SAN connectivity series窶年etworking Interested in connecting with Sage Accountant Network members in your area? One of the most beneficial relationships you can have is connecting with peers through local regularly scheduled meetings. We are committed to supporting these connections and want to involve as many community members as possible. If you are interested in organizing or attending a local meeting in your community, contact Mark.Hubbard@Sage.com for details.
5. Open your Report Manager and browse to the report associated to the above container and double-click it. 6. Right-click on Columns and select Add Columns.
Participate in the Sage 50 Accounting launch parties online!
Being social
Simply Accounting is becoming Sage 50, October 2012, and Certified Consultants across the country are hosting launch parties to celebrate. More than 40 Sage 50 Certified Consultants across Canada are hosting launch party events between October 1–October 5, 2012. At these events they will share product tips and tricks and demonstrate the new product features in Sage 50 Accounting 2013. Customers can register to attend a launch party by going to Sage Meetup. To participate in a Sage 50 launch event, follow the hashtag #Sage50Canada on Twitter. You’ll see pictures, tweets, videos, and more. Random prizes will be awarded to tweeters throughout the week, so make sure you participate! Or visit Facebook for event coverage as it happens. Plus it’s a great way to share your best product tip or trick. Get involved in the conversation and become an online expert to our shared clients. The Sage 50 launch party is a great reason to get online!
Social intelligence: Learning to love the "like" Social technologies have created new ways to start online relationships, but instant "likes" on status updates might make these interactions seem deeper than they are. As more companies embrace social networks for productivity and customer outreach, workers using them for business must learn to communicate in these virtual spaces with as much nuance and depth as they do face to face. Read More Creating a Facebook page
SAN @ Sage Summit—Bianca Lightheart of Soma Small Business Solutions tells us about her Canadian experience! I am a consultant and user of Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition. Approaching Sage Summit, I along with my fellow colleagues, peers, bookkeepers, accountants, and consultants from Canada felt like we could be a miniscule dot amongst a sea of Sage Summit attendees. It turned out to be quite the opposite. The Canadian partners had the second largest registration of all attendees. There were over 130 of us representing Canada at Sage Summit. Every time I spoke (before I lost my voice) to someone, they commented on how awesome the Canadian presence was.
A Facebook page, sometimes referred to as a "fan page"; is a page that you can create on Facebook for anything you want—including your business. Think of it as a one-page meeting place, with information boards, links, a message forum box, RSS, and anything else you want. The best part is—anyone can create one! Learn how to create a Facebook page and more in the Sage Social Media Guide for Accountants
The best careers for your zodiac sign
Read more of Bianca’s blog Libra (September 23–October 22) Accounting today—Stop playing it safe and start marketing online Just as driving 40 mph on the freeway can get you run over, being overly conservative as a professional services firm will get you left in the dust by your more aggressive competitors. When it comes to online marketing, some firm leaders are moving aggressively to exploit this new approach to client acquisition, while the majority are staying in the slow lane, to the detriment of their firms’ growth and profitability. Read More
Key traits: Diplomatic, artistic, intelligent, yet prone to indecision. Because you are graceful under pressure, you work best in partnerships with other people. Best careers: Architect, designer, lawyer, counselor, behind-the-scenes in the arts. Careers to avoid: conventional jobs that lack creativity and independence of mind. Scorpio (October 23–November 21) Key traits: Dynamic, creative, resourceful, strong willed. Outspoken and selfstarting, you can only work in a career that you feel very passionate about. Best careers: psychologist, designer, law, humanitarian organizations, or charitable foundations. Careers to avoid: anything you perceive as shallow or materialistic.
Funny quote of the month Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight. -Henry R. Luce
Looking for training? Regional partner meetings? Conferences? Webcasts? Check out the Sage Accountants Network Calendar of Events If you are hosting a Regional Partner Meeting, we can add your event to the SAN Calendar of Events. Just email your request to Editor.PartnerPulse@Sage.com
Sage Summit
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Calendar of events
SAN Partner Pulse October 2012
Want to be a guest columnist in the Partner Pulse? To kick off this section of the newsletter, we asked Leyla Szabo-Kustan of Mosaic West Consulting Services to provide her thoughts on one of the sessions she attended at Sage Summit in August. Here’s Leyla’s account of her session: Sage Summit kicked off on Monday with an incredibly motivating keynote from Pascal Houillon, president and CEO of Sage North America, and Himanshi Palsule, chief technology officer and head of product strategy. It was such a tremendous start to the day, I wondered if SAN members would be in "brain overload" by the last break-out session. I was in for a surprise—those SAN partners who attended "Sage 50—Canadian Edition Consultant’s Best Practices" were fully engaged and ready for sharing and learning. The room was vibrant with animated conversation. The roundtable sessions tackled five topics under the stewardship of table moderators that posed the questions and encouraged discussion thru sharing: • Training—Crystal Barenz • Reporting—Tony Yip • P ricing—Jennifer Warawa (with support from Ed Kless and John Shaver) • Marketing/Social Media—Peter Wolf
Want to be a guest columnist in the Partner Pulse? (continued) • Marketing/social media: Our changing world due to the WWW and social media. ◦◦ T he partner community, at this time, isn’t fully accepting of social media and its merits for marketing purposes. ◦◦ I t is not necessary to be a part of every form of social media: Select your area of expertise, select the form of social media you want to be present in—find the right fit for you. • Balance work/life: Preserving ourselves, knowing our limits and boundaries. ◦◦ K now your work/life boundaries; "fire" clients that don’t conform to these limitations. ◦◦ S chedule a business appointment with yourself on a regular basis—and keep it! ◦◦ Plan your vacation schedule first, from there build your work schedule. The summary points alone offer so much to consider—and by putting just a few of the recommendations into place, we, as SAN members, can only grow personally and professionally. Wouldn’t it be interesting to meet again next year in National Harbor during Sage Summit 2013 and see what longterm changes consultants have put in place in their practices as a result of attending this powerful and motivating session?
• Balance Work/Life—Nancy Harris The moderators moved from table to table during the 90-minute session, which gave all participants a chance (however brief) to "tackle" all of the topics. At the conclusion of the session each moderator shared with the room the common thread that they heard from the five table groups they had "toured." The learnings were wide ranging and in summary included: • Training: Who, what, when, where—and most importantly, why? ◦◦ T he importance of continuously training: Sage Summit, online webcasts, CRA webcasts, HR training, and so on. ◦◦ S pecific training and training services offered: meeting your personal needs as well as those of your clients. ◦◦ Client training: must be client driven and class size be kept to a maximum of 12. • Reporting: A value-added service to our clients, implementing and pricing. ◦◦ C ustomized report writing: It’s a steep learning curve; many consultants select to hire the skill. ◦◦ Reading reports: educating our clients on how to “read” reports. ◦◦ Pricing must reflect the expertise required. • Pricing: The never-ending debate of hourly billing vs. value pricing. ◦◦ Analyze what your services are truly worth.
You can submit your 500-word article or send us your article idea or feedback: Editor. PartnerPulse@Sage.com Submissions may be published at the discretion of Sage. Any ideas or feedback submitted may be used by Sage at its discretion.
Key contacts Prioritized Technical Support: Call: 1-866-665-2559 Option 2, Option 1 (English), Option 2 (Technical Support). All Sage Accountants Network members are entitled to free, unlimited priority technical support with a second-level support representative. Account Management: Call: 1-866-665-2559 Option 2, Option 1 (English), Option 4 (Account Management). Key Web Resources: www.Sage50Accounting.ca http://Partners.SageNorthAmerica.com www.SageU.com
◦◦ V alue pricing offers the opportunity to have fewer clients yet more revenue. ◦◦ T he consensus was that there were many "dabblers" in the room (consultants doing some value pricing along with hourly billing). The recommendation was to "jump right in" to value pricing.
©2012 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos, and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc., or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. SPK 12-02511 09/12