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March 2013
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Inside This Issue Product Spring cleaning for your business—organizing your home office. By Nancy Harris, senior vice president and general manager of Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition
Payment processing trends, tips, and tricks Solving inventory purchases for a manufacturer using MRP Updated Sage Business Care plans—more Platinum benefits included Training Opportunities Sage 50 RealTime Training—effective online training when you need it Save time with short-cut keys Newsworthy Business owners making sense of lost penny Canadian businesses balking at regulations Sage 50 Accounting Obsolescence Policy Prefer fewer emails? Did you know there is a Message Centre within Sage 50? Take a Break Quote of the month Sudoku Fun facts about accountants
Spring cleaning for your business—organizing your home office By Nancy Harris, senior vice president and general manager of Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition Running a business or working from home offers many distractions, potentially leaving your home office a bit more cluttered than ideal, or perhaps your space is limited and your home office has taken on other purposes, such as serving as a storage room, crafting room, or a guest bedroom. The best way to organize a home office is to always separate your tasks and stay on course. A project like this may seem daunting at first, but when your work space remains clean, uncluttered, and orderly, you’ll find that your work tasks are in a more efficient and timely manner. To help you get organized, the following are some important areas to focus on: 1. Start with your desk—A desk with paper scattered everywhere does not usually allow for the most efficient use of work space. Additionally, a cluttered work environment may leave some workers feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. A good way to sort through a cluttered desk is to begin by removing everything except for the absolute necessities, such as your computer, phone, and printer. Next, sort through every document removed from the desk and decide how important it is and how often you need it. If a document isn’t used at least once a week, put it aside to be filed. Additional steps to achieve an organized desk include: • K eeping a list of frequently called and important contacts near your phone—this prevents you from digging around for phone numbers when needed.
4. Personalize your work space—Create a work space that works best for you. Every individual works differently, and working from your home office allows you to shape your workspace however you choose. Creating a comfortable and personalized work space will help you stay focused and happy at work. By making these small changes, you will notice considerable improvements in your productivity. Periodically taking an audit of your surroundings and performing these organizational tasks on a regular basis will help you on your path of building a more successful business! Happy spring cleaning!
Payment processing trends, tips, and tricks Over the past few years, credit and debit card acceptance has come on the scene as a required payment option. Similarly, the number of customers using credit and debit cards as a form of payment has been steadily increasing. As credit and debit cards become more pervasive, there is a growing need for business operators to understand this payment option, as well as the key components of card acceptance. Understanding payment trends, tips, and tricks will ensure your business is protected and ready for where the industry is going.
Future trend of payment processing security
• S ort through your office supplies—while some of us like to collect office supplies like pens, highlighters, and rubber bands, you may not actually need all of these items. It may be best to recycle or give away the extra items that you’re not using in order to keep your space free of unnecessary clutter.
While there are many trends in the credit and debit card industry, security is the trend that most businesses should put at the top of their list. Security goes beyond locking the front door at closing time. Business operators must also secure the sensitive information their customers provide when paying for their services.
• P lace a calendar near your computer—this helps you stay on track and on top of important client milestones.
Identity theft and credit card fraud are chief concerns for consumers and the credit card industry and should have great significance to the business operator. Card and identity thieves are becoming increasingly more capable.
2. Capitalize on the power of technology—Many software programs have been designed specifically to meet the needs of people with athome businesses. These products help users stay organized and run their businesses in a much more efficient way. Consider looking into these low-cost products: • Accounting or business software that will help automate a variety of tasks, including: managing cash flow, tracking inventory, and invoicing. Many companies offer free trials for you to assess the ease of use and features that would best fit your business. • C ontact management software can help you keep track of significant client milestones, maintain client history notes, and help streamline processes. 3. Store things digitally—The days of paper folders and filing cabinets are behind us. An ever-expanding digital world offers valuable systems and resources for storing files, illuminating the need for the printing and filing of documents. Establishing an organized, electronic filing system permits work to be completed proficiently and in a timely manner while allowing you to quickly locate and virtually share documents. For documents that may have been untouched for months or even years, consider scanning and storing these documents in your computer files, replacing the physical copy.
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Spring cleaning for your business—organizing your home office (continued)
In 2009, there was a considerable increase in businesses affected by security breaches. In response to the growing threat, major credit card brands like Visa and MasterCard have continued to increase the scope and rigor of consumer protection standards. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) has been implemented in phases, with various deadlines, to control the way card data is transmitted and stored. Credit card processors had a deadline of July 1, 2010, to ensure their customers operated in a PCI-compliant manner. The PCI DSS covers many aspects of storing and handling credit card data. The PCI PIN Entry Devices (PED) component is focused on the hardware used at the point of sale (POS) for capturing the four-digit PIN on a consumer’s debit card. Business owners must ensure that debit card accepting devices are PCI PED compliant, or they risk fines and fees from their processors and the card brands. While the July 1, 2010, deadline was directed at the member organizations (banks), processors enabling the acceptance of these transactions are now also expected to ensure their customers comply with these standards. Many processors are mandating that their customers undergo a PCI audit to ensure compliance and are assessing fees for those customers that do not comply.
March 2013
Payment processing trends, tips, and tricks (continued)
Payment processing trends, tips, and tricks (continued)
The goal of these fees is to encourage customer compliance, which will help reduce the risk to both the merchant and the processor. A PCI audit varies in cost, based on the price negotiated by the customer or processor, but is intended to identify security concerns, including devices, software, and processes, that may expose the merchant to the risk of data theft.
1. Embrace Credit Cards for a Competitive Edge—Customers buy from businesses and vendors they feel comfortable with. Asking your customer not to use a credit card might cause you to lose future sales. Additionally, if you’re a business-to-business (B2B) shop, being credit-card friendly can position your business as the first alternative when your competitor is out of inventory.
Software serves up innovation and risk Another payment processing trend in the business industry is continued software innovation. For example, numerous vendors are introducing digital technology to offer dynamic menus as well as provide assistance with labor scheduling and advanced reporting. It is important to note that software also falls within the purview of PCI guidelines. The Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) requires that all software handling or transmitting cardholder data be certified. Business operators must ensure that any software used, including POS devices that run on PCs, is PA-DSS certified.
Skimming is a security spoiler While hardware and software are an obvious focus for the PCI Security Standards Council, processes within an organization are also a focus, since they greatly contribute to the security of information within a business. A process-related issue with card acceptance is the act of “skimming.” Skimming is the stealing of sensitive information by employees who handle customer credit cards. The method used to steal this information can range from using a device to capture the information stored on the magnetic stripe of the card to simply writing down the card number and the cardholder name. The former can be sold to high-tech criminals who can create fraudulent credit cards; the latter can be used to facilitate identify theft or to make purchases online. Business operators can help guard against skimming by implementing procedural changes geared at making it more difficult for an employee to record credit card data. A PCI audit can help educate business owners and managers in applying these procedures.
What mid-market businesses should know about accepting credit card payments In today’s competitive environment, it’s important that you study and try to leverage these best practices—and even those of your competitors—to fully understand how your payment system touches your customer and your back-office operations. Taking the lowest cost route could cost you business. Consider overall cost of your merchant account, not just the discount rate percentage. Using the low-cost provider comes at the expense of limited product functionality, potential security holes, and lower levels of customer service.
2. Maximize Your Payment Acceptance and Marketing Methods— Offer credit card acceptance and be accessible in all the places your customers want to buy from you: over the phone, on the web, at the tradeshow, in the field, and more. Forcing your customer to call you or conduct the sale in person may limit sales opportunities. Offering credit card acceptance for customers provides immediate payment for goods or services and can serve as a “good will” tool when customers have past-due invoices. 3. Integrate Payment Data With Your Accounting System— Best practice is to integrate your payment data into your accounting system. Not only can this eliminate the inaccuracy associated with time-intensive manual data entry, but it can reduce your days sales outstanding (DSO) and enhance your audit and compliance positions. 4. Have a Mobile Payments Strategy—The infrastructure is there. The technology is there. Are you there? Mobile payments are more than a PDA that can process a credit card or a mobile phone that replaces a credit card; they are also about delivering information and building loyalty through an array of mobile devices that your customers use. Mobile payments extend your business’s potential to your reps in the field and beyond by enabling real-time payments in virtually any environment. 5. Choose a Technically Savvy and Financially Stable Payments Provider—Today, a company’s largest investment is often in technology infrastructure and information security. As a result, payment systems have moved from being bank-owned to business software companyowned and -operated. Select a technically savvy and financially stable payments provider that can meet your business’s unique needs in a safe and secure environment. 6. Get PCI Compliant and Scan Your PCs—PCI-DSS is a requirement of all businesses that interact with credit or debit cards. PCI certification ensures that you’re up to date on the latest best practices to protect your business and customers from payment fraud. And, just as you use virus software on your PC, you should use payment security software that scans your PC and alerts you to potential security leaks—breaches that have the potential to cost millions of dollars. 7. Use a Payment Provider That Supports End-to-End Encryption Technology—End-to-end encryption (E2EE) starts with your payment capture devices and goes all the way to the transaction’s being authorized. E2EE prevents the card account data from being stolen electronically and lessens the cost and impact for your business to become PCI-certified. http://na.sage.com/sage-payment-solutions/lp/sage-50-ca-pci
Solving inventory purchases for a manufacturer using MRP
Solving inventory purchases for a manufacturer using MRP (continued)
Managing inventory can be a real pain for a manufacturing business. Just keeping track of what is in stock is hard enough, especially when you consider raw materials, finished goods, and work in process. Add to that the conflict between having enough inventory on hand to fulfill customer orders with the opposite goal of keeping inventory as low as possible. Spreadsheets are helpful but become unwieldy and are error-prone. MRP solves all that.
Sage 50—Canadian Edition with MISys Manufacturing solves the pain.
What is MRP? Material Requirements Planning (MRP) is a system that enables a manufacturer to plan its purchasing and production activities and, when necessary, create the required purchase orders and production orders in time to meet customer commitments. MRP takes the guess work out of managing inventory purchases and scheduling production.
How does MRP work? At the most basic level, MRP software determines the material you need based on customer orders and can incorporate forecasts of seasonal demand. More simply: • What do you need to buy and make to fill customer orders and anticipated demand? (A) • What stock do you already have on hand? (B) • What stock do you have on order that is yet to be delivered? (C) • What have you already committed to production? (D) Applying the formula A-B-C+D is a rough estimate of what you need to order. It gets really complex when you consider items that have tens or hundreds of parts that go into each unit.
Master Production Schedules complete MRP systems Would you buy something or build something before you needed it? Probably not. Most manufacturers need to carefully manage their finite resources—cash, shop floor capacity, warehouse space. You can only do that if you can identify exactly when you need to buy materials or build items. Utilizing a Master Production Schedule gives you that ability with a time-phased MRP. Think about the time variables that a manufacturer has to take into consideration: • How long it takes vendors to deliver materials (lead time). • How long it takes to make or assemble items at each stage of the operation. • How long it takes outside processors (painting, bronzing, and so on) to complete their work. Without a Master Production Schedule, it is difficult to meet deadlines and keep inventory at optimum levels.
Three-plus years ago the management at Sage recognized that many customers needed the production and inventory management tools that were available in MISys Manufacturing. More than 250 Sage 50 customers use the MISys Manufacturing solution to optimize their production and meet customer deadlines by knowing what to buy and when to buy it and what to build and when to build it. The benefits of using the production scheduling and time-phased MRP tools in MISys Manufacturing software can be measured in the following ways: 1. Improved cash flow—MISys Manufacturing customers are typically able to reduce their inventory by 25%, freeing up the cash invested in inventory for other uses in the company. 2. Improved profitability—Inventory carrying costs range from 12-25% of the inventory value when factoring in the cost of warehousing, insurance, financing, and materials management. Reducing the inventory then reduces the carrying costs. 3. Improved delivery performance—Meeting customer deadlines due to better scheduling and materials management has many impacts in a manufacturing company such as improved customer retention and reduced expenses for expedited shipments of materials needed and of finished goods to the customer. And by improving delivery performance and customer satisfaction, customers are typically willing to move more business to a manufacturer, adding additional financial benefits. If you are a Sage 50 customer who is struggling with managing your manufacturing inventory, consider the advantages of using Sage 50—Canadian Edition with Misys Manufacturing. Vist: http://misysinc.com/materialrequirementsplanning to learn more.
Updated Sage Business Care plans—more Platinum benefits included We recently added three new customer support benefits to the existing Sage Business Care Platinum plan: • Priority phone queuing • A designated support team • New! Appointment scheduling • New! A year-end close and payroll appointment • New! A standard telephone response time of two minutes or less1 All Platinum benefits go above and beyond the standard customer support benefits of: • Unlimited access by phone or online chat support.2 • Unlimited online support ticket requests. • Remote access assistance.2
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March 2013
Updated Sage Business Care plans—more Platinum benefits included (continued)
Sage 50 RealTime Training—effective online training when you need it (continued)
In addition to adding more value to Sage Business Care Platinum, you may notice that we have added a Quarterly Webcast Series to all Sage Business Care plans. If you have a current Sage Business Care plan, you will receive an exclusive invitation to a quarterly one-hour webcast from thought leaders in the business community covering topics to help your business grow including: marketing, HR, customer experience, social media, and more.
To help make our RealTime training as easy as possible for our customers to attend, each session is delivered in 1 to 1 1/2-hour classes to minimize the time you need to take away from the rest of your work or running your business. You pick the classes that you need and the dates that work for you and then sit back and relax.
You may review the updated Sage Business Care chart at: http://na.sage.com/sage-50-accounting-ca/support/care 1. This is the average response time for Platinum customers. It may be higher in January and February due to higher than normal call volume. 2. Support specialists reserve the right to limit duration of telephone support calls or online chat sessions to one hour. Review the supported topics covered with your Sage Business Care plan.
Sage 50 RealTime Training—effective online training when you need it As technology has improved over the years, there are more and more services available to us from the comfort of our own homes or offices that once required lengthy travel and personal time to complete: online banking, bill payments, and, yes, even ordering delicious BBQ baby back ribs just to name a few. One area that has benefited greatly from these advances is training, particularly as it relates to computer software programs and packages. As an innovation leader that prides itself on leveraging the latest technology to improve our customers over all experience, Sage has designed a world-class, instructor-led online training program to allow all of our customers, regardless of geographic location, access to the product training they need. Starting this spring, Sage is also proud to offer all of our RealTime training in French for the first time ever! Our RealTime training program has in fact been available for years, but with our recent move to WebEx as our remote technology provider, we have been able to make the training process easier, more accessible, and more user friendly. This technology is allowing Sage to bring our customers closer to our expert instructors, without expensive travel costs or time spent away from the office. Like all of our training, our RealTime sessions focus on the both the fundamentals of using Sage 50—Canadian Edition, as well as fully utilizing our more advanced features and functionality. Available individually or as comprehensive “series,” our instructors will cover topics including: • Effectively setting up and managing all aspects of your company’s databases. • Streamlining and simplifying day-to-day processes such as payables, receivables, and expenses. • Handling all aspects of your company’s payroll. • Year-end and government reporting. • Departmental accounting and managing projects.
As the training landscape continues to change and more and more classrooms become “virtual,” Sage is committed to helping our customers get the most of their product, and we know effective, convenient training options are the best way to achieve this. To learn more about our RealTime program and the variety of sessions available, follow the link below: Call us now to find out more about our exciting RealTime Training options! 1-866-867-0674
Save time with short-cut keys For most people, in the midst of a frantic day at the office, anything that saves time and effort is welcome. With Sage 50, there are many control functions that do just that: All journals windows—such as invoices for customers and vendors: • CTRL + R: Open recurring transactions • CTRL + P: Print or preview invoice • CTRL + A: Open the adjust invoice search window • CTRL + J: Open journal report • CTRL + K: Open the track shipments window • CTRL + L: Open the invoice lookup window • On your main page you can quickly open and search accounts using CRTL + F to open your chart of accounts.
Business owners making sense of lost penny
Canadian businesses balking at regulations
As many Canadians know, the nation’s economy recently went through a large financial change. After government leaders discovered that it took more money to produce a penny than the coin was worth, they made the executive decision last year to discontinue the “Loonie” in 2013.
There are a lot of laws in many different areas that small business owners must always abide by—finances, employee interaction, interviews, contracts, and other factors must be regulated. However, keeping track of these requirements at all times can be very stressful and take a toll on firms.
As of February 5, the Royal Canadian Mint is no longer producing the penny, and small business owners have had to make some changes at the register. Pricing shifts, distinguishing between income from cash and credit, and other alterations all have to be made to contend with the situation.
Canadian small business leaders have revealed that keeping up with red tape is one of the worst parts about running a business, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) explained. Productivity decreases within the industry.
What does this mean for small business owners, who may not have a large staff that’s familiar with the various things that need to be done?
Red tape a worry for many leaders
Taxpayers save According to the Royal Canadian Mint, though the efforts that must provide for the disappearance of the penny might seem vast and timeconsuming, businesses and consumers alike will save in the long run. The source specified that Canadians will be able to save $11 million in production costs annually. Moreover, for consumers paying in cash, they may actually make out better at the register. The majority of companies have been advised to round their prices to the nearest nickel for those paying with bills and coins.
Leaders should inform patrons Customers may not realize the details that go along with the discontinuance of the penny, though it will directly affect them, so employees should be prepared to share the information. For instance, prices of certain items that don’t end in a 0 or 5 will likely change, at least for those paying in cash. Patrons might be interested to know that though the actual tangible coin is gone, if they pay by personal check, credit, or debit card, they may still be charged odd amounts. This brings up another thing leaders should prepare for—they may want to consider doing regular checkups on their accounting software to make sure everything, including potential new prices, is being processed properly in the wake of the changes.
Benefits to small businesses Luckily, there are a number of positive factors that small business employees will likely see as a result of this change. For instance, Business Insider reported that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty stated that not only will pennies cease to be a source of clutter, but companies will probably be able to save a lot of time and effort that would otherwise be spent counting the tiny coins.
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The recently released poll revealed that though regulations affect all companies, some must dedicate more money and time to comply with the rules, causing undue stress. For instance, the Regina Leader Post reported that 80 percent of regional Canadian farmers list red tape as the biggest irritation within the management of their enterprises. In general, small business owners would hold regulations as the second-most concerning element to running their firms, after taxes. Fifty-five percent of leaders also say that the burden of red tape is growing each year, while CFIB administrators noted that this often leads to conflicting rules, which can be confusing and exceedingly stressful. Owners have to abide by federal, institutional, provincial, and local laws when running their companies. Moreover, CFIB found that Canadian business leaders think that the costs that owners have to spend to comply with government regulations could be cut by approximately 30 percent, equating to $9 billion saved annually. “This is exactly what we mean by red tape. Not the regulations that protect Canadians, but those rules, processes, and government inefficiencies that place undue cost on businesses without serving any purpose,” CFIB executive vice president Laura Jones explained to The Beacon News.
Help for those who don’t know the rules? There are many ways for those who aren’t familiar with some of the regulations to find help. For instance, small business owners can often turn to Small Business Association branches and professionals in their areas, as well as look for guides on the Internet regarding the laws they have to follow. In other cases, technology can be used to ensure compliance. For example, accounting software can help make sure companies’ finances are in order, are being reported correctly, and are filed on time, among other benefits.
March 2013
Prefer fewer emails? Did you know there is a Message Centre within Sage 50? There is a Message Centre within your software that allows you to directly receive messages from Sage. It is important that you are aware of this communication tool, as we will be using it more in the future to keep you up to date on product updates, software tips, and so on. Please keep watch for any pop-up messages that appear in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. If you close a pop-up message and wish to read the message at a later time, simply click the envelope in the lower right-hand task bar. The Message Centre will appear and you can manage your messages as you like.
Take a break
Quote of the month “ In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” —Bill Cosby
Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row, column, and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 though 9.
Message Centre
Fun facts about accountants Fun Fact 1: Accounting plays a major role in law enforcement. The FBI counts more than 1,400 accountants among its special agents. Fun Fact 2: John Grisham, famous author, has a degree in accounting.
Key contacts Customer Sales: 1-888-261-9610 Inquire, purchase, or renew Sage 50 Accounting Product or Version upgrades Sage Business Care Add-on products and third-party services Training courses Customer Support: 1-888-522-2722 • One free support case within 60 days of product registration. • Technical support for customers currently on a Sage Business Care plan. • Pay-as-you-go (offered as required). Customer Service: 1-888-222-8985 • Product updates (includes tax table updates) • Returns • Customer inquiries and complaints • Order follow-up • Credits and disputes • Student version registration • Issue payroll IDs to verified students • Remove customers from mail and call lists Key Web Resources: www.Sage50Accounting.ca http://Partners.SageNorthAmerica.com www.SageU.com This material is for general information purposes only. As market conditions are always subject to change, the information contained herein shall not be interpreted as any commitment from Sage or as legal or financial advice. Please consult with a qualified legal or financial professional if you have questions about your specific circumstances. Sage makes no warranties, expressed or implied, in this material. ©2013 Sage Software Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos, and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. SPK 12-02827 03/13
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