Accountancy software provider Sage has unveiled its latest tax software which supports both paper and online filing.

Sage Taxation 2009 and Sage Instant Tax enables practices to prepare returns for individuals, partnerships and trusts. The validation checks in the software review submissions to prevent tax returns from being rejected by HM Revenue & Customs.

HMRC posted record amounts of tax returns filed electronically this year with the majority of e-filings being made directly with HMRC’s own electronic offering and not third party.

Greg Ford, managing director, Sage accounts division, said: ‘We know that online filing for personal tax clients can be daunting and expensive for smaller practices, which is why we believe that Sage Instant Tax will make the transition from paper to online more accessible and affordable to practices that are not already filing online, meaning they too, alongside larger firms, can electronically file individual tax returns with confidence’

Sage Instant Tax prices will starts just £99 for a 10 client license and has also improved the software’s printing capabilities for faster printing of tax returns.

The Credit Crunch Crisis has badly hit most of the UK companies. In these tough times, businesses are looking for ways and means to conserve cash.

Cutting down unnecessary cost, tight control of expenses and regular monitoring of inventory items are some of the important measures that organisations can adopt to remain in business during these tough times.

Of course, this requires the availability of key accounting information in a timely manner, for the decision makers to act accordingly.

To better equip the Sage 50 Accounts customers to address these issues, Microsap, (www.microsap.co.uk) a leading software services company and a Sage development partner, has launched a unique and effective solution – The Credit Crunch Module for Sage.

The Credit Crunch Module sits on top of Sage 50 Accounts software and uses the already available data to provide a thorough and meaningful analysis of expenses and possibly locked-up inventory assets.

The Credit Crunch Module, at present, provides two functions:

Expense Analysis

Expense Analysis uses the categorized headings already defined in Sage 50 Accounts to provide a thorough analysis of all the expenses. The various options for comparison include

• Current Month v/s Last Month
• Current Quarter v/s Previous Quarter
• Current Half Year v/s Previous Half Year
• Current Half Year v/s Previous Year same Period
• Current Year to Date v/s Previous Year to Date

The advantages of the Expense Analysis include:

• On Demand availability for real-time comparison of Expenses
• Accounting system being the primary source, data integrity and correctness is ensured
• Graphical representation for quick analysis

ABC Analysis

ABC analysis is the method of classifying items involved in a decision situation on the basis of their relative importance. The classification may be on the basis of monetary value, availability of resources, variations in lead-time, part criticality to the running of a facility, new customer parts unique to that product, and others

• “A” – items are the highest priority, the tightest control, frequent deliveries, close follow-up, and accurate records. Planning and Scheduling these parts utilize MRP (Material Requirements Planning), DRP (Distribution Requirements Planning, or EOQ (Economic Order Quantity) or other lot sizing techniques such as Lot for Lot. 10 % of the “A” items volume accounts for 70% of the total inventory value
• “B” – items are the priority when low or out of stock. Normal control is used and good records are maintained. EOQ and other lot sizing methods can be used effectively with these items. “B” items account for 20% of the total inventory value, and 20% of the inventory volume.
• “C” – items are the lowest priority, simplest method of control. Min/Max used for ordering. These parts are usually expensed, as there are no records for them. These parts represent 10% of the total value, and 70% of the volume

The advantages include

• The analysis can be carried out based on either the Rate, or the Value or the Quantity of inventory items
• You can define your own criteria for ABC analysis
• Choose the range for each of the type of groupings

Microsap along with its group company Winjit Technologies, have proven expertise in developing high end software solutions, especially for Finance and Accounting. The solutions developed are not only of the highest quality that add value to the customers but also have a huge cost advantage. Unlike any software technology company, Microsap has a robust global delivery centres that collaborate the best of the resources across the world in an optimum way without compromising on the quality.

About Microsap UK (www.microsap.co.uk)

Microsap Limited is a global software consulting and software services company established to offer services to Software Product companies (ISVs) and End-user organizations, primarily in small and medium size sector. Working closely with its customers, Microsap delivers technology solutions tailored to meet their business challenges. Microsap operates ISO certified development centres in India with its group company Winjit Technologies (www.winjit.com).  Over the past few years, it has successfully executed a number of engagements with customers in the UK , Europe, Africa and Australia .

Leveraging its technology expertise and its knowledge of business processes, Microsap has enabled its customers to create far greater value out of their investment in ERP software. With its excellent knowledge of Accounting and Finance processes and good understanding of SAGE and SAGE family products, Microsap has devised a number of innovative solutions for SAGE users. Microsap has become a Sage Development Partner in 2006 to help this cause.

Always keen on building long-term partnerships, we work closely with our customers and help them to:

• Stay ahead of the competition by early deployment of their software
• Retain all important business knowledge
• Reduce the impact of changes through process driven approach
• Create a satisfied customer base through reliable, quality software
• Leverage our offshore engagement models to optimize the development budgets

Credit Crunch Module for Sage 50 Accounts can be downloaded here

For more details, contact

Microsap Limited
Asmec centre, Eagle house,
The Ring, Bracknell ,
Berkshire RG12 1HB
United Kingdom
Phone: 01344 382 060
Fax:    01344 303 192
Email: sales@microsap.co.uk

‘In a recession cash is king’. It is an old saying and not without some wisdom. For when a recession strikes then asset prices fall – shares, real estate, just about everything you can buy – and the person with cash in hand can take the advantage  

1. Set a budget at least six months ahead (Budget & Plan)
   

Monitor actual results against the budget and keep revising it – things change very fast these days and you need to be ready. Make sure you know your taxes, emergencies, insurance which you have to pay to avoid any last minute surprises. Avoid any defaults during these times as could risk your credit rating in longer term.

1. Regular management accounts to monitor your cash flow (Manage & Monitor)
   

Be on the Top of your accounts rather than it being on top of you. Manage and Monitor on a regular basis, even if it requires having a part time book keeper if required. Monthly is essential, weekly is better, daily is best

1. Check bank statements regularly and reconcile them. (Check & Validate)
   

Banks are managed by humans and they do make mistakes so keep an eye on the bank statements regularly to avoid any charges on your bank and control over the bank over draft. Overdraft is a critical and useful tool in such days.

1. Negotiate longer credit terms with suppliers (Negotiate)
   

Even 7 days increases in your credit terms could affect you but be justified don’t put your suppliers out of business, and don’t jeopardize your own credit rating. Take all cash discounts if you have cash and for annual payments go in for monthly Installments instead of one time payments. .

1. Make sensible use of credit cards (Credit Card Sensibility)
   

Credit card could be a good tool to get some extended credit for purchases but use them sensibly and ensure you plan in your cash flows so you do not have the burden of excessive interest. Never get in the cycle of Credit card finance as they are very costly.

1. Stock is not cash, it’s only potential cash. (Manage Inventory)
   

Stock is not cash it is only cash when it is sold and you do not earn if you have it on your shelf or your warehouse. Manage and control Stock levels as it could be the biggest portion of your asset which you could control and reduce. Never stock if you get it cheap as the markets are well informed and networked now a days so everyone could have the information at the right time.

1. Small Retail Sales should be in cash not Credit. (Cash Sales)
   

Small retails sales keep it always in cash no credit as there is a very cost for collection. So keep all small sales in cash to avoid any collection costs.

1. Do not refuse sales to small customers. (Small Customers)
   

Small customer might just give you the ready cash and clear up your dead inventory. Never ignore the small customer could be ready cash for you as well as clearing of old inventory.

We have software / services and simple tools which will help you analyze your data and point you in the right direction.

From 1st December 2008, the standard rate of VAT will decrease from 17.5% to 15%. Winjit Technologies helps users to make this changes in Sage Line 50. Download the file from the below link and follow the instructions for making the changes in Sage Line 50 and be prepared for 1st December 2008

Download Document on Changing VAT in Sage Line 50

I found this intresting article and a Tool while investigating issues with VAT rate change on Sage line 50.

The Problem

After detailed investigation we have concluded that Sage 50 has various issues (dependent on your version) with the recent changes in Vat. It generally calculates the Vat amount due per item line at time of entry or amendment.

This means that even after changing the Vat rate within Sage any outstanding orders (some versions only) and invoices including any memorised invoices (all versions other than 2009), it shows the new rate but the wrong (old) Vat amount. (It does this as it does not recalculate the Vat amount). On all versions there are issues with the Vat on carriage, which we also fix.

The Solution is The Bluestone Vat Correction Tool Just before you print and post your invoices, simply run the Bluestone Vat correction tool to ensure compliance. It checks all invoices within the defined date range and will recalculate the invoice. It does this by taking the item price (including any discounts given and applies Vat at the defined rate)

Check the entire article on Click here

This isa simple video tutorial to migrate to new VAT rate of 15 % from 17.5 % in sage Line 50. I have been reading some posts on problems with recurring invoices in Sage. We are trying to investigate  on a solution for simpler migration for the process. 

Meanwhile the attached process will atleast solve the problem for your new invoices. 

From 1 December 2008, the standard rate of VAT will decrease from 17.5% to15%. This article explains how this change affects Sage Accounts and what you need to do. There are many Sage users would need help to migrate from 17.5 % to 15 % 

This article explains on steps to do the same

To change the VAT rate in Sage Accounts

To change the standard rate of VAT in Sage Accounts, you should edit the standard rated tax code, T1 by default.

Note: You should make this change on 1 December 2008.

1. Open the Settings menu, choose Configuration then click the Tax Codes tab.

Sage Accounts v9 and below – Open the Settings menu then choose Tax Codes.

The tax code information appears as below

2. Select T1 then click Edit.

Note: If you use a different tax code for your standard rate of VAT, select the relevant tax code then click Edit. The Edit Tax Code window appears.

3. Enter 15 in the Rate box then click OK. The Edit Tax Codes window closes.

4. To apply the change, and return to the Sage Accounts desktop, click Apply then click Close.

Note: The following are not affected by the change in VAT rate:

    Zero rated goods, for example, basic foodstuffs, children’s clothing and children’s footwear.

    Goods and services subject to VAT at the reduced rate of 5%.

We have software / services and develop bespoke applications on Sage line 50 as per your requirements.

Running a year end involves many processes including producing and reconciling your reports and posting adjustments to your accounts.This article contains the following sections:

• What happens when you run the Year End option – When you run the Year End option, Sage Accounts checks all of your data and, where relevant, amends the information in readiness for your new financial year.
  
• To prepare to run the Year End option – Mandatory Procedures – Before running the Year End option there are certain mandatory and optional procedures to consider. This section explains the mandatory procedures.
  
• To prepare to run the Year End option – Optional Procedures
  - Before running the Year End option there are certain mandatory and optional procedures to consider. This section explains the optional procedures.
  
• To run the Year End option – Once you have completed the pre year end mandatory and optional procedures, and have posted all of the transactions possible for the year, you are ready to run the Year End option.
  
• To prepare for the new financial year – Mandatory Procedures – After running the Year End option there are certain procedures that should be carried out. They are split into mandatory and optional procedures. This section explains the mandatory procedures.
  
• To prepare for the new financial year – Optional Procedures – Before you start to process data for your new financial year, there are a number of optional procedures that you may want to complete.
  

What happens when you run the Year End option

Profit and loss balances are cleared

When the Year End option is run, Sage Accounts checks all of the Chart of Accounts to establish which nominal codes are profit and loss codes. The balances, up to the end of the current financial year, on these profit and loss nominal codes are transferred to the Profit and Loss Account nominal code. This is 3200 by default and is in the Capital and Reserves section of the Chart of Accounts.

Any balances remaining on profit and loss nominal codes relate to transactions posted for the new financial year. The balance on the Profit and Loss Account nominal code is adjusted by the profit or loss from the financial year you have just closed.

Note: The Profit and Loss Account nominal code is a control account. This means that the year end postings are automatically sent to this account. To check the Control Accounts, open the Settings menu, then choose Control Accounts. In the Control Accounts settings, the Profit and Loss Control Account is called Retained Earnings

Balance sheet balances are brought forward to the new financial year

The balance sheet nominal code balances are carried forward into the new financial year. These balances are transferred to the brought forward boxes on the Nominal Records, and are included in the Year To Date values on the Balance Sheet report when calculated for a date in the new financial year.

Audit trail updated

The journals posted to clear the balances from the profit and loss nominal codes are added to the audit trail. The Year End option creates a report that lists these journals and can be printed or output to file to be printed later.

Nominal Records updated

On the Nominal Record Details tab, the value of any future dated transactions is transferred from the future bucket to the relevant month on the Actual column. The Actual monthly balances for the financial year that you are closing are transferred to the Prior Year columns on the Nominal Record. This enables you to print comparison reports in the new financial year. If you select, in the Year End window, to Transfer / Copy Actuals to Budgets, the Actual monthly balances are also transferred as the Budget values for your profit and loss nominal codes for the new financial year. If specified, a percentage increase is applied. This is an optional feature of the year end.

Product Records

Sage 50 Accounts, Sage Instant Accounts Plus v8.2 and above – The Actual Sales Value and Actual Quantity Sold values in each Product Record are transferred to the Prior Year columns. Any future dated transactions are transferred to the relevant monthly field in each Product Record.

Customer and Supplier Records

The values in the YTD (Year To Date) turnover box in all Customer and Supplier Records are transferred to the Prior YTD field. Any future dated transactions are transferred to the relevant monthly field in each Customer / Supplier Record.

Financial Year Start Date

To prepare to run the Year End option- Mandatory Procedures

Run Check Data

The Year End option calculates balances based on your transactions and the information held in your software records. It is therefore essential that your data is error free. Before running the Year End option, you should use the Check Data option to check the validity of your data files and, if necessary, correct any data corruption.

Note: If you have a multi-user licence, this is an exclusive program request area. This means that you must log all other users out before you can access this option.

Check your Chart of Accounts

During the Year End procedure Sage Accounts uses all layouts in the Chart of Accounts to establish which are the profit and loss nominal codes. The balances from the profit and loss nominal codes are then transferred to the Profit and Loss nominal code which is by default 3200.

To ensure that all profit and loss codes are represented it is important to check your Chart of Accounts, otherwise their balance is not cleared at the year end. and correct errors in your Chart of Accounts.

Take two backups

Before running the Year End option, you should take two backups of your data and keep these in a safe place. Once the year end is run, the only way to go back to a pre year end position is to restore from one of these backups. You may need to do this to run reports, check accounts, or even run the Year End option again. We advise taking two backups as a precaution against loss or damage to your pre year end backup. For further information about backing up your data, please refer to Ask Sage – Detailed Article 11592 How to back up and restore your data files.

To prepare to run the Year End option – Optional Procedures

Run the Month End

If you usually run the Month End option, before running the Year End option, you should run the month 12 month end.

Change Program Date

The Year End option posts journals to clear the balances on your profit and loss nominal codes. These journals must be dated on the last day of your financial year. Sage Accounts stores this date and automatically enters it in the Year End window. You can run either the Year End option with your program date set to the current date, or change the program date to be the last day of the financial year.

• If you run the Year End option with the program date set to a date beyond the year end, the following message appears:
  

‘The current program date is outside your financial year. If you continue it may cause discrepancies in your accounts. Do you want to continue?’

To run the Year End option, click Yes, or to exit without running the Year End option, click No.

This message is a warning against running certain year end routines to the wrong date, for example running the clear audit trail into the new year or running the month end for month 12 with the wrong date.

• If you run the Year End option with the program date set to be the last day of the financial year the following message appears:
  

  ‘You are about to process a Year End whilst in your current financial year.
  Are you sure you wish to continue?’
  

  To run the Year End option, click Yes, or to exit without running the Year End option, click No.

  This message is aimed at preventing you from running your Year End before you are ready.

Print Reports – If required, print the following reports:

• Trial Balance
  
• Profit and Loss
  
• Balance Sheet
  
• Aged analysis reports for debtors and creditors
  
• Statements for customers and banks
  
• Bank Report, un-reconciled
  
• Day Books for customers, suppliers, banks and nominal
  
• Activity reports on all ledgers
  
• Audit trail
  
• Budget Analysis report
  
• Prior Year Analysis report
  
• Sage 50 Accounts Plus/Sage Line 50 Accountant Plus and Sage 50 Accounts Professional/Financial Controller – Stock Valuation
  
• Sage 50 Accounts Plus/Sage Line 50 Accountant Plus and Sage 50 Accounts Professional/Financial Controller – Product Profit Reports
  

Note: If you are unsure which reports to print, please check with your Accountant.

To run the Year End option

1. Open the Tools menu, choose Period End then choose Year End.
   

   The Year End window appears.
   

2. Complete the Year End window as follows:
   

• Year End Date – Displays the last day in the current financial year.
  
• Current Date – Displays the current program date.
  
• Transfer Actuals to Budgets / Copy Current Actuals – To automatically set budgets based on income and expenditure during the year for profit and loss nominal codes, select this option. These values are transferred as monthly figures.
  
• Percentage Increase – If you want to set a target for the following year, enter the percentage increase you want to apply to your budgets here.
  
• Year End Journals – Automatically displays the year end date. This is the date Sage Accounts uses to post the journals which clear your profit and loss nominal codes.Note: This date must be within the year you are about to complete, otherwise there will be discrepancies on your Profit and Loss report in the new financial year.

• Output to – Displays the output options for the Year End report. This report details the journals automatically posted at the year end. You can choose one of the following:
  

Print – Select this option to output the report direct to your printer.
File – Select this option to file the report to print later.

Tip: If you need to rrun this report again, you can run the Day Book: Nominal Ledger report as this report only picks up journals. Simply enter the appropriate transaction number range.

• Sage Line 50 v9.xx and above, including Sage 50 Accounts – Archive Company Data before Year End – This option allows you to take a copy of your data at the pre year end point. You can then refer back to the archived data, either to run reports or analyse your previous year’s data.
  

  Note: Archived data is read only and cannot be amended in any way.
  

1. To run the Year End option, click OK.
   

   Tip: If required, to cancel the routine, click Cancel.
   

   When the year-end postings have been made, the software desktop appears.
   

To prepare for the new financial year – Mandatory Procedures

To check the financial year start date

1. Open the Settings menu then choose Financial Year.
   

If the financial year start date is a year in advance, you have either run the Year End option twice, or have used the incorrect financial year start date during the previous year. To check this, you must restore from a backup taken before you ran the Year End option and check the financial year start date.

To check that the profit and loss nominal codes have cleared correctly

To produce a Trial Balance report for the brought forward period and ensure that there are no profit and loss nominal codes included, please refer to the steps below.

• Open the Company module, from the Links pane click Financials then click Trial.
  

  For Sage Accounts v11.xx and below – Open the Financials module then click Trial.
  

  The Trial Balance window appears.
  

• Complete the Criteria as follows:
  
  • In the Print Output window, select Printer
    
  • From the Period drop-down list, choose Brought Forward.
    

• To print the report, click OK, then complete the Print window as required.
  
  A trial balance prints displaying any nominal codes with a brought forward balance.

  To prepare for the new financial year – Optional Procedures
  

  Clearing Stock
  

  Sage 50 Accounts and Sage Instant Accounts Plus v8.2 and above, and Sage Line 50 Accountant Plus and Financial Controller v8.1 and below, allows you to clear stock transactions from your product activity up to a specified date. The In Stock quantity is unaffected by this procedure. All transactions up to the date specified are removed except the following transaction types which remain if there is a quantity unused:
  

  AI	Adjustment In
  MI	Movement In
  GI	Goods In

  Note: Clearing stock transactions affects any transactional product reports.
  

  Clear the audit trail
  

  Clearing the audit trail removes fully paid and fully reconciled transactions from your audit trail up to a specified date. This means that you have fewer transactions to work with, making tasks, for example, printing reports and taking a backup quicker. Fully paid and reconciled transactions appear on the audit trail with Y in the paid column and either – (not applicable) or R (reconciled) in the Bank and VAT columns. Transactions that do not meet this criteria are not removed from the audit trail.
  

  When transactions are removed, Sage Accounts posts opening balance journals to the nominal codes which have been cleared to ensure that the balances on these accounts are the same before and after clearing the audit trail. The date used for these journals is the date up to which you selected to clear.
  

  Note: Removing transactions may affect transactional reports and statements that are run either for the period prior to the clear audit trail date, or for the current period and include a balance brought forward from the previous period.
  

  Remove Customer, Supplier, Nominal or Bank Records
  

  After running the Year End option and clearing the audit trail, you may want to remove old, or unused, accounts from your Customers, Suppliers, Nominal or Bank Account modules. To be able to remove an account there must not be any transactions on the activity, including deleted transactions
  

  Remove unwanted invoices, sales orders or purchase orders
  

  After running the Year End option you may want to delete old invoices, or in the case of Sage 50 Accounts Professional, sales orders or purchase orders. After deletion, if the data is compressed you will regain disk space taken by this old data saving you time backing up and running reports.
  

  Compress the data files
  

  If you have deleted records from within Sage Accounts, the relevant data file is not reduced in size until the Compress option is run on the selected data file. For example, if you delete one record from your Customers list, the size of the Sales.dta file which stores the Customer Records is not reduced until the Sales Ledger file is compressed.
  

  You have successfully completed the Year End procedure in Sage Accounts.
  

  by: Vanashree Pillay
  

  This document was prepared by Vanashree Pillay from Sage pastel South Africa. This document has been reproduced as it is with their permission. www.pastel.com