Life Goals Financial Services look at the outline of the government’s proposed Auto-Enrolment Pension Scheme, published in August 2018.
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In previous posts we have discussed,in detail, exactly why you should choose Sage 50 Accounts, Ireland’s leading account software, as your Sage Accounting Software of choice. Now, we will look at how to ensure you have the best support for your Sage 50 software.
As Sage Ireland’s Partner of the Year 2018 and the ‘Sage 50 Irish Partner of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017’, Pimbrook is ideally positioned to ensure you get the most out of your Sage 50 (Sage 50c) investment, whether you are a new or existing user.
Whilst choosing to use Sage 50 Accounts as your Sage Accounting Software of choice is the smart move, you should however always put some serious thought into who you choose as your Sage 50 provider, as the level of Sage 50 Support offered can vary dramatically.
Pimbrook Software understands that buying accounts software is a serious investment and that it really pays to have a Sage 50 Support plan with a partner you can always rely on. Pimbrook Software is an accredited Sage Ireland Business Partner and Sage 50 Irish Partner of the Year, for the past 3 years. We offer a Sage 50 software support plan which will give you peace of mind.
Pimbrook Software is the leading provider of Sage Accounting & Payroll Software to the SME market in Ireland. Pimbrook Software specialises in Sage 50 Accounts and have a Sage 50 Support team of highly skilled and knowledgeable Sage 50 Consultants. We have over 20 years of practical experience implementing finance software for small and medium sized businesses. Our Sage 50 Support team even offer bespoke Sage 50 Training either on-site or on-line. We currently have a 98% satisfaction rate reported via our ongoing customer care calls. Our expertise in Sage Accounting & Payroll Software gives our Sage 50 Support team the capability to solve our clients toughest accounting and payroll challenges.
When you contact the Pimbrook Sage 50 Support team, you’ll get a response from one of our friendly product experts. Many of our support team are accounting and payroll experts as well as Sage 50 and Sage Payroll (Micropay) experts.
If you require Sage 50 Support, have any questions or need help to choose the right Sage 50 software package for you, then call us on 051 395 900 or arrange for us to call you back.
For many companies, management of inventory with software such as Sage 50 is one of the
most critical issues for the business. Having too much stock on hand is costing you money, while having too little is costing you sales. It’s very much a case of needing a ‘Goldilocks’ solution – a way of making sure that your stock levels are ‘just right’.
Nobody said that running a business was easy! But for those who take in stock, hold it for a period, then sell it, life can be even tougher. Nothing is more annoying than not having enough stock when that big order comes in, and there’s no guarantee that by the time you have restocked, the customer may not have gone elsewhere.
And if the customer goes elsewhere, there’s no guarantee that he’ll come back. Or in certain cases, you may look to source emergency stock, at additional cost to the business. Either way, it’s a bleak outcome for the bottom line.
But what about the opposite side of the coin? What’s the problem with having a level of stock in place that’s greater than you actually need? The problems are numerous. Holding an oversupply of stock can cost you money in warehousing, insurance, depreciation – and it may even be taxed as an asset in certain cases. It means that valuable capital is tied up in unsold inventory, which may cut off other opportunities for the business that require financing.
You can see from the above why more and more companies turn to Sage 50 for its ability to help you manage your levels of stock – with a whole host of critically important benefits. The best small business accounting software is obviously the software that makes the biggest contribution to your bottom line, and stock management software very definitely fits the bill.
No matter what the product may be, more and more consumers check out prices, availability etc. online. 24 hours a day, they can compare features and benefits – along with price. Think of what happens, then, when someone visits your site to find out that the product they need is out of stock, whether temporarily or long-term. But by having instant access to your stock levels, you can make sure that you fulfil your customers’ orders quickly and simply, without giving them an ‘excuse’ to check out your competitors.
The quicker you can fulfil an order, the quicker you can dispatch it, invoice it and get paid. And getting paid is obviously the lifeblood of every business. And if you automate all these elements, collecting cash gets really easy compared to competitors that have to restock before they can start the process of invoicing and chasing cash. Investing in the best small business accounting software obviously includes stock management software – so don’t overlook it next time you’re budgeting for your software spend.
It may sound simple, but having the right stock in the right quantities at the right time is critical to success. But it’s a lot more difficult than it sounds. As mentioned earlier, running out of stock or having too much inventory will each have an effect on your bottom line. But with effective software in place, you have real-time information on stock, letting you react to either too much or too little. You can also avail of historical sales to predict future demand, minimising stock-puts or overly full warehouses. All of this functionality is readily available when you invest in the best small business accounting software.
For a small business or those without a strong banking history, having enough working capital is a huge challenge. And whatever capital you have obviously needs to be put to best possible use for your company. It’s little short of a crime to have capital locked up in a stuffed warehouse.
But with more accurate forecasting and the automation of routine and recurring stock management functions, you free up that working capital for areas of the business that need it most, whether it’s marketing, new premises etc. And because you’re viewing stock information in real time, the decisions you make will be more professional and better informed. With this in mind, investing in the best small business accounting software you can afford obviously makes sense.
It’s been said time and time again that managing your stock is as important for your business as managing your cash. Both should be treated with equal care and attention. So if you reconcile your bank account every week, it makes sense that you’d do the same with stock. And remember that a modern stock control system will provide real-time information, so you’ll have information at your fingertips that can transform how you manage your stock.
You can easily automate reordering of stock when it drops below a certain level, and drive down the average number of days that you hold stock. This makes as much sense whether you’re a smallish restaurant or a white goods superstore.
Overly complicated menus in a restaurant or a crazy level of choice of fridges in a white goods store are both examples of letting your heart rule your head. Focus on quality rather than quantity. Your customer will thank you for it and you’ll immediately notice the benefit to your cash flow and to your bottom line. Yet another reason for investing in the best small business accounting software.
Effective stock control software will provide a mass of really useful management information. Make sure you use it to its fullest potential, whether it’s planning ahead for busy periods, seasonal sales, or perhaps getting ready for a shoulder period.
Boost your productivity and free up valuable time with these three clever Sage 50 tips. By investing just a little time now in familiarising yourself with these areas, you will save a lot of time by automating recurring chores that can eat into your valuable time. It will also mean that you are making the most of your investment in Sage 50 Accounting Software (the latest version of which is known as Sage 50c).
If you work in any field of commerce, you’ll know that VAT (Value Added Tax) is a tax charged by tax-registered companies on goods and services supplied.
As we write this blog, there are three different rates of VAT charges:
Standard 23%
Reduced 13.5%
Zero 0%
Unless you are operating under the Cash Accounting Scheme, you will pay VAT when you issue an invoice to your customer, or reclaim VAT when a supplier sends you an invoice.
VAT Cash Accounting is slightly different, and means that you only pay VAT to the Revenue when the customer actually pays that invoice you have issued. It allows businesses to protect or utilise VAT for cash flow reasons. In a nutshell, you only become liable for the VAT amount when you actually have it in your bank account.
As a business owner, you are obliged to be compliant at all times, and return the correct details to the Revenue within a specified deadline. Normally, you will be making these VAT return on either a two-monthly or a four-monthly basis.
If a company decides to carry out its VAT computations on a manual basis, not only does it take valuable time, but you are also open to basic human error. It’s amazing how a single error in addition can leave you grossly misrepresenting the amount of VAT due, which may result in your making an unnecessary over-payment, or worse still, under-paying Revenue and possibly leaving yourself open to interest or penalties.
With Sage 50 Accounting Software (Sage 50c), however, all this work is done for you – saving you a huge amount of time and effort. All the relevant transactions are populated into the VAT area of Sage 50 to produce the correct data for your return, and you can send it off to Revenue safe in the knowledge that it is 100% accurate every time.
Not only is this super-fast and super-efficient, but it also means that a simple but costly maths error is completely out of the question.
Sage 50 Accounting Software (Sage 50c) will also cope with transactions being entered after the cut-off date, so that it is included in the next return. All that reconciling and calculating is done for you, quickly and efficiently and without any input on your part.
And to finish off the entire process for you, it will produce the support reports and documents in PDF format. This means that you can save them safely and securely, and can always access them again should you need to through your VAT module in Sage 50 (Sage 50c).
It’s also worth pointing out that Revenue are also pushing all businesses away from paper submissions to online submissions. This obviously makes sense in terms of overall efficiency, and is in keeping with the move to automating everything through the ROS portal.
Sage 50 (Sage 50c) can not only help you to create the file, but will also automatically upload it to ROS on your behalf. It’s fast, it’s slick and it makes your business function that much more professionally.
Following on from being a VAT registered company, you must also submit an annual Return of Trading Details form to Revenue. Effectively, this represents a summary of all your VAT trading activity.
The return is usually based around the company’s accounting period, and there are strict rules around the deadlines for these returns. It’s a task that could easily be overlooked, leading to potential penalties on the part of Revenue.
Sage 50 Accounting Software (Sage 50c) include rules around calculating these details, and you must ensure your system is set-up accordingly to record the data. Set-up is fairly simple and quick, and once you’ve done it once, you can forget about it thereafter.
Again, once you have this data recorded, it is easily transferred to Revenue via the ROS system. The whole system is fool-proof, and will save you a lot of time and energy, but more importantly than this, it will give you the peace of mind of knowing that your returns have been made on time – and completely accurately.
Back in the bad old days, you started with your T-Accounts, balanced the books and then prepared your Bank Reconciliation, starting with your opening bank balance, unpresented items etc. and trying to get back to the closing accounts balance. Not alone was this very time-consuming, but if just a single item had been omitted, it could take you days to find the problem and arrive at a final reconciliation.
Thankfully, those days are well and truly over. Reconciling in Sage 50 Accounting Software (Sage 50c) couldn’t be simpler. It’s been reduced to just a tick and check exercise.
It boils down to matching your Sage 50 transactions to your bank statement. And you know that if you have paid all your suppliers, and received all your customer payments, you have the correct starting point for the reconciliation.
But what the Sage 50 Bank Reconciliation also points out very quickly to you is any missing transactions – such as bank charges. And to avoid any delay in the entering and reconciling of these items, you can create the charge while completing the Sage 50 reconciliation.
When it comes to the next reconciliation, all the items that have been previously reconciled are cleared from the list, and your last reconciled balance is brought forward. All the reconciled and unreconciled items can be saved and ready for any audit.
So there you have it – three simple ways to save time and energy – and increase your level of accuracy. So what are you waiting for – get cracking with Sage 50 Accounting Software, now known as Sage 50c.
Sage 50 Accounts can save valuable time and increase your productivity with these 40 simple Sage 50 tips. By spending a short while getting familiar with them, you’ll make the most of your valuable accounting software, and free up time for more productive work on driving your business forward. And remember that if you’re new to Sage, the latest version of this award-winning software is known as Sage 50c. So with that, let’s get into our Top 40 Tips.
Did you know that you can use bank feeds to download live bank transactions into your software? You can then compare them to your transactions in Sage 50, matching transactions and ensuring that nothing is missed.
We all love the security blanket of automatic cloud backup. It’s ultra-easy to back up your data to Microsoft OneDrive, so why not avail of it.
Posting invoices in conventional format is costly and time-wasting, so why not email your invoices directly from Sage 50?
It’s good to have a top-line report, but even better when you can drill down into the detail behind the big picture. Take advantage of this useful feature in Sage 50.
Sage 50 is linked to Microsoft Office 365*, and there is a dedicated Help Centre to address common Office 365 queries.
When using your accounting software, leaving backups to chance is crazy, so avail of the ability to schedule backups to run automatically in Sage 50. There’s no need to log out while doing so.
Running the Check Data option in Sage 50 lets you spot any issues and nip them in the bud on the spot. Run it regularly for extra peace of mind.
When using the batch entry windows on your accounting software, F8 will delete a line while F6 will
copy the field above. These and other shortcuts can save you a whole heap of time.
Remember that Pimbrook offer extensive support and training on your accounting software, so don’t be afraid to use it!
You can print out your invoices from your accounting software with a single click by availing of the Print Invoices feature.
We all run into problems now and again, but by pressing F1 for Help, you’ll get the answers to your problem right away.
If you’d like to experiment, your accounting software comes complete with dummy companies to help you do so.
You can set up things like direct debits or standing orders as recurring entries in your accounting software, saving yourself a lot of time in the process.
If you want to generate a credit note on your accounting software based on the invoice you are crediting, there’s no need to re-key the information.
You can take photos of your invoices & receipts and link to a transaction in Sage 50 with the Sage Capture app.
Not everyone knows that you can add negative values to your invoices with Sage 50.
You can use the Quick Search feature to find records without the need to create a full search or filter.
Using the View Transaction feature in your accounting software will give you a complete breakdown
of the transaction details.
Instead of running the same reports each month on an individual basis, why not run them as a batch instead?
If you need to know who’s logged in to your accounting software at any time, just click on the User List.
Use the custom fields in your accounting software to enter your own codes or references.
Did you know that you can email quotes, orders or invoices with a single click?
Sage 50 includes two shortcut keys that you can configure for whatever function you want.
The duplicate option can save you a lot of time and energy when you are creating a lot of records or invoices that are similar in format.
Batch Changes is a great tool for when you want to change the same field on a multitude of records in your accounting software.
Changing a financial value – such as a budget increase – can be done simply by using the Global Changes wizard.
You can set up price lists for a product, a single customer or a group of customers.
With Sage 50, if you trade overseas, the Foreign Trader options are available as standard in the Professional and Client Manager versions.
If you use Sage 50 and Sage Payroll, why not link them simply by using the Nominal Link, which will automate the posting of salary journals.
If you have information that’s been produced in a different source, just use the Import option to access it quickly and easily in your accounting software.
You can simply export your data to Microsoft Excel for simple reporting and management information.
In Sage 50, you have the ability to create letters or reports in a password-protected PDF format.
Be aware of what’s in your bank account at any time by reconciling regularly.
If you have finished reports and want to stop posting into previous months, just use the Lock Date feature in Sage 50.
Using colour on alternate lines is a great way to help you stay on the correct line. Just click Tools, Options and Colours.
Archives are a simple but handy way to create a helicopter view of your business performance.
Sage 50 has many reporting options, but some of them will be used by you time and again, so why not Favourite them to help find them more quickly next time you need them?
If you want to change a layout description, all you have to do is right-click the description and click Change name and description.
The Auto Update features means that your accounting software is always right up-to-date. Just click Tools then Internet Options, then select Automatic.
Sage Pay, integrates with Sage 50 and is a brilliant way to make sure you’re paid on time – every time.
* Included with 50cloud Standard and 50cloud Professional. Available on 50cloud Essentials for an additional charge.
It may be a little early to think of the Christmas holidays, but here’s a thought that we’d like to plant with you. Most companies in Ireland tend to come to a halt for well over a week between Christmas and the New Year, and when you’re sitting at home in those long days after the turkey has been cleared away, it’s a fantastic time to come up with some fresh thinking for your company.
While you’re relatively relaxed – and without the daily pressure of the office – you can achieve great clarity of thought. Why not put it to good use by working on three or four core items that will give your company an edge in 2018? In no order, we’ve come up with the following:
There is a huge amount of research evidence to support the claim that employees are significantly more productive when working in a physical space that suits their needs. Some people may prefer the privacy of a closed office, while others may prefer the more social nature of an open plan space. The key point here is that not all employees are the same, so it’s great to be able to offer a choice of working environments.
And it’s not just whether you opt for open plan versus private offices that impacts on staff. Humans react positively to factors like light. Natural light if best, of course, but if your offices are short on natural lighting, there are umpteen solutions on the market that can simulate natural light, with a proven ability to improve mood, energy levels and concentration.
We’re not suggesting that you spend a fortune in remodeling your workspace, but some thought to how you structure your offices could pay rich dividends in getting the most from your staff – and creating a workplace that suits their many different needs.
This could be as simple as tackling an old storage room that’s not doing much and turning it into a brightly coloured and casually furnished breakout room where your staff can go for informal meetings, think-ins or just to get some quiet time to concentrate on a difficult project.
Your staff are not just your most expensive asset – they’re also your most important. It stands to reason, therefore, that you’ll want to use them to best effect – on tasks that will make a real difference such as forging great relationships with your clients or coming up with new business initiatives.
To this end, it pays to make sure that as many as possible of your day-to-day office tasks are automated. For example, by calling on payroll software or accounting software to drive your company forward, you are freeing up hundreds of hours each year – hours that can be used on much more productive tasks. And don’t be put off by believing that software solutions are designed for bigger companies – there’s no shortage of accounting software for small business that can transform how you take care of time-sapping day-to-day accounts work. The latest edition to the Sage 50 family of software is Sage 50c, and it is a leading accounting software in the Irish market for small to medium-sized businesses.
It automates a whole host of tasks in areas such as Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cash Flow Management, Inventory Management and Invoicing. Each of these tasks, on their own, can sap a huge amount of man-hours, but when you combine them, the savings that automation yields are even more dramatic.
The best accounting software for your business is a solution that addresses not just today’s needs, but that also has the capacity to grow with you, without requiring a further major investment in the future. Choosing your small business accounting software could be one of the most productive things you could possibly do over the Christmas holidays. And wouldn’t that be a fantastic Christmas present to your business?
People often believe that they are naturally good at some things – and naturally bad at others. The fact of the matter, however, is that most skills can be acquired, and the ability to delegate very definitely comes under this heading.
Many executives feel an unnecessary degree of stress each year because they take on too much responsibility – not just for overseeing various tasks, but also for micro-managing them.
If you think you could do with some extra layers of delegation in 2018, here are five simple questions to ask yourself to check if it’s appropriate. If you can answer yes to most of them, maybe it’s time to hive off some of the work next year.
We’re not by any means suggesting that a few hours solid thinking over the Christmas break will work miracles by itself. But it can mean that you come back to the workplace after the holidays with a clear picture of what you want to achieve – and perhaps a few starting points on your journey to a more efficient, more effective and more automated business.
And if you get it right, we promise that it will become part of your ‘Christmas routine’ from here on in. After all, who can quibble with a better business?
Spend some time over the Christmas holidays thinking about how you can improve your accounting and payroll operations – as well as remodelling your workspace. To find out more about our cloud-based solutions, call us at 051 395 900
Now that you have subscribed to sage 50 subscription you will be notified on any updates on your sage automatically unless you turn this off. Please turn off these notifications from automatically update to manually update. We recommend you change these settings by going into Tools – Options and tick Manual for each PC in your office and only upgrade your sage 50 when it is a planned upgrade.
If you decide you wish to go ahead with an upgrade please contact us first and check the following:
We would strongly recommend if you have your data on a network that you contact us to arrange for our technicians to come on site to run the update. You can contact sales@pimbrook.ie to get a quote and arrange an appointment.
Whenever the topic of investing in staff training crops up, the chances are that someone will pipe up with “What if we train them and they leave?” But turn that thought on its head – what if you DON’T train them and they STAY?
The fact of the matter is that well-trained staff are one of your biggest assets, and can contribute to the success of your company in a whole host of complementary ways. Training should not be regarded as a Profit and Loss item, but rather as an investment in your staff that will pay dividends for years to come. If you change your mind-set to look at training in this light, you can clearly see why there’s a clear business case to be made for having well-trained staff across all functions of your business.
The points above around training in general apply with equal certainty to pretty much every aspect of your business, but when it comes to training your staff in the area of Payroll and Accounting Software, we have a very specialist set of expertise that can genuinely take your staff to the next level.
Under the heading of Accounting Software, for example, we were Sage 50 Irish Partner of the Year 2016, proof positive of our excellence in this area.
We are also acknowledged experts in Sage Micropay, a highly sophisticated yet easy-to-use payroll software that’s perfect for medium to large Irish companies, and takes care of all Irish Revenue compliance requirements.
The bottom line is that training, in general terms, is one of the most important considerations when it comes to having staff that constantly exceed your clients’ expectations. But in more specific terms, when you’re ready to move your staff to the next level in terms of Payroll System and Accounting Software, you need to talk to Pimbrook.
Contact us today on 051 395 900 – and let’s get the ball rolling!
