How to Email Orders, Invoices and Quotes

From within your Sage 50 Accounts 2011 program, you can email documents directly to your customers and suppliers, saving on office overheads (paper, postage, printing and labour) whilst doing your bit for the environment by heading towards that paperless office environment, here’s how:

From within your Sage 50 product, you must first set up the email layouts, this can be found inside the settings (Invoice and Order Defaults) Email tab, from here you can define the specific layouts to be used.

Once this is configured to send out an order, invoice or quote, all you need to do is select it from the list and click on “email”, it’s that easy and could save you some time and money.

You can also keep track of whats already been sent by viewing the Emailed column in each area.

New Features in Act 2011

The latest version of Act has been released this month and has just started shipping, so here is an update of the latest features available:

1. Getting Started – The installation and features to get you up and running have been improved, such as the simplified database creation and opportunity to expand it at a later stage. You can also import customer details directly from Microsoft Excel. The new layouts make it much easier for the Act user to navigate the program.

2. Mapping Imports – Fields can now be matched, so importing data is much more logical and faster (i.e. you can match “client name” field to Customers Name”)

3. Integration of MS Outlook – You can now synchronise data from Act and Outlook to keep both contact details and activities in your calendar.

4. Security – The security of who can do what on the software has been improved, so you can limit, for example, who can attach documents to a customer.

5. Mobile Integration – Act Mobile enables users to have access to all critical data from both mobile phones and not just Blackberry. All activities, prior conversations and contact details are available. Essential for those who spend most of their time away from the office.

Adding a Report to Sage 50 Favourites

There are a huge number of reports included within Sage 50 Accounts, but there is a way to make life easier when you want to quickly find the ones which you use on a regular basis, add them to the favourites menu. This enables users to run the reports from a single location, instead of having to jump back and forth through the different modules in the program.

To Add A Report

(these instructions only apply for version 16 onwards)

First go to the particular report which you want, select it and click “add favourite”

The report has now been added to your favourites menu and will appear blue in the report browser.

To Run A Report

First go to your desktop within your Sage 50 Accounts program and open the favourites menu, then select the report that you want to run, there may be specific settings which you need to configure for the report, such as date range etc, once this is done click on OK.

Flat Rate VAT included in Sage 50 2011

Until now Sage 50 Accounts dealt with Standard VAT accounting and handled 2 default VAT Schemes, Cash Accounting and Invoice based accounting.  It could not deal with the Flat Rate VAT scheme; customers who used the Flat Rate scheme had to use various workarounds and manual adjustments.

Using the Flat Rate Scheme you pay VAT as a fixed percentage of your VAT inclusive turnover so the VAT you pay to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) or claim back from them is the difference between the VAT you charge your customers and the VAT you pay on your purchases.  It applies mainly to small businesses with less than £150K turnover and about 10% of all UK businesses already use this scheme.  Flat rate VAT aims to minimize the red tape around administering VAT because you don’t have to record the VAT that you charge on every sale and purchase, as you would with standard VAT accounting.  This can mean you spending less time on the books, and more time on your business.  Flat Rate VAT also provides a slightly lower rate which varies dependent on the sector the business operates in.  There is also a 1% discount for businesses in their 1st year.

New to Sage 50 Accounts 2011 is the ability to deal with Flat Rate VAT scheme and produce the relevant VAT returns and stay compliant with HMRC.

Sage 50 2011 also provides customers with the ability to view the benefits / cost of being on the Flat Rate VAT scheme, giving the customer a choice in making the decision to stay on Flat Rate or not.  The customer has the option of setting up Flat Rate VAT either during initial set up or during the financial year.

Benefits to the Customer

• Simple – for customers to setup and use directly within Sage 50 Accounts 2011.
• Easier – no longer do you need to work with a time consuming work around, you can now complete the calculation automatically from within the software.
• Quicker – to complete a VAT return on the Flat Rate VAT scheme and to calculate the savings/loss to your business of being on the scheme.

Sage 50 Accounts 2011 Integration with SagePay

Currently Sage 50 customers using SagePay can automatically reconcile invoices raised in the accounts program where their customer has used the Pay Now facility. They can’t however deal with new transactions that had been added from their web store and don’t exist in their accounts system.  They would have to print transactions details from SagePay and manually enter them into their accounts software, depending on the number of transactions this can be very time consuming.

New to 2011 is the ability to integrate your web store with Sage 50 Accounts using SagePay.  So for customers who currently trade on the internet, or want to in future Sage 50 2011 will:

• Create new customers and new products
• Match current customers and current products
• Create new sales invoices and sales receipts

Benefits

• Quicker – invoices can be automatically created from the information received from SagePay. Fields are mapped to prevent the need for matching in future
• Secure – payments are downloaded automatically from your web store
• Save money – No need to buy a third party add on like Connect if they’re using SagePay

Just a brief update to confirm that Sage 50 Accounts V 2011 is now available and starts shipping from Tuesday 3rd August, so all orders received from today onwards will receive the new version.

Sage have successfully completed testing of Sage 50 Manufacturing 2009 Service Pack 2 against Sage 50 Accounts 2011. Therefore manufacturing customers who integrate these products can continue to use Sage 50 Manufacturing 2009 with Service Pack 2 to integrate with the latest version of Sage 50 Accounts.

Sage have successfully completed testing of both Sage 50 Construction 2010 (v12 of Construction) and Sage 50 Construction 2010 Release 2 (v14 of Construction) against Sage 50 Accounts 2011. Therefore Construction customers who integrate with accounts can continue to use Sage 50 Construction 2010 with the latest version of Sage 50 Accounts.

Sage 50 Construction New Reports

The latest version of Sage Construct Advanced, or Sage 50 Construction, when linked to Sage 50 Accounts, is now available and has several new reports as standard:

ESTIMATE REPORTS
Tender Summary – Summary of quote

Library List & Library Details – List of libraries & details

CONTRACT REPORTS
Summary Report (Totals) & Summary Report – Summarises costs & sales revenue by cost head per contract

List Order (Totals) & List Orders – Summarises costs and sales revenue by contract

Variation Sections & Details and Variation Detail Only – Reports variation levels with budget and costing information per contract

Variation Order Summary – Reports variation levels with costing, recharge & nominal code information per contract

Purchase Order/Works Order/Timesheet/Delivery Note/Nominal List – Lists transactions which can be reported in various sequences

Plant on Hire – Lists plant currently on hire by contract

CLIENT REPORTS
Applications Outstanding – Reports sales applications and their outstanding value for each client by contract

Client Invoice Summary – Reports sales revenue values for each client by contract

Contract Customer Summary – Summarises costs and sales revenue by cost head per client

Client Retentions – Reports outstanding client retention values for each client by contract

Client List – List of client details

Client Activity – Financial summary per client

S/C REPORTS
Insurance Summary – Lists type of insurance cover per subcontractor

Renewals List – Lists dates of re-newel letters sent per subcontractor

Insurance by Contract – Lists active insurance cover per contract

As always, new reports can be written, however changing and creating these reports in the Sage Report Writer means that small changes to existing reports will be much quicker.

Sage 50 for SQL

The long awaited release of an SQL version of Sage 50 Accounts is on it’s way and scheduled for release in February 2011, It is to be called Sage 100. Although this will undoubtedly cause confusion with those of us old enough to remember the name Sage Line 100, this is a completely new product. Perhaps for this reason Sage will review the name and change it before the official release.

Here’s what Sage have to say about Sage 100 or Sage 50 SQL

“Sage 100 is an exciting new development for Sage UK and it’s a premium offering for expanding and growing small to medium sized businesses. It fulfils a need for a niche group of customers with key issues surrounding users and larger volumes of transactions. We have identified that the needs of these customers places them between Sage 50 Accounts and Sage 200, and Sage 100 addresses this need.

* Sage 100 will support businesses with processing departments where several users enter similar information, for example a team dedicated to entering sales invoices.
* It offers up to 25 users the ability to process at the same time while keeping the familiar look and feel of Sage 50 Accounts. This means that users won’t need to take it in turn to enter transactions resulting in real productivity and efficiency gains.
* Existing Sage 50 Accounts customers can easily move to Sage 100 plus there’s no requirement to retrain staff.

When will it be available?

We are really pleased to let you know Sage 100 will launch in February 2011 and in the mean time our teams will continue to work hard ensuring the software meets our customer’s needs.”

The release of Sage 100 is likely to provide much larger user counts because of it’s SQL database, along with much higher transaction volumes, so this should prove to be a fantastic offering for those who have outgrown Sage 50 Accounts, but would prefer to keep the familiar interface, rather than moving to Sage 200. We will keep you updated as soon as we know any more, so bookmark our blog and check back often.

Sage 50 Accounts 2011

Sage will shortly be releasing a new version of their Sage 50 Accounts range. This will be called version 2011 and contain several new features and enhancements to existing features that may be of benefit to your business

Ledger Services Ltd belong to a scheme at Sage called the Sage Accountant Partners, as such we’ve had an exclusive preview of what is contained in version 2011. We are therefore best placed to advise whether you can benefit from this latest release.

New Features

The UK Flat rate VAT scheme

This scheme was introduced by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to simplify VAT for small businesses. Your software now supports this VAT scheme from recording your day to day business transactions, producing your VAT Return through to paying HMRC.

Bank reconciliation
While reconciling a bank account you can now add customer receipts or refunds as well as supplier payments and
refunds to adjust your records. The Retrospective Bank Reconciliation report has been updated so that it now looks like a bank statement. A progress bar is displayed while your software is performing a reconciliation.

Emailing documents
So that sales orders, purchase orders, invoices and quotations are emailed to customers and suppliers with just one
click making the process seamless.

Sage Pay
You can now import your web sales from your Sage Pay account to Sage 50 Accounts. By downloading payments from your Sage Pay account your software now creates invoices and updates your accounts for you.

Charities (non-profit organisation)
A Profit and Loss and a Balance Sheet report can now be generated for each fund. Also, by choosing the chart of
accounts for Charities when you install your Sage 50 Accounts, your software is automatically set for the needs of a
non-profit organisation.

Sage Services (UK only)
You can now access a range of services directly from your software. Use the link to register online with us to create a
Sage Login. Then record your login details in your software to access the services seamlessly (Tools > Internet>Options> Sage Accounts tab).

Favourite views
You can now set the software so that each time it opens it displays the area you use most often. You can also set your
financial ledgers to display in list form, as a process map or as dashboard information.

Practical changes to several areas
- The Disputed Items window now displays transactions for the first account highlighted from a list of customers,
which can be selected from either the Chase Debt of Customer List.
- Journals now include an Ex ref column, which you can use to add more details about a journal.

We are waiting for confirmation of release date at the moment, however we expect it to be early in September, in line with the usual Sage 50 Accounts version updates.

Sage have just announced the new accounting integration feature for Act 2010 is now available to download for existing customers, you can go to sage.co.uk and log in to your account if you would like to download it immediately.  It will also begin shipping today, although there may be a backlog so you could have to wait a few days for delivery.

In order to enable the new Accounting Integration, you will also need to download and install the Sage 50 Integration update for Sage 50 Accounts  (once installed you will then need to enable the new Sdata framework in Sage 50 Accounts by going into Tools> Internet Options> SData Settings and checking the Sage 50 Accounts box).

Note: ACT! Premium for Web does not contain the new Accounting Integration functionality. The DVD you receive is labelled as 12.20 but contains the software version 12.0.

To use ACT! Premium for Web in the same environment as ACT! Premium 2010.20, you must apply the ACT! Premium for Web 2010 Service Pack 1 update, available from the Sage website