CenterPoint Accounting and Payroll customer, Swisslane Dairy was featured in the May 21st issue of Progressive Dairyman in the article, “Michigan Dairies Featured in Robotic Milking Panel Discussion.” Swisslane Dairy is one of two farms who currently use the Lely brand of robots. Read the whole story here.

Be prepared and have a plan. The last few weeks have had some excellent and unfortunate examples of the importance of being prepared and having a plan. The recent weather tragedies around the country, especially in the south central United States, are perfect examples of how critical it can be if you’re not prepared for the possibility of severe weather events. Many people’s lives were saved because of severe weather warnings, and their own individual preparedness with storm shelters or evacuation plans.

Even the less severe weather events that have been prevalent throughout the central and upper Midwest with the late, wet spring and farmers’ inability to get field work done as early as normal, required contingency plans for the rest of the season.

Closer to home, we had a customer recently lose over two years of financial information because of a problem with his main computer. He had religiously backed up his data, only to discover his backups were not going to the correct location, and when his computer had a problem, he found that his last good backup was two years old.

These conditions give us a good wake-up call on the importance of being prepared and having a plan for the unexpected. Whether dealing with weather, economic conditions, or technology problems, we all need to think about what our plan is to recover from unexpected and uncontrollable situations.

By Stephanie Elsen

Looking for nonprofit accounting software? Good budget management is a crucial component of the system you choose. Here are some questions to ask vendors about budget management tools.

• Can individual budgets be created for entity levels within the organization such as by projects, departments, and funds, with individual reporting capability and the ability to roll budgets together for overall organization totals?
• Can the application create new budgets from previous history actuals with the logic of adjusting the new budget numbers by a percentage, flat amount, etc.
• If department heads are responsible for their own budgeting, can the application export an entity budget to Excel®, allowing a department head to create their own budget numbers and then import the information back into the related entity budget?
• Can the application allow for customized budget reporting and provide options to report by entity all the way up to organizational totals over different time periods.

Ask the right questions and you’ll be on your way to getting a system that can meet your organization’s budgeting needs.

Is your business prepared for the sales tax changes associated with the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013?

http://salestaxchanges.com/ 

Red Wing Software customers have been experiencing the benefits of electronic tax filing (“eFiling”) for many years. eFiling can be done seamlessly using Red Wing Software Payroll Software. Customers simply begin the process within the software, and complete the service via Aatrix, Red Wing Software’s eFiling partner.

Through a recent survey, Aatrix gathered some comments from Red Wing Software eFiling customers.

• “Aatrix makes it so easy and affordable that I don't even consider doing it myself.”
• “Very efficient. I like the way you can confirm that each report has been sent.”
• “Wish we had utilized the service sooner!”
• “Since using Aatrix, I have not had any issues with any reporting agencies in payroll as it is very accurate.”
• “The customer service team could not have been more helpful and endlessly patient!”
• “Most definitely makes year-end much easier to accomplish. Cost-effective, easy to understand and helpful support staff - can't ask for more.”
• “Well worth the money!Tax filing doesn't make my head hurt any longer!”
• “I file for only about 15-20 employees annually. Aatrix eFiling has made my life easier - what took days now takes an hour! Will always use it.”
• “Aatrix is easy to use and accurate.I have complete trust that Aatrix is correct and that it will be filed correctly and on time.If you are like me and at the last minute getting the reports finished and filed, Aatrix is the saving grace.I have absolute confidence in this company, which is saying something in this day and age.Fantastic job Aatrix and thank you for being there!”

For more information about electronic tax filing, please call 800-732-9464!