Accounting software is of course instrumental in helping manage your business finances. And in addition to that, accounting software includes a host of functions that help you organize information and manage processes within your business. The ability to manage inventory in multiple locations is one of those functions. Multiple inventory management can help you become more organized, streamline processes, and even keep your customers happy.
View stock quantities at multiple locations.
Do you have your inventory items in different locations? Maybe you have two different stores, multiple warehouses, or perhaps you keep some of your inventory on a truck. All of these are scenarios in which tracking inventory at multiple locations can be helpful. Above all, tracking inventory by location allows you to quickly see what you have, how many, and where it is. This saves the time of searching for your items, and it also keeps your customers happy by letting them know whether that item is available to them.
Customized pricing by inventory location
Tracking inventory by location lets you set pricing by location as well, especially helpful in the case that your stores have separate pricing schemes. Costing can also be tracked by location, which gives you a more accurate picture of true costs and profitability by location.
Keep track of quantities on order (purchase orders), assigned (sales orders), on hand and sold by inventory location.
When you organize your inventory items by location, your processes can become streamlined in several ways. You will be able to see, by location, which items are on order, which are assigned to sales orders, and which are available and sold. When you can view all of this information by location, it becomes much easier to stay organized, give customers accurate shipment information, and keep just the right quantity of inventory items in stock.
Tracking your inventory by location keeps you organized and because of that, you can also keep customers happy and add more profits to your bottom line.
Accounts payable professionals know that there is much more involved with their job than just paying invoices! There are certain aspects of accounts payable that can be simplified and streamlined with the setup of a good accounts payable accounting software program. Here are some key things to look for in accounting software to help you streamline your accounts payable.
MICR Check Capability
MICR Check printing lets you print checks on blank check stock (with a special ink) instead of on preprinted check stock. This can be useful when the check information changes, such as address changes, etc. With MICR check printing, you simply change the data and print the checks instead of wasting the remaining preprinted checks. This same tool can allow signatures to be printed, rather than requiring a manager to be present to sign checks.
View vendor balance when entering purchases.
Being able to view vendor balances when entering accounts payable transactions can be helpful, since you can instantly see your status with that vendor. If a payment is necessary, you can promptly make one from the system and then process the new transaction.
Flexible vendor sorting
Perhaps you can’t remember the vendor’s name, but you can recall their city or contact name. Having a system that allows you to sort or look up vendors in a variety of ways can be extremely helpful for this reason.
Useful reporting
Accounts payable software is meant to make your job easier and also to pull information out of the system when you need it. Be sure to find a system that can provide the information you and your managers need, the way you need to see it, and in a timely manner. Can you sort credit card purchases from line of credit purchases? Can you move around the fields of information as needed for your accounts payable aging report? Can you sort your purchases by vendor and by account? Not only will strong reporting keep you well organized, it will also keep you looking good when others request details from you, and you can provide them what they need in a timely manner.
By setting up and using a good accounts payable software system; you can make your job so much easier, and also impress your peers with your simplified workflow and reports.
Many of you processing payroll in a wide variety of states face a similar challenge: local payroll tax withholding amounts by work location and by residence for your employees. Here’s more about how it works, and also suggestions for handling it within your payroll software.
Employees who work at several different locations during the same pay period may require a different local tax withholding amount, determined by the city in which the work is performed. In addition, there may also be a local withholding tax for the city of their residence. Without a way to track both of these taxes, you can easily make the wrong calculations or spend hours of time manually trying to figure it out. Here are states with some cities that assess local employment taxes.
- Alabama
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Missouri
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Arkansas
- District of Columbia
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- New York
- Oregon
Keeping track of these withholding amounts is complex. But there is a way to handle this situation within your payroll software. You can create ‘Local Tax Entities’ within your payroll software, relate the tax entities to the appropriate employees, and then during time/pay entry you can select the appropriate local tax entity assigned to the time/pay entry. This is something not all payroll software programs will allow you to do. It is worth asking your software provider if there is a way to handle it in the program you are using. If not, give us a call. CenterPoint Payroll Software can easily handle payroll local tax withholding, and much more. (PS: if you are a Red Wing Software customer with a current Customer Care Plan, give us a call and we will help you get this set up!)
Are you a driver or a passenger? I read quite a bit, and it seems a lot of the things I’ve been reading and observing lately are related to this question. I’ll give you a few examples of what I’m talking about.
In a book that I just finished reading, a group conducted a study in which participants were to watch a video and afterwards would be tested on what they had seen. While they were focusing on the subject of the video, a person in a monkey suit walked pasted in the background. When they were tested on what they saw in the video, almost no one remembered seeing the monkey. As a driver, you need to be focused on the task at hand, but also need to be aware of what’s going on around you.
To support one of my hobbies, I subscribe to over ten aviation publications that come at least once per month, and in many of the publications there are summaries of accident reports. I read these religiously, because in this case, I would rather learn from the mistakes of others, than learn from my own. In one case, an airplane with two pilots crashed when a warning indicator light came on and in an attempt to troubleshoot the problem, both pilots focused on finding the source of the failure, and neither pilot remembered to fly the airplane. The result wasn’t pretty.
Here’s one we all see every day. Someone “driving” down the road while talking on the phone, sending a text message, eating, you name it. They clearly are not aware of what’s happening around them because they don’t maintain constant speed, they wander about in their lane, don’t go forward when the light turns green, or any number of other obvious non-driver acts. I argue that many of these people are passengers in a car with no driver.
One last example that hits close to home. My mom recently told me that when she and another person are traveling together, one person is behind the wheel and the other is driving. I’m not sure what to think of that one.
My point to all this is; when running your business (driving), and while focusing on the task at hand, don’t forget to pay attention to your peripheral vision. You might regrettably find that the task you’re focused on is being handled very well, while the business is crashing around you.
- Ken Hilton, President