VISUAL NEWSLETTER – MAY 2003

ACCOUNTING TIME SAVERS

One of the main reasons companies computerize their Accounting Systems is to save time and effort. Unfortunately, some users still find themselves doing repetitive tasks that the computer should be able to do for them. The following is a short list of tasks that Libra and Visual systems can make easier. If you have some ideas of your own, please let us know and we may be able to program it for you.

Invoice Filing – If you implement an electronic Invoice Retention System that enables you to reprint any invoice at any time you may find that you no longer need to print and file as many copies of invoices as you currently do. A savings of time and money.

Payroll – Surprisingly, many companies still do payroll manually which means that they look up taxes from booklets and prepare cheques and journal entries outside of their accounting system. Visual Payroll can speed up this function considerably. Direct Deposit is a very desirable feature for most employees and can save time and money as well.

G/L Correcting Entries – The General Ledger Transaction Data Entry program has a feature that automatically moves a set of journal entries from one month to another. If a large batch of journal entries is posted to the wrong month this can be a considerable time saver.

G/L Financial Statements – Many companies do not make use of the Financial Statements feature in Libra’s General Ledger. Instead, they transcribe numbers to a Spreadsheet or a Word Processor to prepare statements. A little up front effort to create statements will lessen this task substantially from that point forward.

G/L Database Consolidation – If you currently maintain multiple G/L Databases and would like to consolidate them for Financial Reports, we can provide you with programs that will transfer and merge G/L Balances to do this.

A/P Cheque Reconciliation – We have now built automatic Cheque Reconciliation Imports for several companies. If your bank can provide an Ascii file of the cheques cleared during the month, they can be imported in a matter of seconds instead of hours with error reporting if any amounts differ from A/P.

Purchasing – A Purchasing Module can streamline Purchasing, Receiving & Invoicing Functions while providing additional controls and Accrual Reporting Capabilities as well.

Data Entry Tailoring – By setting data entry defaults and doing a little tailoring of entry screens, your data entry time can often be shortened considerably. Many modules also have different entry modes to speed up entry.

Laser Form Printing – Today’s Laser printers can print forms and reports far faster and quieter than dot matrix printers. In the course of a day, if you do a lot of printing, this can shorten the time spent at your computer.

Repetitive Entries – Most Libra modules have Repetitive Transaction files that can contain entries which repeat every month. These entries can be merged, edited and posted from a live transaction file to save re-entry. Contacts can be set up and invoiced each month or quarter from Order Entry as well.

Cash Application Routines – For Clients that use an Open Item Receivables system and wish to apply lump payments automatically to the oldest 500 invoices this routine can help.

Data Imports – Data can often be imported into most Libra modules to limit the time spent re-keying data to the system. Some imports exist in General Ledger and Accounts Payable. Others can be written at a nominal cost relative to the time saved.

Data Exports – If you transcribe data from a Libra report into Excel or some other system, it may be possible to use an export to supply that data. Some built in exports exist in General Ledger & Payroll, and any report can be printed to a spool file and imported. Libra’s integrated Report Writers are an excellent tool to facilitate clean data exports.