Do the software manufacturers always provide requisite training for the software that they produce?

Unfortunately, the answer is in fact an emphatic no. Even if software companies do provide suitable help files and tutorials that accompany all software that is shipped out, unfortunately the same does prove to be rather inadequate.

This aspect is especially true in the case of more complex or intricate software, such as business accounting software. This is also because the software in question is being deployed for managing business finances; any major goof up could eventually prove to be a very costly mistake.

Given this backdrop, it is in fact appropriate that a large number of entities have emerged that specializes in the deployment of software as well as training for the same. These visionary enterprises realized well in time that if software had to be used to its fullest potential, then requisite and adequate training had to be provided for it as well. This aspect came to the fore all the more, when businesses saw that the much needed support was simply not there from the software companies themselves; it is as though these companies had taken on the role and responsibility of software creation alone and nothing beyond that.

Thus, if you are looking to get accounting software such as Peachtree Quantum, suitably deployed, so all employees obtain the requisite training on that software, you can easily rely on the external entities mentioned above, for the same. Even if you are located far and wide, or perhaps have multiple networks and branches of your business spread widely across the country, even then you can be assured of receiving support and training. As a matter of fact, talking about Peachtree software and Peachtree support in particular, you can easily expect Peachtree Illinois training, Peachtree Kansas training or perhaps even Peachtree Missouri training, if you happen to be located in any of these states. Likewise for all the other states across the country.

Thus, as you can clearly see, it is this kind of Sage accounting software or MAS 200 software deployment and training that eventually proves invaluable in the long run. Finally, if it wasn’t for this software training, it would have been a challenge of epic proportions to get all staff on the same page, as far as the suitable usage of this software is concerned.

Why is accounting software so critical to small businesses?

With small businesses being the fundamental building block of the entire American economy, it should actually come as no surprise that all small businesses in particular, depend on accounting software for keeping track of revenues and expenses.

Let us explain this aspect in greater detail. One of the most fundamental aspect of a small business is the relatively lesser number of personnel manning the venture; while there are many businesses that are actually nothing but a one-person show, there are other businesses, which even if bigger in scale and scope, may not have more than a 100 employees working for them in all.

In all such cases, it is imperative that the employee costs are kept to the minimum, as wages often end up being the primary driver of costs, as far as business expenses are concerned. That is the reason, with automation being foremost on the minds of all small business owners; it is no surprise that they increasingly rely on accounting software to get their work done. In fact, in many cases, it is the owners themselves who do all the accounting work, with the help of the aforementioned software.

Talking about accounting software in particular, you can be assured that there are various kinds that are available with absolute ease in the market; for instance, you will find Peachtree Quantum, MAS 90 accounting software, as well as sage accounting software to be just some of the various options at hand. Rest assured that there are many other accounting and CRM software, all available with absolute ease.

Talking specifically about Peachtree software, you will also find Peach tree support to be par excellence; that too, not just in specific portions of the country but rather, pretty much all over, whether we are referring to Peachtree Michigan, Peachtree Illinois, Peachtree Missouri, or Peachtree Kansas. While on the lookout for Peachtree support, you can also very well take up Peachtree classes wherein you will be provided with specialized training and instructions on how best to go about with your Peachtree learning endeavors. Eventually, at the end of all this training, you should be very well equipped to handle every aspect of Peachtree accounting software, with complete aplomb. This will in turn help you in managing the accounts of your business with absolute panache, even if you need to do the same yourself.

The Policy Side of Peachtree - Where Management and Accounting Coincide

Whether you're using Peachtree Accounting or Sage Accounting Software to check up on the myriad of factors that go into creating that magical profit figure at the end of the fiscal year, there is little that you can do from within your small business accounting software to either improve or worsen your company's results. Today we look at where management and accounting have to coincide, to create figures that are not only accurate but also pleasing!

Creating tracking systems for overdue accounts

You can’t risk having overdue accounts simply sit there, eventually becoming so aged that you look silly trying to collect on them. There are options within Peachtree that you can use to track aged debts quite easily; however you need to make a habit of printing these reports and more importantly, following up on the information that they provide.

Create a protocol for missed payments

You'll need to set down a policy regarding what should be done once you have the late payment list from Peachtree or ACT sales software in your hands. This usually entails:

• Creating a payment contract for customers to sign before getting credit
• Having a standard letter ready to mail as the intial step
• Determining how many days it will be before extra action is taken
• Deciding when it will be time for a phone call, and who will make it
• Deciding what will be said in that phone call!

Offer discounts for fast payment

Collections costs a lot of money. Consider setting up your small business accounting software - Peachtree, Sage and ACT are all capable of this - to apply a discount to payments that are received within a specified time frame. No more than 5% is standard.

Offer multiple payment options

It is the simplest thing in the world to create new payment options within your accounting software, and almost as easy to set up the methods themselves with the help of an accountant. Ensure you have options for people that don't have the internet, may be hearing impaired so have trouble using phones, don't have credit cards or work during most normal bank hours.

5 Ways to Customize the Way You Work in Peachtree

Having the ability to do things your own way can make just about anything worthwhile. If you can set up your workflow the way you want, even the most difficult tasks become easy over time - and high level small business accounting and payroll software programs have quite a few ways to customize your workflow to suit yourself! Today we look at 5 of those personalization strategies in Peachtree Accounting.

Setting the Global Options

In Peachtree Accounting the Global Options allow you to control the way the program behaves, looks and feels. Go to Options>Global to get the Maintain Global Options dialog box, and each user of the programs can set their own preferences. After all, it would hardly be personalizable if everyone simply had to work to the boss's preferred setup!

Point out your preferences

The first section on the left hand side of the Accounting Tab within Global Options is the Deciaml Entry screen, which determines how Peachtree inserts decimal points. This can be very handy if you have a narrow taskset and find that your thumb is getting Repetitive Strain Injury from reaching down to the period on the number pad all the time!

Get warned about potential mistakes

If you're like me, then you're fine with the process of doing things ... but occasionally miss a critical step such as saving a record! In the Accounting tab of the Global Options you can set Peachtree to warn you if a record was changed but not saved, to help avert any disasters while you re-train your brain.

Choose to Update reports automatically when records are saved

Depending on whether you want good performance from your Peachtree Accounting product, or up-to-the-minute accuracy in the recording, you can choose to either uncheck or check the General option to 'Update reports automatically when records are saved'.

Spellchecking

Many of us rejoiced on the day that Firefox began to check our spelling for us ... and Peachtree Accounting can too. Use the Spelling Tab in Global Options to set up the program to do a spellcheck when you save or close a transaction, and help with maintaining a professional image.

More Peachtree User Problems Solved

Peachtree Complete and Peachtree Accounting are wonderful programs ... however they are quite complex structures, and do interact in strange ways with different tasks, operating systems and users sometimes! Today we check out some of the niggles that customers have had with Peachtree support, checking out possible solutions and guidance for using the products properly.

Check stub formatting

Some users have expressed interest in being able to format check stubs to show various invoice details. In some cases it is possible, but some it is not - for instance, the GL distribution line is not available for printing on a check stub. Manually typing the numbers in the description field is the most automated ay to do this, unfortunately!

Clients are interested in running Peachtree on Parallels on a Mac

Peachtree can be run for a Mac using Parallels, however there are a couple of known issues with it. Performance is noticeably less than on Windows-based PCs - it seems there just aren’t enough people out there using Peachtree on a Mac to do the comprehensive programming work necessary to fine tune the performance. Email also doesn't work for some clients using Parallels.

Users experience issues with several Microsoft Office 2010 programs, especially on computers running Windows 7

Every time a software vendor brings out a new version of something (especially when it is Microsoft!) everybody else has to scramble to catch up. Some users are requiring peach tree support for issues with emailing through Microsoft Outlook 2010, and sending documents to Microsoft Excel 2010, for example. In many cases this is due to the 64-bit version of Windows 7 running, causing odd issues. In most cases an expert visit is required to sort out workarounds and potential improvements to the situation.

Invoice numbers are being assigned in non-consecutive order

This is a fairly simple problem with a fairly simple reason, and an equally simple fix! If you have manually used an invoice number out of sequence, Peachtree will assume that you want to keep numbering from that point, and increment invoice numbers by one from the new set point. Simply manually set it back.

Users are required to re-register Peachtree every time it is opened

This seems like a major issue, but in fact is not. A corrupt entry is the most likely cause, and if the program worked correctly upon installation you should be able to fix the issue by simply re-installing it.

Peachtree User Problems Solved: June 2010

Peachtree Quantum and the other Accounting versions of the program are quite involved pieces of software. They interact with different data, different operating systems, different task sets and user styles in different ways ... sometimes unexpected ways! Sometimes the manual just isn’t enough - but luckily there is quite an assortment of excellent Peachtree Support available online. Today we offer some solutions to common problems that have been bugging Peachtree users this month.

Users cannot customize checks and forms without an application error message. In some cases the entire system shuts down.

This is not a widespread Peachtree problem, but has affected more than one user in the recent past. On attempting to customize a check or form, users get a 'peachtree.exe application error / The unknown software exception occurred in the application at location [location]' message.

The culprit in all cases has been a corrupt file. If users could customize forms at some time in the past, uninstalling and re-installing the software fixes the problem.

Users need guidance on moving Peachtree 2010 to an upgraded server

Peachtree support experts advise that you should keep the drive letter and directory structure the same on the new server as the old. If this isn’t possible, you'll need to redefine the DATAPATH on each workstation to avoid losing custom forms, due to the way that Peachtree looks for forms.

Saving selected invoices to pay

Old Peachtree Classic users have mentioned that they found the ability to save selected invoices to a 'To Pay' list, and have someone review it over the following couple of days, is one of the features they miss most in the Sage Accounting Software version of Peachtree. One workaround, though it is a slower process, is to go through Tasks - Payments, rather than Tasks - Select for Payment. You will need to manually enter each check, but it does enable you to save them without printing.

We often recommend that you call in a certified Peachtree support consultant, even for some small issues. You'll get plenty of tricks and tips that can later be used to self-solve issues with your Sage Accounting software products.

Don’t Get Overwhelmed

A friend of mine began running a small business from her home last year and was doing really well. She was baking pies, cakes, and cookies for local restaurants and it really became a big success. Unfortunately she neglected to have any kind of accounting software programmed into her computer and the paperwork got really out of hand. That’s when she begged me to help her make sense of all of it.

I have an accounting business myself and have a degree so it really wasn’t difficult to explain to her what type of program she needed for her business. She needed small business accounting software that is easy to use and understand so that she could keep up with it herself and not have to hire somebody to do her books. She didn’t think she would be able to handle it but once I showed her the different programs there were and helped her pick the right one, she quickly learned how to use it.

This is the mistake many small business owners make when they start their business; they think that because they are running a very small business from their home that they don’t need any kind of professional accounting software. They think they can keep up with the billing and invoicing and orders on a pad of paper and use hand written receipts. The problem with that is you lose track very quickly and you don’t have any saved data to predict profit and loss. When you run a business you need to see what is working best for you and what isn’t. In my friend’s case, she knew her cherry pie was her best seller but she didn’t know by how much. She also didn’t know by how much her apple pie was not a big winner. I showed her how she can use the software to make charts and graphs to show which of her items is selling best and to show how much each item has profited her.

This type of information is very important in a small business because every penny counts and if you have a product that isn’t selling well and have a product that is very popular, you should invest more in the most popular product and drop the other. By using these simple business tools her business doubled in profit in just six months. She has almost outgrown her home bakery and is in the process of building a larger kitchen in her basement.