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.