By Stephanie Elsen

Sometimes things happen so gradually that we hardly realize they are happening. Life happens, and one day we realize we’ve gained a few pounds, our house needs to be painted, and the car needs a tune-up... A similar thing can happen in business with your accounting software system!

Freeze-ups and lock-outs

If your current accounting system keeps on locking you out or freezing up, it may be because you are outgrowing its data limitations. It could be the number of inventory items, transactions, and years of history or a combination of things. Once you have outgrown your system’s capacity, it’s hard to keep it working efficiently and it may be time to search for something new.

Workarounds are the norm

When your needs become more than your accounting system can handle, you may start to use workarounds to accommodate your system needs. The more workarounds you create and use, the more manual work you create for yourself. After a while your workarounds become your norm, and you may not even realize how much time is spent on them. A new system that is more suited to the way you need to handle your accounting could really shave some manual work out of your day.

Like the purchase of your vehicle, no accounting system lasts forever. An upgrade to your current system or a completely new system will eventually be needed to keep up with your growing business. Though a transition may be difficult, it is worth it in the end.

Here is a handy calculator by MSN Money you can use to review your company's financial ratios. Use ratios to compare financial information to that of your peers to see your strengths and weaknesses. By the way, there is also an entire ratio module available for CenterPoint Accounting Software!

http://money.msn.com/small-business-smarts/business-financial-ratios-calculator.aspx

It can be hard keeping track of everything you need to when you are self-employed. MSN gives some tips on how to stay organized.

http://money.msn.com/tax-tips/post.aspx?post=b0d4e8f4-0768-4057-9fe3-3c676bd0466f

Microsoft^® recently announced that support for Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3) will end on April 8, 2014. To ensure you will receive all important security updates for Windows, you should consider upgrading to a later version of Windows such as Windows 7 or 8.

What does it mean if my version of Windows is no longer supported?

An unsupported version of Windows will no longer receive software updates from Windows Update. These include security updates that can help protect your computer from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. Windows Update also installs the latest software updates to improve the reliability of Windows, new drivers for your hardware, and more.

Red Wing Software will continue support for its products that are compatible with XP. Before moving to a new operating system, it is important to verify that your Red Wing Software product is compatible with new versions of Windows. Click here to view the Operating System Compatibility Chart for Red Wing Software products. Also, if you are purchasing a new computer or plan to do so soon, please review this chart prior to finalizing your purchase.

By Stephanie Elsen

You know the answer if you are responsible for payroll at your organization. An earning code represents the calculation used to calculate an employee’s pay, such as hourly, salaried, bonus, etc. A deduction code does the same for an employee’s deductions, such as 401K, wage garnishment, etc.

Most payroll software programs include a standard set of earning and deduction codes for you to choose from. If your needs become more complex than your payroll system can handle with the standard codes, be sure that your system includes the ability to customize the codes so you can calculate earnings and deductions correctly. If your system doesn’t allow you to customize the codes, you will need to figure out a way to do the calculations outside the payroll system, and enter them into the system by hand. This is inconvenient and inefficient.

A good example of this is a wage garnishment deduction. An employee’s garnishment calculation must be done correctly, and wage garnishments can vary greatly by employee. You need to ensure garnishments are calculated and deducted correctly from employee pay checks. If the system will not allow you to create the code to meet your needs, you will need to calculate it elsewhere and enter by hand.

CenterPoint Payroll Software has a set of standard earning and deduction codes available. And you can also customize as many codes as you need to, so you won’t have to be using spreadsheets or entering data by hand.