Of course you are always looking to save yourself some time so you can get your job done faster, right? Your accounting software surely offers its own set of time-saving functions. Here are some standard time-saving tools you might want to try out today, in the interest of shortening entry time and getting your job done faster.

Entering dates

Instead of having to type in the date every time you enter a transaction, use the shortcuts available throughout your accounting software. Typical shortcuts for the entry of dates include:

• Choosing dates from a calendar which can be pulled up on the screen.
• Auto-fill, a function in which the system recognizes the current month and year. You need only enter the day. For example if it is now February 2012, and you enter the number 25, the auto-fill functions will recognize it as February 25, 2012.
• Numerical entry. You enter numerically the month, date and year, for example 022512. The system recognizes this as February 25, 2012.

Set as default

If you find yourself selecting the same option each time you go through data entry, you may want to save yourself time by setting that option as the default. That way it appears every time you come back to the data entry screen, and you don’t have to manually choose it!

Tab stops

Are there fields of information you see every time you enter data, but you never use them? You can set up the system to skip those fields! Tab stops allow you to choose which fields the cursor stops at in each transaction entry screen. By setting tab stops, the cursor will only stop at those items you actually use, saving you significant data entry time.

You have enough to do during the day! Let your accounting software help you cut out unnecessary time and shorten your data entry process.

So you’ve done your homework and narrowed down your accounting software search to just a few systems. Now it’s time to test out each system and see which one works best for you. There are several ways to test out your new system. Being aware of what is available will help you choose the right method for you and your business.

View product videos

Watching a video about your potential software is a good way to get to know the system and in general, what it has to offer, including some of its features and the user interface. The downside of product videos is that you can’t search for the features you are seeking, or see how the product works. It is a great way to get a general feel for the system, which can be extremely helpful at the start of your software search.

Attend a live demonstration

Some software companies offer potential users the opportunity to join a demonstration of their software, whether it’s via the internet or in person. This can be a beneficial use of your time, since you can watch an expert navigate through the system, with the ability to ask questions along the way. After all, who is better at showing you the system than a system expert? Attending a demonstration is a must-do for the purchase of any software system!

Fully functioning trial software version

Some software vendors offer a trial version of their software for you to try out. Some software trials are fully functioning versions of the software, and others are more limited. The advantage to using a software trial version is that you can really get a feel for how the system works. However, without some training or at least familiarity with a software system, it’s nearly impossible to get a true picture of how the software really works.

In a perfect world, you would have the option to use all three of the above to make your decision. First, view a product video at the start of your software search, in order to gain familiarity with the system. After that, attend a live demonstration to get an idea if that system (how it works and its feature set) is an appropriate option for you and your business. Using these two options together can be enough to make your decision, but if you still have questions after that, installing the trial software version can really help. Just be sure that when you are in the trial version working, there is somebody at the software vendor company who is willing to help you along the way and answer any questions that may arise during your testing.

In the past decade, we have seen technology in all forms expand faster than the speed of sound. We have expanded our lingo to include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, we discuss our memory capacity in our Smartphone’s, iPods and iPads, we save to the “Cloud” and read our books on a Kindle. Our encyclopedias have been recycled in favor of Google, Wikipedia and the like, and we keep in touch with friends, family, classmates and mere acquaintances on Facebook. Remember when an apple was something you ate? I can’t believe all of the exciting innovations technology has shown us in my lifetime. Like everyone else, I thrive on all it has to offer. However, there is a downside to all of this technical wizardry, and that’s the change that has occurred in customer service. I recently called my cell phone carrier to inquire about removing my son from our phone plan. He is a college graduate, making his way in the workforce, and finally his phone is up for renewal so he can have his own plan. After calling the 800 number and “speaking” with an automated voice that answered my call, I quickly realized the trade-off we sacrifice in the name of technology. I spent a good few minutes repeating to the “voice” on the phone that I wanted to speak with a customer representative, no-go, the voice couldn’t understand my request. I tried the word agent, support, technician and finally I said I wanted to purchase a phone, a-ha, those were the magic words that got me to a real person. It took over ten minutes and I finally reached someone to help me with my request. I now realize why our customers are so happy with our customer support. At Red Wing Software, we have worked hard to be a progressive company in the technology world, but we work equally as hard to offer customers the personalized service they have always known and should expect!

Every business seems to have some recurring transactions. Recurring payments are those you have to pay more than once, and often on a regular basis, such as monthly bills, insurance payments, rent and more. You can use the recurring payments function in Accounts Payable to streamline the process of paying monthly expenses.

Individual Recurring Transaction

Creating an individual recurring transaction involves setting up and saving the basic information on the invoice, so it can be retrieved and processed each time you need to pay that invoice/vendor. Typically you would enter a description that is familiar, so you can find the correct transaction each time you need to use it. Once you have entered all the necessary information for the individual recurring invoice, that invoice will be saved in a list of recurring transactions. When it comes time to processes the invoice, simply select it from the list, open and edit the dollar amount (if necessary), and save the transaction.

Groups of Recurring Transactions

For even more efficiency, set up your recurring transactions within a group (or batch)! For your monthly recurring transactions, set them up in a monthly recurring group, for your quarterly transactions a quarterly group, and so on. First, create the name of your transaction batch, for instance “Monthly Recurring Bills.” Set up individual transactions and assign each of them to their group. By assigning the transactions to a group, the entire group of transactions can be created easily when needed. When it comes time to run a group of invoices, you go in and change any information if needed, run those invoices, and print them along with a check.

Setting up and using recurring transactions can save you significant time!

I want to use my space in this blog post to thank the many people that help us develop and deliver quality products that meet the needs of our customers. The people I’m talking about are the partners and customers that participate in our focus groups, and offer suggestions for improvements to our products.

As we continually work to improve any of our supported products, we use a documented process that includes reviewing all of the suggestions that have been submitted by the users of that particular product. We maintain a database of those suggestions, and have several design meetings involving staff members from every appropriate department in the organization.

As we finalize the new product features, we include a group of partners and customers to help us be assured that what we are implementing in the new software is actually what the market needs. We, of course, can’t include each and every suggestion to a product in any one release, but continue to review all suggestions received by our organization.

Thanks to all that participate in this process, and keep those ideas flowing.