Notes from the President

Do you ever get distracted from the most important thing you should be doing at this particular moment or, worse yet, focus on something that is not in the best interest of long-term success? Just last week, one of these short-term distractions caught me off guard and resulted in a less than desirable outcome.

Over the last couple of winters, when leaving home for work, I’ve gotten in the habit of getting in the car, hitting the garage door opener button, and then backing out (to reduce the length of time the door is open and preserve what little heat is in the garage). In the snowier months (which were many this year), my wife and I ride to work together because I’m too cheap to buy her a four-wheel drive vehicle. The previous night, I parked a little too close to the wall on her side of the car and when she came out to the garage she couldn’t get in to the vehicle. She signaled me to back out of the garage so she could get in. Of course, I always do what I’m told without delay. The good news is I remembered to hit the garage door opener button. The bad news is the door only had time to go up about eighteen inches, which is not quite enough to get my SUV out of the garage. Consequently, I have a little work to do on my garage door. (I’m sure everyone will agree that since my wife signaled me to back up, it is entirely her fault that I backed into the door.)

This was a relatively low-cost example of what can happen when you are temporarily distracted from the task at hand. Now, look around your business and try to identify the distractions that are taking time away from the most important things that contribute to your long-term success. Maybe it’s just little things that take place every day or bigger, more company-wide functions that should be outsourced to other companies who can perform more efficiently at a lower cost. In any event, it’s worth taking a look around and trying to eliminate unproductive or unnecessary distractions.

In my case, I allowed a minor distraction…. I mean I was not focusing on the most important thing…. I mean I should have ignored my distractions…. Okay, I’m already in too deep on this one, I think I’ll just stop there. I challenge you to stop a few times each week, and ask yourself, “Am I doing the most important and/or productive task I could be doing right now for the best short or long-term success of my company?”

- Ken Hilton, President

 

Attention Payroll Customers
Upcoming 941 Changes

The Internal Revenue Service released preliminary information about the 2011 Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return.

The preliminary information includes several changes, one of which is to reflect the 2011 reduction of the employee portion of FICA tax. For wages earned in 2011, the employee Social Security tax rate is 4.2 percent and the Medicare tax rate is 1.45 percent. To view a document that describes all of the preliminary information, customers who are logged into our Web site
can click here.

Reminder: The final 2011 Form 941 will not be available until the end of the first quarter (end of March). At that time, Aatrix will prompt you to perform an Automatic Update. The installation of this update will update the current 941 to the final 2011 Form 941.

 

You're invited to view a
video of our free Webinar:

Building Profitability:
The tools needed to get the job done!

Red Wing Software, Cotton Incorporated, and MapShots - in conjunction with Cotton Grower magazine - invite you to get a hands-on look at grower-proven production and financial tools to help you make smarter production decisions, better manage details and costs, and help improve your bottom line.

You will hear industry leaders like producers Larkin Martin and Dick Wittman as they share their insights and experiences.
Click here to view the free Webinar.

 

Did You Know?

Red Wing Software is on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube! Click on the below links to view our pages and join us on social networking Web sites.

• To ‘like’ us on Facebook, visit:
  www.facebook.com/redwingsoftware
• To follow us on Twitter, visit:
  www.twitter.com/redwingsoftware
• To follow us on LinkedIn, visit:
  www.linkedin.com/company/red-wing-software
• To follow us on YouTube, visit:
  www.youtube.com/user/RedWingSoftware

 

Customers in the News

In the February issue of Wheat Life, CenterPoint Accounting and Payroll customer Brad Isaak was featured in the cover story, “The Next Generation”. The story focuses on the increase of young people who are returning to their family farm and contributing to the health of their farms. You can read the whole story here.

Red Wing Software customer, Fetzer Farms was featured in the March 1st issue of Progressive Dairyman. The article, “Cows are comfortable at Fetzer Farms”, highlights the changes that Fetzer Farms has made to their operation to make the living environment more comfortable for their 1,500 cows. You can read the whole article here.

 

A Special Offer from the Ferguson AgReport

We have teamed up with The Ferguson AgReport to offer a special deal for Red Wing Software customers on new or renewing subscriptions. For those of you unfamiliar with The Ferguson AgReport, it is a monthly newsletter containing the latest agricultural business commentary by more than 20 nationally known, contributing writers. Topics include business and financial management…market price trends…credit and banking relations…legal and tax issues…global outlook…national economics… employee retention…new production niches…etc.

Both new and renewing customers will receive $5 off their yearly subscription. When checking out, simply click the “Click here if you have a discount” tab and enter the code “rw1984” and a $5 discount will be deducted from a one-year subscription and $10 for a two-year subscription. The discounts only apply to the newsletter delivered by e-mail. Below is an example of a typical article for The Ferguson AgReport.

To see the whole newsletter, subscribe, or renew your subscription to The Ferguson AgReport visit:

www.fergusongroupltd.com

 

Fed Warns Of Ag Land Bubble

An excerpt from The Ferguson AgReport - www.fergusongroupltd.com.

A Bloomberg News release quoted Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City president Thomas Hoenig as observing on February 17 that, “Soaring farmland prices may be the result of an unsustainable bubble that could damage the U.S. economy when it bursts.” He went on to state, “My nagging concern remains that current distortions in financial markets are increasing the risk that imbalances in Asset markets will catch agriculture... and the U.S. economy more generally...by surprise once again.”

Hoenig’s testimony to the Senate Agriculture Committee also included, “This run-up in farmland values has occurred, however, amid financial markets characterized by high levels of Liquidity and unusually low Interest Rates. It is nearly impossible to determine how much of the farmland boom may be an unsustainable bubble driven by financial markets and how much results from fundamental changes in demand and supply conditions.”

The Bloomberg News article also observed that, “Farmland prices have been bolstered by rising commodities. The price of corn has doubled in the past year to $6.64 per bushel from $3.33, according to the Department of Agriculture. The price of wheat has risen 77% in the same period.”

It continued with, “Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke attributes the rise in crop prices primarily to growing demand in emerging markets. Asked February 3 why food prices are rising Bernanke said, ‘The most important development globally is the fact that the world economy is growing more quickly, particularly in emerging markets.’ “

Hoenig was also quoted as stating, “An increase in Borrowing Costs could cause a drop in land prices. Even if crop prices remain high but Capitalization Rates return to their historic average, farmland values could fall by as much as a third.”

But, reasons for optimism were noted by the Federal Reserve’s Hoenig as being [1] U.S. agriculture entered the current period with a relatively strong Balance Sheet and [2] agricultural banks are well capitalized. Unfortunately, he failed to provide “when” and “how much” Interest Rates are expected by the Federal Reserve to increase, which is the crucial key to how soon Capitalization Rates will return to their historic average.

Most economic seers being quoted widely today are projecting that Interest Rates will soon begin working their way upward. Others respond that the nation’s out-of-control Debt will restrain any significant move[s] until the economy rebounds.

To see the whole newsletter, subscribe, or renew your subscription to The Ferguson AgReport visit:

www.fergusongroupltd.com

 

CenterPoint General Support Tip

Q: Many transaction screens in CenterPoint require a Company selection even though I only have one company. Can my company display automatically?

A: Yes. In any transaction screen that requires a Company selection, select your company. Then, right-click on your company and choose Set as Default. From that point forward, your company will display automatically on this transaction screen (each transaction screen has its own default, repeat this process on each transaction screen your company should automatically display in). If you want to skip the Company field during data entry, click the Options button, select Set Tab Stops, remove the check mark for the Company field, and then click OK.

 

CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture Support Tip

The latest version of CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture is 6.9. Please download the latest version if you have not yet done so, for maximum efficiency and performance.

Q: I track my transactions with crop production details, and I am starting to enter transactions for the new production year. Is there an easy way to create crop production details for the new year based on what I had setup previously?

A: Yes. A “New Year” button was recently added to the Setup > Crop Production Center Details screen that allows you to easily do this. Customer Care members who are logged into the Web site can click here or from our Web site at www.redwingsoftware.com select Support > How2 Documentation > CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture to view a document that describes how to quickly create crop production center details for the new year. Once you are logged into the How2 Viewer, select Production (Crop & Livestock), select Setup, and then select New Year Crop Production Center Details from the left side of the screen to display the details.

 

CenterPoint Payroll Support Tip

The latest version of CenterPoint Payroll is 6.9. Please download the latest version if you have not yet done so, for maximum efficiency and performance.

Q: I changed the name of a deduction/earning, but it is still printing the old name on employee pay stubs, how can I correct this?

A: Bilingual Pay Stub translations control the labels that print on the pay stub. To print the Names in Setup > Payroll Details > Deductions & Benefits or Earnings as the labels to print on the pay stub, select Setup > Payroll Details > Bilingual Pay Stubs. Edit English, select the Default check box, and then click Save.

 

Red Wing Payroll Support Tip

The latest version of Red Wing Payroll is 12.27. Please download the latest version if you have not yet done so, for maximum efficiency and performance.

Q: Is Red Wing Payroll compatible with the 64-bit Windows® 7 operating system?

A: Yes. If the computer has the 64-bit Windows 7 operating system (not the 32-bit operating system), then you will need to copy files from one location to another. Note: 32-bit computers with Windows 7 will not have any issues that require files to be copied. Customer Care members who are logged into the Web site can click here or from our Web site at www.redwingsoftware.com select Support > How2 Documentation > Red Wing Payroll to view a document that describes how to copy the files. Once you are logged into the How2 Viewer, select Installation & Registration, and then select Compile Error on Windows 7 64 Bit O/S from the left side of the screen to display the details.