Here’s a draft copy of what the IRS Form 941 changes for MAS90 and MAS200 users should look like. Check the IRS web site for the final forms or consult with your Sage Business Partner to have them help load the MAS90 Payroll update changes to your payroll system.
941 Q2 2011 Form Changes for MAS90 and MAS200
On March 1, 2011 the Federal government issued their final updates to the 2011 Form 941 (here’s a PDF of the draft copy). The Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 team is coding to this updated form and will release the change via a Hot Fix for Payroll versions 4.4, 4.3 and 4.2.
Users of versions prior to 4.2 should be aware that the form updates (as well as tax tables) will no longer be maintained for those unsupported versions.
These changes will also be incorporated into Product Update 5 for Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 version 4.4, and Product Update 22 for version 4.3.
This updated 941 payroll form makes required changes for the legislation in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 that reduced the employee Social Security rate from 6.2% to 4.2% for one year, effective with wages earned beginning Jan. 1, 2011). Also included – changes from the 2010 version: elimination of lines for the payroll tax exempt. in the HIRE Act (lines 6a-6c), because the exemption may not be claimed on wages after Dec. 31, 2010; (2) removing the advance earned income credit line (line 9), due to the advance earned income credit not being eligible for claim after Dec. 31, 2010; and (3) the addition of a new line for the FICA tax due on unreported tips. Some information from the 2010 form 941 have been put on different lines (e.g., quarterly adjustments for sick pay moved from line 7b to line 8).
The hot fixes and product updates are currently targeted to be posted on Sage Online, Sage ERP MAS Support section close to the end of March 2011. In addition, the Q2 2011 Tax Table Update is currently targeted to be posted at the same location at approximately the same time.
Please check the download site or the Sage MAS Community forum throughout March for additional late-breaking information.
Why MAS90 Projects Fail. It’s The Bid Stupid.
Increasingly over the last few years I’ve been shocked by how many people use the internet to get a quote for their MAS 90 and MAS 200 upgrades or new implementations.
The fact that people are going out over the Internet doesn’t shock me. It’s the relative complexity of projects they’re looking for quotes on that does.
Most people:
– Don’t know what version they’re using
– Can’t find their disks
– Can’t “remember” their Sage partner
– Have had several prior accounting staff running their MAS90 system
– Can’t remember/Don’t know if they have customizations, custom reports
I totally get that companies don’t spend all their time analyzing their accounting systems to get these answers.
What I’m opposed to is the notion that sending an email request for an upgrade which either invites the receiving party (VAR/Consultant) to spend 2 to 4 hours (unpaid) doing a needs assessment or just shooting a number and hoping for the best.
You could (quite correctly) ask why VARS are not taking the 2-4 hours to analyze situations and then present detailed bids. In some cases VARS do — until they realize that most Internet requests for bids are really just requests for third bids that a customer sometimes (not always) is using to compare against a preferred provider.
And that preferred provider may not have done any due diligence. So the VAR’s analysis is then fed back to the low cost provider who uses the quote to make sure they didn’t misunderstand the needs of the customer (which they usually did).
The diligent VAR is then left having provided a valuable service for no compensation. Repeat this 4 to 6 times a week and you’ll quickly see how providing free (high level) needs analysis to random customers who you have no prior relationship is not a sustainable business model.
Is there any question why so many IT projects fail?
In the race to the lowest cost people (both customers and VARS) forget that unless the solution works to the expectations of the customer that the bidding process is actually a lose-lose-lose.
Fewer and fewer people are actually taking the time to understand the concerns. Review alternatives — and finally to implement a sound solution.
It’s all ready, fire, aim.
Reload, repeat.
The customer loses because they thought they were getting everything at one fixed low price and that the services would “fix” numerous previously undisclosed problems.
The consultant loses because they underbid – and in some cases race to finish and get out with their sanity intact
The publisher loses because they have an unhappy customer who probably tells everyone how horrible the software they are using is.
The solution?
Most fo the time these projects shouldn’t be 3 bids and take the lowest. If you’re going to go for bids I’d go for bids on the qualifications of the consultant first. Then expect to pay a realistic price.
Sending an email blast asking “can you quote my upgrade” rather than “would you like to become our trusted consultant” to half a dozen VARS found in a Google search is a recipe for problems because bidding often is not accompanied by any deeper understanding or probing of underlying disclosed or undisclosed problems.
.02 via Information Week
MAS90 or MAS200 Daily Transaction Register Only Updates Last Unposted Batch Starting 4.30
It’s probably a good idea to get in the habit of always updating your MAS90 or MAS200 Daily Transaction Register and not leaving unposted items until the end of the day.
The Daily Transaction Register (DTRY) is the posting journal that transmits source transactions (say from an updated invoice register) to the General Ledger in the form of a journal entry.
In version 4.20 and earlier whenever you went and updated an invoice register (and it appears that this may impact all registers) if you didn’t update the DTR then the next time someone went and updated a register they could answer “yes” to updating the DTR and both their register AND any unposted registers would be updated.
Apparently in version 4.30 of Sage ERP MAS 90 and MAS 200 the logic somehow changed. Speculation is that this was changed to accommodate the use of Paperless Office.
Here’s the Sage KB Article. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering why some journals have updated all the way to the general ledger and others haven’t – the cure is likely to always update the DTR each time you update a detail journal (or always have someone run the DTR from the general ledger at the end of the day).
via: Brett Zimmerman
Sage MAS Intelligence Quick Guides (PDF)
Sage yesterday provided our 90 Minds Consulting Group with three documents that explain a little more about the features, functionality and cost of their Sage MAS Intelligence reporting tool.
As you probably recall Sage was forced to retire the distribution of FRX Financial Reporting as of January 31, 2011. This occurred because Microsoft (the owner/publisher of FRX) discontinued distribution effectively bringing product sales of FRX to an end of life with support terminating at the end of 2012.
Though Sage have promised FRX compatibility through Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 v4.5 – they’re already rolling out Sage MAS Intelligence as their featured replacement for FRX. Since existing users of Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 receive a free license of Sage MAS Intelligence (customers on plan receive a free Report Manager license and a Security Manager for Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 v4.4 — or EES 1.4).
There have been a number of questions (cost, functionality) that users and consultants have asked which I think are answered quite nicely in the PDF files below.
Sage MAS Intelligence Cheat Sheet
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- …
- 66
- Next Page »