In a multi-entity environment, each office typically operates autonomously, subject to varying currency, tax, and reporting requirements – such as currency translation, exchange gain/loss accounting, local reporting, and an increased risk of non-compliance. But that’s not all they have to deal with. In addition to managing organic growth, mergers and acquisitions are common in many industry. And with each new business acquired comes more separate entities, their unique challenges, and often a second financial management system.
Presented with these challenges, finance team often struggle to perform critical tasks such as consolidation, reporting, and analyzing operational and financial information across the disparate sites. They are forced to use cumbersome spreadsheets and add-on reporting solutions along with their traditional financial systems to try to cobble together meaningful data to help management make informed decisions. Instead, the process is manual, slow and error ridden. Data from the multiple entities is collected and consolidated manually, currency conversions are calculated by hand, and the number of inter-entity adjustments and eliminations increases.
The use of multiple systems and the lack of automation lead to two critical problems for multi-entity or global businesses: diminished operational visibility and a dramatic increase in cost.
We are extremely fortunate at BAASS to have spent some quality time with both Ed Kless, Senior Director of Partner Development and Strategy for Sage and Ron Baker, author and founder of the Verasage Institute.
Read More >There can be many reasons why your current accounting system no longer makes sense for your business. Maybe your company didn’t grow as big as you first anticipated. Maybe you had to downsize and let staff go. Either way, the end result is the same. You are losing money by maintaining an accounting system that is too big for your needs, as well as the expensive upkeep of servers and workstations.
In discussion with our clients it has come to my attention that there is often a great deal of functionality that is not used in a typical ERP/Accounting system.
Examples of some of things I have heard:
On the other hand there are many amazing things we hear from clients in terms of how they have utilized their systems to achieve their goals and sometimes to obtain a competitive advantage.
Examples of some things I have heard:
We would like to hear more of the interesting ways you are using your ERP system to make your lives easier and more efficient and effective.
We would like to share them with others so they might understand how they can take advantage of their Accounting systems and save time and be more productive.
Cloud computing is a way of distributing software completely over the Internet, relieving you from the burden of IT expenditure and maintenance. In contrast to on-premises software, cloud computing presents a host of benefits including:
Contact BAASS to discuss our Cloud options for Accounting and CRM.
When you first open Sage Fixed Assets, an “Assets Snapshot” pops up. Many people either ignore this or set it to “Do not display on startup”. However, I have found it to be a valuable, convenient management tool. At a glance, you have a lot of pertinent Fixed Asset information including an Asset Listing with an asset count and cost; information about the latest activity dates; charts showing active assets by property type and the value of assets placed in service. This information is visual and very easy to read. It gives you, as the name says, a “snapshot” of the status of your assets.
Read More >Guest Blog by Joni Burchett of Avalara
Back in the summer of 2011, British Columbians had a unique opportunity to participate in a providence-wide referendum on the harmonized sales tax (HST). Despite the efforts of those who advocated keeping the HST for economic growth, the general public rose together and voted in favor of eliminating the HST in August of 2011. At that time, the decision was made to revert back to the former system, a split between the provincial sales tax (PST) of 7% and the federal goods and services tax (GST) of 5%.
So, you may be asking yourself how this will affect you. Starting April 1, 2013, the new tax requirements will go into effect and you can expect some of the following changes:
UNCHANGED: The following items will still be taxed at 12% but with the 7% PST and 5% GST:
CHANGED: The following items will no longer be taxed at 12% and will only be taxed at the 5% GST:
While this change will likely provide an immediate benefit for many consumers, it may be a hard hit for many businesses. It is estimated that businesses will pay 730 million more in taxes with the blended PST/GST system, and will no longer get a break on production costs such as electricity, heating fuel, computers, and vehicles. This may cause a lull in production, as well as overall sales and exports. Additionally, businesses can expect more administrative costs, since they now will be required to register for the tax, file and remit their taxes to BC, and manage two tax rates instead of one. Based on an independent study made up of a panelist of four (an economist, a former BC auditor general, a banker and former Alberta finance minister), it was estimated that small and large businesses could see an additional $150 million in administrative costs.
BAASS Business Solutions has also teamed up with Avalara, the creator of Sage Sales Tax to offer you an affordable cloud-based sales tax automation solution that works seamlessly with Sage 300 ERP to help with the transition. Sage Sales Tax can take the hassle out of manual sales tax compliance and help you to calculate, file, and remit your PST and GST taxes, as well as any taxes that you might have to collect in the states.
For more information on Sage Sales Tax for Sage 300 ERP Click here. Both BAASS Business Solutions and Avalara will also be at annual TPAC conference in Richmond, BC, it would be great to have you join us!