BAASS February 2007 Newsletter
BAASS Coming Events Accpac User Group Seminar - March 20th & March 22nd
eCommerce For Sage Accpac ERP Business-to-business Internet transactions Business-to-business Internet transactions are expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2008. Are you set to get your share of the pie? You may be among the millions of small and mid-size companies that are realizing the revenue potential of a Web storefront, but if your e-commerce site is not integrated with your accounting application, you’re missing out on some significant benefits. Are you rekeying orders? Do you spend time updating product offerings and pricing? Is your site able to differentiate an existing customer from a new customer? eCommerce for Sage Accpac ERP, powered by Iciniti Corporation, is a comprehensive e-commerce solution that provides two-way, real-time integration with Sage Accpac ERP, delivering a comprehensive, integrated, and customizable e-commerce solution. Let’s learn more. Tight Integration eCommerce for Sage Accpac ERP automatically writes Web store orders into the Order Entry module, without a requirement to rekey or batch order data. You can manage Web store pricing, including customer-specific pricing and sale pricing, from the Sage Accpac Inventory Control module. It allows you to maintain your core business data centrally within Sage Accpac ERP, updating the Web store automatically when you update data in the Order Entry, Accounts Receivable, and Inventory Control modules. Ideal User Experience If yours is a business-to-business site, you likely have customers to whom you provide payment terms, and will want to extend those terms when an order is placed on the Web store. eCommerce for Sage Accpac ERP will identify your on-account customers when they log in and provide them with a range of information, including consolidated Accounts Receivable and Order History data. Those customers can view and pay any open invoices online with a credit card. As these customers place orders on your site, the product will pull authorized bill-to and ship-to address information directly from Accounts Receivable, saving data entry and providing a userfriendly experience. In addition, these customers will see the correct contract pricing or volume discounts you have established for them in Sage Accpac. eCommerce for Sage Accpac ERP makes it easy for these customers to find and re-order commonly purchased items. You determine which Sage Accpac customers can order on the Web using a flag in the AR Customer record. Do you want only customers with accounts to see your pricing? This is no problem with eCommerce for Sage Accpac ERP; it allows you to display your catalog without prices for nonaccount customers. Credit Card Integration You will want to offer your retail customers the ability to pay for their orders using a credit card. Your on-account customers also should have the option of paying an invoice balance with a credit card. eCommerce for Sage Accpac ERP makes the process of accepting and processing credit cards easy, and payment information flows right to the Accounts Receivable and Order Entry modules. It’s Easy To Create A New Web Store If you’ve delayed implementation of an e-commerce site fearing the expense or complexity, wait no longer. With eCommerce for Sage Accpac ERP, it is easy to create a Web store that fits your company’s business needs. Start with one of the existing theme templates to save time, or use the flexible and open presentation layer to create a custom Web store look to match your corporate logo, colors, or branding. You can present your inventory item collection in multi-tiered categories with extended product descriptions and up to three images per item. You decide which items are accessible, and the pricing and inventory categories customers can see. The flexible navigation and search functions of eCommerce for Sage Accpac ERP provide an intuitive way for your customers to browse your product catalog and to make purchases. Integration Options eCommerce for Sage Accpac ERP integrates with  all editions of Sage Accpac and all database versions. It is compatible with Version 5 and higher. Please give us a call for full details or to discuss your company’s e-commerce strategy. Measuring Financial Fitness It’s always prudent to review the financial health of your business. Industry-standard calculations can give you a picture of your company’s financial fitness in the form of ratios. Let’s take a look at how some key ratios are calculated, and what each ratio can tell you about your business. Solvency Ratios Current Ratio — Current Assets divided by Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities. This indicates liquid assets available to cover current debt. Quick Ratio — Cash plus Accounts Receivable, Cash plus Accounts Receivable,  divided by Current Liabilities. This is a more stringent version of the Current Ratio. Operational Efficiency Ratios Days Sales in Inventory — Average Inventory Average Inventory divided by Cost of Goods Sold, times 365. Indicates the number of days that can be handled with existing inventory. Inventory Turnover — Sales divided by Inventory. Sales divided by Inventory.  Higher ratio indicates lower carrying costs. Accounts Receivable Turnover — Sales divided Sales divided  by Accounts Receivable. In general the higher the turnover ratio the better. Average Sales Days Outstanding — 365 divided 365 divided  by Accounts Receivable Turnover. Leverage Ratios Equity Ratio — Net Income divided by Net Income divided by Owner’s Equity. The higher the ratio, the more willing investors would be to invest in the company. Debt Ratio — Total Debt divided by Total Assets. Total Debt divided by Total Assets. In general, the less the company relies on debt for asset formation, the less risk. Debt to Equity Ratio — Total Liabilities divided Total Liabilities divided by Total Equity. The smaller the ratio, the greater the long-term solvency. Profitability Ratios Net Income to Sales — After-tax Profits divided After-tax Profits divided by Annual Sales. This key profit ratio indicates the company’s profit as a percentage of sales. Gross Profit to Sales — Pre-tax Profit divided by Pre-tax Profit divided by Sales. A downward trend in this ratio might indicate you need to raise prices to remain profitable. Operating Expense to Sales — Accounts Accounts Payable divided by Annual Sales. Higher numbers indicate the use of suppliers to float operations. Return on Total Assets — Net Profit divided by Net Profit divided by Total Assets, is a key indicator of profitability. Sage Accpac ERP together with the Sage Accpac CFO Option, can help track and report on your key ratios. In an upcoming issue of this newsletter we’ll explore the Sage Accpac tools that can make this data instantly available. If you’re not sure what your ratios should be, standards or benchmarks for your industry can readily be found on the Internet. Give us a call with any questions you may have. Tips & Tricks You can avoid having to navigate through several program groups by creating a custom folder containing the icons you use. Here’s how: Highlight the top level of your Sage Accpac Menu. Right-click in the right pane and select New Folder. Give it a title, then click Finish. Now Copy and Paste any icons you want in your custom folder for quick and easy access to your daily tasks. If you follow the same procedure and put the name Startup in the Title of your folder, any icon you place in this folder will automatically launch when you open your company database in Sage Accpac.	For Your Information Sage Accpac 500 ERP has won The  CPA Technology Advisor annual CPA Technology Advisor annual Review of High-End Accounting Systemsfor 2006. In the December issue, editors awarded perfect 5-Star ratings in the Overall Assessments of Sage Accpac 500. Sage Software’s premiere ERP offering beat all other competitors in a field that included Microsoft® Dynamics GP, as well as offerings from Intacct Corporation  and SouthWare Innovations.