Sage 50 Accounting is not only versatile and easy to use, it can save you time and help you handle day-to-day business challenges.

Using To-Do Lists to Save Time

To-Do Lists can help you complete routine bookkeeping tasks more efficiently. If you choose to display the To-Do Lists whenever you start the program, you can complete many transactions in Sage 50 Accounting from a single point.

The To-Do Lists can remind you to:

• Follow up on memos regarding vendors, customers, or employees.
• Make payments on recurring transactions.
• Record payment of customer invoices.
• Pay invoices that are due, taking advantage of early payment terms that are available to you.
• Manage your cash flow more effectively by identifying overdue customer accounts.

Whenever you start up Sage 50 Accounting, review the items on each tab of the To-Do Lists. When you double-click on any order, invoice or miscellaneous transaction in the To-Do Lists, Sage 50 Accounting will open the required transaction window.

Make any adjustments you need, and process the transaction. Then, simply return to the To-Do Lists to perform the next task. (You'll finish your bookkeeping so quickly and easily, you might even have time for a coffee-break, or another sale!)

To take advantage of this feature:

• In the Home window, from the View menu, select To-Do Lists, then At Startup.

Updating Inventory Records

If you manufacture or assemble goods, and record both the raw materials and the finished goods in your inventory records, Sage 50 Accounting helps you update your records automatically, with recurring entries. Prepare the recurring entry first, so you can quickly record your production activity whenever you manufacture inventory.

To prepare a recurring entry:

1. Be sure you have records in the Inventory and Services module for the raw materials and the finished or assembled item.
2. In the Home window, choose Item Assembly.
3. Create a recurring entry in the Item Assembly window:
4. In the the Source field, identify the item you are building. For example, enter "Build H-101."

• In the Comment field, identify the manufacturing activity. For example, "Assemble Cabinets, stained black."
• In the Assembly Components section, enter all the items that you use to manufacture the inventory item.
• In the Additional Costs field, enter the approximate labor costs and other additional costs, if you know them.
• In the Assembled Items section, select the item you are manufacturing.

4. Important: In the Assembled Items section, change the amounts in the Amount column so the Total for Assembled Items matches the Total for Assembly Components.
5. Store the entry as a recurring entry.

To record your manufacturing activity:

1. In the Home window, Item Assembly, recall the recurring entry, enter a date, and check the Comment field.
2. In both the Assembled Items and the Assembly Components sections, review the quantities. Change them, if needed.
3. Enter any Additional Costs, such as labor.
4. Important: In the Assembled Items section, change the amounts in the Amounts column so the Total for Assembled Items matches the Total for Items to Assembly Components.
5. Process the entry and close the transaction window.

Finding Your Best Customers

Using the Customer Sales summary, you can quickly find out:

• Which customer bought the most from your company.
• Which customer's sales were the most profitable for you.

Here's how:

1. In the Home window, on the Reports menu, select Customers and Sales, then Customer Sales.
2. In the dialog box that appears, choose Summary, then:

• Select All Items.
• Select all customers and all inventory, service and asset items.
• Enter a Start date and a Finish date.
• Decide whether to select only Inventory and Service amounts, or Freight and Other amounts too.
• Choose OK.

3. Scroll through the Customer Sales summary. In the Revenue column you'll quickly see which customer has purchased the most, in dollars. In the Profit column and the Margin column you'll see which customer's purchases were most profitable. In the Transactions column you'll see how many sales invoices you issued to each customer during the period covered by this report.

Producing Concise Customer Statements

You can produce customer statements that show only unpaid invoices.

1. From the Setup menu, click Settings, and then Customers & Sales.
2. In the Include Invoices Paid In The Last [ ] Days box, set the number of days to zero.

Later, if you decide to include invoice and payment history on customer statements, change the number of days from zero to the period of time you wish.

Monitoring Internal Revenues and Expenses

Use the Projects module creatively – set up projects to monitor individual revenue-earning activities, your profit centers. For example, a furniture shop may sell both pre-built and custom-made furniture, and offer weekend furniture-making workshops. As revenues and expenses are allocated to these projects, the Project Budget report helps you quickly identify the profit centers earning the highest net income.

1. Create projects for each profit center.
2. In the Home window, click the Projects icon, then choose Edit, then Create.
3. On the Project tab, enter the project Start Date and balance-forward amounts.
4. Select the Budget tab, then check Budget This Project to assign revenue and expense amounts expected for each month.
5. Generate a Project Budget report to view a comparison of revenues and expenses that have been processed for each project, either as a dollar value or percentage.
6. In the Home window, choose Reports, Project, then Budget.
7. Select all projects you want to view, enter the Start and End date, then choose to view the project details by dollar value or percentage.