Activity Review

About This Software

Business management system with general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchase order, payroll, human resources, CRM, Contracts Processing, and bank reconciliation.
 

 

Pros: Easy to use; extremely capable & flexible; great support;
Meets needs of most business environments. Best product for the investment in software.
Each update/version offers more capability, features and ease of use.
This is the only software I have used where the upgrades are totally painless. All upgrade conversions are handled with virtually no manual work required. Compared to Great Plains and Solomon, which I have used, Activty is heavenly.
Cons: Some of the documentation a little vague as to where to fix warning and/or eror messages.
Overall: Great software. I've been using Activity since version one (1) and highly recommend the product.

 

Passport Business Solutions

Passport Business Solutions is an integrated software solution designed to give you greater control over your company’s operations and profitability. Strong transaction audit trails, versatile reporting options, graphical forms design for invoices, statements and purchase order forms, drill downs and look ups for fast data access are just a few of the features that save time and increase efficiency. Each of these elements is reinforced by the fact that you can invest in only the modules you need to design a system that best fits your organization.
Popular Functionality Modules

General Ledger Categorizes and summarizes accounting data. Provides comprehensive information for financial analysis and control. Custom designed financial statements show profit or loss,…

Accounts Payable Keep accurate information on vendor, supplier, and standard costs by tracking payment due dates, available discounts, and money owed to creditors. Provides maintenance and…

Product Definition Along with Inventory Management, helps to form the foundation of PBS Manufacturing . It allows you to create and maintain bills of material, work centers on the shop floor,…

Capacity Planning Allows manufacturers to plan optimal production based on actual requirements and plant capacity. Production bottlenecks and backload problems are identified before they occur…

Shop Floor Control Provides production management with accurate and timely information on jobs, work-in-process, and production activity. It allows detailed planning and scheduling, and…
Complete Functionality Module List

    Accounts Payable
    Accounts Receivable
    Capacity Planning
    Check Reconciliation
    Customer Order Processing
    General Ledger
    Inventory Control
    Job Cost
    Manufacturing Job Costing
    Master Scheduling & MRP
    Order Entry
    Payroll
    Point of Sale
    Product Definition
    Professional Time and Billing
    Purchase Order
    Sales Analysis
    Shop Floor Control

Canopus Treasury Review

Canopus Treasury is a comprehensive software solution designed to automate the treasury function of a large corporation and in-house banking operations. Built on the core banking platform, it is a powerful tool to centrally manage and control an enterprise's cash flows, internal funds transfers and external payments, at the same time achieving better corporate performance, enterprise-wide visibility and substantial cost savings.

Features Checklist

• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Bank Reconciliation
• Billing & Invoicing
• Cash Management
• Collections
• Consolidation / Roll-Up
• Multi-Currency
• Project Accounting
• Tax Management
• Expense Tracking

Product Details

• Free Demo

  Yes , get a free demo
• Deployment

  Installed
  Web Based
  
• Training

  Documentation
  Webinars
  Live Online
  In Person
  
• Support

  Online
  Business Hours

Zoho Books Review

If you need online accounting, Zoho Books is definitely worth a look! Excellent user interface, navigation and superior depth in records.

Simple, easy-to-use cloud accounting software to help
you manage your business, the smart way!

• Get Paid Faster

  Send professional invoices to clients and start accepting online payments from them. It's simple, fast and convenient.
  
  
  
  

• Track Expenses Better

  Know your expenses better to save money in the future. Track, categorize and bill them to your clients all from one place.
  
  
  
  

• Automated Banking

  Connect your bank account and get a real-time update on your cash flow. Monitor transactions and categorize them instantly.
  
  
  
  

Cougar Mountain Accounting

Cougar Mountain Software Accounting (DENALI and CMS Professional) features depth, power, and flexibility in affordable packages that grow along with your company. With unbeatable security our comprehensive programs include all the basic modules you need to manage your business.

Average Ratings

• 3 / 5

  Overall
• 2.5 / 5

  Ease of Use
• 4 / 5  

   

   

  • Starting Price

    $1,000.00/one-time/user
  • Deployment

    Installed
    
  • Support

    Online
    Business Hours
    
     

GASB Updates Implementation Guide

he Governmental Accounting Standards Board has published a new authoritative implementation guide that details comprehensive authoritative implementation guidance that has been cleared by the board for state and local governments.

Implementation Guide No. 2015-1 incorporates the changes that came out of feedback received by GASB during a year-long public exposure of its previously issued implementation guidance, which was performed in conjunction with the due process leading up to the issuance of GASB Statement No. 76, The Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for State and Local Governments.

Statement 76 reduces the GAAP hierarchy to two categories of authoritative GAAP. The first category of authoritative GAAP consists of GASB Statements of Governmental Accounting Standards. The second category includes GASB Implementation Guides, GASB Technical Bulletins, and guidance from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants that is cleared by the GASB.

Going forward, all new GASB implementation guidance, due to its elevated authoritative status, will be exposed for a period of broad public comment prior to issuance, as is done for other GASB pronouncements.The requirements of Implementation Guide 2015-1 are effective for reporting periods beginning after June 15, 2015. The guide is available for download free of charge on GASB’s Web site.

Are you working in the global marketplace?

It may not always seem like it, but the internet moves at the speed of light. The major connections between servers, and between countries, are mostly fibre-optic. Your emails, web clicks and downloads are carried around the world at incredibly high speed. So high that it’s faster than the signals moving around inside your brain.
The speed of light in a vacuum is almost 300,000,000 miles/second. That’s three hundred million meters per second. Nothing can move faster – it’s the universal speed limit. The speed of light in a fibre-optic internet cable is slower, by around 40 percent. Still, it can get around the world four and a half times in just a second.
This means that as far as the internet is concerned, nowhere is far away. You might be based on the opposite side of the planet to some of your potential customers, but in internet terms they’re right next door. In fact, they’re standing next to you. Go on, shake hands.

The world is getting smaller

And there are more of them every day. Ever more people are being connected, with better internet access coming to remote areas as well as cities. Whether by cable, mobile phone, high-altitude drone or balloon, the internet is reaching places it could never reach before.
Now look at your business. Where is your energy focused? Where do you direct all your attention? Are you looking at this vast global marketplace, or are you concentrating on your local customers?
Many of today’s entrepreneurs grew up in an era when the internet was slow and unreliable. Some of us grew up in a time when there was no internet at all! As a friend of mine is still fond of saying, “I remember the internet when it was just fields.”
But things have changed, and they continue to change – very quickly. Unfortunately our minds don’t always change fast enough to keep up. Some of us are stuck in a slower, more parochial past. We need to wake up, and fast.

Global marketplace means global competition

As I sit at my desk here in New Zealand, I’m about 12,000 miles away from some of my clients. But in real terms I’m one-third of a second away. That’s how long it would take email, instant messaging or video-conferencing to go from here to there. It’s a meaninglessly small duration. I truly work in a global marketplace.
That’s all very well, but there’s a sting in the tail. If I have global customers, I also have global competitors. And probably so do you. As Intel’s Andy Grove once put it, “If the world operates as one big market, every employee will compete with every person anywhere in the world who is capable of doing the same job. There are lots of them and many of them are hungry.”
It’s happening now. Long established business models are being overturned overnight. Don’t believe me? Ask a taxi driver about Uber, or a book publisher about Amazon. The age of your business is no defence. If you can’t adapt, you will be swept away by the tide.
What does this mean for you? It means that you don’t really have a choice. The global marketplace isn’t just a nice option – it’s a fact of life. There are people all over the world chasing business. Your business.
The only exceptions are those companies that can’t export their products or services. For example, you can’t easily cut someone’s hair from another country, or sell them freshly baked bread. Having said that, I wouldn’t bet against either of those things happening in the future.
For now, hairdressers, bakers and similar businesses don’t have to worry too much. The rest of us, though, had better stay on our toes. The fields were concreted over years ago.
If you still think your business can succeed by focusing solely on your local market, you could be in for a nasty shock. And wherever in the world that shock originates, it could arrive on your doorstep in less than one-third of a second.

Why you need online accounting

Peace of mind

I don’t want to scare you, but all it takes is one office disaster and your files are compromised. A dodgy employee, fire, flood or break-in and you’ve got a problem. Hard copies of old accounts are often irreplaceable, and a lot of the time businesses don’t fully recover from disasters for this reason.
Using online accounting gives your business access to the latest software and data security that’s safer than the lock on your front door. Simple as that.

Incredible convenience

Having the books in the cloud means our accountant can log in to her work without coming into the office. We can keep a finger on the pulse with staff raising invoices and expenses as they need to. It also lets everyone run project numbers when they’re on the road.
Being able to check accounts and invoices from anywhere is invaluable for businesses that aren’t office based like tradies and others on the road all the time. It’s like having an office in the palm of your hand.
In my small business, Xero automatically imports information from our bank accounts. This means there’s no need to manually reconcile accounts aor for hard copy statements. The latest transactions are categorised, bills are scheduled, and time sheets, inventory and customer relationship management are easily tracked. It’s made a world of difference to our systems.
And it works the other way too. We can easily pay bills online and store any receipts in the cloud.
I used to get an outstanding debtors list printed for me at the end of each week, but now I can log in and check up on client accounts whenever I want.

Time and cost savings

Online accounting obviously means saving on paper, printing expenses and storage costs. There’s also the time saving of not having to sift through reams of paper.
Unlike the old days of expensive software packages, there’s no big capital outlay required for this convenience.
This more streamlined, accessible system means the dreaded two-hour sit down on a Sunday night to tackle the accounts no longer exists. This is a huge change from the world of accounting when I started in business.
Creating new quotes, copying previous quotes, and turning them into invoices has all been streamlined. This means the process is fast and crystal clear from the beginning, something all businesses will be happy to hear.

Work-life balance

Despite the belief that being able to work from anywhere means it’s harder to switch off, I find it allows me to be more productive in those previously unworkable pockets of time. Even five or ten minutes sitting in a taxi or waiting for a meeting can be used productively.

8 Things You Must Do If Considering a Move to a New Firm

Here are 8 tips that can make this process more productive and less stressful.

1. Talk to your current firm. This is #1 and #1A to me. If you're good, your firm is going to want to keep you. Your role will not be in jeopardy if you raise the question of what your future there holds. Talk to your firm's leadership and get your concerns out on the table. Maybe your issues are resolvable. The bottom line is, don't invest all your time and energy in a job search only to find out that your current firm will do a lot to keep you. I would even go so far as to suggest you say that you aren't 100% sure your future is there without these changes. It is all too common these days for firms to offer a lot more money and/or promises to make things better if you go in to resign. Because of that event, what happens afterward is really not a true indication of their intent. 95+% of the time, things really don't change.

2. Discuss it with your spouse. It is most important that you both agree with the idea of you making a change. If your spouse doesn't buy into the idea fully, then you really shouldn't be doing it. What I hear frequently when I meet partners considering a change is "my spouse is behind me in whatever I decide regarding my career. "  My point is that a major decision like this warrants a serious discussion. 

3. Read your partnership agreement. You need to know what your contractual rights and obligations are. Interestingly, I find that partners often don't have a copy of their contract, can't find their copy, or have to get a copy from their firm, which, as you can imagine, is pretty awkward. At any rate, get your hands on your partnership agreement and read the restrictive covenants very carefully. Some are stricter than others, but that's a topic for a different conversation. And.... see #5 below. 

4. Get a sense of market conditions. Talk to industry colleagues that you can trust to be discreet and get their input. Read relevant articles from trade publications such as Accounting Today, Inside Public Accounting, and The CPA Journal. Talk to recruiters and other experts in the field who know the CPA world very well and who work primarily with partners.  

5. Talk to an attorney. Ideally this should be an attorney who specializes in partnership agreements. Meet them in-person, show them your partnership agreement, and have them clearly explain what you can and cannot do. If you don't know such attorneys, I would be happy to recommend a few.

6. Update your resume. You may have a firm bio with a photo and some brief background information and that's enough to start. At some point though, you will need a traditional, chronological resume with your job history, education, license information, professional and community organizations, etc. This is something I help partners with quite often and will gladly provide assistance.  

7. Assemble a client list or create a marketing plan. Nothing fancy, just a simple excel spreadsheet that includes client A,B,C etc, industry or individual, length of time they've been a client, services, recurring fee revenue, and the probability from 0% to 100% of their coming with you. If you don't have a potential book of business, I recommend creating a marketing plan. (It's a rare partner opportunity where business development isn't a prime topic) The marketing plan will be a short document outlining how you will attract new business by tapping into your relationships with bankers, attorneys, wealth advisors, insurance agents, etc., whom you've met over the years as well as how you will be involved with industry, trade associations, and other specialized groups for business development purposes. 

8. Engage a professional recruiter.This is a strong suggestion for the reasons that follow. Professional representation has value in terms of discretion, confidentiality, and awareness of below-the-radar screen opportunities such as boutique firms or confidential situations. And, you definitely want to work with a recruiter who knows the public accounting market, has relationships with the managing partners, and works regularly with partners. 

Future of Online Accounting

The increase in the number of online accountants seems to have has coincided with the elevation of online software. As such, small business accounting is as efficient as it has ever been.

There are several reasons for the rise of online accounting services. In a world where ease of use is a necessity not a luxury, it seems the simple nature of online accounting platforms employed by accountants has genuine appeal.

For instance, online accounting firms make the hassle of paperwork a distant memory by providing a simple online uploading system. You can lodge all of your documents by scanning them in or using your smartphone. You can then leave the rest to your online accountant.
  
Online accounting provides time poor businesses with a contemporary and affordable financial management system. It takes the time constraints of paperwork (sometimes poor paperwork that has to be done again) away from less experienced employees or bookkeepers who should be focusing on running their departments and dealing with staff, customers or stakeholders. It allows business owners to wipe their brow and focus on growth.

A further benefit of the online accounting model is the fixed fee structure. With online accounting you know the services you will receive for the price you have paid. There are different fee structures for the level of service you require, but again we live in a world where ease of use and transparency is a major caveat as to whether goods and services are purchased or not.

The future lies in a world where there are no appointments, flat fee structures, and any time, anywhere services.

It doesn’t matter whether the service or product is tea, tapware, telecommunications or accounting, there is an inbuilt need for online services. And with today’s technologies, there is no excuse for poor online experiences.

There is no expectation that traditional accounting will disappear, but as time-poor people look for ways to reduce stress and alleviate any business burden that can be outsourced, there will be an even bigger shift towards the delivery of online accounting.

Tips For Effective Tax Record Keeping

Keeping tax records should be a simple process: hold onto records that identify your sources of income, know your expenses, determine property value and then prepare your tax returns.
Few of us, however, are that diligent. We throw away vital documents due to space constraints; we fail to see the relevance in certain invoices, or we store them in a shoebox making it impossible for rediscovery.
Keeping records and forgetting about them isn’t such a bad thing if the auditor does come knocking at your door. At least you can turn your place upside down and then spend the required hours sifting through the relevant (and irrelevant) piles of crumpled paper. It’s better than having no records at all.
Here are the top five ways to keep your records in order.

 
1. Keep records in an organized system
The advantage of keeping your records in order is that your last five years of invoices are easily maintained and accessible. It is important to note that you need five years of records just in case the taxman does come knocking. Good record keeping makes it easier for you to meet your tax obligations, gives you a better understanding of how your business is running and it helps you make the right financial decisions.
Record keeping is also a legal requirement, with poorly kept records resulting in fines. The ATO suggests that individual and businesses allow time each week to ensure their records up-to-date.



2. Keep it digital

Electronic records (using accounting software approved by the ATO) will save you time, hassle and money. While it takes time to install the software, the advantages are numerous and include automatic calculations of earnings and profits. You can also claim the cost of record keeping software as a business tax deduction. It’s a win-win.



3. Seek professional help

If you are not an administrative type (and let’s face it, not many of us are) it may be worth seeking out someone who is. Hire someone internally who can manage the books, keep the invoices in check and your paperwork in order. Make sure this administration guru is someone you trust.



4. Ask the ATO for help

The ATO makes it as easy as possible for you to comply with your tax obligations and can arrange a confidential assistance visit. Visits are conducted by tax officers at your place of business where a tax officer will work through any issues you may have. If you are unsure of what records you need to keep it could be worth spending half a day seeking expert advice. You can also use the ATO’s record keeping evaluation tool. This is a free, interactive software program that will help you understand what your record keeping obligations are. It provides a list of records tailored specifically for your business and reports on how well the business is keeping records, including recommended improvements.



5. Separate business and private expenditure

Sometimes it is difficult to remember what you purchased and why. It is important to keep your business and personal records separate so there is no confusion.
Record keeping should be simple, but most of us see it as more of a chore and a burden than something conducted out of necessity that could save you time and money. Change your mindset and then change your habits and you will find that it is easier to stay on top of your paperwork.

Are your employees eligible for super payments?

Superannuation can be quite complicated. In essence employers must pay 9.5% of each eligible worker’s ordinary time earnings each quarter. According to the Australian Tax Office, ordinary time earnings (OTE) is usually the amount your employee earns for their ordinary hours of work. It includes things like commissions, shift loadings and allowances, but doesn’t include overtime payments.

For contractors, the labour component of their contract is the basis for their OTE and it is when contractors are thrown in the mix that things become complicated.

The ATO states that if you pay your contractors under a contract that is wholly or principally for labour, you are required to pay super contributions for them, even if the contractor quotes an Australian Business Number (ABN). These contractors are your employees and you must treat them as such, regardless of the service they are providing.

When do I pay Superannuation?
If an employee earns $450 or more (before tax) in a calendar month, you have to pay a super guarantee on top of their wages.
If your employee is under 18 or is a private or domestic worker they must work a minimum of 30 hours to qualify for superannuation payments.

You are required to pay super regardless of whether the employee:

• is full-time, part-time or casual
• receives a super pension or annuity while still working – including those who qualify for the transition-to-retirement measure
• is a temporary resident – when they leave Australia, they are entitled to the payments you made through a ‘departing Australia superannuation payment’ claim
• is a company director
• is a family member working in your business – provided they are eligible for a super guarantee (SG)

When not to pay Superannuation
Those who are not eligible for a SG include:

• non-resident employees you pay for work they do outside Australia
• some foreign executives who hold certain visas or entry permits
• employees paid under the Community Development Employment Program
• members of the army, naval or air force reserves for work carried out in that role
• employees temporarily working in Australia who are covered by a bilateral super agreement.

You must keep a copy of the employee’s certificate of coverage to verify the exemption.