News From GMS - August 2016Current and back issues are provided in Adobe Acrobat format. (Requires the free Adobe Acrobat reader.)
|
| ||
2016 Conference Re-cap
As we said in the July newsletter it was great seeing everyone this year at the Don Cesar. One of the benefits we receive as a company is the interaction with our clients. Your comments, questions and opinions are invaluable to us.
One of the questions that we received from a few clients was about putting GMS on the cloud. As you are aware the GMS Accounting and Financial Management System currently is not a cloud application. However that does not mean that the GMS database cannot be placed on the cloud and accessed remotely. We have had many clients do this with complete success. If you would like to see the basic requirements of how this can be accomplished please visit our website HERE. On the bottom of the page you will find information about placing the database on a virtual server.
Another main topic of conversation at the summit was, of course, the new version of the software to be released later this year. We were thrilled to see the attendees so excited about some features the new version will offer and as you can imagine, the GMS staff is just as excited to be able to offer them to you. The two sessions we did on the new software were two of the best attended at the summit and also where we received a lot of the positive feedback. To mention just a few of the new features: the employee files now contain specific fields for staff email addresses, cell phone number, emergency contact information, re-hire dates and a field to record a reason or explanation of separation from the agency.
In all books of entry there is a grid that lists all batches on the form giving you the ability to see, at a glance, whether or not they have been posted and if so, in what posting period. The ease of navigation has been sharpened and there is a lot of customization of forms and reports to meet your individual needs.
These are just some of the feature our clients are excited about. Please watch for our future newsletters to see the exact release date!
One of the questions that we received from a few clients was about putting GMS on the cloud. As you are aware the GMS Accounting and Financial Management System currently is not a cloud application. However that does not mean that the GMS database cannot be placed on the cloud and accessed remotely. We have had many clients do this with complete success. If you would like to see the basic requirements of how this can be accomplished please visit our website HERE. On the bottom of the page you will find information about placing the database on a virtual server.
Another main topic of conversation at the summit was, of course, the new version of the software to be released later this year. We were thrilled to see the attendees so excited about some features the new version will offer and as you can imagine, the GMS staff is just as excited to be able to offer them to you. The two sessions we did on the new software were two of the best attended at the summit and also where we received a lot of the positive feedback. To mention just a few of the new features: the employee files now contain specific fields for staff email addresses, cell phone number, emergency contact information, re-hire dates and a field to record a reason or explanation of separation from the agency.
In all books of entry there is a grid that lists all batches on the form giving you the ability to see, at a glance, whether or not they have been posted and if so, in what posting period. The ease of navigation has been sharpened and there is a lot of customization of forms and reports to meet your individual needs.
These are just some of the feature our clients are excited about. Please watch for our future newsletters to see the exact release date!
|
GMS would like to thank everyone who attended the GMS Summit 2016 in St. Pete Beach, FL. For most of the year, GMS staff’s relationships with our clients consists of phone calls and emails. It is always such a pleasure to be able to see clients in person that are able to attend our Summits!
The interaction this year was tremendous and we thank the attendees for the great comments and suggestions we have already received. (Please see the article on page 3 about the conference evaluations.) We hope those who attended found the sessions and interaction with other agencies helpful and educational. As is always the case, the GMS staff continues to be educated as well during the Summits. This is a result of conversations we have with clients and hearing your thoughts and comments. We truly value your feedback! We also hope you had some time to experience the beach at St. Pete and the shops along the boardwalk at John’s Pass. We look forward to seeing even more clients next year at the GMS Summit 2017 from May 21st through May 24th at the Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa located on Mission Bay in San Diego, CA! 
|
With the new audit standards released in the past couple of years and audit costs rising, more effort needs to be done at the agency level to prepare and assist the auditor with as much documentation and prepared files that can be provided. To help you assist your auditor, we have the Audit Preparation Tools supplement. This supplement is designed to be run after all year end entries have been posted and final fiscal year financial reports have been prepared.
This supplement has four main sections: (1) Trial Balance An Excel file is automatically prepared based on the setup and includes columns for Project, Element, GL Code, GL Code Description and amount. The GL codes include all assets, liabilities, net asset accounts, revenues and expenditures. You can choose if you want the revenues and expenditures listed by agencywide, by project or program element detail. (2) Comparison Reports You can prepare a Balance Sheet and Agencywide Revenue and Expenditure reports showing the current fiscal year and the previous fiscal year (if your database includes the previous fiscal year). There are tabs for Balance Sheet and Cost Categories that you can set up a category format to use and select a current format if that is the format you want to produce for the auditor, or leave the category format blank and you’ll include all GL codes on both reports. (3) Work Papers We currently have 12 work paper files that can be prepared which are typically used by all auditors in most agencies. These include: (a) All GJ’s for FY, (b) ACH Debit Entries, (c) Non-ACH Debit Entries, (d) Leave History & Accrual Worksheet, (e) Indirect Cost Base Reconciliation, (f) Accounts Payable Subsequent Payment, (g) Accounts Payable Highest Paid Vendors, (h) Payroll Reconciliation, (i) Accrued Payroll by Payroll Register, (j) Accrued Payroll by Timesheet Batch, (k) Fixed Asset Analysis, and (l) Fixed Asset Roll Forward Summary. (4) Reports We have a list of GMS Reports that already are available in various sections of our software that we grouped under this tab for ease in preparing and exporting so the files can be given to your auditor. The reports currently located in this tab are: General Ledger
|
|
Backups and Compact/Repair Database
Accounting and RLSS GMS has a utility available that allows you to back up your database and to compact and repair it. If you’re not currently using it, you may download it from our website. Please call or email our office for the website password and installation instructions.
Once installed, using it is very easy. You start by selecting where your database is located. (This utility works for both the accounting and RLSS databases.) After the database is selected, clicking on the Compact Database button will automatically run the compact and repair. When you compact and repair, this will remove unused bytes from your database, thereby consuming less space on your computer PLUS it can speed up your processing time. Compact and Repair should be done at least once per week, but can be done daily. It is only to be done on Access databases. Your IT person should have a maintenance plan in place for SQL databases. The Backup Database button automatically makes a backup copy of the Access or SQL database in the folder in which the database is located. It is important to understand that everyone must be out of the GMS database before either of these steps is run from the shortcut on the desktop. Also, please be aware that the backup is defaulting to being placed in the same folder in which the conversion.mdb or rlss.mdb is located. If you want the backup to be on your local hard drive or another location, you will need to browse to that location before clicking on Save. Also, consider security of the drive you are placing the backup on. Your accounting backup will contain all employee and vendor information. RLSS backups contain all loan information. You do not want these backups to be available to all employees. In addition, it is important that you understand that the automatic backup feature does not replace any other backup procedures such as nightly tapes, burning a cd, copying to a flash drive, etc. For accounting databases, it also does not replace the recommended before and after payroll backup process. It is recommended that you continue to follow the Payroll Processing menu, making both the Before Payroll Backup and After Payroll Backup from there. We can’t emphasize this enough, in addition to performing the compact and repair and backup, make certain that another means of backing up is in place. The backup utility stores a copy of your database on the same drive as your current database is located, unless you have changed the default to an alternate location. Should this drive fail, you would not have a backup to restore, therefore, it is imperative that you are also backing up to an external source and regularly confirming that this backup is functioning. We have had several clients lately whose computers have crashed and they have not had a current backup available. Not only do they need to replace the computer, but they also then need to recreate the data. This can be a significant loss of staff time that could have been avoided if current backups had been available. "Too much agreement kills a chat."
~Eldridge Cleaver |
RLSS Additional Disbursements
Whether it is written into the original contract with your client or they just require additional funds at a later date, there are many things to consider when making additional disbursements. We recommend these types of loans be set up on the daily interest basis rather than amortized so that interest will accrue correctly. Once all disbursements have been made, you may then change the loan to amortized if you choose.
If your loan is funded by just one funding source, you may simply enter the disbursement when it takes place. You should also review the Fund/Amts screen within the Loan Master to determine if the amount entered there needs to be increased. If your loan is multi-funded and all of these funding sources are participating in this additional disbursement according to the same ratio entered in the Fund/Amts screen, you may follow the steps listed above. If your loan is multi-funded but only one of the funding sources is participating in the additional disbursement we recommend that you create a new loan for this additional amount. This is the only way to show this new amount being disbursed from just one funding source. If you were to enter this disbursement to the existing loan, it would appear on your reports as having been disbursed from all funding sources set up in the Funds/Amts screen within the Loan Master, which is not what you are after. Please keep this in mind when doing something of this nature as new loan documents may also need to be prepared for this “new” loan. . |
