News From GMS - July 2016Current and back issues are provided in Adobe Acrobat format. (Requires the free Adobe Acrobat reader.)
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GMS Charity Networking Event - Helping Communities by Giving Back
A special component of the GMS Summit is to give back to the communities in which we are gathering (Corporate Social Responsibility). This aligns with our efforts of going green and caring for our planet. When conferences take place in communities around the United States, not only do attendees bring in a positive impact by stimulating the local economy, but also the impact of using the resources from within that community (water usage, trash disposal, etc.) In our efforts to bring more positivity to a community, we at GMS pride ourselves in leaving a little good behind each time. This type of responsibility also carries over into our annual staff meeting where as a team we do the same.
We want to thank our attendees for joining our Wednesday afternoon charity networking event during the GMS Summit last month. Participants assembled hygiene kits to be donated to Daystar Life Center in Pinellas County.
Daystar Life Center has a focus on assisting families who are one step away from becoming homeless. These kits will be welcomed by many families with children as we are proud to announce that together we created over 100 hygiene kits.
The contents of the hygiene kits included items received from Clean the World. Clean the World saves more than 2 million bars of partially used hotel soap from our landfills each year. The soap is then sanitized and formed into new bars that are distributed around the world to help save the lives of children without access to soap.
We want to thank our attendees for joining our Wednesday afternoon charity networking event during the GMS Summit last month. Participants assembled hygiene kits to be donated to Daystar Life Center in Pinellas County.
Daystar Life Center has a focus on assisting families who are one step away from becoming homeless. These kits will be welcomed by many families with children as we are proud to announce that together we created over 100 hygiene kits.
The contents of the hygiene kits included items received from Clean the World. Clean the World saves more than 2 million bars of partially used hotel soap from our landfills each year. The soap is then sanitized and formed into new bars that are distributed around the world to help save the lives of children without access to soap.
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It Was Great Seeing Everyone!
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Producing Reports from Your Old Fiscal Year
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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! |
If you wish to produce reports from your old fiscal year without reversing the roll forward process, you can set up a copy of the final year end database in a separate folder and tell the software which fiscal year you wish to access during the login process. On the Login screen you will be able to select, via the Organization combo box, which fiscal year you wish to access. This can be especially helpful during audit time when it is necessary to print reports re-quested by the auditor; or during a review process from a funding source. This is a procedure that can be repeated at the end of every Fiscal Year so it is possible to have Financial Reports available for multiple previous fiscal years. Additionally, when you archive your database, the archived data will still be available in prior fiscal years.
Timing is very important in this process. You want to make sure that all of your Year End activity has been completed and your books are clean. But you need to do this step before you roll forward to the next fiscal year. Also, remember that the copy of the database you will be using for previous year reports is to be used only for report generation. Any subsequent changes that need to be made in the previous fiscal year will have to be made in the current copy of your agency’s database. Instructions for setting up this previous year folder can be found in the Help Manual under General Ledger/Year End/Year End Closeout Procedures/Saving a Copy of Your Final Year End Database. |
RLSS Direct Deposit
Sometimes the best way to ensure prompt payment with high-risk lending is to automatically withdraw funds from your borrower’s bank account. Supplement #816 Direct Deposit can assist with this process.
There are a few issues to be explored when considering this supplement. First of all, check with your bank and make certain their policies and procedures conform to your needs. For example, you will want notification from your bank when funds are transferred. Experience has shown that some banks only reflect the transfer on the end-of-month bank statement. This is usually not an acceptable timeframe, because you want to know the funds were transferred when the payment was due. Second, you need authorization from your borrowers to access their bank accounts. Check your closing documents to see if this is allowable, and if not, consider a mailing informing your borrowers of your plans to begin using the supplement. Your bank can provide you with authorization forms to be completed by your borrowers, which will allow access to their account. As usual, we recommend you check with your auditor or legal advisor prior to instituting any new practices within your lending program. This supplement will allow you to identify which loans are to be accessed, when the trans-fer is to take place, and the amount of the payment, or funds, to be transferred into your account. It will create a file that can be submitted to your bank detailing the transfer specifics. Loan Activity is processed for payments transferred, a report may be prepared detailing the transfer, and Loan Acknowledgment forms are available for printing. Any transfers will appear on the Monthly Activity Report with a notation that it was processed via Direct Deposit and the date of the transfer. You can see that this supplement could be a timesaving tool for your lending personnel, and also help ensure timely payments – a benefit to both you and your borrowers. In addition, by allowing the system to automatically post repayments, the risk of data entry errors is limited. This can also assist in saving staff time by reducing the need for adjustments, which are necessary to correct data entered inaccurately. Cost Annual License/Maintenance 1-2 Users $300 $45.00 3-4 Users $350 $52.50 5+ Users $410 $61.50 
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50% Supplement Credit Expires End of Month!
St. Pete Beach Summit Attendees – The deadline for ordering supplements and receiving the credit is July 31, 2016. Agencies whose staff attended the GMS Summit 2016 in St. Pete Beach, FL are entitled to a 50% discount on the purchase of supplements up to the cost of their regular summit registration fee on all supplements ordered between the time of registering and July 31, 2016. For those agencies whose staff registered for and attended the intensives following the regular summit, the 50% supplement discount credit will also be applied. For agencies that sent some employees to the regular summit and other employees to the intensives, the 50% credit will be applied against the larger of the two: summit or intensive registrations. The credit will not be applied against the combination of both summit and intensive registrations.
This is a great way to save $$ on your summit attendance. You can place your orders on the GMS website at www.gmsactg.com. 
We Need Your Summit Evaluations Please!
Summit Door Prize Winner!
 Marshelle Elliot
There were many door prize winners at the GMS Summit 2016 held in St. Pete Beach, Florida last month. Some of the many prizes drawn during the Opening Session featuring motivational speaker Dave Davlin were two certificates for a free night’s stay at Loews Don CeSar resort (home of the Summit), luggage, gift basket, and an iPad.
Also, during the Time and Attendance session taught by Debbie Sabin of Clockwise by GHG, one lucky winner was able to nab another coveted door prize. Marshelle Elliot (pictured to the right) representing the Economic Opportunity Program, Inc. in Elmira, New York took home a fully loaded video drone. Congratulations, Marshelle! | ||||||
GMS Staff at the GMS Summit 2016
Pictured left to right: Back Row: Ann Dragoo, Deann Hasbrouck, Kim Cosentino, Era Williams, Donald Cassady, Marilee Floener, Rod Jones, Barb Rassler, Robin Berseth, Jie Chen. Front Row: Yongling Xin, Duane Scott, Sara Drury (not pictured: Jill Siewert)
