We completely underestimated the demand for our special offer last week. As you may recall, we offered three of our single topic issues (on Internal Controls, Technology in AP, and Fraud Prevention) for the low price of $29.95. Well, it turned out to be more popular than we anticipated and we are now out of the Fraud Prevention issues. All initial orders have been filled and we've added the edition devoted to Emerging Issues in place of Fraud Prevention.

For a very limited time, we are making these three issues available for $29.95. To order use the link below or send an email to publisher@ap-now.com asking for the Order Form.

Will Yancey sent the following info about the unclaimed property issue in California. It is applicable to any organization that reports Unclaimed Property to California. The State Controller's Office (SCO) will begin sending notices on January 17, 2008, to property owners listed on the 2007 Holder Notice Reports. The notice will advise owners that property has been reported to which they appear to be entitled, and to contact the holder to prevent their property from being transferred to the State Controller's Office. The deadline for the SCO to complete sending these notices to owners is April 15, 2008.

The SCO will attempt to send notices in advance of the deadline to the extent possible to provide holders with adequate time to respond to inquiries from owners. Holders must refund or reactivate owner properties when the property owner contacts them prior to the date required to remit the property to the SCO which is no sooner than June 1, 2008, and no later than June 15, 2008. This notice process is intended to allow owners to be reunited with their property prior to the transfer of their property to the SCO.

The state has not issued complete instructions for the Holder Remit reports yet, but plans on doing so before the end of the month. We expect to see more states require greater due diligence from holder organizations.

That is part of the reason we organized the one-day seminar on Unclaimed Property on April 25th in Chicago. We think this is the sleeper issue that will cause our readers great headaches in the next few years. Will Yancey will be joined by Tracey Reid and Brooke Spotswood, two other unclaimed property experts. None of the presenters do any work for the states. They focus their practices on holder organizations and have tons of experience getting holders into compliance.

Are you still slugging through 1099s? Are they as much of a pain as ever? Or, like a growing number of our readers, have you tamed this paper lion? I had a note recently from Christine Lachmanowicz. "I have to say, once I started keeping on top of my vendor master file the 1099's got a lot easier!" She isn't the only person we've heard from who's noted that good practices throughout the year translate into easier 1099s - and fewer B notices.

That's why once again, we are going to run a Webinar on what I like to call 1099 Best Practices. We will combine information from two prior sessions, update the information, and run an information-packed event on March 11 entitled, "How to Create an Effective TIN Solicitation Program & Avoid All Pitfalls." It will include information on how to use the IRS TIN Matching Program. CDs will be available two weeks after the event.

CDs from prior Webinar events are available. The link below will take you to a list of all available for sale. This includes the Using the TIN Matching Program and W8 and W-9 Best Practices should you want an hour long instruction on each.

Each CD comes with a printout you can use to take notes and follow along with the lecture and is housed in a plastic case which is pocketed in a manila folder page. These pages can be stored in a three-ring binder, should you wish to build a CD Library for staff training.

The following is excerpted from the February issue of our print newsletter, Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow.

Are you still fighting the battle of the invoice-who gets them first, the purchaser or accounts payable? Here's a handy list of reasons you can use the next time this issue is brought to the table. As you can probably guess, Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow firmly believes invoices should go to accounts payable first. Here's why:

1. To make it possible to earn as many early payment discounts as possible.
2. To be able to identify an invoice when vendors call regarding payment status. Even if the invoice isn't paid, the ability to locate it and have an intelligent conversation about it will help allay vendor concerns.
3. To be able to easily identify duplicate invoices and ensure only one gets paid.

The remaining nine reasons are in the February issue, which also contains articles on the new social security form and how it could impact your organization, CHIPS and electronic payments, a segregation of duties case study, dealing with employees' reaction to segregation of duties requirements, car rentals, and more.

We have made arrangements for our readers to attend a free Webinar entitled, "Making the Move to Electronic Payments" on February 27. It will be hosted by Bottomline Technologies.

Organizations of all sizes are frequently advised that a leading AP best practice is to move away from paper checks and use electronic means to make payments, including ACH, wire transfers, and p-cards. Although checks are still the dominant method for business-to- business payments, companies are gradually overcoming the behavioral and technical challenges to increase their use of e-payments. This is supported by the 2007 AFP Electronic Payments Survey, just released by the Association for Financial Professionals. The typical company now makes 74% of its B2B payments by check, down from 81% in 2004.

But why is the adoption curve not growing more quickly, and what can your organization do to increase its own use of e-payments and reap all the associated benefits? Watch this space for more information on the free, upcoming Webinar to be offered by Bottomline Technologies that will offer both industry perspective and practical advice on removing the barriers to e-payment adoption for your company. If you would like to register now, Bottomline will follow- up with all the details.

I'm putting the finishing touches on an article on Void Pantagraphs. I've interviewed several experts and two practitioners who have had issues with this technology. If you've had problems with Void Pantographs, I'd love to hear about your experiences. I'll keep your identity anonymous and send along all the comments and a copy of the article to say thanks. Please send your experiences to publisher@ap-now.com.
Thanks for listening.

Mary Schaeffer
Editorial Director
Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow