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Dear Colleague
Wow, what a week! Tiki Barber in prime time talking
about unclaimed property, the stock market finally
posting some healthy returns, several new additions
to our Webinar schedule and news of a September 1
price increase at Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow.
Okay, the last is not exactly good news, except we're
giving a heads up to readers of this ezine so they can
start a
subscription at the old price or renew before the increase.
I'm going to start this packed edition with a really
interesting question from one of our readers.
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Can They Really Do That? |
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I received the following note from a reader asking
what I thought (I'll tell you in a bit) and if I could get
input from some of our readers (please send your
comments to [email protected]). Here's what
she wrote.
"We have been contacted by several of our vendors
giving us only an option to receive invoices by fax or
email. Right now we only accept invoices by U.S. mail.
Can vendors force us to receive invoices this way?
"First, we are curious if this has happened to others
and if so, what you did." Please send your notes to
[email protected] even if you just
say, "happened here and we complied" or "happened
here and we refused."
My thinking on this issue is that unless it was in the
terms originally agreed to with the vendor, the vendor
cannot force the issue. Of course, the vendor can
refuse to sell going forward unless you agree. Having
said that, let me point out that I wouldn't be at all
surprised to see more of this in the future. Like paper
checks, albeit not quite as bad, paper invoices are a
royal pain.
My suggestion is to set up a special email address
and fax number to accommodate these requests
moving forward. Because, as I said earlier, I believe
this is a trend. The note got me thinking about how AP
is changing. So I pulled out the New Payment World
book to look for an excerpt that demonstrates how the
payment piece is evolving. You'll see it further on in
this issue.
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Fall 1099 Schedule: Webinars |
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If I hadn't blabbered so much about everything else on
our rather full plate, I'd have included more
information about the new Webinars we added to the
schedule. I'll have more about each of the sessions in
upcoming issues of this ezine. For now, I just want to
alert you that:
On September 22 Cyrus Daftary and Jayne Alfano will
discuss B-Notices and provide best practice advice on
how to deal with those dreadful notices.
We're also really pleased to be able to tell you that
Greta Hicks, a CPA formerly with the IRS and E&Y has
agreed to give two Webinars for our group. Among her
numerous honors is one for Outstanding Instructor for
National Society of Tax Professionals. On October 16
she'll talk about "Are You Certain Your Independent
Contractors Are Really Independent Contractors?" And
on November 20 she'll discuss the issue of "1099s
the Right Way: Getting Ready for Year End."
And here's something I'd like your input on. We're also
discussing the possibility of doing a one-day seminar
or a 3.5-hour webinar on "Getting Ready for Year End
and 1099s." If this is something you think you'd be
interested in, please drop me a line and tell me
([email protected]) what locations would work for
you. We are aiming at a price of $495. (Please note:
This would not commit you to anything. This is just our
informal market research.)
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The New Payment World: An Excerpt |
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If you think back just a few short years ago, most of the
payments made for virtually any organization outside
perhaps of the US government were paper checks.
Boy, has that changed in the last five years or so. Now,
organizations everywhere are looking to get rid of
paper checks by the boatload replacing them with
electronic payments and p-cards. By judiciously taking
advantage of the differing payment vehicles,
organizations can run a really efficient operation.
So, what exactly is the best mix of payment vehicles?
There is no one right answer to this. Many different
compositions work. However, we thought we'd bring
you a sample breakdown that was included in the
New Payment World published by John Wiley & Sons
last year. Here it is.
For most organizations, their payment program simply
evolved, with most payments being made by paper
check. This situation is gradually changing, given the
efficiency savings associated with p-cards and direct
demand payments. Organizations that adopted these
techniques usually have done so to gain process
improvements and cost reductions. Rarely has an
organization stepped back, reviewed its payments,
and set up a program that combines all payment
types, with different types used according to what is
deemed appropriate.
For example, an organization might create this type of
payment plan:
- P-cards for purchases under $1,000, where cards
are taken
- Direct payments (ACH credits) for all vendors
converted to the plan who do not take p-cards
- Direct payments (ACH debits) for sales and use
tax
- Wire transfers for all real estate transactions
- Travel and entertainment (T&E) reimbursed by
ACH credits only
- Checks for everything else
- No invoices process under $10
New Payments World , the publication this
intelligence was excerpted from, is a $45, 192-page
hardcover book that explains the pros and cons of
each of the payment tools available, and then provides
detailed information on how to set up an integrated
payment program. Like all other John Wiley & Sons
books, it can be purchased at a 15% discount directly
from the publisher using the link below. You'll need to
go to the bottom of the page and click on the Wiley link.
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Purchase any John Wiley book at a 15% discount |
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Master Vendor File |
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Rich Lanza will be joining me on August 20 to talk
about cleaning up the master vendor file. Whenever I
listen to Rich I always pick up a few tips that I'm able
to use in other Excel applications and I'm hoping this
time will be no different. He's going to explain how to
effectively and efficiently purge the master vendor file,
reveal how to reduce duplicate payments to vendors,
identify common mistakes with vendor masterfile
setup, and much more.
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Register for the Clean Up Your Master Vendor File: A Step by Step Approach Webinar |
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Date Change: September UP webinar |
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Due to a scheduling snafu, we are going to change
the date of the September Unclaimed Property
Gotchas webinar to October 7. Rather than have a
hurried presentation, which is what would have
happened, we decided to move the date to one when
our attendees could get the full and undivided
attention of our speaker. Everyone who signed up has
been contacted about the date change.
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Register for the Unclaimed Property Gotchas webinar |
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This Week on the Blog |
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How The Tiki Barber Unclaimed Property Show Might
Impact Your Organization
Myth Basher: P-cards and 1099s
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Top Clicks from Last Week |
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To recommend this e-zine to another accounts
payable or accounting professional, simply forward
the entire newsletter or use our handy 'Tell A
Colleague' form. He or she will appreciate it.
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I just had a note from a reader in the Minneapolis/St.
Paul, MN area looking for an AP group or others
interested in networking. If you have any information or
would be interested in meeting, please drop a line to
[email protected] and I'll put you in touch.
If you plan on attending one of our Fall unclaimed
property seminars and need to make a hotel
reservation, please do not wait too long. The hotels
only hold rooms for us until about one month before
the actual date. Information about the hotels is on the
unclaimed property seminar page.
Until next week, thanks for listening.
Mary Schaeffer
Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow, a CRYSTALLUS,
Inc. publication
CRYSTALLUS, Inc, publisher of Accounts Payable
Now & Tomorrow, this ezine and sponsor of the AP
Now webinar series, is a Woman-Owned Business
and is registered as a Federal Government CCR
vendor.
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