| Implementing the HST |
As you are well aware, Ontario and British Columbia adopted the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) effective July 1, 2010. As well, Nova Scotia changed their rate to 15% (ouch!).
In response to many emails and calls, we have put together a rather lengthy document outlining how you can update your Sage MAS 90 / 200 system to accommodate this change. Click here to access this document. We have prepared this document as a free service to you to allow you to make the necessary changes yourself. For more details, please see our June 2010 newsletter.
A common question that we received after we published the document was one of an accounting nature. Should we create new GL accounts for the HST? There is no right or wrong answer to this question and we suggest that you check with your external accountant. My personal preference is to create separate accounts for GST and HST -- this allows maximum flexibility for analysis, but does mean that you need to add two numbers together when gathering data to file your GST/HST return. Assuming you did not already have HST set up, you'll want to create a new entry in the Accounts Receivable | Setup | Sales Tax Account Maintenance screen to ensure that the HST postings go to the correct GL accounts. This screen is shared between AR and AP, so the information needs to be updated only once.
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| Tip - My Tasks and Modifying Menus |
| Some users have found the number of options on the Sage MAS 90 / 200 desktop overwhelming. To address this, your Sage MAS 90 /200 desktop can be personalized in at least 3 ways:
Use the My Tasks feature. On the top left of your screen, you've seen the My Tasks folder, but probaby have never used it. Click on this link to see detailed instructions on how to create your own personal task menu.
Drag and drop a task from the menu tree up to the Custom Toolbar (grey bar at the top of your screen). Find additional help by clicking on this link.
If a menu option is NEVER used by anyone in your company (for example, you have the SO module, but never using Picking Sheet Printing), you can go to File | Run | SY_Menu_UI and using the Menu Maintenance utility you can hide this menu option. Be very careful in using this function -- it should be done with caution.
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| Adding Fields to Screens |
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Last month, I assisted a client in upgrading from v4.05 to v4.40. During the training session, a seemingly innnocent question was asked.
We maintain many different mailing lists. Is there a way that we can manage this in Sage MAS 90 / 200?
Using the Custom Office module, we were able to add a new Panel/Screen to the Customer Maintenance task and added about 40 different fields to track the various mailing lists that the company has. Within the Customer Maintenance screen, a check mark was made for each mailing list that the customer should receive.
This innocent question and about an hour's worth of setup means that everyone who uses MAS at this compay can now easily see what mailing lists a customer should be receiving. If a mailing address changes, it is updated in one place now and not in several separate spreadsheets.
This custom office function has been available for quite some time. It took an upgrade to ask the question "is it possible?". Ask yourself "what is taking me a lot of time to do" or "how can I make this process more efficient". Feel free to share your ideas and ask us.
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