Business E-Newsletter - November 2012
Notes from the President
In this Issue:
We are fast approaching the end of 2012, and there is some
important information that needs to be considered before year-end.
Notes from the
President
Whether your company operates according to a calendar year, or a
The Person Behind the
Voice – Jon Isackson
fiscal year, there are a few things that need to be considered to
prepare for the new calendar year:
How is your budgeting process going for the new year? Will
next year be the same as this year, or should you be
planning some much needed changes to make it better?
Have you installed all of the latest versions of your
software? You don’t need to wait until after the first of the
year to get up-to-date. Doing it now saves pressure later.
How about benefit changes? Have you reviewed insurance
policies, retirement plans, and other items important to you
and your employees? It is harder now than ever to find
good employees, and we need to remain competitive in the
marketplace to keep them.
Did You Know?
Year-end Tax Forms
Red Wing Software in
the News
Red Wing Software
Releases New Video
Renew Your Customer
Care Membership
Online!
CenterPoint
Accounting
Support Tips
CenterPoint Payroll
Support Tip
TurningPoint
Support Tips
Red Wing Payroll
Support Tip
It is a good time to remind employees to update W-4
information for changes that have occurred during the year,
for example getting married, having children, buying a
house, or anything that might change their withholding
needs.
How is you budgeting process going? Oh, did I already
mention that? I read once that, “If you always do what
Red Wing Office Hours
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. C.S.T.
Monday – Friday
Our office will be
closed for Thanksgiving:
Thursday, November 22nd and
Friday, November 23rd.
you’ve always done, you’ll always be where you already
are.” Is it time for a change?
So, update that important technology today, review procedures and
Sales/Support
Phone Number
800-732-9464
policies, help employees be better managers of their information,
and plan for the New Year. Oh, yeah…..and don’t forget to vote!
Support E-Mail
- Ken Hilton, President
Address
[email protected]
The Person Behind the Voice - Jon
Isackson
Red Wing Software Product Manager / Support Services Manager
Web Site
www.redwingsoftware.com
Upcoming Classroom
Training
For more information click on
the classroom training's title
to visit our Web site.
CenterPoint Accounting
November 6-7, 2012
Denver, CO
CenterPoint Payroll
November 8, 2012
Denver, CO
To register for a seminar class,
please call 800-732-9464
or e-mail
[email protected]
Jon Isackson is Red Wing Software’s Product Manager and uses
his more than 31 years of experience to help shape the products
that are produced for our customers. In his role as Support
Services Manager he leads a team of dedicated professionals in
making sure that our customers understand how to effectively use
those products. Many of you may have spoken with Jon during our
very busy season, as he was on the phone helping with the large
volume of customer calls, and spent most Saturday mornings doing
research on any payroll problems that needed to be solved in
order to get our customers up and running.
Jon started with Red Wing Software as a programmer in 1981,
splitting his time between development of the software and support
of the customers who used the software. As Red Wing Software
grew, he advanced from being the sole developer to heading up
the entire development team. After the merger with Red Wing
Software, Champion Business Systems and FMS Harvest in 2000,
Jon moved from development to become Product Manager and
Support Manager.
Having been with Red Wing Software since the early years, Jon
helped form the company Red Wing Software is today, from the
special care we give to our customers, to the use of customer
comments in shaping the development of our products.
Upcoming Trade
Shows
For location and booth
information, click on the
show name to visit our Web
site.
ABA National Agriculture
Bankers Conference
November 4-7, 2012
Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable
and Farm Market
December 4-6, 2012
AG Connect Expo
January 29-31, 2013
National Farm Machinery
Show
February 13-16, 2013
Commodity Classic
Feb. 28 - March 2, 2013
PDPW Annual Business
Conference
March 12-13 2013
MN Clerks & Finance Officers
Conference
March 21, 2013
For questions on any of these
Jon stays young by spending time with his granddaughter Kathryn,
and enjoys the Minnesota summer by spending time on the local
events, please e-mail
[email protected]
golf courses.
To Order Checks and
Forms Contact:
Did You Know?
Computer Forms Incorporated
at 800-458-0158
redwing.computerforms.biz
Red Wing Software Payroll products allow you to file tax forms
electronically (“eFile”) with ease. You may be surprised at how
much time and money your company can save by eFiling.
Stay Connected
with Red Wing
Software:
Click here to read more about filing W-2s electronically!
Click here to read more about filing your tax forms
electronically!
Year-end Tax Forms
As the end of 2012 approaches, we would like to invite you to plan
early and save money on all of your tax forms. We have
negotiated a 25% discount for you with our exclusive forms
supplier Computer Forms, Inc. (CFI) if you purchase by December
31, 2012.
To place your order online, visit http://redwing.computerforms.biz
or call 800-458-0158.
Also, please check your December newsletter for more information
regarding required tax forms for 2012 year-end.
Red Wing Software in the News
CenterPoint Payroll was awarded 4.5 of 5 Stars in CPA Practice Advisor October 2012
Review
CenterPoint Payroll was awarded 4.5 of 5 Stars in CPA Practice Advisor’s October 2012 Review of
Professional Payroll Systems.
Eleven professional payroll systems were reviewed by CPA Practice Advisor. The payroll systems were
reviewed on Basic System Functions, Reporting & Monitoring, Integration/Import/Export, Help & Support,
and Client Self-Service Features. Red Wing Software received an aggregate score of 4.5 out of a
possible 5 stars. Follow this link to the review of CenterPoint Payroll Software, and this link to the
complete Review of Professional Payroll Systems.
“Red Wing Software is proud to be included in the CPA Practice Advisor’s prestigious Payroll System
review this year and every year,” says Red Wing Software President, Ken Hilton, “and we are even
more pleased to receive such a favorable rating.”
For more information about CenterPoint Payroll Software, visit
www.redwingsoftware.com or contact Red Wing Software at 800-732-9464.
Red Wing Software Releases New Video
Red Wing Software partnered with Confluence Marketing and created a new video for our CenterPoint
Accounting For Agriculture software. You can view the video by clicking here.
Renew Your Customer Care Membership Online!
Red Wing Software customers can renew their Customer Care Membership online. Simply sign in and
click on “My Red Wing Software” in the upper right corner of the home page. You will be taken to your
own personal Red Wing Software dashboard. If your Customer Care Membership is due for renewal,
you will see a “RENEW NOW” button, where you can click and renew online. (If your Customer Care
Membership is up-to-date, there will be no renewal available since your membership is then current.)
CenterPoint Accounting Support Tips
The latest version of CenterPoint Accounting is 4.28. Please download the latest version if you have not yet done so, for
maximum efficiency and performance.
Q: Prior to printing checks to our vendors, my supervisor would like to see a list of
the invoices that I’ve selected to pay. Is that possible in CenterPoint?
A: Yes, you can change your invoice numbering sequence to check for duplicates at the time you are
saving the invoice. This will prevent two invoices with the same number from being saved. To do
this, go to Setup > General > Numbering Sequences and edit the sequence used for
Customer Invoices. Make sure Duplicates is set to either Warn on Duplicates or No
Duplicates Allowed. Then change Check When to Check for duplicates when saving
the transaction. Click Save.
Did you know we’ve modified the CenterPoint Bank Reconciliation screen?
With the latest release of CenterPoint, the Bank Reconciliation screen has been modified to include a
List screen. This screen displays each saved bank reconciliation along with columns for the date,
assigned companies, and assigned bank accounts. This will make it much easier to find which bank
accounts were included in a saved bank reconciliation. Customer Care members who are logged into
the Web site can click here to view a document that explains how to use bank reconciliation.
Alternatively, from our Web site at www.redwingsoftware.com select Support > How2
Documentation > CenterPoint Accounting to access the same document. Once you are
logged into the How2 Viewer, select Processes & Transactions and Banking. Then select
Bank Reconciliation from the left side of the screen to display detailed instructions.
CenterPoint Payroll Support Tip
The latest version of CenterPoint Payroll is 7.28. Please download the latest version if you have not yet done so, for
maximum efficiency and performance.
Q: I want to track hours for my salaried employees. The hours are generally the same
each pay period. Is there a way to default the hours into the Enter Pay tab so they
do not need to be entered manually each time?
A: Yes, in the 7.28 update to CenterPoint Payroll, we added a preference to default hours for salary
earnings. Select File > Preferences > Payroll General > Pay Periods > Database tab.
Change Default Hours for Salary Earnings to Yes. Then enter the number of hours that
should default for each pay period type. This will default the proper number of hours into the Enter
Pay tab for salary earnings.
TurningPoint Support Tips
The latest version of TurningPoint is 7.6. Please download the latest version if you have not yet done so, for maximum
efficiency and performance.
Q: I have a number of customers that are no longer actively purchasing from our
company. Is there anything I can do with those customers?
A: Customers that are no longer regularly making purchases can be marked Inactive. To do so, go to
Setup > Customers. Select the appropriate customer and click Edit. Change the Status field to
Inactive. We also recommend that you add ZZZ to the beginning of the Customer Code so that
your inactive customers are moved to the end of your customer list. This same process can be used
for Vendors and Inventory Items.
Q: How do I write-off customer balances that are not collectible?
A: There’s an easy process available in TurningPoint to write-off customer balances. Customer Care
members who are logged into the Web site can click here to view a document that explains how to
write-off bad debts. Alternatively, from our Web site at www.redwingsoftware.com select Support >
How2 Documentation > TurningPoint to access the same document. Once you are logged
into the How2 Viewer, select Accounts Receivable. Then select Bad Debts – How to Write
Off from the left side of the screen to display detailed instructions.
Red Wing Payroll Support Tip
The latest version of Red Wing Payroll is 12.35. Please download the latest version if you have not yet done so, for
maximum efficiency and performance.
Q: I enter my employees’ time into Enter Time manually and for every record I have to
change the date to a date that falls into my work date range. Is there any way
around this?
A: Yes! There’s a quick fix for that. Before going into Time Entry > Enter Time, hold down your Ctrl
Key and the letter W on your keyboard at the same time. This will display the Set Workstation Date
screen. Change the Date in this screen to the date you want to use for your records in Enter Time.
Click OK.
Once you have finished entering time, you can do the same key strokes and change the date back to
the current date. This changes the date only in Red Wing Payroll – not your computer date. Note:
The next time you log into Red Wing Payroll, the system will automatically change the date back to
the current date.