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dashboards

Transform Your Business Through Sage Intacct Dashboard Feature

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For business leaders a clear, concise dashboard that showcases real-time information allows them to easily see a digestible snapshot of their company’s status. Without a dashboard providing performance cards, reports, and graphs an executive or financial leader could be left in the dark on what is occurring in their business. Companies without dashboards often waste time on pulling, sorting, and formatting data rather than focusing on understanding their finances and strategizing on steps for improvement.

What does a customized dashboard look like?

8-10 key performance metrics, covering both financial and non-financial data, that are important to you and your company. You can even harness the power of Sage Intacct’s open API to integrate other software programs, allowing your dashboard to incorporate key data from other company systems, like volume, pricing, shipments, market share, and more.
Dashboards are modern and interactive, allowing you to quickly drill down with the click of a button to find out what is driving the results you are seeing. You can sort, filter, or slice and dice the data any way you want to dive deeper and truly understand your financials, ultimately giving you total power over your financial well-being.

How are you transforming?

Since the data being displayed is real-time financial leaders can use these metrics to make business-changing decisions and drive their management team’s actions. What’s even better? Each user’s dashboard can be customized to the metrics that pertain to their job. With each executive and finance team member having their own dashboard they have anywhere, anytime access to the data they need to deliver at peak performance, without comprising data security.

Dashboards will become your “finger on the pulse” of your company, forever changing how you and your team react to changes. At the end of the day, your company will have an edge on the competition by shifting from spending time aggregating data to spending time analyzing and acting upon insights.

rinehimerbaker is an outsourced cloud accounting company that can do it all. We offer consultation and implementation of cloud-based ERP solutions, outsourced accounting, and more. Contact our team at accounting@rinehimerbaker.com to find out more about how we can help you keep up with 2020’s biggest accounting trends.

 


2020 accounting trends

Top 3 Accountings Trends to Follow in 2020

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Three main 2020 accounting trends will change the landscape of finance departments in companies of all sizes: automation & artificial intelligence, cloud accounting solutions, and outsourced accounting functions. What do all of the trends have in common? They all focus around eliminate time spent on unnecessary manual work in order to spend more time growing your business.

 

  • Automation and Artificial Intelligence

 

According to Firm for the Future, 86% of current accounting tasks can be automated. With that in mind, finance executives are looking at how advanced artificial intelligence can automate their company’s current manual accounting processes. By removing hours of manual work team members can refocus energy on being strategic leaders and streamlining processes.

 

How can you take this trend to your company? Look at all of your current solutions, not only for finance, but HR, sales, and marketing. Do they work together? Does your team export report to manipulate data? Are they spending hours typing data into multiple systems? Do any of the solutions have an open API to connect them? Assess your answers to these questions and then evaluate which systems don’t have the capability to automate workflows.

 

  • Cloud Accounting Solutions

 

Accounting Today reports that cloud accounting solutions currently account for 45% of small businesses, 57% medium-sized businesses, and 58% of large-sized businesses’ accounting solutions. This number will continue to grow as companies become more fluid and dispersed across the country and internationally. Moreover, 67% of accountants think cloud-based solutions make their job easier.  Ease of access, connectivity with solutions from other departments to eliminate duplicate work, and less reliance on IT are pushing droves of accountants to evaluate cloud ERP solutions.

 

What can you do to adopt this trend? If you don’t already have a cloud-based ERP, make it a point to evaluate what your current on-premise solutions do well and where there are automation gaps. Then start to look at cloud solutions that fill the automation gap specific to your industry. Lastly, prepare your 2020 budget to accommodate for implementation of a new cloud solution.

 

  • Outsourcing Accounting Functions

 

For small to medium-sized businesses, outsourced accounting functions have become a popular option and will continue to gain popularity as companies want to remain streamlined.  Using an outsourced accounting partner gives companies top accountants to manage their finances while using their limited resources to focus on increasing profitability and grow their passion, which for most is not accounting.

 

How can you adopt this trend? Look at the time you and your employees are spending on accounting functions. Are you staying up late to make sure the accounting is being completed? Do you have limited insight into financial data? Is someone on your team taking away time from their actual job to make sure that invoices are being sent out and getting paid timely? If you don’t have a strategic finance team in place, we urge you to weigh the costs of adding an additional staff member vs. hiring a highly regarded outsourced accounting company vs. the cost of doing nothing about your financial pains.

 

rinehimerbaker is an outsourced cloud accounting company that can do it all. We offer consultation and implementation of cloud-based ERP solutions, outsourced accounting, and more.  Contact our team at accounting@rinehimerbaker.com to find out more about how we can help you keep up with 2020’s biggest accounting trends.


data driven

How Financial Leaders Can Become More Data Driven

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As we head into the next decade, financial leaders of fast-growing companies are focused on how they can better drive decisions based on real-time data. Having access to financial and operational metrics in real-time can influence strategic company decisions. Below are some ways the tech-savvy leader can continue to evolve.

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1)    Eliminating manual work through technology – The top way that financial leaders can become more data-driven is by eliminating manual work by modernizing technology. Companies that are taking advantage of integrated solutions and automation have shorter month-end close cycles, streamlined processes and reliable, real-time information.  By moving to the right cloud-based financial solution, finance departments gain the ability to use seamless API’s connecting multiple systems in one low maintenance ERP solution. Open API allows organizations to choose the systems that work best for them.  Having integrated systems eliminates duplicate entry, reduces the risk of human error and improves job satisfaction. Utilizing cloud technology allows leaders to have visibility to critical data and attain real-time insights.

2)    Shift the direction of the finance department to value-add analysis – Once manual work has been eliminated, your team can now focus on understanding the story the data is telling and predicting the future. By reducing the amount of time spent recording transactions, resources can be redirected to support organizational initiatives such as cost savings, growth, and pursuing your organization’s strategic mission.

3)    Use financial data to create strategic goals – Financial leaders are in a prime position to drive company goals, set KPI’s and achieve measurable results when they have accurate and timely data.  Key performance metrics may include those related to revenue, margins, sales cycle, or other operational measures of success.  A fully integrated, flexible, cloud-based ERP system allows Finance Leaders the ability to quickly model scenarios and analyze the impacts on revenue, profits and cash flow.

Make this decade one of distinguishing your organization’s strategic vision and differentiate yourself as a leader who adds value, drives growth and sets your CEO up for success.  How? Make technology a priority and move to the cloud. It is the first step in driving your company forward and becoming a data-driven financial leader.

 

Contact rinehimerbaker at accounting@rinehimerbaker.com  to find out how you can become more data-driven. 


Sage Intacct Advatnage

Sage Intacct Advantage Conference Recap

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The annual Sage Intacct Advantage was an amazing event again this year with great opportunities to learn about the future of finance, network with our customers and the Sage Intacct team, and enjoy Las Vegas! Below are our team’s top takeaways from this year’s conference.

Sage Intacct Advantage

1) MemberClicks won a customer success Award- rinehimerbaker’s customer, MemberClicks was honored with the customer success award this year at Advantage! This award celebrates customers who have made dramatic improvements to their business and financial operations using Sage Intacct.  Congratulations Brent Stringer and team!

 

2) Change in Thinking-There was a strong focus on how the accounting function is moving from the age of information to the age of answers. Gone are the old ways of simply reporting “what happened”; now we are focused “why it happened” which is quickly moving to “what will happen next and what should we do about it”. This focus shows how finance teams are moving away from manual work and utilizing technology to deliver strategic value so that organizations can further their mission, grow and scale more quickly.

 

3) Eliminating the Close– Sage Intacct continues to look for innovative ways to make accountants lives easier. They are currently working on AI capabilities that are embedded directly into the Sage Intacct Intelligent GL.  The goal is to have continuous GL and eliminate the close. How? By using AI to accelerate the capture of data, to detect anomalies and ensure data is accurate and compliant, and to analyze and make intelligent decisions.

 

4) Sage People– This was an exciting announcement. Sage People is a new HR/benefit/onboarding/payroll solution that will be fully integrated with Sage Intacct. With this full integration, users will be able to quickly and easily view analytics, reports, graphs and dashboards related to the HR function.

 

5) Growth in Use– Currently 38% of the top CPA firms are using Sage Intacct. The continued growth of users shows how impactful Sage Intacct has been in revolutionizing the cloud accounting world throughout many different industries. The fastest growing verticals adopting Sage Intacct are hospitality and healthcare.

 

6) Orlando in 2020– Next year’s Advantage conference will be held in Orlando, FL the week of Oct 13th. For everyone that couldn’t make it this year, mark your calendars for next October. It will be a great week to learn, and network!

Sage Intacct Advantage


Where is Cloud Accounting Technology Headed?

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What is cloud accounting technology?

 

Everyday companies make the decision to move from on-premise solutions to the cloud. With so many companies choosing to move to a cloud-based ERP solution to drive their finance department, what’s next with the cloud is always at the forefront of their minds. You are probably already familiar with the benefits of the cloud such as, not needing IT resources to support your finance function, one login with anywhere-anytime access, and API connections with other cloud solutions. For certain cloud solutions, you can also get real-time data, easy to create reports, company roll-ups, customized dashboards, dimensions to eliminate additional general ledgers, easy intercompany payments, and a notes section for communication between your team about changes.

Join us for a cocktail hour where we discuss where cloud accounting technology is headed

Where is cloud accounting headed?

 

As cloud accounting continues to develop the user interface and open API’s are a top priority for ERP solutions. Both of these factors are leading the way due to users continuing to want easy-clean way to run real-time reports and create an audit trail. The evolution of the user interface is a top priority. These changes will make or break companies’ decisions to move to their solution based on the quickness their employees can get through tasks.

 

The open API is an important factor for continued development as companies continue to want a best-in-class solution instead of a one-in-all solution. This means continuing to create seamless API connections on the back end with other top cloud software vendors.

 

Finally, the most exciting trend for cloud accounting technology is the use of artificial intelligence and the influence it will have in ERP solutions. Companies demand their technology to work for them and eliminate manual work, coding, and clerical employees will continue to lead to a need/desire for technology that can do more automatically.

 

Overall, over the past decade, cloud accounting technology has continued to go develop and change the landscape of finance departments. With the anywhere, anytime access, and consistently updates throughout the year, the technology can only allow for capabilities to drastically improve with less and less manual effort to accomplish tasks.

Sign up for our Cloud Accounting Technology Future webinar

Join us for our webinar on November 21st at 1 pm eastern time to deep dive into where cloud accounting technology is headed, and the updates we see with the software we provide every day to customers.


Sage Intacct dimensions

Sage Intacct Dimensionality that Goes Beyond the Competition

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Sage Intacct dimensionality replaces the old with the new to simplify the way businesses manage their general ledger. The days of having thousands of accounts to track different business segments (department, location, etc.) are over.

 

Sage Intacct has several native dimensions making it easy for you to streamline the general ledger and increase the trust and visibility of your company’s finances. 

 

Simplify Your Accounts: 

The dimensions within Sage Intacct simplify your company’s general ledger and allow you to easily tag transactions recorded within a primary account code.

 

For example, traditional systems would require 30 account code combinations to be able to track consulting fees across 3 locations and 10 departments. Sage Intacct keeps it simple by having a primary account code and transaction tagging with your location and department.

 

As your business changes, you can add on dimensions and tags, there is no need to create hard-coded account combinations to segment your business.

 

Tracking – How it Works: 

Sage Intacct has innovated the way tracking can be done. Once a dimension is created you can use it for any transaction as well as operational data. This allows you to easily organize your data without hard coding the transactions to individual accounts. Filtering through data from an overview of the entire company to a specific segment has never been easier. A great example is a Country Club viewing the organization as a whole and filtering down to see activity by the type of membership (social, golf, etc.) as well as different areas such as the grill room or pool snack shack and bar. This can be done in just a few simple clicks within one system. 

 

Streamlining Your Reports: 

Using dimensions and “tagging” allows you to have a flexible financial foundation to view performance from any angle. With this level of visibility into the financial and operational data, decision makers can quickly access the data needed to make decisions in real-time. Sage Intacct made this easy by integrating dimensions into the user interface of their financial report writer.

 

A Sage Intacct customer was able to go from thousands of separate accounts to few hundred primary codes saving them more than 30 hours of manual work each month. To find out more about this transformation download the case study.  

 

Sage Intacct’s Dimensions are one of their unique features that differentiates their ERP software from the competition. At rinehimerbaker we want to help you see how dimensions can transform your business. Fill out the form below to set up a call with one of our top accountants. 



1000 North Case Study

Hospitality Finance Departments Save Big with Cloud ERP Solution

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Hospitality Finance departments have been able to save money, and time by moving their ERP solution to the cloud. The cloud gives finance employees access anywhere anytime with easy to create reports that help cut close times every month. Below you will find examples of how companies have saved big by moving to the cloud. If you want to find out more about how they were able to get these results sign up for our webinar on October 30th at 1 pm Eastern.

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hospitality finance


Closing the automation gap

Closing the Automation Gap in Finance

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Closing the automation gap in finance is key to running an efficient business capable of scaling. Growth in your business, by product diversification or acquisition, creates additional work on your team. If the system is designed around manual tasks and spreadsheets, your company won’t reap the rewards or experience the profit growth you expect. Closing the gap allows finance teams to transform from error-prone clerical workers to strategic advisors capable of providing data and insight in real-time. 

What is the automation gap? 

The automation gap is the space between what can be automated within your current system and the actual processes your staff is executing.  The gap essentially represents the manual processes your team completes in order to run your business effectively.  As companies experience growth, the automation gap generally increases and can overrun a finance department. 

A great example of how the right system can close the automation gap is Sage Intacct’s multi-entity management capabilities. By automatically consolidating multiple companies and automating closing entries, when you grow by acquisition you no longer need to manually track the activity in spreadsheets and manually consolidate the books! With Sage Intacct, finance teams can rapidly close the books and reduce errors along the way allowing them to provide meaningful information to your management team faster. 

 

Growing through product diversification is great but that also means companies need to understand how that impacts their compliance standards such as ASC 606. Once you understand your compliance requirements, you then need systems in place to uphold them. 

When your current software doesn’t automate this for you, companies typically lean toward a spreadsheet as their process. Managing compliance in a spreadsheet is not sustainable over the long term as you experience continued growth and create new products. 

 Watch the Webinar: Closing the Automation Gap Now

Processes built around spreadsheets are extremely manual and the responsibility of managing and maintaining them typically falls on one or two employees who truly understand how the document works. We often find that the documentation and instructions of the process are nonexistent meaning all of that process knowledge leaves the company when the employees leave your organization. 

Managing complex processes using spreadsheets is not without risk. It’s not a question of “if” there is an error, it’s a question of “when” the error is going to occur and how big of an impact is it going to cause. 

Companies are trying to close the automation gap by hiring talent. However, hiring high-level talent that can create and understand complex spreadsheets comes at a premium. Continuing to hire employees at top salaries to perform these tasks is not sustainable over the long term. This also contributes to creating a company culture where the focus is on clerical work rather than strategic work. 

Watch the Webinar: Closing the Automation Gap Now

Why is closing the gap important? 

90% of the decision-makers are under pressure to make decisions faster but only 28% trust the data in their reports. This is largely due to the almost guaranteed mistakes that happen when a company relies on manual processes instead of working with a system that closes its automation gap. 

Current CFO’s have more responsibilities than ever to strategically lead their companies with real-time data. Reacting on three-week-old data that is almost guaranteed to have some error within the report is no longer acceptable or the norm. 

Are you unsure of how to discover your automation gap and implement a solution to close it? The rinehimerbaker team can help you evaluate your current processes, identifies your opportunities, and build a plan on how to close your automation gap. 

If you would like to find out more, click here to watch the full Closing the Automation Gap Webinar. If you are ready to discuss closing your own gap, please fill out the form below to speak with a representative at rinehimerbaker.  

 


ERP Upgrade

Controllers: How to Make the Case for an ERP Upgrade

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Making the case for an ERP upgrade can be a daunting task.  Below is our cheat sheet on how to know when you are ready, tips for making your case, and what to expect once you have the approval to move forward. 

 

How to Know When it is Time for an Upgrade 

There are different types of “key experiences” you can have that would signal it is time to upgrade your software solution. Being able to recognize these signals early on will save your company money, time, and keep you ahead of your competition. Read below about the different signals that show it’s time to make the case and present it to your executive team.  

 

  • When your close is taking too long– When your end of month close is taking 6-15 days causing your executive team to work off “old data”. Real-time data is key to growth for a company. Decision-makers within a company need data almost instantly in this technology-driven time.  
  • When the manual processes become too much– It is time to upgrade when manual data entry is taking up too much time, leaving your finance team constantly behind. Also, manual entry becomes a problem due to data entry errors. 
  • When it takes too long to understand your data- Your data should work for you. Reports should be easy to create based off dimensions you set. In a cloud-based ERP solution, you can slice and dice your data any way you need quickly to make decisions and create dashboards to quickly find key indicators that drive critical business decisions. 
  • You are adding new entities (additional locations or brands/product lines)– Being able to have granular insight into all locations as well as consolidated reporting is key to being able to grow. 
  • When you are adding new staff and want to limit their access to certain sensitive data- a cloud-based ERP will allow you to restrict user access to specific entities and allow you to control their permissions to perform certain tasks or view types of sensitive data such as payroll.    
  • You are expanding to multicurrency– When you are adding an additional currency you will need to evaluate if your system allows more than one currency and if so, does it have the capabilities to produce the consolidated reporting you need? When evaluating the capabilities of your current system, look for the ability to automate conversions for transactions or reporting. Also, having the choice on which currency reports will be produced in is important.  

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How to Make Your Case 

The best way to make your case for an upgrade is to show your executive team the time you can save, the money they can save, peace of mind they will have by having a more secure system, and the impact of adding capabilities that will help them make decisions that can grow their business.  

For time savings, show how you can cut your closing time in half by having data available almost immediately. You can also demonstrate how you and the finance team will be able to cut down on manual processes through automation, freeing up time for new, value-add projects all while limiting the need to hire more finance employees in the future.  

Money savings are key when asking your executive team for an upgrade. The right cloud-based ERP solution can save money by cutting down on manual processes, improving employee engagement and growth, the ability to do more with a smaller team, and cutting closing time in half. 

Security for your data is extremely important as your company is growing. With Sage Intacct, the days of worrying about loss of data are over.  You also have the flexibility to restrict user access from viewing sensitive data.  User permissions can be set for only what a team member needs to access.  User permissions are granular with options down to letting a team member view but not edit or edit but not delete. This allows for peace of mind, and complete data security. 

Upgrading to a cloud-based ERP solution means that it is cloud supported with automatic upgrades multiple times a year. You will be able to operate with a lean team and your IT staff won’t have to complete or test system upgrades/changes for you. This helps cut down on time spent in-house trying to solve problems and empowers your finance team.  

Lastly, and an important part of getting approval is showing how the system will give your executive team better insight, better data, and flexibility. With a cloud-based solution, the executive team would have access to their own log-in that show cases Dashboards built specifically to their needs with real-time data that can be accessed from anywhere. With Sage Intacct, you have the ability to see your full customer experience from end to end. You can connect your CRM such as SalesForce, into Sage Intacct. This gives complete visibility for your sales team and improves your customers’ experience with your company.  

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After Approval to Move Forward 

Once you have received approval to move forward, the next critical step is finding a consulting firm that will meet your needs. At rinehimerbaker, we strive to identify your pain points during our discovery session and find solutions to make your life easier. Listening to your needs, helping identify areas or processes that are holding you back and finding solutions is what we are all about! 

Following the discovery session, we typically schedule a time for a live demonstration so you can see first-hand the functionality and just how easy it is to use Sage Intacct.  As your trusted partner, ensuring we meet all the requirements outlined during discovery is critical. After discovery and demo, we will document an implementation plan that works for you including what you can expect before and after go-live.    

At rinehimerbaker, we are dedicated to understanding your business so we can help you move faster with greater clarity.  


QuickBooks has stopped working and must shut down

QuickBooks Has Crashed… Again: What it Means and What You Can Do about It

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Contrary to popular belief, the nine most terrifying words in the English language are not always “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” For small business finance and accounting professionals, there is another phrase that strikes even more fear, anger and disdain: “QuickBooks has stopped working and must be shut down.”

“QuickBooks has stopped working and must be shut down.”

So how do you go about trying to tackle the problem? You run a clean reinstall. You download the diagnostic tool. You run a second clean reinstall. You attempt to run it without antivirus. You rename the .tlg file. You update it, you repair it, you download every tool in the book, and you still see those nine terrifying words: “QuickBooks has stopped working and must be shut down.”

It’s infuriating. It’s painful. It happens over and over and over. Those nine terrifying words are etched in your memory. Yet it’s all too common. You search the knowledge base for answers, and you see that you’re not alone. A quick Google search for the exact phrase “QuickBooks has Stopped Working” yields 959 results on the Intuit Community alone, and over 16,000 results across the web.

8 Common QuickBooks Crashes

So when is QuickBooks most likely to crash? As a company that has helped many companies outgrowing QuickBooks to make the move, we have heard many complaints about the platform.

  • On Startup
  • When Attaching a File
  • When Opening a File
  • When Clicking “Send Forms”
  • When Opening Check Register
  • When Opening a Company File/Changing from One Company to Another
  • When Emailing an Invoice
  • When Saving

However, it’s not only the crashes that present a problem. QuickBooks might run slowly in multi-user mode. It might run slowly if your audit trail gets too long. It might run slowly when your data file gets too big.

Reasons QuickBooks Crashes

There are many reasons for this. Some of the most commonly referenced ones on the Intuit Community:

  • Your computer is too old.
  • Your computer is too new.
  • Your data file is too big.
  • You like to protect your computer with anti-virus.
  • Your hard drive is corrupted.
  • Your data file is damaged/corrupt.
  • Your company name is too long.
  • Damaged program files or QuickBooks Desktop installation.

For a software that’s been around as long as QuickBooks has, there’s certainly a lot that can go wrong.

Two Reasons the Problem Isn’t Going Away

QuickBooks users around the world face the same struggles—especially as it pertains to the software crashing. Unfortunately, there are two reasons that you will continue to face problems.

QuickBooks was Built to be a Desktop Application

QuickBooks was built as a desktop application, which is why most of the reasons above revolve around computer and file-based issues. This is something that isn’t going to change. Anything from a change in operating system to the use of an anti-virus software can derail the entire QuickBooks desktop experience, causing crashes and other poor experiences.

It was initially thought that QuickBooks would address this when it introduced QuickBooks Online, but customers quickly found that it didn’t hold up to customer expectations. QuickBooks wasn’t built to be an online application, so when Intuit tried to rebuild QuickBooks for the web, it ended up putting up a web application that is lacking, according to G2Crowd reviews.

You’ve Outgrown QuickBooks

QuickBooks’ other fatal flaw—at least as it pertains to growing businesses, is that you’re asking it to do too much. Just as QuickBooks was designed to be a desktop software (i.e. run on a personal computer), QuickBooks was designed to make life easier for the small business owner. Again, we’ve said it on our blog before—QuickBooks is great for small businesses. It’s the larger businesses that push the software to (and past) its limitations.

While not always why the software crashes, a large file size is one of the main reasons that the software runs slowly. Also, as the file size grows, so does the risk and impact of the file being corrupted.

Barring an unfortunate turn of events, the latter of these two isn’t going to change—once you’ve outgrown QuickBooks, there’s no looking back.

Looking Forward: Moving Past QuickBooks

When your business was just starting up, adopting QuickBooks was almost a rite of passage. It was a welcome sign of your company’s growth and the accounting system met your needs for a time. But your business has kept growing, and now you’re seeing the limitations of the system you once depended on. QuickBooks simply doesn’t offer all the capabilities you need today—or tomorrow. The time has come, once again, for a change.

We invite you to learn more about additional warning signs, pain points, and opportunities for improvement from downloading our guide for companies outgrowing QuickBooks, which you can preview below.